Church of Christ - The Christian life after baptism...

Good question. In fact its such a good question that we will just admit at the
beginning of this article that we cannot explore this question fully within one
such writing. If you truly want to learn what living a Christian life is all about it
takes a lifelong commitment of study, prayer, worship, fellowship and so on
and so forth. That doesn’t mean we have nothing to talk about however!
The apostle Peter tells us of seven attributes a Christian needs to add to
their life once they have added faith, for the purposes of this article, we will
explore these attributes.

Let’s read II Peter 1:1-11:

“Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness
of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus
our Lord, as 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.
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to
virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to
perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly
kindness love. 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.
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.”

Thanks Peter, now we know that once we have faith we should simply strive
to add VIRTUE, KNOWLEDGE, SELF-CONTROL, PERSEVERANCE,
GODLINESS, BROTHERLY KINDNESS, AND LOVE. … but wait a minute
Peter… you forgot to tell us HOW!?!

Well, lucky for us, the Bible was not thrown together by some mere human
shlub. We’re talking about an INSPIRED work of God here, and as such, we
are not left hanging. In fact, we can learn how to add these attributes to our
lives from looking at Simon Peter himself, as recorded by OTHER inspired
writers… events that Peter himself most likely never realized would be
recorded in the holy scriptures, as he (most likely) died before much of it
was written… how’s that for inspiration? Peter simply tells us WHAT we need
to do and didn’t sweat the details, he knew that the same God whose
inspiration moved him to record the WHAT would move some other to record
the HOW! And without further ado, we will explore Simon Peter’s life lessons
in faith and the seven other virtues.

The foundation of all these virtues rests upon faith, all else is added to that
solid rock. We understand this to be a faith that has led to obedience in
baptism and to a place in the kingdom of our Lord. (for more on this, I
suggest you go back to “How does one join your church?” or “What must I
do to be saved?”) But for our purposes in this article, we will press on and
let Peter teach us a little about faith from his own life. How did Peter gain
FAITH?

Peter and his brother Andrew were students of the great prophet, John the
Baptist. This meant they had HEARD John preach about Jesus time and
time again! One day Andrew happened to be with John when Jesus passed
by, “Behold the Lamb of God,” John exclaimed! Andrew immediately found
his brother Peter and reported that they had found the Messiah! Peter
believed in Jesus because of the preaching of John the Baptist, just the way
we believe today! Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the word of God.

Peter also shows us what to DO with our faith! Immediately act upon it! Let’
s read about it from Matthew 4:18-20:   “And Jesus, walking by the Sea of
Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother,
casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them,
"Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." They immediately left their
nets and followed Him.”

Now Peter, you have shown that faith comes by HEARING and that once we
have faith we must IMMEDIATELY take the steps necessary to become
followers of Jesus… but how did you learn VIRTUE?

First though, what IS virtue anyway? Thayer’s (a lexicon) tells us that it is “A
virtuous course of thought, feeling and action; moral goodness” so in other
words virtue is the DESIRE to do good. Peter lists this first. When we rise
from the baptismal waters, we do not automatically know everything about
how to be righteous, however, if we possess virtue, the basic desire to do
God’s will, then we will do what’s right when we learn it. So how did Peter
learn virtue? Actually virtue comes BEFORE learning… we can see the
effects of Peter’s virtue.

Let’s read Matthew 16:21-23:

21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to
Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and
scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 22 Then Peter took Him
aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall
not happen to You!" 23 But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me,
Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of
God, but the things of men."

Peter thought he was doing good, and desired to do good by comforting
Jesus, yet his desire to do good was not yet coupled with God’s will… Again
we see Peter’s desire to do good in Matthew 26:31-35 when Jesus predicts
Peter’s denial. Peter states that he would never deny Jesus… Peter desired
to do just as he said, but he simply wasn’t strong enough… his virtue
needed to be added to, which brings us to knowledge.

Peter, how did you add KNOWLEDGE to your faith and your virtue? Peter
was never afraid to ask questions and dig deeper in order to learn spiritual
truths. We have many instances of Peter’s inquisitiveness. Such as in
Matthew 15:15 where Jesus has just spoken a parable and Peter speaks up
to say “Explain this!” Or in Matthew 19:21-27 when Jesus tells the rich man
what he must do to have eternal life and Peter inquires, “we have left all and
followed you, what will be our reward?” You would find other instances of
such questioning with a casual read through the gospels. Peter was often
rebuked for speaking up at certain times, but even this never stopped him
from seeking after knowledge. We must learn from Peter! In our quest for
knowledge we must never relent in asking questions and studying God’s
word, no matter how silly our inquiry may seem. If we follow this example, we
will soon add knowledge to our lives…

So Peter, you now have knowledge, but how did you add to this SELF-
CONTROL? The idea of self-control or temperance can be thought of as
putting our knowledge to practice and not acting out in an unChristian way
(not letting the law of our flesh triumph over the law of our Lord, Romans
chs. 7 & 8). Often in order to learn the right way we must, unfortunately, go
the wrong way and be corrected. We find that in John 18:4-11, Peter has
not yet fully grasped self-control… see for yourself:

4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went
forward and said to them, "Whom are you seeking?" 5 They answered Him,
"Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am He." And Judas, who
betrayed Him, also stood with them. 6 Now when He said to them, "I am He,"
they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 Then He asked them again, "Whom
are you seeking?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." 8 Jesus answered, "I
have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their
way," 9 that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, "Of those whom
You gave Me I have lost none." 10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew
it and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's
name was Malchus. 11 So Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword into the
sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?"

Peter was so taken aback by the treatment of his Lord by these men, that
his flesh took over, he parried his sword and thrust it at the man named
Malchus! It is probably only bad swordsmanship on Peter’s part that the
man’s ear was all that was struck! Jesus quickly rebukes Peter and reminds
him that this is the Father’s will… So did Peter learn self-control? I believe
he did. Let’s read Acts 2:12-16:

12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another,
"Whatever could this mean?" 13 Others mocking said, "They are full of new
wine." 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to
them, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to
you, and heed my words. 15 "For these are not drunk, as you suppose,
since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 "But this is what was spoken by
the prophet Joel:

The old Peter may very well have lashed out at these men for making such
crude statements about the workings of God! But not anymore, Peter simply
stands up and tries a bit of humor (I believe) to quiet the crowd and get their
attention. He simply tells them that it’s a little early for them to be drunk, but
he can tell them what’s REALLY happening here…   Good for you Peter!
You stayed cool, calm and collected and by doing so about 3000 souls were
saved! (Acts 2:41) What an important attribute self-control is, but it is not all
we need, we must add PERSEVERANCE.

Perseverance, or patience is explained by W.E. Vine to mean “Persistence;
Patience in 1)well-doing 2)in fruit bearing 3) in running the appointed race
(see Hebrews 12:1)

How did Peter learn perseverance? He learned a lot about it while out for a
walk with Jesus one night (Matthew 14:22-31). It seems he didn’t have the
perseverance needed to stay afloat on the stormy sea, but he learned that
night the importance of a faith that doesn’t waver. On another occasion we
find Peter asleep as Jesus weeps (Matthew 26:36-46). Looking back, I’m
sure Peter wishes he had persevered and been with Jesus when He needed
Peter most… that night Peter learned not to grow weary in his task. On
another occasion we see Peter persevering over sin. In Matthew 26:69-75
we see that Peter had denied Jesus three times, and remembering Jesus’
words he began to weep bitterly… but Peter did not become bogged down in
this sin, he persevered, and rose up determined to be a better servant.
Jesus tested Peter’s perseverance in John 21:15-17. He asked Peter three
times, “Do you love me?” and Peter was grieved because Jesus asked him
this so many times. Why did Jesus do this? Our love for Christ is tested
daily and we must be able to persevere when put to the test… Peter learned
perseverance that day.

How is your perseverance holding up? Just three more attributes to go…
hang in there! Let’s see how Peter learned GODLINESS. W.E. Vine
explains this attribute to mean “A Godward attitude that does that which is
pleasing to God”   It could be thought of as virtue coupled with spiritual
knowledge. How did Peter learn this trait? In Matthew 17:1-8 we see Jesus
leading Peter, James and John onto a mountain. There they see Elijah and
Moses appear. Peter says that they should build three altars, one for each
of these men.   Jesus doesn’t rebuke Peter this time though… the rebuke
comes directly from the Father himself and the conclusion of the matter is
“HEAR HIM” Peter learned that day that He ought to do his Lord’s will and
NO OTHER! This is Godliness. Peter made the statement in John 6:67,68
that there was noone else to go to because Jesus had the words of eternal
life. Godliness will come when we realize that only the word of God holds the
keys to eternal life.

Can Peter teach us BROTHERLY KINDNESS? By now you ought to know
that the answer is yes. In Matthew 17:24-27, Peter learns from Jesus that
sometimes you should do things that aren’t required of you simply to keep
peace among your brethren. (I.e. we should not make a liberty into a
stumbling block, see I Corinthians Ch. 8) In Matthew 18:21-22 Jesus
teaches Peter that there are no limits on forgiveness among brethren. ( a
trait Peter surely found useful later when confronted with a disagreement
with his brother {in Christ} Paul about gentile converts, see Galatians 2:11-14
). In John 13:6-11 Peter learns the importance of being a servant to his
brethren as Jesus washes his feet, but he also learns that he should not
take advantage of such kindness (v9,10)

The last attribute that Peter states we must attain is simply LOVE. Not a love
towards our brethren only, but a love towards ALL mankind. How did Peter
reach such a great and noble plateau of mind and spirit to contain such a
love? I don’t think we can point to any certain event, but realize that a love
such as this can only be attained by those who, as Peter, have lived the
Christian life and striven daily to take a closer walk with our Lord. Peter
showed this love in his life. In acts 2:46,47 we understand that Peter lived in
such a way (along with the other disciples at Jerusalem) that he had the
favor of ALL the people. We see in Acts 10 that Peter came to the
realization that even the gentiles were worthy of such love and his actions
prove as much in the part he plays in the conversion of Cornelius, the first
gentile convert.

Peter learned all of these things, he was often rebuked, but he learned from
his mistakes. He listened to the words of Jesus and applied them to his life,
knowing they were the words of life. Not only this, but he went on to teach
others the things he had learned.

For instance, the chart below compares Peter the student to Peter the
teacher.



What do we do once we have become a Christian? We can see from Peter’s
life that the Christian life is one of learning, teaching…. teaching and
learning… that comes full circle one day as we abide with the great teacher
in Heaven above. Let us learn from Peter and add to our faith, virtue; to
virtue, knowledge; to knowledge, self-control; to self-control,
perseverance; to perseverance, Godliness; to Godliness, brotherly
kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. In so doing we’ll receive the
promise given in II Peter 1:11

“for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly
into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ.”

Matthew 19:27 - Peter asked "What shall we have?"	In 1 Peter 1:3-5, he teaches about Heaven.
John 18:4-11 - Peter cuts off the ear of a man who comes after Jesus...	In 1 Peter 3:8-12, he teaches not to return evil for evil.
John 13:6-11 - Peter doesn't understand Jesus' servitude...	In 1 Peter 5:5 & 6, he teaches humility and submission to one another.
Matthew 17:1-8 - Peter wants to build three altars, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and on for Elijah...	In 2 Peter 1:16 to the end of chapter 2, peter teaches about false doctrines and the one true way that we shoud hear and follow
And so on and so forth...