A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): What we need to know in order to grow, next on A Daily Walk.

John Randall: I just want to know real quick, anybody here perfect? Just real quick, just want to get a lay of the audience. Man up here in the front said he is. His wife just shook her head and said, "No, he isn't." No, nobody is. You say there's room to grow, wouldn't you? Yes, I want to grow as a godly husband, I want to grow as a godly friend, as a pastor, as a grandfather. I want to continue to grow.

Guest (Male): What I think we'd all agree it would be rather alarming to meet someone in a 40-year-old body that could have the maturity level of a four-year-old child. Take that into the spiritual realm now. If we've ceased to grow spiritually over the years, then it reveals there's something terribly wrong. We're to grow in Christ until we get to heaven, and Pastor John Randall will encourage us in that direction today on A Daily Walk. We're going through 2nd Peter, chapter 1, as part of our through the Bible journey. Here's Pastor John with his message, Keep Growing.

John Randall: 2nd Peter, chapter 1, picking up in verse 5. 2nd Peter, chapter 1, beginning in verse 5, with a message entitled Keep Growing. Keep Growing. Here we are, and beginning in verse 5, Peter writes, "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence to your faith, add 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 if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins."

"Therefore, brethren, 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 our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Peter had opened this second epistle by reminding the believers that everything that they needed in order to grow in their relationship with the Lord had been provided. They had been born again, they received salvation, they had been given powerful provision as well as precious promises.

And now, in light of all that they had been given, they were called to diligent participation. You could say it in this way, in verses 1 through 4, this is what you have been given, but in verses 5 through 11, this is what you are to do with what you have been given. When the Apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, he said it in this way in Philippians chapter 2. He said, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for His good pleasure."

Paul was not suggesting to the Philippians or to us that we are to work for our salvation. We could never earn our salvation. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. When He said it is finished, He meant it. Our salvation is secure in Christ. We don't work for our salvation, but on the other hand, we do work out our salvation.

Let me give you an example. You could purchase a piece of workout equipment and you could place it in your garage. And maybe you have, and that is why you laugh. But in order to get the benefit of this piece of equipment that you've purchased, you actually have to use it. You could stare at it, look at it, but it's not going to do anything. And then if you wait long enough, it just becomes something in which to hang your clothes upon. This is not the purpose. You don't know the benefit of it until you actually use it.

Folks, the Lord has worked in our lives. We are saved. But in order to mature and grow as Christians, we must apply what it is we have been so graciously gifted. We are saved by grace through faith, but the faith that saves alone is never alone. Good works always follow genuine saving faith. Peter gives us at least three insights this morning that will help us to keep growing.

The first are the requirements for growing. The requirements. Verse 5, look at what it says, "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue and knowledge and self-control and perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love." When the Apostle writes "for this reason," that is in reference to the previous verses in the context. Because you've been given all things that pertain to life and godliness, because you've been given exceedingly great and precious promises, because you've been given the power of the Holy Spirit to live out the Christian life, because all of these things are yours, for this reason, now, give all diligence to add to your faith, to grow.

The word "diligence" means a zealous diligence which executes decisions with swiftness and priority. In other words, we are to give every effort to grow. I remember seeing bumper sticker in the past, "Just let go and let God." I mean, it sounds good, but listen, we don't just let go and just let God. Listen, God puts it in us, both to will and to do, but we also have to do something with what He has put into us.

Let me ask you a question. Think about this. At what in your life do you work hardest? What are you most committed to in your life and why? What is your intended goal in all of your effort and commitment? Furthermore, when it comes to spiritual growth, are you committed to that? Because that involves God's resources as the foundation, but also our responsibility and effort in order to grow. You won't grow spiritually if you don't deliberately work at it.

When it comes to salvation, we can do nothing to save ourselves. When it comes to growth, we are given resources, and as we abide in Jesus and apply those resources, that is when we grow spiritually. Peter gives a list here of spiritual supplies that will help us grow. In fact, someone likened these seven things that he mentions in the following verses to a golden chain, with each link built upon the strength of the previous one.

Here are the requirements. You ready? First of all, what am I to add? In light of all these resources, what do I add? How about add virtue? That's the first thing, virtue. And the word "virtue" simply means moral excellence. It's a quality of life which makes someone or something stand out as excellent. Living a virtuous life means living a life that is worthy of the gospel. In essence, virtue is closely linked to that which is honorable. In fact, it means doing the right thing regardless of the outcome.

When you get saved, things change, your character, and you begin to partake of this work of the Spirit in your life. And what happens is as your character begins to change, the moral excellence or the virtue within you begins to change. I mean, there's something that changes about your life, and that's because you're not living after the flesh anymore, you're now living after the Spirit, and the Lord is transforming us on a daily basis in this process of sanctification where I'm being made more like Jesus. Hopefully, I look more like Jesus today than I did a year ago at this time, because I'm growing.

But in addition to this moral excellence or virtue, add to it, He says, knowledge. Knowledge. It's a word that Peter was very fond of in this epistle. It refers to experiential knowledge, not merely to a passing acquaintance. It's understanding correct insight, truth, and properly comprehending and applying it. The word that Peter uses is a functional, working knowledge gleaned from firsthand experience.

As I am reading God's Word, I'm meditating upon it, as I'm seeking the Lord daily, what's happening is I am growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord. The Lord said, "If you seek Me, you will find Me when you search for Me with all your heart." I would say the opposite is true. If you don't seek Him, how are you going to find Him and really know Him? But if you seek Him, that's when you find Him.

So there's this moral excellence, there's this knowledge, and to knowledge He adds in verse 6, to knowledge self-control. Self-control. Used three times this word in the New Testament, and it literally means holding oneself in. Self-control means maintaining a balanced life even when the world encourages indulgence. Many of the early Christian heresies that the Apostles were contending with believed and taught that the body was inconsequential. What you did with the body, it really didn't matter. What matters is what you think up here, but you can do whatever you want with your body, it doesn't really matter.

And so the Apostles wrote and said, "No, listen, your body belongs to the Lord. You're His. You don't just do whatever you want with this. This belongs to Jesus." And so I'm mindful of that. Self-control proceeds out from within oneself, not by oneself, but through the Spirit of God, because the fruit of the Spirit, according to Galatians, is, one of the fruit is self-control. Do you have self-control? Are you out of control?

Proverbs 16:32 said it this way concerning self-control, "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city." Having self-control. He also said in Proverbs 25:28, "Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down without walls." You just have no self-control. You just let anything in, let whatever goes, goes, doesn't really matter. No, listen, as a Christian, I want to grow in the area of self-control in every area of my life, what I participate in, what I eat, where I go, what I do. All of it needs to be under the self-control of the Spirit of God in my life.

Paul actually used this word concerning athletes in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 27, when he said this, "I discipline my body and I bring it into subjection, self-control, lest when I've preached to others, I myself would be disqualified." So Paul saw it really that it was really important to be self-controlled so that he wouldn't be disqualified. You ever seen an athlete who wins a medal, who competes? They run the fastest, they swim the fastest, and then they do the testing after the fact. And then they realize, oh, that's why you were a half a second or nanosecond faster than the other guy, because you juiced up before you got in the race.

Suddenly he's stripped, disqualified of opportunity because he wasn't self-controlled, in other words. It's important to understand that self-control, listen carefully to this, self-control is not legalistic abstinence. As Christians, Peter said we are partakers, verse 4, of the divine nature, and as we surrender and submit to the work of the Spirit, we see the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, which is self-control. It's the Holy Spirit at work on the inside of me which affects what comes out of me.

Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, he said this, he said, "The man who disciplines himself stands out and has the mark of greatness upon him." I can think of many examples of self-control and discipline throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament, my mind immediately goes to I think of Moses. The writer of Hebrews gives us a commentary on Moses and says that Moses was unwilling to participate in the passing pleasures of Egypt and thought it better to suffer with the people of God. Self-control. I don't want that. It was available, it was accessible, I'm not going to do it.

Another example I think of is Joseph. I mean, Joseph was daily being hassled by Potiphar's wife, and as a young man he said, "I'm not going to do this great sin against God." There was just this self-control, this self-discipline that was unwilling, made the decision, "I'm not going to do that, that's not a part of my life." Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, same thing, go into Babylon and were unwilling to partake of the king's delicacies though they were readily available. Why? There was a self-control.

Spirit of God, help me to control myself, control my mouth, what I say, the thoughts I think, the decisions I make. All of it. It's important to add virtue, knowledge, self-control, and then in addition to that, the fourth thing, perseverance. Perseverance. It's a word usually translated patience. It means to be steadfast. The root idea of this word is to remain under some discipline, subjecting oneself to something which demands the submission of one's will to something against one would naturally rebel.

I don't naturally want to persevere through this, but as the Spirit of God is working in my life and I have all of the resources, the precious promises, the divine nature accessible to me, all of this, therefore I can persevere. I can continue to stay under this and continue to go forward. It's this unflinching bearing up under this load that describes the quality of character which doesn't allow surrender to the circumstance or to cave in the midst of a trial. You just you just keep going. And sometimes that's all that you can do, you just have to keep going. I don't have answers. What are you going to do? I'm just going to keep going. I'm going to persevere through this.

Perseverance fosters the ability to withstand two satanic agencies of opposition from the world outside and from the flesh within. I'm going to persevere by the grace of God. I want to keep growing. In addition to perseverance, he adds number five, godliness. Godliness. This godliness is a reverence towards the one and only God and secondly, it's a word that reflects the right view of other people. So it's a it's a reverence for God and a respect for people. A godliness. A life that is, if you think of godliness, it's a life that seeks to look more like Jesus. That's what that's what it means to be godly.

How does one become godly? By spending time with Jesus, He rubs off on you in the best way. Want to be more like Him. Godly. The godly person lives above the petty things of self, the passions, the pressures that control the lives of so many others. The godly man or woman seeks to do the will of God. When Paul wrote to Timothy in 1st Timothy chapter 6 and verse 6, he said this, "Godliness with contentment is great gain." Just living a godly life and content in Christ, it's great gain.

To this godliness, what follows? Brotherly kindness, or brotherly love. The Greek word is Philadelphia. And it's used to describe a love that believers are to have for one another. Folks, even though today we are from different families naturally, we're part of one family as it relates to we have a heavenly Father. We are the children of God and as such, we ought to, in this family of faith, in this community of Christians, love one another. There should be a brotherly kindness.

In 1st John chapter 4, verses 7 and 8, John declared, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." This should be something that should be adding, growing in our lives, a love for one another, a brotherly, family kind of kindness that is shown.

And then finally, he adds in the seventh requirement to keep growing is simply the word love. And this is the word agape. It's the kind of love that seeks the highest good of others, actually puts their needs above our own. It's the unconditional devotion, it's the kind of love demonstrated by God when He sent His Son Jesus Christ. This is the kind of love. In John chapter 13, verse 35, Jesus said, "By this," that is this love, "all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." That's how people know. That's how people see.

Virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love. These are the things that we want to continue to cultivate in our lives as Christians so that we might continue to grow. I just want to know real quick, anybody here perfect? Just real quick, just want to get a lay of the audience. Man up here in the front said he is. His wife just shook her head and said, "No, he isn't." No, nobody is. You say there's room to grow, wouldn't you? Yes, I want to grow as a godly husband, I want to grow as a godly friend, as a pastor, as a grandfather. I want to continue to grow.

Now that we know the requirements for growth, in order to keep growing, let's consider secondly, the reasons to keep growing. The reasons. And Peter gives them to us right here in verse 8. The reasons. Look at verse 8. "If these things are yours and abound, you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ." If these virtues that Peter listed belong to us, we are abounding in them, we're growing in them, then we're not going to be barren or unfruitful.

The word "abound" means you'll have more than is necessary, to bring forth an abundance. It's a it's a harvest, folks, of spiritual fruit that has been cultivated in the life of the person that loves, serves, and follows Jesus. That's the fruit of their life. You can see it, it's observable. "You will know them," Jesus said, "by their fruit." You can just see it in their life.

And so the reason why we ought to want to continue to cultivate and grow in these areas that are listed is so that we would not be barren. And the word "barren" means useless. When used in the New Testament, it always describes something that is inoperative, unserviceable. It describes that which isn't working, it's just ineffective, it's not yielding anything. It's the word is worthless. It's idle. It's just it's not doing anything, it's just sitting there. But but if you're growing, you're not going to be idle.

In Matthew chapter 20, Jesus actually tells a parable about a vineyard owner who was hiring workers at different times throughout the day. And at the end, he found some men who were just standing there idle, and he asked this question in Matthew chapter 20, verse 6. It's a good question to ask. "Why stand you idle all day?" It's a good question. Why are you idle right now? Why are you just just there? I mean, what's happening? He asked them. And then after he asked them this, the landowner in the parable called them to action, urged them to utilize their time more productively and not waste it by being lazy and unengaged.

Get engaged, get involved. And as you're reminded to actively participate to serve God and others, you will not be idle. I hope you know this today on the authority of scripture, it is the Lord's desire that we would continue to grow, not to become stagnant, not to be subject to arrested development, but continue to grow.

Guest (Male): Pastor John Randall with the reasons to keep growing and the requirements for growing here on A Daily Walk. This is part of our study in 2nd Peter. In light of I'd imagine some of you would like to hear this message again. Maybe you joined us late. Go online to adailywalk.org and have a listen when it's most convenient, or listen wherever you get your podcasts and at oneplace.com.

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