This is a typical American concept: when a person accepts responsibility, he or she has the right to expect payment for services rendered. Or, acceptance of responsibility rightfully results in payment for services rendered. In American thinking, people find it extremely difficult to disassociate the concept of accepting responsibility from the concept of earnings. God through scripture introduces Christians to this different concept: incredible benefits given to us by God as a gift are received with appreciation through responsible behavior and attitudes.
The basic concept of the American work ethic is strongly oriented toward earnings. "I should be paid for what I do. I earned it." This attitude is fundamental to the way Americans accept responsibility. If "I" am not earning, "I" am being benevolent [which implies that "my" earnings are justified, but "I" am being helpful to others. The concept of accepting responsibility to express gratitude is known, but it does not factor prominently in the American thought process. Thus, the primary biblical concept regarding salvation and the primary American cultural "work for earnings" concept frequently are in direct conflict.
If this gift provides benefits far beyond any person's earning ability, the only response available to the gift's receiver is responsible use of the gift. Salvation's benefits are far beyond any person's earning power or deservedness. No one ever could do anything that could earn or deserve redemption, justification, propitiation, atonement, reconciliation, or sanctification. The only way God can provide these blessings to anyone is to give them as a gift. The only appropriate response to receiving this gift is gratefully to accept all responsibilities that come through and with the gift. The primary way to express thanks to God for His gift is to use His gift responsibly. The motivation and objective of responsible behavior and attitudes is to express gratitude. Irresponsible attitudes and behavior insult the gift's giver [God]. Responsible attitudes and behavior express appreciation.
Most Americans are uncomfortable with or distressed by any obligation or impossible indebtedness to anyone or anything. Consider some common reactions: "I am not a charity case." "I can earn my own way." "I depend on no one but me." "I am a self-made person!" Many Americans consider any form of dependence to be an expression of weakness. In the American culture, weakness is bad.
2 Peter 1:1-12 endorses the concept of responsible behavior. Christians do not receive salvation to continue to live an evil lifestyle. NEVER are Christians to understand God's gift of grace in terms of indifference or irresponsible behavior. Notice these things in this text.
Peter did not suggest accepting responsibilities through godly attitudes and behavior in any way "obligated" God. Peter stressed that it was godly for Christians to think and act responsibly, not that Christians "work to earn." Note in 1:2 Peter's acknowledged avenue of divine grace and mercy were knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. Note in 1:3 it was the divine power that provided Christians everything necessary for life and godliness. It is not "us." It is God. Peter began this writing by stressing God's actions and role in granting the gift of salvation.
(1) God's divine power provides Christians everything necessary to have and sustain life and to have and sustain godliness. Everything necessary for our salvation is provided to us through Christ. Through Jesus Christ each Christian can know and understand everything necessary for him or her to know and understand.
Life is much more than physical existence. God supplied everything necessary to be spiritually alive and to be godly. He did this through the resurrected Jesus Christ.
(2) Christians do not "know" merely to "have knowledge." God grants Christians "true knowledge" of Jesus Christ to enable us to become, not merely to enable us to have information. The objective of knowing Jesus Christ is to become a specific type of person. Knowledge is not an end within itself.
Stress the difference between "knowing" and "becoming." "Becoming" involves the personal application of knowledge to "my" life and mind.
(3) God did more than make "true knowledge" possible in Jesus Christ. God also extended to us "precious" and "magnificent" promises. These incredible promises have a specific purpose in us. By these promises we can be partakers of or share in God's own nature. We can share in God's own nature because these promises enable us to escape the corruption [rottenness] produced by the evil desires that oppose God.
God always wanted His people to be like Him by choice because they belong exclusively to Him [see Deuteronomy 4:20 and Titus 2:14]. Trusting God's promises results in our desire to be like Him. Christians want to be like God, not like the decaying forces that oppose God.
(4) The foundation on which our opportunity to participate in God's nature is built is our confidence [faith] in what God did and does in Jesus Christ. The "true knowledge" is based on God's achievements in Jesus Christ. God makes His incredible promises to us because of His achievements in Jesus Christ.
Faith/trust/confidence in God's accomplishments in Jesus Christ make it possible for the Christian to grow in the direction of God's nature. God's attributes become the Christian's goals.
(5) We as Christians increasingly are to become a people of moral excellence, knowledge [about Jesus Christ], self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Whom are we imitating when we diligently devote ourselves to moral excellency, or knowledge of Jesus Christ, or self-control, or perseverance, or godliness, or tender kindness, or love? We are emulating God! The more we increase in these qualities, the more we reflect the God who saves us! Growing in these attributes allows us to participate in God's nature!
Stress that growth in these attitudes and behaviors is a Christian's conscious choice to "partake of God's nature."
(6) If Christians diligently devote themselves to allowing these qualities increasingly to characterize their minds and behavior, specific things happen. Their knowledge of Jesus Christ will not be (a) useless or (b) unfruitful. Their knowledge of Jesus Christ will express itself in the person he or she becomes in Christ. [Please notice the fact that a Christian's knowledge of Jesus Christ can be useless and unproductive in his or her life. Remember: it is not enough to know. Remember: Christians know in order to become.]
The Christian's pursuit of God's nature changes the Christian as a person. He or she becomes a transformed person with different thinking and different behavior. He or she looks at and sees God, others, and self differently. The differences are evident in his or her thoughts and behavior. A growing understanding of Jesus Christ is transforming information, not useless information. He or she does not know just to have knowledge. He or she knows to become a different person.
(7) Failure to devote oneself diligently to growth in these qualities makes a Christian man or woman either blind or nearsighted. The blindness or nearsightedness is the result of this Christian forgetting his or her purification from former sins.
When a Christian refuses to devote himself or herself to the qualities Peter mentioned, he or she severely damages his or her spiritual ability "to see." Spiritual "sight" is impaired because he or she has lost awareness of the significance of purification from sin. This impaired spiritual ability "to see" results in tripping, perhaps even falling.
(8) Diligently devoting oneself to growth in these qualities verifies God's call and God's choice. God calls to salvation and chooses for salvation. Each Christian verifies he or she hears God's call and accepts God's selection by growth in these qualities. "Practicing" these qualities assures the Christian he or she will never stumble. The failure to devote oneself to these qualities produces either the blindness or nearsightedness that guarantees stumbling.
The Christian grows in these qualities because he or she realizes God is at work in his or her life--and appreciates it! He or she wants to "practice" these qualities. He or she wants "to see" spiritually and not to trip.
(9) Diligently devoting oneself to growth in these qualities also assures the Christian entrance into Jesus Christ's eternal kingdom. A Christian who pursues God's nature by growing in these qualities does much more than "barely squeezing through the entrance of the eternal kingdom." Entrance will be "abundantly supplied" to him or her.
There is a correlation between a Christian's devotion to growth in these qualities [that characterize God's nature] and in entering the eternal kingdom. Appreciating God's accomplishments in Christ makes access to the eternal kingdom increasingly easy. He or she openly cooperates with God. Instead of resisting God's purposes in his or her life. he or she pursues God's purposes in his or her life.
Notice a simple emphasis. The Christian is a spiritually responsible person. He or she wants to escape the decaying evil desires of physical existence and participate in God's nature. He or she can do so by the knowledge of Jesus Christ and God's incredible promises, not by his or her earning power. He or she diligently devotes himself or herself to growth in the qualities Peter stressed to avoid the blindness or nearsightedness produced by forgetting purification. That blindness or nearsightedness guarantees stumbling. The "sight" produced by growing in these qualities provides easy access and entrance into Jesus Christ's eternal kingdom.
Stress the importance of being spiritually responsible in our attitudes and behavior. Stress the fact that it is a growth process. Stress the fact that the Christian wants to partake of God's nature. He or she desires growth toward God in attitude and behavior. He or she becomes more spiritual in the orientation of his or her life. This ccurs as a result of personal desire, not grudgingly.
Notice accepting responsibility expresses appreciation for the gift's opportunity. There is no conflict between accepting God's gift of salvation and being responsible in mind, heart, and body. No Christian earns salvation. Every Christian must express appreciation for God's gift by increasingly participating in God's nature.
Stress no conflict exists between accepting God's gift and being responsible in attitude and behavior.
Discuss:
They devote themselves to faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. These godlike qualities produce godly thinking, godly attitudes, and godly behavior.
When a person "knows" for the sake of having information about Jesus Christ, that information does not transform his or her life. His or her knowledge about Jesus Christ does not alter the thought process, or the attitudes, or the behavior. Knowledge produces no change.
A Christian can develop and defend an unspiritual focus in his or her life. This unspiritual focus produces spiritual blindness. Or, for the same reason, he or she seriously impairs the ability to see spiritually. If a person's spiritual sight is restricted to things that are immediately before him or her, he or she trips easily. Unseen obstacles cause falls.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 9