Behold, I am Jesus Christ… (Photo credit: was_bedeutet_jemanden)
2 Peter 1:5-11 (KJV)
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 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. 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: 11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Preconditions to Receive the Prosperity Promise of God: Part II
Yesterday we examined how 2 Peter 1: 5-11 names the graces which are to be added to our character that are preconditions to receive the prosperity of God that includes the absence of spiritual and material lack. Graces are gifts supernaturally given unto us by God. Graces function to strengthen our character and make us useful and resourceful members of society.
The graces that promote prosperity are: faith, excellence, knowledge, self control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.
Verses 8-11 detail the benefits of adding the graces named to our lives. They shape our character so that we are better able to know and do the will of God. We will be less likely to backslide, and we will be in a position to live and share the abundant Christian life. Yesterday, we looked at faith, excellence, knowledge, self control, and patience. Today we will look at godliness, brotherly kindness and charity (love).
Godliness
Godliness is holiness. Godly men and women fear Almighty God. They desire and strive to be like Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit they acquire the mind of Christ. Faith, excellence, patience, knowledge and temperance without godliness leaves room for much evil. Godliness sets a boundary upon the graces. When the elders sing the song “Jesus Put a Fence All Around Me (Everyday),” this is what they are talking about.
Faith, excellence, patience, knowledge and temperance without godliness still allows evil to express itself. Absence of godliness allows Dr. Jekyll to reach for the potion that transforms him into Mr. Hyde. Knowledge and temperance without godliness at its best results in civility. Civility or politeness is very different from godliness. Civility does not abolish evil. How many hideous criminals escape punish because their civility allows them to blend into society?
Civility creates compartments for evil. Compartments (psychological repression, prisons) separate good from evil, but only for a time: Even as the civil Dr. Jekyll sequestered the evil Mr. Hyde – until self control became too weak to maintain the separation. Civility removes some evil people from society, but does not destroy evil itself. Only the blood of Jesus can obliterate sin & wickedness. The blood of Jesus, and the righteousness of God demand that evil be obliterated. Evil cannot be contained by man-made conventions. Repression only lasts so long, before the fog of wickedness seeps beneath the prison doors to “kill, steal and destroy.” (John 10:10)
Brotherly Kindness
Brotherly kindness means brotherly love. The Lord has told us that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Faith, excellence, knowledge, temperance, patience and godliness alone are not enough to fulfill the will of God for a society. Knowledge (science), excellence, temperance (self control), patience and godliness (piety) without brotherly love makes for barns full of grain that sufficient to feed everyone on the planet. But without brother love, it also allows for the unequal distribution of food, wealth and medicines that causes poverty, starvation and death from preventable causes. All of these without brotherly love leaves room for “mine” and not “ours.” Unless we love our neighbors as ourselves, the will of God is not being made fully manifest in our lives and we are of limited benefit to society.
Charity
Charity (agape) as it is used in today’s scripture means “love-feast,” affection, and benevolence. The love-feast as practiced by the early church involved a common meal that followed Holy Communion. The shared meal allowed the members of the early church to practice unity and sharing as an expression of the love of God and love for one another. Sharing a common meal allowed the members to mingle in a way we do not practice today. Common meals, lead to common knowledge. It is difficult to not learn about the culture and needs of others within the body of Christ when you share a meal with them regularly. In today’s church, ethnic groups are separated.
Because we do not actually commune with one another, we remain ignorant of our neighbor’s trials, triumphs and needs. Ignorance of one another can quickly degenerate or fester into prejudice and racial bias, which are precursor conditions for dehumanization and hatred. Dehumanization and hatred are used to justify failure to love our neighbors as ourselves, hence it is a justification for rebellion against the will of God for His children. This is utter wickedness!
The love-feast allows for an overflow and co-mingling of faith, excellence, knowledge, self control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. One person having all these qualities is good, but the exponential increase caused by the sharing of these qualities by a group of believers is poverty shattering. Love-feasts create an environment that allows for the expansion the knowledge of God and and love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. It allows believers to practice self control, because it forces us to share of our resources. Sharing and communion provide practice in brotherly love and kindness, which paves the way for sharing of other material goods for the welfare of all. This is part of the cure for poverty in our communities. How is that, you say? Read on.
Unfruitful
The word “unfruitful” means barren, unemployed, lazy or idle. The word of God is telling us that the application of faith, knowledge, excellence, self control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and love feasts causes us to prosper. The Bible says that those who fail to obtain these qualities are blind and have forgotten that they have been purged from their sins. This is so NOT a good place to be!
The graces named in 2 Peter 1: 5-11 are key for obtaining material as well as spiritual wealth. Faith, excellence, knowledge, patience and self control help us to multiply what we have. Godliness and brotherly kindness make us willing to share what we have. Love feasts fuel the process by creating opportunities to know our neighbors, show our love for them, and obtain insight into how we can help meet their needs. By knowing one another, we are better able to identify excellent ways to share one another’s burdens.
In studying today’s passage, God has given us an action plan to follow that is a sure cure for the material and spiritual lack in our communities. Someone needs to set up a love feast experiment. Why? Because the Bible tells us so.
May these words enlighten and comfort you today. Until we meet again: “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” (Ephesians 6:10)
Your friend in Christ,
-Verneda
Twitter handle: @vlights
© 2012 Verneda Lights. All Rights Reserved.
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