II Peter part 9

II Peter 
part 9 (step 8)

7a) “And in your brotherly kindness (supply) love.”

Mat.5:43-48 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ (Lev.19:18 – notice; there is no mention of hating in the commandment)
“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; 
for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
“For if you love (only) those who love you, what reward do you have?
Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”
(Even unbelieving sinners know how to love!)
“If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?
(You are not doing anything more righteous or praiseworthy than the rest of the world does every day).
Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”
(The implied answer is “yes, of course they do.”)
“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
(Be like your Father in heaven; let your love go beyond what is natural for man; more than the rest of the world).

This passage from the Sermon on the Mount contains the first mention of love in the New Testament. Jesus is introducing new spiritual insight into the Law;
He is illuminating the spirit of the Law.
These words of our Lord Jesus were radically new to Jewish ears; indeed to human ears!
The concept of love was not new;
the Hebrew language had a primary word to express love (aheb) including variations and several other terms and for nuanced meanings.
Indeed, I am sure it is safe to say that the concept of love was commonly understood and expressed in most if not all ancient languages.
And so too, the ancient Greek language employed several words to express the various kinds of love; much more specifically than modern English does for example.
Agape was used to express general preference for something or satisfaction with or acceptance of a thing or a person;
it was only one word among many more specific terms for love. (eros, philia, storge, ludis, pragma, philautia, etc.)
Today in modern secular Greek, the word used most commonly for love is agape.
The phrase “I love you” is pronounced “sagapo”; you can see the root agape is used.

But Jesus raised the word agape and the idea of the love that it describes, to an entirely new level of meaning;
a level that goes beyond the human capacity to love in the natural sense.
Jesus has taken an everyday word and made it special, for God’s own purpose.
And so, this new concept of Christian love has changed the definition of agape in the New Testament forever;
in fact, it goes beyond scripture; this enhanced meaning of love has been carried into all parts of the world where true Christianity has spread.
In review: For the ancient Greeks the word agape had no supernatural overtones; it carried with it no particular spiritual or religious connotations;
but that all changed forever when Jesus infused it with power from on high; when He filled it with divine overtones and deep heavenly volume and with the dimension of eternality.

Jn.13:34-35 – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jn.15:9 – “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
Jn.15:12 – This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
I Jn.4:8 – “God is love." – ho Theos agape esten (Gk.) – Deus caritas est (L.).
The Latin word caritas translates the Greek agape;
it is the source of the use of the word charity to describe agape in the KJV; charity is this special kind of love.

I Cor.13:1-13 – Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not;
charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked,
thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Charity never faileth:
but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail;
whether there be tongues, they shall cease;
whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child:
but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part;
but then shall I know even as also I am known.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

This passage is the locus classicus for the definition of agape love for the Christian.
Please pay particular attention to the phrase “When I became a man.”
The thought is; when I became mature; we are studying Christian spiritual maturity.

In the Mathew passage above, we read that Jesus said that we are to be “perfect” as our heavenly Father is perfect.
He is talking about maturity in the Lord. This is to be our goal; we are to grow up in Christ.

Peter’s closing prayer is that we would continue to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Pet.3:18); so that we would become more Christ like.

Remember, God has given us everything that we need for us to grow in Christ;
II Pet.1:3-4 – 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.
For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

We are to become more and more like our heavenly Father;
just as Jesus was like His Father in every way;
and this is never truer than in the area of this attribute of love.
We have the Holy Spirit to help us and to guide us if we will but yield to Him and follow Him;
but we have need of personal diligence and we must practice these virtues (II Pet.1:5-11).

Eph.4:13 – until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

I Tim.1:5 – But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

We can gain valuable insight from Paul’s instruction to his young apprentice Timothy. Here we find three fountainheads of love that flow together to bring forth a steam of love.

1. A pure heart – is a heart in which the love of God can dwell; a heart through which the love of God can flow. A pure heart is a clean heart before God. This can only be accomplished through daily fellowship with God; through moment by moment awareness of God’s presence in ones life and a desire to love and obey Him. It is a heart that treasures the word of God and seeks to be transformed by it. A pure heart addresses our present walk.

2. A good conscience – is also necessary if the love of God is to flow through a person. Unconfessed sin will block the flow; therefore we need to keep short accounts with God and with others. This addresses our past actions. A tender conscience is sensitive to the affect that ones words and actions have upon others. A good conscience is one that is not hiding from God, but is open and honest before Him; a good conscience is ready and willing to receive instruction and correction from God through His Spirit and His through His word.

3. Sincere faith – addresses our future actions. Genuine faith is consistent faith; it is not hypocritical faith. If the love of God is to flow through us, we must first know it ourselves; we must love God and love others; we must speak the truth in love with conviction and sincerity. Sincere faith is a resting faith, a confident and contented faith in God.

Spiritual maturity is the last step on our chart
(page 4 of our outline).
Let’s consider the words that accompany this important culminating step on our chart.

Our persistence: the point here is that when we come to this step, we have only just begun. We have need of persistence and endurance in order to reap the full benefits of all that we have learned and come through. We need to put into practice what we’ve gained.

Repeating: we are to repeat all of the steps as we continue to grow in our maturity; remember no one will arrive at perfection in this life; we all must continue to grow in the knowledge of God, of Christ and of truth. This is our calling and this is our privilege.
An explosion of life: if we will apply all of these principles and add all of these virtues to our faith then we will be certain to experience a newness of life that will be dynamic and exciting; covering every area of our worship, our ministry, our service and our life!

Instruction: spiritual maturity means that one has reached the level of “father” in their growth (I Jn.2:12-14). At this level one is able to receive and accept instructions from God readily and then is able to instruct others with proficiency. A key characteristic of a good father is that he not only produces children, but that he instructs them as well.

Self – Control: this crucial fruit of the Spirit is evident in the spiritually mature Christian. We have already explored self-control as the virtue we were to add at the fourth step; in fact, this is only one of several aspects of growth that have been repeated throughout the process.
Others include kindness/ brotherly kindness, patience/ longsuffering, and of course love.
It is obvious that these are very important for our maturity.
Here we have the double emphasis of combining the fruit of the Spirit with the virtues that Peter has listed for us to add to our faith.
In summation, what is needed has been called Spirit control, and so it is. But I must hasten to add that we will only ever experience Spirit control if we exercise Spirit aided and Spirit directed self-control by the grace and provision of God.