Everything We Need
Everything We Need … And More
2 Peter 1:3,4
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these 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.
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ow can we live a life pleasing to God? We know we are responsible to be godly; but like the weary apostles waiting in the garden with Jesus, we soon learn that the spirit is willing, but the body is weak [Matthew 26:41]. We have the desire to be godly and to honour the Lord through our lives; yet, the sad testimony for the most is that the nearer we approach Christ the greater the awareness of our inability to do what we ought. The message today is designed to be a source of encouragement to weary saints. Join me in exploration of this delightful statement of Christ’s provision for life as a Christian.
The Breadth of Christ’s Provision (Everything we need for life and godliness) – No aspect of Christian life is untouched by God’s grace. We are saved by grace, just as it is written: it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast [Ephesians 2:8,9]. Christians are strengthened by grace: It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace [Hebrews 13:9]. We are each encouraged in our service by grace: May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word [2 Thessalonians 2:16,17]. Without doubt, when we stand complete in Him at His return, it will be by grace.
This grace which we Christians have received creates an overwhelming sense of awe in any who permit themselves to think about that grace. That God is gracious is no great mystery; that He should be gracious toward mankind is astounding! We are rebels to grace – at enmity with God and opposed to His grace. Who ever heard of anyone forgiving unconditionally one who perpetrated and perpetuated a horrible transgression? Even should an earthly situation occur in which one forgave without condition another bent on harming him, it would nevertheless beggar the imagination to think of the infinite and perfectly holy God of Glory forgiving the very ones who violated His righteousness. Who can fathom such grace?
The marvel is not that God is love; the marvel is that God is love despite our sin! At the point we deserved death, we were offered life. At the point we merited condemnation, we received forgiveness. At the point the conduct of our lives warranted judgement, we were given salvation. This is grace, and it causes those who permit themselves to think about it to marvel at a God who is loving and gracious.
Our God gives us salvation and then leaves us in the world that we may glorify His Name. It is true that we who are saved shall be presented before God and the angels to the praise of His glory [cf. Ephesians 1:12,14]. Nevertheless, we are charged with the responsibility of remaining in this world at this time that we may live lives reflecting God’s workmanship as those who have been created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do [Ephesians 2:10].
This is where the rub comes in – how can we do those good works? How can we live lives worthy of His Name? How can we accomplish all that He calls us to do? It is at this point that Peter provides us insight into God’s rich provision. His provision covers everything we need for life and godliness. In other words, there is no area in which God has not made provision for us to glorify His Name, and His provision insures our joy … now.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee once preached a sermon entitled All This, and Heaven Too. That sermon, based on Romans 5:1-11 if memory serves me, spoke of God’s rich provision to believers. We have peace with God, access into His grace, the ability to rejoice, hope in the face of opposition and suffering, and if that were somehow insufficient, we have complete confidence in His salvation. Peter makes much the same sweeping claim for the child of God when he states that He has given us everything we need for life and godliness.
God calls each believer to a specific ministry within the Body of Christ. Called, the Spirit equips each one to perform that assigned task to the praise of God’s glory. Whom God appoints, He equips. Likewise, God calls each believer to a life reflecting His character, His holiness, His grace. Whom God calls, He equips. There is no aspect of the Christian life which God has neither considered nor made provision for. Do we require emotional strength which we are lacking to stand against the insults and insinuations cast by friends so-called? God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Do we lack moral stamina to resist temptation? God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Perhaps we believe ourselves to have insufficient physical strength to complete our assigned course on earth. God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Experience leads me to insist, and this experience is but a faint echo of the Word of God, that God has given us everything we need for life and godliness.
All that believers need for life, for spiritual vitality, is already given us in Christ. All that believers need for godly living is given us in Christ. This word which is translated godliness is fascinating, for it speaks of piety, of a sense of worshipful awe before God. Accordingly, we are equipped to live lives worthy of His Name and we are equipped to glorify Him in worship as well as our daily walk. Then, let us live to the praise of His glory and let us determine that we will worship Him in Spirit and in truth.
The Basis of Christ’s Provision (His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him) – This leads to a second observation which concerns the basis for Christ’s provision to believers: all that we need is provided by His divine power. The focus of Peter’s statement is Christ’s provision to enable believers to live lives marked by spiritual vitality and godly piety. You will no doubt recall Jesus’ words which are recorded in Matthew 28:18: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. These words segue into the empowering corollary for believers: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations [Matthew 28:19]. Christ’s power is available to believers to enable them to fulfil His will. Because of Christ’s power, we can live lives worthy of His Name.
Have you considered Christ’s divinity? Is He God? Is He a demigod? Is He a mere man? It is worth our while establishing that this Jesus is very God. He is clearly declared to be God in the Word. I recently pointed out some of the pointed statements from the Word which present Jesus as God. Listen again to those familiar words from John’s Gospel and from Paul’s letters. From John’s Gospel: No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known [John 1:18].
From Paul’s letter to the Church in Rome we read these words concerning Jesus: Theirs [the Jewish nation] are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised [Romans 9:5]! Again, from the letter Paul penned to the young preacher, Titus: the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good [Titus 2:11-14].
In an earlier message we saw Peter beginning this letter with reference to Jesus as very God. He does this through addressing the letter to those who through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours [2 Peter 1:1].
The Jews understood Jesus to lay claim to divinity. When He made the great claim which yet comforts His people, I and the Father are one [John 10:30], the reaction of the Jews who were listening to Him revealed their perception of His claim. John writes: Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
“We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God” [John 10:31-33].
Jesus exercised power over nature, consistent with His claim to divinity. He restored sight to the blind and restored shrivelled legs and arms. He never attended a funeral but that He broke up the observance by raising the corpse to life. Those tormented by demons were set at liberty and the multitudes were fed. Jesus walked on the water and the quieted storm lay down at His feet like a chastened puppy. No wonder that Thomas fell before this Risen Christ and cried out in amazement, My Lord and my God [John 20:28]! One must be willingly blind to fail to see Jesus’ claim to divinity repeated and substantiated throughout the written Word.
Who is Jesus, Paul? He is God over all [Romans 9:5]! Paul, if I look at Jesus, do I see God? God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross [Colossians 1:19,20]. Is He God, Paul? He was in very nature God [Philippians 2:6]. Two thousand years of recorded history have witnessed repeated assaults against the claim of divinity for Jesus Christ. This claim has withstood every imaginable assault and multitudes still know Him as God Most High.
Why is this claim of divinity so important to our study today? If Jesus is not God, then we have no provision for life and godliness. If Jesus is not God, we are weak and our faith is futile. If Jesus is not God, we are deluded and deceived and destined to disappointment. If He is not God, we are to be pitied more than all men [1 Corinthians 15:19]. Yet, if He is God, we may be certain that His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through out knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.
There is a truth contained in this verse which is exciting beyond all imagination. The divine power of Christ our God is at our disposal when we live by faith. A young man in a former church once asked me about the degree of faith necessary to accomplish the will of God in daily life. The question arose out of the claims of some who insist that faith is measurable and that great faith is necessary to accomplish the will of God. The implication is that those who do not witness great miracles posses an inferior faith.
How much faith is required to serve God? How much faith is necessary to open one’s eyes to see the glory of God? How much faith is required to seize the hand of God when it is extended to us? How much faith is needed to receive God’s love and grace? Nowhere do we read that the degree of faith is a consideration in serving God. The issue is always the presence or the absence of faith. It is God who works; and it is God who is glorified in the working. If the degree of my faith is a factor in God’s work, I have reason to boast. In that case I am necessary to the work of God and I can either hinder or determine the timing of God’s working. However, that is not the God we serve.
The focus of the verse is what we have received as result of Christ’s power – power which is rightly His because He is God. Since Jesus is God, all that is lacking for us to see Him at work in our lives is an intimate knowledge of Him. What is meant by knowledge of Him? Though we are saved by faith, we are obligated as those redeemed by Christ to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ [2 Peter 3:18]. The impact of this statement is that we may be saved but not necessarily have knowledge of Christ. We may know about His glory and goodness, and yet not know experientially His godliness and goodness.
Peter focuses attention on our knowledge of Christ, suggesting that we were first attracted to Him by His glory and His goodness. If I was first attracted to Christ by these qualities, should it be any great surprise that these are the very qualities which God wills to see created in me as I am conformed to the likeness of [God’s] Son [cf. Romans 8:29]? The way to please God is an open secret to every believer: we are to reflect His glory and His goodness. Can you remember when you first became a child of God? You knew you were sinful and you knew Christ was gracious. You knew you could not please God through your own efforts, but you saw that Christ presented Himself as a perfect sacrifice in your place. You knew you could not make God love you, but you saw the love of God revealed in Christ the Son of God. You could do nothing other than respond to Him, receiving Him as Master and accepting His gracious offer of life through faith.
Dear friend, what do you know to be true about God’s glory? You have heard of the glory of the Lord, but have you experienced the glory of the Lord? Job questioned God, wondering why God permitted suffering. What is interesting is that after God revealed Himself, Job still didn’t have an answer; but He saw things in a different light. That old saint cried out before the Lord:
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes
[Job 42:5,6].
Perhaps you have heard about God’s glory, but have you experienced His glory? Have you walked with God in the beauty of holiness? Have you discovered the awesome wonder of His holiness? Have you seen His power revealed in the salvation of a soul? Have you discovered the fear of the Lord through knowledge of His righteousness? There is a great difference in knowing about God’s glory and knowing God’s glory. Many of us can tell what we have read concerning the glory of the Lord; but have we known the awe which impels us to despise ourselves and to repent in dust and ashes?
I observe a universal response to the revelation of divine glory – utter humility! John, exiled to the Isle of Patmos, was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day. Worshipping, he heard a voice behind him, and when he turned to see who was speaking he saw the risen Son of God. John states: when I saw him, I fell at His feet as though dead [Revelation 1:17]. When Jesus, with unveiled glory stood on the Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples fell facedown to the ground, terrified [Matthew 17:6]. The greatest evidence that we have not yet known the Lord in all His glory is the fact that we continue worship without a sense of awe, without wonder and without humility. Modern worshippers approach the throne of grace with something approaching brashness instead of boldness born out of freedom. Were we to know His glory we would reveal that knowledge through worship.
The second area Peter suggests as that which attracts us to Christ is His goodness. The translation, goodness, I consider to be somewhat pale and flaccid. Goodness has become a neutered concept in contemporary language. What would the first readers of this letter have seen when Peter stated that we were called by His own glory and ajreth'/? Other translators have struggled with this concept, rendering the word by our English words virtue or excellence, or the phrase moral excellence. Christ’s sinless nature was perhaps the first characteristic we found attractive when we were yet outsiders. It is the teaching about God our Saviour which is attractive to outsiders [Titus 2:10]; in particular, it is the knowledge that He fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law. Because we see in Him completeness, we are encouraged to believe that these same requirements may be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit [cf. Romans 8:4].
The Bounty of Christ’s Provision (Through these 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) – The phrase through these hearkens back to God’s glory and goodness. The very aspects of Christ’s character which we found so attractive when we first considered Christ as Master and Saviour are the basis for what we are destined to become. I stress again that we are destined to be conformed to the likeness of God’s Son [Romans 8:29].
When we live to glorify Christ, we are participating in the divine nature. When we worship Him in Spirit and in truth, we are participating in the divine nature. God has given us His very great and precious promises – access into His glory and His goodness. Because of this we are invited and enabled to participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. The remainder of the message is encouragement to employ this truth to practical advantage.
We live in a world saturated with sin; and even we who are called by the Name of the Living God are caught up in the attitudes of this dying world. Consequently, we question not only how we may live lives to the glory of God and which reflect His goodness, but we question whether it is possible to do so. Which of God’s righteous commandments is not only violated with alarming casualness and regularity, but also represented as outmoded to the Christian community? God Himself is mocked and righteousness is ridiculed. Though we have fewer idols of stone or wood than in ancient days, we are more idolatrous than ever. Blasphemy is considered de rigueur. Worship no longer has a place in contemporary life; and government seems to conspire to incite children to dishonour their parents.
Murder and anger which underlies that despicable act are ever present in society. Sexual immorality is not only acceptable but commonly employed to market everything thought necessary for modern life. Theft of goods and of time is commonplace and justified on the basis that we are stealing from large companies who can afford the loss. False testimony has become so commonplace that even the protectors of society, the police, are suspect when they speak. Greed is the foundation for modern commerce. Which of those ancient commandments is not routinely violated in modern society?
I suspect that we would each hesitate to present ourselves as models of virtue. Even if we have managed to keep ourselves from overt sin, we know ourselves. We know our thoughts and the futility of keeping those thoughts centred on Christ. We are dragged back toward the world either by our memory or because our thoughts rise up in accusation against us. Nevertheless it should be the aspiration of each one of us to say to those yet to come into the Faith of Christ, Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ [1 Corinthians 11:1]. More than serving as mere aspiration, Peter’s words serve to make us bold to believe that we can be examples of the believers, that we can live lives marked by the glory and the goodness of God. According to this promise, even in the midst of a world which is sinful beyond belief, we can each live life in such a manner that God’s glory and goodness is clearly seen in us.
For a moment, look at the one seated beside you who shares this service as a fellow worshipper. That one, if redeemed and in Christ, is now seen by God as sinless, as pure and holy. Could we but see as God sees we would be awed by this glorious creature sharing the service with us. This is the message of God through Paul. You have heard this passage many times before, but listen carefully once again to Ephesians 1:3-14.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Did you see what the Apostle said? We were chosen in Christ to be holy and blameless in God’s sight … We were predestined for the praise of His glory … We are marked in Christ with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. These are present realities! We are now holy and blameless in His sight. However, we are not free to ignore responsibility to be godly. What is already accomplished in eternity, and more importantly what is already a fact before the Living God, He has provided the means to insure that we can see fulfilled in this present life.
We can live lives reflecting the glory and goodness of God. We can please God. We can fulfil the will of God. We do not need to surrender to the evil desires of this life and thus experience the corruption which marks this dying world. We can have victory over the evil desires of the world. The means by which we may live such godly lives to the praise of God’s glory is because of His divine power.
As we walk with Christ, as we dwell on His Word and invest time with Him, we are drawing strength to resist the corruption of this world. It is not merely an issue of ridding ourselves of the decaying attitudes and thoughts associated with this world; it is that we must replace those attitudes and thoughts with those of the world to come. This is the message of Paul in the letter to the Philippians.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you [Philippians 4:8,9].
This is the message of Peter as he continues this letter and which we will consider in greater detail in a future message. 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, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, 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 [2 Peter 1:5-8].
Though I long for each one hearing the message today to be a Christian, the message has been aimed at believers. As those redeemed by God and saved by Christ, we believers are responsible to glorify Him through living as participating in the divine nature. We are to reflect the glory and goodness of our Father. Paul, writing the saints in Rome, appealed to them to remember their baptism. By that ordinance they confessed their death, burial and resurrection with Christ. Those who are baptised as Christ was baptised have identified with Him in His passion and in His glorification.
Having made this appeal, Paul then makes the following plea. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace [Romans 6:11-14].
Then follows a pointed application. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness [Romans 6:15-18].
I encourage you to choose to reflect His glory and goodness. Perhaps you need to come today, kneeling at an old fashioned altar to pray and seek the face of God. Perhaps you need to come before the Lord confessing that you need His cleansing and His healing that you may participate in that divine nature. Perhaps you need His refreshing tonight. Come, whatever the need and whatever the decision the Spirit may lay on your heart. Come now and receive His grace. May angels attend you in the way. Amen.