I think that's primarily everything we've got to talk about today before we come to the message. So let's pray as we come to God's word once again. Father, we thank you for your grace to us, your goodness, your kindness, your love lavished on us in every way through your son, Jesus Christ. Would you please encourage us today as we continue to look into your word We ask you that we would be changed as a result of our time spent together in your word, and we pray it in Jesus' excellent name. Amen. Well, if you would, Turn with me to 2 Peter chapter one as we continue our study through this short epistle. How many know today that God does not make us perfectly healthy and mature when he saves us? Instead, he starts us on a long, slow, and often painful journey towards maturity in Christlikeness. And that journey will begin with a single step and continue with many more steps, some big, some little along the way. And this is what theologians call sanctification, the process of being made holy, of being made into the image and the character of Christ. Louis Burkhoff describes sanctification as a work of God in which believers cooperate. Sadly, sometimes fail to cooperate. Warren Wiersbe points out that spiritual growth is not automatic. Despite all that God has done for us, It requires cooperation with God and the application of spiritual discipline and diligence. And as we will see today, this is very true. Unfortunately, some people have more work to do than others. Some people started on, shall we say, the wrong side of the tracks. Don't feel too much shame in that. I started there myself. Bible says that those who are forgiven much love much. Others have started in a far better position by virtue of being raised in good, stable Christian homes. Praise God that you began much closer to the image of Christ than many of us did by virtue of your upbringing. By the way, this disparity between starting points and the different speeds at which people grow helps to explain why not every Christian is a wonderful and perfect person, right? Fortunately, God's not through with us yet, and some of us started from very disadvantaged positions. Others simply haven't grown very much. They've pretty much stayed where they were. But based on what we saw last week and what we're going to see today, God is not happy when we are stagnant and lackadaisical about spiritual growth. Recall Peter has blessed his readers with this prayer in verse two. Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace is that which brings joy, pleasure, and delight. It's the goodwill, the loving kindness, and the unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor and blessing of God. Peace. is the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and content with whatever its earthly lot. It's peace with God and it's the peace of God in every circumstance. And Peter writes, this is yours in abundance, or in a number of translations, that this is multiplied to you, how? Through the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Greek word, as we said, epignosis. It means the precise and correct knowledge, particularly of things ethical and divine. And it's a key word, knowledge, in 2 Peter. Epignosis is a full, rich, thorough knowledge involving a great degree of intimate understanding in the subject. It's not abstract, it's not purely theoretical knowledge. Epignosis carries the idea of participation by the knower in the object known, and thus that known one more powerfully influences them. It also carries the idea of a special appreciation for that knowledge. It's important to note, too, that the false teachers, who Peter will address later in this letter, were arguing that their so-called superior knowledge meant that they could live as they pleased, particularly as they indulge in sexual immorality all the while claiming not to suffer any spiritual consequences or damage as a result of their lifestyle. Peter's inspired words here teach us that true knowledge of God instead will produce Christ-like character. As Jesus in his great priestly prayer recorded in John 17 said, Now this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Last week we saw that God does not want Christians to live life in our own strength. He provides all that we need to live a life that is pleasing to him. Verse three, his divine power has given us everything that we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. That divine power is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. And through it, we have been given everything that we need for life and godliness. God gave it to us. It's a work of God. And we lack nothing. Again, how? Well, we obtain this provision through precise and correct knowledge of the Lord and his ways. Obtained through our knowledge of the scriptures. and our knowledge of him. Greek word, epignosis again. Paul wrote in Philippians 3, whatever was to my prophet, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For whose sake I've lost all things, I consider them now rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. And this righteousness that comes from God and is by faith, well, I want to know Christ. And I want to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead. God saved us for his glory and because he is good. Peter's also inspired to say that we have all these things as a result of God's personal and effectual calling of each one of us. And Jesus said in John chapter 10, all things have been committed to me by my father. No one knows who the son is except the father. And no one knows who the father is except the son and those to whom the son chooses to reveal to him. We're called by his glory. In Greek, that's the word doxa. We get our word doxology from it. It means splendor, brightness, magnificence, excellence, majesty. And we are called by his goodness, meaning his moral excellence, his virtue. Some translations say that we're called to his glory and goodness. I think it's both. primarily called by, but were also called to the Lord's own glory and goodness. In other words, to become more and more like him in every way, every day. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians four, for God who said, let light shine out of the darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. And John wrote in his first epistle, we also know that the son of God has come to give us an understanding so that we may know him who is true. and we are in him who is true, even in his son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Well, verse four, through these, what these, his divine power, the correct knowledge of him and his own glory and goodness, God's glory and goodness show in the magnificent and valuable promises he makes to believers. He's given to us very great, exceedingly great, magnificent, precious promises that is, for instance, the promise of both eternal and abundant life. the resurrection, the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit, promises of grace, promises of joy, of strength, of guidance, of help, of instruction, wisdom, the promise of heaven and eternal rewards when we get there, just to name a few. So Christians are privileged to be made more and more like Christ. Second half of verse four, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature. And this is an incredible thought. We're told here that you and I can participate in the divine nature, we can become partakers of God's character. How do we share in this nature of the Lord? Because the Holy Spirit dwells within each and every believer. And do you understand, friends, how marvelous, how great that is, how powerful because we've been transformed, because we've been set free from our corrupting lusts. Last part of verse four, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. Because for believers, that escape is already a past done deal. Through the transaction that occurred at the cross as Jesus paid the price to set us free from the penalty and power of sin. Corruption here means rot or decay and the stench that comes with it like a garbage dump. We've escaped that corruption caused by the lusts of the flesh because of the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. And I hope that you can see, I wanted to go back over all of this one more time, because it's so rich, it's so encouraging. These wonderful truths are for all of us who believe in him. Thus far in these first four verses of the letter, Peter's been inspired here to encourage us with the knowledge that spiritual growth is the work of God. But in the next several verses, we will now see him turn to discuss how it is that we are to respond to these wonderful truths. We'll see him share that spiritual growth is the work of the Lord, but it's also our responsibility. Spiritual growth is the work of the Lord, but it's also our responsibility. So let me read verses five to eight. We'll dig into what our responsibility is in light of all that God has done and does for us. Our message title is Our Responsibility to Grow, and we are in 2 Peter 1 5-8. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness, and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness, and to godliness, mutual affection, and a mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So let me say at the outset, Christians are called to be speedily diligent to grow spiritually. We're called to be speedily diligent to grow spiritually. Peter begins his next section referring to our responsibility by saying, for this very reason, that is, in light of everything that has just been shared in the first four verses about the way God has lavishly provided for us, we are to make every effort, that's what most modern translations say, Several say applying or giving all diligence. That's the new American standard of the King James. Make every effort is a thought for thought translation of the original Greek three words used here. It's a phrase that actually is pretty clear and it's an accurate statement of our responsibility. But the word for word translation say applying or giving And the original Greek word used here, paraistphoro, is a word that literally means bring in besides, or to contribute along with something else. In conjunction with what God has done and does for us, we are to introduce simultaneously to his work all or every diligence. It's translated from the Greek spoudei. Spude means earnestness in accomplishing, promoting, or striving after something. Could be considered the opposite of negligence, okay? Instead, spude speaks of zeal, of perseverance, determination, and painstaking effort of applying oneself, but that effort is also coupled with an eagerness or a sense of urgency, literally haste or speed. to accomplish what is undertaken, namely our own spiritual growth and our confirmation to the divine nature of Christ. We are to make every effort to hasten to add to our faith, That is to supply or supplement our faith. The Believer's Bible Commentary says that God does not make us holy against our will or without our involvement. There must be desire, determination, and discipline on our part. And this word add to or supply is really a fascinating word in the Greek. It's epicoriego, and it meant a choir master. What does that mean? The great Greek plays by men like Sophocles and Euripides required large choruses for their production, and this made them very expensive to produce and stage. The Scottish minister William Barclay explained in the great days of Athens there were public spirited citizens who voluntarily took on the duty at their own expense of collecting, maintaining, training, and equipping such choruses. These men were the choir masters and they supplied every need for their choirs. The word, he writes, has a certain lavishness in it. It never means to equip in any cheese-sparing or miserly way. It means lavishly to pour out everything that's necessary for a noble performance. That is one of my new favorite words, cheese-sparing. My friends, are you sparing the cheese? Is your burger bare? Are you satisfied with that pasteurized, processed, cheese, food, slice, product? You got a nice slice of Tillamook cheddar melting on there. Are you lavishly equipping your faith? Or are you sparing the cheese? Nelson's Bible commentary suggests that in Greek drama, the plays were put on by the combined effort of a poet who wrote the script, the state which provided the theater, and a choreagos who paid the expenses. This called for a generous but sometimes costly effort on his part. And Peter seems to have in mind that God has written in the blood of Jesus the captivating script for a Christian life. The world is the theater where it will be played out, but the believer must cooperate by expending diligent effort to make the script come alive in vivid display. Epicoriego came to mean then a generous and a costly cooperation. Douglas Moo writes that Peter's point here is that spiritual growth is not a matter that Christians can treat lightly. It's a goal to which we need to give ourselves body and soul every day of our lives. And Peter's inspired to explain that the foundation, the root of spiritual growth is faith. A faith that he's already described as precious back in verse one. Why is faith precious? Well, you might ask. Because it too is a gift from God, according to Ephesians 2.8, for it is by grace that you have been saved through faith. And this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Salvation is free, it's undeserved, it's unmerited, it's a gift of God's grace. And Ephesians 2.8 tells us that the faith that we need to obtain our salvation is also a gift of His grace. According to 2 Peter 1.1, it's a precious faith that allows us to receive the righteousness of Christ, which we desperately need in order to be saved from our sin. And whenever we see this word faith translated from the Greek word pistis in scripture, it's important that we differentiate what the original author intended us to understand by his use of the word. Because there are three possible definitions according to the Greek lexicon. The context of the passage and the way the word is used will lead us to find the correct meaning. So the first way that the word pistis is used is refers to the tenants and the truth that is taught by scripture. We may call it the faith, the accumulated beliefs held by Christians, the gospel and its explanations, correct biblical theology and doctrine. And you may have noticed as I said this, and this meaning for the word faith can most easily be identified by the use of what we call the definite article, the faith. or in verse one, a faith as precious as ours. Second way that pistis is used in scripture refers to a personal conviction that God exists, is the creator and ruler of all things, and that he is the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Jesus Christ. It's belief with the predominant idea of trust or confidence. Have you ever been up to the Sears, former Sears Tower, I don't remember what they call it now, but they have a platform up on the top floor. It's made out of glass. Now, you can say that you believe that you can walk out there, but until you actually step out and trust that glass, That's what we're talking about. That's the difference between supposed belief and actual trust. Author of Hebrews explains this form of faith in this way. Without faith, it's impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. A few verses earlier, the author writes, now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. We might even consider faith As being another sense, like hearing, or sight, or touch, you could say that faith is the faculty that allows us to perceive the spiritual world. Less frequently, faith, or pistis, may be speaking of Christian faithfulness, a holy fervor that flows out of our conviction and our belief. And sometimes the author can be referring to two or even all three of these at the same time. Second Peter 1.1, I believe, has both the content of our faith and our belief and trust in that faith in view. Here in verse five, the faith, as in true doctrine, can't be what he's talking about, however, because there's no definite article used, right? It doesn't say the faith here. And more importantly, there's no possible way for any Christian to add to that truth, right? We're being asked to add to our faith. You don't add anything to the truth of God's word. So Peter then surely is referring to our conviction, our belief, and our trust in the Lord, and perhaps in a lesser sense, the faithfulness that should then lead us to take responsibility alongside of God's gifts for our spiritual growth. Because according to Ephesians 2.10, we're God's workmanship. created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do. And here in 2 Peter chapter five, the old apostle is inspired to list some good work for us to do. Friends, make no mistake, we are talking about work. some labor, some effort on our part as we saw from those terms, make every effort and add to or better lavishly supply. Considering all that God has given to us, Peter now gives us seven building blocks that we're to make every effort to lavishly equip into our lives in order to grow spiritually and to form the Lord's divine nature into our lives. Now, I need to quickly point out that even though these virtues are presented in what could be called a stair-step pattern, in the past when I've taught this, this is actually the way I did it, the more I studied this and the more I said, I can't quite do that. They're not really intended to be thought of as work on one until we've mastered it, and then we move onward and upward to the next. Each of them are important. and all of them have to be worked on together. So in addition to faith, we are to supply generously goodness or excellence. This is the Greek word arete. It's a virtuous course of thought, feeling and action, virtue and moral goodness, and any particular moral excellence such as modesty or purity and so on. Same word that's used, of Christ's goodness or excellence back in verse three. Paul uses this word, translated there as excellent in Philippians 4.8. He suggests a mindset that helps believers cultivate this moral goodness as exemplified by the Lord. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent, erite, or praiseworthy, think about those things, okay? This gets our mind in the right mind space. In the Old Testament, various people are described as having a noble character, and that's really what we're talking about. Warren Wiersbe suggests that the land produces its crops The land that produces crops is excellent because it is fulfilling its purpose. The tool that works correctly is excellent because it is doing what it is supposed to do. and a Christian is supposed to glorify God because he or she has God's nature. So when we do this, we show excellence because we are fulfilling God's purpose for our lives. We are to supply to our faith goodness and moral excellence. To goodness, we are to add knowledge. This is the Greek word gnosis, more general than epignosis, that's used in verses two and three. Gnosis here refers to a seeking out to know, inquiry, investigation. It's learning and growing. It's the general knowledge of Christian religion, according to the lexicon, the deeper and more perfect and enlarged knowledge of this religion, such as belongs to the more advanced, and especially of things lawful and unlawful for Christians. It's moral wisdom as seen in right living. And the key verse that closes this short letter uses this same word gnosis, grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Peter highlights his responsibility to grow spiritually at the outset and at the close of this epistle. Paul writes to warn the Ephesians, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. And he rejoices, he writes to the Corinthians, I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you've been enriched in every way with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge. Same word, gnosis. God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you don't lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end. so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." Notice that. He will keep you firm. God is faithful. And he who called you into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, will do it. Mu suggests that Peter's use of gnosis instead of ecumenosis for knowledge here likely means that he's not referring to the basic intimate knowledge of God that defines who we are in Christ as in verses two and three. Here it most likely refers to the ability to discern God's will and to orient one's life in accordance with that will. It's truth properly understood and applied. or knowledge that leads to practical wisdom. As Paul wrote to the Romans, don't conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. See, the false teachers claim that their superior knowledge released them from the need for self-control. But the cure for false knowledge is not less knowledge, but more of God's truth. Peter goes on here to emphasize the true knowledge lends itself and leads to self-control. So in verse six, we're told to knowledge, we're to add self-control. King James says temperance, this is the Greek enkradia, It's the virtue of one who masters their desires and passions, especially the sensual appetites. Other than this verse, Incratia is only used two other times in the New Testament as regarding the cruel, licentious, and base governor of Judea and Samaria. Luke in Acts 24 says that while Paul was under arrest for supposedly inciting riots among the Jews and for desecrating the temple in Jerusalem, the governor Felix sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. And as Paul talked about righteousness, self-control, and cradia, and the judgment to come, Felix became afraid. and said that's enough for now, you may leave when I find it convenient, I'll send for you. The divine mystery really here is that we don't master ourselves, rather we submit ourselves to the control of the Holy Spirit in order to enjoy self-control. Proof of this is, the remaining time that this word, encratia, is used, it refers to the last of the fruits of the spirit, as listed by Paul in Galatians 5. The concept, though, of how we overcome our desires and passions can be found in his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter nine, beginning in verse 25. He writes, everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly, and I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I've preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified from the prize. Warren Wiersbe suggests that self-control deals with the pleasures of life, particularly inappropriate and sinful pleasures. By contrast, the fourth building block we're to add to our faith deals with the pressures and the problems of life, and this we are to add is perseverance. The Greek word here is hupomone. It means steadfastness. It means constancy. It means endurance. Hupomone is the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and devotion, even by the greatest trials, persecutions, or sufferings. Hupomone literally means to bear up under or to remain under great pressure. Perseverance is staying on the narrow path even when everything around us is trying to push us off. That's Swindoll's description there. Psalmist wrote, be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Do not fret when men succeed in their ways and when they carry out their wicked schemes. Jesus in his parable of the four soils spoke of the importance of perseverance. He said that the seed, the word of God that stands for those who with noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering, produce a crop. So did the author of Hebrews, writing, therefore, since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders, the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance, hupomone. the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and then sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. The book of Revelation, it's written that those facing the tribulation need to have patience, endurance, and faithfulness on the part of God's people. And understand, friends, that like all of these characteristics, perseverance is both a gift of God in that the result of God's being present in our lives and at work, and it is also the result of our cooperation with that work. Our firm footing in the faith allows us to persevere According to Nelson's commentary, viewing all circumstances as coming from the hand of our loving Father who is in control of all things is the secret of perseverance. Say that again, I think it's important. Viewing all circumstances as coming from the hand of our loving Father who is in control of all things is the secret of perseverance. Wiersbe suggests that we must expect trials to come Because without them, we could never learn perseverance. We must, by faith, let our trials work for us and not against us. And the sure sign of true faith is that it endures, perseveres under pressure. Fifth, to our perseverance, we're to add or lavishly supply godliness. This is the Greek word eusebia. reverence, respect, deference, or devotion to God, and as a result, desiring to be more and more like him. The increasing measure of taking on the divine nature This actually used to be a word that was often translated as piety. That's now a word that's kind of fallen out of common use and favor. It carries the idea of worshiping well and of being in a right relationship with both God and our fellow men. That is, we exhibit the proper attitudes and behavior towards both of them. Michael Green describes UCB as a practical awareness of God in every aspect of life. And when we get to chapter three of this letter, we'll see Peter write, since God is going to judge the world, you ought to live holy and godly lives. Titus Peter wrote, knowledge of the truth leads to godliness. And he warned Timothy, have nothing to do with godless myths or old wives' tales. Rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. A few chapters later, he added that godliness with contentment is great gain. Remember that Peter has already declared that God has provided all that we need for life and godliness back in verse three. We're called to live for the Lord, not for ourselves. And Mu puts it this way, while the Lord gives us the ability to become godly, it is now our responsibility to use the power that he has made available to us and actually work at becoming people who please him in every area and phase of life. Sixth, to godliness we are told to add or supply brotherly kindness or in the NIV, mutual affection. This is the Greek word Philadelphia. It's fraternal affection, the love between brothers and sisters. And it speaks of having warm and tender feelings towards someone that we care about or with whom we are friends. The lexicon describes Philadelphia as the love which Christians cherish for each other as brethren in the Lord. Paul echoes the importance of this building block in his letter to the Romans. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. He writes to the Thessalonians on the topic of brotherly love, you need for no one to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. And to the Galatians he wrote, therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, but especially those who belong to the family of believers. Michael Green points out, brotherly love still has to be worked at. Love for the brethren entails bearing one another's burdens, fulfilling the law of Christ. It means guarding our spirit, giving unity from destruction by gossip, by prejudice, narrowness, or refusal to accept a brother or sister for who they are in Christ. And Wiersbe describes this word Philadelphia as love because of our likeness to others. But agape, Love, he writes, is love shown in spite of our differences, and that's why to this brotherly kindness and mutual affection, we are called to add love, or the Greek word agape. It's considered the highest form of love because it is a godlike love. It's a love not necessarily centered in feelings, but rather a sacrificial love that blesses not because the object of the love is worthy to receive, but often actually in spite of the unworthiness of the object. It's the sort of love that Paul describes in Romans 5, 6 to 8. You see just at the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly, the unworthy, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Good folks at GotQuestions describe the difference between these last two building blocks. They write, since phileo love involves feelings of warmth and affection towards another person, we do not have phileo love towards our enemies. However, God commands us to have agape love towards everyone. These include those whose personalities clash with ours, those who hurt us, those who treat us badly, and even those who are hostile towards our faith. Jesus said, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you. In time, as we follow God's example of agape love for our enemies, we might even begin to feel phileo love for some of them as we start to see them through God's eyes. Green states that God's agape love is evoked not by what we are, but by what and who he is. It's not that we are lovable, but that he is love. God's sacrificial agape love was expressed to the utterly unworthy objects of his love, we who were his enemies. You see the magnitude of that kind of love. The one being who is most worthy of all honor and glory and praise died for those who reject him and his love. And he calls us to have that same kind of love. Believer's Bible commentary explains that agape love is not primarily a matter of the emotions but of the will. It's not a sentimental exhilaration to experience. Agape love is a command to obey and as such it needs a supernatural empowerment of the spirit to express. It takes God's divine life to love one's enemies and pray for those who would persecute or even execute you. In the list of the fruits of the spirit given in Galatians 5, agape love is listed first, and it's all the remaining fruits are categorized under this, which Paul calls the greatest of these, love. God calls us, my friends, to be eagerly diligent, to make every effort to grow and build this kind of love and these other building blocks into our lives. And that Bible translation notes make a fascinating point here. They write, the list of virtues found in verses five to seven stands in tension to the promises given in verses two to four. What appears to be synergism of effort or even a contradiction, God supplies the basis, the promises, the grace, the power, and so on, while believers must also provide the faith and excellence and so on. Well, in reality, it encapsulates the mystery of sanctification. Each believer is responsible before God for his conduct and spiritual growth, yet that growth could not take place without God's prior work and constant ongoing enabling. We must not neglect our responsibility, yet the ability and the credit should belong to God. Paul says the same thing. Continue working out your salvation with humility and dependence for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort is God. Doug Moo writes here, surely it's not by chance that agape love, the crown of Christian virtues, comes at the climax of Peter's staircase of Christian qualities to be cultivated. Note the parallel with Colossians 3.14. Over all these virtues put on love, agape, which binds them together in perfect unity. Love is not only the last and greatest of the Christian virtues, it's also the glue that holds all of them, the rest of them together. It's a quality without which all the others will be far less than they should be. And Swindoll wisely and quickly points out that this is quite a list. If Peter had not prefaced these steps from faith to love with a reminder that God himself provides the power to grow in these virtues, they might well seem as insurmountable as Mount Everest. but accompanied by God's promises and his presence of the spirit, we can take Peter's instructions seriously and we begin to apply all diligence, having a firm hope that God will indeed work in us and with us as we strive to grow more and more like Christ. All of this is the fruit of being the possessors, the partakers of the divine nature through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. So Peter continues by telling us that Christian growth in character, as important as that is, is actually not the end in itself. Instead, it's the means to an end because spiritual growth will be blessed by the Lord. Spiritual growth will be blessed by the Lord. Look at verse eight. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they'll keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. If these characteristic building blocks are really yours, they truly belong to you, and they are in the Greek, planadzo, that is, they exist in abundance and they are continually increasing. Literally, they are superabounding. These building blocks of spiritual growth will keep us from being ineffective. This is the Greek word argos. It's a compound word, a meaning not and ergos meaning working. In other words, literally lazy, not working, shunning the labor which one ought to perform means to be inactive, to be idle, unemployed, or useless. And unproductive, again, the Greek akarpos, it's another compound word, a, not, and karpos, fruit. In other words, you will be without fruit, barren, not yielding what you ought to yield. If you recall our study from Mark's gospel during the final few days of his life, Jesus cursed a fig tree outside of Jerusalem for its lack of fruit and by the next day it had withered and died. And we noted in our study then that that fig tree actually represented the Jewish religious leaders and the people of the nation who had failed to produce the fruit that God had desired. And in Luke 13, six to seven, it says that he told this parable. A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, for three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and I haven't found any. Cut it down. Why should it? Use up the soil. God's goal. God's expectation is that his children will indeed bear fruit because he himself has provided everything that they need to do so. Everything we need for life and godliness by his own glory and grace. Interestingly, the New Living Translation chose to render this verse in the positive rather than negatively. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Shouldn't that be our life goal? Knowledge here again is back to epignosis. for the third time in these initial verses, this full, rich, thorough knowledge that shares in the nature of Christ and makes possible all of these Christian virtues to which we are called to make every effort to cooperate with God. and to form to a greater and greater extent into our lives. Spiritual growth, friends, is the work of God, but it's also our responsibility. Let's pray. Lord, how we bless you and thank you for your provision, but we pray that we would not be wasting the provision that you have given to us. Help us to be a people who are partaking of the divine nature and thereby becoming the productive and fruitful people that you call us to be. We ask this in your precious name.