On June 27, 2015, Dylann Roof entered a Bible study at the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. He participated in the Bible study, even discussing his view of Scripture. As the participants closed in prayer, Dylann Roof took out a gun from his fanny pack and pointed it at 87 year old Susie Jackson. Her nephew, Tywanza Sanders, intervened and was shot first. By the time Roof finished, eight other people had died from multiple gunshot wounds at close range. It was evil, heartbreaking, and shocking.
What was more shocking was the response to Dylann Roof by some of the members of the AME Church. At the bond hearing, Roof had to face the families of the victims. As reported by USA Today:
First up was Nadine Collier, who lost her mother Ethel Lance.
“I forgive you … You took something really precious from me. I will never talk to her ever again, I will never be able to hold her again, but I forgive you and have mercy on your soul,” Collier says while fighting back tears.
Not all the family members could bring themselves to do that, which is completely understandable, but several did.
One who did was Chris Singleton, a minor league baseball player in the Chicago Cubs farm system. His mother was murdered in the Charleston Massacre. He was in the middle of playing a baseball game when he decided to show grace to Dylann Roof.
So far, Dylann Roof does not seem to have been moved by these demonstrations of grace and forgiveness. However, he is not the only one involved. This was a point brought out by Singleton:
“After seeing what happened and the reason why it happened, and after seeing how people could forgive, I truly hope that people will see that it wasn’t just us saying words,” Singleton says. “I know, for a fact, that it was something greater than us, using us to bring our city together.”
The demonstration of grace was a testimony of love to the whole city. It was an amazing act of love that contributed to building a loving community in a way that few other things could.
And here we have God’s plan for building a loving community. What He does is create specific excellent traits or virtues within His people that build the loving community. He transforms them into the type of people who build a loving community.
In this series of sermons, I want to talk about four of these virtues or excellent traits. These four traits are useful for any time but especially in our polarized society: being a listener, being humble, being patient, and being a servant.
Before we look at these four characteristics, I want to review how God produces virtues within us looking at 2 Peter 1.
Virtue as Human Destiny
When we think of human beings, it’s easy for us to think of them as we know them now: a mixture of nobility and a great tendency to do evil. We must remember that this is not how God created human beings. He created them to be glorious and pure by reflecting His divine glory.
This is powerfully described here in 2 Peter as “participating in the divine nature.” Human beings were made to reflect the glory of God like a mirror or a car reflects the light of the sun. It shares in its glory though it does not originate it. Humans were destined for excellence.
They were to reflect this glory not only as individuals but as a community whose love for one another reflected the divine Trinity, the eternal love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That’s the sort of community God made human beings to exist in. The way they loved each other would show forth the divine virtue or excellence.
As they exist now, human beings not only lack moral excellence, they are filled with vice. Dylann Roof is an extreme example, but we so often live for ourselves, focus on our own needs, and have contempt for others. We don’t listen. We’re both stubborn and people pleasers. We’re impatient. We’re dishonest. How do we get back to what we’re supposed to be?
God Produces Virtue
The answer is that God transforms us. God produces virtue. “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life” (2 Pet. 1:3). The offer of restoration is there for everyone. To all those who accept this offer, “He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Pet. 1:4).
So, when we hear, “add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control,” we hear a command. With this command, we need to remember that God has given us faith as a gift. God is adding to this gift virtue (“goodness”), knowledge, self-control, and so on. This is His work. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works.
We need to understand that God is doing a great work. He is building a new human race. He is raising up people like Nadine Collier and Chris Singleton to build a new loving community.
It’s easy to get discouraged when we look around and see so much that is ugly in ourselves and others. It is in these times that we need to rely on God and His work. He is doing great things. He is changing us. He is transforming us. We are destined for excellence and glory. That is what is God is doing!
We Pursue Virtue
Does that mean that we are passive and just sit around waiting for God to work? Not at all. “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue” (2 Pet. 1:5). God is working, and we must join Him in that work. What do we need in order to do this work?
1. We need desire. Do we desire to become self-controlled, loving, knowledgeable people? That’s where it begins. The effort begins with desire. If we desire it, we will work for it and pray for it. If we don’t desire it, we won’t pursue it.
I like how The Heidelberg Catechism explains this in Q & A 116:
Q. Why do Christians need to pray? A. Because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us. And also because God gives his grace and Holy Spirit only to those who pray continually and groan inwardly, asking God for these gifts and thanking God for them.
2. We need effort (2 Pet. 1:5, 9). Displacing our old habits and vices is not easy. The Bible compares it to a battle, to war, to labor, and to training. That’s what people so often miss. They think it will be easy to change. Then, it gets hard, and they give up. We need to believe that progress can happen, but it will happen through sustained effort over time.
3. We need Scripture. Peter says, “you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Pet. 1:19). We should not merely read it, though. We need to let it reshape our thoughts. That’s why we need to go over it again and again and why Peter says that, “And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things” (2 Pet. 1:15).
What I mean is this, we need to ask, what stories are we telling ourselves that make us feel and act in certain ways? For example, we may look at the future and be filled with fear. We forget that God has promised, “I will be with you wherever you go.” We need to reshape our mindset through Scripture until we see not just the scary things that we may encounter in the future but the God who will be there with us.
4. We need people. This passage reminds us that we need people who will help us see things in the right way. Peter was that person for the believers to whom he wrote. He said, “So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have” (2 Pet. 1:12). You and I are those persons for one another. We help remind each other to pursue the things that are truly good.
Why Pursue Virtue
This all seems like a lot of work. Why should we pursue it, why should we pursue virtue? Here are several reasons.
1. Virtue makes us participate in the divine nature. What can be better than to reflect the glory of God?
2. Virtue makes us fruitful (2 Pet. 1:8). When we pursue this inward change, then these virtues bring the fruit that faith is supposed to bring–joy, peace, love, and service.
3. Virtue makes us fulfilled. Peter says it’s myopic not to pursue virtues and excellent traits. It’s near sighted. It’s easier just do what’s natural: eat what we want, say what we want, or do what we feel is easy. However, that’s nearsighted. In the long run, it doesn’t make us happy. What will make us happy is a life that is in conformity with the patience, love, and wisdom of God. That pursuit demands a long-term vision.
4. Virtue makes us assured. God has destined us for excellence. When we see ourselves becoming more trusting of God, more self-controlled, more patient, and more loving, then it assures us that we are destined to excellence and salvation because we’re already on the way. We know we are chosen and saved as surely as we know a tree from its fruits.
5. Virtue makes us sure-footed. The more we have the virtues of faith, wisdom, self-control, and love, the more we will walk in the right way. Peter actually says, “You will never stumble.” Our lack of moral excellence is what makes us stumble and brings us into so much trouble. It is our own greed, temper, lusts, and impatience that cause us so much troubles. Those who have virtue are sure-footed.
6. Virtue makes a rich welcome into heaven. Notice that he doesn’t say we won’t be welcomed into heaven but that we won’t have that rich welcome we could. What this means is that the more godly we are now, the closer we are to heaven. Pressing hard toward an excellent character, we enter heaven on a full run!
7. Virtues makes us build a loving community. When we are people who listen, people who are patient, people who show honor, and people who serve, we will build the loving community God wants. That’s God’s plan to build a loving community, and it begins with us.
If we want to see our churches and nation restored, we need to begin with ourselves. We need to pursue the excellent traits and virtues that build that loving community. That’s what we’ll talk about this month.
Conclusion
In conclusion, let me just remind you of a couple of things. If you don’t make the progress you like, remember that it’s a process! It generally doesn’t happen overnight. God changes us over a lifetime. As we lean into that change, we should not expect that we will be instantly loving. Over time, though, we will become more loving. God will grow us over time.
I’ve tried my hand at gardening over the past two years. I go out and look all the time to see how my plants are doing. It’s slow, but eventually you see that the plants do grow. The vegetables do come out. Our Christian life is more like growing a plant than taking a pill that instantly makes us better.
And in that process, God does give the increase. The progress may be slow at times, but God is doing a work. Let’s not get discouraged because “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life” (2 Pet. 1:3). That’s the foundation, the source, and the rock to which we can always return in our pursuit of divine glory. Amen.
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Photo by Kristopher Roller on Unsplash