We looked at this passage a couple of weeks ago and broached the subject of sanctification. And I want to park here for a bit longer (this week and at least one more, maybe two more weeks). This subject is so important, but sadly is often misunderstood. It is assumed that one may have their sins forgiven and be justified through Christ and for their lives to be largely untouched in terms of personal devotion to Christ and obedience to Chrsit and a personal pursuit of holiness. 

Of course, we rightly celebrate the power of Christ to forgive our sins, but too often we overlook that the sins which are forgiven are also to be renounced, forsaken, and put to death. And we are to put on other practices in their place. Jesus not only free us from the consequences of sin, but also from the dominion of sin. JC Ryle wrote in his book Holiness, 

We must be holy, because this is the one grand end and purpose for which Christ came into the world…Jesus is a complete Savior. He does not merely take away the guilt of a believer’s sin, He does more–He breaks its power.

In other words, Jesus came into the world to save a people and to sanctify these same people. The NT makes this explicit. It tells us that “we were chosen in Christ before the world was made so that we might be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:4). That “Christ died that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:14). That “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her” (Ephesians 5:25-27). That Jesus “gave himself to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14). The only road that leads to eternal life is the road of sanctification (Romans 6:22).

Without a robust pursuit of sanctification, our ability to bear fruit and be effective in glorifying God will be neutered. Apart from ongoing sanctification, the rich assurance of salvation that our hearts truly long for will lack weight and reality. What Reid has been covering in Revelation should not make us yawn. And it is not a shortcut for the one with the escapist mentality. It is the longing of every lover of Christ who is being conformed to his image. 

The last verse of our text says that those who are growing in sanctification will have the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ richly provided for them. A rich welcome and homecoming. That’s assurance! And how does this work? The Spirit, who is at work in the believer enabling him to do what pleases God also gives the rich assurance that comes with doing what pleases God. 

How could you have the rich assurance that you will be in heaven or that the earth will be your eternal abode if you have no savor for the beauty of true, Spirit-worked holiness? What makes you think you would even enjoy heaven if you have no enjoyment of the atmosphere of heaven now? Well, we must pursue it. We must grow in holiness. So how do we do that? 

Grace and Effort In Review

Two weeks ago we looked at how God’s grace and our effort to grow intersect. How God’s high octane grace and our maximum effort converge. Here’s what we discovered. God gives all things for life and godliness. He gives us his great and precious promises. He gives us all these things so that we partake of his divine nature, so we may share his holiness, so we may experience the life of God in our souls. So how are we to respond? 

It would be wrong to assume that since God gives generously all things for life and godliness, it somehow minimizes our effort. Quite the opposite. It maximizes our effort. Verse 5 says, “for this very reason, make every effort”. We DO NOT let go and let God. And it’s not a zero sum game (50/50). God does all of his work and we do all of our work and ALL our work is dependent upon his work. 

God works the miracle of sanctification, we perform the miracle. He gives all things pertaining to life and godliness and we act out all things pertaining to life and godliness. We work out what God works in (Philippians 2:12-13). God produces the miracle in us, we act the miracle out. So by faith, we are to put forth maximum effort to grow. That’s where we ended last time. What does this maximum effort entail?

Make Every Effort to Supplement Your Faith (v. 5-7)

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

Make every effort to supplement. What does the word supplement mean? It means to give generously, to supply lavishly. It is a very interesting word that came to describe a choir director. You might wonder why it means choir director and also to give generously. And very simply because in ancient Greek culture, a choir director had the responsibility to supply everything needed for the choir. So the word became synonymous with one who supplies. William Barclay says the following about this word in relation to a choir director: “It never means to equip in a sparing way or a miserly way; it means lavishly or willingly to pour out everything that is necessary for a noble performance.” 

So, because of all that Christ has done for us; all that he has given us, we are to make every effort to hold nothing back, but to lavishly supplement, and pour out everything necessary in growing in this list of virtues (7). This is a sort of exhaustive list. Not because we are unable to think of other virtues we could add to the list, but because it begins with faith and ends with love. Faith in the foundation. Love is the pinnacle, the climax. 

It begins with faith and it ends with love; it almost seems like faith is assumed. Faith connects us to Christ which is the root from which sanctification flowers and grows. Without faith, there can be no growth because there is no connection to Christ, who is the Vine. It all begins with faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin (Romans 14:23). It all starts with faith. You must have faith first. So, assuming faith (fix your eyes on Christ - all he’s done and gives), there are seven virtues we pursued. 

“Supplement your faith with virtue”

The first is virtue. Supplement your faith with virtue. I think a better translation is the way the NASB renders this “moral excellence”. Supplement your faith with moral excellence. This is not a generic virtue. It is very specific and speaks of the quality of one’s life that makes him stand out as excellent. Perhaps the best way to describe it in the succinct way is “moral zeal” or “moral courage” that leads to action. Because it is anything but a mere passive attitude. It leads one to take action. In fact, in ancient Greek literature, if someone was described as excellent or virtuous, it was often connected with the performance of heroic deeds. Alexander Maclaren described this as a “manly energy”. Moral power or energy or strength of soul in the exercise of one's faith. The idea is to supply our faith with the moral courage that is to characterize a Christian. Martyn Lloyd Jones lamented a condition he saw in his day,

Is there not something languid so often in our Christian life and Christian activity as you contrast it with the life of the world outside? Is there not this curious tendency for the element of passivity in our conception of the Christian faith to predominate, as if we regard faith as nothing but an attitude of waiting? A kind of lethargy and languor spreads over us, a curious kind of [passivity]." That is not what Peter says. "No, no," he says. "Let your faith be energetic. Let it be vigorous. Let it be virtuous. Let it be alive. Stir yourself up. See that you are alive and alert, active and alert.

Remember Paul when he went into the city of Athens and saw all the idolatry? What was his response? He was provoked and contronted it. Remember Phineas and the zeal he had when an Israelite brought a foreign woman into the camp, which God forbade, bringing God’s judgment upon the people (Numbers 25)? He was not concerned about gaining a consensus or what was politically correct. He took a spear and killed both the Israelite man and the Midianite woman and brought an end to the plague. He could not stand idly by. 

What would that look like for you? Well, I suggest starting close to home. Gideon. It would mean chasing away worldliness and in your own hearts and homes. And moving out from there. Supplement your faith with virtue. 

And [supplement] virtue with knowledge

The second virtue is knowledge. Supplement virtue with knowledge, specifically divine truth. This moral courage must be informed by the knowledge of truth. Our zeal or moral courage will only be as sharp as our understanding of truth is. Knowledge of God. Knowledge of his will. Knowledge of who we are. Knowledge of the reality of sin. O, how many have what Paul describes as a “zeal for God but not according to knowledge.” (Romans 10:1-2). A courage to act must have as its foundation knowledge which is found in the word of God. 

Some, it seems, almost prize themselves for not having solid opinions of the truth. For being ignorant. Of course, a certain kind of knowledge puffs up. But a hunger to know God, and to know him as he has revealed himself is not that kind of knowledge. I think God is more concerned with a lack of knowledge. He says through the prophet Hosea “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).

We are to supplement our virtue with knowledge. Spare no pain or energy to grow in knowledge. Of course this knowledge comes through the word of God. It’s our source of truth. Think of the treasure God has given in providing his word to us. There has never been more availability to the word of God. There was a time when there may have been one bible in a village, often chained to the pulpit so someone wouldn’t steal it. When the word of God was being translated in common languages like German (Luther) and English (Tyndale), people longed to have the word of God to read it and grow in the knowledge of the truth. Testimonies (Chinese prison camps, Yemeni man). Supplement your virtue with knowledge. 

And [supplement] knowledge with self-control

One of the fruits of the Spirit… Self-control. Temperance. Literally means “holding oneself in”. To hold yourself in. To not give in to every passion or desire - either bodily or emotional. Amazing. If there is one thing that describes the spirit of the age it is a lack of self-control. Today, people are ruled by their emotions. People don’t think, they feel, they have strong emotions… without exercising temperance to discern the legitimacy of their feelings and emotions. To be sure, God made us emotional beings. But we need to remember that emotions make wonderful servants, but cruel masters. We all understand that from the youngest age our children can think and reason, they must be taught that they must not live according to their feelings, or it will ruin them.

If you want to stand out in Christ-like character, exercise self-control. Develop the ability to discipline your emotions, your mind, your bodily desires. There is so much wisdom in the proverbs on this subject. Listen to Proverbs 16:32: ‘Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” [parallelism] Rule your spirit. That’s self-control, temperance. Here’s what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:25-27:

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Self-control in all things. Keeping watch over your life, emotions, passions. We all understand why an olympic athlete must exercise self-control in all things. How much more should we? For we are running, fighting for a far superior prize. We are! An imperishable wreath. The approbation of our Savior, to hear him utter “Well done”. To receive the unfading crown of glory. So supplement your knowledge with self-control. 

And [supplement] self control with steadfastness

We need to pursue steadfastness. Endurance. Perseverance. An unwillingness to quit when life is hard, when we endure trials of various kinds, which we will! But of course for the Christian, we understand we are persevering, enduring toward a bright future. We do not simply bear things with a discouraged resignation, but rather with a bright and blazing hope. 

Michael Green said the Christian’s life ought to be more like “the steady burning of a star rather than the ephemeral brilliance of a meteor.” The Christian life is not a spectacular sprint but a grueling and glorious endurance run (Hebrews 12:1-2). So we need to give ourselves with maximum effort to develop steadfastness. Hebrews 10:36 says, “You have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.” The finish line of this endurance run is the gates of paradise. So supplement your self-control with steadfastness. 

And [supplement] steadfastness with godliness 

Godliness. Living a godward life. We must practice living before the face of God, seeing the hand of God in everything, receiving everything from him, and doing everything for  him. Godliness also carries with it the meaning of the fear of the Lord. Reverence toward God. Listen, a holy reverence toward God will keep us from doing a thousand things, for the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. 

Godliness has to do with whose approval are you living for? Whose commendation are you seeking? Godliness motivates you to seek the praise that comes from God. Whereas worldliness is always seeking the approval of men, the approval of the experts, the elites, the cool kids. But Paul says, “Godliness is great gain both in this life and in the next” (1 Timothy 4:8). So supplement your steadfastness with godliness. 

And [supplement] godliness with brotherly affection

Brotherly affection. Philadelphia - that’s the word. The great city Philadelphia is nicknamed the city of brotherly love. This is the love of friendship. It springs from personal warmth, deep affection. Develop this brotherly love. Pursue this. Lavishly supply brotherly love to your godliness. It is a precious character trait… one that we need more of. 

And [supplement] brotherly affection with love

There is a deeper love than brotherly affection. And this is where the apostle Peter ends his list of character qualities to add. It is love. The Greek word is agape. This is the culmination. In terms of Christlikeness, this is the mountaintop, this is the climax.

And agape is uniquely Christian love. It’s a love of the will. A self-sacrificial love. We are to supplement brotherly affection with agape love. There are three Greek words translated love (phileo, eros, and agape). Unbelievers can express brotherly love and of course eros love. But it seems that these two forms of love are the ones highlighted in our culture. When people say “Love is love”… okay. Well, let’s define love. And when one does, it amounts to nothing more than feelings, which come and go or an erotic love. Not agape love.

Agape love is the love of choice, the love of the will. It is the kind of love that says, “I love you and will love you to the end… You aren’t gonna be able to get rid of me!” It’s the kind of love that is expressed in the marital vows exchanged in a Christian wedding. 

Agape love is not an emotion. It’s the disposition of the heart, a commitment to seek the well-being of someone else, even at the expense of self. Agape love is a self-giving love; a selfless love; a love of willful devotion. In Greek culture at the time, this was a sign of weakness. For the Christian, it is the highest virtue!

It’s not surprising that the great love chapter is all about agape love. (1 Corinthians 13). Love is patient and kind, it is not envious, it does not boast, etc. I hope you are connecting the dots and seeing that this is the kind of love God has for us in Christ. It is a love of choice. God’s love for us is based on his unremitting commitment to love us to the end. And we praise God for that! If the foundation of God’s love for us was based on something in us, we’d blow it. Every day we would blow it. We’d offend him, and it would be over. But he loves us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are to pursue love… pursue growing in his kind of sacrificial love which gives and seeks the good of others. 

Increase and Practice (v. 8)

Verse 8 says, these qualities are to be yours in increasing. In other words, you don’t arrive and say, “I have all these.” No, Paul says, “I have not arrived. I am not perfect. But I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” And so what do we do? We press on. We strain forward to be more like our Savior. 

And remember it starts with faith. Faith is the foundation. Faith in One in Whom every spiritual blessing has been given to you. The One in Whom all the promises of God find their yes. Faith in Him. God has given you all things pertaining to life and godliness in Christ. He has granted to you his precious and great promises in Christ. He has done this in order that you may partake of his divine nature. So make maximum effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love… 

This is the path of sanctification which happens to be the path to bearing fruit and being effective in glorifying God. And happens to be the happy path that leads to the smile of your Master and hearing his words, “Well done, good and faithful servant… enter into the joy of your Master.”