Faith Additions: 2 Peter 1:5-9
One of the coolest hot rods I have ever seen is in a collection at Sanderson Ford. It was originally a 1950 Mercury 2 door coupe. The original car came with a 255.4 cubic inch V-8 that had 110 horse power. Most models had a three speed on the column manual transmission, a heater and an AM radio.
The hot rod at Sanderson Ford had some additions. Start with the chromed Ford 6.8-liter V-10 engine. The automatic transmission built to take the power of the V-10. Add to all that the multi-layer paint job, leather interior, Air Conditioning in the front and rear. A special sound system was added and things that I cannot recall were added to this spectacular hot rod.
The car had some car additions, to say the least!
The Lord gives us a faith. 2 Peter 1:1B says, “To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours.” (NIV) Notice that the faith of the Christian is received. He does not just come with faith but receives it from God.
This faith grants us the capacity to trust God and enter a relationship with Him that is described as participating in the divine nature in 2 Peter 1:4. Faith grants us the capacity to participate in the divine nature, or to know God in a personal way!
Our faith is like the 1950 Mercury, it is supposed to have some additions. 2 Peter 1:4-9 gives us seven of those additions. We are going to take a look at them.
2 Peter 1:5 says, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness knowledge;” (NIV)
The first two additions to faith are in verse 5.
First, is goodness. Goodness is a faith addition. The verse starts with, “for this very reason,” meaning because you participate in the divine nature and know God. Because you know God “make every effort” to add these seven things you your faith.
It says to make every effort to add to your faith. The word “add” is important. It means to make a rich or lavish provision. It was originally used of a person paying to add a chorus to the staging of a play.
We are saved by faith that is gifted to us by God! Being saved like this does not exclude human participation in growth in faith additions assisted by God the Holy Spirit.
These seven faith additions are a work God in which the believer cooperates and participates.
Again, goodness is the first faith addition. 2 Peter 1:3 defines the source of goodness, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (NIV)
God called us by his own glory and goodness, meaning that ultimately God is the one who possesses goodness. He is the source of goodness, even the goodness that we are to add to our faith.
So how do we tap into this goodness and add it to our faith? It is through our knowledge of Him, or our knowledge of God that we are called to Him! He has goodness and we know Him and He shares that goodness that He possess with us. To know God is to know His goodness and to know Him better and more is to tap His goodness more and more and add it to our faith.
The better you know God the more of His goodness you will add to your faith. You know God better by listening to Him speak to you in His Word in the Bible and speaking back to Him in prayer. Make Bible Study and prayer a daily part of your life and you will know God better and add His goodness to your faith.
The second faith addition is knowledge. Knowledge is all about knowing the things of God! Knowing the things of God is about studying His Word in the Bible!
I sold Fords for 13 years and 4 months at Sanderson Ford in Glendale, Arizona. The most sold Ford is an F150, and I sold more F150’s than anything.
I was what is called Master Certified on Ford product knowledge. I knew Ford F150 knowledge inside out because I used it and studied it every day.
In July of this year I will have been out of that knowledge loop for 5 years and my knowledge of the F150 has faded.
To add knowledge to your faith is all about knowing the things of God, which are found in the Bible. You never want to be out of the Bible knowledge loop, instead you want to be adding knowledge to your faith all the time. What does that call for? Studying the Bible every day like I studied the F150 every day.
If you study the Bible every day and add that knowledge to your faith, you will smell out false teaching like rotten fish.
You will know the truth when you hear and read it.
Knowledge of the things of God must be a daily faith add.
2 Peter 1:6 gives us the next three faith adds, “and to knowledge, selfcontrol; and the self-control, perseverance, and the perseverance, godliness;” (NIV)
The third faith add it self-control.
Some in the Christian community associate out of control actions with the reception of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:23 clearly says that selfcontrol is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Gifts of the Holy Spirit are different than fruit of the Holy Spirit. We all have different gifts of the Spirit, but we should all have the fruit of the Spirit and all of them if at all possible, and we should have them growing in our life.
The longer I walk with the Lord the more I find that If I am in a situation where I used to lose control the strength is there to keep things controlled and not lose it.
Not too many months ago I was accused of doing something purposefully wrong. I knew I had not done it and explained that to the person accusing me. Then I walked out of the place.
Later in the day I got an apology explaining that this person had discovered that I had not done the thing that was wrong. Self-control saved the day. 25 years earlier I would probably have flipped out.
The call of God is to add self-control to our faith, and it comes from the Holy Spirit.
The fourth faith add is perseverance. Perseverance is the capacity to continue in the faith and resist the pressures of the world system.
The pressures of the world system attack the emotions and say, “this Jesus stuff is nonsense, just don’t bother with it.” In January of 2005 I had to leave full time ministry after 30 years. It would have been easy to say, “this Jesus stuff is nonsense and I will pay lip service, but following Him as Lord is overblown.”
Instead, that day and ever day since, I get up and walk with the Lord by being in the word and serious prayer. Because I am hurt by the world’s system changes nothing when it comes to Jesus and me.
That is perseverance and it must be added to faith.
The fifth faith add is godliness. Godliness is the practical awareness of God in every area of life.
When you are aware of God in every area of life in a practical way, it will call you to do the right thing when no one is looking. Why is that? Because you are aware that you are living for God and you are aware of Him and the fact that you are operating for an audience of one.
This always reminds me of the guy who came to talk to me about 45 years ago and said that he was cheating on his wife, but it was okay because nobody knew about it.
What did I tell him? Someone was in the room with you! Who, he said? I said, “God. He saw everything you did.” Godliness is knowing that God is there and acting like you live for an audience of one because He is there.
2 Peter 1:7 gives us numbers 6 and 7, “and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love.” (NIV)
The sixth faith add is brotherly kindness. Brotherly kindness is the family love for all believers. It is the warmth of fellowship with fellow believers and will always come by elevating Jesus above differences we may have with one another.
We are family by blood and that blood is the blood of Jesus.
The seventh faith add is love.
Love is not a feeling. This is agape love and is the action taken for another that sacrifices self to better the other person. It is exactly what Jesus did for us when He took our place at our execution to pay for our sin and make us better.
Since we know God and participate in the diving nature we are called to make these faith additions. There’s more in verses 8 and 9 of 2 peter 1, (8) For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Having the faith adds keeps you from being unproductive and ineffective in your knowledge of our Lord. The point? We are supposed to be productive and effective in our knowledge of the Lord and the faith adds make us productive and effective.
Verse “(9) But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.” To not have the faith adds makes you nearsighted and blind. What does that mean? It means that there is no way you can know where you are going!
In fact, he says that you will have forgotten that you have been cleansed of your past sins if you don’t have the faith adds.
If the 1950 Mercury did not have all the adds, it would not be the hot rod that wins all the rod shows, it would be a rusted hunk of junk in need of restoration.
Faith without the faith adds of goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love is a rusted-out hunk of junk that is in need of restoration, jut like the 1950 Mercury without the adds.
Since you know God, make the faith adds and be functional!