This coming Sunday, at Southern Calvert Baptist Church, I have the privilege of preaching during the morning service. Last Sunday, I preached a sermon on the importance of gratitude. This week, I want to talk about Genuine Faith. Have you ever felt like you were just going through the motions? I have been there. It can happen at work. It can happen with family. It can happen with relationships. It can even happen with your spiritual life. Does the Bible address this state, this feeling, this reality? How is it that two people can sit under the same teaching in the same church and yet one grows spiritually and the other does not? The Apostle Peter addressed this issue almost 2,000 years ago. Grab a Bible and open up to II Peter 1:1-11.
1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
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.
9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
10 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;
11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. (II Peter 1)
This passage paints a picture of genuine faith vs. fake faith, or, going through the motions. In this article, we will examine the reasons behind falling into the rut of going through the motions and how to get out of that rut.
I. Going through the Motions
In order to understand the premise of going through the motions vs. genuine faith, we need to understand two Greek words used in this passage. Both words are translated into English as “knowledge“. The translators distinguish the difference by using the adjective “true” to the word knowledge. In Greek, the words are “Gnosis” and “Epignosis“. The difference between the two words is information (gnosis) and information applied (epignosis).
For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. (II Peter 1:4)
Here is why it is easy for us to fall into the rut of going through the motions, because it comes naturally to us as human beings. We are inclined to going through the motions. Our sin nature is something that we inherit from our parents. They inherited it from their parents and so forth and so on all the way back to the Garden of Eden. That sin nature dominates us until its power is broken in our lives. That nature corrupts us and leads us down a path of destructive decisions. This is what the Bible calls “the pattern of this world“. This is the way of the world. In this natural state, humans are led by the lusts of the flesh. This word in Greek that is translated “lust” is a word picture that paints the picture of a person standing on top of a volcano. Just like a person cannot tame a volcano, neither can human beings control our lusts on our own. The evidence is visible. This person comes to church week in and week out, hears sermon upon sermon, attends Bible study upon Bible study and yet never changes. Why not? According to the Apostle Peter, they do not apply the information that they acquire. They hear it over and over again but do not act upon it. They do not escape the corruption of this world. They are still dominated by the lust of the flesh.
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. (II Peter 1:8)
Because they are still dominated by the lusts of the flesh and they do not apply information from the Word of God, they are useless when it comes to the kingdom of God and they are unfruitful. God wants His people to be useful to Him and the people around them.
For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. (II Peter 1:9)
Peter’s description of people like this is eye opening. They are described as blind and short-sighted. It means to look at something through a thick fog. Reality is distorted. When a person lives in a constant state of acquiring information from the Word of God and not applying it, reality gets distorted really quickly. The results are evident. The person drifts back toward sin nature.
So, how does a person escape this rut? Peter reveals the key to success.
II. Moving beyond the Motions
The problem begins with man and as always, the solution begins with God.
seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. (II Peter 1:3)
God has the answers and He has given everything to us that we need for life and godliness.
For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. (II Peter 1:4)
Everything we need is in the promises of God found in the Word of God. Those promises give information to us. We must take that information and apply it. We apply it by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we are born again and receive a new nature that is able to overcome our sin nature. This new nature, divine nature, as the text reads, empowers us to escape our corrupt, sin nature. We are able to escape the world’s pattern, the power of our own lust.
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. (II Peter 1)
Once we are born again, we have some responsibilities. First of all, according to verse 5, we need to be quick to apply faith. In other words, we must be quick to do what the Word of God teaches us to do and quick to avoid doing what the Word of God teaches us not to do. Is your mind already made up? When God tells you to do something in His Word, are you going to do it no matter what? What about when God tells you not to do something, are you firm in your convictions of not doing it? Are you willing to set up safety measure to keep you from doing what God says not to do? The second responsibility that we have is to use what God has set at our disposal. The Apostle Peter lays out a list for us. These are the qualities that God makes available to us once we have been born again by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.
- moral excellence – high standard, the Lord’s standard/measuring stick
- knowledge – information found in the Word of God (you still have to apply that information)
- self-control – the ability to tame the volcano that is human lust (sin nature)
- perseverance – the ability to endure any circumstance, person, or situation
- godliness – the divine ability to show respect
- brotherly kindness – to become useful to another person
- love – sacrificial service to another for the benefits of the recipient
Not one of these qualities is natural to mankind. They are supernatural. They are given to us upon being born again. We cannot manufacture them. But, there is a command to us in this passage. God provides them but we are to manage them, that is, be good stewards of these gifts. We are to be like an orchestra conductor, recognizing the need for each one of them in specific circumstances and situations. God always does His part and if we will do our part, the Lord , through the Apostle Peter, tells us that:
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.
9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. (II Peter 1)
Through practical, daily use, these qualities will increase leading us to become useful to the Lord and the people around us as well as fruitful for the Kingdom of God during our time on this earth.
10 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;
11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. (II Peter 1)
The Apostle Peter challenges the readers to practice these things continually be they will keep us from stumbling. Also, this is the lifestyle of a person who has been adopted into the family of God through faith in Jesus Christ. We do not life this way trying to become members of the Kingdom of God. We live this lifestyle as a result of already becoming members of the Kingdom of God.
So, my dear friend, have you been stuck in the rut of going through the motions? Have you been born again and are you moving beyond the motions into genuine faith and service of the Lord? Who is investing in you spiritually so that you can move beyond the motions? Who are you investing in spiritually so that he or she can move beyond the motions?
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