Recipe for Gospel Stew

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love” (v5-7).

My wife Deb likes surfing on Pinterest. The big reason is to find new recipes. Here in the opening chapter of his second letter, Peter includes the recipe for a delicious new Gospel Stew. He lists all the ingredients for a dish that will not only allow us to fully explore what our salvation is all about but to really get to know God in a deep and intimate way. It’s not really all that complicated. Your key basic ingredient is faith. Start emptying the cabinets of the various components. Go ahead. Dump it all in there. Stir it all together. Let the stuff simmer. And the end result is love. A delicious Gospel Stew.

Pete begins with faith and finishes with love. Always begin with your faith in Jesus. This is the trust in who He is and what He’s done that you and I could never do. He lived the perfect life that I totally failed to do. He died the death for my own sin that I should have died. He rose to a spectacular new life that I in no way deserve. I’m trusting in what He’s done. I place my faith in who He is. This is not so much about the strength of my faith but the strength of the object of my faith. It’s not about gritting your teeth and making yourself believe harder. This is trusting in the most trustworthy One. Jesus. The Rock. So the basic ingredient is faith. Dump in all in. Everything you’ve got.

When we’re done cooking, the result is a scrumptious crockpot that tastes of love. Pete uses the Greek word agape. This is the love that Jesus and His boys talk about constantly in the New Testament. It’s so much more than a warm, fuzzy feeling. It’s so much more than doing something for someone whenever you feel like it. This love is a choice. This love is a decision. It’s a love that does. Love in action. Christ proved His love for you and me by dying in our place while we were still rebels against God’s kingdom (Rom 5:8). Talk about an incredible choice. What starts with faith in Jesus ends in love. Love for God. Love for others. Love that gets me outside of myself.

OK, let’s get started on the stew. With all my faith already in the pot, Pete tells me to grab every bit of  “virtue” I can get my hands on. This is the Greek word arete, which means excellence, goodness, valor, uprightness and character. The apostle is talking about the power to do the right thing. MacArthur says this is the God-given ability to perform heroic deeds. Kinda like when the Wizard of Oz proclaimed the Tin Man as a “Good Deed Doer.”  We read the very same word to describe God’s excellence back in verse 3. One of the great ways to express your faith in what Jesus has done for you is do something good. So how much virtue should we put in the pot? All of it.

Our next ingredient is “knowledge” (Gr. gnosis). There are a LOT of Greek words that get translated as “knowledge.” This one describes correct insight and understanding. This is truth properly comprehended and applied. It’s understanding by virtue of experience. The term is even a way to talk about an intimate relationship with a person. Just before listing the ingredients for this Gospel Stew, Pete tells us that God has already given us everything we need to live a life that brings Him glory. That happens “through the knowledge of Him who called us” (1:3). The former fisherman is talking about Jesus. Take everything you know about Jesus, everything you’ve experienced as a follower of Christ, scoop it all up and put it in the pot. All of it. 

Let’s double check what we’ve got so far. Faith? Check. Virtue? Got it. Knowledge? It’s in there. 

The recipe then calls for “self-control” (Gr. egkrateia). This is the exercise of complete control over one’s desires and actions and mastery over one’s passions. The King Jimmy Bible calls it “temperance.” It’s from a word that literally means “inner force” or “holding oneself in.” It was used of highly trained athletes who were in complete control of their bodies. Pete’s buddy Paul wrote that “self-control” is clear evidence that God’s Spirit is working in your life (Gal 5:22-23). Before Jesus got ahold of me, I had very little discipline. But a very peculiar thing happened after He saved me. I started to have the ability to say “no” to a variety of activities that were destructive and began to say “yes” to those brought glory to God. The irony of “self-control” is that I’m not really controlling myself. God guides me and gives me the strength to do it. So make sure you get all of the God-given “self-control” in the cabin and put it in the pot.

Let’s see, Pete then says to add “steadfastness” to the stew. This is hupomone, which means patient endurance and perseverance. This is unswerving loyalty despite difficulties and testings. A capacity to bear up under difficult circumstances It literally means “a life underneath.” In other words, this is hanging tough when something very hard is pressing down on you. It should come as no shock that Jesus is the perfect example of a living godly life under pressure. He kept His eyes locked on His mission of coming to seek and save the lost. He was steadfast in His life-long journey to the cross. God grants us perseverance when the pressure builds. The folks on the receiving end of this letter know all about perseverance under pressure. Pete’s first note to them was all about godly suffering in ungodly persecution (1Pet 1:6-7; 4:19). Open up every can of “steadfastness” you have and add it to our stew.

Let’s see what’s next. “Godliness” (Gr. eusebeia). Pete’s talking about a godly life expressed as good deeds. This is a life of reverence and respect towards my Creator and Savior. A life in constant view of God. So here’s the deal. Do the things I say and do truly reflect that I’m a follower of Jesus? Am I obedient to His commands? Do I make Him famous with what I do? Do I live my life as an act of worship to God? Let me be totally transparent with you. I fall miserably short on the “godliness” scale. But what I do have, I’m going to scrape it all together and put it in our pot of Gospel Stew.

Now stir in “brotherly affection.” The Greek word is philadelphia. Nope, he’s not talking about the city in Pennsylvania. This isn’t cream cheese. And while a Philly cheesesteak always sounds good, let’s stay focused on our Gospel Stew. This is the love expressed among family members. And in this case, Pete’s talking about the affection between followers of Jesus. Just before He went to the cross, Christ gave His crew a crucial command. Love one another. Believers’ sacrificial love for each other would show the world that we’re His followers (Jn 13:34-35). Dump the entire bag of “brotherly affection” into the pot.

Last but not least we add “love” (Gr. agape). The final ingredient will be the dominant flavor in our Gospel Stew. As we said before, this is a deep love with an outward expression. A love that does. A love with legs. As the guys in DC Talk say, “Love is a verb.” What exactly does it look like? Well, Paul devoted an entire chapter to it. When it doubt of what love looks like, flip over to 1 Corinthians 13. It’s the kind of love God has for us. It’s the kind of love we’re to have for each other. Jesus Himself said that every last bit of the Old Testament hangs on the twin principles of loving God and loving others. My friend Ross Turner used to talk about reaching up and reaching out. You have to do both. Reaching up in our love to Jesus must be done while we’re reaching out in love to those around us. 

Let’s review the recipe for Gospel Stew and make sure we’ve put everything in.

Faith. Check.

Virtue. Check.

Knowledge. Check.

Self-control. Check.

Steadfastness. Check.

Godliness. Check.

Brotherly affection. Check.

Love. Check.

Now, take a taste. Any good chef wants to know if what they’re making is any good. Does it taste like love? Perfect!