Moral Excellence

Be Diligent

The next few attributes that Peter says to add to your faith requires diligence. It means we must pay attention to doing these things. It does not just happen. It mean that even when we don’t feel like doing it, we do it anyway.

The late Dr. A. J. Gordon concluded his last pastoral letter to his church (Clarendon Street, Boston), with these words: "Forget not that your first and principal business as a disciple of Christ is to give the gospel to those who have it not. He who is not a missionary Christian will be a missing Christian when the great day comes. Therefore, ask yourself daily what the Lord would have you to do in connection with the work of carrying the news of salvation to the perishing millions. Search carefully whether he would have you go yourself to the heathen if you have the youth and fitness required for the work. Or, if you cannot go in person, inquire diligently what blood mortgage there is upon your property in the interests of foreign missions -- how much you owe to the heathen, because of what you owe to Christ for redeeming you with his precious blood. I warn you that it will go hard with you when your Lord comes to reckon with you if he finds your wealth invested in superfluous luxuries or hoarded up in needless accumulations instead of being sacredly devoted to giving the gospel to the lost. "But remember that consecrated giving will be impossible unless there be first a consecrated giver. Therefore, I counsel you to seek the special grace and anointing of the Holy Spirit, that he may work in you that consecration of heart and life on which so much depends."

Diligence is the intentional consistency of living on purpose for Christ. It is the summation of the daily intentionality of living for Christ. Life’s greatness comes from diligence

Moral Excellence

The word moral means concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character. So the question is who decides what is good and what is bad? Does the culture we live in determine what is good or bad? If culture determines what is good and bad then there is no consistency. For example, In the American culture women are held in high esteem and have the same rights as men. In middle eastern culture women are held to a lower class and do not have the same rights as men. Who determines what is good and what is bad. Americans would say that middle eastern culture is bad and Middle Eastern culture would say American culture is bad. Who is right and who is wrong?

Do we decide individually what is right and what is wrong? If that is the case then we will have anarchy. In this scenario we can do whatever we want without boundaries because we decide what is right and what is wrong. This would be a terrible scenario because everyone would live for themselves with no consideration of others.

Does the government through law decide what is right and what is wrong? No! If that were the case then we would have to say that it is good to kill unborn babies because our law says that it is okay. Our law says that it is okay for two men or two women to get married. We would have to conclude that this was good because our law permits it.

So if culture, government, or individual do not decide what is right and wrong, who does? GOD DECIDES MORALITY

GOD DECIDES MORALITY

If there is such thing as morality, and there is, then there must be a moral law giver. This is God. He is the moral law giver.

We see this in the book of Genesis 2:16-17

Genesis 2:16–17 (NASB95)

The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

So why was it wrong for Adam to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? It seems like this would be a good tree to eat from because it would show you what to was good and what was evil.

A man named Zacharias Ursinus addressed this very issue back in the sixteenth century. In his commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, Ursinus lists six terrible offenses connected to Adam and Eve’s act of disobedience:

Pride, ambition, and an admiration of self: Man, not satisfied with his own dignity, and in the condition he was placed, desired to be equal with God.

Unbelief: Adam believed the devil rather than God, and ate the forbidden fruit; nor did he believe any punishment would overtake him.

Contempt and disobedience to God: This appears in the fact that he ate the fruit contrary to the command of God.

Ingratitude for benefits received: Even though Adam was made in the image of God—and for the enjoyment of eternal life—his return for this benefit received was to obey the devil rather than God.

Unnaturalness, and the want of love to posterity: Adam did not consider that the gifts God had bestowed upon him and his posterity would be lost not only to himself but also to all his descendants.

Apostasy: By believing and obeying the devil rather than God, Adam wished to obtain equality with God. He set up the devil in the place of God, separating himself from God

There was one commandment and Adam broke it.

God decided to help us out and give us 10 commandments

10 Commandments

Exodus 20:3–17 NASB95

“You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Have no other Gods before God. This means that God is the priority in every aspect of your life. This is why Jesus said in Luke 14:25-27

Luke 14:25–27 NASB95

Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

What Jesus is saying is that God is to be the One we love more than anything else. He not saying that we are to hate our family.

2. Do not make for yourself an idol. This means that if there is anything that we worship other than God it is an idol. This can be a spouse, child, job, material possession, our reputation, or even our self.

3. Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain. This does not simply mean that you say those two ugly words. It means that your claim to represent Christ and do not live according to His commandments.

4. Remember the Sabbath. This is a day that you do no work but worship and rest. When we fail to do this we wear out physically, mentally and spiritually.

5. Honor your father and mother. This means that you do not disgrace your parents. This can be done by speaking negatively about them to others or living in a fashion that is contrary to the Godly way they taught you.

6. You shall not murder. Matthew 5:21-22

Matthew 5:21–22 (NASB95)

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’“But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

Unresolved anger towards a person constitutes murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery Matthew 5:27-28

Matthew 5:27–28 (NASB95)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Lust in your heart for someone other than your spouse is adultery.

8. You shall not steal. Do not take something that does not belong to you. This can be money, time, or credit for something you did not do.

9. Do not bear false witness. This means don’t lie. Big or small or even exaggeration!

10. Do not covet. This simply means desiring to have something that belongs to someone else. We should be content with what God provides.

3 Commandments we should be diligent to keep

Love God

Matthew 22:37 NASB95

And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

Love others

Mark 12:31 NASB95

“The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Make Disciples

Matthew 28:19–20 (NASB95)

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

If we will be diligent to do these three things we will be sure to supply to our faith moral excellence.