Making Sanctification Affordable

Dearly beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, I think all of you know by now that sanctification is a costly endeavor. It's a spendy thing, this sanctification process. In fact, it requires everything you've got. You have to constantly question yourself and your own thoughts and decisions, take everything to the Lord in prayer, constantly repent, and constantly pick up after failure and move on or else remind yourself that your success is not reason to get self-righteous and surly toward the people around you. The process of getting holier is one that takes a great deal of mental, emotional, and moral effort — so much effort that we all know that the process will completely collapse without the support of an entire team of people that we call the church, plus liberal applications of the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit that get us back on track.
And so, with that background, maybe exhausted by our own efforts to be good, we come this evening to Peter's crazy arithmetic of virtue. He has already told us that God has given us faith, but now he tells us to add seven major character qualities to the faith we've got. Keep adding new ways of being good to your life, the apostle tells us. I don't know about you, but for years I've sort of looked at this passage with a "thanks a lot" attitude. Really, Peter? Add seven additional character qualities? Couldn't you have spent a little more time encouraging us with what we have in Christ before hitting us over the head with our own inadequacy, reminding us of what we need to be good Christians?