A Call to Holiness pt 6
02-02-2019
Today we will continue in 2 Peter 1 starting with verse 5. Last week we ended at verse 4 and we were reminded that WE can become partakers of the divine nature of God through His exceedingly and precious promises. It is living in His divine nature that we are able to escape the corruption that is in the world. The corruption that is brought about because of the sinful desires of those not living in His divine nature!!! The worlds corruption may be all around us, but because of who He is IN US, we do not have to be partakers in it because we are partakers IN HIM!!
Recapping from last week we talked about “like precious” faith and that it is through that faith that we receive His promises and walk in His divine power and nature. But Peter is adding on here… he says now that you have a faith equal to ours, ‘like precious’ faith, you need to grow in your knowledge of Jesus Christ, you need to be effective and fruitful in the Kingdom and this is how!!
2 Peter 1:5-8 “For this very reason, giving all diligence (or make every effort) to 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. For these qualities are YOURS and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.”
God did not call us into His kingdom in order to be ineffective and unfruitful. In fact, when Jesus was talking to His disciples in Matthew 7, He is explaining to them that they need to be aware of the false prophets and those in sheep’s clothing. He is telling them narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it. He tells them “You will know them by their fruits…. Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit, those who bear bad fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire…. again… by their fruits you will know them!” He wants us to manifest good fruit!
We have everything IN US in order to walk in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. He was very straight forward when he said, “These qualities ARE yours and are increasing…”. So, why do you think we have so many unfruitful and ineffective people in the body of Christ? I believe it’s because they have chosen not to cultivate (increase) what’s already in them. They are not adding to their faith virtue (moral excellence), knowledge (knowing, perceiving), self-control (temperance), perseverance (constancy, continuance), godliness (reverence, HOLINESS, piety), brotherly kindness and LOVE (agape- God-love, unconditional). It is one thing to have the faith to believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior but it is another thing to have ‘like precious’ faith built upon the foundation and character of Jesus Christ in order to be the conduit that He can work through to manifest “His kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.
It’s time to decrease in SELF and increase in HIM, just like John says in John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease!” We have a transformation mandate and it is ONLY through HIM that this is possible!
Peter goes on to tell us in verse 9 “For he who lacks these things is shortsighted (seeing only what is near), even to blindness (mentally smoky), and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.” Oh, Father we ask for mental clarity so that we can see more clearly YOUR hearts desires, give us vision to see not only the near but that which is far off and help us to grasp the understanding that our old man has passed away and all things have become new IN YOU so that we can grow in the knowledge of You, increase in Your character and experience true salvation (wholeness) of our soul (our mind, will and emotions). It is only through this we can truly walk in Your holiness and manifest Your glory!!!
Vs 10-11 tells us “be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ.”
In other words, he is informing us that in order to have access to the kingdom of Jesus Christ (His character, power, authority, freedom, all that His kingdom consists of) and to never stumble (fall or be offended) we must walk in all that is needed to be fruitful and effective in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and we must be diligent to make our call (vocation, calling) and election (our choosing) sure! It is only through Him and the knowledge of Jesus Christ that we will truly know our calling and when we do, we better make our choosing sure! We are reminded in Matthew 22:14 “Many are called, but few are chosen.” We could take that back to the KJV where they actually block in the “are” before chosen because that wasn’t originally there. In other words, many are called (we are all created with a call from the beginning of creation) but few chose or will choose to say yes and to walk in it, those are the ones God can use and will choose!
I’m telling you, make your choosing sure (steadfast, stable, firm and of force)!!
I want to encourage you today, make a plan, a plan that will help you to be more pro-active in seeking God at a deeper level, a plan to fully submerge yourself IN HIM and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. This kind of plan is not something you have to set around a pray about, it is His will that ALL know Jesus Christ! Set some goals such as giving Him more of your time daily, reading the Word or listening to it someway, or grasping the understanding that you can spend all day in prayerful communication with Him… He wants to be a part of your everyday life and decision making! We are no longer in a time to play with our relationship with God.
Father I come before you in complete awe. I ask that you forgive me for the times I’ve chosen not to allow Your character to be cultivated in me and seen through me. I ask that You continue to help me decrease so that You can increase in my life. Father, I keep thinking back to Deuteronomy 10:12 where Israel was being reminded of what You require of them and of us … and that is that we have a reverential fear of You, that we are to walk in all Your ways and we are to LOVE You and serve You with all of our heart and with all our soul. Father give us a healthy reminder of what it means to walk in reverential fear of You, I think sometimes we get so comfortable with life and our walk that we forget. Father I know that the fear of the Lord is essential to the pursuit of obedience and holiness and I choose to walk in both of these. As we increase in virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love… as we add these to our faith and grow in intimacy with Jesus Christ help us know our ‘what’, our purpose in the kingdom, our specific puzzle piece let us make our choosing sure and be steadfast in it! We give you all the glory, all the honor and all the praise… In Jesus name, Amen.