Pursuing Jesus 2 Peter 1:1-9 Let s do life together! Someone share with us something that has happened in your life the last few days since we last met? Our Subject Today is Pursuing Jesus ; how do you pursue Jesus on a daily basis? T.E.A.M. Signups: Please use the handout to give people ownership and lighten your load as a leader. 1) How does a person find Grace and Peace today? How would you define Grace and Peace? Week #2 FEB 3/4 - WINTER 2018 Page 1
2) Share with your LIFEgroup how you currently pursue God: where do you read your Bible? How do you read your Bible? What translations do you use? Do you journal or take notes?. 3) Since we have been delivered or have escaped the corruption of the world (verse 4), what have we escaped and for this reason what does verse 5 tell us to apply to our lives? : 4) Take a moment and list the 7 traits of a person pursuing Jesus. When we go through a normal day, good or bad day, do these 7 traits show up? Can people see Jesus in you? Week #2 FEB 3/4 - WINTER 2018 Page 2
5) What is the benefit of increasing in measure these 7 traits? This is a promise from God to each of us. How many more promises does God want you to explore and discover for you life by reading the Bible daily? How does that benefit your life? 6) What will we forget if we neglect meeting with God daily? Christians are designed and given a passion to pursue Jesus daily, why is it so easy to lose the habit of seeking God daily? Let s make a plan as a LIFEgroup to pursue God daily. What can we challenge each other to do; and can we hold each other accountable? Week #2 FEB 3/4 - WINTER 2018 Page 3
This week reread all the Scriptures we went over and apply them to your life. What was our Scripture memory verse from last week? This week memorize, But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. - Matthew 6:6 This week, invite a friend to fill the empty chair in our LIFEgroup 1. This week, I will participate in our church-wide survey using the FFC app or this link: bit.ly/fishhawkchurchney2 2. This week, I will join XXI, our 21 day journey through the book of John. 3. This week, I will find my chair and begin/continue a daily devotional time reading the Scriptures. 4. This week, I will memorize Psalm 119:18: Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. Week #2 FEB 3/4 - WINTER 2018 Page 4
Question 1 2 Peter 1:1-4 Peter not only called himself a slave but also an apostle of Jesus Christ. Peter was speaking more technically of those whom Jesus Christ specially called and appointed to serve as apostles (Matt 10:1 11:1; Mark 3:13 19; cf. Acts 1:21 26). The authority of the apostles is communicated in 2 Pet 3:2 and the high estimate of Paul (2 Pet 3:15 16). Peter, therefore, was not merely sharing his opinion in his letter. He wrote as a commissioned slave of Jesus Christ and his appointed apostle. He wrote authoritatively to a church threatened by false teachers. The first words of the greeting are in exact agreement with 1 Pet 1:2. Peter infused the greeting with Christian content by using the word grace (charis). The term peace represents a typical Jewish greeting, and the order may be significant. Those upon whom God has bestowed his grace experience his peace. Peter prayed that God would multiply his grace and peace in the lives of the readers, for he knew that their progress in the Christian life depended upon God alone. Grace and peace are multiplied through knowing God and Jesus Christ our Lord. Such knowledge of God is personal and relational, but it also involves intellectual content. Biblical writers never divorce the head and the heart in terms of spiritual growth. Grace and peace abound when believers know more about God and come to know God in a deeper way in the crucible of experience. (Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary [Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003]) Question 3. 2 Peter 1:4-5 His very great and precious promises refers to the promises Jesus gave during his earthly life, particularly the promises he made regarding the enabling and purifying ministry of God s Holy Spirit in the life of the believer (see John 14:15 17a; 16:7; Acts 1:4 5, 8). In John s Gospel Jesus promises the believer the continual presence of the Holy Spirit to assist in obedience. Jesus Christ promises his followers the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This promise is assured because of the character of the one making the promise. As a result of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, we may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. That is, we are able to move closer to God and further away from the sinful culture. Participating in the divine nature simply means that as believers, through the power of the Spirit, we begin to change positively and demonstrate more and more of the character of God in our lives. At the same time, we demonstrate less and less of the character of the culture. As a result, we escape the internal decay or rottenness that accompanies so much of the evil desires of the world. Question 4. 2 Peter 1:5 7. These verses describe in more specific terms what participating in the divine nature should look like. Such participation exhorts us to make every effort to change our lives. Verses 3 4 lay out the incredible gift of God in allowing his power, his Spirit to be a part of the believer s life as a divine helper in the process of transformation. Verses 5 7 show that each believer also has a role to play in this transformation. A resolve, a desire, a commitment to growth and transformation must be part of the individual believer s life if the Holy Spirit is to be effective. The characteristics in verses 5 7 describe in overview the nature or essence of godly living introduced in verse 3. We see here that the letter is addressed to believers who are asked to add to [their] faith. The beginning point of transformation is salvation that Peter assumes his readers have experienced. The characteristics of godliness can be attained only by saved people: Goodness speaks of moral excellence. Knowledge concentrates on practical knowledge or knowledge that is lived out. This kind of knowledge makes a distinction between what is true and what is not true. It is able to discern what is right versus what is wrong and what is encouraging versus what is hurtful. Self-control describes the inner strength to control one s desires and cravings. The believer, through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, is not to be a prisoner to any sinful desire or craving. Perseverance in its most literal rendering means to walk under the load. This refers to the courage to deal with the difficult times in life, perhaps a veiled reference to the dominant theme of suffering in 1 Peter. Godliness is the virtue heralded in verse 3, and it means reverence and obedience. Week #2 FEB 3/4 - WINTER 2018 Page 5
COMMENTARY Question 4, cont. Brotherly kindness translates one Greek word, philadelphia, a common word used to describe relationships of love with a family. Love (agape) is a deliberate desire for the highest good of the person loved. It demonstrates itself in sacrificial action for that person s good. These last two characteristics, brotherly kindness and love, are supremely the characteristics of Jesus Christ. His mission in life was to sacrifice himself for humanity s good. The transforming process of God s Holy Spirit is to take each individual believer toward this direction becoming Christlike (cf. Rom. 8:28 29). It is most difficult to model reverence toward God and continued obedience when your life is under siege from people or circumstances. Yet, with the enabling of the Spirit and the personal resolve to pursue such a course, this becomes another mark of transformation in the growing believer s life, a life continually reflecting brotherly kindness and love. (David Walls and Max Anders, I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude, vol. 11, Holman New Testament Commentary [Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999]) Question 5. 2 Peter 1:8 If the godly qualities of vv. 5 7 exist and abound in the lives of believers, they are neither ineffective (argous) nor unfruitful (akarpous) in their knowledge of Christ. Peter made the point negatively. It could be restated as follows: When the virtues both exist and abound in believers, believers are effective and fruitful with respect to their knowledge of Christ. The word ineffective is used of idle workers who are wasting their day in the marketplace instead of working (Matt 20:3, 6). James said that faith without works is idle or ineffective (Jas 2:20). Being without fruit reminds us of the parable of the soils, where the seed sown among thorns is unfruitful because it is choked by the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of money (Matt 13:22; cf. Jude 12 and by contrast Col 1:10). (Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary [Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003]) Question 6. 2 Peter 1:9 In contrast, if you do not have these characteristics increasing in your life, you are spiritually sick, suffering from short-sightedness, blindness, and forgetfulness. Someone who is blind cannot see at all; someone who is short-sighted cannot see in the distance; and someone who has forgotten cannot remember the grace of God in their past. (David Walls and Max Anders, I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude, vol. 11, Holman New Testament Commentary [Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999]) Hebrews 12 Christian athletes must keep their eyes fixed on the goal. That calls us to focus attention on Jesus without being diverted to anything else. Our Lord s steadfast obedience provided a perfect example of commitment for struggling believers. As the author of our faith (see the same word in 2:10), Jesus inspires action in believers of all ages. As the perfecter of our faith, Jesus takes harassed believers, develops our faith, and brings us to heaven s Promised Land (Phil. 1:6). Three features about Jesus demand attention. First, Jesus endured the cross to seize the blessed joy set before him. The path to victorious joy led through the cross. Second, Jesus scorned the shame of the cross. Jesus recognized the humiliation and ignominy of the cross, but these threats were of no consequence to him as he considered the coming glory. Third, Jesus sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. From the pain and agony of the cross God exalted Jesus to the position of a throne. As we reflect on our own hardships, we need to assess carefully the endurance of Jesus. Jesus endured hostility from sinners that reached its climax at the cross. When you tend to let go, you can avoid faintheartedness and weariness by keeping your attention riveted upon Jesus. Jesus endured hostility from stubborn sinners. You have never faced such intense evil as did Jesus. His sterling example can stabilize us in our fear and concern. (Thomas D. Lea, Hebrews, James, vol. 10, Holman New Testament Commentary [Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999]) Week #2 FEB 3/4 - WINTER 2018 Page 6