Bulletin Articles
Make Your Calling & Election Sure - 2 Peter Series
One of the central messages in Peter’s first epistle/letter is that our faith in Jesus Christ will be tested. When we stay faithful to Him thru the various trials, our faith will be refined and be stronger in the aftermath. In his second letter, Peter follows up his first exhortation with a battle cry to increase and fortify our faiths even more. 2 Peter 1:10-11 says, "Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things 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.”
Let's look at the promises being made here:
- If we don’t “do these things,” our calling and election could be made unsure. Our action or inaction regarding our faith has an affect on our eternal outcome.
- If we “do these things,” we will never stumble.
- If we “do these things,” entry into our Lord’s eternal kingdom will be abundantly provided for us.
Moving backwards, 2 Peter 1:8-9 says, "For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Let’s look at the promises being made here:
- “If these things are yours and abound” we will bear good fruit!
- “If we lack these things” we will return to bearing the bad fruit we bore before our death, burial, and resurrection in Jesus…not good!
Alright already, let’s back up and see what "these things” are. Peter, in order to fortify our faith, urges us in verses 5-7 to add to our faith seven things: virtue (goodness), knowledge, self-control, perseverance (endurance), godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Adding these things to our faith comes with many promises, as we looked at already. Over the next seven weeks, different members of our church family will contribute an article about one of these things…both defining it and discussing how by adding it to our faith, it will help make our calling and election sure.
How blessed we are to have a Father who by “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:3-4
Stay tuned!
