Be Virtuous

Introduction

Good morning, everyone. It’s so good to see you this morning. What a wonderful day of worship to God. I just want to commend you for your love for the Lord, your love for the scriptures, and the fact that you’re here worshiping the Lord and putting him first. May God bless you. May God bless your family. Thank you to our song leaders for the wonderful job they did. Thank you to all of the men who have participated and helping lead our worship to God. And we’re thankful to have guests here with us. If you’re visiting with our church family, we welcome you. Thank you for being here. God bless you. Please study the Bible with us for the next several minutes. If I were to ask you to just take out a sheet of paper this morning and list five areas where you felt you really needed to grow as a Christian, what would you put on that list?

What would you write down? What are some areas where you feel you need to improve and do better? Throughout the years, when I’ve asked that question, I’ve received numerous answers from God’s people. For example, from some of God’s people, they have told me that they felt they really needed to grow in their knowledge.

Particularly the Old Testament scriptures and some of the more neglected portions of the Old Testament, like the major and the minor prophets. Others have told me that they felt they needed to grow in their faith. Or in having more courage to share their faith, or in their prayer lives, or in their patience, or in their self-control, or in their love, or in their wisdom, or maybe in just coming to church and making worshiping God more of a priority in their lives. You see, those are common answers that I’ve heard Christians give in regards to that question. But do you know what I’ve never heard before? One thing I have never heard anyone ever say is you know what, Sean, I need to grow. And the very first Christian quality that Peter mentions in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse number 5.

I’ve never heard a Christian say, Well, you know what I need more of? I need more virtue. I need to grow in my virtue, I need to become a more virtuous person. I’ve never heard a Christian ever say that before, and I’m willing to guess that you probably haven’t as well. And I wonder why. Why? Why will no one be willing to admit that they lack in virtue? Could it be maybe because every Christian has this mastered? Could it be maybe because every Christian has conquered virtue and they really have it down? Could it be maybe because every Christian really understands the value of virtue and what it is and how to acquire it and the significance it has in their lives? I seriously doubt. That is the reason why virtue fails to make the list, but remember our theme this year as a church.

Remember our theme this year as a church family is about transforming. It’s about changing. It’s about becoming more like Jesus in every part of our lives. You see, as Christians, we should be making that our goal every single day. That should be our focus. That should be the thing that’s constantly on our minds and the chief thing that we are pursuing. In fact, I submit to you that a big part of the transformation process is found right here in what Peter is saying in these verses. It is growing. It is maturing. It is never becoming satisfied with your current spiritual progress and trying to become different every single day. You see, just like babies are supposed to grow, and just like puppies are supposed to grow and kittens are supposed to grow and plants are supposed to grow, Christians are supposed to grow.

Christians are supposed to change. Christians are supposed to mature in progress, show progress every single day. In fact, if you don’t mind, beginning today. And at least once a month for the rest of the year, what I would like for us to do is just go through this list that Peter gives and 2 Peter chapter 1 and learn exactly where we need to be doing that. I want us to learn exactly where we need to be constantly changing and transforming as the people of God. In fact, we’re going to begin this series in the same place Peter begins. We’re going to begin by talking about virtue. We’re going to talk about virtue. If we’re going to be truly transformed as the people of God, then we must be virtuous.

1. What Is Virtue?

That is what we must become more of every single day. And let’s just begin with this question. What in the world is it? I’m throwing the term around a lot this morning, but what in the world is it? What is virtue? Well, I want to submit to you that in addition to being something that seems to be undervalued and discussed, virtue is a Christian quality that means it means goodness. It means noble. It means to have character that is righteous and excellent. It is a word that is actually used only four times in the New Testament. It is used once by the Apostle Paul and the book of Philippians, and it’s used three times by Peter and his epistles. In fact, the New American Standard Bible that I preach from translates the word virtue to excellent.

Peter says in 2 Peter 1 and verse 5, add to your faith moral excellence. Notice how spiritual growth and transformation involves being excellent. It involves being morally excellent. It involves possessing excellent character and morality, because God possesses excellent character and morality. This is something that Peter talks about throughout his epistles, but I’ll just give you a couple of examples. Look at 1 Peter chapter 2, please. And 1 Peter chapter 2. And we’re going to be considering several things from Peter’s epistles this morning. But in 1 Peter chapter 2, and in verse number 9, as Peter talks to Christians, God’s people under the new covenant, spiritual Israel today, Peter says this to us in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse number 9. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim what?

The excellencies. That word excellencies there is the same word for virtue, so that you may proclaim the virtue or the excellencies of him who’s called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Notice how the scripture says that God is excellent. God has virtue at the highest level, and one of our responsibilities as Christians is to proclaim the virtue and the excellencies of God to the world. One of the ways we do that is by the way we live. How we live every single day should be sending a message to the world that we serve an excellent or virtuous God.

That’s what Peter says. But put that with 2 Peter, please. Look at 2 Peter chapter 1. And 2 Peter chapter 1, Shaw Michael read for us, verses 5 down to verse 11. But look at what he says in verse 3. And 2 Peter 1 and verse 3. Peter says, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. We have everything we need to receive eternal life and to be godly people found in the Bible. It’s all here. You have everything you need pertaining to life and godliness. Now watch this. Through the true knowledge of him who has called us to his own glory, there it is again and excellence. That word excellence there is the same for virtue. Notice carefully what the apostle was saying there.

He is saying that because God is excellent, as his children, as his people, we have been called to excellence. We have been called to live by his excellent standard. We have been given the responsibility to reflect and show his excellence to the world, to show his excellence to the people on our job. To show his excellence to the people in our school, our classmates, our friends, our neighbors, to show his excellence and how we interact with other people on social media, and in how we treat our spouse and raise our kids and conduct ourselves in any part of our lives, no matter who I’m with, no matter where I am, no matter if I’m the only Christian in my family or on my job or in my school, I have a responsibility as a Christian to show people the virtue of the or the excellencies of God by the way I live my life.

2. Being Virtuous Requires Applying Scripture

That’s what it means to have virtue. Having virtue means to have good, noble, righteous, excellent character, and morality like the holy God we serve, but it does now bring us to a second question, and that is what does it require? What does being virtuous require of us? Well, simply put, being virtuous requires applying scripture. You gotta apply scripture. You gotta apply the Bible to your to your life. Being virtuous, it’s not about just reading the Bible. It’s not about just studying the Bible. It’s not just about believing the Bible and quoting the Bible and filling our minds up with a bunch of information because we want to win Bible trivia games. No, being virtuous requires doing the Bible. We gotta live the Bible. We gotta live what we are reading and studying in the Bible.

That means that we gotta live pure lives. Virtuous people live pure lives. Virtuous people strive to live sexually pure lives. They abstain from sex if they’re not married. They abstain from adultery if they are married. They strive not to flirt and develop inappropriate relationships with people who are not their spouse. As Peter says in 1 Peter 2 and verse 11, Christians are to abstain from fleshly lust. They wage war against the soul. Virtuous people, they strive to live pure, pure lives, sexually pure lives, and they also strive to have pure speech. Virtuous people have pure speech. They avoid speaking like the world. They avoid speaking curse words like the world. They avoid using the Lord’s name in vain, like the world. They avoid speaking words of gossip and slander and backbiting.

They avoid using their words to tear down and destroy other people. Paul says it this way in Philippians 4 and verse 8, when he says that virtuous people have honorable things in their speech, things that are right, pure, lovely, worthy of praise. That’s what virtuous people do. They strive to live pure lives. They strive to have pure speech. And they also strive to have pure thoughts. Virtuous people not only live virtuous lives, but they also strive to have virtuous thoughts. They think about the right kinds of things. They think about those things Paul mentions back in chapter 4, verse 8 of Philippians, things that are honorable, right? Pure, lovely, worthy of praise. Virtuous people have pure speech, pure thoughts, and then they also have honorable relationships.

Honorable relationships. In fact, this is one of the main things that Peter emphasizes throughout his epistles. Will you go into your Bible, please, to 1 Peter chapter 2? Look at verse 12. Look at what Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 2 to verse 12 when he says to Christians, keep your behavior excellent. That’s that word virtue again. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. So notice the part where it says that as Christians, we ought to, we ought to keep our behavior excellent among the Gentiles, excellent among the people in the world. How in the world do we do that?

How in the world do we do that? How in the world do we keep our behavior excellent among the Gentiles? Well, we do that, my friends, by doing what Peter goes on to say in the rest of the book. We do that by submitting to the government and to those who have authority over us. We do that by striving to be good model citizens, and we avoid being troublemakers in our communities. We do that by being honorable in the relationships we have with our spouse, wives submitting to their husbands and respecting their husbands and husbands treating their wives right and dealing with them in an understanding way so that their prayers won’t be hindered. We do that by avoiding being vindictive and arrogant and unkind to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We do that by treating people in the same way that Jesus treated people.

3. Being Virtuous Requires Moral Courage

No, Jesus was a good person. He was an excellent person. He behaved in an excellent manner as he interacted with other people. That’s what virtuous people do. They are honorable and their relationships and they have moral courage. Being virtuous requires having moral courage. Go in your Bible back to 1 Peter. Look at chapter 4 and in verse 3, please. And 1 Peter chapter 4 and in verse number 3. Peter, he is writing to Christians who are suffering at this time. The big theme of Peter of 1 Peter is suffering. Christians are suffering for their faith at this time. They’re being rejected by so many people in their society. And Peter says to them in verse 3, for the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desires of the Gentiles.

You shouldn’t be living like the world anymore, having pursued a course of sensuality, lust, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries and all of this, because you gave all these things up, they, the world, are surprised that you don’t run with them into the same excesses of dissipation. And they malign you, they’re angry with you because you don’t do the things you used to do. Verse 5, but they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. You know, I wish I could tell you this morning, my dear friends, that if you do what we’re talking about, if you have virtue, if you have moral excellence, if you strive to live by God’s standard, I wish I could tell you that if you do that, the world’s gonna celebrate you.

The world’s gonna pat you on the back. The world’s gonna be so impressed by your conduct, and they’re gonna put you on a pedestal. I wish I could tell you that this morning, but I can’t. I can’t because of what the Bible says. You see, according to what the Bible says, being virtuous in this dark, sinful, and evil world is not easy. It is not the easy path for a person to take because it requires conviction. It requires courage and commitment. It requires a willingness to stand for what you know is right, even if that means people in the world are going to respond to you in a negative way. That’s what happens when you practice Christian virtue. And we see that throughout our Bible, do we not?

We see that in the life of somebody like Joseph. I mean, just think about Joseph. Remember when his Egyptian master’s wife tried to have an affair with him, when she tried to take him by force, Joseph stood firm on God’s standard for morality. Joseph refused to compromise what was right. He refused to compromise his faith, even though he was put in jail for a crime he did not commit. Joseph had a high level of virtue or moral courage, and so did Daniel, right? Remember, even though he was a captive in Babylon, a long way from his family, Daniel still had the moral courage to stand for God’s, God’s dietary requirements for his people and avoid eating food that was given to him by a heathen king.

Daniel had moral courage. And so did his three friends Shatrach, Meshach, and Nabednego. Remember, they were thrown into a fiery furnace because they refused to bow down and worship an idol that had been set up by King Nebuchadnezzar. And remember the apostles in Acts chapter 5. Remember in Acts chapter 5, after being beaten and thrown in jail and told you stop preaching about Jesus. You stop preaching about the resurrection of Jesus. And Acts chapter 5 and verse 29, they say we’re not going to stop doing that. We obey God rather than men. They had moral courage. Daniel, Joseph, the apostles. So many others. We could put Esther on that list. All these people who served God so long ago. They had moral courage. And we gotta have the we gotta have the same thing.

Even when the world is hostile to us. Even when the world mocks us and makes fun of us, even though it might cost us a high-paying job. Or it might cost us a friendship or a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a relationship with a family member, even though we might lose some things. We got to have the courage to stand for what’s right. We got to have the courage to stand with God, to stand with his standard, to always be willing to tell people we are Christians, we serve the Lord, and we’re not gonna do things that go against God’s standard. Being virtuous requires moral courage.

4. Virtue Impacts the World and Your Family

You see, when you strive to be a virtuous person, you’re gonna impact so many people. First and foremost, you’re gonna pack you’re gonna impact God. You’re gonna impact God emotionally as he watches you from heaven. You’re gonna please God, you’re gonna bring Him glory. But in addition to having an impact on God, when you practice virtue, you’re going to impact the world. And did not Jesus tell us that in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 16. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and then do what? Glorify your Father who’s in heaven. Peter actually echoes that. When you go back to 1 Peter again, look at chapter chapter 2 again.

You see that verse back in verse 12. We read that earlier. Look at it again, please. In 1 Peter 2 and verse 12. He says, keep your behavior excellent, virtuous among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds what? As they observe them, glorify God. Glorify God in the day of visitation. Notice how while many people in the world may persecute us because of our virtue, while many people may shun us and mock us and ridicule us and harass us and make it their mission to try to persuade us to compromise our convictions. The Bible says our virtue may also cause some people to become curious. Some people may become curious. Some people may become convicted.

Some people may start respecting us actually, and they may investigate and want to know more about how they can share and take part in the faith. They may actually want to know more about how they can share in our values. They may want to know more about how they also can be full of joy and peace like we are. They may also want to know more about how they can also have a long-lasting, fulfilling marriage, and how they can also raise up godly and respectable children, and how they can have solid friendships and a good work ethic and have a strong faith that sustains them and helps them get through difficult times. According to the Bible, having virtue can cause the world to become curious. It can actually cause the world to notice and start thinking about God and seeking God and want to share with us in our service to God.

Virtue has the potential to impact the world, but not just the world. A person with virtue can also impact their family.

Remember, that’s exactly what the book of Proverbs tells us about the virtuous woman, right? You’re familiar with the virtuous woman. Remember, because the virtuous woman had excellent character, because she had a high standard of morality, because she was a woman who sought to serve God in every part of her life. She brought honor and glory, not just to God, but also to her family. Also to her husband, also to her children. And you put that with what Peter says. Look at 1 Peter chapter 3. And 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse number 1, Peter here is speaking to wives, wives specifically, who are married to men who are not Christians. And he says to them in verse 1 of chapter 3, in the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands, so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they’re not Christians.

They’re not serving God, they may be one without a word by the what? Behavior of their wives. As they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. Your adornment must not be merely external, braiding the hair and wearing gold jewelry or putting on dresses, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. Here, Peter is saying to women, women who are married to men who are not Christians.

5. How Do We Become Virtuous?

If you live according to what the Bible says, if you strive to be virtuous according to Scripture, you may, you may be able to win your unbelieving husband. She may be able to do that. She may be able to persuade her husband to become a Christian not by constantly nagging him every day. Not by constantly beating him over the head with the Bible, but by just living right by her behavior, by her chase and respectful behavior. What I just want you to see is being virtuous requires so many. So many things the Bible says. But this now leads us to our final question. And that’s this question right here. How do we do it? Okay, I know these things from the Bible, but how do I do this?

How do I put this in my in my life? How do I become a virtuous person? Well, if we’re going to be transformed and become virtuous people, there’s several things we’re going to have to do very quickly. And the first thing we’re going to have to do is we’re going to have to seek it from the right standard. If we’re going to be virtuous in the eyes of God, we got to listen to the right standard. We got to seek virtue from the right standard. Go in your Bible, please to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3, a familiar section of scripture to us, but it is certainly appropriate. And 2 Peter chapter 3 and in verse number 16, the Apostle Paul says, all scripture, all of it, every drop of it, is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

You want to be a righteous person? Verse 17, so that the man of God or woman of God may be adequate, perfect, fully matures, the idea, equipped for every good work. Notice how the right standard, the right standard for acquiring virtue is not the standard of the world. It’s not Oprah, it’s not Dr. Field, it’s not the talk shows or the best selling books, it’s not information being given to us by the media or by the rich and famous people in Hollywood. No, the right standard to acquire virtue is the Bible. It is the word of God. It is the book that you have before you this morning. You see, the book you have before you right now, whether paper form or digital form, it comes from God.

It comes from the mind of God. It comes from the mind of the one who is perfectly excellent, and he is holy, and he is good, and he provides us a standard that will help us be just like him. If we’re going to obtain virtue in our process of transformation, we got to go to the right standard. We got to go to the Bible, but then after we go to the Bible, the second thing we got to do is we got to practice the Bible. It’s not enough just to hear the Bible. It’s not enough just to read the Bible. We got to put it into practice. Isn’t that what James says in James 1, verse 22? In James 1 in verse number 22, James says we are to be doers of the word and not merely hearers.

And then in Matthew 7 in verse 20, as Jesus is preaching in the Sermon on the Mount, he says that you can know people by their fruits. People can be known by their fruits. Religious teachers can be known by their fruits. All people can be known by their fruits. I can be known by my fruits, and you can be known by your fruits. We can be known by our fruits because our fruits are our actions. Our actions tell the truth about us. Our actions tell the truth about our character and our convictions. Our actions tell the truth about whether or not we’re truly sold on the gospel or whether we have fake Christianity. If we’re practicing fake Christianity, we got to listen to the right standard.

And we got to practice it. And then thirdly, we got to live unselfish lives. We got to live unselfish lives. And let me be clear about where I want to go with this point. When I say live unselfishly, I’m saying that we have to be willing to put the will of God before our own will. I mean, I mean we have to live lives of self-denial. I’m willing to put what God says above what I want to personally do with my life. And there’s so many verses we could go to to make this point, but I want to go to Galatians, please. Look at Galatians chapter 2. Because in Galatians 2, we were talking a lot about the Apostle Paul over the last couple of days at vacation Bible school.

I thought we had some good discussion on Paul and his life before he was converted and his life after he was converted. And here’s a verse we did not consider concerning Paul’s life after he was converted. It’s here in Galatians 2 and verse 20, where Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up from me. Ponder on that verse for just a couple of seconds. That’s a powerful verse. And it’s a powerful verse because it is dripping with language of self-denial. It is dripping with language written by a man who was truly transformed.

He lived an unselfish life. He lived for Christ first and not himself. That’s the kind of mindset he carried with him in his life. And if we have that kind of mindset, it’s going to help us. It’s going to help us make good decisions. It’s going to help us make excellent decisions. It’s going to help us make virtuous decisions. We’re going to be willing to forgive instead of harbor a grudge when somebody does us wrong. We’re going to be willing to be kind and gracious when a part of us wants to get revenge when someone hurts us or hurts someone in our family. We’re going to be willing to practice self-control and be pure when we are tempted to give in to one night of passion.

If we’re going to be virtuous, we got to live unselfishly. We got to live like Paul. We got to be willing to put God’s will before our own will. And then finally, I’ll leave you with this. We also got to be willing to imitate the right people. We got to be willing to imitate the virtuous people, the virtuous people in this church right here. The virtuous people like our, like our shepherds, like the godly parents and grandparents, young people, like the servants of God, the virtuous servants of God that we can read about throughout the Bible. People like Paul.

And think like Jesus and walk like Jesus and view and stand against sin like Jesus. And fight against temptation like Jesus. And live disciplined lives like Jesus and treat people like Jesus and pray like Jesus and love like Jesus and seek to please the Father above anyone else like Jesus. You see, if we’re truly going to be transformed people, then we got to strive every day to be virtuous like Jesus. While the world may mock us and ridicule us for that, the Lord will notice that. And he will be pleased with that. And in the process, we will be continually changing and transforming and becoming more like him as his people. Well, I just want you to see as being virtuous is a big part of our transformation as the people of God.

Conclusion

And we’ll have more to say about that from 2 Peter 1 throughout the course of this year. But for now, I just want to close by asking you, are you serving Jesus? Are you serving Jesus? Have you even begun the process of spiritual transformation by obeying the gospel? If not, we’re going to get ready in just a moment to have a song led for us by Brother David that’s going to invite you to do that very thing. If you need to respond to the gospel for the first time by having faith in Jesus and repent of your sins and confessing him as the Lord and being baptized for the remission of your sins and raised to walk in newness of life, we will be more than happy to help you do those things.

Or if you have done those things, but you know you have not been living a faithful Christian life. You have not been living a virtuous life. If you need to repent and ask us to pray with you and pray for you, we’ll be more than happy to do that. Is there anyone here who needs to come to Jesus for the first time or come to him again? This song is for you. Come to the front right now. Let’s stand. Let’s sing.