2Pe 1:3-7 according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue, through which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also in this very thing, bringing in all diligence, filling out your faith with virtue, and with virtue, knowledge; and with knowledge self-control, and with self-control, patience, and with patience, godliness, and with godliness, brotherly kindness, and with brotherly kindness, love.

Life and Godliness. Do you have life? Do you have an abundant life in Christ? Do you have Godliness? What is Godliness, have you ever considered what that means? The Greek word for godliness was used by ancient pagans to describe those who kept in close contact with their gods. When Peter uses this word here he is talking about the need for Christians to be constantly aware of God's manifest presence.

Much is spoken of and written about the presence of God. How do we come into the presence of God? Can we presume upon the presence of God? Can we live a life in any fashion we choose and still have " Godliness?" In the above Scripture we see that we have been called to " glory and to virtue." What is glory? Do you have it? Have you experienced it? What about virtue, what does that word mean? If we have been called to it, surely we should understand what it means?

Let us look at the word " glory." The Greek word is " dox-ah." meaning " dignity, honor, praise and worship." Jesus has called us to honor Him, praise Him and worship Him, this should be an integral part of our lives. Yet we know that men can honor God with their lips but that their hearts can be far from him. So what does it mean to walk in glory, to walk in honor and worship and praise?

Joh 17:24 Father, I desire that those whom You have given Me, that they may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me, for You have loved Me before the foundation of the world.

When we enter into the throne room, we behold the glory of God. Jesus is high and lifted up, He sits at the right hand of the Father, and the saints and the angels in heaven cry out night and day " holy, holy, holy is our God." Jesus said that He desired that His saints would be " with me where I am." We have been called to see and partake of the honor and the praise and the worship that takes place in the throne-room of heaven. We have been called to see His authority and power. Have you been to this place? Have yo beheld His glory? He has called you to it.

Now we have also been called to virtue. What does that mean? In this context it is the moral excellence of Jesus that we are looking at. So, we see His power and authority, we see Him for who He is, the Son of the Living God, and we also see His moral excellence. This is what we have been called to, moral excellence. The very least they should be able to say about us brothers and sister is that we live morally excellent lives, we have been called to be like Jesus. Now, how do we achieve this?

Fortunately the Holy Spirit, through Peter, continued in this chapter and gave us a lesson on just that subject. He first tells us to add virtue to our faith. So, He is saying that we are called to live morally excellent lives. In our communities, we should be pillars, we should live lives that bring honor and glory to God. One of our chief aims is to glorify God on the earth and this is where it starts, the lives that we live out in our communities, our workplaces, our families and so on. Let us not bring reproach on the Lord because of our actions or deeds.

Next He tells us to add " knowledge." In this particular context the Greek word is " gnosis," and the Hebrew word is " ghin-oce'-ko," meaning to know( absolutely) to be aware of. Are you " aware of " God? Do you have such knowledge? Can you say with full assurance that you " know," God? There is an implied intimacy in this word. It is so vital to have an intimate relationship with Jesus, one where we are aware of Him and that He walks with us.

To knowledge we are told to add self-control. This phrase should be self-explanatory. We have to bring our " selves," our bodies and our minds under the control of our wills. The body should not control us, with its many lusts, nor should the mind, with its wavering thoughts , like waves on an ocean of emotions. The Word of God should shape our wills and define our thoughts and actions and this is made possible by the presence of God in our lives. The strong pull of the body and soul should be nullified by the glory of God in us. An example would be gravity. If I am in space and come into earths gravitational pull, I get pulled towards the object of proximity. Yet, if I come pull away from that force of gravity and then come into the suns gravitational pull, then I am drawn towards the sun. Now, what object are you facing and pulling towards? The world or the Son?

To self control I am told to add patience. The Greek word for this is " hoop-on-om-ay" Now the most basic meaning of this word is " cheerful-endurance," and " waiting." We are called to endure brothers and sisters, to endure trials and tribulations, and we are called to endure them cheerfully and as one who has hope. This is such an important part of who we are in Christ, it is pleasing to the Lord and a witness to the world. When we are going through trials, it is so important to have this patience for it is part of our strength and it is a witness to the world.

And so now comes Godliness. Now Godliness is the abiding knowledge of God's presence in your life, the constant awareness of God in you and before you and behind you. It is different from experiencing God's presence for a moment in time, or moments, it is to literally walk with the full awareness of God daily. Now can I suggest that one can never be walking in Godliness if one has neglected or ignored the points that we have just addressed,it not going to happen.

If you are not walking virtuously and coming into the presence of God that produces self-control and cheerful endurance , then you cannot expect to walk in Godliness. It is Godliness that leads to true brotherly kindness, for how can we claim to love God if we cannot love our brothers and sisters in Christ? And of course at the end of it all is love, which over-arches everything that we do, without this we have nothing. Everything ends, just as everything began with love.

There are two possible states for us, depending what we do with this teaching of the Holy Spirit through Peter........
1. You will " abound in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ," and you will be fruitful in your life and produce much fruit.

2. You will be unfruitful and barren, meaning you will produce nothing. You will become blind to your previous state of sin, and this will produce pride. Now we know that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

And so brothers and sisters, we are called to be "even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things ( the things that we just went through) you will never stumble, for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ( 2 Pet 10,11) Did you catch that brothers and sisters, the Lord has bid us to come where He is, it is His desire that His followers come boldly before the throne of God and grace. For it is there we discover life itself, and that is where we started with this Scripture " His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness." It starts with Jesus and it ends with Jesus and our part is to obediently follow His directions for they are designed to bring us into the abundant life in the Spirit and to walk in Godliness......bro Frank