Ya know, there are some verses in the Bible that I think we would rather ignore. I’m not necessarily talking about the difficult parts of Scripture dealing with war, slavery, women’s roles, hell, etc. I’m talking about the simpler, toe-stepping passages that make you think, Yeah, but… or even, He’s talking about someone else, not me…


As Mark Twain famously stated, “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”


I agree, Mr. Twain.


And one of those passages is this:

Do everything without grumbling<sup class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(Y)”> or arguing, so that you may become blameless<sup class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(Z)”> and pure, “children of God<sup class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(AA)”> without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Philippians 2:14-15

How many people in your church need to hear that preached from the pulpit? As you’re tallying the number in your head, go on and include yourself in that. I know I sure need it.


How many times have you caught yourself complaining about things at church? The sermon’s too long. The songs were all old and slow. The lady behind you has way too much perfume. The building is too hot. These young people have no reverence. Those old people need to loosen up.


Complaining is the norm, if you haven’t noticed. We have entire reality shows based around people complaining about other people. In this political season, especially, the poor complain that they aren’t being helped enough while the rich folks complain that they’re having to pick up the slack with their hard earned money.


We complain, grumble, and argue about everything under the sun. We even complain about complainers! If things don’t go your way, just throw a fit until someone greases your squeaky wheel. That’s what my two-year-old does, at least. If it works for him, it could work for me, right?


But I think most complaining and grumbling, especially in the church, occurs when we lose sight of the bigger picture. I mean, the return of Christ and eternal life with him in heaven should outweigh the date in which a song was written. Christ dying on the cross should force us to put things into perspective.


And that’s exactly what Paul was trying to get across. Christ emptied himself of all his rights, all his privileges, all his powers and became a man. As a man he became obedient to the point of death on a cross. And if you recall, he didn’t gripe and complain all the way up to Golgotha.


Jesus had the bigger picture in mind – the redemption of all humanity.


Paul also gives the example of Timothy and Epaphroditus. Timothy, he says, is constantly putting the interests of Christ and others above his own agenda. Epaphroditus once fell sick and nearly died in the service of Christ – and he was upset that he caused the Philippians to worry about him!


Do everything without complaining or arguing. That becomes a lot easier once you realize how trivial most of the things in this life are.


Let’s keep it in perspective.


Unity in Christ is more important than our own agenda.


Preaching Christ is more important than the methods by which he is preached.


Our heavenly citizenship trumps our earthly citizenship.


The goal of eternity in heaven far outweighs any suffering here on planet earth.


The peace of God outshines the clouds of doubt and anxiety.


Paul, as tactfully and lovingly as I’ve ever seen anyone, basically tells individuals in the church at Philippi to get over themselves and start focusing on the bigger picture.


Is there a message today’s church needs to hear more than this?

Here’s a little sneak-peak of my sermon this Sunday morning.

These videos won’t be shown, but they will certainly help you understand one of the biggest threats to Christianity in the West.

Wow.

If you are a follower of Christ, a believer in His Word, then these videos should probably give you a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. Somewhere along the lines we have failed. I mean, people don’t even know their basic info about the Bible – much less how to make it all fit into one coherent story of creation and redemption!

And we like to think that it’s just those people over there. Well, take a look around next Sunday. How many folks actually bring their Bibles to class or worship? Of those, how many people actually open them and follow along?

Somewhere along the lines we’ve gotten confused. We want to read Colossians 3:16 like this:

Let the word of Christ dwell in red ink on paper bound in leather collecting dust on your shelf next to your Grisham novels.

Or this:

Let the word of Christ dwell in pixels and bytes on your smartphone app that you only open so that people won’t think you’re playing Angry Birds during church.

But look what it ACTUALLY says:

Let the word of Christ dwell IN YOU richly as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom… – Colossians 3:16

You want to see change happen in America? You want the church to start impacting the world like we’re supposed to? You want to see Christians start living up to their namesake?

I believe we would see all this and more if we would unleash the power of the Word in our hearts and minds. Get in the Word and start changing the World.

Learn it.
Live it.
Love it.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. – 2 Peter 1:5-7

Love is a many splendid thing. Love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love.


We started this journey with faith. We’re ending it with love. If faith is the foundation of the house, love is the open door, the welcome mat, and the smell of fresh baked cookies. It is the storm doors that keep the chaos out. It’s the AC unit out back that no one notices but everyone enjoys.


I think Peter fastened all these virtues together beautifully. I think we often begin with faith and are all too eager to skip ahead to loving anybody and everybody. Yes, love involves risk. But it also requires a thick skin sometimes.


If all Jesus had was faith alone, he would never have been able to forgive and sincerely love those who were nailing him to that cross.


Our walk with Christ is not a “just add water” kind of deal. It’s less like EasyMac and more like an all out Thanksgiving dinner. It’s a process. You can’t skip steps.


Granted, loving comes more naturally to some than it does others. There are those people you meet that have never met a stranger. They’re all smiles and hugs and laughs. And sometimes that just makes you sick. These people will strike up conversations in the line at Wal-Mart. They will go to the ends of the earth to meet a need.


But how much self-control do they have? When was the last time they said no? Or how much actual Bible knowledge do they have? Are they content to keep Scripture in the “personal devotional” category, never really dealing with the down and dirty parts of the Bible?


You see, we will almost always fault someone who has all sorts of head-knowledge but very little outward showing of love. Yet we are hesitant to fault those who have this love-thing down but don’t really know the Word of God.


I’m going somewhere with this, I promise.


Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:13, then end of the great “Love Chapter,” that three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. Think about it. When we all get to heaven, our faith will finally become sight. But faith in what is seen is not really faith anymore. Faith will have served its purpose in full. It will have reached its “Sell By” date. It’s the same with hope. We will no longer need hope because we will have the very thing we were hoping for. Faith – fulfilled. Hope – fulfilled.


Love will live on forever. For where God is there is love.


But take a look around. Are we there yet? I don’t think so.


So while we are still on this earth, by all means let us LOVE! But let us not forget faith and hope.


This is not to be taken lightly:

For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. – 2 Peter 1:8-9

Notice he does not say, “If you possess love in increasing measure.” He says, “these qualities.” All of them. All of these combined will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive. Stated positively, all of these qualities will allow you to be effective and productive.


By all means, let us love one another as Christ has loved us. Let us continue to love our neighbors as ourselves. But love without a foundation is like a beautiful bouquet of cut flowers. It looks pretty. It smells nice. It will make someone feel happy. But that beauty is fleeting. The colors quickly fade because they have been separated from their roots – the source of life for the flower.


For true love to be sustained, it must be built on the foundation of faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, and mutual affection.


And one final benefit to going through this process – it will give you assurance of life everlasting.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. – 2 Peter 1:10-11

What a promise!


Always remember that neither faith nor love, knowledge nor godliness, is an end in itself. All these qualities are but a means to an end – that glorious end in heaven (which is really just a whole new beginning).

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection…   2 Peter 1:5-7


How many Facebook friends do you have? Go ahead. Open up a new tab, go to your profile, and see what it says.


I have 612. Six hundred twelve “friends”.


But can anyone really have THAT many friends? Is it even possible?


I know what you’re thinking. Most of your Facebook friends are more like acquaintances. You’ve met them once or twice and now they blow up your news feed. Or they’re people you went to high school with and now you want to catch up – and by “catch up” you mean you want to see how much better your life has turned out than theirs.


Yet study after study shows that we only have a handful of true FRIENDS – and that number tends to slide as we get older. When you’re in preschool, everyone is your friend! As you get into elementary, you begin to weed out those you like best and those who have cooties. Entering into junior high, cliques begin to form. Those cliques solidify in high school, yet even within your clique you have some you like better than others.


Then comes college. For most people, if they don’t find their niche as quickly as possible freshman year, it can be a long and lonely road through higher education.


Then you graduate and enter the work force. Think about it. This is the first time in your entire life that you have not been consistently surrounded by people your own age. For 20-25 years of your life you have had a peer group by default. But now the closest person in age at work might be 15 years older than you, married with children.


And it’s not that much better in the church.


Jack Johnson had a song several years ago that asked, “Where’d all the good people go?” I look around the church and I think, “Where’d all the young people go?” I can testify that for a twenty-something, the church can be one of the loneliest places. Oh sure, the older people are nice and friendly. Some might even invite you over for dinner on occasion. But the fact is that sometimes we just NEED mutual affection, brotherly love, philadelphia.


Jesus had that need. He had hundreds of “followers.” He had dozens of “disciples.” He had twelve “apostles.” But he only had a few friends – Peter, James, John, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.


I think there is something inherent within us that drives us toward connection with others. Humans were meant to live in community. Think about it – even GOD lives in constant, loving community within Himself. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all loving, glorifying, and encouraging each other for all eternity.


I think that Peter is giving us a reminder – we can’t do this Christianity thing on our own. I also think this is why philadelphia comes before agape. Yes, we’re supposed to agapao (love unconditionally) everyone. But it’s practically impossible, even for Jesus, to have philadelphia, brotherly love, with every person we contact.


When it comes to Christianity, there are no lone rangers. There is no flying solo. If Jesus couldn’t do it on His own, then neither can or should we. We need brotherly love friendships in our lives. We need companionship, encouragement, laughter, accountability, a shoulder to cry on, a phone to call at 2 am. We were built for relationships. Without that support system, our godliness, perseverance, and self-control won’t last very long.


We need each other.


Faith – Goodness – Knowledge – Self-control – Perseverance – Godliness – Brotherly Love

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;<sup class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(M)”> and to knowledge, self-control;<sup class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(N)”> and to self-control, perseverance;<sup class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(O)”> and to perseverance, godliness… – 2 Peter 1:5-6


We now reach a critical junction. Anyone who pays attention to the religious climate of the West will probably understand why this next one is so huge.

There is a sort of secularized spirituality working its way through our society. It’s the idea that one can be “spiritual but not religious.” In the name of religious tolerance and understanding, people will pick, choose, and blend whatever they like from the various world religions.

A little prayer here. A little service over there. Some inspirational quotes from this book. Top it all off with the gravy of love, and you’ve got a dinner plate of religious comfort that anyone could scarf down.

Faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, and perseverance are all well-respected virtues for anyone who claims to be a “spiritual.”

But now we come to godliness. Dictionary.com defines “godly” as an adjective meaning, “conforming to the laws and wishes of God; devout; pious.”

The problem with the buffet line spirituality is that you only pick the things you like. If it bothers you, just don’t put it on your plate. But to kick things up a level from spiritual to godly, you’ve gotta go all in.

Jesus himself said (in other context, but the principle is well applied) that no one can serve two masters. You can’t serve God and Buddha. You can’t serve God and Krishna. You can’t serve the God of the Bible and Allah of the Qur’an. To try and serve them all is to slap every one of them in the face.

Religious syncretism in the name of tolerance is really just intolerance at its ugliest because you are essentially saying that no one God is good enough. Every God or religion is lacking, and it’s up to you, human, to correct God.

Check out what Paul tells Timothy:
For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things,<sup class="crossreference" style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(A)”> holding promise for both the present life<sup class="crossreference" style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(B)”>and the life to come. – 1 Timothy 4:8


There’s no doubt that being “spiritual” has it’s benefits in this life. Prayer, meditation, and charity all have positive affects on a person’s life. But true godliness – which encapsulates all these practices and more – has benefits in this life and in the life to come


So, the time has come. I’m not going to be content with being a “faithful” person, a “spiritual” person, or a “good” person. I want to be a godly person. Which one are you going to be?

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control. – 2 Peter 1:5-6

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge. 2 Peter 1:5

The journey begins with faith – belief in God and trust in his saving power. But just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead (James 2). So, Peter says, add goodness to your faith. But goodness is more than just doing all the right things and avoiding the bad. Goodness is actually striving to become more like God – to exhibit His character, to love as He loves, to serve like He serves, so forgive as He forgives.

Faith.
   Goodness.
      Knowledge.

Knowledge in an interesting virtue to throw into this list. We don’t typically think of knowledge as being important for the children of God. Knowledge is not mentioned as a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5) whereas many of these others are. Paul claimed that the only important knowledge was that of Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2). In fact, Paul, who was an ivy league scholar and professional lawyer, dismissed all this earlier knowledge, all his past credentials, as nothing more than a pile of dung (Philippians 3).

To make the matter more interesting, consider the present author – Peter. VERY different than Paul. Peter was a fisherman – which means that he would have ended his schooling at about a 6th grade level. Sure, he knew the Hebrew Scriptures, but not all the ins and outs of religion and philosophy like Paul did. Peter was a blue collar, working class Jewish male. His knowledge was limited to say the least.

And this is evident all throughout the Gospel accounts. Peter (and the other apostles, to be fair) is constantly rebuked by Jesus for his lack of faith and understanding.

In Acts, however, we see a very different portrait of Peter. He is now able to weave together sound, logical, and persuasive sermons convincing crowds of thousands that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. What made the difference? Well, it had to do with two things: 1) The resurrection of Christ which solidified his faith and which led to 2) the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.

When you trace the knowledge the Peter displayed in Acts and his letters, it begins and ends with the Holy Spirit.

Add to your goodness knowledge.

There are a lot of good, faithful people in the church. Unfortunately, I don’t know nearly as many people who I would consider good, faithful, and knowledgeable. Many churches are drowning due to an epidemic of biblical illiteracy. Christians are losing touch with the Scriptures – the very Scriptures that contain “everything we need for life and godliness…” (2 Peter 1:3).

There’s a problem when a culture loses touch with its stories. That culture loses its identity, its sense of uniqueness, and its sense of cohesion. Those stories of the Old Testament were written for our own learning (Romans 15:4). And the Gospels are the stories of Jesus himself, passed on to us so that we might believe and be saved (John 20:30-31).

And knowledge doesn’t even have to be just biblical knowledge. What happened to the great thinkers of the church who were pioneers in math, biology, astronomy, physics, art, music, philosophy? Why is worldly knowledge considered a bad thing in the church? Are we afraid that people will educate themselves out of their faith? Then we aren’t preparing them well enough.

In his book Beautiful Outlaw, John Eldredge explains that we can know a lot about the personality of an artist by what he/she creates – whether art, music, or literature. He uses this premise to gain a better understanding of the personality of Jesus, which can sometimes be lost in the written text. Along this same premise, shouldn’t Christians be the ones with the greatest desire to KNOW something about creation? If creation is infused with the heart, soul, and personality of the Creator (Romans 1:20), then Christians have every reason to lead the way in knowledge of the universe.

I think the church could use more good, faithful, knowledgeable people in it. For in the discovering and sharing of knowledge we can all grow closer to the one who made it all. 

Faith.

It’s a little word with HUGE ramifications. Or at least, it should have.

Whenever Jesus’ followers wrote their letters (e.g. Paul, Peter, John, James, et al), they were written to other Jesus followers. That’s important to keep in mind. Knowing that the audience was already on board can really change how we read their letters. It becomes obvious that the earliest believers needed additional instruction on things like baptism, marriage, worship, Christology, etc. I think this means that you don’t have to know everything before you can know Jesus. All this other stuff seems, indeed, secondary to the life, ministry, and redemptive power of Jesus Christ.

That being said, faith is always assumed, at least at some level. But even faith itself has to be explained more in depth (see Galatians 3-5 and James 2:14ff). This also seems to be the case with 2 Peter. Faith is assumed and indeed present, but it’s an incomplete faith, lacking in something. It seems that the faith Peter is addressing is a simple, basic belief in Jesus and the power of God. In 1:3-4 he begins by reminding them that they have everything they need for life and godliness and that they have an opportunity to participate in the very divine nature of God. So what are you waiting for?!


Peter says, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness…” (2 Peter 1:5)

How many “good people” do you know? Now how many of those people have no faith?

Someone shared this church sign on Facebook earlier today:

While I don’t necessarily agree with the theology, I can appreciate the sentiment. It was my experience as I was growing up that those who were not Christians were often more open, friendlier, and more forgiving/understanding than those who claimed to follow Christ.

And that experience is not unique to me. In the book UnChristian, the authors poll non-believers about their attitudes toward Christians. Most descriptors were negative – hypocritical, judgmental, homophobic, rigid, narrow minded, etc.

I think our great pitfall is a misunderstanding of what it means to be good. We often think that to be a “good Christian” means going to church, singing the songs, reading our Bibles, and never smoking, drinking, cussing, or having sex. But what does the New Testament actually say about being “good?”


First of all, goodness is a characteristic of God himself. 

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.” (Mark 10:17-18)

If goodness is a trait that belongs first and foremost to God himself, then I daresay that “being good” has little to do with church-y stuff. It probably has more to do with people stuff – love, self-sacrifice, compassion, etc. To be good is to strive to attain the character of God for our own.

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Second, there seems to be a difference between righteousness and goodness.

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. (Romans 5:7)

If I’m a car salesman and I sell you a car for the sticker price, which is a fair price, then I could be considered righteous. But if I knock $5000 off the price with free maintenance for the lifetime of the car so that a single mother can have a way to get her kids to school and herself to work, then I might be considered a good man.

I think we confuse righteousness and goodness. Yes, we are declared “righteous” before God when we rise from the waters of baptism, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we are striving to embrace the character of God in our own lives. Righteousness turns us in the direction of God. Goodness takes us closer to Him.

Make every effort to add to your faith goodness. The church needs more good people.

Have you ever felt that your faith, your walk with God, your prayer life, your whatever of an existence was ineffective and unproductive?

No?

Then you must not be a minister…

I think one of the biggest challenges, one of Satan’s greatest tools against ministers is self-doubt. Okay, so I can’t speak for all ministers, but I know this is definitely the case for me! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve laid awake at night with thoughts of self-doubt flying through my head like the Tasmanian Devil in Looney Tunes. Am I making any difference at all? Are my class lessons getting through? Am I leading worship like I should? Why were there only three kids in class last night? Am I spending enough time with my family? Am I devoting enough time to the ministry? Why did I eat so much pizza? Why did I drink that coffee at eight pm?

I just have to snap myself out of my funk, pray, and give all my worries and doubts to God.

Good thing for us is that God, in his infinite wisdom, inspired his apostle Peter to address the very issue that I (and probably many other Christians) struggle with on a daily basis. Peter, who had many times where he felt ineffective and unproductive, shared these words with us.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 2 Peter 1:5-9

Notice that our faith journey is a process. We can’t just say, “Beam me up, Scotty,” and arrive all at once at a mature faith. It takes time. It takes discipline. And above all, it takes grace.

And I love that little jab Peter throws in there at the end. Whoever doesn’t go on this journey is nearsighted and blind. I’ve been in glasses since 2nd grade. My eyesight is horrible. Without glasses or contacts of a very strong prescription, I’m essentially flying blind. I can’t even let the dogs out at night without throwing on my glasses. Without some help from glasses or contacts, I will ineffective and unproductive all day – guaranteed.

So why are so many of us content to live out our faith like someone who refuses to go to the eye doctor? We’ve got our faith. We might even be good people. That should be enough, right? I can function. I can feel my way around the house.

But is that any way to live? Peter says that just having faith might allow you to survive, but you won’t really LIVE until you’ve added goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love.

Let’s grab our glasses, put in our contacts, and go on this journey together. Just imagine if every Christian could consider their faith “effective” and “productive.” Now imagine if you could consider your own faith that way.