A Fruitful and Effective Life
A Fruitful and Effective Life
Application: Character Traits for Spiritual Maturity
There will be people who claim to be Christians and look like Christians, but they bring in destructive heresies. These are teachings that are catastrophic to our faith and destructive to our souls.
Peter wants us to be so firmly established in God that we cannot be shaken by any temptation or false teaching.
In 2 Peter 3:17 he draws his letter to a close with this admonition: "Beware lest you be carried away with the error of lawless men and LOSE YOUR OWN STABILITY."
Lesson: ENCOURAGEMENT TOWARD CONTINUED GROWTH FOR STABILITY.
On top of North Sugarloaf Mountain in New Hampshire, the trees can't put down their roots very deep...presumably because the soil is so rocky. There's probably a granite slab a couple feet under the soil. The result is that instead of putting down deep roots, the tree's roots spread out just under the surface.
When the high winds come they have no stability in their roots to withstand the blast. The result is tragic for the tree; it simply tips over, exposing the underside of its very shallow root system.
We can be like these trees. For us, it is tempting to put down very shallow roots in our lives. Why? Because shallow roots are easier. They don't require as much work.
God has invited people to become “participants of his divine nature” to share in God’s own eternal life and love.
2Pe 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
This is an incredible gift that requires lifelong responsibility.
“A fight is going on inside me,”
A grandfather told his grandson about, “a fight between two wolves.
One is evil, full of anger, sorrow, regret, greed, self-pity and false pride.
The other is good, full of joy, peace, love, humility, kindness and faith.”
“This same fight is going on inside of you, grandson…and inside of every other person on the face of this earth.”
The grandson ponders this for a moment and then asks, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?”
The old man smiled and simply said, “The one you feed.”
It comes by developing the same character traits that mark God’s own divine nature.
X The person you most admire was not born that way.
X Growth and Change requires effort and dedication.
X Everything we need is given to us.
X We devote ourselves to God.
X We become loyal and committed to God.
A desire to be Godly means being drawn to his nature and characteristics.
If we are not drawn to his nature then we are ungodly in our personality.
We must choose to be a Godly Christian
X Every Christian has been given the same promises by which he can escape the corruption that is in the world (read 2 Peter 1:3-4). Unfortunately, many do not choose this path.
X All Christians can say that they have faith—that they believe in God; but yet many have all kinds of problems. They are discouraged, they have doubts, and they are depressed.
We can live a moral life and be ungodly in our pursuits.
X We are called to Godly excellence in Jesus.
X We are called to glorify God by how we pursue holiness.
X What are the priorities in our life?
Recipe for success
2Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2Pe 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
Peter lists 8 Character Traits here.
It’s really a sketch of the character God produces in us as we grow. He lists eight virtues that will be true of us as we grow:
1. Faith — trusting God, which is where it all begins; this is where all the other virtues come from
2. Virtue — moral excellence, which means that we change from the inside out
3. Knowledge — growth in our knowledge of God. Knowing is growing
4. Self-control — the ability to restrain ourselves from sinful desires
5. Steadfastness — to stay faithful not just for a short time, but over the long haul
6. Godliness — living a godly life
7. Brotherly affection — which ties in closely to the last virtue
8. Love — the virtue that sums up all other virtues
We Often Get It Backwards!
Rather than plugging into Jesus and abiding in and trusting Him we often resort to frenzied activity to accomplish certain goals or to get certain results.
In fact, sometimes in the hustle we actually “unplug” from Jesus and skip spending time with Him because we don’t believe that we have enough time in our lives for connecting with Him.
We even convince ourselves that we will connect with Jesus on the fly, but in reality, we rarely do. Before long, our efforts are our own, because we are no longer plugged into the source.
If we continue down this path, Jesus isn’t the only relationship we neglect.
Next, we neglect the people who are closest to us – the ones we claim to treasure the most.
Not to mention that caring for ourselves and stewarding well the life God’s given us also gets crowded out.
Application
The Fruitful Person Knows that Jesus is Their Source.
He is the One who entrusted them uniquely with gifts, talents, and abilities and that when they are relying on God, He is able to do some wildly amazing things through them.
Because they know how important it is to remain connected to Him, they guard their time with God and make it a priority. They don’t view that time as something to simply check off a list of to dos, but rather a necessity that they aren’t able to function without. They know they are dependent on God.
The Fruitful Person Abides in Christ.
The connection to Christ is the priority, the focus of life
The Fruitful Person Looks to God for Wisdom.
The Fruitful Person Trusts God Completely.
The Fruitful Person has Character.
The Fruitful Person Is Clear on Their Identity.
They know they are a branch. Their focus is simply on being the branch. They aren’t longing or trying to be something other than a branch doing its branch thing: being a conduit for fruit.
For if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.
2Pe 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
The evidence of a spirit filled, and lived life.
1. A measured life by Keeping step with God’s Holy Spirit Galatians 5:22-23 /
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
2. Sharing God’s divine Nature through Jesus.
3. It brings contentment despite our ordeals in life.
