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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control.
2 Peter 1:5-6a
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Through belief in Jesus, Christian believers gain everything they could ever hope for, all they could ever need and this is guaranteed by the precious promises found in the Word of God.
This is the awesome truth conveyed by Peter in the opening verses of the first chapter of his second letter.
So, does this mean that Christians are to just to relax in their lives until they die, sure of the salvation that has been assured by the Maker and Master of all creation?
Not at all.
For as sure as the scriptures proclaim the abundant riches and rewards of becoming a Christian, they are equally assertive in demands expected of those who have chosen to accept Jesus as Savior.
As we continue our study of 2 Peter, we come upon a series of these demands that will form the backbone of this message series titled “The Power of Spiritual Addition”. As the series name suggests, Christian believers are to accept they are works in progress, expected to work hard every day to become more like Jesus and this will require intentional actions in regard to our spiritual selves. Let’s begin by looking at verse 5 and the first half of verse 6.
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control. 2 Peter 1:5-6a
Note here that Christians are to “make every effort to respond” to the blessed assurances that God has given through His Word and while we can never completely repay God for all He has done, is doing, and is yet to do in our lives, we are to at least do as He is asking and He will never ask us to do anything He will not give us the ability to succeed in.
In this first message, here are the things God wants us to add as a supplement to our faith in Him.
1. A generous provision of moral excellence.
Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence...
At the core of the word “moral” is this concept of right and wrong, the good and bad found in human character.
Look at our world today and you will find that the lines are becoming increasingly blurred between righteousness and wickedness. In many places, we find evil actually worshiped and celebrated while the good are treated as if they are demonized and intolerant. Ever more, it is appearing that the righteous are becoming a minority and this really shouldn’t surprise us because the Bible certainly speaks of this world culture shift and unfortunately, it’s going to get worse before it gets better, much worse.
This doesn’t mean that Christians are to throw their hands up in the air and give up, surrendering to this downward trend seen in humanity. Rather, they are to continue to stand strong in the Lord and His strength in faith, complementing it with “a generous provision of moral excellence”. In other words, as believers stand firm in Christ, they are able to continue to shine His light into a dark world and we know the scriptures affirm that the darkness will never overcome the true Light of the world, Jesus (John 8:12, 1:5).
The world might be turning ever more evil but Christians are to continue showing moral excellence through their righteous behavior in and through Jesus.
2. Gain spiritual knowledge.
Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge.
The world offers a treasure trove of knowledge to anyone who wants to dabble in it but the only true knowledge that matters is the knowledge that comes from the One who ordains truth. We find this confirmed in the Book of Proverbs, first in the first chapter and then reinforced in the third.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
Note that one can’t even begin to gain knowledge unless they come to the Lord in a spirit of reverence and respect. I think the imagery here is seeing any one person and totally ignorant and unknowledgeable coming before the One who holds all the knowledge needed. Desperately in need of what the Great Knowledge Holder has, you would come humbly before them, thankful for just a little of what they hold.
In this image, God is the Great Knowledge Holder and every single person in creation represents the one seeking anything information that might benefit them in life. This deep yearning and need is just what is reflected in the seventh chapter of Proverbs 1 and in chapter 3, we find the benefits that comes from not leaning “on our own understanding”. For when we totally submit to the Lord, trusting Him “with all” our heart, then and only then will we be assured that we will walk the straight and narrow path of righteousness through the knowledge he imparts to us, the path that leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14).
3. Our knowledge leads to self control.
Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control.
As the world strays from moral excellence, void of the Lord’s knowledge that would keep them from walking the wide path to destruction, we see a population that lacks self control in the way they think, speak, and behave. Without the holy direction of the Lord through their rejection of Him, the large number of unrepentant, unsaved sinners of the world do as they please, chasing after their own desires or following any transgressive trend that seems to be popular at any one time.
Conversely, Christian believers can supplement their faith with moral excellence through following the guidance in the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit, the latter producing the following fruit within the life of the Jesus follower
...the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23
The Holy Spirit, the Counselor and Advocate Jesus promised God would send after He ascended into Heaven (John 14:26), works within the Christian believer to produce wonderful qualities that the Lord desires and requires, and as you can see, one of those is self control. Indeed, when we believe in Jesus and gain the Holy Spirit, everything is expected to change within the life of the new believer. What was before is to be gone, traded in for what God wants which is a life that models and reflects His Son. This includes controlling our behavior so others can see Christ through us and the way we live.
Friends, being a Christian means we are to participate in the powerful exercise of spiritual addition. My prayer is that this series will help you to that end
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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