Went with my son and daughter-in-law to a practice round of the PGA Championship that finishes up this weekend in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. I think what impressed me the most was seeing how far these players hit the ball. While watching them on television give a sense of the amazing touch they show from sand traps and around the greens, I was amazed to see how far they hit their tee shots with a driver.
Grew up playing quite a bit of golf with my dad, and more recently have picked up the game again to be with my son and friends on the course. In the process I went to the book store looking for some instructional books to brush up on the basics. One book titled, “The 7 Laws of the Golf Swing” caught my attention. I’ve played enough to know that there are fundamentals of grip, stance, backswing, plane of swing, and follow-through that are necessary to develop some control and consistency of the ball.
Have been reminded in the process that when it comes to our spiritual life there are also some principles that are far more significant than the 7 laws of the golf swing. They too work together to provide Christ-like action. Let’s see if we can brush up on them together.
The Apostle Peter came up with the same number as the golf book I brought home. He wrote about 7 fundamentals of faith that are essential for a productive and purposeful relationship with Christ.
In the first chapter of his second letter, he begins with an inspiring preface emphasizing that God has given us all of the power and promises we need to escape the decadence around us and to instead actually get a taste of the Divine nature of God (1:1-4).
By the way Peter reminds me a little of the Woody Austin of the PGA tour. For an interesting article on a colorful player known not only for his skill, but his candor and unexpected antics on the golf circuit check out a recent story on Woody that describes some of what makes him a crowd favorite. (Didn’t get a pic of Woody. This is Jim Furyk in a sand trap).
Peters Seven Laws of the Walk (or seven links of faith)
In Verse 5, Peter says that because of all God has done for us through Christ…
“For this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love (5-7).”
The New Living Translation puts it like this: “So make every effort to apply the benefits of these promises to your life. Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better. Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness. Godliness leads to love for other Christians, and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop these virtues are blind or, at least, very shortsighted. They have already forgotten that God has cleansed them from their old life of sin.”
What impresses me so much is the way Peter adds and links these seven dimensions of faith to one another. As he describes them, each is a necessary and logical basis for the next. Each is a way of expressing a faith relationship to Christ. Together they move forward to produce a symphony of the spirit that ends up with love (apart from which, the Apostle Paul says we are useless (1Cor 13).
Look a little closer: and see if this makes sense:
For our faith in Jesus to be real we need to diligently let the Spirit of God produce in us:
Virtue– (at this point in the text, virtue seems to mean a desire and heart attitude that wants to reflect the character and goodness of Christ). All honorable actions begin with a good motive. But by themselves good intentions to follow Christ can be like a desire to play golf. It’s necessary to begin, but without a knowledge of the basics you can’t go very far– and least not very far in a graceful way. So Peter says, to virtue add,
Knowledge– Here Peter is obviously talking about knowledge of how to relate to Christ. It would include the basics of Jesus’ teaching, attitudes, and values (and eventually the whole counsel of the Bible). But this information must not remain as head-knowledge. It must be a basis for “practice” and “action.” So Peter says, to your knowledge, add (or supply) self-control. Here the relationship between the two is interdependent. Mind leads body. Body follows mind, which is why I believe Peter writes that, in our knowledge (i.e. of Christ) we are to focus on,
Self-control– Here Peter lines up with the Apostle Paul who also wrote about being transformed by the renewing of our mind (Rom 12:1-2). Just as faith and good intentions can look foolish without knowledge, so knowledge can unravel into pride and hypocrisy if it lacks self control. But if they team up together, then each provides what the other needs as good motives, and knowledge, move with self control to build a basis for endurance.
Patience– The Bible repeatedly tells us that endurance in the face of disappointment and unexpected trouble is essential for us to develop strength, the character of Christ-like attitudes, and the time God himself needs to show himself faithful and able to provide for us. What we discover in the process is another relationship moving forward. To the extent that we endure long enough to experience God’s ability to provide for us, we grow deeper in what Peter calls,
Godliness–This is the awareness, the awe, and the reverence that grows in us as we learn that we were not alone in the dark and troubled moments of our lives. Seeing, as we look back, that our God was there all along, testing our faith to see what was in our hearts, so that he could show himself to be all that we ever needed– that’s the pay off of the patience, and endurance of faith that give God time. But that’s not all. In revealing himself, our Father in heaven helps us to see how he works through his family to provide relationships that are even more important than flesh and blood. Peter sees in the outcome an essential element of our faith walk that he calls,
Brotherly Kindness– This is the kind of family love that can be found in a healthy shared relationship with our Father in heaven. Through shared relationships to Christ, we discover (although imperfectly) dimensions of reality that go so much deeper and farther than normal (sports-based, and business-based) friendships. But Peter reminds, as Jesus first did, that the basics of faith cannot stop here. Although we must first learn to care about those who care about us, that is what gives us a taste of what it means to care for someone other than ourselves. So it is to “brotherly kindness” that Peter adds the crowning basic of,
Love– Our Lord reminds us that if we only care for those who care for us, we are no different than anyone else (John 6:27-36). Then he challenges us to give even our enemies (through his spirit and grace) the kind of deference, and good will that we naturally give to our friends and family.
That’s the kind of love that made Jesus so wonderful. He loved his friends like they had never been loved before. But even more importantly he loved his enemies to the point of dying for them to bring us to his father in heaven– forever.
Yes, according to Peter, these are the basics of a faith relationship with Christ. They are as essential as the fundamentals of golf– but infinitely and eternally more important.
So the Apostle of Jesus writes, “The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop these virtues are blind or, at least, very shortsighted. They have already forgotten that God has cleansed them from their old life of sin. So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Doing this, you will never stumble or fall away (2Pet 1:8-10).
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