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This is the third sermon in a series of messages on 2 Peter and is based on 2 Peter 1:6. This message focuses on the next two traits that should be evident in the life of a growing Christian - temperance and patience.
Written Excerpts:
2 Peter 1:5-6 (NKJV) But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge. 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness.
Introduction:
As
most of you know, we have started into a series of messages on the book of 2
Peter. In the first message two weeks ago we highlighted some of the
introductory comments made by the Apostle Peter, then tried to emphasize the
fact that God’s Word makes it clear that our life of faith was not ever
intended to be static or stagnant. Just
as it is expected for a baby to keep growing and developing through childhood,
adolescence, and into adulthood, so it is expected as normal for a Christian
believer to grow in his faith and become mature in his understanding of
salvation and living the Christian life.
In
the second sermon, last week, we talked about faith, virtue and knowledge as
necessary qualities that are essential in the life and practice of Christian
faith. Today,
we plan to continue with the list of qualities offered by Peter and speak to
you about the topics of temperance and patience as indicated in verse 6.
What
did God mean when He inspired Peter to urge believers to keep growing in their
faith by supplying temperance and patience into the mixture of qualities
already mentioned – faith, virtue, and knowledge?
Let
us examine these words to grasp the message God has for us today.
I. Temperance
As
we “generously cooperate with God in supplying” goodness and knowledge on top
of faith, we are urged to also supply “temperance.”
(Tyndale
Commentaries) - Once again Peter uses a
word which must have cut the false teachers like a whiplash. They claimed that
knowledge released them from the need for self-control (2:10ff.; 3:3). Peter
emphasized that true knowledge leads on to self-control. Any system which
divorces religion from ethics is fundamental heresy.
(Lenski
New Testament Commentary) - This proper self-control
connected with knowledge of the Word is not a legalistic abstinence from
what God permits; it is not of the style mentioned in Col. 2:21 [“touch not,
taste not, handle not.”] Nor is it the so-called temperance of prohibitionists
or of …celibates. It, of course, controls all bodily appetites, but does so by
controlling reason, emotions, and will through the knowledge of the Word and
the will of God.
In
other words, it’s not a matter of following a list of rules, but it is living
according to principles that promote thoughtful and willful choices that will
lead me down a path to be more like Christ.
What
comes to your mind when you hear someone use the word temperance? For
some people, the word “temperance” means, “Doing all things in
moderation!” Is
that really an accurate / valid philosophy? Should
you only attend church in moderation? Should you only pray in moderation?
On
the other hand, there are some fleshly desires/passions that we would say are never
appropriate to indulge; i.e. illicit sexual behavior, illegal drug use, etc. So
what does temperance mean?
The
root word in the original Greek means “ to exercise power” – thus, with the
prefix it means to exercise dominion over self or other things, i.e. to control
them. It
simply means, Self-Control. Sometimes self-control means limited or moderate
practice, but at other times, self-control means total abstinence.
(Tyndale New Testament Commentaries) – …like goodness
above, it was highly prized in Greek moral philosophy. It meant controlling
the passions instead of being controlled by them.
According
to this author, we could discover where temperance is lacking in our lives by
asking, “Is there anything in my life that I’ve repeatedly failed to control or
conquer, but it seems to have control of me?”
Adam
Clarke – “A proper and limited use of all earthly enjoyments, keeping every
sense under proper restraints, and never permitting the animal part to
[overpower] the rational.”
It
is the opposite of those without Christ, living ungodly lives. Those who do not
attempt to restrain their desires, but only to fulfill them, as we find described in this passage:
2
Peter 3:3 (NKJV) knowing this
first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their
own lusts
Temperance
is a life/character trait of those who are suitable for leadership.
Titus
1:8 (NKJV) [describing
qualities of a “bishop”] but hospitable,
a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled,
It
is one of the qualities listed in the fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians
5:22-23 (NKJV) But the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such
there is no law.
As
an expression of the fruit of the Spirit, it means letting the Spirit of God
take control over my body and fleshly appetites so that I do not indulge in
practices that harm my spiritual appetite or spiritual health.
Temperance
is the spirit-led ability to control desires in order to achieve
Christlikeness. It is a principle for life that applies to the areas the Bible
doesn't specifically address.
- Entertainment / Pleasures we seek
- Movies / TV we watch
- Places we go
- What we eat or drink, etc.
Spiritual
perception is needed in order to detect those impulses and appetites that
threaten my spiritual health and the power to keep them in check or under
control.
The
Christian life is not a license to live life just as I please or indulge in any
pleasure I crave. It is the maturity in faith and spiritual life so that we
acquire the strength/power to control those impulses that threaten to drag us
away from being like Christ.
(The Complete Book of Zingers) — Keep out of your life all that keeps Christ out of your thoughts.
(www.sermonillustrations.com) During his term as President of the U.S., Lyndon Johnson was somewhat
overweight. One day his wife challenged him with this blunt assertion:
"You can't run the country if you can't run yourself." Respecting
Mrs. Johnson's wise observation, the President lost 23 pounds.
Ouch!
You know, a very similar thought went through my mind the other day: “How am I
going to preach on self-control when I’m 20 pounds overweight?” I
confess I need to exercise self-control over my diet.
What
are the things God has spoken to you about that need to be brought under
control in your life? What
things has God spoken to you about that you need to completely abstain from?
This
quality of self-control is one reason fasting is encouraged in Scripture,
because fasting and prayer forces us to bring our flesh into subjection to the
Spirit and put our bodies on notice that the spiritual is much more important
that the physical.
II. Patience
As
we move on in this list, Peter admonishes the readers to mix into the previous
traits another trait called “patience.”
For
many people the word patience simply means to have the ability to wait on
things that seem to take too long.
Impatience is a very undesirable quality. Everybody
seems to be in a big rush and we get exasperated over the smallest
interruptions and delays to our perceived busyness and necessary tasks.
(Joke
about the young woman’s car that stopped in traffic and she couldn’t get it
started. After several attempts to start it while the man in the car behind her was constantly blowing the horn, she finally got out of her car and went back to him and said, “If you would kindly try to fix my car so it will start, I’ll stay
back here and blow your horn for you!”)
(Illustrations
Unlimited) – The antiquated train on a
branch line was creeping slowly through the countryside when suddenly it came
to a dead stop. The only passenger in the car, a salesman riding the line for
the first time, asked the conductor why they had stopped. The conductor said,
"Nothing to worry about, sir. There's a cow on the tracks." In about
ten minutes the train got under way again, but after chugging along for a mile
or two, it again ground to a halt. "Just a temporary delay," the
conductor said. "We'll be on our way shortly." The exasperated
salesman asked, "What is it now? Did we catch up to the cow again?"
Actually
the word “patience” carries the idea of endurance. It
is not the resigned, passive attitude of a slave that knows his condition will
never improve, so he might as well “grin and bear it.” But, it is the positive
attitude of hope founded in faith that produces the willingness and power to
hold up under intense opposition.
(Draper's
Book of Quotations) – There is no such thing as preaching
patience into people unless the sermon is so long they have to practice it
while they [listen]. No man can learn patience except by going out into the
hurly-burly world and taking life just as it blows. Patience is riding out the
gale. –
Henry Ward Beecher
Ha!
Now you know why my sermons can be so long! I’m merely training you to develop
patience!
(Tyndale
Commentaries) - The mature Christian does
not give up…. This patience is no stoic quality of accepting all that comes as
from the dictates of blind fate. It springs from faith in the promises of God,
knowledge of Christ, experience of his divine power (see vv. 3-4).
(Expositor's
Bible Commentary, Revised) - Thus
endurance, rightly understood, is active rather than passive. It is the mark of
maturity (Jas 1:3-4), since superficial faith will not endure. Moreover, it has
two sides: it expresses itself toward the world and toward God. Far from being
the exercise of mere willpower, by which the Stoic deadened his sensibilities,
endurance for the Christian issues out of a deep awareness of and confidence in
God’s sovereignty….
Endurance
is needed in all kinds of situations, and it is the situations themselves that
produce more endurance. The
Apostle James said, “The trying of your faith worketh patience.” The
Apostle Paul said, “Tribulation worketh patience.” It’s
the same principle as weight-lifting. You cannot increase your muscle mass or
strength without pushing your strength to the limits.
The
Bible talks about patience in…
Tribulation
– Romans 12:12
Affliction
– Hebrews 10:32
“Parental”
discipline – Hebrews 12:7
Attacked
for good deeds – 1 Peter 2:20
There
are all kinds of circumstances that try us and stretch us and stress us to the
limit.
We
can stress and worry and get angry and agitated over our circumstances or we can invite God’s Spirit to take
control and give us the ability to hold up under the stress and give us a calm
peace about the situation believing that God has not abandoned us and He is
still in control.
I
understand that it is much easier for me to stand up here and describe how
things ought to be. But it is quite a different matter to actually practice it
in the heat of the battle.
God
has the grace to give us just what we need when we need it.
Conclusion:
As
Christian believers get older in the faith and the longer they walk with
Christ, there should be more and more evidence of Christ-like qualities and
character in them. Those
qualities are provided through the grace, power and presence of God as we grow
deeper and deeper in the faith.
Today
we have learned that some of those traits include self-control and endurance. May
the Lord help each one of us to strive for more and more of God’s grace to
practice these qualities, and may we never resort to excuses and justifications
over our lack of them.
Let’s
close the service by singing our closing hymn: He Giveth More Grace.
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