Eight Essential Vitamins

Pastor Peter was instructed by the Lord Jesus to “feed my sheep.” He does so in his First Letter by addressing the pressures from outside culture. He does so in the 2nd Letter by addressing false teachings and evildoers who actually come into the church.

Shepherd Peter is trying to do three things. First, he wants these believers to grow in their faith. Everything he writes in his letters seeks this end. Second, he wants to warn them about and combat false teaching in the church. And third, he wants to encourage them to be watchful in view of the Lord’s certain return.

Have you ever watched baby chicks with a mother hen? The mother hen will crush food in her beak and drop it in front of the chicks, clucking as she does so. The chicks know that it is mealtime, and they gather around her peeping and running everywhere, looking for food. They devour what she points out without hesitation or discrimination. They trust her completely, and she only wants to do them good.

A false teacher does not care about the new believers. He is a charlatan, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He wants to fleece the sheep, not feed the sheep. When believers are young they are so eager to learn. They are naïve about the motivations of teachers. They are innocent children, following without asking questions.

False teachers seem always to be present in the church. They enrich themselves by feeding lies to new believers. The new believers have to grow out of this stage where they consume everything they are fed.

I have been invited to Nepal to participate in a Bible conference and teach in the churches there. They are new churches with many new believers. They are asking for help clarifying the nature of the gospel. Already what is called the Prosperity Gospel has come to these new believers and confused some. They also want the Bible teachers to talk about the Kingdom of God—what it means and how we participate in it.

Add to Your Faith These Qualities:

For this very reason: 

• “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us…” (2 Peter 1:3)

• “He has given us his very great and precious promises so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:4)

“Make every effort”

• This is going to require effort on your part. This will not happen automatically. You must apply yourself.

• The absence of this effort is the greatest threat to your life in Christ.

Possess these qualities in increasing measure:

 

• Faith. Pistis. It includes assurance, fidelity. Your faith is very important to you. You trust in God. That trust gets you through the difficult times of life. But you can improve your faith. You can make it fuller, stronger, and better. You can enrich yoiur faith by cultivating and developing these virtues.

• Goodness. “Moral excellence, virtue.” He moves from faith to the quality of behavior that follows God in his own goodness (v3). This is about lifestyle and behavior.

• Knowledge. This is a big word in this little letter. New believers need to follow the Savior not only in lifestyle but also in understanding of the gospel.

• This is an objective knowledge. We believe that God is the foundation of all knowledge. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7).
• God is the authority on knowledge. He has given us his word, which Peter will soon discuss more at length.
• Self-control. “Temperance. The virtue of one who masters his desires and passions.” This is the ability to harness the energy and resources of your life to accomplish the goal you have chosen without being sidetracked and derailed by your passions.

• Perseverance. “Patience.” Hypomone. The ability to remain under, endure. “Run with perseverance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). This is the quality of character that keeps you going toward your goal even when times are tough.

• Godliness. “Reverence and respect. Piety toward God.” This is you pursuing the highest level of your inner being.

• Mutual affection. Philadelphia. “Brotherly kindness.” This strengthens the bonds between you and all those you love. It is the practical outworking of affection into actions.

• Love. Agape. Affection. Good will. Benevolence. Here we have the queen of the virtues, the giving of ourselves on behalf of others. AGAPE sums up the nature of God better than any other Greek word, according to the Apostle John. We only remain in God as we remain in love.

 

Avoid Ineffective and Unproductive Living:

What is the meaning of ineffective and unproductive?

 

• Ineffective means useless. It describes something that does not work like it is designed to do such as fields, trees, and people. No one likes the feeling of being useless and ineffective. How do you avoid that feeling and that reality? You receive these add-ons to your faith.

• Unproductive means fruitless, the condition of not yielding what you ought to yield. We measure productivity in our economy because it tells us how we are doing in the creation and delivery of goods and services. To be fruitless means that you are not fulfilling the purpose for which you were created.
  

The productivity and effectiveness of your life’s work may be guaranteed only through the development of these virtues listed here. That is true because:

 

• Who you are is even more basic than what you do. You relate to others out of this core of your inner being.

• These qualities channel the power of God through your life. They are the divine nature revealed in you.

What does life look like with these qualities?

• To get the most accurate picture of what life looks like when these qualities are added to your faith, you must read the Gospel accounts about Jesus. You must hear him speak and see him relate to people.

• We have just spent two months meditating on the Apostle John’s account of the Woman at the Well. Return to that narrative and pay attention to who Jesus is. You are seeing these qualities of character exemplified in him.

 

Avoid Spiritual Blindness and Dementia:

“whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins” (2 Peter 1:9).     

Sight problems are an affliction. We go to the doctor to get them corrected, if they can be corrected. We will do most anything to keep our sight.

The lens through which you see the world most accurately is faith with the add-ons of these virtues. Just as your physical appetite can deplete your vision, so your spiritual appetite can cause spiritual blindness. You must work on these virtues in your life so you can see God and people and the world and yourself as they truly are, not as you imagine them to be.

Forgiven. I was driving down the highway studying license plates. I saw one that was a custom plate. I began to think about a custom plate for my own vehicle. What would it say? I finally settled on the word Forgiven. It is a huge word. And it says so much.

• The word forgiven assumes a moral order to this universe.

• The word forgiven announces moral failure.

• The word forgiven embraces the existence of God who is able to remove the blight of moral failure.

• The word forgiven envisions that God is good and loving and full of grace and will actually do this for us.

• I have had the experience many times of walking into a nursing home or a hospital room and asking someone that I have known and love, “Do you know who I am?” And I am relieved and blessed if they say, “Pastor Crosby.”

The worst kind of dementia is our loss of spiritual memory concerning the forgiveness God has extended to us through Christ. We can never forget this. If we forget that we have been forgiven, then none of these qualities will develop in our lives as they should. We will be blind and stunted and unable to live a useful and productive life.

• ”Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see.”