Word For Life Says… – Bible. Inspiration. You.



“Equipped for Godliness” 2 Peter 1:3-14May 12, 2013My husband fixes stuff and he’s very good at it. You name it: HVAC, plumbing, kitchen stuff, bathroom stuff, minor electrical stuff and so on. And if he can’t fix it he has great connections for those who can. One thing I know by watching him down through the years is that you have to have the right tool for the right job. I can totally relate because when I am in the kitchen cooking, things go a lot smoother if I have all the necessary tools to get the job done right.God is so precious in His love toward us. He did not drop us off on this side of salvation and leave us ill-equipped. He has empowered us with everything we need to run this Christian race. But we are the ones responsible for picking up the tools out of our spiritual tool boxes and putting them into action.Vs. 3 “According to his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” The most famous phrase that every Christian longs to hear is “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord,” (Mt. 25:23, KJV). In that coming day, when this is spoken to us, it will bring great joy to our souls because it says, “We’ve made it!” But we didn’t get there on our own. God, through His “divine power” equipped us for the journey that led to our spiritual success.He “hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” I am particularly drawn to the word “all” here. That word speaks of the way God does everything. God is complete and thorough in everything He gets involved with and when He got involved with us, He left no stone unturned. He continued in His pattern of perfection in giving the Christian everything they needed in their spiritual life.His goal is for us “to be conformed to the image of his Son,” (Rom. 8:29, KJV) and to have “the mind of Christ,” (1 Cor. 2:16, KJV). He would not impress such a calling upon our lives without the proper resources for the job. Because it is “through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.”Vs. 4“Partakers of the divine nature.” When we were kids we longed to be a part of something good. Many strive to share in the attraction of the more popular groups. Even into adulthood we see this pulling of acceptance into something beyond ourselves. Here, Peter reminds us that God has opened the door through His “great and precious promises” to share in all that Christ is, His “divine nature.” 1 John 1:2 tells us that we are “now . . . the sons of God” and “we shall be like him,” (KJV).“Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” Not only were we grafted into His glorious nature, but at the same time, we were pulled out (escaped) of our old nature. “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness,” (Eph. 4:24, KJV).John strictly warns us “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of the Father abideth for ever,” (1 John 2:17, KJV, emphasis in bold mine to reiterate point of lesson). Why? Because He brought us out of all the old (escaped) and put us into the new and there we abide forever. (This would be a great time to start putting the bug in your students’ ear about salvation and even beginning a call to salvation here. Acts 3:19, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord,” (KJV). (see also Acts 2:28; 2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 12:1-2).Vs. 5“Add to your faith.” God gave us the promises. His plan of salvation gave us the way of escape from the world’s system. But we have the responsibility to also work to nurture our own spiritual growth, to “giving all diligence.” When someone is diligent that means they are putting forth a conscientious effort to pay careful heed to and give it their all. We do this by “adding” or building and working on different characteristics of a Christ-filled life.“Faith.” “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” (Heb. 11:1, KJV). Faith is the basic element for which everything in the spirit is built on. We heard the gospel with faith. We believe the message therein by faith. We started a life anew into godliness by faith. Everything begins with faith. Faith views your future through spiritual eyes that allow them to see the greater that God has in store for us.“Virtue.” Anytime we hear the word “virtue” our minds automatically take us to Proverbs 31 and the telling of the virtuous woman. The word here speaks of one’s moral excellence and according to Peter, it is for every child of God to grown in. In order for one to live an excellent life, one of “virtue,” they have to “put away” those things that are opposing to the spirit of Christ, (Eph. 4:31, KJV).“Knowledge.” We live in the information age and accessing knowledge takes little effort. This “knowledge” that Peter is speaking of is an experiential knowing – and it takes work! The Christian is responsible for learning more of Him and His ways. Yes, God has initially “given us all things,” but if we love Him and His ways, we have to get down in there and get our hands dirty.Jeremiah 9:24 says, “But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord,” (KJV). A soul equipped for godliness knows the Equipper. He has an intimate fellowship with Him.Have you ever ordered furniture from a catalog or bought a boxed desk, shelf or drawers from the store? When you get it home and open the box all you see is pieces everywhere. What you have before you does not resemble the finished product in the picture on the front of the box. You have to bust out the directions and get familiar with everything before you can see the finished results at the end. It all takes the effort of knowing. We have to get into God’s Word, get familiar with Him and His plan, work in it until we see that life of godliness produced in the end.“Temperance.” Self-control as most folks like to call it. We see that Paul also included this in his list of the fruit of the Spirit, Gal. 5:22-23. God’s people are to be studied and well-adjusted. They are not to be given to flying off the handle with every life annoyance or trouble. Things that are upsetting are going to happen in life, a Christian takes it all in stride. It’s not that things don’t bother them but they believe more in the Sovereignty of God’s hand at work than impulsively rushing ahead on their own.“Patience.” In our instant everything world many are prone to have microwave faith but this does not build a character of endurance. After all, it is a race that we are in and the only ones who will cross the finish line are those who endured to the end, Mt. 24:13. Often, this requires much patience. Troubles don’t last always but it’s hard to wait to see the end. James 1:4 says, “Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing,” (KJV).“Godliness.” Godliness is what we are equipped for but it in and of itself is a characteristic to be worked on also. WWJD, ever heard of it? That movement came about from Charles Sheldon’s book “In His Steps” (a must read for every Christian). In it people challenged their life decision’s against the backdrop of if Jesus were here and alive today, how would He handle and respond to certain circumstances. The question was the plumb line in which to be guided. A life of “godliness” is lived in pursuit of Him. It’s living and walking uprightly for Him. That’s our plumb line to guide us.“Brotherly kindness.” “Let brotherly love continue,” is what the writer of Hebrews exclaimed (Heb. 13:1, KJV). The relationships that the saints have with one another are to be marked by kindness and love. The saints share a bond of brotherhood (and sisterhood) that compels them to support one another, encouraging them through the hard struggles of life.“Charity.” Working under the operation of love. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another,” (John 13:34, KJV). Jesus wants us to treat one another as He does, with love. Love is what pushed Him through to the cross. Love is what will allow us to push through our adversity. The most turbulent of situations can be buffered by knowing that someone loves you and has your back. No one says it better than Paul in his letter to the Corinthians:“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity,” (1 Cor. 13:4-8, 13, KJV).After reading that, how did you do? Are you equipped with love?Vs. 8“For if these things be in you and abound.” These characteristics that Peter speaks of have to be internalized within each of us. Most people can detect when one’s attitude toward them is not genuine. Most people can tell the difference between a sincere and an insincere smile. Even God said in Isaiah, “This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me,” (29:13, KJV). It wasn’t “in” them. And what is not “in” an individual cannot “abound,” it cannot grow.But Peter taught that if we nourish what God has fully equipped us with it will grow and produce spiritual fruit in your life. “They make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The emphasis here is on the word “they.” “They” is speaking of those characteristics we are to add. We can’t do it on our own. Until we fully internalize all that Christ is by brining into our faith all of these characteristics He possessed, we cannot grow in the true “knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Vs. 9“But he that lacketh these things is blind.” They are short-sighted. In verse 3 it tells where we have been “given all things that pertain to life and godliness.” If any one of these is not up to par in our spirit it is due to spiritual neglect. I have been watching my plants for nearly a week. Busyness has prevented me from caring for them as I should. Every day I say to myself, “I’ll get out there and water them today.” But as the day goes on, I declare the next day will be when I get to it.It wasn’t until I started seeing leaves drop and plants wilt that I took serious note of their condition. Once I saw their dire state I could no longer turn a blind eye to them. I hastened to get them the nourishment they needed before it’s too late and I lose them. The same is true in our spiritual lives. Don’t wait for it to start falling apart before you pay attention to it.Living in spiritual blindness prohibits them from seeing all God has in store for them. They “cannot see afar off.” Eph. 4:18 states, “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart,” (KJV). They have let their spiritual equipment go into decline and “hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.”Forgetfulness often plagued the children of Israel. Psalm 105:5 says, “Remember his marvelous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth,” (KJV). Throughout this particular psalm, the psalmist recounts the faithfulness of God and how He brought them through everything! And I do mean everything! By the time we get to Psalm 106:13 it says, “They soon forgot his works; they waited not for his counsel,” (KJV). This was a repeated pattern and still is today. Deuteronomy warns, “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy son’s sons,” (4:9, KJV). We have a personal obligation to remember the goodness of God in our life, to stir up our hearts and minds to think on His goodness and faithfulness even in adversity.Vs. 10“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.” There we see that word “diligence” again. We have to be on point with these matters of our salvation. We have to be on constant guard not to lose the tools and equipment that God has supplied us with. A dull knife does not cut very well, but a sharp one will slice through the toughest of materials with the ease of butter. A dull spirit that has not been properly equipped with the sharpening of the spiritual tools will not be useful to stand in the day of adversity. But show me a spirit sharpened and honed in on what God supplied in the first place and I’ll show you someone who worked “diligently to make their calling and election sure.”“Make . . . sure” means to prove and show it secured what God has placed in you. As the fire proves the gold so you are to work these characteristics into your spiritual life as a test of what you are “sure” is in you, and that’s the spirit of God. Show others through your life that you have been “called” out to live for Him. Paul picks it up and tells us, “I . . . beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,” (Eph. 4:1, KJV). In other words, “make . . . sure!”“For if ye do these things, ye shall never fail.” “I don’t know why this keeps happening over and over again to me!” is the exclamation of many. We often hear a lot of preaching in the church on how to be successful. But little is taught on how to avoid failure. And we are not speaking of financial, business or any other type of material failure. We are talking of failure to follow through with the commands that God has already placed on our lives; the kind of failure that keeps us from the future that He has laid out for us. It all starts with one simple word “do!” “If ye do these things” speaking of those characteristics again, “ye shall never fail.” If those things are fulfilled in your life, they keep you in tuned to God and to others around you causing you to fruitful in both areas and veering from sin.Vs. 11-14The following of these characteristics serve to bring you closer to Him. Following their guide will lead you to His “kingdom.” Peter considered it “negligence” on his part not to continually teach these truths to his readers. Leaders have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. A leader who does not himself lead with diligence will have followers that don’t know what they are doing. They will have followers ill-equipped for the task. Isaiah 62:6 God said, “I have set watchmen upon thy walls . . .,” (KJV). A watchmen is to be on diligently guard for care, instruction, protection and direction. This is why Peter took his job so seriously and put them in “remembrance” so they would “know them, and be established in the present truth.” There is nothing more heart-warming for a leader than to see those under his charge “established in . . . truth.”While he was still in his earthly body, Peter was determined to “stir you up.” People needed to be reminded who that have at work in them and whose side they are on. They need to remember the importance of the working of the spirit on the inside of them. They need to be encouraged to stay the course and follow all the way through to the end. Peter’s “tabernacle” (his body) would fade one day as we all will. Leaders are to take every opportunity while they have the chance to make a difference in the lives and his/her students/readers. An effectual leader sticks in there until the very end and seizes the opportunities that arise to “establish in the present truth.” ................
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