Key verse: 2 Peter 3:18 where Peter implores his readers …… “to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.”
Peter was writing to beleaguered believers in an evil world where false teachers were aggressively spreading dangerous heresies.
We will address this issue in six sections.
This wretched world.
What is godly living?
The power for godly living.
Our work for our godly living.
The external dangers to our godly living.
Inner threats to our godly living.
2 Timothy Chapter 3 lists 19 characteristics of mankind in these end times which are described as “perilous times.”
These characteristics are: – men are lovers of themselves; lovers of money; boasters; proud; blasphemous; disobedient to parents; unthankful; unholy; unloving; unforgiving; slanderers; without control; brutal; despisers of God; traitors; headstrong; haughty; lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; and having a form of godliness but denying its power.
These evil attributes are pretty clear although the final category is worthy of more detailed comment. “Having a form of godliness”: this indicates that these people may seem to be outwardly religious and may even profess to be believers. However, their actions speak otherwise; indeed, their actions show that they are living a lie. Knowledge of God may have caused them re-think their conduct bur there has never been the genuine regeneration associated with being born again.
There is further scriptural description of the sorry state of the world in Hosea and Isaiah.
“There is no truth or mercy,
Or knowledge of God in the land.
By swearing and lying
Killing and stealing and committing adultery
They break all restraint
With bloodshed upon bloodshed.
Isaiah 59: 12-15
“For our transgressions are multiplied before You,
And our sins testify against us.
For our transgressions are with us
And as for our iniquities we know them.
In transgressing and lying against the Lord
And departing from our God
Speaking oppression and revolt;
Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood
Justice is turned back
And righteousness stands afar off.
For truth is fallen in the street
And equity cannot enter
So, truth fails
And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey”.
It is interesting that it is the one who departs from evil who becomes the prey. As evil increases, resisting it becomes a dangerous pursuit.
So what is godly living? Godliness: to be godly is to live reverently, loyally and obediently towards God.
After conversion we need not ask anything more of God to become godly. He has already provided us with every spiritual resource to manifest, sustain and perfect godly living. This is what 2 Peter refers to as us becoming “partakers of the divine nature”.
Continued progress in divine things reveals “growth in grace” (the practical demonstration of the Gifts of the Spirit) and growth in “knowledge”. This growth in knowledge means a larger, more thorough and more intimate knowledge of Yeshua through the study of God’s word and submission to Yeshua’s work and ways.
In 2 Timothy, Paul urged his pupil to “flee youthful lusts” and to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart. This of course reminds us of the Fruits of the Spirit as outlined in Galatians 5: – love; joy; peace; longsuffering; kindness; goodness; faithfulness; gentleness; and, self-control.
Godly living also involves living in expectation. Waiting for and earnestly desiring the coming of the Day of the Lord. The truth concerning the new heaven and the new earth should deepen our desire to live holy “as to the Lord”. That truth should really get hold of us. Knowing that we shall soon stand before the Lord should create a desire in us to be without spot or blemish. i.e., morally clean, recognising that every sin and transgression is an act of rebellion against God.
As we have already noted at our conversion, we are given all we need for godly living.
“……. as His (Yeshua’s) divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue …. “
Of course, we have the Holy Spirit to guide and inform.
Here we see what it takes to keep us from falling in this life and to ensure a triumphal entrance into the next. God has made the provision for us to have a lie of holiness. This provision is evidence of God’s power. Just as His power saves us, His power energises us to lead holy lives from then on.
The gospel is the power of God to salvation; to save us from the penalty of sin and from its power, from damnation and defilement.
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
God empowers us by making real provision for us to live in a godly fashion. The debt of sin has been paid in full and now through Yeshua, God justifies the ungodly sinner who believes in Messiah.
The ultimate recognition is that Yeshua has purchased all but redemption allies only to those who receive Yeshua as Lord and Saviour, availing themselves of the value of His shed blood. Whilst His work was sufficient for the redemption of all, it is only effective for those who respond, believe and accept Him.
The following seven promises empowers the believer to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust: – freedom from sin’s dominion; grace that is sufficient; power to obey God’s commands; victory over the Devil; escape when tempted; forgiveness when we confess our sin; and response when we call on Him.
Through reliance on scripture, we get a deeper appreciation od who God is – both loving Father and Judge. Through the blessing of the complete Bible, we can know God through Yeshua. The precious promises of God for salvation (abundant life) result in us being able to be His children in this age and thereby sharing in His nature by the possession of His eternal life.
We cannot just sit back and let the Holy Spirit bring us to godly living. Of course, we have just seen that the power of God is essential to this process. But the Christian life is not lived to the honour of God without effort by us. God will not bring us to godly living without our will and involvement. Even though God has poured out His divine power into the believer, the believer himself/herself is required to make every disciplined effort alongside what God has provided.
Returning to our key verse in 2 Peter 3: 18 what is required for growth is that the faith gifted by God is supplemented by seven elements of holiness which are to worked on and cultivated. These are: – Virtue which is moral excellence and the spiritual courage to stand up for God’s truth in a hostile world. Virtue has to be supplemented with Knowledge of spiritual truth obtained by sincere effort in studying the word of God and obeying its sacred principles. Knowledge and the work needed to use it requires Self Control: a life of discipline in prayer, study, the use of time; curbing appetites; and, developing discipline in sacrificial living. With self-control, Perseverance becomes a real possibility and this involves patient endurance in the face of persecution and adversity. To endure is a challenge. It is easy to start in a blaze of glory but difficulties soon arise. We need the art of bearing up and pressing on in the face of all that seems to be against us. If we can strive to act according to our faith, our study, be disciplined and endure, people will see evidence of Godliness in our lives as our lives will be more like that of Yeshua. Practical holiness will give evidence of Brotherly kindness to fellow believers and of Love for Mankind (even sinners).
As God has given us all that is necessary for godly living, we are obliged to cultivate it. God does not make us holy against our will or without our involvement. There must be real desire, determination and disciplined effort on our part.
Our principal external enemy of course is Satan. Deception is his trap. He is an inveterate, scheming, clever and subtle purveyor of lies and has been since the garden.
All false doctrine has a Satanic or human base. We need to cling to the Bible. The world is full of scoffers and it has never been more so. In dealing with unbelievers our contact as much as possible should be about giving the gospel, certainly not getting involved with their sin. An unbeliever cannot live as the Bible commands as he/she does not have divine life. Indeed, unbelievers develop a deep contempt for and a hostility towards our faith. It takes divine love, to love one’s enemies and to pray for one’s executioners as our precious Lord did.
Sadly, you will find teachers of false doctrines among Archbishops, Bishops and Ministers. They may well use orthodox Christian language; they just impose their own meanings.
Customarily, false teachers will deny one or more of the fundamental tenets of our faith: – the divine inspiration of Scripture; the deity of Yeshua; the tri-une Godhead; the virgin birth; Yeshua’s death as a substitution for sinners; His bodily resurrection; eternal punishment; salvation by grace through faith in Yeshua; or, the reality of the miracles of the Bible.
Those who teach such things bring swift judgment on themselves. But they can lead the vulnerable from Biblical truth. It is easy for the unsuspecting to be swept of their feet by clever arguments and thereby to lose their spiritual balance.
We need to ensure that the authority for what we listen to comes from the Bible. We need to be sure of the source of what is called “Truth”. Our affirmations and actions need to be founded on God’s word or else our hopes for godly living will be based on wishful thinking.
Firstly, we will look at the threat posed by our old selves creeping back in.
At the moment of conversion, we are given power and a strong impetus to put aside our old sinful selves. But the struggle continues. However, as we live in the practical enjoyment of what God has promised we can become more and more conformed to His image. The Holy Spirit changes us into His likeness from one degree of glory to another but this happens in accordance with our efforts. We mentioned before the need to guard against “youthful lusts”. This may not simply mean physical appetites but also to money, fame, pleasures and indeed to self-will, impatience, pride and vulgar levity. Indeed, it may refer to all unholy desire which could divert us from the path of purity and righteousness.
Secondly, in this final section, we must face the need to do the “hard yards” of study and continued prayer. There is either advance or decline in the pathway of discipleship and godly living. There is no standing still. If we move ourselves forward with God we will find strength and security. But if we try to stand still, there will be retreat and we will face danger to our well-being and even defeat.
Failure to persevere in developing the character of Messiah leads to emptiness, failure to practise, an attitude of living in the present, a lack of awareness of what is central to life, and forgetfulness over the precious blessings of having been cleansed from sin. God guards believers who move forward with Him. But great peril lies in spiritual idleness and blindness.
The only basis for admission to the kingdom is faith in Yeshua. But some will have more abundant entrance than others. The degree of reward depends on the extent of one’s conformity to the demands of godly living.
We need to remind ourselves constantly of the temporary state of this world. It is so easy to focus on the immediate rather than the eternal, on the material rather than the spiritual; of choosing what is passing over what is permanent.
Finally in this section, we need to consider the threat to our godly living if we do not prepare ourselves for trouble ahead. We have already seen in Isaiah that the person who departs from evil will become a “prey” to the ungodly. Peter added that those “… who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution”. (In the Greek the word for persecution means “to be put to flight”).
If we do not prepare ourselves for this onslaught, we will not be able to withstand it and we will fall away from godly living. We need to develop the appropriate personal resources or we will let ourselves down by falling away.
This world is on a collision course with God. Our political system is not capable of changing our course. I cannot imagine a born-again believer progressing in any of our political parties let alone effecting radical change.
At the personal level we should do all we can to encourage non-believers to question the way their lives are going and then leave them to God.
For ourselves, we need to work together to support and encourage each other to keep going forward in godly living being aware of the external and personal traps.