Peter’s list of valuable virtues

A CEO gets caught on the mega screen embracing a woman who is not his wife. As it turned out, she worked for him at what used to be his business. The Epstein files just won’t go away, and a lot of wealthy people could find themselves in a lot of trouble because of them. The nightly news provides reminders that we live in a culture where virtue grows increasingly rare. Moses told his people, “You have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). His words are equally relevant to our world today.

Why do we want to know about the sins of others? Why do we want to read about their failures? I suppose there are a lot of different answers to those questions, but maybe there is a better question for us to ask. We know from Scripture that everyone sins and falls short of God’s highest standards (Romans 3:23). What can we remember that will help us maintain God’s standards in our lives?

We know we will occasionally trip up, but how can we catch ourselves and keep from falling? Peter listed seven qualities we can pursue and act on that will minimize our mess-ups. Peter said, “If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:8).

Let’s look at Peter’s list today and make his words more than just lessons to learn. We need to make his words our lessons to live by.

A little background to this list

Whenever I teach from the letter of 2 Peter, I remind those listening that these verses are among Peter’s last words to the churches and congregations the apostle had nurtured, taught, and loved for many years. By this time, these churches were filled with both Jewish converts and Gentiles, but mainly with Gentiles. 

Peter likely expected his death to be imminent at this point because Nero had begun to persecute Christians in vile and heinous ways. Therefore, when we look at Peter’s list of Christian virtues and understand that these words were to encourage a steadfast faith in people whose lives were being tormented, we can better understand the significant value of these truths. 

Peter wanted his people to survive, but even more, he wanted them to thrive and one day, arrive in heaven having lived on earth for the glory of Christ.

How do we do that? Let’s look at Peter’s list of valuable virtues.

Peter’s list of valuable virtues

Peter wrote, “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love” (2 Peter 1:5–7). James taught, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). Peter teaches us to add virtuous works to our faith so that we will not be “ineffective” and “unfruitful.” We need to look at Peter’s list and consider his teaching to be the best instruction for protecting our witness and living our lives for Christ’s glory.

Peter’s list:

  • Knowledge – the best way to know God is through his word and through his Word—his Son. God’s word is “the lamp to our feet and the light to our path” (Psalm 119:105). Haven’t you noticed that when your personal Bible study grows weak, so does your witness? Bible study is the best way to know all the practical truths God knew we would need. Read your Bible and listen to the words like God is speaking them directly to you – because he is!
  • Self-control – which is literally a “God-controlled self.” God gave us his Holy Spirit so that we would have his word, his strength, and his help 24/7 if we would just “keep in step” with God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:25). It isn’t hard to notice when we get out of control and start to lose it. How quickly will you breathe out the angst and breathe in the presence of God’s Spirit? Imagine having spiritual eyes to see Jesus standing right beside you! That one vision would likely impact everything that happened next.
  • Steadfastness – the ability to not “grow weary in well doing.” When does your spiritual drive wear out? Weariness happens to all of us, especially after a busy time of ministry. God wants us to allow the Holy Spirit to be our strength, so we are designed to wear out without him. God wants to spend time with us, so we are created with an enormous need and hunger for his presence. Steadfastness is fueled by our time with God and reliance on his power.
  • Godliness – the qualities of God infused in us. Godliness is “God’s likeness” in our character. 1 John 4:8 tells us, “God is love.” When we are infused with God’s love, his very character and qualities can overflow from our lives into the lives of others. Godliness is abnormal, which can cause us not to seek that virtue. There has been a lot of emphasis in recent decades on showing ourselves to be “normal” in the eyes of the world. Christians have the Son of God indwelling their lives. We are abnormal because we are already eternally saved and are being sanctified by our Creator. Godliness will sometimes cause others some discomfort, but it is also the quality that will show them who God is in our lives and what he can do in their lives. We are still on earth and sometimes fail, but we don’t have to fail as often. We need to trust and rely on the power of God to infuse our lives with his character. God is love, and we can provide his love to others.
  • Brotherly affection – Jesus said, “All people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). He told the Pharisees and Sadducees that loving God was the first commandment, and the second was like it – to love your neighbor as you love yourself. You can know you are living for God when you realize you are loving others as God would.
  • Love – this is “agape love.” Human beings cannot produce the love of God. We must receive his agape love if we want to give that love to others. We cannot love perfectly like God, but through his Holy Spirit, God can love others perfectly through us.

The result of living with valuable virtues

Peter told the first-century Christians to live with those virtues because God’s rewards are eternal. He told the churches he loved, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall.  For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:10–11). If we live with the virtues that Peter has listed, we will “never fall.” That is a powerful promise from an apostle of Christ. Every act of obedience to Peter’s list provides you with eternal life filled with God’s riches. We will never be perfect, but if we seek the Spirit’s help, we can definitely live perfected lives. 

Which virtues do you want the Lord to strengthen in your spiritual life? All of us are better at seeking some than we are at others. That said, Jesus was perfect at living with all of these virtues. His Spirit is ready to respond if we just yield our lives to his power.

The evening news will continue to highlight people’s flaws and mistakes. Virtuous goals can highlight Jesus as the light, the strength, and the source of our Spirit-led lives. We can’t do it without him, but we can do it with him. 

Sin is common, but avoiding it is common sense

Paul said it well when he said, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). How do you handle that fact? Knowing we all sin can cause us to live more carefully because we are aware of our fallen natures. Or that knowledge can cause us to simply shrug our shoulders and say, “Oh well, everyone sins,” disregarding our sins as a normal part of life.

Sin is not a popular topic, but God’s word often deals with the subject, so we should consider it seriously. When we learn to live with an eternal perspective for our earthly lives, we can avoid a lot of sin.

For Christians, avoiding sin makes the most sense. So, how can we learn to avoid sin, especially common ones that sneak up on us?

  1. We can live with an eternal perspective for our earthly lives.

James wrote, “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14). 

James would not get high reviews for that comment. We live in the “take care of yourself first” era, and “you only have one life, live it well.” That’s the perspective of most people on earth, yet it’s the wrong way for the Christian to view life. We don’t have one life; we have one life on earth and another for all eternity. 

If we live with an earthly perspective, we will have wrong priorities for our time, our choices, and, most importantly, our values. We can invest in the “mist” that quickly vanishes or in the ocean of blessings that will last forever.

How will you spend your day today? What will you accomplish that will matter forever?

  1. We can learn to recognize sin.

One of my favorite verses in the book of James is, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17). I think James gives the best definition for sin in the Bible!

When my boys were little, I had a rule for disciplining them. When they did something wrong, I asked myself, “Did they know it was wrong?” That parenting technique came straight out of James 4:17. If I had never specifically said, “Don’t do that,” I disciplined with words. If, on the other hand, I had taught them not to do something, I disciplined them with consequences of some kind. “Whoever knows the right thing to do” and doesn’t do it, for him or her, it is a sin. It really is that simple.

We have a responsibility to learn to recognize sin and then avoid it. God gave us his word, and we need to know what the Bible says so that we can obey it. God also gave us his Son, the Word, as our living example of what a life of complete obedience looks like. Finally, God gave us his power, his Holy Spirit, so we can resist every temptation to sin. 

So why do we still sin? Even though we know the right thing to do, we sometimes choose what we want rather than what God wants for us. I’ve often wished we could see the eternal consequences of our choices because I think we would sin less often. 

Have you ever been in a store, a restaurant, or a movie and wished that person from your church hadn’t just seen you? Has someone in your Sunday School class witnessed you having a bad day in public? Are you the same person at work that you are at church or Sunday School?

Years ago, I was in a hurry at the grocery store, and my toddler son would not stop reaching for the stuff on the store shelves. I had a newborn in the cart, and my three-year-old was supposed to behave. Finally, I had enough, and I popped my oldest on the backside to make my point. He started wailing and woke the baby up, who started crying. As I glanced up, I saw the wife of one of our deacons looking at me with a stunned, deer-in-the-headlights look. The sin in the moment wasn’t the behavior of my small children. I knew what to do, they didn’t. 

For all of you who just read that and thought, “She is being too hard on herself” – thank you, but that kind of makes my point. I lost my temper with my child and didn’t have an ounce of grace for him in that moment. It was normal. It was common frustration. But it was also a lack of self-control. I could have and would have done better if I had lived with God’s strength in that moment. That son whose backside I whacked just turned 39, and I still remember feeling like I had not lived my best witness to that deacon’s wife in the grocery store. It isn’t the “big sins” that commonly trip us up. More often it’s the multitude of common sins that accumulate and become stored in our minds as acceptable that cost us the most. 

When we know the right thing to do and choose not to do it, we sin. It’s a pretty simple definition to hold onto.

  1. We can make our witness an eternal priority. 

James wrote, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days…You have lived on the earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter” (James 5:1–5).

Animals that are about to be sold or butchered for food really enjoy the final month or two of life. They get to eat a LOT, and they get to eat the best grains and grasses. They just don’t understand that all that “good food” is preparing them for death. Everything we own on earth has a beginning and an end. James is teaching us that if we live for the sake of our earthly lives, we will miss the treasure that God wants us to have eternally. But he also said something that should be even more convicting. James said, “You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you” (James 5:6).

When we fail to live with eternal priorities, we “fatten” our personal lives with the temporary stuff that seems important but is only important temporarily. When we live with God’s eternal priorities, we make choices for the sake of our eternal treasure. We should be much more aware of the importance of our witness to others. Pursuing wrong priorities in this lifetime doesn’t just harm our lives; we are probably harming others in the process. Murdering our witness might mean we cause someone else to distrust our faith. We trust Jesus as our Savior, but we must live with Jesus as our Lord. Our words often matter eternally.

Avoiding sin is common sense

Paul was right. All of us will sin, and there is nothing, this side of heaven, that we can do about that. We can’t be perfect, but we can probably all try harder to make godliness our high priority. We expect to sin, but that doesn’t mean we should accept our sins. Instead, we are called to avoid sin with all of our hearts and with all the strength God has given us.

Avoiding sin will lead to eternal rewards for each of us and likely for many others as well. I still wish I could do those moments in the grocery store over again. That experience has served as a reminder for a lot of years now. God is so good at redeeming our mistakes and using them for our sanctification. His grace is truly amazing.

We won’t avoid every sin, but living with God’s common-sense values will help us avoid more than we realize. Why live for the mist when we can inherit his ocean of blessing?

Wear your crown over clean hair

All of us wear a lot of “hats” in this lifetime. Hats are a good metaphor for our various roles because most are easily exchanged for another. All of us are many things to different people. 

There is one hat, however, that Christians should wear all the time.

The apostle Paul told us, “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Colossians 3:14). The love of Christ should be the first impression we make as we enter a room.

An iconic hat

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is my favorite movie in the series. Sean Connery plays Indiana’s dad. During one classic scene, the audience grew quiet when it looked like Indiana Jones had just gone over a cliff in a Nazi tank as he fought to protect his dad. A few moments later, Indiana Jones surprises his grieving dad and is wrapped up in a big hug. 

But, the best moment of that scene occurs when a gust of wind blows the famous suede hat over to Indie’s feet. When he put that hat on his head, the audience cheered. 

Who is Indiana Jones without that hat? 

But, let’s be honest. If you or I had the chance to wear Indiana Jones’ iconic hat, would we? We love seeing it as a prop on the big screen, but would we want to wear it on our heads? 

In reality, that hat would be filthy dirty and stink like yesterday’s raw chicken left in the warm trash. 

We wear a lot of hats in our lifetime, but some of our hats are more of a prop too. We occasionally wear a hat to cover our heads, not crown them. 

A crown on dirty hair

It’s hard to imagine a king or queen showing up to their coronation with dirty hair. Yet, our hats are worn today to serve that purpose. When we have to run an errand or jump on a Zoom meeting, we just cover the “bad hair” with a cap.  

We often try to do the same thing with our witness. 

We hope our words will speak louder than our works, but that’s like wearing a crown with dirty hair. Scripture teaches that we should clean up our lives in order to share our witness. God’s truth is a crown, not a cap. 

Grow food, not weeds

People in the first century didn’t plant gardens as a hobby; they grew food in order to survive. Jesus used a parable to illustrate that, in order for our Christian witness to thrive, the first thing we need to do is treat sin like unwanted weeds that need to be pulled out of the garden (Matthew 13:24–30). 

The first-century Christians planted gardens so they and their families could survive the winter months. Weeds weren’t just annoyances; they were a threat. And Paul said we should think of our sin natures like they did their weeds. 

We shouldn’t serve cake on a dirty plate

Have the biblical lessons lost some power in our culture today? Americans have grocery stores. Our gardens are more often a hobby than our hope. What illustration would Jesus have used if he were teaching about our witness today? 

Would Jesus or Paul say: Treat sin like a virus? Treat sin like a poison? Treat sin like a cancer? Treat sin like a smelly hat? 

Their point would be the same. We need to get rid of anything that harms our witness and do whatever it takes to separate it from our lives. After that, we can “put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Colossians 3:14). 

If Paul were writing today, he might have written, “Don’t put your muddy feet into your new shoes.” Or “Don’t put the velvet dress over the sweaty tracksuit.” Or maybe “Don’t cook today’s meal in yesterday’s unwashed, germ-filled pan.” Paul might just be blunt and say, “Even a beautiful cake looks inedible when it’s served on yesterday’s unwashed plate.”  

The world won’t notice or appreciate the love of Christ until Christians pull the weeds out of our witness. 

The world won’t consume our words unless we serve them on a clean plate. 

Put on love, but put it on clean hair

Love will be our theme for the February blog posts, but it should also be the theme of our lives. We don’t think of Indiana Jones without his iconic hat. A Christian should be known by their crown, reminding people we are the adopted child of a King. 

Maybe the first thing we should consider, however, is how we present our love of Christ to others. If our faith is our crown, the role people most associate with who we are, shouldn’t we be sure we aren’t using that crown over dirty hair? 

If faith is to produce the spiritual fruit of our lives, shouldn’t we make certain the weeds aren’t taking over the garden? 

Gossip said it well

Imagine being a preacher with the last name of Gossip! 

Arthur John Gossip held the title of Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology, and he was licensed as a minister of the church in Scotland in 1898. 

When I found one of his quotes, I had to look him up. I could tell by the language the words were “old,” but the message seemed so new. I want to close this blog post with Gossip’s words from a century ago that speak to our subject today. 

Arthur John Gossip said, “At the very moment when the pulpit has fallen strangely silent about sin, fiction can talk of little except evil, not indeed viewed as sin, but apparently as the invariable ways of a peculiarly repulsive insect, which it can’t help, poor thing; and there is no manner of use expecting anything from it, except the nastiness natural to it.” 

That quote takes a couple of reads to even begin the process of thinking about it. His words are even more powerful when we realize we are reading them almost one century after they were written. 

What would Gossip say about our view of sin today? 

Put on love—but consider it a crown

How do we “put on” our Christian love? Is it a crown or a cap? Is it used to say who we are or to cover up what we don’t want others to see? Those are the first questions we need to address if we truly want to live as a witness for Christ.  

According to Jesus, we shouldn’t try to “put on love” until we pull out the weeds. According to Gossip, we shouldn’t view sin like a bug we just can’t get rid of. According to me, we can’t wear a smelly hat as a prop, even if it’s a popular prop worn by a movie hero.  

What do we need to weed out of our witness so people can see the love of Christ as more than a hat we wear over our dirty hair? 

We are children of the King. 

We should choose to wear our crowns. 

But, let’s make sure we are wearing those crowns over clean hair. 

Jesus can bring out the worst in us

One of my favorite messages from social media this year said, “I’m not adding this year 2020 to my age. I did not use it.” 

I heard another of my favorite messages last week on a Christian radio station. The host said, “If something or someone brings out the worst in you, then recognize the worst that is in you, and do something about it.”

Independence Day 2020 

Last March, when we first began dealing with all these germs, did you picture yourself wearing a mask in July? 

We probably should have, but, generally speaking, we didn’t expect this to last so long. However, to be blunt, the Santa at the mall this Christmas will probably be wearing a mask. Entrepreneurs: get those Christmas 2020 shirts ready. 

Never mind, we won’t want to wear them! 

There won’t be huge family picnics this July 4th or baseball games with fireworks, even though we could really use some happy reminders to celebrate America this year. The truth is, we are blessed to live in this country, even during its worst days.  

We need to celebrate Independence Day, but maybe with an expanded focus. 

We need to celebrate our most significant freedom. 

Jesus came to offend people 

People will always have differences this side of heaven. We know that, but we should also expect that. 

One of Satan’s favorite tools is comparison. If we notice the differences, we automatically begin to choose which we prefer. Those thoughts lead to what we believe is best, and then we seek to prove that what we believe is best. 

Jesus entered the world in a hostile period of history. The Jewish nation believed they were better than the Gentiles. The Romans believed they were better than almost everyone. Those emotions led to arguments, slander, prejudice, and oppression.  

Jesus chose to enter the world during political and social unrest. His ministry caused a revolution. He didn’t take anyone’s “side,” and his preaching was offensive to almost everyone. 

Jesus taught everyone that no one was “right” and everyone was wrong—except him. It is easy to understand why most people were offended by his teaching and considered him dangerous. 

Imagine if Jesus preached that message today! 

Jesus was offensive for a good reason 

Early in his ministry, he was speaking at the temple to a group of Pharisees and other Jewish men. He told them, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32). 

They questioned his words, saying, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” (v. 33). 

The Jewish people were offended by Jesus’ suggestion that they were not “free.” They were Abraham’s descendants, which, in their minds, meant they were superior to anyone who wasn’t. 

Jesus then taught the Jewish people one of the most significant truths in Scripture: “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (vv. 34–36). 

Jewish people believed they were right because they were part of Abraham’s bloodline. Romans believed they were right because they were more powerful, more educated, and often wealthy. Gentiles believed in whatever felt right to them personally. 

Jesus taught that no one was right unless they were righteous. Then he taught them how to be righteous. Jesus needed to offend everyone so everyone could understand their offenses. It is that humility that taught people they needed salvation. 

Let Jesus bring out the worst in you

Jesus wants to cleanse our lives from the sins that enslave us to the world’s standards, the world’s thoughts, and our reactions to the things of this world. If the sinful things aren’t part of our lives, then the world’s moments can’t bring those things out of us.  

The goal is to be holy; it always has been. Throughout the Bible, God’s word to his people has always been, “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). 

Jesus said, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34), and Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 

Everyone needs Jesus to bring out the worst in us. If Jesus brings the worst out in us, then it won’t be there for someone or something else to draw out. 

July 2020 

This is a good month to consider our freedoms and be grateful. But a lot of Americans only think they are free. The important questions are why do we believe we are free, and what does that freedom require of us? 

Henry David Thoreau said, “That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.”  

Jesus said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). 

The question for Independence Day 2020 is: What freedoms are we able to celebrate? 

We live in a democracy where people are free to speak, act, and choose. But we aren’t really free without self-discipline. We are free to make this country a better place, and, sadly, we are free to do the opposite. 

No one can be truly free apart from freedom in Christ. 2020 has been a powerful illustration for the truth of God’s word. The world has brought out the worst in many of us. The good news is that we know the worst is always hidden in us—unless Jesus brings it out first. 

Biblical independence 

Do you want Jesus to bring out the worst in you? 

Scripture teaches us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). 

It isn’t hard to get rid of the worst in ourselves. The challenge is to maintain our independence.  

We can take the trash out today, but there will be more tomorrow. The good news is that it will always get picked up and hauled away. We don’t have to keep it around. 

Some people will not want to think about 2020 because they didn’t “use it.” For others, it may become one of the best years of their lives. It just depends on what 2020 brings out of us. 

May we pray for and achieve the independence Jesus came to give.