2 Peter 1:5-7

Cultivating Christian Virtue (Part 2)

5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,

6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,

7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

QUOTES—

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”        

“I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle—victorious.”

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”

 

NLT Hebrews 12:1-2

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.

2 , on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God’s throne in heaven.

II. Virtue

5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue…

NLT Matthew 23:25-28

25 “How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy– full of greed and self-indulgence!

26 Blind Pharisees! First wash the inside of the cup, and then the outside will become clean, too.

27 “How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs– beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity.

28 You try to look like upright people outwardly, but inside your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Understand this—

Jesus sees right through our fake, plastic, cookie cutter religion…

Our self-righteous; holier than thou nonsense.

         

NLT 1 Samuel 16:7

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him (Saul). The LORD doesn’t make decisions the way you do! People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at a person’s thoughts and intentions.”

2 Peter 2:1-2;19

1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.

19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

 

DISPLAY QUOTE—

The highest good, according to our society, is ‘finding yourself’ and then living by ‘what’s right for you,'” says David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group in Good Faith: Being a Christian When Society Thinks You’re Irrelevant and Extreme. “There is a tremendous amount of individualism in today’s society, and that’s reflected in the church too. Millions of Christians have grafted New Age dogma onto their spiritual person. When we peel back the layers, we find that many Christians are using the way of Jesus to pursue the way of self. . . . While we wring our hands about secularism spreading through culture, a majority of churchgoing Christians have embraced corrupt, me-centered theology.

 

—The Barna Research Group

NLT Isaiah 29:13a

And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away.

QUESTION—

Why add virtue (the pursuit of moral excellence) to salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone?

ANSWER 1—

1. The pursuit of moral excellence provides evidence of salvation.

NLT James 2:26

Just as the body is dead without a spirit, so also faith is dead without good deeds.

ANSWER 2—

1. The pursuit of moral excellence is an expression of love for God.

John 14:15

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

ANSWER 3—

1. The pursuit of virtue or moral excellence leads to Christ-likeness.

NLT 1 John 2:4-6

4 If someone says, “I belong to God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and does not live in the truth.

5 But those who obey God’s word really do love him. That is the way to know whether or not we live in him.

6 Those who say they live in God should .     

ANSWER 4—

1. The pursuit of moral excellence

is one of the reasons Jesus died for you.

 

Titus 2:11-14

11 For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people.

12 And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with self-control, right conduct, and devotion to God,

13 while we look forward to that wonderful event when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.

14 , to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing what is right.

Home Group Questions—

• Virtue refers to the pursuit of moral excellence. Read Hebrews 12:1-2; What sinful “weight” and “Sin” do you need to lay aside in your pursuit of Christ?
• Read Isaiah 29:13; In what ways do we honor God with our lips and yet our hearts are far from Him?
• Why should you add virtue (the pursuit or moral excellence) to your faith?