2Peter 1:5-8
A Christian Personality

As Christians, we all want to develop the right kind of personality.
In this section, Peter told us how.

What is personality? The American Heritage Dictionary defined
"personality" as "The totality of qualities and traits, as of
character or behavior, that are peculiar to a specific person." That
means personality is everything you do, consciously and
subconsciously. that make you that makes you into who you are,
unique, the individual you are.

There is no such things as a PERFECT personality. We are all unique
and God wants us to be so. In fact, we will have our own unique
personalities in heaven. So our goal is not to have the same
personality but a right personality, a personality that pleases and
copies the personality of Jesus.

To that end, let’s look at what Peter said.

I. \\#5\\ Note some words that Peter used.

2Peter 1:5   And beside this, giving all
diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to
virtue knowledge;

    A. "ADD."  The word "add" places the emphasis on adding the
        positive instead of trying to remove the negative.
        1. Peter did not say "subtract."
            a. He said, "add."
            b. The key to being Christ-like is not in what you can
                remove from your life (although some things probably
                need to be removed.)
            c. The key to being Christ-like is in what you add.
        2. The Plan - Balanced
            a. It is amazing how much energy well-meaning folks spend
                trying to do the wrong thing!
                (1) The wrong thing is to try to remove the
                     negatives.
                (2) Nowhere in the Bible does God tell the Christian
                     to remove his negative personality traits.
                (3) (The Bible does say that we are to put our sins
                     from us but not our negatives.)
            b. We need to understand that just because a trait is
                negative, it is not necessarily sinful.
                (1) anger - I would not want to be a person that
                     could not get angry with sin.
                (2) jealousy - If someone is fluttering with your
                     mate, you have every right to take that as an
                     offense and move to protect your marriage.
                (3) stubbornness - That is a great trait when you are
                     stubborn about the right things.
            c. There have to be both the positive and the negative
                characteristics for us to balance.
                (1) The combination of our positive and negatives are
                     part of what give us our unique personality.
                (2) Remember, we are not talking about rights and
                     wrongs here.
                     (a) Get rid of lying, stealing, vulgarity,
                          gossiping, backbiting.
                     (b) But your negative traits help make you the
                          person God wants you to be.
                           i. Forgiveness balances our demand for
                               justice.
                          ii. Kindness balances our demand for 
                               accountability.
                         iii. Diligence balances the mercy and
                               opportunity we give.
        3. The Perversion
            a. The only negatives we ever want to remove are the ones
                that have been perverted.
            b. What is a perversion?
                (1) A perversion is when we take something God made
                     and use it for the wrong purpose or in the
                     wrong way.
                (2) Homosexuality
            c. Mankind, even good Christians, are bad about altering
                the characteristics God has given to us.
            d. When we do that, it becomes a perversion.
                (1) We pervert love into lust.
                (2) We pervert anger into wrath.
                (3) We pervert tenderness into bitterness.
                (4) We pervert contentment into complacency.
                (5) We pervert need into envy.
                (6) We pervert humility into laziness (or inability).
                (7) We pervert leadership into rebellion.
                (8) We pervert concern into worry.
            e. No person needs to remove love, anger, tenderness,
                contentment, need, humility, leadership, or concern.
            e. They just need to quit perverting them into something
                God did not intend them to be.
        4. The Problems - There are even more problems we run into
            when we try to remove the negative.
            a. It is nearly impossible for a person to just stop
                a thing.
                (1) That is not the way God wired people.
                (2) Humans don’t like emptiness.  That is why no
                     matter how big you build your house, it will
                     become too small.
                (3) People hate a vacuum and to take something away
                     without putting something in that place is very
                     difficult for us.
            b. The more you think on a thing, the harder it is to
                overcome it.
                (1) The last think you want to think about when you
                     want to cut back on your eating is cutting back
                     on your eating.  Doing so will make you so
                     hungry you will think you are starving.
                (2) The same thing is true of not losing your temper,
                     not being late, not smoking, not drinking  or
                     not doing anything else.
                (3) The more you think about something, the more
                     likely you are to do it.
        5. The Plan - So we go back to where we started.
            a. The plan then is to balance the positive and the
                negative.
            b. Don’t concentrate on what you want to remove.
            c. Concentrate on what you want to ADD.
            d. Hence, Peter’s word, ADD.

    B. \\#5\\ "Diligence"
        1. This word tells us two things.
            a. It tells us we must work to add these things.
            b. It tells us we must work "DILIGENTLY" to add these
                them.
        2. We must work.
            a. Many people "want" to have a better personality.
            b. Wanting a godly attribute is good.
            c. It is the first step.
            d. But wanting by itself will never get you what you
                want.
            e. To get what you want, you must work at it and Peter
               said you must work at it diligently.
        3. We must work diligently.
            a. "DILIGENCE" means with haste, speed, and earnest care.
            b. Although adding "the right" to our lives is infinitely
                easier than just removing the wrong, it is still hard
                work and requires constant attention and effort.
        4. What kind of things must we do to add righteous
            characteristics to our personality?
            a. Formulate a plan.
                (1) Nothing good just happens.  It never has and it
                     never will.
                (2) Like humans do not like an emptiness so creation
                     tends to run down and not up.
                (3) That is actually a scientific law that you
                     probably aren’t interested in hearing about but
                     I will give you the common man’s version of it.
                (4) It’s called Murphy’s Law.  "Anything that can go
                     wrong will go wrong."
                (5) So if we want to add Christianity to our
                     personality, we will have to put thought and
                     effort into doing it.
                (6) Ask yourself "What do I need to change?"  "With
                     whom do I need to change?"  "When am I most
                     likely going to need this change?"
            b. Seize opportunities.
                (1) Most character improvement opportunities come when
                     we don’t want them to, (i.e. when we are in a
                     hurry, when we are aggravated, when we are
                     tired).
                (2) Watch for those people and those opportunities.
            c. Enlist help.
                (1) Parents, pastors, godly Christians are usually a
                     good sources seek for advice and accountability.
                (2) Your friends usually are NOT.
            d. Learn from our mistakes.
                (1) Humble yourself and truly apologize when you
                     fail.
                     (a) Go immediately.
                     (b) Go every time.
                     (c) Go humbly and with shame that you failed
                          Jesus Christ.
                (2) Learn to say, "I was wrong when I did that and I
                     am truly sorry.  Will you forgive me?"
                (3) Then add, "What can I do to show you I am sorry?"
                (4) Then do whatever they ask.
                (5) Nothing grows a personality quicker than
                     completely owning up to our bad behaviors.
            e. Don’t quit until we have succeeded.

    C. \\#8\\ "Abound"

2Peter 1:8  For if these things be in you, and
abound, they make you that ye shall neither be
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ.

        1. These qualities cannot just be in us.  They must abound.
        2. Strong’s says the word means "to increase, to SUPER
            abound."
        3. The way to teach ourselves these traits is not to just
            practice them when we think we should but to put them
            into practice all day long with everyone!
            a. You are not going to just be kind with the cashier
                at Walmart but with your brother and sister.
            b. You won’t just be patient when you get stopped by the
                train but with the co-worker who keeps causing you to
                be work late.
            c. You won’t just control your temper when the neighbor’s
                dog drops gifts on your lawn but also when your
                political opposite posts on timeline.
            d. You won’t just love your wife and kids but you will
                show love to the stranger, the beggar, the fellow
                who just cut you off in traffic.
        4. You can’t sift the people that you show Christ to.  You
            have to show Christ to everyone!

    D. \\#8\\ A phrase, "neither barren nor unfruitful."
        1. This is our target, our goal.
        2. We want to be fruit-bearing Christians.
        3. Do we remember the fruit we are to bear?

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith,
23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is
no law.

<OutlineIndex>  <Close Window>