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The Secret of Victory

by

Elder John L. Bechtel
Pastor
Fremont Seventh-day Adventist Church

Call to Worship:

1  GOD be gracious to us and bless us, And because His face to shine [1]upon us --
2  That your way may be known on the earth, your salvation among all nations.
3   Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.

                                                                                                                      Psalm 67:1-3¹
Scripture:

3  seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
4  For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

                                                                                                                                          2 Peter 1:3-4

Do you have a dream of what you want to become?   What you would like to be?  Perhaps it is the richest man on the face of the earth, unlimited wealth, a Bill Gates.   Or maybe you would like to have the capabilities of Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods.  Or maybe you would like to sing like Pavarotti, or write like Earnest Hemmingway or paint like Rembrandt.

Imagine that one night God wakes you up from a sound sleep and says:  You can create the next Microsoft.  Interested?

We can get lost in fantasies such as these.  But suppose that God says to you:  You can have MY eternal life in you.   Would you be interested?  Or how about unlimited knowledge?

Christianity in fact offers us something far greater than the wealth of Bill Gates or the sports abilities of Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan.  It offers us the greatest brain trust of the universe, the mind of Christ.

Listen to Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 2:16:   "We have the mind of Christ."  We have the mind of Christ!  Can we really understand or believe that?   This is not only a boast of Paul but he also commands it in Philippians 2:5:  "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:" (KJV)   What an unbelievable offer!

Proverbs 23:7 points out that as a person "thinks within himself, so he is."  The character is formulated by one's thinking.

If we have the mind of Christ, then we will act like Christ.  We are told that "Jesus expects that His gentleness and condescension will be reproduced in those whom He blesses... He expects all His followers to catch His spirit of meekness and lowliness, and become wise in helping those that mourn.... The attributes of God are goodness, mercy, love, long-suffering and patience, and His followers are to possess the same attributes of character, representing Christ in true spirituality."²

We are to be just like Jesus.  We are to do things just like Jesus.  It is a great blessing to see our young people considering the question:  What Would Jesus Do? as they evaluate their actions.  Truly this is one of the greatest secrets to victory that we can possibly have!    What Would Jesus Do?

When we become Christians we embark upon a journey that is to embrace the rest of our lives.  Early Christians were known as people who belonged to "the Way."  (Acts 9:2; 18:25f.; 19:9, 23; 24:14, 22).  Later in Antioch the name they became known by was "Christians."  (Acts 11:26), showing that the Way was to lead us to become like Christ.

We can become like the greatest person that ever lived!   We can become like Christ.  Gary Thomas says:
 

This is a pursuit for the ages.  Offered this opportunity, how could we ever settle for less?  God is telling us that we can forsake the eternally inconsequential pursuits that consume our time, energy, and passion, and can adopt a new pursuit -- spiritual growth in the character of Christ.   It's bold.  It's daring.  It sounds unachievable, but the Bible promises that it's within our grasp:  We can become like Christ.³

But how can we become like Christ?   What is the secret of victory over sin?   Is it just repeating the phrase:  What Would Jesus Do?  As good as that is?

Often when we think of Peter we think of his failures.  He's always the one who was sticking his foot in his mouth!  A "thickheaded buffoon who always acted impetuously and who just didn't quite 'get it.'"⁴  And yet we should spend some quality time getting to know the message of Peter in his Epistles.  Beginning with his sermon on the day of Pentecost and right on through the end of his life in Rome, Peter gave us excellent counsel with which to live our lives.  He gave us profound teachings that plumb the depths of spiritual growth in Christ.

Let's look again at our Scripture reading for today which contains the secret of victory:  2 Peter 1:3-4.
 

3  seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
4  For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
                                                                                                                  2 Peter 1:3-4

Peter is telling us that God gives us "everything" we need to live the Christ life, a life of godliness, a partaker of the divine nature, the mind of Christ.   What is it that God imparts to us?   "His divine power" and "the true knowledge of Him who called us..."  Peter says "by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promise, so that by them (divine power and true knowledge of Christ) you may become partakers of the divine nature" with the result that you will escape "the corruption that is in the world by lust."

Again, God has given us everything to experience and be trained in the character of Christ.  Praised be His name!

Now, Peter is very precise in his language.  In fact the Greek of Peter is some of the best in the New Testament!  Notice that he doesn't say that we "will" become partakers of the divine nature, but that we "may" or "might."   "What might keep us back?  Focusing on the wrong goal, to begin with.  Let's look at some of the 'false starts' that can lead us away."
 

DEAD END PATHS
 

The first wrong path many of us take is the recruiter approach to the practice of Christianity.  Many evangelicals make the mistake of thinking we have become saved basically so we can stay at the head of the spiritual path and recruit others.  In this approach, we should know the Bible like a kid has memorized the back of a cereal box so that we have a potent arsenal with which to demolish every conceivable argument against the gospel.  While evangelism is a glorious experience, the recruiter approach tends to reduce 'partaking in the divine nature' to nothing but evangelism: We are saved by grace simply to see others saved by grace.

There is also the end goal of holiness.  Some Christians are taught that if they can somehow achieve 'sinless perfection,' they can finally please God.  Every sin is viewed as a step back, which only time (and the work of the Christ on the cross) can erase.  The focus in this life is not experiencing the abundant life as much as it is avoiding the sinful life.  Many Christians have made their own righteousness the end goal and have found that it makes them morbidly introspective and miserable.

Today, more and more people set their eyes on the goal of activism.  This approach says, 'As long as I sacrifice quantities of my time, live meagerly, and focus mainly on service to God, I'll be living a God-pleasing life... and hopefully, I'll be too busy to be selfish and sinful.'  For many of these people, stress and guilt and drivenness take their toll.  Christlikeness, which results from entering the soul's sabbath rest, is lost.

Some more enterprising Christians have concocted the goal of passivism.  Using logic as a shield rather than a sword, their argument goes something like this:  Christ has already done everything on the cross.  There's nothing I can do.  God will change me; it's all up to Him.  As long as I show up at church with respectful regularity, read my Bible, and pray when I really get in a bind, then God will make me a brand-new person.

There is also a pessimistic approach that goes further, teaching Christians that they are lowly 'worms' who are so depraved they can never rise above their sorry, sinful state.  This approach errs on the side of man's fallenness, and it puts off our inheritance in Christ until a far future date, instead of recognizing that our glorious transformation is as much a part of our witness as our logical knowledge of the Bible -- and it begins now.

There are several other approaches, but I will mention only one more:  There are Christians who are waiting for some supernatural 'lightning strike' from on high to transform them in an instant.  The end goal for some, but not all, is to become conduits of this supernatural power.  They are focused mainly on Jesus' miracle-working power, and vary little on His humanity, character or suffering.

Each one of these approaches, or paths, contains a grain of truth.  It is important to share our faith with others.  We should avoid sin.  Our beliefs will result in service to God and society and other men.  God is the primary change agent in our lives.  We can experience a power that is beyond all human power.

But where each approach errs is in making an idol out of a single truth.  When we insist on any one truth, we block the power and direction of other truths.  And the problem with all these approaches is that they tend to focus on how we can stay in favor, or prove our favor, with God.  These approaches to the Christian life are a galaxy away from the life modeled by Christ (and taught by His disciples), a life governed by an entire range of interior attitudes and orientations, which created the most beautiful and perfect life that has ever been lived.  Our race is growth in the virtues of Christ.  Our end goal is nothing less than Christlikeness.⁵

The Right Path

We have spent a few minutes looking at the wrong paths that some are following.  So what is the right path?   What is the secret to victory?

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:16, 10 that "our inward man is being renewed day by day.... that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh."  This was the goal that Paul strove for in the lives of his converts.  In Colossians he says that his preaching and ministry was to make know the glorious truth:  Christ in you the hope of glory!  To present every man complete in Christ.  (Colossians 1:27-28)  "And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me."  (Colossian 1:29).

"Striving according to His power." (Colossians 1:29).  "His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness..." (2 Peter 1:3).  The key to victory is that we choose to cooperate with God's power working within us.

Ellen White understood this concept very well and expressed it clearly in the giant spiritual guide Steps to Christ.  Here she says:
 

You are just as dependent upon Christ, in order to live a holy life, as is the branch upon the parent stock for growth and fruitfulness.⁶  Apart from Him you have no life.  You have no power to resist temptation or to grow in grace and holiness.  Abiding in Him, you may flourish.  Drawing your life from Him, you will not wither nor be fruitless.⁷

Many are inquiring, "How am I to make the surrender of myself to God?" You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you; but you need not despair. What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him.

Desires for goodness and holiness are right as far as they go; but if you stop here, they will avail nothing. Many will be lost while hoping and desiring to be Christians. They do not come to the point of yielding the will to God. They do not now choose to be Christians.

Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be made in your life. By yielding up your will to Christ, you ally yourself with the power that is above all principalities and powers. You will have strength from above to hold you steadfast, and thus through constant surrender to God you will be enabled to live the new life, even the life of faith.⁸

Today I would encourage you to choose to cooperate with divine power and let God transform you, "so that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints."   (1 Thessalonians 3:13).

I would like to close today with two poems⁹ - the first by Annie Johnson Flint.

 
He Giveth More

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
    He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
    To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
     When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our horded resources,
     Our Father's full giving is only begun.

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure;
     His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
     He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
        --  Annie Johnson Flint, quoted in John R. Rice,  Poems that Preach
 
 

The last poem is a prayer:

 
God the Source of All Good

O Lord God, Who inhabitest eternity,
The heavens declare thy glory,
The earth thy riches,
The universe is thy temple;
Thy presence fills immensity,
Yet thou hast of thy pleasure created life,
     and communicated happiness;
Thou hast made me what I am,
and given me what I have;
In thee I live and move and have my being;
Thy providence has set the bounds of my habitation,
    and wisely administers all my affairs.
I thank thee for thy riches to me in Jesus,
    for the unclouded revelation of him in thy Word,
 where I behold his person, character, grace, glory,
 humiliation, sufferings, death and resurrection;
Give me to feel a need of His continual saviourhood,
    and cry with Job, 'I am vile,'
                with Peter, 'I perish,'
                with the publican, 'Be merciful to me, a sinner.'
Subdue in me the love of sin,
Let me know the need of renovation as well as of forgiveness
    in order to serve and enjoy thee for ever.
I come to thee in the all-prevailing name of Jesus,
    with nothing of my own to plead,
    no works, no worthiness, no promises.
I am often straying,
    often knowingly opposing thy authority,
    often abusing thy goodness;
Much of my guilt arises from my religious privileges,
    my estimation of them,
    my failure to use them to my advantage,
But I am not careless of thy favor regardless of thy glory;
Impress me deeply with a sense of thine omnipresence,
    that thou art about my path, my ways, my lying down, my end.
   -- Arthur Bennett, The Valley of Vision

ENDNOTES

1.   All Scriptures are from the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise noted. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra,
Calif.  All rights reserved.  Used by Permission.
 [1]Lit with
2.   Ellen G. White, "Blessed Are the Meek" The Signs of the Times, August 22, 1895.
3.  Gary L. Thomas, The Glorious Pursuit:  Embracing the Virtues of Christ (Colorado Springs, CO:  NAVPRESS, 1998), p. 36.
4.   Ibid.
5.  Thomas, pp. 36-38.
6.   Cf.  John 15:4, 5
7.   Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 69.
8.   Ibid., pp. 47-48.
9.   Both poems are from:  Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1501 Other Stories (Nashville, TN:  Word Publishing, 1998), pp, 252, 238-239.