2 Peter: Tightrope

Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply…(2 Peter 1:5a NASB)

If you could boil down to one word the overall concern behind my last blog it would be very simple: legalism. Peter challenges his readers with one of Scripture’s strongest calls to strive for Christian growth with everything they have. But Peter’s agenda isn’t some self-centered, salvation-by-works project. The heart and the motivation and the hope and the power and the grace behind it all is Christ Jesus Himself. Know Him! Believe Him! Follow Him! To put it in today’s popular language, the gospel indicatives of Christ’s magnificent and precious promises fuel the gospel imperatives Peter commands.

My concern for this blog though is exactly the opposite: apathy. In short, we are given commands; we must strive with all diligence for Christian growth.

Many in Christian circles today struggle by falling too far to one side of the tightrope. They hammer one another with impossible to-do lists. The gospel gets left behind at the sinner’s prayer altar, while the rest of the Christian life becomes a one-sided struggle to work and earn and achieve. It’s man-centered. It’s doomed to fail. People are left discouraged and depressed because they still can’t seem to be good enough.

However, there are clearly those in Christian circles today who fall off the other side of the tightrope, too. Ever met anyone who only cared about love and grace (at least by their claims), and they never seemed to get anywhere or do anything for Christ? They are out there, too; maybe sitting in our pews. Once it comes time for the striving and the obeying, these folks are nowhere to be found. All their love and grace never seems to really impact their daily lives at all. And if pressed, they only turn the finger back on others for being overzealous or legalistic.

I’ve heard many refer to it before as “cheap grace.” Friend, cheap grace is just as much an enemy of the Church as legalism is.

Both enemies were alive and well in Peter’s day. Yes, there were Judaizers. But there were also false teachers within the body proclaiming “indulge the flesh!” Peter saw right through it. Hopefully, we do in our day and age as well.

Make no mistake: the true Christian–one who knows Jesus intimately and really understands the incredible gifts of grace and peace and faith and Christ’s own calling and power within–will obey and will strive to be like Christ and will produce fruit. Not only does the gospel of Jesus Christ produce fruit, but it reveals the method for obtaining that fruit–tremendous effort. Believers strive with all diligence. Believers make haste with all eagerness and care and energy to add or supply Christ’s virtues to their own lives. There is no room in the one who truly knows Christ for apathy or laziness or cheap grace.

 Peter assures his audience and believers today that believing and striving go hand in hand. May we not fall off either side of the tightrope. Peter calls out: know Christ! See all the beauty and majesty of His work on your behalf! Believe His promises and strive with everything you have to grow into His likeness. May His grace and divine power hold us and keep us walking that narrow tightrope today.

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