This being the fifth message in this series, and as we prepare for a detailed study of three additional character qualities found in 2 Peter 1:3-8, let us look at some of the key observations from the first four messages to understand the context for further study.

1. Peter is writing to those who are saved about their sanctification, not to the unsaved about their salvation.  He does not challenge his readers to work hard in order to be saved, but to strive diligently because they are.

2. Peter calls for diligent, disciplined, life-long effort on the part of the Christian.  This is a discipleship text which requires discipline and self-denial.  It is a challenge to every Christian for all the days of their lives.  No Christian ever works his way through this text to move on to other pursuits.

3. The Christian’s efforts are based on the sovereignty of God and the sufficiency of His provisions.  God has provided all that is necessary for life and godliness.

4. Verses 5-7 contain a list of character qualities for which God has made provision and for which every Christian should strive.  Peter is not writing about duties or a “how to”, but about the kind of person the Christian should strive to become.

5. The character qualities we are to pursue are also the character traits of God.  These qualities should be evident in our lives.

6. Peter gives us a selected list of qualities unlike any other list in the Scriptures.  There are other New Testament “lists”, such as the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, yet none are exactly alike.  This suggests the list we have here in 2 Peter 1 was provided for a specific reason.  He has selected this list of qualities because false teachers will seek to distort the truth of the Scriptures and also seek to seduce men to follow them.  The qualities Peter lists, being character traits of God, provide a clear contrast to the character of false teachers and their followers.  Exhibiting them will present an authenticity to the Christian’s faith and to the claim to faith, which will be indisputable and trustworthy, providing a good example for others to follow.

As we continue this series, we will expand our understanding of the last three qualities in Peter’s list: adding to godliness, brotherly affection and love.

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These beautiful qualities are not things that the Lord simply pours into us as we passively receive them.  We are called to give all diligence to these things, working in partnership, striving with God to add them.  These are characteristics of a growing Christian.  We are either growing or regressing; we do not remain static.  They are not fleshly works that we fabricate for ourselves but through God, our sovereign, heavenly Father, orchestrating the preciseness of the circumstances as He makes our days to stretch us where He wants us to grow.  Each day, God has ordained the things for us and as we walk in them, we often see things revealed about us in our thoughts, words and deeds that we do not like or want to be known, things God wants us to work on so we can honestly walk before Him.  

Consider: If our true words, actions and thoughts were seen, would they look like the qualities we are about to study this morning?

As we look at these additional qualities, let us build a contrast using biblical opposites to describe what our lives should NOT look like, which might help us better see what they should.

“Make every effort to supplement your doubt with dishonesty, and dishonesty with worldly wisdom, and worldly wisdom with lack of discipline, and lack of discipline with procrastination, and procrastination with ungodliness, and ungodliness with partiality and harshness, and partiality and harshness with hate and indifference.  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being effective and fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

It is clear what will come of a life characterized by any assortment or all of these things. Additionally, it is clear why we are to give all diligence to these Godly things, working in partnership with God to add them.  These are characteristics of a growing Christian.  So let us focus on the three remaining qualities.

Godliness

Using Vine’s Dictionary, “godliness” is defined as, “a life quality that encompasses both true reverence in worship and its companion, active obedience.”  This is what we do, day to day, as we walk with the Lord, practiced religion, an attitude of reverence that seeks to please God in all things.  It desires to be in the right relation with both God and man.  One commentator notes that it is, “that piety or reverence which is characterized by a Godward attitude and does that which is well-pleasing to Him.”  Godliness brings the sanctifying presence of God into all the experiences of life and distinguishes the true believer from the ungodly false teachers and their followers.

Consider: We know that God has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness so, why are we commanded to supply godliness?  Do we not already have it?

Looking at this first instance of godliness in 2 Peter 1:3, we see that it is providing a foundation of God’s sufficiency.  It is perfect for our lives, our needs, our circumstances.  The perfect sufficiency is the time required to do what He has called us to do each day.  Christ on the cross could say, “It is finished”, meaning through His Father’s sufficiency, He perfectly accomplished each and every one of the things God had for Him in the perfect amount of time He was given. 

God’s perfect sufficiency and His undeserved grace are so powerful they save us, sustain us and empower us to righteous living.

• In 2 Peter 1:16 we read, “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”  This morning, we are being called by the Majestic one to a higher standard.

• If we continue to 1 Timothy 4:8, “for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and for the life to come.”

• Also, in 1 Timothy 3:16, we find our perfect example in Christ, and we see that the mystery of godliness is godliness as embodied in, and communicated through, the truths of the faith concerning Christ because His divine power has granted to us all things. It is through that knowledge of Him who called us to glory and excellence we see modeled in Christ.  The word behind “mystery” is really just an unveiling that we see as we read and study God’s word in the life of Christ to see a perfect example of this glory and excellence lived out in our human existence from the perspective of Christ.  We have no other perfect example.

Adding to this foundation of God’s sufficiency through Christ and our identity in Him, let us talk about the second instance of godliness in this passage of Scripture.  Why does He ask us to supply it?  Here godliness provides instruction and a prescription for believers to live with full awareness of God’s presence in every circumstance.  As we look at 1 Timothy 2:2 and 1 Timothy 6:6, we begin to see a hint of what this looks like in daily living…a contentment, an ability to see God in all things and then, being content in Him, we can live that out.  With that contentment is a great eternal gain but also a great godly gain as we are living life the way God intended.  Also, we find in 1 Corinthians 10:31, a little more in that no matter what we do we do to the glory of God, as if He is watching us, because He is, and we are doing it to please Him.  We are properly honoring God in daily living.

John Calvin coined the term, “Coram Deo” (in the presence of God) and R.C. Sproul has given us great insight to Coram Deo in daily living:

“To live one’s life before God is a scriptural concept, as the Lord is omnipresent and perceives our every action and thought.  Since God created us for His glory, our lives should be lived for Him and His glory.  Living Coram Deo is to recognize that God is ultimately who we live for; we do not live for others’ approval, recognition or admiration.  Since God alone is the One who redeemed us from our sin, He alone deserves all the glory and praise. Coram Deo counters what is taught in the world today, which teaches we should focus on ourselves and do what we think is right for us.  Popularity, fame and fortune are acceptable pursuits.  In contrast, Coram Deo reminds us we live for an audience of one: the Lord God. Walking before God and living to glorify Him will affect all areas of our lives, and we should be ready to tell others about this purpose of living for Jesus.”

Coram Deo is done with an understanding that He is sovereign in all circumstances of life and we trust Him in what He allows for us each day.  No matter what happens in our lives, our aim should be to please God.  

Consider: does the way we live and the prayers we pray reflect this desire?

This is our vertical reverence for God which should be evident in all areas of our lives, our vertical relationship with Christ, which leads to our horizontal virtues of brotherly affection and love.  Are these not the same thing?  What is the difference?

Brotherly Kindness (Love) 

In the New Testament, brotherly kindness is the love which Christians cherish for each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, to be kindly affectionate to one another. This is a command that Christians should not have a cold and stand-offish attitude towards one another.  We should be giving preference to one another and it shows that the displays of our affection are genuine.  They will know we are Christians by our (brotherly) love for one another.  It is a call to simple, good manners among Christians, cherishing each other as family, mutually sacrificing for one another.  This type of love is a companion of affection for God and is not mutually exclusive: if we love God we will love our brother (1 John 4).

As we look through Scripture, we can easily find supporting passages such as Romans 12:10, I Thessalonians 4:9, Hebrews 13:1 and 1 Peter 1:22 that show what brotherly love should look like when properly lived out in our daily lives.  We must obediently persist in displaying this kind of love to each other!  It is a love based on what we share in common with the One we love, a shared relationship with others who are in Christ.  It is a love that can be immediately sensed among people who have never met.

Consider: have you ever experienced this immediate sense of love with another believer?  Is this always the way brotherly love is obtained?

To the second question, the answer is “no”, it does not always come naturally otherwise God, through Peter, would not have found it necessary to command us to pursue brotherly love with diligence in his first two letters. Sin not only alienates us from God but, it can also alienate us from each other.  We can easily gravitate away from some in showing this brotherly love, which is a form of “exclusiveness” or as God through James teaches, displaying partiality.

Consider: does this characterize some of our relationships within the church?  Undoubtedly.

When we come to faith in Christ, we are united with Him and also with our fellow believers.  This union crosses every barrier, whether it be racial or social or whatever.  Yet, while God has removed the barriers between believers, we must diligently strive to practice brotherly kindness, a humanly impossible task for which God provides the means to accomplish.  He who called us has provided everything we need for life and godliness.

Consider: has God revealed to you any fellow believer for which you need to establish this brotherly love you have not shown?

Love

But, we are not to limit our love within the Christian community, we are to extend God’s (agape) love to everyone.  I Peter 4:8 → “Above all, keep fervent in our love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.”  This kind of (agape) love requires the Christian to put another’s spiritual good ahead of his own desires regardless of the way he may have be treated.  In Scripture, we find this kind of love in John 3:16 (what God did for us), 1 John 3:16 (what God wants us to do) and Romans 5:5 (what God is prepared to achieve in us through His Spirit).  The Spirit of the God who is love has freely given to us in order to reproduce in us that same quality of love.

When we practice our brotherly affection and love, we are fulfilling the ten commandments, as Jesus teaches in Matthew 22:37-39.

Agape love is not prompted by what the other person is or does but, by a love rooted in what God is.  It is the love of God that flows through us.  “We love, because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)  And Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13:13, speaks of this love as the greatest of the Christian virtues.  We find in Matthew 5:43-48, as we love others we manifest the perfections of God to men.  Is this not a wonderful picture of God’s love towards us?  Our faithful God will lead us through sanctification to exhibit this love as a follower of Christ.

At the root of our text from 2 Peter 1:3-7 is God’s sovereignty in our lives.  Through circumstances He ordains, God develops these qualities.  Wonderfully, being the maker of our days, God brings about the situations we need to grow in them.  Our responsibility is to respond biblically to the situations He has prescribed, whether they be through trials and/or suffering, and He will change us to be more like His Son to exhibit these qualities.  Be mindful, He will never allow more than we can bear (I Corinthians 10:13).

As we choose to follow Christ through these prescribed circumstances, trials and sufferings, God will allow us to please Him through them.  What a wonderful foundation for our souls: to live in Coram Deo, in the presence of God, not understanding what He has ordained, yet maintaining an attitude of wanting to please Him even though it be hard, when the tears may be flowing, knowing He is faithful.

So, we arrive at 2 Peter 1:8, “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  God’s word is calling us out of unfruitfulness (lacking productivity), uselessness.  As these qualities are increasing in our lives, we will have assurance of our faith and He will bring about opportunities to serve and to be an encouragement to others in the church.  There must be a manifestion of God’s divine nature in the life of the believer!

As we conclude, where is our hope, our encouragement?  As has already been said today, God who called you is sufficient.  To the one who is in Christ, all things are possible.  When adversity, including hurt or rejection, arises in your life, surrender your thoughts and emotions to God, taking them captive and pausing to ask Him what you need to do, or how do you need to respond, to please Him.  Ephesians 4:31-32 provides the perfect example of what brotherly kindness and (agape) love should look like.  God will bring about situations and circumstances to develop these qualities in the believer who desires to grow in them.  Over time, our godly responses will become automatic.

Even though we have been forgiven by God and we desire to obey Him by forgiving those who have sinned against us, we still need to practice right thinking and cultivating the Godly virtues of kindness, tenderheartedness and love.  Undoubtedly, this is a difficult process.  We must draw divine strength from the Holy Spirit who will provide the grace and sufficiency to obey what God is asking us to do.  In Christ, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.  

Take comfort and be encouraged: all seven qualities are possible because of God’s sufficiency, knowng that, “...He who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

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SELAH:

• In the presence of God (“Coram Deo”) is how we are to live every moment of our lives. As you examine your life, can you say you are truly living for an audience of One?

• As you meditate on the godly character of brotherly kindness, has the Lord brought to mind any brother or sister in Christ to whom you have not displayed it?  If so, will you begin now to make right that relationship?

• Today, beyond the shadow of a doubt, can others conclude that God’s divine nature is being made manifest in you?

• Can you conclude in your heart that God is sufficient for all things in life and godliness?