Wilderness Wanderings Anthony Elenbaas and Michael Bootsma

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, mutual affection (2 Peter 1:5-7).
Since the fall into sin, we have been faced with the question, “Where is your brother?” Intuitively, we know the answer. And yet with Cain, we often reply, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). This dark thread of sibling conflict weaves its way through the Old Testament.
Consider the decades long feud between Esau and Jacob that had Jacob running for his life. Joseph’s brothers were so jealous of the special treatment he received from dad, they planned to kill him. In the end, they didn’t, but they did sell him as a slave. When they reconnected with him in the throne room of Egypt, they were petrified he would seek revenge.
There were also David’s brothers who thought he acted all high and mighty. There was deadly conflict among David’s children. God might have asked all these folks, “Where is your brother?” They would all have answered, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Into the New Testament, the rivalries continue. Now its Jesus’ disciples squabbling over which of them was the greatest. I wonder if some of Jesus’ comments aren’t in response to this long history of family feuding. His famous foot washing scene is introduced with ‘Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). It ends with Jesus’ command, “Now that I have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet” (13:14).
It seems clear enough that when Jesus’ followers are asked, “Where is your sister? Where is your brother?” we should be answering, “Right here with me, because I have been taking care of them.”
Our virtue for today is ‘mutual affection’. You may know it by another rendering, “philadelphia”, literally, ‘brotherly love.’ In the ancient world, it was used to describe blood brothers, sons of the same father. Maybe the phrase, ‘blood is thicker than water’, harkens back to this word. Family sticks together, always.
Philadelphia is now used to describe the relationship between fellow believers. We all have one heavenly father, drawn into His family through the blood of Jesus Christ. His blood is powerful, breaking down the dividing walls of hostility to create one new family in his body. As Jesus washed our feet, we are to wash each other’s feet. There is just no way around this, we are the keepers of our siblings. John puts it bluntly, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar” (1 John 4:20).
We have already said several times that these virtues are bracketed by faith and love. They are rooted in faith and demonstrated in love. Tomorrow we will say more about this love. For today, recall Paul’s summary, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6). Not just the nice siblings, those easy to love. Philadelphia requires us to get up close and personal where we can see the warts and wrinkles and smell the foul odours and love them still.
What will that look like for you today?
So, as you journey on:
Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18).

An extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The texts come from Matthew 6:1-4, from the New International Version of the Bible.  Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!  To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca
 
DIVE IN QUESTIONS
1. What stands out to you from hearing these verses?  Is God offering an invitation or a challenge to you through those words?  Take time to pray about it.
2. Jesus sometimes tells us to let our light shine before others and sometimes to do our acts of righteousness secretly.  How can we know the difference?
3. We’ve moved from the “what” to do of righteous living now to the question of “why” we do it.  What are the different motivations that people might have for “performing” their righteousness vs. doing it “secretly?”
4. Does Jesus tell us to stop seeking other rewards for giving and generosity?  What might he be saying about our desire for rewards?  What rewards ought we to desire?
5. How might you live this out this week in the ways that you give of whatever you have (time, help, money, etc.)?
 

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… (2 Peter 1:5-6)

Today’s word is “godliness,” and it takes us right back to yesterday’s word of “perseverance.”  In particular, it takes us back to the later section of this letter that Pastor Michael quoted yesterday, where Peter writes: “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (2 Peter 3:11b-12a).  
We have a hope in Christ that keeps our eyes fixed on him, looking forward to his coming again when he will set all things right and make all things new.  In anticipation of that day, we are called to persevere—to hang on to our hope and faith through all the trials, sufferings, and everyday burdens of life.  That was what we talked about yesterday.
But now Peter says we must do more than just hang on and endure until Jesus returns—we must also live.  Not just surviving by living out a life that sources the basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, and work mind you, but living a life that seeks to embody the faith and hope we claim in Christ.  We “ought to live holy and godly lives as [we] look forward,” ever straining to become who God has made us to be.
For this, Peter uses the word “godliness.”  It’s a word that refers to good deeds that arise from the root of faith and the motivation of love.  It’s a word that also refers to spiritual disciplines like prayer and worship.  It also refers to a respect for the Creational boundaries and proportions that God has set for our creaturely lives in relationship to self, to others, and to him.  Most simply—it is a word that suggest we ought to become like Christ, our God.  
To become godly is to really live out that whole “What Would Jesus Do” line.  It is to respect the boundaries and fittingness of life and interactions, as Jesus did.  It is to tend our relationship with God through practices of prayer, as Jesus did.  It is to do good in this world, as Jesus did.  To do all this, not only “as” Jesus did, but “because” Jesus did.  We seek to become godly as an all-of-life act of devotion to him.  Or, as Paul puts it in Romans 12, it is offering our “bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is,” he says, “your true and proper worship.”  
Seeking to live a godly life is not something that we do from guilt nor something that we attempt to conjure up out of nothing by sheer force of will.  No, as Peter already told us in verse 3: God’s “divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life,” and he has done so “through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
It is God’s desire and design that we should become like Christ.  He is the one who called us to be godly.  He is the one who provides, through the Spirit, all that we need to do it.  He is the one who brings this Christlike godliness to life within us when we join with him.  Finally, he is the one who gives us the hope to lead us on and to assure us that all of this will finally be accomplished: on that day when Christ comes again.  
Until then, let us “live holy and godly lives as [we] look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” 
As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:
Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).
 

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 (2 Peter 1:5,6).
Following Jesus is not a good carrier move. Refusing to be involved in shady practices can cost us promotions. When we refuse to gossip around the proverbial water cooler, colleagues do not warm up to us. Refraining from excessive drinking can lead to defriending. Sometimes we are ostracised for mentioning our faith in Jesus.
Following Jesus is costly. We make financial donations to the church and to other charities. Rather than sleeping in on Sunday’s we gather with our Christian family to worship God. The leadership is always looking for more volunteers; we begrudgingly offer our time and talent. Then there are the neighbours we’d really like to ignore, but they know we are Christians. Sometimes we hear the tune of “They will know we are Christians by our love” being hummed from the other side of the fence. Our decidedly unchristian neighbour is reminding us of our commitment.
Following Jesus is profoundly frustrating. So often, we fail to live up to the calling we have received. We’ve lost count of the times we have renewed our faith and commitment to Jesus. We see ourselves as repeat offenders. We bought unnecessary clothes again. We got angry at our children again. We looked the other way again when someone else was being bullied. Again, we snoozed the alarm and had no time for devotions. Again, we choose not to reach out to a hurting friend.
Jesus did not promise an easy road when calling his disciples. He warns us to count the cost before signing up (Luke 14:25ff). He claimed to have no place to lay his head (Luke 9:53), so we shouldn’t expect one either. Several times the apostles list the suffering they are enduring for the sake of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 11:23ff). What is it that kept them going? How did they persevere? They knew where they were going.
We persevere because we know where we are going. “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God…in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:11, 13). We persevere in anticipation of hearing the blessed words from Jesus own lips, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).
In the meantime, we remember the value of suffering: it refines our faith (1 Peter 1:6-7); it perfects our hope (1 Peter 1:8-9, 21); it weans us from sin (1 Peter 4:1-3); it deepens our intimacy with Jesus (1 Peter 4:12-13) and it trains us in holiness (1 Peter 4:16-19).
Of course, suffering might do the exact opposite. It might corrode our faith, shatter our hope, estrange us from Jesus, provoke us to rebellion, plunge us into sin. The question is: do we believe we are on the right path? It’s a matter of faith. “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9).
Suffering can teach us hope. To hope for something that this world cannot offer. To look forward to a future that is too glorious for our imaginations to imagine. And hope inspires us to persevere.
So, as you journey on:
Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18).

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control… (2 Peter 1:5-6a)

Self-Control is one of the few virtues in Peter’s list that lines up with Paul’s Fruit of the Spirit.  It is undoubtably a good gift of God, but it can be a double-edged sword.  Much like our discussion of “knowledge” yesterday, the danger is that self-control can “puff up” our pride and self-righteousness rather than “build up” others in love.  If this is the case, then we’ve gone wrong somewhere.  This list of virtues demands a grounding in faith that moves toward love, not self-righteousness.  
There is a self-control which is the achievement of our own control and there is a self-control that arises from surrender to God’s control.  When self-control is our own achievement, we might find ourselves looking down on lesser Christians or people in society who can’t seem to get it together.  Having learned to master our own desires and impulses, we can grow impatient and grace-less with those who continue to stumble.  We view ourselves as “strong Christians” who have figured out the discipline of a moral and productive life—a vantage point from which others look weak and in need of improvement.  This prideful sense of control can spread from control of self to a desire to either control others, or to remove them from the well-controlled space of our church or community.
As Paul reminds us, self-control is not an achievement.  It is a gift of the Spirit.  A fruit born in the Christian life that is produced in us by the Spirit.  The list that Peter gives brings even more definition.  The self-control he speaks of arises from the ground of faith in Jesus who has given us every good gift, calling, and promise.  This kind of self-control that submits to the gifts and Lordship of Christ culminates in a life of love.  Self-control as a gift of God that rests on faith and arrives at love cannot be the sort that produces pride or a controlling or diminishing attitude toward others. 
Now, the word for “self-control” that Peter uses does speak of a sort of lordship or dominion over something.  In the Greek philosophers of the day—including Aristotle—this virtue of self-mastery was one of the most important.  Yet, it only shows up rarely in the New Testament.  The reasons?  There is only one “Lord” who holds “dominion” over our lives, and it isn’t us.  Self-control as a Christian virtue is not an exercise of our own lordship over our lives, it is a submission of our lives to the Lordship and mastery of Christ.  
Furthermore, whereas in the Greek philosophers self-control often entailed a rejection of the material creation and all desire for it—the Christian exercise of self-control is different.  The Lord of our lives asks not that we reject his Creation or the desires he created us with, but instead that we submit these desires and our use of the Creation to him.  
Self-control then, is submission to the Lordship of Christ.  It is a steadfast keeping of the Creational boundaries he, the King, has given such that we can fully enjoy, work, and play as creatures within his Creation and enable others to do the same.  This kind of self-control is self-surrendering, self-giving, and as an act of love for God, his Creation, and our fellow image-bearers—it is also an act that continually points back—not to our own control or achievements—but to the gracious rule and gifts of the true King: Jesus Christ, Master of our lives.
As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: 
Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).
 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness… For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge… 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 1:2,3,5,8).
Returning to the list of virtues, we come to knowledge, which looms large in the opening words of the letter. These opening 8 verses reveal that knowledge has little value in and of itself but is tied to other things. When we consider Job’s three friends, and even Job himself—all thinking they had knowledge of the ways of God—we recognize that knowledge can be dangerous. When God finally speaks, he askes the four friends, “What do you know?” The answer: ‘Not much’. Paul warns us that knowledge puffs up (1 Corinthians 8:1). So, let’s be careful.
What should be say about knowledge? First, it is a conduit. The grace and peace of God enter our lives through knowledge. They are gifts God gives, but they require knowledge to be opened. Secondly, knowledge produces godly lives helping us to be ‘effective and productive’ followers of Jesus Christ. It assists in bringing fullness of life—a deep, abiding commitment to the ways of God. While useless if unattached, knowledge brings incredible spiritual beauty to the world when well connected.
Thirdly, Peter is writing about ‘knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord’, ‘knowledge of him who called us’ and ‘knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ’. He is concerned with knowledge of a person, gained through long personal intimate relationship. Of course, such knowledge includes facts. In our relationship with a close family member, we know their birthday, significant events that impacted their lives, their favourite colour, and important people they have lost. Yet, it is much more.
The more we get to know someone the more there is yet to know. Even spouses still surprise each other after 50 years of marriage. One of the joys of being in a good intimate relationship is that the closer we are to someone the more we want to know them and bring delight into their lives.
In verses 2,3, and 8, Peter uses a Greek work that suggests ‘full of knowledge’. But in verse 5, he uses a different word which suggests the gathering of information. We are to put ourselves to the task of getting to know God so that we can be full of knowledge, thereby receiving his grace and peace and living effective Christian lives. This is a slow piece-meal, lifelong process.
How do we gain this knowledge? The Belgic Confession says that God reveals himself “by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe” and more “clearly in Scripture”. Jesus said that true worshippers worship in spirit and in truth and that where two or three are gathered in his name, he is with them. Worship and Christian fellowship are spaces where intimate knowledge, governed by Scripture, is often experienced.
Jesus tells us that we are to love God with all our being, including our minds. Knowledge is not the goal. Love is. Knowledge puffs up. Love builds up. “Whoever loves God is known by God” (2 Corinthians 8:3).
So, as you journey on:
Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18).