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Growth in Grace 16 — Brotherly Kindness Must Be Supplied with Love

by | Oct 27, 2014 | Soteriology

The old popular song, you know who sang it, goes like this: “All you need is love, All you need is love, All you need is love, love, Love is all you need.”  Sadly, the generation which grew up with these lyrics has shown that it actually understands so little about love.  This alone should attract our intention to what the Bible teaches about this whole matter of love.  This especially is true because in the passage which we have been studying two kinds of love are contrasted.  Please consider 2 Peter 1:7 and its teaching that brotherly kindness (or love) must be supplied with love.  In expounding this text I want to ask, answer, and apply three questions.  The three questions are …

I.       What is this love?
II.      Why must brotherly kindness be supplied with it?
III.     Why is this love the last virtue mentioned and in no need of being supplied with another virtue?

I. What is this love?

The word used here is the famous Greek word, agape.  Everyone who has been a  Bible-believing Christian for any amount of time has probably heard some preacher or other refer to God’s agape love.  Of course, in our text it is not God’s love in itself that is in view, but a love that is a grace found in the heart and lives of Christians.  I will argue later that there is no more important grace than this one.  I will do so under five D’s.

A. Its Distinction

This love is clearly distinguished by Peter from brotherly love or kindness.  The previous grace is translated by the NASB, brotherly kindness.  But if you look at the word in the original, it is literally, brotherly love.  But the word for love used in this word is different than the one we have been studying.  Remember it is Philadelphia. In philadelphia the phil part is from a Greek word which also means love, but it is not the word we are studying this morning, agape.  Agape is to be supplied into brotherly love and, therefore, must be different than brotherly love or kindness.  A different word is used, and a different concept is in view.   John Brown states the distinction of this love from the previous love when he says, Brotherly kindness is to be the social character of the Christian in reference to the church–…love, in reference to the world.  It is not love for the brethren, but a love that includes the whole world that is here in view.

B. Its Demand

This love is demanded by the express and fundamental command of God.  Many times the Creator requires that we love our neighbor and not just our brother.  This command is presented as one of the basic requirements of the law of God.

Leviticus 19:18 ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.

Matthew 22:35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Luke 10:29 But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

The biblical answer to the question, Who is my neighbor? Is the one we teach our children in their catechism:  All my fellow men are my neighbors.  We are to love our fellow men because they are made in the image of God and bear His likeness.  One of the most interesting passages in the Bible with which to illustrate this is Genesis 9:1-6.   The very theme of this passage is that God loves people.  This is why He commands that the earth be filled with people by procreation.  This is why He makes provision for people to be fed by giving them both plants and animals to eat.  This is why He institutes the death penalty for those who kill people.  The whole Noahic Covenant teaches plainly that God loves people, and the Noahic Covenant tells us why God loves people.  He loves people because they are made in the image of God (Gen. 9:6).  It is important to realize that people are still made in the image of God in a fallen world.  Speaking of fallen and sinful human beings God commands that they not be murdered because they are made in the image of God.  Even fallen human beings are made in the image of God and are to be loved because of it.  Anything that cheapens human life is contrary to one of the most basic commands of the Bible. 

C. The Definition

So far we have talked about the distinction of this love as love for the whole world of men and not just for Christian brothers.  We have also talked about the fact that this love is demanded by God simply because men are made in the image of God.  Now we must ask, What exactly is this love?  How should this love be defined?

Here again we must note that this love is contrasted with brotherly kindness.  The nature of brotherly love, as I said last week, is that it is rooted in the fact that I am a Christian brother and the one I am loving is a Christian brother.  Because we are both born again, we love each other.  Thus, this brotherly love has its basis in who and what the other person is.  It is a love of delight that finds something spiritually worthy of love in the other person.

Now the love to be supplied in this brotherly kindness is according to Peter something different.  This love may be defined as good-will, a desire for the good and happiness of the other person, no matter what they are.  A philosopher or theologian might call it universal benevolence.  In the church we speak of giving a person benevolence.  We mean that we are going to give them some charity.  Benevolence or charity is not given to someone because they earned it.  Benevolence is not pay.  It is charity.  Now this love of which Peter is speaking is universal benevolence.  It is love shown to men just because they are men and no matter what their spiritual or moral character might be.  It is not a love of delight.  It is a love of benevolence.  These are two different kinds of love. And we learn, thus, from 2 Peter 1:5-7 that there are two different kinds of love.

Let me illustrate this distinction to you.  Suppose you and your wife volunteer once a week at one of the institutions which feeds and houses druggies and drunks.  Now suppose you and your wife wanted to spend a relaxing evening of fellowship with friends.  Who would you choose to spend it with?  Would you go down to that local half-way house and spend your evening talking with criminals and druggies?  No?  You would prefer to spend it with Christian brethren.  Well, what’s your problem?  Don’t you love the people in that half-way house?  Well, you do, and your life proves you do, but there is a difference between the love of delight you have for your Christian friends and the love of benevolence you have for the inhabitants of the local half-way house.

The Bible, in fact, teaches that we are not to love the world with a love of delight, even though we are to love the world with a love of benevolence.  Recall 1 John 2:15: “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”  We are to have a love of delight for our brethren.  We are not to have a love of spiritual delight for the world.  For the world we are to feel good will and benevolence, but not delight.  We are to wish for their happiness.  We are to pity them, but we are not to delight in them spiritually.  It is a love of benevolence for all mankind of which Peter is speaking in our text.

D. Its Demonstration

How is such a love of benevolence manifested or demonstrated?  Negatively, it is manifested by doing no injury to our fellow men.  Romans 13:10 teaches:  “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.”  Positively, love is demonstrated when we relieve the needs and especially the spiritual needs of our fellow men.

Matthew 5:44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you”

Luke 6:35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.”

It is not just to our fellow believers that we are to be benevolent.  There is to be a benevolent place in our heart for any of our fellow men that we see in need.  Galatians 6:10 makes this clear:  So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

E. Its Divinity

It is important to realize that in calling us to this love Peter is asking us to be like God.  There is something peculiarly divine about universal benevolence.  God’s love for men is sincere and universal.  Listen to the words of John Brown on this subject:

As to the characteristic qualities of this love, they may all be described in one word.  This love to the world of mankind, should resemble God’s.  It should be sincere and universal.  God does not, cannot love the world, as he loves His own.  Christians do not, cannot, love the world as they love the brotherhood.  But God does love the world; He loves man as man; His love is philanthropy—the love of man; and so should be the Christians.  That man is wicked, is no reason that I should not love him: when men were sinners, Christ, God’s Son, died for them.  He makes His sun to shine, and His rain to fall, on the unthankful and evil.  It is no reason why I should not love a man, that he is my enemy: when men were enemies, they were reconciled to God through the death of His son.  God’s love to the world is an active love.  What human being does not enjoy innumerable fruits of His love?  And this is the most remarkable fruit of His love—He gave His only-begotten Son to suffer and die, that any man—every man, however guilty and depraved, believing in Him, “might not perish but have everlasting life.”  Our love to man should be fruitful love , and one of its chief fruits should be the carrying to all men the soul-saving truth—that God loves the world, and that whosoever believes in His Son who died, the just in the room of the unjust, shall not perish.  God’s love to the world is patient, long-suffering love.  Had it been otherwise, where would our guilty race have been?—Not in the land of the living, not in the place of hope.  “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.”  Our love to a perishing world should “suffer long and be kind;” our compassions should not fail.  No obstinacy nor ingratitude should induce us to relinquish, or even to abate, our labours of love among our guilty, depraved, perishing brethren.  They can never try us as we have tried God—we never can bear with them as He has borne with us.

Several Applications:

First, let me apply this by way of instruction.  Confusion has reigned among some Calvinists over whether God loves everybody.  Those who deny this do not have a hard time finding texts which tell Christians not to love the world.  They do not even have a hard time finding texts which say that God does not love the ungodly.

Psalm 5:5 The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity.

Psalm 11:5  The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, And the one who loves violence His soul hates.

But these texts are not the whole of the story.  “Does God love the wicked?” is not one of those questions that can be answered in just one word.  If you say either “yes” or “no,” you are wrong.  Why?  Because there is more than one kind of love!  So both the tract that tells unconverted men that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life, and the tract that tells them that God hates them and has a terrible plan for their life—both of them are wrong and one-sided.  The fact is that God does not love the wicked with a love of delight, but He does love them with a love of benevolence.

Second, let me apply this by way of clarification.  I have said in the previous application Be like God—love the unlovely!  Now here I want to say Be like God in the way you love the unlovely and the ungodly.  Do not feel that you have to like the wicked or delight in them in order to truly love them.  I believe that sincere Christians often struggle with the command to love their ungodly enemies.  I know I did when I had to rub shoulders with some of them every day at work in Amway’s Central Warehouse in Ada, Michigan.  This distinction between a love of delight and a love of benevolence is one great help in those struggles.  You are not called to like the wicked or delight in them.  If they are ungodly, you cannot and you should not delight in them or like them.  You are called to have good will toward them.  You are called to pray for them.  You are called to greet them.  You are called to do good to them.  You are not called to delight in them!

Growth in Grace 15 — Brotherly Kindness Must Be Supplied into Godliness 2

by | Oct 22, 2014 | Soteriology

2 Peter 1:7 commands, “and in your godliness, (supply) brotherly kindness.”  My outline is similar to that of previous posts on this passage.  We have considered: The Virtue Viewed. 

Now consider The Connection Clarified.

Again and again we have observed that there is a reason for the careful order that Peter observes in his list as he tells to supply one grace after another in the previously mentioned grace.  Why does brotherly kindness follow godliness?  And why is it precisely godliness into which brotherly kindness must be supplied?

John Brown proposes that the connection between godliness and brotherly kindness is that brotherly kindness grows out of godliness.  He says:

There can be no brotherly kindness where there is no godliness.  It is by God’s becoming our spiritual Father that we become spiritual brethren.   While I am ungodly, godly men are not my brethren; I am of my father the devil, and his children are my brethren.  It is by becoming godly that I am brought into God’s family…

Now all that Brown says is truth, but it is not in my opinion the truth taught in our text.  The text does not say brotherly kindness originates in godliness, but that godliness must be supplied with brotherly kindness.  It is the possible deficiency of godliness, not its positive fruitfulness that is under discussion.

Godliness must be supplied with brotherly kindness because too often the profession of religion, the form of godliness, has been associated with the most harsh and unfeeling attitudes towards other Christians.  May I put it this way?  Some people become so godly that they become inhuman.  Remember the synagogue official in Luke 13:14 who became indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath?  Here was a man who certainly had the form of godliness.  He did not become what the Greek calls the synagogue ruler by being irreligious, you can be sure.   He no doubt was very dedicated to the public worship of the synagogue. No doubt he attended worship carefully, gave His tithes religiously, and was meticulous in seeing that worship was carried according to the strict traditions of the Jews. Most manifestly, he observed God’s Sabbath.

Remember the Pharisees’ view of Sabbath-keeping.  Their religious Sabbath-keeping had become so strict, that Jesus had to remind them of several important qualifications to the complete rest required on the Sabbath.  He reminded them that the Sabbath was made for man—not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).  He reminded them that God desired compassion and not sacrifice (Matt. 12:7) in the keeping of the Sabbath.  He told them that works of necessity and mercy do not violate God’s Sabbath (Matt. 12:3, 4, 11, 12).

Here, then, was a man—a Pharisee—who had failed to supply in his godliness brotherly kindness.  Such godliness, such religion, is the reason James said, “This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress…” (Jas. 1:27)

It is the characteristic of this series of blogs with each new grace I have to qualify what I have previously.  The reason is that Peter after naming each grace tells us that it must be supplemented or supplied with another.  Previously, I stressed to you the importance of godliness.  I told you how empty self-control and even perseverance were if they were not the kind of self-control and perseverance permeated with godliness.  Now I have to tell you that there is a false kind of godliness or religiosity that is just as empty if it is not supplemented and supplied with brotherly love. 

Here we are reminded of the importance of balance in the Christian life.  I will let Lloyd-Jones speak to this matter:

We see that each of these qualities adds and contributes to the others; every one has its own importance and yet each one influences the others.  We see the importance vigour, and yet we see the importance of controlling vigour by knowledge.  Every one has its own function, and yet each affects the others and therefore contributes to the whole.  In other words, what impresses me most of all about this list is its perfect balance.  There is no other life that has this balance.  There are people who are highly intellectual and very cultured, but perhaps not moral; there are others who are morally blameless, but not very intelligent; and there are those who have great will power, but somehow there is something lacking.  There is no life that shows this perfect balance but the Christian life that is depicted here.

All the graces that Peter refers to in this list are marks and signs of election.  Cf. the following passage, 2 Peter 1:8-11, especially v. 10.  I believe, however, that the New Testament lays special emphasis on brotherly love as an especially helpful mark of being born of God.  We have already looked at two passages that clearly suggest this.  1 Thessalonians 4:10 and 1 Peter 1:22 closely associate coming to love the brethren with the great change that takes place when a man is truly converted to Jesus Christ.  But the greatest and most concentrated emphasis is on love for the brethren as a mark of the new birth, and it comes in 1 John.

Consider 1 John 3:10-14:

10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.  11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;  12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.  13 Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.  14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.

Love for the brethren is a two-edged sword.  Its presence shows that we are the children of God and have come into life.  Its absence shows that we have are the children of the devil and abide in death.  Do you see the implication?  It is not that love for the brethren is a good sign of conversion, but that if we lack it we may still be Christians.  No!  Love for the brethren is an essential necessary mark of being born again.  Its absence means that we are lost.

Faithfulness requires me here to speak to the subject of the marks of grace.  Whenever people hear about the marks of grace or the signs that someone is really a Christian, they have a tendency to focus on those signs and practically forget everything they ought to know about the gospel of Christ.  Before, therefore, I come to press this subject; I want to take the opportunity to remind you that salvation is by grace alone.  We do nothing to earn God’s favor.  We do nothing to make God be kindly disposed towards our salvation.  Our righteousness before God by which we are justified in His sight does not consist in anything we do, and it certainly does not consist in our righteously loving our brethren.  Our righteousness is the obedience of Christ imputed to us, put to our account.  It is an alien righteousness that we did not make or earn, but a righteousness that is simply given to us.

The question I am addressing is not how someone can be righteous in the sight of God.  The answer to that question is by faith in Christ alone. The question I am addressing is a different.  I am addressing the question: How can I be sure that I have genuine faith in Christ?  The problem is a real one, because the Bible teaches that there is a kind of faith that is not saving.  There is a false faith that is not supplied with moral excellence and that James says is dead being by itself.  This is a reality of which the Bible speaks.  It presents a real problem for the assurance of some Christians.  Chief among those who struggle with this problem are those raised in Christian homes and who have not had a dramatic conversion experience from a life in the world to a life in Christ.  I know because I myself struggled with just such a problem of assurance as one raised in a Christian home.  The question with which someone like that may struggle is: Do I have genuine faith?  Or do I have the false faith of the devils that believe and tremble? There is no avoiding such questions.  I think it is good to face them and answer them before God with judgment day honesty.

The New Testament teaches that one of the most helpful things for such a person to do is to look at themselves in light of this whole matter of brotherly love or love for the brethren.  It can be hard to see if you love a God who is an unseen, but it is not so hard to see if you love God’s people.  Your relationship to God and Christ will be outwardly and tangibly and clearly reflected in your relationships with people.  In the world there are two and only two kinds of people.  There are believers and there are unbelievers.  There are the righteous and the wicked.  There are the children of God, and there are the children of the devil.  The question is simply this.  Which group do you love?  Do you gravitate to people that you look at as Christians?  Do you seek friendship and relationships among those who in your opinion are believers?  Or do you find in the secret of your heart a desire to be with those whom you know are worldly?  This is not a difficult question to answer, and it becomes more and more clear the more you become an adult.  You can tell who someone is by looking at his friends.  If he loves the brethren, he has passed from death to life.  If he loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Growth in Grace 14 — Brotherly Kindness Must Be Supplied into Godliness

by | Oct 20, 2014 | Soteriology

One of the most important and practical questions that any Christian can face is: How can I know if I am a Christian?  There is a kind of spiritual instinct by which any one in earnest about his soul is intensely interested in such a question.  In our study of growth in grace, we come to consider a virtue that is of great help in answering the question: How can I know if I am a Christian?  2 Peter 1:7 commands, “and in your godliness, (supply) brotherly kindness.”  My outline is similar to that of previous posts on this passage.  We will consider:

I.       The Virtue Viewed
II.     The Connection Clarified
III.   The Distinction Displayed

I.                  The Virtue Viewed

A.      Its Focus

The NASB translates the Greek word for the virtue under discussion as brotherly kindness.  This is a fine translation, but it may disguise the fact that the Greek word is literally brotherly love.  We have a famous city in our country the name of which is an exact English transliteration of the Greek word used.  The birthplace of our nation is called the city of brotherly love.  It is called that because its name, Philadelphia, means that in the Greek language.  Philadelphia is the Greek word used in our text.

Now the brother in view here in 2 Peter 1:7 is our fellow Christian.  It is perfectly possible, of course, for this word, brotherly love, elsewhere in Greek literature and in the  Bible to be used of affection for our physical brothers—either our siblings or our countryman.  This is, however, clearly not how the word is used in the New Testament.  In the New Testament it is always used of love for our spiritual brothers, our fellow believers in Christ.  A simple reading of the other four texts will, I think, persuade you of this.

Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor

1 Thessalonians 4:9 Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another

Hebrews 13:1 Let love of the brethren continue.

1 Peter 1:22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart

Another thing that assures us that it is love for our fellow believers that is in view in this passage is that Peter distinguishes this brotherly love from love.   Brotherly affection or kindness, as we will see in future posts, is to be supplied with love.  Thus, Peter distinguishes the two.

Finally, love for our physical brothers is one of those things that the Bible describes as a natural affection.  In this passage, however, Peter is talking about Christian graces.  He is exhorting Christians to grow in grace.  In such a list it does not make sense for him to refer to something that is merely a natural affection and not a Christian grace.  Everything about this passage persuades us that the love in view is love for our spiritual brothers, our fellow believers in Christ.

The media-molders of our society may talk bravely about loving everybody, but I have noticed that they have a hard time practicing what they preach when it comes to born again Christians.  Every other minority finds a special place in their affections.  It is just born again Christians that they have a hard time saying a decent word about.

The distinctive virtue we are looking at today is just the opposite.  It has a special place in its heart exactly for born again Christians and the more consistently they act like born again Christians the more this special affection is kindled in their hearts.  The great question I am raising today has to do with whether this grace is in your heart and growing there, or whether any love you have is more like that of the world.

B.               Its Foundations

This love is grounded in the fact that God has given spiritual birth to both individuals—the one loving and the one loved—and they view each other as God’s sons and their Christian brothers.  The key passage is 1 Peter 1:22, 23:  “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God.”

Here the love of the brethren is closely associated with being saved.  Strikingly, verse 22 speaks of conversion when it says that in obedience to the truth you purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren.  Brotherly love is the direct result of being converted.  Verse 23 goes on to explain why we should have a fervent love for our brethren by saying for you have been born again of imperishable seed.  One of the great marks or results of being born again is love for the brethren.

This same thing is implied in 1 Thessalonians 4:9: Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.  The language of taught by God refers to the work of God in drawing men to come to Christ (John 6:44, 45).  Thus, Paul is saying that one of the basic results of coming to Christ is learning to love the brethren.

Now an understanding that these are the foundations of Christian love is crucial for understanding that brotherly love is universal or catholic.  In other words a unique feature of this brotherly love is that it is extended to all Christian brothers simply because they are Christian brothers.

This is a deduction from the foundations of this love.  Men are loved in and because of their identity as born again Christians.  Thus, brotherly love is love for all and only those who are born again.  Mistakes may be made in two directions with regard to this matter.  There is the mistake of sectarianism and the mistake of ecumenism.

There is the sectarian mistake.  Here the problem is that no one is recognized as a Christian Brother except those of my own denomination or movement.  Here we must remind ourselves that our love is for those who are born again.  It is not simply for those who share my distinctive doctrinal or practical understanding of the Bible.

There is the ecumenical mistake.  Here the problem is that brotherly love is extended in an unprincipled way to all that profess Christ’s name.  Brotherly love is affection for the reality and not merely for the name.  It is a love of delight for those who bear Christ’s image and show the spiritual marks of the new birth.  Yet more, brotherly love is even love for those who are most like Christ in their living and their thinking.  Thus, there are clear doctrinal and practical limits and motives to brotherly love.

Sectarianism and ecumenism are not the brotherly love of our text.  They do, however, often masquerade as if they are.  We must beware of both extremes.

C.               Its Fervency

There is a tremendous emphasis in the passages where this word is used in the New Testament on the fervency or zeal or intensity by which this love for the brethren should be characterized (Romans 12:10, 1 Thess. 4:10, 1 Peter 1:22).

1 Peter 1:22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart

Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor

1 Thessalonians 4:10 for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more

In these three texts the fervency of this love is emphasized in three ways:  fervently, be devoted, excel still more are the emphasizing words.  The word fervently comes from a word that means to extend.  The word devoted comes from a word used of the loyalty and commitment we should feel to our own family.  The word excel comes from a word that means to abound or increase.   Our love for the brethren should be characterized by great extent, loyal commitment, and abounding increase.

D.               Its Fruit

The Bible teaches that brotherly love will have many and various fruits.  A number of passages impress us with the biblical emphasis on the many and various kinds of fruit that the tree of brotherly love will bear.

Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

Hebrews 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.

1 Peter 3:8 To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit

1 John 3:16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has the world’s goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.

Let me close this post with several applicatory questions:  What are the tangible expressions of this brotherly love for other believers in your life?  How can you abound still more in love for the brethren?  How can you practice the brotherly kindness which is the grace on which God will command a blessing in your church? (See Psalm 133.) 

Growth in Grace 13 — Perseverance Must Be Supplied with Godliness 2

by | Oct 6, 2014 | Soteriology

The danger of Satanic counterfeiting that was in the back of Peter’s mind when he penned the passage which has occupied this blog for the last few weeks, 2 Peter 1:5-7.  In this post we continue to consider the phrase in verse 6, and (supply) in your perseverance godliness.  I am opening up this phrase with me under three headings:

I.               The Virtue Viewed
II.              The Connection Clarified
III.             The Lessons Learned

Having seen that godliness is according to the Bible (to use Louw and Nida’s helpful definition): behaviour reflecting correct religious beliefs and attitudes – ‘piety, godliness.’  In this post we consider

II.      The Connection Clarified

We have said many times that there is a clear rationale for the order Peter follows here in 2 Peter 1:5-7.  Thus we now ask, What is the connection between godliness and perseverance?  What is the reason for the order of Peter?  Why in particular is it important that perseverance and before perseverance, self-control, be supplied with godliness?

The answer is this.  Self-control and perseverance can turn into a kind of mere dogged determination and proud moralism unless their focus is upon worshipping and rendering service to God.  This is the meaning of godliness.  There were ancient, pagan Greek philosophers who exalted self-control and doing your duty despite all the opposition and scorn of men.  The name of those philosophers is still a part of the English language.  It describes someone who shows austere indifference to joy, grief, pleasure, or pain;  one who is calm and unflinching under suffering.  It is the name, Stoic.  The pagan, stoic philosopher taught an ethic that exalted self-control and perseverance in the face of suffering and pain and scorn.  Some non-Christians show amazing self-control and perseverance.  Yet all of their self-control and perseverance were not the virtues to which Peter had just referred. The true Christian who is out of shape and overweight has more genuine self-control and perseverance than the pagan who has disciplined himself to run 26 mile marathons. The fact that such self-control and perseverance are the genuine fruit of the Spirit will be manifested by their being supplied with godliness.  Christian self-control and perseverance originates from and is pervaded by correct religious beliefs.  We must never allow our efforts at self-control and perseverance in the face of opposition to degenerate into something irreligious, ungodly, and proud.  While we are supplying perseverance in our self-control, we must supply in our perseverance godliness.

Look at it this way.   True Christianity requires that we be in a right relation both to God and man and ourselves.  Self-control describes the right relation to ourselves.  Perseverance describes the right relationship to other men.  Godliness describes the right relation to God.  Where one of these graces is lacking the other two must be counterfeit.  Where there is deficiency in one of these graces the others must be affected.

Lloyd-Jones helpfully articulates the connection between perseverance and godliness.

“In other words, while you are controlling these things within, and while you are going on in the spirit of patient endurance, remember why you are doing it all; remember that it is all for the glory of God.  Self-culture must not be practised for its own sake, and the danger is to be falling back on our disciplined nature in and of itself.  But if we worship discipline we are not being godly.  There is no point in any of these things unless they are centrally related to God.  Godliness, therefore, first.  Before I think of my relationship to anybody else, I must always be certain that my main motive and ambition in life is to honour God, is to glorify God, and to tell forth His praise.” (2 Peter, 30)

Alford adds that perseverance is not “mere brute stoical endurance, but united with God-fearing and God-trusting.” (Commentary, 392)

III.    The Lessons Learned

First, we learn to beware of being deceived by the counterfeit self-ism of our culture.  Even while most Americans manifest an increasing lack of self-control and an increasing inability to stand against the peer pressure of our culture, there are those dedicated to the worship of self that preach all sorts of self-discipline and resistance to the system.  The perfect body and perfect independence are the ideals of this worship of self.  It is possible to be exercising self-control and resisting peer pressure for all the wrong reasons.  Such self-control and perseverance are no evidence of growth in grace.  You should not be happy if your diet is going great and your devotions are going into the toilet.  You should definitely not think you are growing in grace.

Second, we learn the priority of godliness and our relation to God.  Lloyd-Jones said it,   Godliness, therefore, first!  Are you living for God?  No matter how well you seem to be doing in other areas.  No matter how successful you are.  Unless you are living for God, you are completely missing the boat.  One mark of such a life will be that God is given all the glory.  Are you characterized by constantly giving God praise for what you have been enabled to do?  For your success?  For your blessings?  Let us renew our determination to live for the glory of God and to give God the glory of our lives!

Third, we learn that we must rehabilitate religion in our thinking.  Religion—godliness—is a vital part of growing in grace.  It is a vital part of Christianity.  Do not let anyone sell you a religion-less Christianity.  A religion-less Christianity is not the Christianity of the Bible.  All of life is worship.  Every day is holy.  Christianity is not a religion.  These are half-truths that are destroying American Christianity!

When we rehabilitate religion in our thinking, we will be able to see how very wrong the casual and informal culture is which we have imbibed.  If there really is a difference between the sacred and the secular, then we will not treat religious duty with the same kind of casual-ness and informality with which Americans treat everything else.  We will reject the lazy and slovenly approach to worship which we see in churches.  We will prepare our hearts for worship, we will try to be early for worship, because we think that religious duty is sacred and holy and to be treated with great respect.  We will practice the three P’s:  priority, preparation, and punctuality as flowing directly out of godliness.  If your reaction to my saying such things is that I am being stuffy, formal, and legalistic, let me reply that the worship culture of many churches is irreligious and profane.  Part of what it means to supply godliness in your perseverance is to purge from your life the prevailing irreligious and profane attitudes I am warning you about!

Fourth, you may be religious and not be saved, but if you are not religious, you will not be saved!  Are you religious?  If you have no form of godliness, you certainly cannot have the power of godliness.  You may have the form without the power, but you cannot have the power without the form.

Fifth, we learn that a mark of genuine Christianity is true religion or godliness.  Do you understand and appreciate godliness?  Are you at home in the house of God?  Are you in your element in the place of prayer?  Do you find delight in the duty of prayer?  Is there a sense in which you find it a blessing, a delight, a relief to pray?  Are you happy to give to the church and to its benevolent causes?  Do you rejoice even in the laws of God that limit your freedom?  His laws about modesty?  His laws about masculine and feminine roles?  Do you delight in the law of God in the inward man?  Yes, I know you enjoy seeing your friends when you come to church.  But the real question is, Do you enjoy drawing near to God when you come to church?

Growth in Grace 12 — Perseverance Must Be Supplied with Godliness

by | Oct 1, 2014 | Soteriology

Satan is the great liar and deceiver.  The most effective lies always have an element of truth in them.  In line with this Satan is the great counterfeiter, and you know that counterfeiting always requires something of real, substantial value to make it worthwhile.  Few would bother to counterfeit some third world currency with an inflation rate of 100% per year, but many find it worthwhile to counterfeit the American Dollar.  It is the danger of Satanic counterfeiting that was in the back of Peter’s mind when he penned the passage which has occupied this series for the last several weeks, 2 Peter 1:5-7.  In this post we take up the phrase in verse 6, “and (supply) in your perseverance godliness.”  In this phrase Peter is attempting to warn Christians against the Satanic counterfeits of perseverance and self-control by telling them that the genuine Christian virtues of perseverance and self-control are permeated by and have supplied in them the virtue of godliness.  Self-control and perseverance barren of godliness, devoid of godliness, are Satanic counterfeits with which no Christian should rest satisfied.

I will consider this phrase over the next few days under three headings:

I.               The Virtue Viewed
II.              The Connection Clarified
III.             The Lessons Learned

The first thing to be considered is …

I.                  The Virtue Viewed

What is this virtue or grace called in the phrase we are studying godliness? When you look at all the places in the New Testament where the word, godliness, and its various relatives occur and also at many of the places where these words occur in the Greek version of the Old Testament in use in New Testament times, the short and sweet definition of this word given by Louw and Nida seems correct.  Here it is: behaviour reflecting correct religious beliefs and attitudes – ‘piety, godliness.’  I want to unpack this definition in three stages.

First, this virtue has to do with religious beliefs and attitudes – ‘piety, godliness.’  In our day and age words like religion and religious and piety and pious are often said with a sneer even by Christians.  You may hear things like l am not religious.  I am a Christian.  It would be a kind of religious slur if you called someone pious.  This kind of dislike of the words, religion and piety, indicates how far we are from a biblical mindset.  Peter in our text calls us to add religion to our perseverance, to supply piety in our endurance.  Therefore, Christians must stop treating religion and piety like dirty words.  Whatever the word, godliness, religion, or piety, meant for Peter.  It was a virtue, not a vice.

Now the very idea of religion or godliness assumes a distinction.  It assumes a distinction between what I will call the religious and the secular, the holy and the common.  Now notice that I did not say the holy and the profane.  Nor did I say the religious and the irreligious.  Rather I spoke of godliness assuming a distinction between the religious and the secular, the holy and the common.  (One definition of secular is having to do with this age or world or temporal rather than having to do with the age to come or the church or religion.)

All of life is, of course, to be lived for God.  Therefore, in a certain qualified sense you may say that all of life is holy.  There are, however, some aspects or parts of life in which we have dealings more directly with God.  Those aspects of life are the arena of religion or godliness.  I trust you live for God at your school or plant or business.  I trust you are living for God on the golf course.  But I also trust that you know the difference between the plant, the golf course, and the church.  I trust that you live for God every day of the week.  But I also trust that you know the difference between Monday and the Lord’s Day.  When Peter refers to godliness and religion, he assumes the difference between the religious and the secular.

Look at a number of texts that use this word, godliness or religion, where this distinction is visible and even clear.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,  There is a difference between ungodliness and unrighteousness.   The wrath of God is revealed against both, but unrighteousness has to do with all deviations from the requirements of God’s law.  Ungodliness has to do particularly with violations of the first four commandments that have to do directly with our relationship to God Himself.

1 Timothy 6:5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.  Ask yourself the question, What is Paul saying?  How could godliness be a means of gain?  Clearly, Paul is talking about men using organized religion to make money.  Godliness has to do with organized religion or religious services.

1 Timothy 6:11 But flee from these things, you man of God; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.  Here Paul proceeds to instruct the man of God about a number of different virtues he is to pursue.  Of course, all of these virtues are related.  Yet faith and love and righteousness are not the same thing.  Even so godliness is a distinct virtue as well and has to do with observance of the ordinances and institutions of the Christian religion.

Titus 2:12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,  Twice in this text the distinctiveness of religion is clear.  Paul distinguishes between ungodliness and worldly desires.  The one has to do with sins of impiety related to God directly.   The other has to do with a lack of self-control.  In the last part of the verse Paul distinguishes living sensibly and righteously from living godly.  Each refers to a distinct dimension of the Christian life.  Even so in 2 Peter 1:6 Peter distinguishes between self-control and perseverance, on the one hand, and godliness, on the other.

2 Peter 1:3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  Here again Peter plainly distinguishes life in general from godliness in particular.  God’s divine power has enabled us to live for God in the whole of life and also and especially in the religious aspect of life.

The virtue referred to in the phrase we are studying this morning has to do with religious beliefs and attitudes – ‘piety, godliness.’  First, this virtue has to do with religious beliefs and attitudes – ‘piety, godliness.’  But …

Second, this virtue has to do with correct religious beliefs and attitudes – ‘piety, godliness.’  In English we have to speak of true religion.  But the Greek word for religion or godliness contains within it—conveys innately—the idea of true religion.  You don’t have to say true religion in Greek because the word itself says it or assumes it.  In this way the Greek word, godliness, is slightly different than the English word, religion.  Peter does not say supply in your perseverance genuine godliness.  He just says, godliness, because the word conveys correct religious beliefs.  Let me show you that this virtue has to do with correct religious beliefs in the rest of the Scriptures.

1 Timothy 3:16 And by common confession great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Beheld by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.  Paul does not say great is the mystery of genuine godliness or of the true religion.  He simply says great is the mystery of godliness, because the word assumes that the religion or godliness under discussion is the true religion the genuine godliness.  Cf. also 1 Timothy 4:7-8; 6:6; Titus 1:1

In the third stage of this definition of godliness we note that godliness is behavior reflecting correct religious beliefs and attitudes – ‘piety, godliness.’  Here we come to the heart of our study of godliness.  For here we ask the question, What is the godliness exactly that Peter says we must supply in our perseverance and self-control?  There are five texts in the New Testament that I think give us a very clear and full description of what behavior manifests this godliness is.

2 Timothy 3:5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these.  Here Paul teaches that there is a correct, outward form of true religion that even some who are strangers to the power of godliness may exhibit.  Clearly, a merely external form of true religion is no evidence of genuine conversion.  Nevertheless, the passage teaches that godliness does involve a commitment to this form.  I cannot take the time to give you chapter and verse for all that I will assert right here.  I doubt if I need to.  What is this form of godliness to which Paul refers?  Well, a study of the Scriptures shows that true religion involves a number of visible, outward religious actions.  First, it certainly involves attendance upon the corporate worship of God’s people.  Second, piety toward God clearly involves being baptized in the name of Christ, a public sign of identifying with God’s religion.  Third, true religion involves being formally identified with a local church.  Fourth, it involves taking the Lord’s Supper in that church regularly.  Fifth, it involves the religious observance of the Lord’s Day.  Sixth, it involves giving financially to support the church’s worship and its benevolence to the poor.  Seventh, it involves upholding orthodox Christian doctrine.  Now remember doing all of these things does not mean that you are godly, but all these things are part of the biblical form of godliness.

Acts 10:2 a devout (godly) man, and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people, and prayed to God continually.  Here Cornelius is described as a devout or godly man.  Then what this meant is explained.  The fact Cornelius was a godly man meant:  (1)  that he feared God.  His whole life manifested that he lived under the eye of God.  (2)  that he practiced family religion.  He feared God with his entire household.  Whatever else this means, it must mean at least that Cornelius somehow led his household in worship.  You could not be in Cornelius’ household for any time without noticing that they were religious and without feeling a holy pressure to join them in their religious exercises.  (3)  that he practiced charitable giving to God’s people.  This is what it means that he gave alms to the Jews.  Perhaps, he helped support the needy among the Jews.  Perhaps, like the Gentile in the gospels he had given to help the Jews construct or enlarge a synagogue.  (4)  that he prayed continually.  Godliness means that you pray continually.  That is to say, godliness in the heart makes a man a man of prayer.  Such a man lives in a spirit of prayer.  He engages regularly and daily in both stated times of prayer and a constant spirit of prayer.  Godliness is manifested by the behavior of prayer.

1 Timothy 2:10 but rather by means of good works, as befits women making a claim to godliness.  Godliness is manifested by certain, specific behaviors in women.  In other words, there is an outward conduct by women that vindicates their claim to be godly.  In this passage three such behaviors are mentioned.  First, feminine godliness is manifested by a practical commitment to the good works of charity (v. 10b).  Second, it is manifested by a manifest commitment to Christian standards of adornment (v. 9).  The appearance of a godly woman attests her claim to godliness.  Her appearance reflects a rejection of immodesty, impropriety, and showiness or ostentation.  Her appearance manifests that her priorities are set by a desire to please God.  Third, feminine godliness is manifested by a submissive commitment to biblical roles in the church (vv. 11-12).  She does not chafe at, she rather rejoices in God’s ordination of masculine leadership in the church.  She regularly and thankfully takes her place in the church to be instructed by its God-appointed teachers.

2 Timothy 3:12 Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,  The context of this statement makes clear what Paul means here by living a godly life.  Look at verses 9-11. Godliness means living for the purpose of telling others about Christ and seeing the gospel of Christ spread.  A godly person has embraced God’s holy purpose for the spread of the gospel.  Though we do not have either the calling or gifts of the Apostle, every Christian is to live for the spread of the gospel.  He looks for opportunities to further gospel himself.  He fills his part in the body of Christ to enable others more gifted or with a different calling to do what he cannot do himself.  This is what it means to live a godly life here in 2 Timothy 3:12.

Godliness is: behavior reflecting correct religious beliefs and attitudes – ‘piety, godliness.’  John Brown very ably summarizes godliness in this perceptive paragraph.

“The worship of God is either internal or external.  The internal worship of God is just the habitual cultivation of the sentiments and feelings we have just been illustrating.  Supremely to love, fear, trust in Him?-to be ever ready to believe what he reveals, because He reveals it?-to do what He commands, because He commands it?-and to submit to what He appoints because He appoints it:  this is to worship with our spirits Him who is a Spirit, and to worship Him in truth.  The ordinary state of a godly man’s mind is thus silent, habitual worship; and he expresses this state of mind in the appointed offices of religion.  He loves the habitation of God’s house, and the place where His honour dwells.  He dares not neglect the holy assembly for divine worship, as too many do.  He goes into His tabernacle; he worships at His footstool; he is glad when it is said to him, “Let us go up to the house of the Lord.”  “The voice of rejoicing and salvation,”?-of prayer and praise “is in the tabernacles” of the godly; and his family is kept beyond the reach of the curse that lies on “the families that call not on God’s name;” and he enters into his closet, and shuts his door, and prays to his Father who seeth in secret.” (Parting Counsels, 100)

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