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An archive of Jacob Nannie's Sermons & Teachings
Our scripture reading today comes from 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 1 through 4.
Simeon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a
faith equal to ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, may grace
and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge
of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.
By these He has given us very great and precious promises so that through them you may share
in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.
This is the word of the Lord.
You may be seated.
Thank you Peggy and good morning everyone. You know my wife, she's pretty thankful for
Ben because if Ben wears something, I'll wear it. She's always trying to get me to wear
new shoes so when I saw Ben had those boots I said okay well we can buy them now. I am
indeed Jacob Nanny. I'm from the Shawnee campus, resident there and I'm delighted to be with
you all this morning and I'm so blessed to have this opportunity to preach to you. I'm
really blessed to be a part of the residency program. It's one of the many good things
we do as a church and I just want to take a moment to thank you for your generosity
and helping provide for this program. Now I've been reflecting on what a gift it is
to grow and to learn in a church that values very strongly formation. I've been thinking
about how we actually grow to know what goodness is. That question of what is truly good, that's
a big question. It actually came up for me in an unexpected place this past week. So
if you don't know, today is May 4th, it's Star Wars Day and about a week ago they released
a 20th anniversary release of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. It's a great movie. My parents
actually pulled me out of school to watch this movie when I was about 10 years old.
My mom heard that on the live stream first service. She's like why did you say that?
But it's true, they pulled me out and I was not prepared to watch this movie as a 10 year
old, but it was awesome. And so watching it 20 years later was very nostalgic for me.
But as I was watching it I had this sermon in mind and a couple of things stuck out to
me. There's one line in particular that caught my attention. Throughout the movie Anakin
is struggling to do what is good. He wants to know what is the good thing to do given
his circumstances. And he turns to many people to seek counsel and one person he turns to
is Chancellor Palpatine. And Palpatine tells Anakin, Anakin, good is a point of view. Good
is a point of view. Now that can be a very, it is a very dangerous framework. But I do
think it represents what we think of when we hear the word good today. Because we all
have opinions about what is good and not all of those opinions are the same. In fact not
even the categories in which we think of goodness are the same. For example if I say the word
good you might think of good acts. Perhaps you think of acts of kindness or acts of bravery
or acts of self sacrifice. Those are good things. Or maybe you think of certain character
traits when I say the word good. Humility, selflessness, charity, generosity, patience,
these are all good qualities. And some of us when we hear the word good we think of
food. Good food. You know being from California when I hear the word good I'm tempted to think
about a giant, I mean giant, California burrito from a particular restaurant. That's a good
burrito. Good is a difficult concept to define. And it gets even more challenging when we
seek to define what it means to be a good person. Think with me for a second about a
good person. Imagine this good person in your head. What do they do? What do they like?
How do you know that they are good? Why does this person who's popped into your head come
to mind as a good person? And the thing is we all pictured someone different. I'm positive
we did not all picture the same person. Why? Because many good things, I'm sorry, many
things are, there are many varied and competing versions of what it means to be a good person.
There are many varied and competing versions of what it means to be a good person. Some
believe philanthropists to be good people. I mean the definition of the word philanthropist
is a person who seeks to promote the welfare of others especially by the generous donation
of money to good causes. That's good, right? It's good to be a philanthropist. Others might
think of a modern stoic as a model of a good person. This is Ryan Holiday. Ryan Holiday
is an American author known for his books on stoic philosophy. And actually books on
stoic philosophy are on the rise today especially among young men who are seeking to know what
it means to be a good person. Stoic philosophy promotes ethical, accountable and balanced
living. That's good, right? Or what about a Wall Street trader? Indeed they can be good
at their jobs and their work can be considered good. That's good, right? Or others view a
Buddhist monk as good. Buddhist monks are often portrayed as calm, gentle and peaceful
people. That's good, isn't it? Or how about a challenging option? A jihadist fighter.
Believe it or not, there are people in the world today that think the work of a jihadist
fighter is good work that must be done. And so this raises a question. What is good? What
makes a person good? In our passage this morning, Peter has the answer to that question. Jesus
Christ is the standard of goodness and what it means to be a good person. Goodness is
not a point of view. Goodness is not a matter of opinion. Goodness is a person. And it's
embracing this person, Jesus, trusting in Him and beholding His beauty that will form
us into becoming like Him even today. And we're in week two of our five week series
called Becoming. It's on Christian virtue. And this week we're exploring the question
of who we are becoming. And Peter has the answer for us in these two verses. We're becoming
like Jesus. Becoming like Jesus is the goal of discipleship. And it's the goal or the
telos or the purpose of the Christian life. You know, throughout the series on Mark that
we just preached through, oftentimes in my sermon I repeated a phrase, be with Jesus,
become like Him and do as Jesus did. That is discipleship. That is apprenticing with
Jesus. And when we were going through the Gospel of Mark, that was challenging because
we saw Jesus perform miracles and I'm called to do as Jesus did. That's unbelievable. We
heard the words of Jesus where He says that He must give up His life for the Gospel and
that all who follow Him must give up their life for the Gospel and I'm called to do the
same as Jesus. That's really scary. But in this series, Jesus is a standard of what it
means to be a good and virtuous person and you and I are called to follow His example,
to do as Jesus did. That, friends, is awesome. That is the end goal of the Christian life.
That is the end goal of Christian virtue, to be with Jesus and become like Him. The
main point of what Peter is telling us in these few verses this morning is that the
end goal of becoming a good person is becoming like Jesus. The end goal of becoming a good
person is becoming like Jesus. And there's good news because you can become like Jesus.
In fact, Peter tells us that we have all that we need to reach this virtuous end. In the
first half of verse three, Peter says this, "His divine power has given us everything
required for life and godliness." His divine power has given us everything required for
life and godliness. What is this power? How do we experience this power of God and how
does this power give us everything we need for life and godliness? That's a nice sentence
that Peter lays out for us, but it might sound a bit too arbitrary or abstract. What is this
power? The Bible teaches us that God's power is not a force of nature or a mustering of
physical might, but a personal will. God's power is demonstrated in His acts in history
and God's power is rooted in His holiness and righteousness. So in the Old Testament,
He purposed to save for Himself a people and His power, His act in history was demonstrated
in the Exodus, for example. There the power of God to act in history to save His people
defeated the enemies of the people of God and liberated them from captivity. In an even
greater way in the New Testament, He purposed to save His people from their true enemies
sin, death, and the devil. And His power is demonstrated in and through the person and
work of Jesus Christ who came in history to fulfill God's purpose. Jesus came with the
power of God to liberate us from our true enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil.
He came to set us free from oppression into new life in Him. That, friends, is the power
of God, the power of God to act in history to accomplish His purpose. And it's that power
that gives us everything we need. You know, Peter uses a rare term here for forgive. This
term conveys a divine generosity that emphasizes both the richness of the gift and the benevolence
of the giver. God is not giving us a little bit. He's not holding back in His gift to
us. In his book, Life Without Lack, Dallas Willard puts it this way, "God is not stingy.
He dwells in magnificent abundance and lovingly provides for our needs out of that abundance."
God is not worried that He's going to run out of something. He is overflowing with everything
that is good and everything that we need. God loves to just gush forth with His goodness.
Everything so delights Him as giving to anyone and everyone who will receive. God is freely
giving away His power to His people freely. He's freely giving us everything we need for
a life of godliness. With this word give, Peter is emphasizing the graciousness and
permanence of God's gift. Everything we need to become a good and virtuous person is bestowed
upon us by God. God's gift of power is complete. God's gift of power will endure to the end.
It's not cheap. It's not a little. It's everything we need forever. This power of God, this power
He so graciously given to us, is the power to become like Jesus. It's not a power to
follow rules. It's a power to become like someone, to become like Jesus, so much so
that by second nature we're able to do as Jesus did in every situation, even when there
are no rules. There's different approaches to evaluating what the right thing to do is
in any situation. One scholar, Graham Cole, summarized it with three words. Action, aftermath
and actor. Sometimes our focus is on the action. Focusing on action is a rules-based approach
to determining whether an action is right or wrong. Is it right to lie? Is it wrong
to lie? Yes, it's wrong to lie. Lying is wrong. Therefore, you should never lie. There's a
rule for you. But sometimes we focus on the aftermath. What is the result of that action?
What is the outcome? If the action results in a good outcome, or at least a little more
good than bad, then the action is considered good. Thus, what if the action of lying brings
about a good result? For example, lying about where you hid your Jewish friends during a
Nazi raid. But sometimes the focus is on the actor, the person performing the action. And
the emphasis here is not on rules, not on outcomes, but on developing a kind of person
who does the right thing by second nature in every situation. Again, it's not about
rules or cost-benefit analysis. It's about who you are as a person, a deeply formed character
that intuitively knows the right thing to do in the right moment. Now, this approach
is not opposed to rules. Rules can be good, but the focus is on the person and not the
rule. N.C. Wright has a great example of this kind of person in his book After You Believe.
He gives the example of Sully Sullenberger, the pilot who landed a plane on the Hudson
River after a bird had struck it. And from the moment of the plane's engines being disabled,
he had moments to decide what the right course of action was. And could you imagine if Sully
had to get out a handbook on what to do in this situation? First of all, is there a handbook
on what to do in this situation? Second of all, there's no way you could read it fast
enough to apply what you've read. No. Sully, through years of training and practice, had
become the type of captain who by second nature knew what to do. He had become the kind of
person who did the right thing. Friends, God has given us the power to become the kind
of people who by second nature do the right thing. God has given us the power to become
like Jesus. Again, He's not given us some of the things that we need. He's not given
us most of the things that we need. He's given us everything that we need. We, God's people,
are without lack. We, God's people, have everything we need for life in godliness. But how do
we experience His power? This is a good power to have, but how do we experience it? Well,
Peter tells us that God's power is experienced through knowing His son, Jesus. Look again
at verse three with me. His divine power has given us everything we need for life in godliness
through the knowledge of Him, of Jesus, who called us by His own glory and goodness. It's
by the instrument of knowing His son that we receive the power of God that gives us
everything we need for life in godliness. Okay, so what does it mean then to know the
Son of God? How do we know the Son of God? And what's interesting is that in the New
Testament there's really two words for the word knowledge. One of those words is the
Greek word gnosis. Gnosis is a type of knowledge that is factual knowledge. It's in your head.
It's facts. But the second word for knowledge is epinosis. Epinosis is knowledge that's
in your heart. It's deep and relational. And we can see the difference in scripture. For
example, in 1 Corinthians 8 verse 1 Paul says, "Now about food sacrificed to idols, we know
that we have all knowledge." Gnosis. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Paul is condemning
the Corinthians for having head knowledge or mere facts memorized about Christian conduct.
He's saying that the factual knowledge that they have that doesn't go beyond facts, that
actually makes someone prideful. Now gnosis knowledge, facts, is not always bad. In fact,
sometimes it's good. It's good to know things about God and about the world. But what the
Bible shows us is that knowing mere facts about God does not really amount to much.
For that we need epinosis knowledge. In Colossians 1-10 Paul wishes that believers will be filled
with the knowledge, the epinosis, of God's will. This epinosis only comes from knowing
God on a deeply relational level. So gnosis knowledge is like saying, well, person X likes
the color red, likes their coffee black, and was born on December 20th. If that's all I
told you about someone, I'm sure you wouldn't think that I knew that person very well. I
just know about that person. That's gnosis. It's not bad, but it's also not great. Epinosis
is like saying, well, person X actually takes much joy in having Betty's recipe from the
roastery at 9 a.m. on a cool summer morning. That's epinosis. I know what they like, but
I know why it brings them joy. Or person X is deeply saddened when he sees his friends
struggling. That's relational knowledge. Or person X lights up when he sees others succeeding
in their goals. That's epinosis. And personally, for me, the best way to conceptualize this
is in my relationship with my wife. I know facts about my wife. No one needs to tell
me facts about her. I know -- I mean, it's obvious. I know she has the most beautiful
eyes in the world. I look at them every day. I know how physically strong she is. She's
pretty strong. I know the color of her hair. I know these things about her. But knowing
these things about her doesn't really mean I know her. If I know facts about my wife,
I'm not that great of a husband. I know that I really know my wife when my knowledge of
her moves from, well, she likes to color yellow to, oh, man, she would really, really love
this event. And here -- let me tell you why. How would I know that? Well, it's because
I know her. Epinosis. Know her. Or she would react this way to someone saying this thing.
I know that. I know how she would receive and react to people's speech. Why? Because
I know her. Or I know she would laugh so hard at this story. Well, how do I know that? Is
it because I know mere facts about her? No, it's because I know her on a deeply relational
level. And in fact, the more I love her, the more I'm with her, and the more I behold her
beauty as a whole person, the more I want to know her on a deeper and deeper level.
That's epinosis. And epinosis is the word that Peter uses in this passage. Do you want
to know the power that God gives you? Do you want the power that God gives you for everything
you need in life and godliness? Then you need to know the Son of God. You need to have a
deep, relational, intimate knowledge of Jesus. And it's through knowing Him this way that
you receive everything you need to become a good person. Do you know Jesus in this way?
Is your head filled with facts about Jesus? That's good, but it's not enough. Your heart
must be filled with the knowledge of Christ. You must be with Him. And as you're with Jesus,
you will become like Jesus. Knowing Jesus is easy because it's His beautiful goodness,
His glory, and His virtue that draws us in to deeper relationship with Him.
Scholar Thomas Shriner puts it this way, "When Christ calls people to Himself, they perceive
the beauty and loveliness of His moral character. His character becomes exceedingly attractive
to them, and they trust God for their salvation." Christ is drawing us into deeper knowledge
of Him and relationship with Him by His beautiful goodness, by His glory and virtue. I mean,
think about it. No one comes to Christ, past, present, or future, because they think that
Jesus was an ugly person. In fact, one of the signs that you're a Christian, that God
has called you to Himself, is that you find Jesus glorious and beautiful. You find Him
good. I love how Dorothy Sayers puts it in her essay,
"The Greatest Drama Ever Staged." The people who hang Christ never to do them justice accuse
Him of being a bore. On the contrary, they thought Him too dynamic to be safe. It has
been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround
Him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have efficiently paired the claws of the Lion of
Judah, certified Him meek and mild, and recommended Him as a fitting household pet for pale curates
and pious old ladies. It wasn't Jesus being a boring person who
was just some average guy that led to people coming to Him, that led to attention from
the Roman Empire and the religious leaders of His day. No, it was His magnetism, His
beauty, His goodness that drew people into Him. And to remind us, this is the end goal,
to be drawn into Christ's beautiful goodness and be transformed into His image.
Are you captivated by Jesus in this way? If you're not captivated by Jesus, what is captivating
you and why? We're not captivated by Jesus by accident. We must work at it. We must meditate
on Christ. We must think on Christ, be obsessed with Him and behold Him. And this captivation
can only come by living an unhurried life that rests in the beauty of Jesus. So my encouragement
to us is to slow down, to meditate on Christ and be captivated by His majestic goodness.
And when we do that, friends, God promises us that we will become like Him. Read with
me verse four of our text. "By these He has given us very great and precious promises
so that through Him, through them, you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption
that is in the world because of evil desire." Very great and precious promises. You know,
the promises of Jesus are central to Peter's life, who's writing this letter. Remember,
Peter failed miserably when he was with Jesus. Jesus predicted that Peter would deny Him
three times and Peter says, "No way. I'm not going to deny you, Jesus." But he had not
been formed to become fully like Jesus yet. And when that dark night came, Peter didn't
have the second nature to do the right thing and so he actually denied Jesus three times.
But after the resurrection, Jesus finds Peter and in a similar setting, He forgives Peter
three times over and commissions him to shepherd his church. Peter had experienced Jesus' promise
and power of forgiveness and restoration firsthand. Peter saw how Jesus began a good work in him
and continued to work in him so that Peter would become like Jesus. That's the promise.
And this promise of Jesus to make us like Him is central to the hope of all Christians.
Elsewhere in the New Testament, the apostle Paul captures this. He says, "I'm sure of
this that he who started a good work in you will carry it out onto completion until the
day of Jesus Christ." When we are united and unified with Jesus, we are promised we will
become fully human. God has promised we will become like Jesus. God has promised we will
become beautifully good people. In fact, to be disconnected from Jesus, to be far from
him is to be subhuman. There are many, many stories that paint this spiritual and biblical
truth. One of them is Pinocchio. This is the 85th year anniversary of the Disney film Pinocchio.
This whole movie is a journey of Pinocchio becoming a real human boy. One recent commentator
reflecting on this movie says this, "A more that Pinocchio indulges himself, he actually
moves further away from enjoying real life, sprouting ears and a tail. The other boys
drink, carouse and fight. They smash a home with baseball bats and clubs. But as they
indulge these vices, they also change into animals. And once their transformation is
complete their captors or overlords, they corral them into crates and ship them away
to work in salt mines. They are transformed and ultimately enslaved by their own reckless
living. To fully lose your humanity is to lose connection and love." This is a reality
for those who are further and further away from Jesus. But friends, praise God that this
does not have to be our story. Praise God that through his great and precious promises,
we're being saved from corruption. And we're being saved from corruption as we are drawn
to Christ's beautiful goodness. And if we become like Jesus, we're promised that we
will be shaped into his image, into true humanity. And friends, we will be shaped. So the question
is who or what is shaping you? Are you leaning into Jesus? Are you captivated by him? Are
you holding onto his promises? Are you following Jesus at home? Are you following him at work?
At school? Among friends? Church, this is central to the Christian life. To have your
life, not just your words and confession, but your whole life, imitate Christ. In fact,
we're to imitate Christ to the point that over years of obedience, we will share in the divine
nature. Now what does this mean sharing the divine nature? That's a giant statement. Well,
it does not mean that we become God. And it does not mean we replace God. In fact, if
your goal is to replace God and become God, you'll actually distance yourself from true
humanity and you'll distance yourself from God. When I lived in California, I interned
with an amazing pastor and he had all of these like one-liners that are stuck in my brain.
They're about theology and ministry and some of them were just kind of pointless jokes.
And one of the many that stuck with me is this phrase oneness without sameness. And
he would say that when talking about the Trinity and talking about marriage. And I think it
explains what Peter means by divine nature here. As we become like Jesus, we will experience
oneness, intimacy, union with him without sameness. We will be fully united with God
without being absorbed into God. I think a good metaphor of this is marriage. Now I promise
I'm not newly married. I just like to talk about marriage. Or two become one in marriage.
They're still just two distinct people. They don't lose their identity. They don't lose
their personalities, yet their intimacy forms and unites them as one. Oneness without sameness.
In fact, that intimate union of one man and one woman in marriage so powerfully unites
and forms the individual that it affects how they are in the world, who they are in the
world. I am different from my wife, Christina. Yet our union has shaped and formed me into
a different person than I was seven years ago. And as I'm more united with her, I am
more changed. Marriage is a rich metaphor. It's a rich metaphor of an even greater reality
that we have with God. God has promised us that we are, as we are united with Christ,
we will become like him. We'll be formed into all that we were designed to be. We'll escape
the corruption of this world, and we will share in the divine nature. Now, all this
sounds wonderful. God's power, God's promise, God's person, Jesus, the end goal of becoming
like him. This is all great. But you might be asking, "Where do I begin? And how can
this be a reality for me today?" Well, one way to begin is by practicing something called
Lectio Divina. Lectio Divina is a Latin phrase that means divine reading. It's a practice
of seeking to encounter God through prayerful reading of the Bible. And we actually have
a bookmark that walks you through Lectio Divina. If you want this bookmark, it's at the tables
in the back near the worship doors. And this is a practice, Lectio Divina, a practice that
Christians have been participating in for thousands of years. And the goal of Lectio
Divina is not study. The goal is to know, to know Jesus through his word. There's a time
and place for studying the Scriptures, but there's also a time and place to sit quietly
asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you through the words he inspired the authors of Scripture
to write. There is a place for allowing the person of Jesus to saturate your imagination,
heart, and presence. In repeating that practice, whether through Lectio Divina or other things,
keeping the picture of Jesus before you reminds you of his presence with you. These practices
are a conduit for experiencing his divine power, which gives you everything you need
for a life of godliness. And it's in looking at Jesus through the Scriptures by beholding
him in this word that we become like him. How do you become like Jesus? Through God's
power and promise? By beholding the glory of Christ. By beholding the glory of Christ,
we are transformed into his image. The simple fact of the matter is that we are what we
behold. We become what we behold. But for me, this word behold kind of tripped me up
for a while. Behold, beholding. How do I behold something, let alone the glory of Jesus Christ?
And it was actually through the works of the Puritan, John Owen, that helped me understand
this. John Owen wrote a book called The Glory of Christ. And it's a small section where
he outlines the duties and privileges of beholding the glory of Christ. He says some Christians
are, they're not enemies of beholding God's glory. They're not opposed to it, but they
are strangers to it. Does anyone feel that way? Do you feel like you're a stranger to
beholding Christ's glory? For those strangers, John Owen offers up three things. First, recognize
that beholding the glory of Christ is a great privilege. God has given us the power and
promise to become like Jesus as we're drawn to his beautiful goodness. That's a great
and precious promise, and that's a great privilege for the Christian. Second, he says, beholding
the glory of Christ is not natural to us, and it actually requires our effort. It requires
that we pray often and earnestly, and that through prayer, through reading, through communing
with the saints, we fill our minds with the things of God. And it was John Owen's third
point that really helped me understand what it means to behold Christ's glory. We learn
how to behold Christ by understanding that we are creatures of beholding, but often of
beholding the wrong thing. He has this great, great quote in his book that I want to read
to you here. He says that when someone is obsessed with their desires, they constantly
think about what they crave and come up with countless ways to pursue it. These things
they lust after create a mental image that takes over their mind, shaping them to match
those desires. They're becoming what they behold. Is this how people end up on a path
to ruin? And if that's the case, shouldn't we be diligent in focusing on the glory that
transforms our mind to reflect its beauty, Christ's glory and virtue? Shouldn't we keep
our thoughts fixed on it, letting it fill our understanding until we continually see
and delight in it, never stopping our love and joy of it? We are creatures of beholding.
We behold all the time. It's what you do every day. In fact, when we sin, it's because we
have a desire that's not of God that we've been beholding. A desire not of God that is
obsessed over, that is craved, that's on our minds day and night, that we make plans
to pursue, that we lust after. Those desires will shape us into deformed people, formed
to sin instead of Christ, because we become what we behold. This is why we gather to worship
weekly. It's why we're passionate about spiritual habits that focus our attention
on Jesus, because Jesus is the picture of a good person. And when you gaze on him over
a lifetime, you will start by his power to look like him. He promises that. So behold
Christ, obsess over Christ, crave Christ, have your mind set on Christ day and night,
make plans daily to pursue Christ and be drawn into Christ's beautiful goodness. Friends,
when we do, we will become good and virtuous people because we will become like Jesus who
is a standard of goodness. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for being a generous God. You've
given us everything we need for life and godliness, the power to transform us and the promise
that we will become like Jesus as we're drawn to his beautiful goodness. Help us to behold
the glory of Christ now, today, this week and be transformed into his image. We pray
in Jesus' name. Amen.