Embracing Transformation: A Journey of Renewal

Just like this won't fix you overnight, we know that. We also know, most people here know, that the grace that's offered by God, we can't fix ourselves. It can only be by God. But, one mistake that's often made in the church is to think that we don't really have a role in it, that we can just sit back and be passive, that God does all the work to transform us. And that's not right either. [00:01:42] (29 seconds)


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. [00:03:57] (29 seconds)


For this 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. [00:04:26] (32 seconds)


There's two kinds of grace generally. One is called operative grace, at least by theologians. The idea is that God operates on us whether we like it or not, right? When we're first born, when we first come to faith, it's God acting on us. God grants us that faith. It's operative on us. The other kind is called cooperative, and it's God operates, but we have to cooperate with him in order to take hold of it. We have to actively receive it. [00:13:09] (28 seconds)


And love is sort of a summary of God's life and his being and all of his goodness, all of his character. And so, we have to make sure that we're supposed to put on. So, essentially, what Peter's saying is God gives you this grace of faith. We come to know God and how to be blessed by him, and then we're supposed to make every effort to supplement that, and if we do, we become like God. [00:14:53] (29 seconds)


And Peter is picking up on that and he's saying, yes, we're creatures of habits. We do things over and over and over again and they become like a second nature. And what God intends for us is when He gives us His grace that we multiply it by doing it again and again and again. And then we start with the faith that's given to us and we multiply it until we become like God. That's the Christian walk. [00:24:52] (33 seconds)


So, what Peter has done, and I think Jesus and Paul too, but in our passage, Peter, by the way, I think it goes all through the Old Testament too, but what they've done is they've seized on this idea of virtue theory from Greek culture, and they baptized it, and essentially what Peter is saying is, we have to do the same thing, but with the graces that God gives us. [00:30:03] (28 seconds)


Spiritual disciplines, this idea is not very prevalent in Protestant churches today, and that really goes back to the Reformation historically. You know, during the Reformation, the Protestant Reformation, looked at the church in the West, the Catholic church, and said, there's too much emphasis on human effort. It's by God. It's by grace alone. It's by faith alone. It's God's Word, not our intellect or anything. They purged human effort, by and large. [00:30:58] (35 seconds)


The idea is that God's grace comes to us, and then we, in an informed and intentional way, take hold of it and receive it. We engage with God's grace in the manner in which God designed us to, to cultivate it and multiply it in our lives. And that will transform us. The second is practical knowledge is the key. We must know God and know what he's called us to. Peter makes that clear. [00:33:08] (31 seconds)


True transformation is gradual. It's step by step, including some steps backwards. Okay, number five, we must be intentional and realistic. We have to start small. If you're not doing any of these things, start small. Don't make a whole laundry list to try and fix yourself in one year. Not going to work. Pick two or three, maybe one, maybe four. I don't know, but start small. [00:35:54] (29 seconds)


This is my encouragement to you. This is my prayer for our church. If we do this, we will all be new creations. We'll be closer and closer to it. And if we do it together, we're much more likely to be successful. Let me pray. Father God, we thank you. We thank you for your word. We thank you again for your love. We thank you for Peter's clear instruction. [00:41:15] (26 seconds)