Faith: Family & Friends March 27, 2011 Series- Glory: Illuminating Life with God s Virtue 2 Peter 1:3-11 (5) This year at Cornerstone, we re talking about what it means to reflect God s image in every aspect of our lives. The Bible states very clearly that God created human beings in His image and likeness. You and I have been made, therefore, to image to reflect, to show forth in a tangible way, the magnificence and beauty of God s presence to the world. However, God s image in us has become profoundly distorted because of sin. All have sinned, says the Bible in Romans 3, and fallen short of God s glory. What is God s glory? God s glory, for one thing, has to do with the manifestation of God s loving and holy character. So in falling short of God s glory, we fall short of reflecting God s character in our lives, as we were originally created to do. Although we are fallen image-bearers, God has always had a plan whereby his image can be restored and ultimately perfected in us. God s plan, of course, is a person his Son, Jesus Christ. As the Bible says in Romans 8:29, For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness [or to the image ] of his Son... God s primary goal for our lives, then, is perfectly clear that we be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. And Jesus, says scripture, is himself the very image the perfect, visible embodiment of the invisible God. The Son is the radiance of God s glory, says the Bible in Hebrews and the exact representation of his being, (1:3a). Jesus is the best picture of God we ll ever get. At the same time, Jesus is the Second Adam he s the best picture of what it means to be truly and fully human. Jesus is the pattern after which God wants to shape your life and mine. Simply put, God s purpose for us is that we become more and more like Jesus... for the sake of a world that desperately needs to know him. But what does becoming more like Jesus look like? How does it happen? These are questions that our current sermon series, Glory, seeks to answer in a very practical and applicable way. In this series, we re studying what it means to reflect God s glory to manifest his image, his character, his virtue in every aspect of our lives in the way we care for our bodies and souls, in the way we go about our daily work, in the way we take care of God s creation, and steward our time, talent, and treasure; in the way we relate to our family, friends, neighbours, and our spiritual brothers and sisters in the church. Reflecting God s glory, you see, isn t just a Sunday thing. Our whole life must be increasingly illuminated with God s virtue. Let s go to the scripture passage that is the basis of this entire series. It s 2 Peter chapter 1 and for now we ll look at verses 3-8: 3 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. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 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. I ve underlined a few highlights from this passage that I d like to quickly recap. First, we see in verse 3 that for those of us who are followers of Jesus, God has already given everything we need to live a godly life. We often think we re lacking; that we need more, but Peter is quite clear that God has already given us everything we ll ever need to participate in the divine nature which is another way of speaking about our calling to reflect God s image, God s glory, God s character in every aspect of our lives. As author Mark Buchannan puts it, The life you ve always wanted is already here. Right now. Not next year. Not after you get through this particularly difficult season. Not after your kids reach a certain age. Not after your husband gets his act together, or you ve gone to counselling, or acquired [that] degree, or read the latest and greatest self-help book. Here and now, you have everything you need for a godly life, is how the passage begins. But then the passage continues in verse 5 as follows: For this very reason, make every effort to pursue a godly life. Go all out. Strive with everything you ve got. Spare no effort to grow in Christlike virtue. So on the one hand, this text tells us that we already have everything we need for living a godly life, but on the other hand, it also tells us that we must make every effort to live a godly life. Say what? Isn t that kind of like saying, You ve got all the money you ll ever need; therefore, work as hard as you can to get rich? I mean, shouldn t it be either one... or the other? But as Pastor Andrew often reminds us in his wisdom, It s not either-or; it s both-and.
Mark Buchanan explains that the seeming contradiction of this passage is actually closer to common sense that first meets the eye. To return to the money analogy, it s like saying, You have all the money you need for the life you want only, invest it wisely and spend it with care. Now that fits; that makes sense, doesn t it? That s true to life. The point is this: God provides the entire inventory you need to live a godly life; he holds nothing back. But it s up to you to take what he gives and actually put it to the proper use. It s like he gives you the land and all the materials and tools and instructions you need to build a fine house. Without that provision, there could be no house. But there s some assembly required, which is up to you. Christian growth is like that. In the words of Saint Augustine, Without God, we can t. Without us, God won t. So, in Jesus Christ, God has already given us everything we ll ever need for godly living all his power, promises, and provision so that we can grow to reflect his image, his glory, his virtue, in every aspect of our lives. For this reason, says Peter in verse 5, make every effort to add to your faith... and then he goes on to list a ladder of virtues which every Christian needs to be growing in for a lifetime. Last week, Toby Mak took the Cornerstone pulpit wasn t it great to have Toby up here everyone? and he got us thinking about the first virtue listed in this passage faith. Toby spoke about faith particularly as it applies to the life focus area of work. Today, we ll spend some time to further explore the virtue of faith, and then we ll discuss how faith applies to another life focus area: family and friends. Make every effort, writes Peter, to add to your faith... Faith is so basic to living a godly life that Peter assumes his readers know its importance, and zooms right on past it to list additional virtues which we need to add on top of our faith. But it s important for us to pause here, and get clear on what faith is all about, because just as a house begins with a foundation, so building a life of virtue begins with a foundation, and that foundation is faith. We want to get our foundation right. So what is faith, exactly? In the New Testament, the original Greek word is pistis, which includes a cluster of related meanings. For starters, Hebrews chapter 11 defines faith as follows: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see... And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (1, 6). Faith s motto is this: I trust in the invisible God in what he s done and is doing and will do even more than I trust what I can perceive with my five physical senses. Biblical faith, quite simply, believes that God is, and that God s good. Anyone who comes to God, says the text, must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. As such, authentic biblical faith takes obedient action. I can say I believe that God exists. Most people do. I can say I believe that God is good, and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Most people would not disagree. But am I willing to step up to the plate and act on that conviction by obeying what God tells me to do? Obedient action, then, is the litmus test of faith. As the Bible says in James (2:19-22): 19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. 20 How foolish! Can t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? 21 Don t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. Did you know that one of Cornerstone s Core Values is Faith and Obedience? They are two sides of the same coin. Here s the statement from our website that describes this Core Value: We show our trust in God s faithfulness and goodness by doing what he says. When we trust and obey God, he finds us... faithful, or full of faith. That s the primary meaning of the virtue of faith that heads the list of character traits in our 2 Peter passage. Although the NIV uses the word faith, it could just as easily be translated faithfulness. This virtue is about our loyalty and our commitment to God. God himself is perfect in faithfulness, of course he can be counted on to fulfill his promises. He has been faithful enough to give his one and only Son for us. And Jesus was faithful to the redemptive mission God assigned him. Jesus was faithful he was loyal to God even unto death. You and are called to reflect God s own faithfulness, and Christ s own faithfulness, by being faithful to him in return, through trusting obedience. Let me share one final nuance with you about the biblical concept of faith. Sometimes faith refers to the content of the gospel itself that God gave his only Son to save people from sin, to restore them in his image, and to bring about the renewal of a fallen creation. So the word faith in the New Testament sometimes refers to the whole content of what we believe as Christians the Christian faith. In fact, Peter speaks of faith in this way in the opening verses of this letter. He addresses his letter, To those who have received a faith as precious as ours through the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ (1:1b). This is over against a false faith, a false gospel, with false beliefs that was being thrust by false teachers upon the churches Peter was addressing in this letter. This verse also shows us that authentic faith both as the content of the gospel itself as well as our own trust in and obedience to Christ is received. It originates not with us, but with God. In other words, faith is a gift. Our faith is certainly something
that we are involved in cultivating, but the source of our faith is the same as the object of our faith God himself. As such, we do well to make the same request of Jesus that the twelve disciples did in Luke chapter 17 verse 5. They said to the Lord, Increase our faith. There s a breath prayer that you can take with you to pray anytime, anywhere, a hundred times, a thousand times, in the week ahead. Lord, increase my faith! Lord, increase our faith here at Cornerstone! Now that we ve explored the virtue of faith from a variety of angles, it s time to get clinical and apply that virtue to the lifefocus area we re emphasizing this week: Family & Friends. How do we live out the virtue of faith in our families and friendships? I ll highlight several ideas along these lines in the time we have left. When it comes to the question of faith in the family, this morning I m going to zero in on cultivating the faith of our children. I was originally planning to touch also on faith as it relates to our marriages as well as our relationship with our parents, but that would be more than can be fit into one message. You can see why this is a 7-month series, can t you? We ll have lots of time in the months ahead to cover all the bases in terms of how to reflect the image of God in our family life. For the purposes of exploring how we can cultivate the virtue of faith in our children, I d like to consult a well-known Bible text. It s a passage that Pastor Kevin always refers to when he does child dedications here at Cornerstone. In Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 5-9, God says the following words to his people through Moses: Love GOD, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got! Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. On the basis of this passage, I have 3 ideas to share with you about cultivating the faith of your children. The first, I d like to call the oxygen mask principle. What do I mean by that? Well, you know the safety spiel they do on airplanes before your flight takes off? If you have a child with you, and the oxygen masks drop down, who do you put the mask on first yourself or the child? Yourself; why? Well, how much help can you be to your child if you ve passed out because you didn t get your mask on in time? You ll be no help at all. But if you put your mask on first, you ll be getting the oxygen you need so you ll be in good shape to make sure your child gets the oxygen he or she needs. When it comes to building the faith of your children, some of you are of little help, frankly, because you ve forgotten to put your own oxygen mask on first. That s why this passage says, Get these commandment inside of you [first], and then get them inside of your children. Mom, Dad, how are you going to breathe faith into the life of your children when your own faith is gasping for air? You can t give away what you don t have. You might be thinking you re giving your child the world by doting on them, buying them the things they want; or by running them around to a hundred different activities so they can have every advantage in life. But have you ever really given thought to the priority of developing your own faith? Make every effort to add to your faith, says our passage in 2 Peter. Have you? If not, then what kind of faith can you really pass on to your children? What steps do you need to take now, parents, to make your own faith formation a priority? Are you taking in the scriptures day by day? Are you in prayer? Are you regularly connected with other Christians for fellowship? Well, we re just too busy. I mean, little Johnny has gymnastics, piano lessons, tae-kwon-do, hockey, and sewing class on the weekends when most small groups tend to meet. We re doing well just to make it to church half the time. I m not trying to knock the value that such activities can hold for our kids. But how many do they really need? I think more than a few extra activities, our kids need godly parents, whose faith is growing. God has given you everything you need to live a godly life, moms and dads. But you have to make use of it. Is God saying to you this morning, I ve missed you. I ve provided an oxygen mask for you faith, but you haven t put it on. Would you put it on? Set aside time with me on a regular basis. Make your own faith development a priority, for your sake, and for your kids sake. Make every effort to add to your faith. The next idea relating to passing faith onto your children that I want to share with you has to do with the rhythms and relics of faith. Our Deuteronomy passage says, Talk about [God s commandments] wherever you are, sitting at home or walking on the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. This passage shows us that in order to impart faith to our kids, we need to talk to them about God, about Jesus, about scripture, about church, about serving, about giving, about forgiveness, and so on. While we don t want to exasperate our kids by talking their ears off I ve known parents who have been overbearing and hyper-spiritual in the way they talk to their kids about faith that can do more harm than good but what we do want to do is establish healthy and regular rhythms in which we can discuss faith with our children. In a way that is fitting to your family, create spaces and opportunities to lay a foundation of faith in the minds and hearts of your children. It s not always easy, but we need to make every effort, and once a rhythm or routine is established, it becomes easier to keep. Start by coming to church as a family each week. Make every effort. Make it a top priority. The children s and youth ministries at Cornerstone are here to partner with you in nurturing the faith of the next generation.
But most of your family rhythms of faith will take place at home. While Jan and I could do better with the family rhythms of faith that we ve established at home, we do pray with our kids on a nightly basis. We ve taught our kids the Lord s Prayer, and have several simple prayers that we say with them. We also try to model conversational prayer to them. Bedtime is also often a time when we discuss their day what they re going through at school, for example and suggest how they can live out their faith in Jesus in particular life situations. It s also a time I pray a blessing over each of my kids, which is something I picked up from the Take it Home family training that Pastor Kevin provides for parents here at the church. There are some great family devotional books that are available, if you decide to establish a regular time for family devotions, whether it s daily or weekly or what have you. Pastor Kevin is well aware of the resources out there, and would be delighted to help you choose one, if you could use his assistance. Having a short scripture reading at the dinner table which might sometimes turn into a mealtime faith discussion is a great thing to do. It doesn t have to be fancy in fact, more often than not, it will just be quite ordinary but establishing such family faith rhythms, along the lines of the Deuteronomy passage we read, is a great way a biblical way to nurture your children in the virtue of faith. And so is having some relics of faith in your home. I m talking art, photos, framed scripture verses, and so on. One thing I remember in my house growing up was a picture of Jesus that hung on the living room wall. Somehow, I think it helped me realize and remember, that Jesus is always there. This sermon even has me thinking about bringing home a mounted poster that I currently have on the wall in my office. It s this Rembrandt s Return of the Prodigal Son based on Jesus parable in Luke chapter 15. Wouldn t it be cool to talk to my kids about how the love of God the Father is like the love of the Father who is embracing his once-lost son in this picture? Wouldn t it be cool when my kids have messed up sometime to take them to the picture and talk about the forgiveness God provides for us in Christ? Imagine the impact that such imagery might have on their faith, as it hangs on the wall of our home year after year? Most days they ll forget it s even there, sure. But how many moments will there be over the years, when they glance at it, or even take a couple minures to study it, and think about the love of God? As our Deuteronomy passage says, Tie [God s commandments] on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. Rhythms and relics of faith in your family provide a great environment for capturing teachable moments with your children. This is the third idea for nurturing your children in the virtue of faith. Sometimes events happen in the course of your family s life, or your children s lives, that become opportunities ripe for imparting lessons of faith to your children. For example, I remember one time when my daughter Nicole was small. Yes, there was a time when Nicole was small. For those of you who know her, you know that she s well on her way to being a 6- footer. But when Nicole was small, she got into big trouble with me about some issue that I have long since forgotten. But what I will never forget was the discussion we had. Even though she had to be disciplined, I sat down next to her and explained, Nicole, Daddy always loves you, even when you re naughty. And her eyes were like deep pools of water, and through those eyes you could just see this truth sinking deep into her little spirit. She smiled a beautiful smile, and I wonder how that moment that teachable moment will set her up for learning not just in her head, but deep in her heart that God still loves us all even when we re naughty. I remember how when I was a boy, I was asked to do a scripture reading at church. It was no big deal, really. They asked me to do it, so I did, and that was that, or so I thought. But afterwards, both my parents and other people in the church really made a point of affirming me: Young man; you did a good job with that reading. It was very clear, and you read in a good loud voice. Did you know that affirmation was the planting of a seed in my heart to one day take the step of faith of training to become a pastor? A teachable moment. I am looking for a chance to seize a teachable moment soon with my middle son, Matthew, who s now eight. When the opportunity is right, I m going to tell him the story of something he once said to a guest in our house when he was only 4 years old. This guest had come to my home for counselling, and was very troubled in spirit. While this person was waiting for me, Matthew was playing nearby with his Batman action figures nearby. He had no idea of the burdens this person was bearing; none at all. But for some reason God maybe? he came up to this person out of the blue, look them straight in the eye, and said, Jesus died for you, you know... BATMAN! and then he went back to playing caped crusader like he had been before. But the person shared this with me later, and said it was if the Lord himself had sent this child to tell them exactly what they needed to hear at that very moment. I sense that the Lord is putting it on my heart to share that story with Matthew, and that I am to suggest this to him: I wonder, Matthew, if that is a little sign of what God has in mind for your future. He wants you to tell people people who really need to know that Jesus loves them, and that he died for them. So you guys can pray for this discussion I m planning of having with my son. Maybe it will be a moment a teachable moment in which God plants a seed in Matthew s heart that will one day bear eternal fruit in his life, and in the lives of others.
We ve been getting clinical in this last part of the message, speaking very practically about how to apply the virtue of faith to the life focus area of family, and specifically, on ideas for nurturing our children in faith. Parents, I hope that through the sharing of these ideas, God has challenged you, and perhaps birthed some of your own ideas to apply in this area. Not everyone is a parent, of course, but most all of us have friends. So I d like to finish this message by talking a bit about how the virtue of faith can be cultivated in our friendships. For one thing, when we think of how faith applies to friendship, we can remember the importance of faithfulness. The Bible says in Proverbs that, One who has unreliable [or unfaithful] friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (18:24). From a Christian perspective, what does it mean to have faithful friends? What does it mean to be a faithful friend? It means we stick by each other. It means we are there for each other, as much as possible. It means that we build into each other, pray for each other, and spur one another on in faith. In his helpful book, Restoring Your Spiritual Passion, Gordon McDonald observes that there are 5 kinds of people we encounter, and I d like to apply these categories to cultivating the virtue of faith in our friendships. First, there are the very resourceful people the VRP s who add to our lives, and ignite our faith. These are often mentors who are willing to build their experience and wisdom into our lives. Do you have friendships with any VRP s, who can be models, examples, and mentors of faith to you? Getting around a VRP, even if it s just occasionally, can do wonders for your growth in faith. It is wise to search for such a friend prayerfully. Second, there are VIP friendships. These are the very important people in our lives. McDonald says that VIP s are peers who love us enough to ask us tough questions and keep us honest as they work together with us to grow in faith. If you want to grow in faith, it s important to cultivate Christian friendships emphasis on Christian friendships with people who can be VRP s and VIP s in your life. Third, there are VTP s very trainable people those who catch our passion, who are teachable and interested in learning from our own faith example. Your faith can grow significantly as you impart faith to a VTP. Are you ready to be a VRP kind of friend to a VTP? These three groups, says McDonald VRP s, VIP s, and VTP s, correspond in the Bible to people like Paul, Barnabas, and Timothy, and we need exposure to all three kinds of friendships for spiritual growth and reproduction. We need all three kinds of these relationships to really grow in the virtue of faith. But there are also VNP s very nice people, who may enjoy our faith, but do very little to contribute to it, and have little interest in our contribution to theirs. These people make up the majority of people in today s churches, and most church programs focus on accommodating them and their needs. We can ask ourselves the question if that s a good thing or maybe a not-so-good thing. Finally, there are the VDP s the very draining people who can sap the passion of our faith by constantly looking for reassurance, comfort and recognition, or by causing conflicts. If we re not careful, the VNP s and VDP s can absorb the majority of our available time to invest in friendships. This does not mean that we should not treat them with respect and dignity, nor should we avoid having friendships with such people, especially because it is possible for such people to change when they become open to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in their lives. It s actually very important for us to show friendship to such people including those who have few friends so that they may come to know and grow in Jesus through us. Jesus indeed ministered to those who were sick and suffering, curious and critical, but you know what? He spent the majority of his time building into his disciples, and he said to them, You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I learned from the Father I ve made known to you (John 15:15). When it comes to our friendships with VDP s, we need to protect ourselves so that our own faith doesn t get sidetracked or sapped without writing such people off. You see, by the grace of God, it is possible for a VDP to become a VRP. But this passage shows us that we need authentic Christian friendships which are Jesus-focused in which our faith can be mutually built up as we encourage each other in the Lord. He who walks with the wise grows wise, says Proverbs 13:20, but a companion of fools suffers harm. Some of us today, I would imagine, are so busy that we have little time to cultivate many friendships at all, let alone Christcentered friendships with VRP s, VIP s and VTP s that help build up the virtue of faith in our lives. Such friendships require time and investment. Are you prepared to make it a priority to cultivate one or two faith-building friendships? Is God speaking to you about your need to prayerfully pursue a new VRP, VIP, or VTP friendship, or to be intentional about investing more in some of the friendships you already have? Again, I hope these categories give you lots of fodder for reflection, discussion, and prayer. If God is speaking to you here, I encouraged you to zero in one or two specific steps you can take in this area. Remember, make every effort, says Peter, to add to your faith in your family, in your friendships, and in all of life. As one commentator says about our 2 Peter passage:
We do not automatically become more virtuous as if God infused virtue into us intravenously; we need to make plans, and expend effort (David Peters). This whole series is meant to encourage you in that effort, and that includes offering you what we hope will be some helpful tools, opportunities and ideas for evaluating your growth needs, making specific plans, and take specific steps to more fully reflect the character and virtue of Christ in all areas of your life. Along those lines, I d like to remind you that we are posting not only the audio versions of our Sunday sermons on the church website, but also our sermon notes each and every week. So if you hear something in one of the messages that you want to refer back to, and didn t get it written down, just go on line, and all the sermon notes will be there. Also, in the spirit of encouraging and equipping you in your efforts to grow in the lord, I d to ask the ushers to pass out a special tool that we ve developed. It s hot off the Cornerstone presses. The tool that s coming around is called the Reflecting Jesus in All of Life Assessment Tool. Based on Cornerstone s main theme for the year Designed to help you assess your growth needs in the 6 life-focus areas we re talking about this year (Body & Soul Care; Creation and Global Missions; Work; Family & Friends; Local and Faith Community; and Time, Talent, and Treasure) Quickly walk through instructions Aiming to get this into an online format soon will email you all once it s ready Response song: I d like to ask the worship team to come up now. We re going to worship God with our tithes and offerings as we sing the song Come Home Running. You see, the point of all of this is to stay close to Jesus. Our 2 Peter passage says that our growth in virtue comes through our knowledge of Jesus and that s relational knowledge not mere informational knowledge. Reflecting God s image, God s glory, God s virtue in our lives always, always, always comes back to Jesus, who needs to be at the center of our lives, as this diagram shows. Christian growth requires prayer-infused, momentby-moment living with Jesus. So where you ve strayed from Jesus, come home running...