A Useful Life - 2 Peter 1:5-9
September 15, 2024
Self-pity is a huge sin. Far more serious than some of the sins we warn our kids about. Self-pity is the sin of unbelief in the goodness of God. It’s saying, God I don’t believe you can handle this. —Dr. Paul Ellis
supply or demand… law or grace… belief or unbelief… trust or try… you choose…
Prov 3:5-6… “trust in the Lord… do not rely on your own understanding…”
Isa 30:15… “in rest you shall be victorious… trust shall be your strength…”
Mark 9:17-27… “all is possible if you believe… I do believe, help my unbelief…”
Gal 3:5… “miracles… because you believe the message you heard about Christ…”
Gal 5:18-25… “if led by Spirit, not under law… follow HS in every area of life…”
Phil 4:19… “God will supply all needs… according to His goodness… in Christ…”
are you living a productive, useful life… what’s that look like (Barna)… pray…
2Tim 2:21… “special instrument… useful to the Master… prepared for every good work…”
2Pet 1:8… “the more you grow like this… the more useful you will be…”
Heb 6:7… “soil (heart) that drinks the rain (word)… produces a useful crop…”
secret to a useful life is simple… only possible in Christ… talked about the basics in this series… salvation, forgiveness, confession, repentance, rest (definitions)…
John 1:12… “all who receive Him… become children of God… all who believe…”
1John 1:7… “the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin…”
Heb 4:14-16… “hold fast to confession… come boldly… receive mercy, grace…”
Rom 2:4… “it is God’s kindness that leads you to repentance…”
Heb 4:10-11… “believe and enter rest… make every effort to enter His rest…”
created to live a productive, fruitful, useful life… not just wander until we die…
Psa 92:12-14… “righteous thrive and grow… still bear fruit in old age…”
Matt 3:8… “produce fruit consistent with changing one’s mind for the better…”
Luke 8… “seed in good ground… heard word with good heart… bear fruit with patience…”
John 15:5… “remain in Me… produce much fruit… do nothing without Me…”
Rom 7:4… “dead to the law… that we may bear fruit for God…”
Col 1:6-14… “gospel is bearing fruit… so you may bear fruit in every good work…”
karpos… effect of something, profit; praises; useful or desired results…
lots of good things you can do in this world… but will they last eternally… being useful is about pointing people to Jesus… giving them hope and inheritance…
Psa 42:5-11… “why am I discouraged and sad… I will put my hope in God…”
John 10:9-10… “I am the door… if anyone enters thru Me… he will be saved…”
John 15:16… “chose you… appointed you to produce fruit… fruit that will last…”
Rom 5:2… “access by faith into grace… boast in the hope of goodness of God…”
1Cor 15:19… “if we put hope in Christ for this life only… we should be pitied…”
2Cor 3:5… “nothing of lasting value on our own… only power and success from God…”
Gal 1:4… “gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age…”
a useful life is a godly life… secret to living a godly, useful life begins by knowing how much you have been forgiven… continues by living under grace, not law…
Luke 7:36-50… “her many sins have been forgiven… that’s why she loved much…”
John 14:15… “if you love Me, you will obey Me…”
Rom 6:14… “sin will not rule… because you’re not under law… but under grace…”
Titus 2:11-12… “grace instructs us to deny sin… live righteous and godly lives…”
talk a lot about Apostle Paul… had clearest understanding of grace… uses the word grace 144 times in his writings… only 68 in OT… only 13 in gospels…
Acts 20:24… “my purpose… ministry I received… testify to the gospel of grace…”
1Cor 3:10… “according to God’s grace given to me… I have laid a foundation…”
Gal 2:9… “JPJ… acknowledged grace given to me… to go to the Gentiles…”
Eph 3:1-2… “the dispensation of God’s grace which was given me for you…”
eventually, other apostles would come to the same understanding…
1Pet 1… “grace multiplied to you… set your hope completely on grace…”
2Pet 3:15-18… “Paul speaks about these things… some things are hard to understand… which ignorant people will distort to their own destruction… grow in the grace of Jesus…”
Jude 1:4… “ungodly say grace allows us to live immoral lives… denied Jesus…”
Rev 22:21… “the grace of the Lord Jesus be with everyone…”
so what does Peter say about living a useful life… and how is that possible…
2Pet 1:5-9… “make every effort to supplement your belief with goodness… goodness with knowledge… knowledge with self-control… self-control with patient endurance… patient endurance with godliness… godliness with brotherly affection… and brotherly affection with love… the more you grow like this… the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of Jesus… the person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has already forgotten God has cleansed them from sin…”
living a useful life is tied directly into your belief about how much you’ve been forgiven… if you lack these things… veil remains, not dividing OC/NC…
1Cor 13… “when the perfect comes, the partial comes to an end… now we see dimly…”
2Cor 3:14… “at reading of OC, veil remains… veil is only removed in Christ…”
2Tim 2:15… “present yourself approved… rightly dividing the word of truth…”
2Pet 1:9… “person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted…”
myopazo… to see dimly…
secret of living a useful life is simple… it’s not working harder… it’s knowing God more intimately… believing His blood has cleansed you completely from sin… it’s understanding all the magnificent and precious promises of God…
Rom 3:20-26… “all have sinned… justified freely by grace… by His blood…”
Heb 13:12… “Jesus died… to make His people holy… by His blood…”
2Pet 1:3-4… “divine power has given us everything required for life thru His very great and precious promises… escaping world’s corruption into His life…”
Rev 12:11… “defeated the devil… by the blood of the Lamb…”
when we focus on Jesus, it produces a useful, abundant, purposeful life… when we focus on law/sin, it produces a useless, destructive life that ends in death…
Rom 7:4… “dead to law, united to Jesus… produce harvest of good deeds…”
Rom 7:5… “law aroused evil desires… produce harvest of sin… result in death…”
the number 1 reason we don’t live a useful life is because we don’t know who we are in Christ… instead of resting in His love… we’re still working for it (HBR)…
Rom 4:7-8… “what joy for those whose disobedience and sins are forgiven…”
2Cor 5:17-21… “He became sin… we become righteousness of God in Christ…”