“Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature." 2 Peter 1:4
My last two messages have been introductions to Peter’s second letter, and we have considered why he wrote it and who he was writing to. We can think of it as a general letter, in that it isn’t addressed to a particular person by name. It isn’t written to ‘Dear Richard’, for example, or Olive, or Matthew. However, it is also specific, in that it is written to a particular group of people. Peter calls them (2 Peter 1:1), ‘Those who… have received a faith as precious as ours.’ They are people who have ‘faith’. They believe in something. Actually, they believe in some-one. Their hope is in a person; a person called, ‘Jesus’. The bible calls them ‘believers’, and it likens them to a family.
Last Sunday, Tim spoke about the ongoing connection that should be part of Church life. We shouldn’t be on our own. We shouldn’t feel that we are on our own. If we are on our own, or we feel that we are on our own, then the Church is failing. We are part of something. Just as we may feel a sense of belonging to our close family, so we should feel a sense of belonging to others who share our faith.
Those people who make up the New Testament Church are often described, in our NIV translation, as ‘brothers and sisters’ (as Acts 21:17). And Galatians 6:10 speaks of ‘the family of believers.’
So, how did this group of people; this family ‘household’ (Galatians 6:10 (AV), come to have faith? Well, Peter tells us, in verse 1. It was ‘through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ’. ‘Righteousness’ is very much a Bible word. It doesn’t feature in everyone’s, everyday language. Unless, of course, we are reformed, evangelical, Christians. In which case, it may feature just a little bit too much, confusing everyone else! What does it mean?
Well, what is the opposite of ‘wrong’? It is ‘right’. They are moral opposites. To help my own sluggish mind, I like to think of ‘righteousness’ as ‘rightness’. It is a standard of rightness, or goodness. The Bible’s standard of good, is not my standard of good. It is much higher than that. It is God’s own standard of good. When Peter says that our faith has come about from the ‘righteousness of… Jesus Christ’, he is reminding us of the absolute goodness of Jesus.
The Bible teaches us that we live in a corrupted world. We find this sentiment in verse 4 of our chapter today, ‘the corruption in the world’. Because God’s creation has been corrupted, it is now impossible for humans to keep God’s standard of good. Romans 3 borrows from the language of Psalm 14, to write a general statement about mankind. In Psalm 14, we have a picture painted of God looking down from heaven and holding his standard against every man, woman, and child, who ever lived on earth, looking for a match. At the end, a conclusion is reached. ‘There is no one who does good, not even one’ (Psalm 14:3, Romans 3:12).
This corruption has brought about separation. The only way to have a relationship with God, is to have a standard of life which matches his standard. Because we were all adrift of God’s standard of good, we couldn’t have a relationship with him. There was no way. But God found a way. We find it in the ‘Gospel’, which is another word, which believers use. It means ‘good news’.
Imagine that you were desperate for a meaningful relationship with another person, but that relationship was out of reach because of your past. Previously, you had something really wrong. You had committed a terrible crime against that person and caused the utmost offense. One day, someone comes to you with a message from that person. They tell you that there is a way back. You can have the closest relationship possible, in the future, on one condition. You might think, ‘Wow! What do I have to do? I’d do anything.’ All sorts of things might come into your head about what lengths you would to go to. But then they tell you this. All you have to do, to achieve reconciliation, is to believe that you are fully and freely forgiven. Nothing less, and nothing more. Would you call that ‘good news’? Because, the Bible does too.
Jesus came to this earth to live a life. That life matched God’s perfect standard. He then died a cruel death of crucifixion. Then he rose again from the dead, proving that he had won the greatest of battles. In 2 Timothy 1:10 (NLT), we read this, about the Bible’s message concerning Jesus. ‘He (God) has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Saviour. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News.’
Jesus lived the perfect life that we could not. He endured separation and suffering in place of us. God now sends us a message of ‘good news’. If you ‘believe’, that you are fully and freely forgiven, through the God-matching, standard of life, of Jesus, which God now donates to you, then something will happen. It is this. You will be. You will be fully and freely forgiven.
Have you done this? If so, then, welcome. Welcome to the family!
But, what now? Well, now, we are to follow Jesus. He is to be our ‘Lord’. This term is in verse 2, of 2 Peter 1, ‘Jesus our Lord’. This expresses the authority that Jesus now has over our lives. In 1 Thessalonians 4, the first section is titled, in our NIV translation, ‘Living to please God’. When the apostle Paul wrote to those believers in Thessalonica, he gave them instructions on how they should live their lives. In verse 2, he calls these, ‘instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.’ Paul tells the believers that they cannot continue living like they used to do, before they knew Jesus as their Lord and Master.
But this begs the question, if none of them could do good before, how can they do it now? This seems extra-ordinary. And there is an extra-ordinary claim made by Peter in verse 4 of today’s chapter. He says, ‘you may participate in the divine nature’. We have a ‘share’ (NLT) in a new, more God-pleasing nature. How do we get this? We don’t get it, we are ‘given it’. Verse 3 begins with the phrase, ‘His divine power has given us…’ Verse 4 has a similar sentiment, ‘… he has given us…’ It is a gift.
This idea of a new nature is not easy to grasp. Later in this letter, Peter mentions the writings of the apostle Paul. He wholeheartedly recommends them to the Church, but acknowledges something really significant, and in a really honest way. I absolutely love Peter’s humble admission. In 2 Peter 3:16 he says, about Paul, ‘his letters contain some things that are hard to understand…’ We may read Peter’s words and think, ‘you and Paul both’! These truths are not easy. But together we can try to unpack them.
God’s word is like a suitcase. When a suitcase is crammed full, we cannot see what is in it by just staring at the outside. We need to take things out and unfold them and, perhaps, hold them up them up to the light to inspect them, to assess what we really have. Who enjoys unpacking their suitcase when they come back from holiday? It isn’t an easy job. Have we ever had someone help us do it? How much easier was it? That is one of the functions of Church life. We try to unpack our Lord’s trunk of truth, together. It is a hard job sometimes but, together, we can make it easier.
The writer to the Hebrews, alludes to this new nature, and how it comes about. He borrows from some of the Old Testament prophecies found in Ezekiel 36 (v. 26-27), and Jeremiah 31 (v.33). In Hebrews 8 10, he ‘declares’ this of ‘the Lord’. ‘I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts…’
One of my all-time favourite Old Testament prophecies is found in Jeremiah 32:40. It is about the new agreement that God promises he is going to have with people who will come to believe in him, through his son, Jesus. It says, ‘I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.’
It is as if God is prepared to breathe good things into us. The love of God, displayed in the life of Jesus, is meant to ‘inspire’ us ‘to fear’ him, and to continue to follow him. Are we surprised that God is prepared to do this? We shouldn’t be. He has already given us the ‘indescribable gift’ (2 Corinthians 9:15) of his precious Son. As Romans 8:32 reminds us, ‘He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?’
‘All things.’ This reminds me of another verse of scripture found in 1 Corinthians 3. I think that chapter can be very useful to answer another question that may arise in our minds. That question is this, if we are given a new nature, does our old nature; our failed, human nature disappear? It does not.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul is writing to the church about things that they had got wrong. That Church was starting to be overtaken by the continuing influence of the old nature. Some were embracing error. Others were ignoring the presence of error. In chapter 3, Paul tells them, that rather than being influenced by the divine nature, their lives were quite the opposite. He questions them like this (v.3), ‘Are you not acting like mere humans?’ What was it that they were doing? They were (v.21), ‘boasting about human (Church) leaders!’ Some were proudly outspoken that they held Paul, himself, as their main teacher of Christian doctrine. Others boasted about their own following of a man named Apollos. Paul confronts them with the foolishness of such things. He reminds them of the right way that we should view Church leaders. They are (v.3), ‘only servants’. Ultimately, the Church has one leader, and one Lord, Jesus himself. Others, who are called to lead the local Church family in different towns and cities, are not placed in that role to serve themselves, but to serve Jesus, and to serve his people.
Paul finishes his rebuke with a wonderful conclusion, which highlights the fact that all truth spoken in the name of Jesus, belongs to all the Church. We cannot boast, because each believer has no more claim, and no less claim, on Gospel truth than any other. All these things belong equally to all. Paul says (v.21-23), ‘So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas (which is another name for Peter) or the world or life or death or the present or the future – all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.’
Peter tells us more. In verse 3 of today’s chapter, he speaks of the glory and goodness of God. He says that, ‘through these’, in verse 4, he has gifted us again. ‘He has given us his very great and precious promises’. Why? Are we given these things randomly, or for a reason?
A few years ago, when I was 40, I received a gift. My wife bought me a sewing machine. She had good reason to do so. The sewing machine is relatively heavy. But she didn’t give it to me to act as a paperweight. It also has a certain aesthetic quality to it. If you like machines, it looks alright. But she didn’t give it to me to be used as an ornament, or objet d’art. Her reason for gifting it was this. I like sewing. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:8, speaks about himself. In the AV translation, he says that he was, ‘one born out of due time’. I feel like that sometimes, although in a different way to Paul. I believe in ‘make do and mend’, like most people did, if we go back a couple of generations, or so.
Actually, I believe in making do, but my wife encourages me to mend! The reason she gave me the sewing machine was to stop my clothes unravelling. The thing that I have mended the most is my pairs of cycling shorts. They are an item that get a fair bit of hard use, which causes the stitching to gradually come undone. Left alone, this could become embarrassing for me, and for my wife! But, because of her gift, that isn’t going to happen.
Why did our Lord, gift us his ‘very great and precious promises’? We find them in the Bible. It is a relatively heavy book. But he didn’t give them to us so that we might have a paperweight. A lot of Bibles are really nicely presented, perhaps with leather binding or colourful coverings. But God didn’t give them as an ornament to make our bookshelf look pretty. Peter says, about these promises, ‘through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.’
The implication is clear. Without them; without the use of them, or recall of them, we won’t. We won’t, ‘participate in the divine nature.’ We won’t escape, ‘the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.’ But with them, we may. With them we will. They really are ‘great and precious.’
His reason for gifting them is actually very similar to the reason why Rowena gave me the sewing machine. The Lord ensures against unravelling in his people. God doesn’t want our Christian lives to unravel and fall apart. It would bring shame to us, and it would bring disgrace to him. That is why he gave these promises. So that our faith, in him, can remain firm.
In the Old Testament book of 2 Samuel, we have the account of the unravelling of King David’s life. David life shows some wonderful examples of faith in action. But, corrupt, evil desires had overtaken that man’s life. It reflected badly on David. It reflected badly on his God. When Nathan the prophet is sent from God, to David, to rebuke him, the AV translation tells us his message that David’s conduct had, ‘given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme’ (2 Samuel 12:14 (AV)). God dealt with David severely. He had to. He loved David. He could not allow his life of faith to end in shame and disgrace. Why? Because he is a God of love and mercy, who remains true, even when we don’t.
So, let us embrace his book of promise, and give it the place in our lives that it should have.
Well, that’s it for my words, today. Let’s finish with greater and more precious things.
‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28).
‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 4:6-7).
‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you’ (1 Peter 5:7).
‘… God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”’ (Hebrews 13:5-6).
Romans 8 starts with the promise that, ‘…there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…’ It finishes with promise too, and I’ll finish with that glorious promise to believers, that, ‘neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord'.
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