SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
6/4/2012 9:36:56 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Christian Life Begins with Faith PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2Peter 1:1-4
Message of the verses: In yesterday’s SD we began to look at 2Peter chapter one. I wanted to go over the first four verses, but only got through the first two, so we will pick up where we left off yesterday. The reason that I am now in 2Peter is because when I began my Spiritual Diaries in this book in 2004 I seemed to have either missed doing them on the first eleven verses or lost them from my computer. At any rate I wanted to fill in the blanks so to speak so that my commentary on 2Peter would be complete.
This faith involves God’s power (v. 3): “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.”
“3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.” (NLT)
Peter was writing to believers who were being infiltrated by false teachers. Dr. Wiersbe entitles his commentary on 2nd Peter, 2nd and 3rd John, and also Jude “Be Alert.” All of these three letters have something in common and that is that the enemy was trying to infiltrate into the church with false teachers. Satan was sowing tares into the wheat and these three authors were writing to those who were true believers in order to warn them. Peter begins his second letter with encouragement and in verse three he reminds them that because of their faith in Jesus Christ, because they have been born into the family of God they have power given to them by God
The unsaved sinner is dead (“1 ¶ And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”) (Ephesians 2:1-3) Only Christ can him from the dead (“"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”) (John 5:24) We have a wonderful picture of this in the Gospel of John where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Jesus spoke only to Lazarus who had been in the grave for four days, and according to his sister he would stink because of being in the grave that long. When Lazarus came out of the grave Jesus told those around him to remove the grave clothes that he was wearing. This pictures those who have been born again, born into the family of God, for when this happens we are born complete and in need of nothing, “and in Him you have been made complete,” (Col. 2:10a). The false teachers of that day and of this day say that when a person is born again, born into the family of God there are still some things that they need, but that is not true, for we have everything complete in Jesus Christ. We are to grow up in Christ, and this happens as we walk with Him, study His Word, for Peter writes in his first letter that like new born babies we are to desire the Word of God which is like milk to a baby.
When a new born baby is born they are equipped for everything they need, and they only need to grow, and so Peter is saying to us as believers we need to grow and we are equipped with everything to do that. The false teachers of that day would tell them that these new believers needed to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses, but this was not true. When they were born into God’s family they were complete, in need of nothing.
When a person is born again they have to begin to walk with the Lord, and the goal of every believer is found in Romans 8:29 where Paul writes, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.” When we get to heaven we will be conformed to the image of our Savior and Lord, but while we are on earth we should become more and more like Him for after all Jesus left us here on earth to do His work, and Paul writes that we are a part of His body. Jesus told His disciples that it was good for Him to leave them because as their numbers grew there would be more people to do His word and more work would get done for the glory of the Lord. We have in us the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the grave, and we are to use that power to live the Christian life, to do the works that God prepared for us to do in eternity past “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10) We do this work by remaining or abiding in the Vine as Jesus taught us in John 15.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am thankful that when I became a born again believer in Jesus Christ on Jan. 26, 1974 that I was born complete and I was born with power to do the work that I have been called to do. My desire is to abide in the Vine in order that I can do the work of the Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To abide in the Vine so that I can do the work that I have been called to do that will bring glory to my Lord.
6/4/2012 10:40:39 AM
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