Readings for today: 2 Peter 1-3, Jude
I am often asked what it means to be a Christian. Is it raising a hand and praying a prayer? Is it participating in confirmation as a young person? Does it have to do with church attendance? Is it an intellectual assent to an idea? Living a particularly moral life? What does it mean to actually be a Christian? I think Peter’s words sum it up quite well...
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 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. For 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 1:3-8)
First and foremost, being a Christian involves faith. Faith is having complete confidence that God is able to deliver on His promises. And God has promised that every Christian will be filled with His divine power, be a partaker of His divine nature, and given everything that pertains to life and godliness. In short, we will lack nothing when it comes to living for God. Our hearts will burn with a desire to know Him more. We will love being in worship. Love spending time in prayer. Love studying God’s Word. We will love serving those whom God loves. The least and the lost in our world.
Secondly, being a Christian means actively seeking to align your life with Christ. Submit all you say and do to His Lordship. It means walking in faithful obedience to His Law not because you have to but because you long to. Once we’ve been saved by grace, we walk in grace. Peter says it clearly. The true Christian will seek to supplement their saving faith with virtue and knowledge and self-control and steadfastness and godliness and brotherly affection. As these things increase in your life, you will bear much fruit for the Kingdom. This requires a diligence and intentionality that often escapes us. The temptations of this world are strong and distract us. We find our hearts pulled in a lot of different directions and too many of us settle for the lowest bar rather than push ourselves to greater heights for the glory of Christ.
Third, Peter offers a sobering warning as well. Refusing to follow Christ is serious business. “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell...if God did not spare the ancient world...when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if God by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes condemned them to extinction...then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment...” Therefore, we need to take heed lest we, in our pride and arrogance and willful ignorance, refuse to tremble before the glorious ones. We do not want to be counted as “irrational animals”, “unsteady souls”, “accursed children”, “waterless springs”, or “mists driven by the storm.” (Assorted verses from 2 Peter 2)
Friends, what we celebrate on Christmas is eternally significant. Nothing less than our salvation is at stake in what God has done in Jesus Christ. Devoting our lives to Him is essential if we are to escape the righteous wrath and judgment of God and gain entrance into God’s Kingdom. I love how Peter puts it, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, 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)