The Blueprint for Christian Growth.

Opening:

It is a beautiful thing to open the Word of God on the Lord’s Day.

Introduction of the Passage:

This morning we are continuing on in 2 Peter. We will be in 2 Peter 1:5-9. In our passage last week Peter emphasized the preciousness of our faith and the benefits of our knowledge of Jesus Christ. Our faith is equally precious as the faith of the Apostles because the giver and object of our faith is Christ. And we gain great benefits from our knowledge of Jesus Christ. In knowing Christ our faith grows.

Peter is continuing this idea. This is a direct continuation of Peter’s thought. So with this in mind, I would ask you to stand with me for the reading of God’s Holy word.

Reading of the Passage:

2 Peter 1:5–9“5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.”

Behold the Word of God. Let’s pray.

Prayer:

Our gracious heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity to open Your Word. We commit this time to You. May You be honored and may we grow in the faith. We ask this in Jesus name, amen.

Need:

Our text this morning is an important one. It addresses the relationship of faith to the Christian life.

Text Idea:

Peter is saying in this text that true faith never remains as only faith. Those who possess true faith must strive to add these other virtues to their faith.

Sermon Idea:

True faith never remains as only faith, but grows in these virtues and bears fruit in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Introduction:

And this confronts a misconception we often have regarding faith. Likely you are all familiar with the concept of faith alone. Sola Fide’ is one of what are commonly called the five solas of the reformation. And this is the idea that we are saved by faith alone. Our initial justification is not the result of works but is the result of faith, which is itself the gift of God.

This means that a lost person can do no works to be saved. We are not saved by our own works. We are saved by faith in the works of Christ on our behalf. But it is here where if we are not careful we can fall into a misconception. Often, we can rightly defend salvation by faith alone, but take it too far.

If I were to ask the question, “what role do good works play in our salvation?” I fear most Christians in many churches would get it wrong. I fear many Christians would say that good works play no role in our salvation. And Biblically that is not true. If I were to ask the question, “Must a Christian add anything to their faith?” I think most Christians in churches would say no, a Christian must not add anything to their faith.

The doctrine of salvation is a complex theological topic. And Peter is here addressing a side of this doctrine that we do not often address. But Scripture is clear that our good works matter. We are indeed to add to our faith.

Interrogative:

But what role do works play in the Christian life? What exactly are we to add to our faith? What does it even mean to add to the faith?

Transition:

Well, let’s dive in and examine the Words of Sacred Scripture. The first thing Peter says is that because of our salvation...

Diligently Add to Your Faith...

Explanation:

2 Peter 1:5 “5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith...”

Right off the bat we need to see the importance of that word diligence. It is well translated as diligence. Diligence means careful and persistent work. And that is the idea here. The Greek word means to be earnest in accomplishing the work. To strive after something. So what are we to do? We are to strive to add to our faith.

The misconception we often have is that because we are saved by faith, we can just coast in the Christian life. But this is directly contradicted by the Apostle Peter here. We are to work. We are not just to work, we are to work hard. And what are we to strive for?

Well, Peter gives us a list. We are to add various virtues or good works to our faith. And this list of good things is fascinating. The first thing Peter says is that we must add to our faith virtue.

Virtue.

We are to strive to add to our faith virtue. It is not enough for the Christian to simply remain in faith. Faith must bear the fruit of virtue. And it is not something that just happens. We must work to be virtuous. But what does it mean to add virtue to our faith? It means to be of high moral standard. It speaks of purity, chastity, modesty, and true moral superiority. It means to be moral.

Paul offers a type of definition in Philippians 4:8“8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” Virtue means to have excellence of character. Nobility, truth, justice, purity, loveliness.

So from faith we are to pursue virtue. Christians are to be virtuous. We are to be noble and pure. We are to be modest and not immoral. Women, you are to conduct yourself in a modest way. What you say and do and how you dress. Be pillars of modesty. Men, you are to keep yourself from immorality. We all as Christians ought to strive to the high virtues. We are to be noble. After all, Scripture tells us we are kings and priests. So be virtuous. Be pure in your conduct and lives.

Strive for this. In our age, virtue is hard. But we must strive to add virtue to our faith.

And to virtue we are to add knowledge.

Knowledge.

Now, once again Peter is attacking the gnostic heretics that we plaguing the church. They were seeking some secret spiritual knowledge. But what Peter is here saying is that we should strive for true knowledge. He will go on in this letter to clarify that we do not gain this knowledge through some cultic experience but through the sure Word of God. God has spoken to us.

If you’ve joined us in our Sunday School class going through the Belgic confession, this will be familiar to you. God has spoken to us through the book of Creation and the book of the Scriptures. Scripture is the infallible Word of God. Nature surrounds us. And we come to know God through these, but most clearly through Scripture. We should strive to add true knowledge to our faith and our virtue.

R.C. Sproul once remarked that everyone is a theologian. Theology is the study of God. Everyone has ideas about God. You are, weather you like it or not, a theologian. The question is not are you a theologian, the question is if you are a good or a bad theologian. And you become a good one by adding knowledge to your faith and virtue.

Are you studying the Word of God? Are you striving to know God? Are you growing in knowledge? We are commanded to. But this encompasses more than just the knowledge of God. Christians should not be dull. WE have been given the truth. And this should free us.

One of the historical facts that always inspires me is that the greatest thinkers in history were all Christians. The greatest scientists, doctors, inventors, philosophers, artists were all of them Christians. Christendom, that build the west and brought freedom and blessing all over the world, was built by Christians who desired true knowledge. Slaves were freed, human sacrifices were stopped, diseases were cured, cultures were built. And this came from men committed to faith and adding knowledge to that faith.

Christians in our culture are often seen as being dumb and antiquated. But nothing could be further from the truth. We must at the foundational level have faith. But from there we must add virtue and knowledge. We must seek out the knowledge of God and creation.

And Knowledge must be governed by virtue. Knowledge is not enough. Many men have sought knowledge in ways that have been utterly destructive. Think of the countless scientists and governments who have run horrific experiments on people that are utterly evil. Even in our nation this has happened repeatedly. Knowledge is not enough. We must begin with faith in the one true God. Then we must pursue virtue. And then we pursue knowledge. Knowledge must be governed by virtue and faith.

But Peter continues. To faith add virtue, to virtue add knowledge, to knowledge add...

Self Control.

Perhaps this is one of the greatest needs we have. To the other virtues we must add self control. We must embody the Latin phrase “Vincit Qui Se Vincit.” He conquers who conquers himself. I carry a coin with me everyday that has this phrase on it. I carry this as a reminder. Conquer myself. I must possess self control. I must master my own body.

The Bible is filled with commands for us to possess self control. This phrase speaks specifically in regards to our physical bodies. We must control our appetites. While sin begins in the heart, it often makes it way into our bodies. We see this in gluttony, drunkeness, sexual immorality, and laziness. Christians must control their bodies.

All of these things are good in moderation and in the right setting. Think of food. We are to find joy in food. The Bible is filled with feasts. We are to glorify God in how we eat. And Christ invites us to eat. In the Lord’s Table we are called to the feast of the Lord where we eat of the bread of Christ’s table. But food can be abused. If a man is a glutton, he is lacking in self control. He cannot control the amount he eats. Food is good. But food is only good if we rule over our own bodies.

Same goes with drunkeness. Did you know that the vast majority of times the Bible speaks of alcohol, it is positive? Over and over and over again the Bible speaks of wine as a blessing. It gladdens the heart of man. It is a sign of God’s blessing. Christ Himself called us to partake of wine at the Lord’s table. There, we are commanded to partake of alcohol in blessing from God. But to the man who lacks self control, that symbol of blessing becomes a curse. Not because the item itself is cursed but because of the lack of self control.

The same goes with sexality. In marriage between one man and one woman covenanted for life, sexuality is one of the greatest blessing in existence. But how deeply is this abused in our day? It is not reserved for marriage. It is abused in such horrific sins that I cannot even mention them by name from the pulpit. As Paul says in Ephesians it is shameful to even speak of the evil people commit in this area.

And I could go on. Laziness is a lack of self control. The way we speak is often a lack of self control. The list goes on and on. Do you see how important self control is? We are to strive to add to our faith virtue, knowledge, and self control. But Peter continues. We must also add...

Perseverance.

The other side of my coin contains another Latin phrase. “Festina Lente.” This means “make haste slowly. Now what does that mean? How can one make haste, slowly? What it means is to persevere. Do not be so consumed with immediate results. Focus on the long game.

I think we probably understand ideas like this fairly well in this area. Farmers have to live like this. You plant in the spring with the harvest in mind. And this is perseverance. It is the virtue of “be patient.”

Perseverance means to be unshakable. It means to be unswerving in your loyalty to Christ. It means to plod forward. Slow growth. One step at a time. Regardless of the difficulty we keep moving forward.

And the interesting thing about perseverance is that it is directly part of our salvation. Often we see in Scripture phrases like, “He who perseveres to the end will be saved.” True faith is faith that endures. It perseveres. This is one of the tests of knowing if you possess faith. Many people will make a profession of faith. That profession can be true or it can be false. The revealing factor is perseverance. Did that faith endure? Think of the parable of the Sower Jesus told in Matthew 13. The seed was sown in many places. And sometimes it sprouted quickly. It looked as if that seed had taken root. But in reality it died. It did not endure.

I’ve seen this so much as a pastor. Many people will make bold profession of faith. But then a couple years go by and they have abandoned the faith. They apostatized. They were not good soil. The seed was planted, they had initial growth. But they did not endure.

Christians must cultivate the virtue of endurance. Will you follow Christ even when it is hard? And I fear many professing Christians do not possess this. What will you do if being a Christian suddenly gets harder? Many of us struggle to walk faithfully with Christ if we don’t sleep well. What makes you think you will walk faithfully with Christ if you encounter true difficulty? I say this in love, but if you miss church because you want to sleep in, you certainly won’t be following Christ if persecution begins.

Think of the churches that shut down during COVID. The state actually said churches were non-essential and most Christians in our nation just said, “okay, sounds good. I can watch online.” This was eye opening. I fear perseverance may be one of the most lacking virtues in the church in our nation today. We need to do some serious soul searching. Are we the good soil, or are we the rocky soil? Will we endure? If we are not cultivating perseverance right now, we will not have it when it matters. We must be like Daniel.

Daniel, when taken into captivity determined that He would not disobey God. He regularly put his life on the line for the sake of obeying God. And it started with the smallest thing. It started with food. Daniel 1:8 “8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.”

Daniel’s determination to endure in his faith caused him to lay his life on the line over what we would consider a small thing. God commands me not to eat that food. I will die before I disobey. Think of it this way? If the governor of Iowa told us we couldn’t take communion, what would we do? Many of us would likely say “It’s just bread and wine.” Sadly I know of many churches that did this during the pandemic. The state told them they were forbidden from taking communion, and they just said, okay. But it’s not just bread and wine. It is not just that. It is communion with Christ. It is a sacred sacrament instituted by Christ. He commanded us to take it and to take it as often as we can. No exceptions. We must cultivate a stubborn perseverance in all areas of faith and godliness. If the governor of Iowa ever gave that order, I commit to you that I as your pastor would persevere. I would not comply. We would start having communion every Sunday.

Perseverance means we are unswerving in our loyalty. Nothing will cause us to stray from the path of obedience.

And this leads into the next virtue. We must add to our faith virtue, knowledge, self control, perseverance. And to these we must add...

Godliness.

Godliness is our next virtue. Some render this as Piety. This is the virtue that aims at acts of godliness. Godliness means we seek in all things to obey God. In short, godliness means obeying God. Here is the question, do you care more about what God says or what man thinks? Are you more concerned with offending man or God?

Let me ask you this; How often do you make decisions based on what God says? Or is the deciding factor your own opinions? Do you seek to please God or your own desires? We are to serve God in our lives. Do you actively seek to do this? Do you care what the Bible teaches. do you actively consult God’s Word making decisions?

We must strive to be godly. Seek to live your lives in a way to please God. If you make your goal pleasing God, you will find yourself in a much better place.

But Peter continues. And now we get to our interactions with one another.

Brotherly Kindness.

Some render this as brotherly love. The Word used here is “Philadelphia.” Brotherly love. We as Christians are to love one another. We are to prefer one another. Here is a rather shocking statement in our politically correct age. We are to openly prefer those of our own group. We are to have a deep love for our fellow Christians that goes beyond our love for the non Christian. And we are especially to love those of our own local church.

We are to care for each other. And obviously this sounds easy in theory. But then comes the difficulty. We are all sinful human beings. And loving fellow sinners can be hard. We often do things that frustrate each other. Likely there are people sitting in this room right now that have down things that have really annoyed you. You’ve probably been wronged by people here. But this is where the beauty of forgiveness comes in.

1 Peter 4:8 “8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”” Think of your own family. I grew up with siblings. Many times they would drive me absolutely insane. Often they would legitimately wrong me. And vice versa. But love covers that. I care for my siblings. Because of this, it is easy to forgive them. And the same should be true for us here. As fellow Christians it should be easy for us to forgive one another. There should be no grudges held.

If someone is in sin, confront them. If they have wronged you, tell them. But in a Christian relationship, repentance and forgiveness should be freely given. It should be easy for us to say, “brother, I was wrong and I am sorry.” And it should be equally easy to say, “Brother, I forgive you” and then never bring it up again. I say this with the utmost seriousness. NO MORE BROTHER WARS!

possible illustration: the fall of Constantinople.

This is why one of the most common commands in Scripture is to maintain the unity of the church. We should not split. We should not divide. We are all of us bought with the blood of Christ. We all gather around this table in unity. And we all are to love one another. We must maintain this unity. Strive to love one another. No more brother wars. I am so sick of Christian fighting.

And Peter closes with perhaps the greatest Christian virtue.

Love.

Agape. Unconditional love. Benevolent care. We are to be a people who love deeply and truly. Christians must love the right things. We must love God first. We must love our families. We must love each other. But we also must love all others. 1 Corinthians 13:13“13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Christians are to be a people who love. And it here that I must clarify. Our culture has attempted to redefine love. In our culture love means supporting someone in whatever they desire. It is seen as unloving to tell someone homosexuality is sinful and homosexual marriage does not actually exist. In order to be loving in our culture, you must support the sin people love.

Beloved, this is not love. Love is desiring the good. It means you long for someone to be free of their sin. Is it loving if I buy a raging alcoholic a bottle of whiskey? No. Love would be helping them get sober. Would it be loving to buy a drug addict meth? No! Love would be helping them get clean.

Love means leading people away from sin and toward Christ. That is love. And we must be a people who deeply and truly love. Our hearts must break at the sin in people’s lives and in love we must lead them to the one true savior. It is loving to tell people of hell. It is loving to tell them that there is only one hope, Christ.

Think of it. Jesus was true love incarnate. He was true love. Yet, He was the single most offensive person to exist. Love means to care for people. To genuinely love them.

Transition:

But now we should examine ourselves.

Application:

Peter says that we should give these virtues all diligence. We should strive to add to our faith virtue, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. So ask you...

Do you strive to add to your faith?

Do you possess these? Do you strive to add to you faith? Faith is step one. If you do not possess faith, then I implore you now to turn from your sins and trust in Christ. Repent and trust in Christ!

But perhaps you’re here and you’re thinking to yourself, “I believe in Jesus. Isn’t that enough? I believe the right things.” You may be willing to stand up and say, yes! Jesus is God. He died for me to pay for my sins. Maybe you’re even bold in that profession. But is that all it is? Is it just a profession? Does your life bear witness that you are a Christian? Allow me to read from James.

James 2:18–20“18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?”

The point that James is making is that we can say anything. You say Jesus is King? Good. Even the demons believe this. Does your life back up your profession? Have you strove to add to your faith virtue? Knowledge? Self Control? Perseverance? Godliness? Brotherly Kindness? Love? How we live matters. True faith is a living faith.

Living faith bears fruit. But this fruit does not just come out of nowhere. We must be diligent. We must demonstrate our faith in our works. So we must be honest. Are you diligent? Do you strive to add these virtues to your faith?

But let me add some comfort here. I believe it is most likely you have attempted to add these to your life. The Spirit of God who lives in all believers has given you a new heart. Likely all of us could point to areas of life where we have gone to war with the flesh in order to obey Christ. So let’s ask a slightly different question.

Which of these virtues are most difficult for you?

I want to be practical. All Christians by nature will seek to obey Christ. If you hate obeying Christ, then you need to evaluate if you are a Christian. But all Christians will seek to obey Christ. But we all still struggle with sin. We all struggle with the flesh. By faith we are brought into Christ. But we are still sinners.

Luther used to use a Latin phrase “simul justus et peccator.” We are simultaneously justified and sinners. We are justified before God by faith. But we are still sinners. So I ask you, as we were evaluating that list of virtues we are to add to our faith, was there one that really stood out to you? Did you feel conviction on any of those points? Which one or which ones? Is there an area of your life where you need to repent? Is there a virtue that you struggle with?

Personally, I struggled for years with self control. I was not good at adding self control to my faith. I praise God that He has aided me here. I’ve begun to do so much better at bringing my body into submission. I’m the type of guy who really enjoys sitting on the couch. When I’m tired, I don’t want to do anything. Just turn the tv on, grab a snack, and get fat. But through God’s help, I’ve really been striving to bring my body into submission. I try to go to the gym, eat healthy, and not be lazy.

But what about you? Evaluate yourself. Do you strive to add to your faith virtue? Are you diligent in living a moral life? What about knowledge? Do you strive to be someone who learns? Do you long to be in the Word of God? Do you strive to not be a dullard? What about self control? Are you striving to bring your body into submission to godliness? How about perseverance? Are you a steadfast person? Do you actively seek to persevere in your faith? What about godliness? Do you strive to live a life pleasing to the Lord? Or maybe you struggle with brotherly love. Do you brothers and sisters in Christ know you love them? Are you easily offended? Is it easy for you to repent to them and to extend forgiveness? Are you dividing the church? Or finally, you need to grow in love. Do you desire the good of men? Do you desire them to come to Christ?

I do not know your heart. But I know for certain that we all need to grow in these areas. I’ve included in your notes a space to write down which area or areas you need to grow in. Evaluate this and then seek ways to grow in this. Ask yourself, what practical things can I do to grow in this area? And then do them.

And if you don’t know exactly how to grow here, talk to me. Talk to one of the elders. We all need to grow in these virtues. Let us take it seriously and actually give all diligence to add these things to our faith.

Conclusion:

And that is where we must end for today. Yes, this is only part 1. Next week we will see exactly how these virtues relate to the Christian walk.

Visualization:

But for now, suffice it to say that we should all strive to add to our faith.

Reiteration:

May we be a people to seek to grow in and add to our faith.

Appeal:

And as we close today, we will be taking the Lord’s Supper. If you are here and you are discouraged, be at peace. You may be here and feeling broken. You may feel like you have none of these virtues. All you have is faith. Beloved, Christ welcomes you. Remember Peter’s Words in our last passage. You posses a faith of equal value to all other saints. And this faith grants you access to Christ. Seek to grow. But as we partake, know this. In the Body and Blood of Christ there is grace upon grace. Take, eat. Take, drink. To all who are baptized in the faith, Christ welcomes them. Find the peace offered in the Sacrament. No matter how small the faith is that you possess, it is precious. Take, eat, drink, be blessed, and go from here and strive to add to your faith. Let’s pray.

Closing Prayer:

Offering:

Offertory Prayer:

The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.