II Peter part 7

II Peter 
part 7

6c) “And in your perseverance (add) godliness.” 

The development of godliness in the life and character of the child of God is of great importance to God and is the ultimate purpose of God in the end for all believers.
Everything else, all of the virtues listed by Peter, which we have discussed prior to this step, in some way or another have contributed, or should contribute to the producing of godliness in a life.
Godliness is really the first outwardly recognizable aspect of Christian maturity in an individual.
It reflects and demonstrates the fact that one is growing up to be like his/ her Father, and the resemblance is more and more evident as the process continues.
This change is the result of one becoming more and more dependent upon God in every aspect of life and of a greater and more confident rest in God.
Less and less of the old self centered direction of a life will be evident and more and more of a yielded, contented, Holy Spirit directed life will be evident.
God is very patient and will wait as long as is necessary to develop this attitude and character in His beloved child. All else is actually secondary; in the end God’s purpose is for all of His children to be conformed to the image of His dear Son; and He will do whatever it takes in a life to accomplish His purpose.

II Pet.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.

As we have discussed previously (page 3, point 3) God has already provided everything that we need in order for us to grow into a mature Christian; to become more Christ like;
To attain unto godliness; Peter is saying that now we must do our part, we must willingly utilize what God has provided for us. We must receive and yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit as He seeks to direct and instruct our lives.

Three key concepts will help us to understand the word godliness as it is employed in the New Testament; they are holiness, love and faithfulness; together they produce a piety that is the natural consequence of yielding to, and resting in God.

I Tim.6:11 – You man (woman) of God ... pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.

I Tim.4:7b-9 – Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance.

Here again we see Peter’s clear distinction between what we identified as Encratic asceticism (pg.12) which is the idea of meritorious self denial for the purpose of attaining or adding to our salvation; as contrasted with exercising spiritual discipline in order to grow our faith and to become more Christ like; more godly.

Titus 2:11 – For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.

Satisfaction is the key word that accompanies this sixth step in the Christian life;
It is reflective of a peaceful / pious life.
This describes a life of contentment and trust for the believer; where one is resting in God and enjoying this much needed rest.
It is a life marked by goodness and faithfulness and it is a life that is influenced by God in all aspects and one that has a godly influence on others.

I Tim.6:6 – Godliness with contentment is great gain.

"In a world of continuous religious corruptness [sic.], godliness is to be sought and displayed by the believer. The world should be witnessing individuals who are devoted to God in all things. For this purpose, Peter exhorts each believer to add to his life godliness. The interesting aspect of godliness is what it reveals and produces. The one who is devoted to God is at peace with God and able to rest in Him, which indicates that he is satisfied with God. The reflection upon the word goodness produces the thought of satisfaction that displays a pious peaceful life. It is to be noted that the step of satisfaction comes after the painful ground of suffering. In fact, suffering opens the door to the final three glorious and productive steps of satisfaction, sensitivity, and spiritual maturity." Eight Steps To Spiritual Maturity - pg. 398.

Ps.107:8-9 – Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

When one is truly satisfied with God, then praise for God is natural and truly joyous!
It is then that God is able to pour into that soul goodness and joy and peace!
It is when one has reached the place of satisfaction with God that he is able to truly rest in God and cease from struggling and fighting with God.

Heb.4:1-3 – Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.
For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,
“AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,”
although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.

Jer.6:16 – Thus says the LORD, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths,
Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Rom.15:4–5 – For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Heb.4:10 – For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.

Mt.11:29 – "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.

Is.30:15 – For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, "In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength." But you were not willing.

"If we were to study every example in the Old and New Testaments, we would discover that God is more concerned about the character of His servants and how they live their lives than He is about their service. Each one in any ministry or service is to operate from a level of satisfaction with God and sensitivity to God and others. For this reason, God spends a lifetime shaping and molding His servants to bring them to the point where they are supposed to be. In many cases, this shaping included some form of suffering. God will do what is necessary to bring one to the place he should be and to the lifestyle he ought to be living. We can say that God is allowing the troubling events and people of life for the end of molding one to be PURE before HIM and at PEACE with HIM! The ones who are pure and peaceful in heart will reflect God’s unique work in their lives. As the troubled and contaminated waters of a lake will not reflect the beauty of its surroundings, so a troubled unsatisfied soul will not reflect the work of God in its life!"

"The development of satisfaction may take a long time and may produce many losses in order for us to be at the place that God intends. What we do not realize is that our tendency to be impatient increases suffering and postpones the development of a satisfied heart. We tend to fight the discipline and development of our lives by God, and in doing so; we forfeit what God calls 'The peaceable fruit of righteous.' "
Eight Steps To Spiritual Maturity - pgs. 406-407

The preceding passage from Pastor Hanson’s book should be read over several times and you need to meditate upon the deep truths that are contained therein. If you are not in the habit of meditating upon the truths in God’s word then you need to start; and this is a good place to do so.
These insights are gleaned directly from a lifetime of submission to God and a dedicated commitment to studying and teaching the Bible. They are nuggets of golden truth mined from the depths of personal trust, contentment and satisfaction with God. We would do well to pay close attention to these precious truths and to make these beautiful principles a permanent part of our lives.

Heb.12:11 – All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Jn.15:1-5 – “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away;
And every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
“Abide in Me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

We have previously discussed the virtue of patience and I pointed out the importance of the Greek word used in our text; ὑπομονή - hupomonae- -“to wait on God”. I want to reiterate what I explained during our discussion time concerning this word and its relationship to the words of our Lord in John 15 concerning our abiding in Him. The word abide in the text is μένω and it is the root of ὑπομονή. Here we find a great insight into how we can develop patience and godliness and arrive at satisfaction in our Christian life.
Everything flows directly from our intimate relationship of dependence upon and our resting in our Lord Jesus Christ.