FAMOUS LAST WORDS
FAITH AND VIRTUE
DR. JIM DIXON
2 PETER 1:3-5
JUNE 13, 2010
Casablanca is the name of one of the most famous movies in Hollywood history and, some movie critics would say, perhaps the greatest movie ever made. Casablanca was nominated for eight academy awards and it received the Academy Award for best motion picture and, of course, the star of Casablanca was Humphrey Bogart. Humphrey Bogart starred in many famous Hollywood movies during his era. He starred in The African Queen, which was highly acclaimed and for his role in The African Queen, Humphrey Bogart received the Academy Award for Best Actor. He also starred in The Maltese Falcon, which is considered a classic in that genre of movie making and, of course, again that movie was nominated for Best Picture and made Sam Spade famous.
Of course, Humphrey Bogart was renowned in America and really, all over the world. People called him “Bogie” and he lived a kind of wild life, in and out of many marriages. His fourth marriage was to Lauren Bacall, who was also famous. He loved women. He loved wine. He drank too much. He smoked too much. He died at the age of 58 in the year 1957. His final words, allegedly by those with him, were these: “I never should have switched from Scotch to Martinis.” Not particularly noble words for the last words of your life.
Now, you’ve heard some of the last words of famous people and also the last words from famous movies and I think you would all agree a lot of these last words from movies and people really aren’t that important. They are not life affecting. They’re not life impacting. They don’t change us and some of them are just crazy statements. But, in the course of history, there have been a few people who, before their deaths, had said very, very important things. The greatest example of this is our Lord Jesus Christ who said final words from the cross, sometimes called The Seven Last Words, which are really the Seven Last Phrases.
Of course, the first of those seven last words from the cross were the words of Christ, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” You see the mercy of Jesus in the midst of his great pain. His second word was, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” He said this to the thief on the cross. He turned to him and said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” I think for all of us who believe in Jesus, no matter what we’ve done, this gives us great hope and faith.
His third word was to his mom and to his friend, John the apostle. Jesus said to John, “Behold your mother.” He said to his mother, “Behold your son.” Jesus thereby entrusted his mom to his friend before he died and Jesus loved his mom even in the midst of pain and in the midst of death.
His fourth word was a shout of despair, “Eloi, Eloi,” my God, my God, “lama sabachthanioi,” why hast thou forsaken me? Of course, I think it’s easy to forget that on the cross, Jesus not only suffered physically, but he suffered incomprehensible spiritual pain as the sin of the world was vested on him. My sin, your sin, all of our sin was vested on him and he experienced the separation that sin brings. My God, my God! Why hast thou forsaken me?
His fifth word was a cry of humanity, “I thirst!” It’s easy to forget that crucifixion, Roman crucifixion, brought death not only by asphyxiation but also oftentimes through extreme dehydration.
His sixth word was, perhaps a shout, “Tetelesti!” It is finished! Of course, this is the word that was sometimes stamped on parchment in the Roman world, meaning paid in full. Indeed, on the cross he paid for our sins in full.
His seventh word, his final words, were, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” And thus, he returned to the Father.
Now today as we think about Peter, we remember that Peter, also, was crucified. This disciple of Christ also experienced death by crucifixion as Jesus foretold him he would. So, according to tradition, Peter was crucified in the city of Rome. According to tradition, he was crucified at the place where the obelisk now stands in the square before St. Peter’s Basilica. And according to some tradition, Peter was crucified upside down, refusing to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord.
We have from Peter famous last words, words that were written shortly before his death, words that were written and recorded in 2 Peter, chapter one, and we continue our look at those. Now, Peter has told us that we, as sons and daughters of God, as believers in Jesus Christ, are privileged to partake of the divine nature. Peter then goes on to say, “For this very reason because we are privileged to partake in the divine nature, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue.” Now, today we are going to take a look at faith. We are going to take a look at virtue and we begin with faith. Of course, I want you to understand from the onset that this Greek word for faith, the word pistis, does not refer to mere intellectual ascent. This Greek word for faith refers to a conviction that results in a commitment, a conviction that results in commitment and trust. This is the deep meaning of this biblical word, this Greek word. You’re saved by faith, but faith means conviction that results in commitment and trust.
Now, Peter had a journey to face, and I thought it might be good to take a few minutes and look at Peter’s journey of faith. Peter was a man who lived in Galilee, and he lived in the village of Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Those Jews who lived in Galilee had an accent when they spoke that made them easily recognized by Jews living in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, when Jews heard Galileans speak, they knew they were from Galilee because they spoke Hebrew and they spoke Aramaic without the deep guttural sound. The Galileans did not have the deep guttural sound in their Hebrew and in their Aramaic that the Jews in Jerusalem did. But Peter was Galilean. He was a Jew, but Galilean. His family was probably rich, at least relatively wealthy. His father John had a fishing business there on the Sea of Galilee. The Bible tells us that the family had many servants and the family had many boats. If the archeology is right and if the history is right, we know that Peter had one of the finest houses in Capernaum. Many of you have traveled with me to Galilee and to Israel and we’ve seen together the ruins of the home of the Apostle Peter and that house certainly was among the largest in Capernaum. As time went by, the house was expanded and used as a church.
Now, Peter had a brother named Andrew and Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist. It was John the Baptist who introduced his disciples to Jesus Christ as the Messiah. John the Baptist, pointing to Jesus Christ, said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” So, many of the disciples of John the Baptist went and began to follow Jesus, Andrew amongst them. Andrew came and told his brother Peter, “I have found the Lord.”
Peter then went and met Jesus and Jesus gave Peter a new name. His name was actually Simon or Simeon. Jesus called him Petros, rock, and he bore that name the rest of his life. Over the course of time, Peter came to a faith in Jesus Christ. So, you come to Caesarea Philippi, near the headwaters of the Jordon, and Jesus is there with Peter and the rest of the disciples there in the region of the worship of the pagan god Pan. Jesus turns to his disciples and Jesus said to them, “Who do you say that I am? Who do men say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah redivivus, Elijah come back to life, some say Jeremiah redivivus, Jeremiah come back to life, or one of the other prophets come back to life.” And Jesus said, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon answered, “You are the Christ. You are the Messiah. You are the anointed one. You are the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-jonah, son of John. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Thus, Peter came to the fullness of faith, recognizing Jesus as the Christ. Surely. He was convicted and he committed his life in trust.
Now, here we are, 2,000 years later. Some of you have been convicted and you have committed your lives to Jesus Christ in trust. Peter, of course, found the empty tomb. On Easter morning he found that empty tomb. He did not understand. When Jesus was arrested in the garden, he tried to stop it. He drew a sword. Jesus rebuked him. But then, Jesus appeared to him resurrected and alive and then Jesus appeared to all the disciples, resurrected and alive. The Bible tells us that Jesus breathed on them saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” and Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. And then Jesus appeared again to Peter and the disciples by the Sea of Galilee. He was again resurrected and alive and of course they had the miracle catch of fish that morning and had breakfast by the seashore. By the side of the sea, Jesus said to Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Three and again three times Peter said, “I do love you.” Jesus gave him the commission three times, “pastor my flock, feed my sheep.”
Now, with you who have come to faith, you’ve had a journey. Some of you have been introduced to Jesus by your parents just as Andrew introduced Peter to Jesus. That was true of me, introduced to Jesus by my Mom and Dad. Some of you have been introduced to Jesus by a friend, someone who came to Christ before you and told you about Jesus. Someone, perhaps, whose life you saw transformed by Jesus. Some of you have come to Christ through an evangelist, some crusade somewhere, maybe even Billy Graham, a crusade on television. Some of you have come to Christ at church. Some of you have come to Christ through a worship service and through a message. Some of you have come to Christ by reading a book that impacted you, convicted you and you made the commitment to Jesus as Lord. We have these journeys of faith whereby we believe. Now there may be some of you here, and I am sure there are, who have not yet believed. You are just beginning the journey towards faith. You’re asking questions. You’re seeking but you don’t yet believe. I hope you will listen to the testimony of your friends and loved ones who have come to believe. I hope you’ll trust Holy Scripture.
I want to tell you about a guy named Tertullian, a little bit of something about him. I am sure most you have heard nothing about Tertullian, and I think all of you know that this guy must have lived a long time ago because nobody names their kid Tertullian any more. I mean, maybe he had a nickname and they called him Tulo…who knows? Tertullian was born in the year 160 AD and he was an early church father, one of the great leaders of the early church, an African Latin theologian. Tertullian. It’s amazing, absolutely amazing. But today we have 31 of his writings. Though he was born in the second century, born in 160 AD, one of the leaders of the early church, we have 31 of his writings, and in one of those writings, Tertullian talks about a book he read called the Acts of Pilate. We don’t have this book, can’t find any early manuscript, we can’t find even a fragment of a manuscript. We don’t have this book called Acts of Pilate, but Tertullian mentions Acts of Pilate and he says that in this book there is a record of Pontius Pilate, sending a message to Tiberius, the emperor of Rome, after the death of Jesus Christ. Many different things are in this book, but one of the things, Tertullian says, in this book, the Acts of Pilate, is the message that Pontius Pilate sent to Tiberius, the emperor of Rome. And in it, Pilate allegedly tells Tiberius about the death of this Jewish leader called Jesus Christ. He tells Tiberius that all over the countryside the claim is being made that Jesus rose from the dead and the numbers of the followers of Christ are growing and growing and growing: this Jew who rose from the dead and lives. In this book, the Acts of Pilate, it is said that Tiberius then sent back to Pilate the message that maybe this Jew who was resurrected and lived maybe should be added to the Roman Pantheon of gods. And then it is said in the Acts of Pilate that that suggestion was later refused by the Roman senate.
Now, do I believe the Acts of Pilate? We don’t have a record of it. We only have a record of a record. Do I believe the Acts of Pilate? The answer is no! I doubt it very much. It was written over one hundred years after the death of Pilate. Even the mention of the book by Tertullian was made one hundred and seventy years after the crucifixion of Christ. And that book, the Acts of Pilate, is part of the pseudepigraphical literature that was prominent in the second, third and fourth centuries. Why do I mention this? I mention this because I want you to understand the difference between those kinds of ancient writings and Holy Scripture, a huge difference. The Acts of Pilate would be lumped with the kind of books that form the Gnostic Gospels. From the gospel of Thomas to the gospel of Phillip, these gospels were written in the second, third and fourth centuries, 50, 100, 200, 300 years after the biblical books.
Understand that in the Bible we have eyewitness testimony. It’s really impossible to deny that. The Apostle Paul writes all of his epistles. We have them and they are here and every scholar agrees that his epistles date from about 55 AD, first century, 55 AD. Some scholars, both biblical and secular, would suggest he wrote as early as 50 AD, just 20 years after the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul saw Christ on the Damascus Road. Paul hung out with Peter and James and the leaders of the early church. Paul was the apostle to the gentiles and we have his records from the first century. We have the gospels, which date from the first century, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Most scholars, again, biblical and secular, acknowledge that the gospels began to be written around the year 65 AD. Some again would say even earlier. We have the eye witness testimony of those who saw and knew Jesus Christ and gave their lives for that testimony. This is the Word of God. Don’t confuse it with other literature that is old but spurious and old but not reliable.
Of course, some of you may have heard of Lilith. If any of you have at any point in your prior life kind of dabbled in cultic things, you would have heard of Lilith. According to rabbinical literature, according to ancient rabbinical literature, Lilith was a woman who was married to Adam in Eden, the first wife of Adam according to all of the Jewish rabbinical literature. The first wife of Adam rebelled against Adam because she did not have equality. She rebelled against Adam and she said the divine name and she just disappeared. According to the rabbinical literature, God sent three angels after Lilith to exhort her to come back to Eden and to Adam, and she refused and she became a demonic power. And she is described in the rabbinical literature as a woman with huge, vast wings and with long white hair with various demonic powers, leading many sub-demons. It is said that she influences male offspring in the first evening of their birth, female offspring in the first 20 days of their life.
Do I believe any of that? Of course not! I mean, everybody acknowledges that there are just wild stories in the rabbinical literature, Jews acknowledge wild stories in the rabbinical literature and they would never equate it with the Word of God. In fact, one of the things I love so much about the Bible is not only the wonder of what’s in it, but also the wonder of what’s not in it. There are so many crazy stories in the ancient literature. You find none of that in the Bible. Have you ever studied the Gilgamesh epic written by the Babylonians in ancient times? The timing would equate with the writing of Genesis but it has none of the qualities, just bizarre stories of a creation myth with gods breaking their bodies into pieces to form parts of the creation. Even secular scholars acknowledge there’s nothing in literature to match the Bible, not in the literature of the time.
Of course, Lilith is mentioned in the Bible in one place, Isaiah 34:14. We aren’t told any of these bizarre things about her because this is the Bible. We’re simply told that the judgment of God was coming upon the desert nations that surrounded Israel because the desert nations that surrounded Israel had come against Israel, so now the judgment of God is coming on these desert nations. They would be defeated and given over to demonic powers, and in listing those the name Lilith is in the list. And it happened. The desert nations surrounding Israel were conquered and gave themselves over to necromancy and occultism.
In prophetic Scriptures, the Bible tells us that the consummation is the end of this age. Israel will be reborn. The Jews will be re-gathered by the millions and the desert nations surrounding Israel will come against them again. I ask you, is it happening in our lifetime? You know it is. In 1948, Israel was reborn; in 1967 Jerusalem was reoccupied, and today the desert nations surrounding Israel are in large part, in large measure, coming against the Jews, seeking their eradication from the earth. You can trust the Bible. It is true. I promise you Armageddon is coming. Jesus Christ is coming. It’s all true. The call of God through the Gospel is that we might find faith, that being convicted we might commit our lives to his Son.
I want you to understand this clearly through one illustration that concerns Charles Blondin. In his lifetime Charles Blondin was world famous. Blondin was not his real name. I mean his real name was Jean Francois Gravelet. Jean Francois Gravelet was a Frenchman, obviously. He had long blonde hair and so he took the name Blondin. He wanted to be famous the world over. He was a tightrope walker and history records in the year 1860 he came to Niagara Falls. He was going to take a rope and stretch it across the falls more than a thousand feet, 160 feet above the raging torrent. He was going to walk that rope without any assistance. People came by the thousands. History tells us 10,000 people arrived to see Charles Blondin, go across that rope and they held their breath as he took each step and he crossed that rope, more than a thousand feet, successfully.
That was the beginning of many crossings, and for three summers Charles Blondin came back to Niagara Falls each year. The crowds would gather and they would marvel. He walked across the rope on stilts. He walked across the rope backwards. He walked across the rope with a wheelbarrow. He stopped in the middle with a stove in the wheelbarrow and cooked an egg. People marveled and it’s all in historical records.
Now, at that first occasion that he took a wheelbarrow across, in the vast crowd was the Prince of Wales who would become King Edward VII, and Blondin went up to him and he said, “Do you believe I can wheel this wheelbarrow across the rope one thousand feet without falling?” and the Prince of Wales said, “Yes, I do.” He said, “Do you really believe?” He said, “Yes, I do.” “Well then, get in the wheelbarrow!” The Prince of Wales wanted to become King Edward VII and so he did not agree to do that. It’s an old story, many times told. I think a great illustration, though, of what biblical faith is. You see faith is not just intellectual ascent. It is not just saying, “Hey, I believe that you can take that wheelbarrow across the rope. I intellectually ascent you can do that.” No, that’s not faith. Faith is getting in the wheelbarrow. That’s the meaning of the Greek word, the biblical word, pistis. So, you see, this is the gospel, being convicted we would get in the wheelbarrow, being convicted we would commit our lives in trust to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and we now live for him. This is faith. So, the Apostle Peter, writing to his audience before his death, assumes that most of them have come to faith. They’re in the wheelbarrow. They’re believers and they are promised that they can partake of the divine nature, but he is saying, “Now you must supplement your faith,” and in the coming weeks we are going to look at how we must supplement our faith.
He begins by saying you must supplement your faith with excellence. You’ve got to supplement your faith with excellence and this is the word arete. Some Bibles translate this moral excellence, but the truth is the word arete in all the Greek literature had far more scope. It referred to any kind of excellence, excellence in athletics; excellence in academics; excellence in the world of knowledge; excellence in the moral world; excellence in the relational world; excellence in theater arts; excellence. So, if you’re Christian, you must make every effort for excellence. You must supplement your faith with excellence: arete. Make every effort. The Greek word was used for an athlete striving for the tape. Make every effort to supplement your faith with excellence.
Now I want you to see a clip from the movie Rocky. The movie is about excellence, just in one arena of life, striving to be excellent in the arena of boxing, to put in all the work, all the effort, and all the labor necessary to obtain excellence. We think of the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians, chapter nine where Paul says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize, so run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do this to obtain a perishable crown but we are imperishable. I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and I subdue it, lest after preaching to others, I, myself, should be disqualified.” So, Paul was striving, making every effort for excellence in the sight of God. Excellence in the sight of God is the call of God upon all the people of faith, upon the whole household of faith, that we would seek excellence in the sight of God. We are saved by his grace. Now, let’s seek excellence in the sight of God. We have godly priorities given to us in Holy Scripture. We have some individual calls given by the Holy Spirit, but as he has called us and as he has guided us, we seek excellence.
I’m on the Board of Valor Christian High School. We have our next Board meeting in a couple of weeks and I am so grateful for the ministry of Valor Christian High School. It’s been a dream for many of us for many, many years. The high school has been in existence for three years but we dreamed about it long ago. Many have put in a lot of hard work and by the grace of God and the mercy of God it’s reaching fruition and we have 600 students as we approach the fall. Now, our motto at the high school is Influence Through Excellence and we’ve been criticized for that. Some people have said, “Well, that’s elitist.” Influence through excellence is somehow elitist and people who offer that criticism really don’t understand the meaning of the word elitist. Valor Christian High School seeks to minister to people of all ethnicities, all races. Socioeconomically, we want diversity. That’s why we have financial aid though these are tough times and our financial aid is more limited than we would want it to be. But we are seeking excellence. We are seeking students who will strive for excellence, excellence in the sight of God. We seek excellence in the world of sports. We seek excellence in the world of academics. We seek excellence in our relational lives. We seek excellence in theater arts. We seek excellence supremely when it comes to spiritual things. In our pursuit of Christ likeness, we seek excellence. That’s not just true of Valor. That’s true of our schools here at Cherry Hills Christian School.
This church has a relationship with Valor. We have minimal shared governance. The pastor of this church in perpetuity, whoever he is, is on the Board of Valor. A member of the Board at Valor in perpetuity must be on the Board of our Elder Board of our church. There is minimally shared governance for the sake of hand holding. We will always be friends, but we have these schools here on this side of the road, our elementary school, our preschool, our middle school and we just celebrated our 25th anniversary. Barb and I flew back into Denver two weeks ago Thursday for that 25th anniversary. So excited. Our schools, all of them, seek excellence. We seek to instill in kids a longing for excellence in the sight of God and we do that unabashedly. We do that without shame. My utmost for his highest!
I’m on the Board of Trustees at Colorado Christian University. It’s the same there. We just had a 2-day Board meeting Thursday and Friday at Colorado Christian University this week and we looked at all the arenas in which we seek to serve kids. We looked at our academics. We looked at our sports and athletics. We looked at our relational student life, everything, our chapel programs. We seek excellence everywhere. Most of all, we seek the character of Christ. We had the coaches of all the athletic teams at Colorado Christian University come and share with from the volleyball team to the basketball team to the baseball team. It was really cool. The coaches shared how the programs are doing and many of them are doing great. They are doing great at the regional level and even at the national level. But most of all, these student athletes are seeking excellence in the sight of Christ. We have chaplains on every team. We have a wonderful student life.
At the RMAC, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in which CCU competes, they give every year an award to the college or university, which demonstrates the greatest sportsmanship in athletics. They call it the Sportsmanship Cup. This is a conference that includes everything from Metro to the School of Mines. In the last three years, three years in a row, The Sportsmanship Cup has come to the student athletes at CCU. It is voted on by the officials who officiate the games, by the opposing coaches and by the opposing players, because the students at Colorado Christian University have taken so seriously the call of Christ that, even when competing against someone, they love them. They take character and temperament seriously, even in the midst of competition and it’s visible and it can be seen and other kids from other schools, as testimonies were given, have come to Christ because of what they have seen among these student athletes. Pretty incredible!
So, we seek excellence in every area. We do it unabashedly. I was with Barb recently at a Starbucks. It was my day off and Barb and I were at Starbucks on a Wednesday and we were kind of looking forward to having a day off and reading. Starbucks was just jammed. We got the last table. We sat down there and there were just people everywhere and you could hear a buzz of conversation. We got our coffee and settled in. There were two guys at the table right next to us and they were pretty loud and we could hear everything they were saying and it became evident that they were Christians and they were talking about walking with Christ, they were talking about churches and one of the two was seeking a church to go to. Barb and I were just listening. One guy says to the other guy, “Have you heard that Dixon guy over at Cherry Hills Community Church?” I looked at Barb and I thought, oh man. The guy says, “Yeah, I went there one time and the message was pretty good.” I thought, Whew. Then he said, “But, you know, I hate big churches like that because it seems to me that it’s all about performance and production.”
Well, Barb and I looked at each other because we’ve heard that before. We’ve heard others say that our church or maybe even all large churches are too much into performance and production. I don’t fully understand the criticism. I mean, the reality is, much of what we do happens during the week, all of our hospital calls, all of our counseling, all of our home visitations, all of our Bible studies. Much of what we do isn’t even happening here in the Worship Center, amongst thousands of kids in kids’ programs. In here, yeah, we seek to do our utmost for his highest. I don’t know what performance and production means. If it insinuates that somehow, we are in it for ego, if it insinuates that somehow, we are in it for the wrong reasons or we’re motivated by popularity or something like that, that couldn’t be more wrong. I have never served with a group of people more in love with Jesus Christ and more servant-hearted. That’s true of the staff and that’s true of the Elder Board and I think insofar as we do seek production, it’s in this quest for excellence in the sight of Christ. We want to do well in the sight of Christ. Why would we not? We prepare, we work to do well for His kingdom sake. I think that should be true of all churches and all people, certainly who belong to Christ.
I’ve received emails through the years from time to time, criticizing my sermons. In some sense, I don’t mind. I understand. I would never say that my sermons are excellent, but I will say that I strive for that. I strive because I am called to strive for that. I have had some emails and face to face contact that said, “What bothers me when you preach is it sounds like you know what you are going to say next.” I’ve honestly heard that time and again. “To me, when I hear you preach it sounds like you know what you are going to say next.” First of all, that’s not always true. I don’t always know what I am going to say next. But I would quote John Wooden, “Failure to prepare is preparing to fail!” I believe in preparation and I believe it’s part of godliness. I believe it’s faithful and my call, and I believe what is true of me is true of you. I believe every day you need to wake up and ask yourself, “Well, what’s in this day? What’s ahead of me? Where can I pursue excellence? Is it in a relationship? Is it at work, in my career? Is it in my devotions today and my knowledge of Scripture? Where can I pursue excellence? Is it in my health? Am I taking care of my body? Where can I pursue excellence?” Ask that question every day for the sake of Christ, for the sake of King and Kingdom!
So, we have these final words from Peter through the household of faith that if you would partake of the divine nature, you must make every effort to supplement your faith with arete, excellence. As we go through these next few weeks, you are going to see what excellence requires. Let’s close with a word of prayer.