Getting Spiritually Fit for Life

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Getting Spiritually Fit for Life Rich Nathan January 12-13, 2013 Fit for Life Series 2 Peter 1.3-11

I’d like to begin today by welcoming our Sawmill Campus, our Lane Avenue Campus, and our East Campus. I’d also like to welcome our tow campus initiatives in Circleville and Mansfield. We’re glad to have you with us. Lesslie Newbigin was a British missionary in India for several decades. When he returned to England in the 1970’s, he discovered that the England that he came back to was radically different than the England that he had left in the 1930’s. He found that the church and Christian influence on the English society had massively declined in the years that he had spent in India. The larger society was no longer supportive of Christian values or Christian understanding of life. In fact, not only was the larger society indifferent to Christian faith, but many of the institutions were overtly hostile. The government, the universities, the mass media and the elites of society Newbigin discovered were actually antagonistic to Christian faith and church attendance had plummeted. Now, there are lots of reasons why the influence of Christian faith has declined so rapidly in the Western world. I need to immediately add, so you are not discouraged, that the church is growing by leaps and bounds in the majority world – in China, in India, in Sub-Saharan Africa, and in Latin America. But concerning the decline in the Western world, sociologists of religion would point to the sexual revolution in the 1960’s, growing economic prosperity which always dulls faith, political polarization between the left and the right which took many churches captive. Mainline Protestants went to the left; evangelical Christians went to the right. Many people got alienated. There are certainly philosophical currents that caused the decline. But one thing that Newbigin stressed is that the church in the West has declined because most Christians don’t look very different than their non-Christian neighbors. The church really isn’t a counter-cultural society. See, Christians ought to look like everyone else in some ways, but ought to look unlike everyone else in other ways. We Christians ought to look like our neighbors in most of the food we eat, and in the clothes we wear, and the places we work, and the sports teams we support, and our engagement with our schools and neighborhoods and government. We Christians ought to look like our neighbors in pursuing excellence in athletics and excellence in many of the things our neighbors’ value. We ought to pursue excellence in our work and pursue excellence in school, and pursue excellence in the Arts – music, drama and

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dance, in movie-making. We Christians ought to be diligent and disciplined. In many ways we ought to look very much like everyone else. But we Christians ought to, in a number of ways, look radically unlike than our neighbors. Early Christians looked very different than the rest of society – not by what they ate, or what they wore, or by the commitment to excellence, or hard work. But the early Christians were marked by things like integrity. They were scrupulously honest in business. They were fair in their dealings. They were incredibly generous and not only helped the poor in their own midst, but they helped the poor in the larger society. The early Christians were known for their hospitality. They opened up their homes regularly and welcomed people in. They were marked by forgiveness. They sought reconciliation. They rejected being vengeful. The early Christians were marked by chastity. They simply refused to have sex outside of marriage. The early Christians were able to handle adversity. They didn’t think something was radically wrong when they were persecuted or they went through trials. They thought that was part and parcel of being a follower of Christ. Newbigin suggested that one of the essential reasons why Christians and the church has lost influence in the Western world is that we have many Christians who do not look like Christians. We don’t look like the early Christians, and we don’t look like Jesus. And it is a fact that the church is not an alternative society, a counter-culture, that just knowing someone who is a follower of Christ won’t necessarily tell you if that person is sexually chaste, or if they are scrupulously honest in all their financial dealings, or if they are really forgiving, rejecting all grudges. I started a series last week to encourage us in the New Year to get back in shape. New Year’s is a great time to get back in shape. Last week I spoke about getting physically fit for life. And I’m really excited about the response so far! Thousands of you took the Fit for Life packets last weekend. Hundreds of you signed up for Fit for Life Growth Groups. Hundreds of you have already attended our Let’s Get Started and our Fitness classes. We want to get at least 2000 of us joining together to get physically fit in this New Year – to eat less and to move more. And so we have the Lose It program. If you are new to Lose It, Step 1 – Create a free account at vineyardcolumbus.loseit.com using your computer. You must login in to vineyardcolumbus.loseit.com initially to be joined to our Vineyard Columbus Lose It! Group & the 8 lbs in 8 Weeks Weight Loss Challenge Step 2 – If you have a smartphone, download the Lose It! app Step 3 – Start logging!

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And if you already use Lose It!: Step 1 – Sign-in one time to vineyardcolumbus.loseit.com to be added to the Vineyard Columbus Lose It! group & 8 Lbs in 8 Weeks Weight Loss Challenge Step 2 – Keep doing what you’re doing! Obviously, getting physically fit is not enough. And so today I want to talk about Getting Spiritually Fit for Life. Next week I will be speaking about Getting Financially Fit for Life. Then we’ll be doing Getting Emotionally Fit for Life; and finally, Getting Relationally Fit for Life. I really believe that these messages would be great for you to invite a friend or a family member, or a coworker to because they address the felt-needs of virtually everyone. So, today we’re going to continue in this series, Fit for Life, and I’ve called this message, “Getting Spiritually Fit for Life.” 2 Peter 1:3-11 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. 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. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, selfcontrol; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 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. But if any of you do not have them, you are nearsighted and blind, and you have forgotten that you have been cleansed from your past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, in verses 8-11, Peter draws a sharp contrast between two kinds of Christian lives. In verses 8-9, we could talk about the barren Christian life. 2 Peter 1:8-9 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. But if any of you do not have them, you are nearsighted and blind, and you have forgotten that you have been cleansed from your past sins. And in verses 10-11, the blessed Christian life.

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2 Peter 1:10-11 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is very clear that in both cases we’re talking about Christians – someone who has been converted, someone who has been born again, someone who knows Jesus even when we are talking about the barren Christian life. We see that in verse 8. 2 Peter 1:8 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. Peter is pointing out a problem for Christians much like Lesslie Newbigin pointed out the problem of England and the Western world over the last half century. The problem defined It is possible to have met Jesus, to have received him at a meeting, or at church, or as a child with your parents or your grandparents, to pray the sinner’s prayer. Peter is saying that it is possible to as an initial matter be really joyful that you know Jesus, to feel forgiven, to feel like you have really trusted Christ to save you. It is possible that you can look back on your life and know that there was a moment when God really did give you the gift of eternal life. It is possible to go through a conversion experience and yet, in Peter’s words, to live a life that is ineffective and unproductive. Verse 8: 2 Peter 1:8 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. But there is nothing distinctively Christian about you. You don’t look any different than your neighbors in any way. When I see that word “ineffective” it speaks to me about a process, about methodology. A person may have an end in mind, they might say, “I know what a Christian ought to look like. I have a picture in my mind of what the finished product looks like for the follower of Christ.” The follower of Christ ought to have integrity. We should be known for being scrupulously honest in all of our dealings, especially our financial dealings. A follower of Christ ought to be marked by generosity. We ought to be willing to give away our hard-earned money. If you are an employer, you ought to take less profit so employees can have more pay. You ought to be generous in your giving to the church and to charities. Christians ought to be sexually chaste, having no sex outside of marriage. We ought to be committed to breaking down

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walls between people, to be the least racist of anyone in the larger culture, to pursue justice for those who are being stepped on by people who are more powerful than them. The ineffective Christian might say: I have in my mind a picture of what a mature follower of Christ looks like. I know what I am supposed to be. But the ineffective Christian has no real clear path to becoming that type of person. They use ineffective methods. They aren’t sure. How do I become a mature follower of Christ? Have you ever seen someone who is ineffective in their methods? I think of the ineffective parent, the person who loves their children and really wants their kids to grow up healthy and well and, perhaps, to grow up loving God. But the methods this parent is using in child training and child raising are totally ineffective. You see the parent constantly whining at their kids. “Honey…please, mommy is going to get very upset if you do that.” “Mommy is going to count to 3, you need to put that cookie down…1…2…2½…2¾…2⅞…” And the kid is thinking, “Mommy knows fractions. I wonder if Mommy knows how to do square roots?” And they shove the cookie in their mouth and laugh and runaway. Ineffective. I watched a dad one time with a 4-year old standing on his porch threatening his 4-year old that there would be terrible consequences if the 4-year old ran out into the street. This little 4-year old looked back at dad and realized here was a good, but totally ineffective father. And he just took off into the street. Dad went running down the street after the 4-year old. There were no consequences. Just empty threats. Ineffective. We watch ineffective marriages all the time. Couples who genuinely, both of them, would like to enjoy a happy, good marriage. They just don’t know how to get there and so their methods of resolving conflict only lead to greater misunderstandings and greater hurts. And they end up sounding like two five year olds arguing. “No, you didn’t” “Yes, I did.” Did not. Did too. You always leave your shoes here. Well, what about what you did with the car? Oh, you are going to bring that up again? They pout. They yell. They withdraw. Yes, I have in mind what a good marriage supposed to be like, I just don’t know how to get there. I don’t know how to resolve conflicts or be best friends with my spouse, or really forgive, or come to agreement about finances or childraising. Ineffective methods. Peter says that you cannot only be ineffective, but you can be unproductive even though you are a Christian. Verse 8: 2 Peter 1:8

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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.

The word “unproductive” could also be translated “unfruitful.” You may see a barrenness in terms of your evangelism. You know Jesus Christ, you may have a desire to see other people know Christ, but it may be years or never in the course of your life that you actually impact one person toward receiving Christ as their Savior. Not one. No children. No teens. No adults. No parents. No one. You read in the Bible that the Christian life is to be a fruit bearing life, a life of multiplication, a life where God gets some return on the talents that he has given us, but your life is a barren life. Maybe it is barren in terms of your bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit. You look at your life and you say, “I don’t see very much fruit. I am not very loving or joyful or patient or kind. Maybe I see myself as someone who is easily irritated, often really upset like a person walking around with a very bad sunburn.” Every thing irritates you. Everything bugs you. You are always in a funk. People have to walk on egg shells around you. Perhaps you say, “I have little self-control over my moods or my speech. I find myself saying things I shouldn’t or using words I shouldn’t. Or breaking confidences. Or exaggerating. I have very little self-control over my speech, or my drinking…Or maybe your appetites, or sexuality, mind, or your eyes. Here is a person who lives in the grays, the shadows of life. They say, “I believe in Jesus Christ, I do, and I go to church, but my whole Christian life is fundamentally characterized by ineffectiveness and unfruitfulness. I know almost nothing of the abundant life that Jesus Christ described when he said, ‘I came to give life and that more abundantly.’ I have nothing like the kind of full confidence that Paul speaks about in his relationship with Christ. It seems like other people around me enjoy that too.” Rather, you find yourself often shaken by doubts. You wonder if you are a true Christian sometimes, whether you really have made that connection. You doubt whether you are saved often, when you think about it. You doubt whether you really know God. You doubt whether the Bible really is God’s Word and if the promises in the Bible are really true. You have nothing like the growing knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ that ought to characterize the Christian life. But Peter not only defines the problem for us, but praise God, the Bible is not like most self-help books that are great at defining the problem, spending twelve chapters laying the problem out. You say, “Yes, yes…that’s me; that’s what I’m like. Yes, that is my problem!” And then maybe spend one chapter offering a solution. An old Puritan once said that you could always tell false teaching because it spends way more time defining

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the problem than offering the solution. But the Bible is not like that. And Peter is not like that. And so he offers the solution. The provision declared 2 Peter 1:3-4 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. 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. It is really important that we understand that God has given us everything we need to become the kind of people we know we should be. God is not like the Pharaohs that we read about in the Old Testament book of Exodus. Pharaoh, who ordered the Israelites to produce bricks, but gave them no straw to make the mortar. That’s how some people picture God. I’ve given you this standard for life – to be honest, to be generous, to be forgiving and so on, but I’m not going to provide you with what you need to ever be able to meet that standard. You are on your own. Peter says that Christ has given us everything we need to live the kind of life that pleases God, the kind of life that we want to live. There are certainly different ways that people have attempted to live the Christian life. Some people attempt to grow by will power, by their own determination and grit, looking inside themselves for their own resources, their own positive thinking. Jesus tells us what the result of will power and self effort will be in John 15:5: John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. Christ’s power You know that that’s the first thing I say to God every morning in my devotions. When I start my devotions every morning, I start with this simple statement: Jesus, you said to me that apart from you, I can do nothing. And then I say: Jesus, today, I won’t think what I ought to think; I won’t feel what I ought to feel; I won’t be able to love in the way I ought to love; I won’t forgive as you forgive…I run through a list of things that I know that Jesus wants me to be like and I say: Jesus, apart from you and the filling of your Spirit, I won’t be able to do any of these things. So as I begin my devotions every morning, I open my hands as I sit in my chair with my Bible, and I say: Jesus, come fill me with the Holy Spirit; enable me to do and to be what you want me to do and to be today.

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Our solo efforts are doomed to failure. We need Christ’s power. In providing for us to become the kind of people that would please God, the kind of people who we want to be – effective, fruit-bearing, productive, Christ not only gives us his power, but also his promises. Verse 4: 2 Peter 1:4 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. Christ’s promises What might be included in these promises? Certainly, his promise of the gift of the Spirit. Peter refers to participating in the divine nature, that we get to be united with God by the Spirit. We don’t become God. We’re always creatures. But we can be united to God by faith. Christ’s very great and precious promises might include his promise to answer prayer. Jesus said: Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! His promises might include his promise to be with us which is especially important when we don’t feel that our prayers have been answered, or we don’t see how they’ve been answered. How can I be the kind of Christian that I want to be, the kind of Christian that pleases God and makes it through trial and adversity? The great promise of Christ in Matthew 28:19-20, Matthew 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Christ’s promises are nothing like the politicians’ promises or the world’s promises. Christ’s promises are never broken, ever. Christ promised that if we turned our burdens over to him, he would give us rest. Christ promised that he was going away to prepare a place for us and he would come again and he will bring us to where he is. Christ

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promised that we would never have any temptation too great for us to bear. Christ promised that he would complete his work in us. Christ promised that the church would endure no matter how much pressure comes against the church, that the gates of hell would not be able to stand against his church. Christ keeps his promises. I think of God’s promise to guide us. His promise to forgive us whatever we have done or failed to do, if we truly confess. We don’t have to live dragging around the regrets of last week, last month or last year. You can’t become an effective, fruitful Christian if you don’t know what’s been give to you – Christ’s power, Christ’s promises. So why then don’t we grow? If every Christian has Christ’s power and Christ’s promises, why don’t most Christians look any different than their neighbors in multiple respects? Why doesn’t the church look like an alternative society, a countercultural movement, so that people really expect something different, something wonderful about the behavior of their Christian neighbor? Why so ineffective and unproductive? The puzzle deciphered 2 Peter 1:5-7 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; and to mutual affection, love. Look at verse 5: 2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; The reason why so many Christians are so ineffective is that many folks have a magical view of faith. All I need to do is accept Jesus and I will automatically grow. They don’t realize that we must do something to become spiritually fit. Christ has given us his power and his promises. But spiritual fitness is a both-and process. It includes God’s activity and our activity; the divine and the human. Peter uses the phrase “make every effort.” Some of your bibles might say “apply all diligence,” or giving all diligence. I like the NIV translation – “make every effort.” The NIV actually uses this phrase 8 times in the New Testament – make every effort. So we read in Luke 13:24: Luke 13:24

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“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. And in Hebrews 12:14: Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. And in 2 Peter 3:14: 2 Peter 3:14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. The late John White, who was an older and dear friend of mine, he was a Christian psychiatrist who went to be with the Lord a few years ago, wrote one of the best books I’ve ever read on Christian growth and discipleship. It is called “The Fight.” We may have copies of it in our bookstore. But what an appropriate title for Christian growth and for the Christian life. The apostle Paul calls the Christian life a fight in 1 Timothy 6:12: 1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Notice, it is a good fight; it is not like fighting with your spouse, or your parents, or your neighbors. The Christian life is a good fight. Spiritual growth is a struggle; it is a labor. We are salmon swimming upstream in this fallen world. If we do nothing, we move backward in our Christian lives. The tendency of our own sin is to draw us backward. The tug of the world is drawing us backward. The opposition of Satan is pulling us backward. And as I said before, one major error in the church is to believe that growth is automatic. That God will somehow pick you up by the seat of you pants and somehow throw you upstream. You’ve got to fight with this stream and waterfall of your own sinful tendencies, Satan, and the world constantly in your face. You’ve got to fight to move upstream. The problem, simply stated, regarding why it is that we Christians are not spiritually fit and, in fact, why we are not physically fit or financially fit, or emotionally fit, or relationally fit can be summed up with this one phrase: We are not making every effort.

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Or more simply put, the problem that we face in fitness is sloth. By sloth what the ancient church was taking about what we might call today “apathy” or “indifference” or a lack of passion, a lack of feeling or caring about what is right. By sloth we are talking about a state of spiritual dullness where you just don’t care about sin in your life or God or prayer or witnessing or worship or pursuing Christian virtues like reconciling with someone who is difficult, or peacemaking, or pursuing patience or purity. The basic theme of sloth is “I just really don’t care.” Ever feel that way? It is the adult or teenager who is not particularly interested in God or spiritual things or righteousness. They are just dull. It is a state of spiritual inertia. It is being a spiritual Homer Simpson. Sitting on the sofa with your mouth hanging open, with broken chips on your shirt, flipping through the channels on the TV, sitting around playing video games for hours; spending hours on Facebook; hours just hanging out, but almost never really going after God. By sloth we are talking about being a taker and not being a giver, never giving back more than you take. Never serving except when you absolutely have to and there is no other alternative. It is “Yeah, yeah, I know what God wants, but I am not that motivated to change.” It is the condemnation that Jesus made to the church at Laodecia, where he said, “I would that you were cold or hot; but because you are lukewarm I will spew you out of my mouth.” By sloth we are talking about lukewarmness. You just don’t have any particularly strong feelings one way or another about God, prayer, life, or marriage. Everything just seems like it takes too much energy. Dorothy Sayers, the great Christian writer and dear friend of CS Lewis, once said: Sloth is the sin that believes in nothing; cares for nothing; seeks to know nothing; interferes with nothing; finds purpose in nothing; lives for nothing; and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die. Do you have the picture? Spiritual blah, indifference, lukewarmness, unmotivated, you don’t care very much about anything at all. The kind of thing where occasionally you ask yourself: what’s it going to take for me to really make a difference, but you don’t think of it for very long. The problem with our Christian life, Peter says, the problem all of the Bible says about the way the people of God live is that there is an absence of passion, an absence of fight. There is this slackness, this unwillingness to really go for it, to take ourselves in hand and to say: OK, I really do want to be different than I am. I want this year to be a

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much better year, not just in terms of my outward circumstances, but the kind of person I am. I want to be the kind of person that pleases God and looks like what I think I ought to look like. Well, what’s the process by which we would grow? The process detailed 2 Peter 1:5-7 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; and to mutual affection, love. Peter describes a kind of staircase that moves us up from one thing to another until we get to the top. Peter describes a kind of walk in which we add one foot to another, as I always say: right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. That’s how the Christian life works – one foot in front of another. Now there are some very creative preachers who have tried to say that there is this great logical order between the various items listed here. I don’t really think there is, other than the fact that the Christian life does begin with faith. Verse 5: 2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; And the Christian life does end with love. Verse 7: 2 Peter 1:7 7and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. Love – that is the crowning virtue. But in-between I think that these are just examples of the kinds of qualities that one must add to their faith. Some translations say we must furnish out our faith. I like that. It is not enough that you’ve trusted in Christ to save you. That’s the starting point of the Christian life. But your faith needs to be furnished out. It is not enough that you buy a house, but to make it into a home you must furnish it out – fill it with appliances and furniture and personal items that make it into a livable space. The phrase furnish out was used in the 1st century to describe the Greek theatre where wealthy patrons would furnish out the play by providing an orchestra or a choir. It made the whole experience richer. We need to furnish out our faith.

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Or if you prefer a more contemporary translation, we need to have a “tricked out” faith, like a tricked out car. You know, spoke wheels, a huge sound system, cool headlights and sweet graphics. So, what do we need to furnish out our faith with? Let me just tackle two of these qualities. I’m not going to cover all of them. Verse 5: 2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; Peter underlines the theme of knowing God, knowing Jesus in several places. Verse 2: 2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Peter says that grace and peace can be ours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. And in 2 Peter 3:17-18: 2 Peter 3:17-18 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

What’s Peter talking about concerning growing in the knowledge of God and of Jesus? Certainly, in the Bible knowledge is, on the one hand, a very intimate and personal work. The Old Testament uses the word “knowledge” to describe the intimate relationship of a husband with his wife. It is the way to describe sexual relations. Adam knew his wife. And it is this intimate knowledge that the Apostle Paul prays for in Philippians 3. 10 and that Jesus describes in John 10:14: Philippians 3:10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— But knowledge in the Bible is not just intimate and personal, it is also cognitive. It has a certain intellectual content to it. One of the reasons that Christians are so ineffective and unproductive is that many Christians have not grown in the intellectual, in the

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cognitive content of their Christian faith. It ought to be a concern to us that many of us who are very intelligent people, who also have a sincere faith in Christ – we’ve trusted Christ to be our Savior. We’ve trusted in his death to be the full and final payment of our sins. Despite the fact that we were converted years ago, we’ve never furnished out our faith with knowledge. So many intelligent Christians have a really limited ability to explain our Christian faith, limited knowledge of great doctrines of faith or of church history, almost no ability to answer tough questions that our neighbors ask us about God, the ways of God in the world, about why Jesus and not some other belief system, about Christian ethics. Why do we hold to what we hold to concerning sexuality? Peter says furnish out your faith with knowledge. I’m concerned that many intelligent Christians do not use the same brain for our faith that we employ at work, or at school, the same powers of analysis and rationality and thought and argument and persuasion. We don’t use that brain concerning our faith. That we somehow compartmentalize and use a different brain to relate to God and to relate to faith. There is a book by Tanya Luhrmann called When God Talks Back. When God Talks Back Tanya Luhrmann is an anthropologist from Stanford University. She actually examined the beliefs and practices of Christians in America by spending several years in a couple of Vineyard churches and then she wrote this very fair and very generous book. But when I read her book, When God Talks Back, I really was grieved. The people that Tanya Luhrmann met in these Vineyard churches had no intellectual content in their faith. They hadn’t furnished out their faith with knowledge. Whenever Tanya Luhrmann would ask a question about why do you believe what you believe, they couldn’t answer it. They offered up nothing in terms of an intellectually credible faith. I’ve always wanted for you, Vineyard Columbus people, a both-and faith – a faith that was intimate and thoughtful, warm and intellectually credible, that we love God not only with our whole heart and soul, but with our mind and strength. Think about all the words in the New Testament that speak to us about a thoughtful, intellectually credible faith. The Apostle Paul “reasoned” with people in the synagogues and public squares. He “argued” regarding the faith. He “persuaded people.” He told people to have their thinking be mature, to pray not only with the Spirit, but with the mind. Let me suggest some ways you can grow in the knowledge of Christ. In terms of the personal an intimate knowledge, we Christians need to learn how to feed ourselves from the Bible. You can’t be spiritually fit without developing for yourself a personal private devotional life with God. If you don’t have a personal devotional time with God on a regular basis, you will not be spiritually fit anymore than if you don’t have a regular exercise time, you could be physically fit. To help you with your personal devotions, I

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want to recommend one book. We have it available at our main campus bookstore and in our other campus bookstores. It is called Search the Scriptures. Search the Scriptures You say: You know, Rich, I would like to read the Bible. I’m not exactly sure where to get going or how to make it the most fruitful. Pick up this book Search the Scriptures. It will take you through the entire Bible, if you use it consistently, in three years. You read the suggested passage for the day; get yourself a notebook, or a journal, and then answer the questions in Search the Scriptures about the passage. It forces you to think about it, to really understand what you read, and then to apply it to your life and you write your answers in your notebook and pray about them. We have some other ways to grow in knowledge here. We have a Basics Devotions Class coming up. Devotions 101: The Basics – January 17th, 7-9 p.m. It will help you to get started in your devotional life. If you don’t have an active devotional life, this is the class for you. How to get started in Bible study, prayer, how, where and when. We have a Devotions 201 class: Devotions 201: Digging Deeper – January 24th, 7-9 p.m. If you have a devotional life, but you feel stuck and you are looking for something new and different to do, we’re going to be exploring some different devotional practices, both ancient and modern, to help you to dig deeper. We also have Midpoint. Midpoint – Starting Wednesday, January 16th, 7-9 p.m. John Cook also teaches a Bible study on Monday night, Tuesday morning and Tuesday night as well. All three are the same teaching. It is an in-depth look this quarter at the book of 2 Corinthians. If any of you are not connected in a small group, Wednesday night here at the main campus we have a gathering around tables called Midpoint. John Cook, one of the pastors here, leads that. We have a Bible teaching along with an opportunity to get to know people around a table. I would strongly urge any of you who are not part of a small group, to connect with some others here through Midpoint.

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And finally, immediately after our service, Jeff Baker, who manages our bookstore at the main campus, is going to do something called Bible Study Tools 101 in the East Lobby following the Saturday night service and our Sunday, 9:00 a.m. service. Bible Study Tools 101 The Apostle Paul calls us to grow in knowledge and in self-control. Growing in self-control 2 Peter 1:5-6 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; What would it mean this year to grow in self-control? It might start with what you’re eating and drinking. That’s why we’re doing the Lose It! program getting physically fit for life. Self control might have something to do with your spending habits and getting your finances in order. That’s why next week I will be talking about getting financially fit for life. Self control might involve your emotions and how you express your emotions, not being controlled by your moods or your feelings. Last week I said that most change happens when we get the right support. There are all kinds of really fascinating writing done in the last few years about the importance of peer support to produce change in our lives. Tina Rosenberg, who writes for the NY Times, wrote a book a couple of years ago titled Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World. Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World Tina Rosenberg talks about all the efforts that governments, schools, and churches make to persuade people to take action that is in their long-term self-interest, but at least for a period of time appears to be unpleasant or difficult, or dangerous. She says” The way that people change is not by being lectured to. [The most effective programs] aim at what people want now: to belong, to be part of the in-crowd, to be loved and admired and respected. These programs change personal behavior through social pressure. They offer people a new and desirable club to join – a peer group so strong and persuasive that the individual adopts a new identity. When I asked young people what made them change, they never say, “You gave us information,”…they say, “I feel an identity with a new way of life, I can be like my friend whose life has changed.”

© 2013 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org

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We humans beings are hugely impacted by peer pressure. We need social support to change. As I mentioned last week, the best predictor of the size of your waistline will be the size of the waistlines of your closest friends. We’re like the people we hang out with. If your closest friends have very healthy eating habits, it is likely that you will adopt healthy eating habits. If your closest friends exercise, it is likely that you will exercise. That’s why we’re doing the Lose It! program. And that’s why here at Vineyard we don’t just lecture you, we try to provide you with the support you need to make the changes you want to make. That’s what our Support & Recovery Ministry is all about. We have a Friday night meeting that meets here at the Main Campus every week titled Celebrate Recovery. Celebrate Recovery – Friday Nights at 7:30 p.m. Celebrate Recovery assists folks with a variety of hurts and hang-ups and habits. We want to change. If there is something you are stuck in, that’s dragging you down, why not go to Celebrate Recovery? And then we have individual recovery groups. Groups for women dealing with sexual brokenness, groups for men that are recovering from sexual sin, substances abuse groups, support groups, groups for women who want to be hungrier for God, less dependent on food. You can check all these groups out online at our website: Vineyardcolumbus.org Finally, the picture is described. The picture described We not only need the right understanding and the right support, but the right motivation. Verses 9-11: 2 Peter 1:9-11 But if any of you do not have them, you are nearsighted and blind, and you have forgotten that you have been cleansed from your past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, vision is crucial for everything that you and I wish to accomplish in our lives. You have to have a picture in your mind of what you want to see happen. And then you have to make every effort to drive towards that goal trusting in the enabling power of Christ and in his precious promises. But vision, a picture of a preferred future for you, or for your family, or for your business, is essential for any labor or any effort at all. You

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might have a picture of you dancing with your spouse on a cruise ship. And it is that picture of you being comfortable out on the dance floor dancing that inspires you to take dance lessons. Or you might have a picture of you being able to order from a menu in French when you travel to France. Or a picture of being able to sit down at the piano to play some tunes for pleasure. Or maybe it’s a picture of losing 20, or 30, or 50 pounds and becoming physically healthy and more attractive. Sign up for the Lose It! program or one of our growth groups. Read Every Body Matters by Gary Thomas. Maybe your vision for this year would be in the year 2013 is of your child not fighting all the time, or your child doing better in school, or your child telling the truth, or not hanging out with the wrong crowd. And it is this vision that might drive you to go in for family counseling, or continuing to take your child to church or to teen group. It is vision that sustains us in making an effort. It is vision that inspires us; yes, I’m going to swim upstream; I’m going to go back to the gym; I’m going on a diet with a friend. You might have a vision of growing in your knowledge of the scripture and in your knowledge of how to answer tough questions. Why not make 2013 a year in which you grow in knowledge by going through Search the Scriptures, or participating in a Bible Study, by going to one of our classes, by reading great Christian books. You might have a vision this year in 2013 of living your life without a particular addiction. What would it be like to be freed from smoking? Or from pornography? Or from drugs? Or a vision of being a mother or father that your kids look up to? Vision is what sustains us through opposition. You say, “It is worth it to drive out in the cold when I’m not in the mood to participate in this group because I have a vision of what I’m going to be like when I’m freed up from this particular problem.” And so Peter gives us two different ends for the Christian life. Quickly, the negative end, verses 9: 2 Peter 1:9 But if any of you do not have them, you are nearsighted and blind, and you have forgotten that you have been cleansed from your past sins. I just want to focus here in one little phrase, “nearsighted.” The ineffective Christian, the Christian who is of no help to anybody in this world and who is not making a difference, the unproductive Christian, the Christian who is not growing or bearing fruit, the Christian who is stuck is a Christian, Peter says, who is nearsighted. What does it mean to be nearsighted? It means that you can only see things close up. In other words, the stuck Christian is always going to be a Christian who thinks only of the near term, he is the short-sighted Christian; she is the Christian who only thinks about this moment and how she feels in this moment. She never thinks about the long-term consequences of her particular behavior.

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The nearsighted Christian is the Christian who charges up their credit card like crazy at Christmas and then has to live with the hangover of past-due bills over the next six months. The nearsighted Christian is the Christian who constantly gives into their kids’ whining and manipulation because they have no long-term perspective of what kind of teenager or adult they want their child to turn into. The nearsighted person is the person who constantly gives into their sexual urges, or their appetite for food or drink or TV because that will give immediate gratification. And over against this nearsighted person, Peter speaks to us about a positive vision for the long-term in verses 10-11: 2 Peter 1:10-11 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Long-term, what would it be like to be freed from your addiction this year? Instead of what will satisfy me in the next moment, think about what kind of person you want to be a year from now, or ten years from now, or twenty years from now, or 30 years from now. Where do you want to be in your marriage? Or your relationship with your kids? Or your career? Or your health? Or in your closeness with God? Peter stretches out the time line even further and in verse 11: 2 Peter 1:11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Talk about a long-term vision! Imagine dying and not being afraid to die. Imagine knowing that when you get a disease that is fatal, or you are aging and you know that your time on earth is growing shorter, imagine knowing that you are going to be received into God’s kingdom with applause. Imagine not looking back on your life with tons of regrets; imagine having a heart that is assured of Christ’s abundant welcome and his “well done good and faithful servant.” That is the ultimate driver for spiritual growth – that one day your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, would look at you and say, “well done good and faithful servant. You were effective and fruitful in your discipleship. You lived a life that honored me!” Let’s pray.

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Getting Spiritually Fit for Life Rich Nathan January 13, 2013 Fit for Life Series 2 Peter 1:3-11

I.

The problem defined

II.

III.

The provision declared A. Christ’s power B. Christ’s promises The puzzle deciphered

IV.

The process detailed A. Growing in knowledge B. Growing in self-control

V.

The picture described

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