Jump Start # 2730

2 Peter 1:5 “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge.”

Here in our verse today we find what is commonly called the Christian virtues. These are qualities of the heart and character that must be added to our faith. They are not automatic. These are choices. Some have these, because they have chosen to grow in the Lord. Some lack these things, because they have not seen the value of adding these to their hearts.

Make every effort, or be diligent, as older translations refer to this, is the key. Effort, trying very hard, is another way of describing this. It’s putting in the extra hours of study to pass the test. It’s staying on the field or the court to practice even after the team has gone home. It’s putting in the time to make you the best that you can. It’s reading up on books that will help you be better at what you do. It’s always learning. It’s always pushing yourself. It’s never being satisfied where you are. It’s wanting to be the best that you can be.

Putting in the extra time to make a difference. Going the second mile. Doing more than what is required or expected. When one puts in the effort, it pays off in the end. Some are content to just barely pass while doing as little as possible. That reflects an attitude beyond school work. It’s shown in what they do at work.  It’s shown in their walk with God. Do as little as possible, or put in the effort.

Some things come from this:

First, it is recognizing that I can still learn, grow and do better. Arrogance tells us that we have reached the mountain top. And, with that spirit, one will just float on what they have learned in the past. It won’t be long, and others will be passing that person. All of us can improve, including us preachers.

Second, it is recognizing how I get better. Some know that they ought to get better, but they don’t know how to accomplish that. Ask others what they are reading. Not the fiction stuff, but the kind of material that will help you be a better parent, or communicate better, or lead better. It’s talking to those who know what you don’t know. It’s asking questions. It’s being humble enough that you can learn from others, even younger than you are.

Third, it is recognizing that to improve hours and muscles must be poured into this project. We call that simply, “effort.” It takes effort to learn. It takes effort to work your way through books, videos and other tools that will help you. There are no short cuts. Devote the time and it will pay off.

Many years ago, I took a look, a very serious look, at some of the best writers in devotional books. I looked at how they saw passages. I learned how to see things that are right there in the text. Book after book, I read. I didn’t agree with many things these writers were saying doctrinally, but they had a masterful way of putting things into words. Concise. Practical. Easy to read. Short and to the point. And, what has happened is that it influenced not only the way I could see treasures in God’s word, but it impacted the way I wrote. That was a bridge I wanted to cross over and become better. Writing was never something I enjoyed in high school or college. Now, all these years later, I enjoy it and benefit from it. What happened was I put the effort into it. It was something that was important to me.

Fourth, it is recognizing that once you have put in the effort you become a useful help to others. You share what you have learned with others. You enrich the lives of others. You use your talents to help others.

Make every effort—here’s what it might look like spiritually:

• It’s the song leader who is not satisfied with singing the same songs that he is comfortable with. He listens to recordings of other songs. He practices at home. He asks others for help and advice. He is putting in the effort to be the best that he can be.

• It’s the Bible class teacher that looks for creative ways to teach God’s word. Never satisfied with just repeating the same lessons over and over, this person puts in the effort to find new class material that will fit what she is teaching. She watches videos of others to learn.

• It’s the shepherd who is always learning about leadership. He reads book after book about communicating, leading, connecting. He wants to be the best that he can.

• It’s the preacher who is always reading and learning. He talks to other preachers about what they are doing. He is never satisfied with his sermons. He wants to make them better. He wants to be better. He learns about the best technological tools on the market. He learns about social media and how to effectively spread God’s word that way.

• It’s the Christian who brings Bible, pen and notebook to services. He writes down all kinds of notes. He wants to remember. He wants to learn. He is never content with where he is.

Make every effort. Be diligent. Bust it. Pour your heart into it. You can become confident and comfortable with the Bible. You can be a person who truly prays to God. You can be a Barnabas to your congregation. You can do what you do even better.

It’s a matter of trying hard, which naturally leads to, How hard are you trying?

Roger

Jump Start # 2239

2 Peter 1:5 “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge.”

Did you catch any of the funeral of President George Bush? I missed most of the Washington funeral. That was designed as a formal national funeral. All the living presidents were there. Lots of speeches about his career. The funeral yesterday in Houston had a different tone to it. It was personal, family and spiritual. Granddaughters read Scriptures. A grandson spoke. His preacher talked about the spiritual side of the man. There was a lot of dignity, honor and goodness. The event was classy.

This is where our verse comes in. Peter tells his Christian readers to add moral excellence to their faith. Other translations simply use the word, ‘virtue.’ The last chapter of Proverbs is commonly referred to as “the Virtuous Woman.” Words like decent, goodness, honorable, character flow from the word virtue. The mood surrounding today’s political climate is mean, nasty and selfish. A lot of name calling. A lot of division. A lot of talk and not much doing. Middle Americans are pretty turned off of what we see in politics today. But then we have a national funeral. A good man who gave his life to serving is remembered. The atmosphere seemed to change, at least for that moment. There was a spirit of being good to one another. Virtue has a way of doing that to a person. It tends to rub off on others. It makes others want to be good. How a culture honors and respects their dead says much about the heart of the times.

Here are some thoughts:

First, the length of our funerals has changed in the past few decades. It wasn’t too long ago that a family had two nights of visitation at the funeral home, and then came the funeral. That was shortened to a day of visitation and then the day of the funeral. It is common today to have a few hours of visitation right before the funeral. Everything in one day. That’s just the change in our times and it is more convenient for families. The Bush family have had what seems to be a week of funerals, but that was unique because of who George was and his position in the world of politics.

Second, as our nation continues to turn secular, many families are at a loss about the purpose of a funeral and what is supposed to happen. Less and less are preachers called, because no one in the family knows any preachers because no one in the family worships. So a family member is called upon to tell funny jokes and unbiblical references are made about fishing and having fun in Heaven. The family in the audience has no clue about what Heaven is like and who goes to Heaven. No thought is given to our rapid approach to our own deaths and how we ought to be living. That’s too preachy for a secular audience. The person who died never went to worship nor read the Bible, yet the family is firmly convinced that he is in Heaven, looking down and even once and a while sending messages to them. They do not understand God, the Lord’s wonderful sacrifice or the nature of Heaven. They have no interest in knowing these things. As quickly as the funeral is over, they shift back into the secular, busy mode and life goes on as if nothing every happened. I have seen full cans of beer left on tombstones in cemeteries. I suppose that represents the person’s life and in the mind of the family, they think he’s drinking a beer in Heaven with all his buddies who have passed on. What a contrast to the funeral of a Christian where hope, character, service and goodness are the qualities remembered. Scriptures are read. Prayers are offered. God is spoken throughout with reverence and holiness.

Third, what we leave a cemetery with is the memories of the departed person. This is where character truly impacts a person. This is where virtue makes all the difference. The funeral of a celebrity or a nationally known person draws the curious just because we have heard about this famous person. But for you and I, most of the funerals we attend are family and friends. It’s character, love and hope that makes the difference here. We remember simple things from the past. We remember a grandmother who made us cookies or read to us. We remember an uncle who took us fishing. We remember goodness, kindness and love. We remember someone who gave us a chance when we were starting out. We remember a mentor. We remember a coach, a school teacher, that made a difference. Goodness is remembered. And, that goodness has a way of making us wonder about our own lives. Are we walking in the same steps of helping others? Are we going out of our way for others? Sometimes it’s a funeral that shakes us a bit and makes us think about what’s really important in life. We can get so caught up in keeping up with others and image, that we forget about character. We’ve made sure that the outside image is polished and looking good, but we’ve forgotten about the inside, who we really are. We sit at a funeral and think about this person who didn’t care about giving up a Saturday to help someone. Floods of memories and stories come to your mind. Here is someone who gave a few dollars to help someone out. Here is someone who walked through life with a smile. Maybe his image was plain and simple. Maybe he didn’t care so much about labels and having the latest. Maybe his life seemed to run at a slower pace than ours, but something pulls us to that person. There was a goodness, a virtue about him, that made others seem special. You sit. You think. You reflect. You’re not seeing that at work. It’s cut throat there. You’re not seeing that in the neighborhood. You’re not seeing that even in the family. You wish you could go back to those earlier days. Things seemed less self centered then. People seemed to value people more than stuff. You didn’t have all this crazy insensitive “you can’t say that,” floating through the air. People naturally cared. You think so more. People seem so uptight today. People seem so angry today. People seem so busy today. Everyone is on their cell phone but no one has any real friends. And, you think.

You came to the funeral to show your respect to someone you cared about. However, you leave the funeral, thinking, “I need to change. I am going to do better.” That’s the way virtue works. It’s appealing and it’s contagious. Moral goodness shines especially in the sewer of our times. We see it missing in so many places. Doing the right thing, simply because it’s the right thing to do. Thinking more of the other person than yourself. Giving up of your time to help someone. Virtue. Goodness. Rightness. It’s like the sun peeking out after days and days of dark clouds. Virtue shines so brightly. Virtue makes you want to serve others.

It is the funerals of the virtuous that do us the most good. It makes us wonder what in the world are we doing? It makes us seem so self-centered. It makes us lower our heads in shame and think why am I not that way? What matters, it comes out in funerals. Character. Relationships. Goodness. Love. Virtue.

Peter wants us to add virtue to our character. It’s the first thing that follows faith. Faith and then virtue. Goodness. Character. Service. Heart. Honor. Decency. Respect.

These are the things that are noticed in life. These are the things that we need to live and show others. The dignity of life. It must be lived before it can be talked about at a funeral.

Roger

Jump Start # 1894

2 Peter 1:5 “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge.”

Our verse today comes from the series of expressions often called the Christian virtues. These verses define the character and the heart of a disciple of Jesus. There are eight specific qualities listed here, beginning with faith and ending with love. These are not only connected to each other but they seem to progressive in nature. It all starts with faith. Without faith, the others won’t follow. Peter also tells us that these things are to be supplied or added. They are not natural. They are choices that a follower of Christ makes. Which tells us that some won’t do it. Some won’t manifest these qualities and therefore their lives will not truly reflect Christ as it should.

Today, we want to focus on the second character, “Moral Excellence.” The word “virtue” is a common translation of this expression. We often refer to the woman described in Proverbs 31 as the “virtuous woman.” For some today, “virtue” seems old fashioned and being a fuddy duddy.

Moral Excellence—two words. Excellence, the best. Doing things well. Morals—our standards. Morals influence our choice of clothing. It influences our choice of words. Our body language and even being a flirt falls under morals. It’s pretty obvious that the world has given up on morals. Folks will say anything and wear nothing about all the time. Modesty is gone. Being embarrassed doesn’t happen. The language is shocking. The clothing is shocking. The attitudes are shocking. From the movies to TV shows to music, decency is gone and the improper and inappropriate have become the norm. Sex before marriage. Raw and obscene talk. Immodesty. And this too often describes the local high school, that is simply following mainstream U.S.A.

We are called to be different. Moral Excellence. Raise the bar. Expect better. Be better. Don’t settle for second place. Excellence. Don’t go for the consolation prize. Excellence. We need to teach this in our churches and we need to show this in our homes. It begins young. If we don’t teach them moral excellence, our children will quickly learn to follow the crowd, which tends settle for the easy and the fun. What is best and what is right doesn’t enter the minds of most folks.

Moral Excellence in our clothing. Simply stated, we must be modest. Adam and Eve wore leaves and God clothed them with animal skins. The world wants to go back to the fig leaves. Modesty. The more skin you show the less godly character you are revealing. Your clothes reflects your faith. This is why faith comes before moral excellence. The more skin you show the more you send the wrong message. Excellence. Remember? This makes shopping hard. Manufactures are not into moral excellence. They want you to look hot, available and sexy. Parents must take the lead in helping their children learn modesty. This is hard when someone is looking for a bridal dress. You may have to add pieces to it. God doesn’t give you a pass that you can be immodest because you are in a wedding. Excellence.

Moral excellence in our behavior with one another. Flirting is part of the dating process. But too much touching leads to too much affection. Those who are married ought to only flirt with their spouses and no one else. Office flirting leads to office affairs. Excellence. Moral excellence. Some conversations are off limits and you do not need to participate in them because they are neither moral nor excellent. “Oh, we’re just having fun,” is no reason to drop your character and turn off your light that you ought to be shinning. Excellence. Excellence in your words. Excellence in your behavior. Excellence in your influence and impressions that you leave. When dating, moral excellence. Observe the “Out of bounds” that God places around the body that is only offered to the person that you are married to. A boy that pushes the limits or a girl that is willing to go to far, is not the excellent choice. Things will happen and they won’t be moral or excellent. Why settle for someone who ignores God on this. If they will do that, will they ignore God on worship? Salvation? Excellence. Look for it and be that yourself. Have fun together but keep the excellence as a standard. Anyone that won’t appreciate that nor show that ought to hit the road.

Moral excellence in our dealings with one another. That takes care of lying, doesn’t it? That will kill deception. That will make our business dealings above board. No cheating to make a few more dollars. No with holding what we know is wrong so the sale goes through. Moral Excellence. Doing what is right. Treating one another right. This some times is even missing among brethren. The church feels it’s time for a change in preaching. That happens. Preachers come and go. Be excellent in how you handle that. Go beyond what is expected. The same goes for the preacher. He feels it’s time to leave. Then leave honorably. Don’t start another church around the block. Don’t leave slinging mud and being ugly. Don’t make demands. Don’t go out as a crybaby. Moral excellence.

Excellence means the best. We ought to give our best and we ought to expect the best. Give our best when worshipping God. Give our best when doing things. Give our best when living for Jesus. Add this to your faith. Supply this. How?

Look to Jesus. The corrupted world wants to bring Jesus into the mud. The Gospels won’t allow that. Jesus was around many women. Bent over woman. Woman at the well. Mary Magdalene. Mary and Martha. The adulterous woman. The Canaanite woman. In all these occasions, there is not one hint that Jesus was inappropriate. Excellence among them. Moral among them. No off color jokes. No in appropriate touching. No suggestive language. No teasing. No flirting. Nothing that someone could make that was less than excellent.

Do what Jesus did. Follow His example.

Use your faith. This is why faith comes before virtue. Your faith reminds you of who you are and where you are going. Your faith connects you to Christ. To your faith, you add virtue. You build upon that faith. You grow that faith. You become more and more like a disciple of Jesus.

Excellence in morals. Virtue. God expects that. Don’t settle. Rise to the best that God wants from you.

Roger

Jump Start # 1708

2 Peter 1:5 “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge”

Our verse today begins what is commonly called the Christian virtues. Peter is listing the qualities of the character of a child of God. He begins with faith, the fundamental foundational element of our relationship with God. Without faith, there is nothing else. From faith, Peter lists seven more qualities, starting with moral excellence or virtue and ending with love.

There are some lessons to be seen here:

First, it seems that these qualities are in a special order, one leads to another. They are connected. It doesn’t work to skip a few and jump to the end of the list. They are not only tied together, as the list progresses, the items Peter lists are more complex and move from our hearts to the way we treat others. Self control, for instance, is about us. Brotherly kindness, is about treating others.

Second, tying these qualities together with the word “add” or, “supply,” it shows that this is an action which we must take. We are the one adding. We are the driving force here. This doesn’t just happen. Why is it that some lack godliness or kindness toward others? They haven’t added these qualities to their faith. They haven’t developed. This takes thought, choice and will.

Third, the character of the Christian is what people notice more than anything else. We often emphasize doctrine, what we believe, but it’s the Christian in action that people really see. It’s the heart, the attitude, the involvement that people will see. You can be as right as you are in doctrine, but if you are not living and demonstrating Christ in your life, if your walk doesn’t match your talk, then you kill your influence. No one understands this more than your own family. There is no faking things at home. The family knows. They see how you act. They hear your words. They see what shows you watch. They pick up on your attitude. It’s at home that we lead our family to Christ or we stand in the way of the Cross.

Character is what is missing in this Presidential campaign. The populace doesn’t like nor trust either candidate. No one is shinning bright in this election. Mud throwing, character attacks, accusations, finger pointing, yelling has become the new low standard. We wonder where do we go from here? Can it get worse?

Character is who you are. Character is what you are on the insides. Some can paint a pretty picture of themselves, but sooner or later the character shows what the person is really like. Godly. Caring. Moral. Controlled. Enduring. Faithful. Kind. This is what Peter sees is at the heart of a Christian.

Sometimes we define our faith in negative terms. A Christian doesn’t cuss. A Christian doesn’t lie. A Christian doesn’t steal. A Christian doesn’t…doesn’t…doesn’t. It makes a person wonder, “What does a Christian DO?” Peter’s list tells us. Peter’s list embraces the positive aspects of character.

Fourth, Peter goes on to tell us that if these qualities are ours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the Lord. These virtues are the heart of what a Christian is. They will lead a Christian to action. If one has the brotherly kindness, then he will show that towards others. He will be there. He will help. He will be involved. If he has godliness, then he will apologize as well as forgive those who have hurt him. That’s what God does. That’s being like God.

These qualities are to be increasing. One doesn’t just develop these and then check them off the list. He is continually developing in these areas. His faith grows. His knowledge grows. He gets better in self control. He increases his ability to endure. His love grows. Most of us can see that in our lives. We look back ten years and what we know now and what we are doing now is so much more than back then. We have increased. He have grown. It is interesting that 2 Peter ends with, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Grow. Increase. Don’t stop. The more we are increasing in these areas, the better we become.

Fifth, Peter adds, “for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.” WOW. Never fall from Christ.  What happens when we mess up? We stopped practicing these things. We stopped being godly. We stopped growing in knowledge. Our faith weakened. When we no longer practice these things, we stumble. But as long as we are doing these things we won’t. It’s hard for Satan to get in when we are growing in godliness, knowledge, faith and perseverance. When we are doing these things, we are moving toward Christ. It’s when we stop moving, when we become stationary, that Satan catches us.

Sixth, these qualities are up to me to develop. The church can’t do this for me. The church can offer a class, even on 2 Peter. It can define these words. It can show me why I ought to be doing these things, but it comes down to me doing it. The lazy bone. The busy world. The too many commitments and what happens is that we do not add. We keep what we have, but we don’t add. So for some of us, we get older, but not better. It’s like being 18 years old and still in the 3rd grade. We’ve just not applied ourselves spiritually. Once we were baptized, we just leveled off. We have stayed that way for a long, long time. Others, younger than we are, have passed us. They seem to know more and be doing better than we are. We wonder why? The answer is simple. We have not added to our faith. We have maintained. We have stayed in the same place. It’s like the little boy who fell out of bed. When his mother asked him what happened, he replied, “I stayed too close to where I got in. “ That can be us spiritually. Maturity, leadership, growth, involvement comes with those who are increasing. Those that don’t struggle. It’s the same things over and over.

So, we need to get at it. It begins with your faith. To your faith add or supply moral excellence. That’s where you start. Purity of heart. Clean eyes and clean mouth and clean heart. Add to it. Get about it. Make the right choices, not the easy ones. Turn off the TV and open up God’s book. Think. Apply. Become.

Peter shows us the picture of a Christian. Is it you?

Roger