Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

On the front of our service bulletin we read that Peter begins his second epistle to the Church by reassuring us that God has given to us everything that we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). What immediately comes to mind, and is especially emphasized in the Lutheran Church, is that God has done everything necessary for us to have eternal life with Him in His glory when it is time for us to depart from this fallen world.

 

That is most certainly true. God has indeed done everything necessary by sending His Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, who paid the full and complete price for our salvation through His suffering and death. Every sin of ours has been atoned for by the precious blood and holy life of the divine and eternal Son of God offered up upon the cross. No other sacrifice could accomplish that for us or add anything to that infinite payment that God Himself provided for us without any merit or worthiness on our part.

 

But Peter, at the outset of that epistle, does not just see this as something to await its full expression when our time on this earth is done. He tells us that even now “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” These things are ours now while we live in this corrupted world.

 

In our pure Lutheran confession we are eager to nod our heads in agreement when it comes to the gifts of holiness and purity and eternal life that are poured out upon us through the Holy Sacraments. In Holy Baptism we are clothed with Christ Jesus. “What benefits does Baptism give? It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare... ‘Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved’ (Mark 16:16)” (Luther’s Small Catechism. Baptism. 2).

 

It is the true holiness of Christ that is given to us. It is the glory to be the children of God that we share with Jesus. We partake with Him in that divine nature. We have the victory of the Seed of the woman who crushed the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). That victory is truly ours. We live eternally as our resurrected Lord Jesus lives, for He has made death merely a gateway for us. We truly possess the righteousness of Christ Himself through the sacraments in which we are given Jesus. We are ready to go to heaven.

 

And still there is more to what Peter wants us to take hold for our life and godliness. There is more than our being fitted out now for our eternal life with God as if it is something separate from our life that continues to interact with this corrupted world and the events that happen and the people that we encounter.

 

Because of the great grace of our God and Saviour poured out upon us without our worthiness, we have an opportunity even now to live in the reality of those gifts and of that salvation. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,” not just so that we play a waiting game until it is inaugurated as we pass out of this world, but so that even now we live and enjoy the benefits of every rich gift that is ours in Christ Jesus.

 

Therefore Peter urges us to take hold of this reality: “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” (2 Peter 1:5-7). That sounds like a lot of work, but remember that God has already given you everything necessary. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,” everything necessary for you to put these qualities to work for your life now in this world.

 

Living out these gifts that come along with our FAITH in God’s atoning work in Christ Jesus, we give witness to the world (to our family and neighbours) of the grace of our God; and we keep ourselves from sin and the possibility of neglecting these gifts of God that are so freely bestowed upon us through His Word and Sacraments.

 

We can see how all of this has played out in the lives of godliness that were lived by people of great faith as recorded in the Scriptures. Some of them are renowned for specific qualities. Today we want to take some time to think about Abraham and his FAITH in God’s promises. It is Abraham that the New Testament holds up before us as the prime example of FAITH extolled above good works.

 

The LORD called to Abram with great promises. “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3). With these promises, not only for his own prosperity but also for the blessing of all families of the earth, Abram went as the LORD had told him, not even knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11:8) but only that the LORD would guide him.

 

Grasping hold of God’s promises is what FAITH is all about. It becomes the anchor that holds you to the rock of God’s Word. That FAITH comes with the promises of God. It is created by the promises of God. Because the promises are God’s and not just the good intentions of another sinner like you, it is the power of God’s Word of promise that creates this FAITH and feeds it and strengthens it through every affliction and test that comes your way.

 

Abraham did not know exactly how the LORD was going to carry out this promise, and he made grave errors trying to force God’s promises into effect. The LORD used those moments to strengthen Abraham’s confidence in Him and to face the next affliction and challenge by relying on God’s Word alone.

 

Our faith is also sorely tested as we live amid “the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” One of the first challenges that Abram faced came from fear of government persecution. When he and his wife Sarai went down to Egypt, he portrayed his beautiful wife as his sister in case Pharaoh desired to have her for himself and would kill Abram in order to get her (Genesis 12:10-20). Even though Abram did not act faultlessly, the LORD preserved both him and Sarai, and in doing so the LORD made use of the experience to confirm His promises and thereby to strengthen Abram’s FAITH.

 

We, in our day are also fearful of a government that might take away our church through one means or another. We have been at fault also, personally or corporately, to hide some of the things God’s Word declares so that we might escape any form of persecution that might come from those holding power in the world. The ordeal of FAITH that Abram endured directs us to believe that God will not allow His purposes to be thwarted and He does not need us to betray His Word in order for Him to accomplish His will.

 

Amid other challenges in the new life to which Abram was called, he was tested by delay in the LORD bringing him an heir through which the promise would be fulfilled. We also are tested by delays. There are times when we are certain that we have to act now in order that things do not fall to ruin. We prostitute ourselves, like Abram prostituted Hagar in order to conceive an heir through her. We sell ourselves to other plans of action that tread on the boundaries of propriety in an attempt to bring about the blessings that God seems to need some help to accomplish in a timely manner.

 

Maybe we turn to gambling to increase our wealth, perhaps at a Casino, online, or gambling on making dramatic changes at home or at church. Perhaps we architect the shape of our families so that we have the number of heirs that we desire and are most prosperous for us, no more and no less. Or maybe we are tempted to rush ahead into the life to come and to bring to a quickened end the sufferings of this life by taking advantage of the health care system’s willingness to kill us.

 

Like Abraham coercing Hagar to his bed, we lose sight not so much of the promise, but of the One who has made the promise. We try to bring those promises about by our own hand, not trusting in God’s hand of blessing. And yet, He always shows Himself to be faithful to His Word.

 

The example of Abraham, even through his failings, shows us that God’s promises to us are not in danger of reaching an expiration date. He will be faithful in bringing them all to fulfillment in His good time. For Abraham and Sarah that was well beyond their expiration date for bearing a child. And yet God brought it about exactly as He had promised. An heir of Abraham’s own body, a son born to his aged wife Sarah, and a child through whom God would keep His promise to bring blessing to all families of the earth. Even to you, who through Holy Baptism have become and heir of these promises given to Abraham.

 

Yet Abraham is not held up as an example of FAITH because of his faults and failures: his deceit to protect God’s promises, or his taking matters into his own hands to speed them along. He is held up as an example of FAITH because despite these sinful acts of doubt and unbelief, he turned again to the promises of God and grasped them all the more, having been forgiven by the LORD and having received again the restatement of God’s promise to make him the father of many nations and to bring blessing to all through his offspring.

 

And so as Abraham held the knife poised to cut the throat of his son. He didn’t know how the LORD would fulfill the promise. He had no idea what would happen, other than somehow in some way the LORD would fulfill the promise He had given. And so Abraham had FAITH to do what the LORD directed him to do, and he knew for certain that God would bless him and all people even when he could see no way for it to be possible.

 

The disciples felt the same when they saw their beloved Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, condemned to die. When Mary His mother and John His beloved disciple saw Him nailed to the cross and the spear thrust into His dead body (John 19), they could see no possible way that God’s promises to the world through Jesus Christ would possibly come to be.

 

And yet, on the third day when Jesus rose from the dead there was no doubt that the LORD had fulfilled His promise to send a Saviour; that He had made of Abraham’s flesh a blessing for all the families of the earth. The LORD provided a Lamb for the offering by giving His own Son as the sacrifice for our sin.

 

This is how our FAITH is strengthened and exercised and bears fruit, making our calling and election sure. It is not through a smooth and hassle-free life, but through the challenges and tests that we face as we live amid “the corruption that is in the world” (2 Peter 1:4). For even when we fall like Abraham, the promises of God are not thwarted, and the LORD restates them to us so that we will cling to Him all the more.

 

It is by FAITH that we await God to fulfill His promises, even to the extent that “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame” (Romans 5:3-5). Even when our FAITH falters we are not left in the shame of our sin, for God’s promises to us do not falter, and that sin is removed from us.

 

Our forgiveness in the sufferings and death of Christ, raises us up to believe that all of God’s promises to us are still in effect. He has accomplished everything necessary for our salvation. And “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.”