March 1 Daily Discovery
March 1 Daily Discovery - Read 2 Peter Chapter 1
This passage below is from the King James Version (ekjv.org).
Remarks from the Berean Fellowship follow the passage below.
[1] Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
[2] Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
[3] According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
[4] Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
[5] And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
[6] And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
[7] And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
[8] 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.
[9] But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
[10] Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
[11] For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
[12] Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
[13] Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
[14] Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.
[15] Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
[16] For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
[17] For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
[18] And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
[19] We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
[20] Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
[21] For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Like Precious Faith
This letter is one of those that are referred to as general epistles. Epistle means letter. Some of the letters that the apostles wrote were sent to specific churches or people. This letter is sent to all of those that have obtained what peter calls like, precious, faith. This letter is written to every believer from the get-go. Sometimes Paul would tell the recipients of a letter to also share it with other people or local assemblies. Philemon was written specifically to the man, Philemon.
It is true of most of the Scriptures that they have been recorded for us but they were not written to us. We can learn from them and grow from them, but it is important that we interpret them within the context in which they were written.
On the other hand, this letter is written to us, because we have also received like, precious, faith.
For this daily discovery I simply want to focus on the concept of like precious faith.
Common faith
Our common faith (or like faith ) is in Jesus Christ. This faith itself is a gift that we have received from God. We have been granted by God's mercy the faith to believe.
Eph. 2:8-10
[8] For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
[9] Not of works, lest any man should boast.
[10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
John 6:44-45
[44] No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
[45] It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
Acts 11:15-18
[15] And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.
[16] Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
[17] Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?
[18] When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
Your faith is not defined by the name or denomination of the church that you attend. God can work and is working by His Spirit through every denominational group or local assembly that meets to learn about and worship Jesus Christ.
Read Revelation chapters 2 and 3 and you will see that the local churches of the apostolic age had both doctrinal issues and moral issues or spiritual issues. It is important to note that Jesus walked among all of them. Most of them were rebuked for something, but only one of them was threatened with being removed, and that particular church had no moral issues or doctrinal issues cited. They had simply fallen out of love with Jesus.
When Jesus prayed for all of us in the garden before His crucifixion (John 17), He prayed for us to all be one. God loves unity and surely His heart aches over the divisions that there are in His church of our day.
Regardless of the tag that you wear that identifies your affiliation with a church, if you have obtained this like, precious, faith from Jesus to believe upon Him, to learn of Him and to love Him, every other believer in every other local assembly is someone with whom you can find fellowship.
Receive one another, but not to doubtful disputations, as Paul admonished.
Rom. 14:1
Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Our fellowship is centered on the person and work of Jesus.
Precious faith
1 Pet. 1:7
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Your faith will be tried. Count on it.
Add to your faith
By the mercy and grace of God, faith is where you have started. There are things that you need to add to it. God lit the initial fire for the altar of burnt sacrifice, but it was the job of the priests to gather wood every morning and to keep that fire burning. Salvation is a gift of God, but so is the faith that has resulted and you calling upon Jesus. No man ever comes to Christ unless the Holy Spirit is working in his life in advance of his decision. God has lit the fire in each one of us but we have a responsibility to keep it burning.
Peter gives us an ordered list of things to add to our faith:
- Virtue
- Knowledge
- Temperance
- Patience
- Godliness
- Brotherly kindness
- Charity
May all of these things abound in us!
--------------
Continue Your Search
Do you see any: Commands to Obey, Warnings to Heed, Promises to Claim, Examples to Follow, Vices to Avoid, Praises to Emulate, Prayers to Use, Principles by which to Live, Questions to Ask or Actions to Take?
Follow
