FRUIT FOR HIS GLORY
“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” — II Peter 1:5-8
On a certain occasion the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit… [John 15:16a].” He has made an investment in the believer that merits a return, and it should be our desire to fulfill that potential.
There is a touching story in the Old Testament that illustrates the point. Hannah, the mother of Samuel, a great prototype of the Lord Jesus Christ, was married, but had no children. She developed a passion for realizing her God given design of motherhood, moving first to “bitterness of soul,” and then to ernest and unrelenting prayer. “And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life [I Sam. 1:10-11].”
As it is in the nature of woman to bear children, so it is in the nature of saving faith to bring forth “fruit” to the glory of God. Faith is not passive, but active. Yet, that activity is not automatic. The apostle urges his hearers to “give diligence” to fulfilling faith’s potential. The English dictionary defines diligence as “careful and persistent work or effort.” It takes no effort but faith on our part to become a Christian, but it requires relentless effort, born of genuine passion and prayer, to manifest that new life in Christ in our daily walk. A reminder: we are not saved by good works, but we are saved “unto good works,” as is abundantly evident throughout the New Testament.
The potential of faith, the areas in which it may be expanded, is illustrated in the exhortation that follows, which seems to represent faith as a kind of spiritual cornucopia out of which an abundance of good things may flow. The first is “virtue.” Virtue is simply, moral goodness. That moral goodness is, of course, as defined by the word of God. The writer Proverbs asks, “Who can find a virtuous woman? Her price is far above above rubies.” (Prov. 31:10) A careful study of this nobility will indicate in greater detail the significance of the term. One has referred to it as “internal godly worth.”
Virtue should be the first evidence of genuine Christian faith. The second, here, is “knowledge.” This is not mere expansion of the intellect, but its significance is suggested in the last verse of this epistle, “But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” The apostle Paul exhibits this passion when writing to the Philippians he says, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord [Phil. 3:8a],” and again, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection…[v.10].” The knowledge of Christ surpasses all other knowledge and is the key to right understanding of everything else we know. It is a proper extension of faith.
Out of the knowledge of Christ we are to learn “temperance” or self control. It is the knowledge of Christ eventuating in the government of the will by His Spirit, thus conditioning our conduct. “Patience” follows; it is the power to endure under pressure of various kinds. Jesus said, for example, “Ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved [Matt. 10:22],” where endureth is the same word as patience. When faith is pursued with diligence it will eventuate in stedfastness to the end. and “godliness” in character. Godliness is, perhaps, self defining. It is God-like-ness; character and conduct flowing from faith in God and attributed to Him.
Godliness will be manifested in brotherly kindness. In a great verse we are admonished, “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you [Eph. 4:32].” That is the substance of brotherly kindness and is realized in faith growing to maturity. And finally, all is to emerge in “charity,” which is unconditional love. That is the character of the love of God.
Simple faith in Christ, developed to its full potential, reaches its zenith in Christ like love. And it is here that the Holy Spirit assures us we will “neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. When God gave Hannah her “man child,” she gratefully gave him back to the Lord “all the days of his life.” May we grow our faith in such a way that we, too, will have something of His own doing to give back as “fruit” for His glory!
For our good and His glory,
"Pastor" Frasier
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