Scripture Gifts Wrapped in Love Part 2

Scripture Gifts with Diligence Part 2.

(Lesson two from Spiritual Gifts Wrapped in Love)

Scripture Reading: 2 Peter 1:2 – 1:13

Key Verses to today’s message:

2Pe 1:5 Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge;

2Pe 1:6 and in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control patience; and in your patience godliness;

2Pe 1:7 and in your godliness brotherly kindness; and in your brotherly kindness love.

Some Observations (Between last week and what we want to do this week)

I

Gifts are given for Edification, Establishment, Enlargement and Effectiveness of saints TILL we grow to the full measure of Christ.

Eph 4:12-13 For the training of the saints as servants in the church, for the building up of the body of Christ:

Till we all come to the harmony of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to full growth, to the full measure of Christ:

2Pe 1:3-4 Seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that called us by his own glory and virtue; Whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature

God has given all the things that we need that pertain unto life and godliness and till we become like Lord Jesus Christ: We saw that Spiritual gifts are some of the many things God has given us.

II

Spiritual gifts were given not for ourselves but for the growth of the Church and for the Glory of God. These are called Spiritual gifts not just because we got them as gifts … but that we can gift each other in the body.

Jesus received gifts for men which He gave to men.(Ps 68:18 & Ep 4:7-8), even so gifts are passing the benefits on to others.

Gifts are used for the edification within the local Church. That was our CORPORATE responsibility.

Today, we will see our INDIVIDUAL responsibility

2Pe 1:5-7 Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part (the INDIVIDUAL responsibility) all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge; and in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control patience; and in your patience godliness; and in your godliness brotherly kindness; and in your brotherly kindness love.

III

Spiritual gifts must be used in conjunction with the fruit of the Spirit. The APTITUDE and the ATTITUDE coming together.

Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is no law

2Pe 1:5-7 Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; (Now observe this)and in your virtue knowledge; and in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control patience; and in your patience godliness; and in your godliness brotherly kindness; and in your brotherly kindness love.

2 Peter 1:5- 7

1. Virtue (Goodness)

2. Knowledge

3. Self-Control.

4. Patience (longsuffering)

5. Godliness

6. Brotherly Kindness

7. Love

Gal 5:22-23

1. Love

2. Joy

3. Peace

4. Longsuffering

5. Kindness

6. Goodness

7. Faithfulness

8. Meekness

9. Self-Control

Almost a similar list.

Col 3:12-14 Put on therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint against any; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye: and above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.

Peter may not be describing the fruit of the Spirit like Paul, but reveals a great truth that through these different word pictures, the writers describe what we have to do after we get saved. Qualities a Christian must endeavour to add to his/her Christian living. These are not automatic.

The fruit is not a natural sequence of being born-again. These are part of the Sanctification. Our Justification was immediate, our Glorification will be in a twinkling of an eye. However, the Sanctification is a life long process – that is why we are still here on the earth.

IV

Fruit of the Spirit. (Gal 5:22-23 Vs. 2 Peter 1:5- 7: Comparison may not accurate, but the principle is true).

Paul begins the list with love, and Peter ends the list with love. Think of the fruit of the Spirit as a layered fruit -- like onions. (Other similes for Fruit of the Spirit: Bunch of grapes, Segments of an orange, Mixed cocktail fruit).

Peter starts with faith. Faith is the seed, nothing begins without that seed that is sown in your hearts. To that add the layer of Virtue (Goodness), Knowledge, Self-Control, Patience (longsuffering), Godliness, Brotherly Kindness and the last layer is love.

Paul begins describing the fruit; he sees the last layer or the visible layer – layer of Love.

When someone tries to get to the fruit the first thing they experience is love.

2Pe 1:5-7 Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge; and in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control patience; and in your patience godliness; and in your godliness brotherly kindness; and in your brotherly kindness love.

I. Divine Mathematics

2Pe 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.

2Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge…

God multiplies and we add, we can never out give God

We don’t add to Salvation but to the process of Sanctification.

( Vs 3-4) the verses that connect tell us between what He has multiplied and what we have to add, He has given us even the things we have to add.

Seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that called us by his own glory and virtue;

Bad Example: Basic model of Car, with the accessories that we can add to customise.

Good Example: Christian living is not a Buffet. We cannot choose what we like and leave out what we don’t.

Accessorizing is not optional. It is a command. We have to add, put on, bear with all that God has provided …only then will we become like Jesus.

II. Divine Power ( Vs. 3)

(vs. 3) Seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that called us by his own glory and virtue;

The Power is in the Knowledge of Him… Lord Jesus Christ.

Different levels of knowing:

a. Knowing Christ through Salvation: That is where we begin.

b. Knowing Christ through Sanctification.

What is Sanctification?

Philp 3:10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, …

1Jn 2:13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye know him who is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the evil one. I have written unto you, little children, because ye know the Father.

Rom Ch 6 – 7: The chapters that talk about sanctification (Rom 6: 1-14 – Sanctification through death; Rom 6: 15-23 – Through slavery; Rom 7: 1-6 -- Marriage ).

Becoming practically, what we are positionally.

Experiencing and enjoying actual goodness as a result of living with and for Christ.

Not just a mental and heart exercise but a life exercise.

Example: Steel that gets magnetised when kept close. The secret is not acting more like the magnet, but staying close, even so with Christ.

End result :becoming like Christ

2 Peter 1:4 -- that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature

III. Divine Command

2 Pet 1:5 - Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith…

Adding is not an option but a command and that with diligence.

Diligence: (Greek Word) spoudē -The root word is speed. With eagerness; haste; Business like carefulness; earnest. No time to waste… not after retirement

There is a sequence to the adding.

(Vs. 5-7) your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge; and in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control patience; and in your patience godliness; and in your godliness brotherly kindness; and in your brotherly kindness love.

Faith makes sin ugly, so we add virtue or goodness.

Virtue develops a hunger for Knowledge, God’s Word.

Knowledge teaches us to self-control or the control of our Self.

Self-control teaches us patience.

Patience leads to Godliness or God’s loveliness.

Godliness teaches us to love our brothers – brotherly kindness.

Brotherly kindness leads to Love (agape love).

Life is indeed a journey. Journey of Sanctification for a Christian

IV. Divine Abundance

2 Pe 1:8 For if you have these things are in you and abound, they will make you neither useless nor barren ...

We know God’s giving is a full measure, pressed down and over-flowing, He wants us to have abundant life.

Lack of abundance in our lives leads to two things.

a. Useless: Useless for God’s work and for God

b. Barren: Without fruit for the fellow believers and for the world around.

Connecting to the Spiritual gifts: neither for the edification of the saints nor for the exaltation of God.

V. Divine Warning

2Pe 1:9 For he that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins.

Three things that God warns. If we have no desire to be abundant for God’s glory.

a. Blind: No Spiritual Perception. Will not be able to differentiate between good and evil; holy and unholy; carnal and spiritual; emotional and Godly.

b. Seeing only what is near: No Spiritual Power. Has no power to understand the riches of God. Remember Isaac – his stomach had become more important than God’s matters.

c. Having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins: No Spiritual Privilege. The worst is that he/she has forgotten what it means to be saved. The mere joy of being saved is lost.

VI. Divine Assurance (2 Pet 1:10)

2Pe 1:10 Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make: for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble:

This is God’s Word… Ye shall never stumble.

Not about losing salvation but falling, stumbling, back-sliding, making a wreck of your life

Your calling and election sure: By following these – not being useless and barren, being abundant, do we confirm our calling, our election or choosing and our Salvation.

Mt 7:16-23 –(READ) Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

VII. Divine Welcome

2Pe 1:11 for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Describes our entry into heaven. We may enter as God wants us to, or reach with the shirt on our back and the smell of smoke in our hair…saved by the skin of our teeth.

We will not be clones in heaven, but each of according to the work that we did for Him here. May not be rich and poor, but there is great and small. (another topic).

I pray that I will use all of the resources that God has given and that I will hear that commendation as I enter heaven, “Well done good and faithful servant.”