Lucas and Green, in their commentary, tell about a 19th century author named James Hogg, who wrote a parody against Christianity entitled, “Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner.” “The main character in the book is so convinced of the certainty of his salvation, and sure that he is a member of ‘the elect’, that he commits a series of increasingly gross and self-indulgent acts. He is so secure in the belief that his behavior will not affect his eternal destiny that he feels completely freed from any restraint, even to the point of murder.”
Thankfully, the Apostle Paul addresses this misunderstanding of grace in his letter to the Romans. But how many people who call themselves Christians equate freedom in Christ with freedom to do whatever they choose. And they call anything that restrains this “freedom,” legalism. In this section Peter decries this kind of thinking by bringing to our attention that the person who claims to be a believer but has no thought of spiritual growth is in a serious condition as to whether or not they are truly saved.
The key idea of this passage is that God has provided what we need to grow spiritually. There is nothing lacking in God’s provision for our spiritual growth. It is this wonderful truth to which we can cling as we seek to overcome sin in our lives. If there is no growth in our lives spiritually the problem is not with God but with us. Peter notes three aspects of this spiritual growth from God in which every believer should partake. We looked at the first two aspects last week, the sufficiency of Christ’s power and the splendor of God’s promises. Today we will look at the necessity of the believer’s progress.
III. The Necessity of the Believer’s Progress
Peter describes the necessity of the believer’s progress in verses 5-11. Here we note three facets of this progress.
A. The Priority of Progress
The first facet of the necessity of the believer’s progress is the priority of progress. Peter says that spiritual growth should be the number one priority in a Christian’s life. In verse 5 he says, “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence . . .”
As we saw previously, God has given us all that we need to live godly lives. If this is so, Peter says, we must not waste this available resource of God’s grace. This is why he begins the verse with the words, “Now for this very reason.” He is harkening back to all the sufficiency of Christ’s power and the splendor of God’s promises to accomplish our spiritual growth. For without them our spiritual growth would be impossible. When Peter speaks of utilizing God’s promises and power to grow spiritually he is not engendering the false ideology of “Let go and let God.” There is human responsibility in our spiritual growth. But how many of you would cut down a tree with a pocket-knife if you owned a chain saw? How many of you would walk to California if you could take a plane? This is the impossible magnitude of what Peter is saying. Don’t let the power of Christ sit by the wayside while you try to whittle away at your sin. It won’t work. But we don’t just sit by and wait for God’s power to pick us up and push us along like leaves blown along by the wind.
And so he says for this reason take up the power of Christ through God’s grace and diligently seek to add to your faith. The word, translated diligence in verse 5, describes the importance to immediately set to growing spiritually. In two places, the New Testament uses this word to describe individuals heading quickly to some place. Peter says that we should not delay in seeking to grow spiritually. We should hastily set off on the course of spiritual growth.
Why is this the case? Why does Peter push for a priority of progress? He experienced firsthand the error of procrastination. In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus told them to pray so that they might overcome temptation. But Peter and his friends took the time as an opportunity to snooze, after all they were very tired (Didn’t they deserve to rest?). But this short three-hour nap led him to deny his Lord.
There is no time to put our spiritual growth in second place while we finish our degrees or get into place in the corporation. We cannot afford to say after I’ve accomplished all these things that I will then set my heart to work on my relationship with God and set my heart on His Word.
In Psalm 90, Moses says, “Teach us to number our days so that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.” We have very few days in this life. And it is what we do in this life that counts for eternity. And Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, said that we are to make the most of the time. There is no better time, than now, to grow in our relationship with the Lord.
And I think that Solomon said it best in Ecclesiastes, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them.” True delight comes in really knowing God. The more I find myself changed by the knowledge of God the more I find delight in who God is. It is those who already think they know it all who eventually find that a hardened heart does not bring joy in the things of God but futility. Someone who is not willing to continue to grow in the knowledge of God will not find the joy of discovering God. There is a priority to a believer’s progress in spiritual growth.
B. The Proof of Progress
The second facet that Peter describes in the necessity of the believer’s progress is the proof of progress. How do you know if someone is making progress in the Christian life? Last week we mentioned that when the doctor wants to know if my children are growing physically they measure them. They have a standard called the inch and a standard called the pound. And by comparing them to the previous records they can tell if they are progressing in their growth.
Well Peter himself gives us some standards for the measurement of our spiritual growth. In verses 5-7 he states, “in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self control, and in your self control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.”
The benchmarks that Peter lays out for us are these seven characteristics that should illustrate the beauty of our Christian life. Many have asked why Peter has noted this particular list. Is it some kind of order? Do you have to have one before another? Is it because one is more important than another?
To answer briefly, it is not a matter of just having these qualities. It is not that we get them and presto we have reached the pinnacle of our Christian life. It is a matter of exhibiting them and continually adding to them to become more like Christ. You may have a moral excellence but it is not a perfect or complete moral excellence. You might be knowledgeable about the things of God but it is a very shallow knowledge comparatively speaking. You may have self-control and patience but is it as deep as God would have you to acquire? I think not. We will never reach the limit of these characteristics as long as we live on this side of eternity. That to which Peter calls us is to recognize our need for a growing degree of these abiding characteristics in our lives. We need to mature in these traits. And as God’s grace manifests itself in our lives in greater ways we find ourselves adding to these.
And it is necessary that we have all of these characteristics in our lives not just some. Peter doesn’t give us a choice to leave one of these out as if this was a smorgasbord. These are ingredients for the recipe of mature Christianity. You cannot leave one out. What happens if you do? Let me explain by way of illustration.
Some time ago I thought I would surprise my wife while she was away by baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies for her. When I finished mixing all the ingredients I do what every good cookie chef does; I tasted the cookie dough. It was the most awful thing I had ever tasted. When I retraced my steps I had found that instead of adding a couple cups of sugar to the recipe I had added canning salt. Because I had left out one ingredient and substituted my own the outcome was horrendous. The same goes for spiritual growth. What people want to do is to substitute self-esteem for self-control, moral relativism for moral excellence, relaxation for perseverance, riches for godliness, self-indulgence for brotherly kindness, and lust for love. If we want to substitute these ingredients for the ones that God has told us to obtain our lives will be as appealing as chocolate chip cookies with 2.5 cups of salt.
I believe that Peter caps off the list with love (both brotherly love and agape love) because it is the goal to which we have been called in our lives. Paul says in 1 Timothy 1 that, “The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” Why do I get up here each week and proclaim God’s Word to you? The goal of the instruction is love. We are learning how to love. And if you are going to learn to love then you need to grow in moral excellence (because love does not act unbecomingly). You need to grow in knowledge (because love rejoices with the truth). If you want to learn to love then you need to grow in self-control (because love is not rude nor self-seeking). You need to grow in perseverance (because love endures all things and never fails). If you want to learn to love you need to grow in godliness (because love does not rejoice in iniquity). You need to grow in brotherly kindness (because love is kind). Love is the outgrowth of all these characteristics in our lives.
The proof of our progress in the Christian life is our ongoing addition of these qualities to our faith resulting in love. So let us press toward that mark of love. And though we may seem to fall short of it let us not give up in our pursuit of it for Christ has given us all we need for life and godliness.
C. The Profitability of Progress
Finally we see the profitability of progress. In verses 8-11 Peter describes three advantages of consistent spiritual growth. There is a profit in making progress in our Christian life.
1. We will be active for the Master
The first advantage of consistent spiritual growth is that we will be active for the Master. Peter says this in verse 8. “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” If we are seeking to add to our faith God is going to give us opportunities to serve Him. Many get the cart before the horse. They look to serve before they have learned the discipline of adding to their faith. And they get so bogged down in serving, they never learn to add to their faith and thereby become ineffective in their service to the King.
The word translated, “useless” here is also used by Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel as the word “idle.” If you remember the parable, Jesus speaks about a landowner who went out to hire laborers. He went out in the morning to find laborers and hired them. He came back later in the day and found others, “idle” or useless. He then hired them. By adding to your faith you are preparing yourself to serve Jesus. If you are thinking to yourself I don’t see anywhere that I can serve, then as you look for an opportunity to serve the Lord, you need to be adding to your faith. Perhaps the Lord has something for you to do but you are just not spiritually mature enough for it yet. Keep adding to your faith and the Lord will allow you to serve. You will not find yourself useless.
But Peter also says that if we are adding to our faith God not only will give us opportunity to serve but, more importantly, He will give us effective service. This is why Peter says, “You will be neither useless nor unfruitful.” There are people who serve God without bearing fruit because they are not adding to their faith. Peter says if we add to our faith we will see spiritual fruit being produced in our lives and in the lives of those around us. This is that about which Jesus spoke in John 15. He said, “if you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit.”
I think Jesus touches on the very same thing that Peter describes when He says, “Abide in Me and My words abide in you.” This is adding to our faith. We are growing spiritually when we abide in Christ and allow His words to sink down deep within us in order to change us. And when we continue to do this we are going to see the lives of people around us change. But in order for people around us to be affected by the Gospel we need to be living a life characterized by such traits as self-control, moral purity, godliness, perseverance and especially love.
Do you want to serve Christ effectively and productively? Then add to your faith.
2. We will have assurance of our salvation
The second advantage of consistent spiritual growth is that we will have assurance of our salvation. Peter describes this in verses 9-10. Here he says, “For he who lacks these qualities is blind or shortsighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things you will never stumble.”
The truth is that anyone who does not continue to add to their faith cannot have assurance that they have been forgiven by Christ. Someone who has been rescued from their sins but does not continue to grow in the grace of Jesus Christ ends up with maladies such as, spiritual eye problems and amnesia. They forget that they have been purified from their former sins.
When someone is not growing spiritually the Lord allows them to have doubts. This is part of the disciplining process. God is humbling the believer to return to Him. As King David wrote in Psalm 51, speaking of his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah, he prays that God would restore to him the joy of his salvation. He didn’t ask to restore his salvation but the joy of his salvation. A believer who is living in sin and not growing in grace cannot have joy. And to a genuine believer in the Lord there is probably nothing more distressing than to doubt one’s salvation. To think that God might cast you off into hell will cause the person with genuine faith to act on that faith. They will not desire to remain where they are. God allows this spiritual shortsightedness and amnesia to provoke the Christian to repent and turn again to see the necessity of spiritual growth.
This is why Paul was able to say to the Corinthians, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith.” The individual who is unconcerned about his or her unrepentant lifestyle betrays the fact that he or she does not have genuine faith. This kind of person, without genuine faith, is unconcerned about their sin and it does not bring them any kind of distress, so they go on their way as if the threat of eternal punishment were not real. If this person claims to have faith they fall under the category of what Paul calls, “believing in vain” or having a worthless faith.
Why does Peter warn these believers in this way? He is stirring them to action because this kind of warning will cause real believers to wake out of their slumber. It will allow true believers, who are about to fall prey to false teachers to become wary of such false teaching. It will awaken their conscience to the necessity of looking to God’s grace to persevere until the end.
And this warning will also make those without real faith obvious. If you tell me that you are a believer in Jesus Christ but you have no concern that you are living a morally impure life then I would say you are not saved. If you tell me that you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior but have no interest in learning more about Jesus then I would say you are a phony. If you say to me that you have been born again but you reject any plea to gain self-control or perseverance in your life then I would say that you need to seriously consider if you are truly in the faith and if you have ever had a real spiritual conversion.
Why would I do this? I would do this to stir your conscience before God. If you have truly put your trust in Christ as Savior, God will not allow you to remain unworried in your sin. Your heart will be plagued by conviction of your sin and God will bring you to repentance and cause you to grow. You will never have assurance of your salvation if you are complacent with sin. Your complacency with sin may very well indicate that you will experience impending judgment. If you are here today and say that you are a Christian but have no desire to repent over sin in your life I would ask you to consider closely if you are a Christian.
But if you continue to add to your faith that you might please the one who called you by His undeserved favor you will never stumble. You will never lapse into spiritual shortsightedness and amnesia. You will not doubt your salvation. Peter tells us, and with good reason, make your calling and election sure. He is not telling us that we are the ones in charge of our calling and election but he describes the inner assurance of God’s calling when we continue to live by faith. How are we going to make our calling and election sure? By continuing to live by God’s grace and add to our faith.
3. We will receive abundant eternal reward
The third advantage of consistent spiritual growth is that we will receive abundant eternal reward. Peter notes this in verse 11. “For in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.” As we continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, Peter says that we are going to be welcomed into heaven with a wonderful reward. What can be more rewarding than getting into heaven? What can we receive beyond the gift of eternal life? These kinds of questions have always plagued me. I don’t know if I have satisfactory answers for the erudite but I have come up with a couple of simple answers.
First, we are going to find a reward in that we recognized time spent in giving our lives for Christ while here on earth was never time wasted. We may have wasted days playing video games, watching TV, spending countless hours diddling away our time in a number of other meaningless pursuits that to tell the truth have no significance whatsoever. But we will never regret any time we have spent serving the kingdom of God. We will find that all our effort was effective and worthwhile for the Master. I think that when we finally see, clearly, without the blinders of sin upon our thinking, we will not have wanted anything but that which honored the name of Christ.
What will these things be? They will include the outworking of that which we add to our faith. It will be found in living morally excellent lives, teaching others the knowledge of Christ, living a life of self-control, persevering in your faith, being godly in the midst of a flood of ungodliness and showing love to our brothers and sisters in Christ and those who do not know Him.
Second, I see the wonder of a rich reward in heaven in simply hearing what Jesus says he will say to those who have served Him, “Well done you good and faithful servant.” There is going to be a special benefit to hearing those words. We will look back at our very short life on earth and see that those very few brief years had everything to do with what we experience for eternity. This is what faith is all about. If we have genuine faith we won’t be seeking to enrich ourselves at the expense of others. We won’t be squandering what time, talents and treasure we have in this life. We will have a focus that is lived out for the kingdom of Christ. Life isn’t about my journey to the top. All these pseudo-Christian books focus on that very thing, being the best mom, being the best dad, being the best executive, being the best you. That is all self-focused hogwash. Our life is about exalting the kingdom of Christ in whatever you do. It means that whatever you do you serve the Lord Jesus Christ as you represent Him.
Let’s think about all eternity in light of the 70 years we might see on earth so that we may apply our hearts to wisdom and at the end of that time hear from our Savior, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
Let us be diligent to add to our faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.