The Development of Faith: The Growth of Faith (Part 2)
The Development of Faith: The Growth of Faith (Part 2)
2 Peter 1:5-11
The Christian life is a life of faith. The Christian life starts with faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We’re born again, we’re regenerated by the Holy Spirit, we’re given new life and we become children of God. That’s just the beginning of the Christian life. It starts a whole lifetime of what we call “sanctification.” That means being set apart and made holy and more like Christ. And that takes place by faith. The Christian life starts in faith, it continues in faith and it is when we look through faith for Jesus Christ to come again
A verse to introduce our topic of faith is Habakkuk 2:4. It says, “The just shall live by his faith.” (NKJV) That’s one of the most important verses in the Bible. “The just” refers to Christians being justified before God. “Shall live” means we are sanctified by God. And how do we live? “By faith.” So, it’s true of all the Christian life; it doesn’t just start with faith, but it continues in faith. And we grow in faith as we grow in “the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
So, my question to you is—before we unpack these verses; “Are you growing in your faith?” Peter wants us to not only have a genuine faith, (2 Peter 1:1-4), but he wants us to have a growing faith, verses 5-11. Then at the end of the chapter, he wants us to have a grounded faith in the Word of God.
In verses 1-4, Peter says that if your faith is real, it is “like precious faith,”; if your faith is real, it is faith in “Jesus our Lord,” (verse 2); if your faith is real, you experience God’s power and the promises of God, (verse 3); and if your faith is real, it makes us “partakers of the divine nature,” (verse 4). That’s what it means to be a Christian, having the life of God in your soul. So it goes from verses 1-4 - Is your faith genuine? - to verses 5-11 - Is your faith growing?
The key to the passage we’re going to look at is in verse 10, which says, “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble.” Notice verse 5 also says, “…giving all diligence, add to your faith.” And in verse 10, it says, “Be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble,” and you’ll have an abundant entrance into heaven, verse 11.
The theme throughout this chapter is faith: genuine faith, growing faith, grounded faith.
Once you become a believer, God wants you to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” (Philippians 2:12-13). Then Paul says, “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
A lot of people are confused by this Philippians passage where it says, “Work out your own salvation.” This is what the Peter passage is all about. You ask, “Well, aren’t we saved by grace?” Yes. We aren’t saved by our good works. But we are saved unto good works. Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone; it produces good works.
Peter gives us three things about a growing faith. First, he gives us the recipe for a growing faith; secondly, he gives us the reasons for a growing faith; and thirdly, we’ll see the results of having a true, growing faith.
The first thing is the most important: what’s the recipe for a growing faith? It is found in verses 5-7. Peter says, in the King James translation, “And beside this.” In addition to what he listed in verses 1-4, we are to add some things to what he listed. He said, “giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.” You start the Christian life by faith, and then you add to your faith these ingredients to have a growing faith.
What must we do to have a growing faith? It starts with “giving all diligence,” verse 5. The word “diligence” means “to give intense effort.” Give it your best shot. Work hard. Labor. It means “try your hardest” or some translations have, “Work hard at it.” You need to be devoted to working hard and growing in your faith.
Peter says, “add to your faith.” By adding to your faith. I want you to notice that it says, “add to your faith,” not “the faith.” Peter is talking about your personal, subjective, individual, belief, trust, faith or reliance upon God. He’s not talking about the body of truth that we believe; we can’t add to that. It is “once for all delivered.” But he’s talking about adding to your personal faith.
In the Greek, “add to your faith” is a command, and it carries with it a note of urgency. So it commands all believers; this is not optional. You can’t read this verse and say, “Well, I’m not into that. I don’t want to add to my faith. I’m saved and going to heaven and not hell. That’s all I want.” No. God wants us to grow in our faith as believers in Jesus Christ while on the earth.
Peter lists seven qualities that we need to add to our faith if we want to grow. The first quality in growing faith is virtue, (verse 5). “Add to your faith virtue.”
The Christian life starts with faith, and what we add to it, is virtue. The New Living Translation defines virtue as, “moral excellence.” It means the courage to be committed to live a holy, separated, sanctified life in a hostile, corrupt, dark world.
Peter said in verse 3. God called us to glory and virtue:” That’s your calling; God has called you to virtuous living. God says, “Be holy, for I am holy.” He wants us to be holy like Him. So now that I’m saved and born again and have the Holy Spirit, He wants to make me holy.
One of the chief purposes of the Holy Spirit, is to make you more like Jesus Christ, to transform your life. It’s not just salvation, but it’s also growing by adding to your faith. It takes a determined commitment to live a virtuous life.
In Daniel 1, Daniel and his three Hebrew friends made a commitment that they would not be defiled by eating and drinking the wine of the king. It says in verse 8, “Daniel purposed in his heart.” The reason Daniel was able to live a virtuous life in Babylon was because he determined in his heart. This is what this word “virtue” means. So right here, right now, determine to live a pure, holy, godly life.
The second thing we need to add to our faith is knowledge (verse 5). “To virtue [add] knowledge.” You add to your faith, virtue and now add knowledge. The word “knowledge” is the Greek word “gnosis.” It is the practical, knowledge that is gained from the Word of God and walking in fellowship with God.
This is what you need as a Christian in order to grow: Read the Bible, study the Word of God, feed on God’s Word and then assimilate it into your life. As you grow through experience, the Word of God becomes a deep conviction. You can’t live a sanctified life without the Bible.
Jesus said in John 17:17, when He prayed for us to His Father: “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” That’s one of the great verses on how God sanctifies our lives; it’s through His Word. Psalm 119:9 and 11says, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word…. Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” The Word of God brings that knowledge, and then it’s lived out in our daily lives.
The third quality in this growing in faith is self-control or temperance, in the King James Bible. Verse 6 says to add “to knowledge [add] self-control.” It is the inner power to control a person’s desires and cravings. In the Scriptures, this temperance is not self-energized; it relies upon the Spirit of God and His power within you gives you self-control.
In Galatians, one of the manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. If you are filled with the Spirit, you won’t be fulfilling the deeds of the flesh. Galatians 5:16 says, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” If you are yielding to the flesh, it’s an evident sign that you’re not walking in the Spirit. You’re not growing in your faith. We have the ability, through the Holy Spirit, to gain victory over the flesh.
The fourth quality in growing faith is patience. The word “patience” literally means “abiding under pressure.” Self-control or temperance has to do with pleasures of life, while patience has to do with the pressures and problems of life. Patience is actually “perseverance” or “steadfast endurance.” Patience is not a passive concept. It is a positive concept of persevering or continuing or not giving up. Patience is unmoved by adversity or difficulty.
How do you have patience? By looking to God, by trusting in God, by waiting on God and not giving up. Peter fell. That’s why later on in the passage he says, “You will never stumble.” He denied the Lord three times. He doesn’t want us to stumble; he wants us to grow, so he says you need to add “to self-control perseverance” or steadfast endurance.
The fifth quality is godliness. Peter says, “to perseverance [add] godliness.” Godliness is simply God-likeness. To be godly is to be like God. “It is a person who seeks to please God in all things. It brings the sanctifying presence of God into all of life.” It brings God into your marriage, into your family, into your work, into your thoughts, into your attitudes, into your actions and into your pastimes. God is brought into every area of your life.
One of the godliest people in all of the Bible is the Old Testament character Joseph. He is a very Christ-like individual. There is nothing bad said about Joseph in the Bible, except that he had a tendency to tell people about what he was dreaming. That got him in big trouble. But whether he was in the pit, in the prison, in the palace, whether his brothers were bowing before him, he always kept God in perspective.
Every time Joseph speaks there is a reference to God. When his brothers were bowing before him, and he had the power to take revenge and imprison or kill them, he said, “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.” When Mrs. Potiphar said to Joseph, “Lie with me,” Joseph said, “How…can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Joseph always kept God in focus. And the reason Joseph was so godly was because he always thought about God, talked about God, kept God in focus in every aspect of his life. That’s so important.
The sixth quality is in verse 7: “brotherly kindness.” If you’re going to grow, to godliness you need to add brotherly kindness. In the Greek, there are several words for “love.” This “love” means “brotherly love.” It is a fellowship of the brothers, a love of the brotherhood.
Godliness does not exist in a vacuum or in isolation from others. We must demonstrate brotherly kindness through acts of kindness in community with other believers. In Romans 12:10, Paul says, “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love.” We are to be kind to the body of believers in Jesus Christ.
You can’t say, “I have no need of you.” We’re the body of Christ. How can you keep the “one another” if there are no others in your life? It’s not enough to just stay home and watch church online. People say, “I don’t go to your church, but I watch you every Sunday.” That’s good, but you need to be in fellowship. Staying home and watching online is not church. When you go to church, you should encourage one another, pray for one another. The Bible says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” So “brotherly kindness” is to be added in this context of the local church in order for you to grow.
The seventh quality needed in order to grow your faith is “love.” The King James translation says “charity.” Verse 7 says, “and to brotherly kindness [add] love.” Now here we have a different Greek word for love. It’s not “phileo”; it’s “agape.” 1 Corinthians 13 describes this kind of love. It’s a love not only for the brethren, but it’s also a love for all mankind, even for your enemies.
As a Christian, you are to love everyone, even your enemies. The Bible says God “sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” We are not to have any “hate lists”; we are to love all people. Love is the birthmark of the Christian. 1 John 4:7 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” We are to have that agape love for others.
What are we supposed to add to our faith? Moral excellence or virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience or perseverance, godliness or God-likeness, brotherly kindness and love. This is the qualities of growing faith. You can take that list, pray over it, work down the list and then bring a desire to bring those things onto your faith.
There are three things that should motivate us to have a growing faith. Number one, we don’t want to be unfruitful. Peter said that if these things are in you, you won’t be barren or unfruitful. If we add to our faith these virtues, we will not be unfruitful or barren. We will have a fruitful, growing, budding Christian life.
Peter is talking to believers, telling them they can become blind. You say, “Blind believers?! Shortsighted believers?!” Yes. They don’t see God in everything. They don’t see the reality of spiritual things.
As a Christian, you can go blind, spiritually speaking. You don’t see spiritual reality. You find yourself laboring “for the food which perishes, [but not] for the food which endures to everlasting life.” You live for the mundane and temporal. You live for the now. Yes, you’ll go to heaven, but you’re not living for the heaven on earth.
We should always stay at the foot of the Cross. We come to the Cross to be forgiven, and we stay at the Cross to stay humbly dependent upon Him. We should never forget about the Cross of Christ.
You want to stay humble and dependent on God. You don’t want to become unfruitful or lose your spiritual sight. You don’t want to forget that your sins have been forgiven. And growing helps you in that regard.
There are three things that are benefits of having a growing faith. Number one is assurance. Verse 10 says, “Make your call and election sure.” God chooses us in eternity past and calls us in time. Those who are the called and the elect children of God will manifest a changed life; they will walk in holiness. God chose, or elected, all His creation to be with Him from the beginning of all creation.
Peter doesn’t want us to stumble. That’s why he said, “If you do these things, you will never stumble.” You will have the assurance and stability.