You can't just care about you because it's not my daddy who is in heaven. It's our Father who art in heaven.
You're not an only child. Dr. Tony Evans is looking out for the spiritual well-being of others as a key indicator of maturity in our faith. He saved you to take you to heaven. That's eternity.
But He saved you to use you in time. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Community gardens bring people together to create beautiful, productive spaces. The mature Christian is like a gardener in one of those parks who not only looks after the growth of his own plot, but also to those of his neighbors. Today's message comes from the timeless archives of Dr. Evans as he takes an important look at our spiritual journey to maturity.
Let's listen. How many of you folks shop at Walmart? Okay?
The beauty of Walmart is that you don't have to go from store to store to store to store to store. To go to get whatever you need. You need food? We got it here. You need clothes? We got it here. You need toys? We have it here. You need plants? We have it here.
We are a one-stop shop for comprehensive provision for all you need. Before then, you ran over here for this. You ran over this for this. You ran over here for this. And that's what a lot of Christians do.
They run over here for this, and they run over here for this, and they run over here for this, and they run to this conference for that, and they run to this. But they be going all over the place, and God says, I have provided everything you need to become all that I want you to be. The provision has already been made in the new nature that I have provided you. Once you come to Christ, you have the seed of the divine nature, but like any seed, it must grow. He says, I have given you everything you need so that as it grows, you become a partaker that is a beneficiary of the growth of the seed in the soil of the soul so that it is manifested in the life of the person.
So, he uses a phrase here. In verse 5, he says, Now for this reason, apply all diligence. He says it again in verse 10, Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent. In other words, prioritize, pay attention to, focus on, so that the seed of the new nature is free to expand. So the issue is not earning it.
The issue is feeding it so that it can be what it was created to be. In every believer is a new you. Now the physical only gets improved when we go to glory, but the soul gets improved now.
That's why the Bible says we are being saved, because it's a journey, it's a process, and you determine by your diligence how fast you want the process to unfold. So what he's going to do is he's going to give you and me supplements. Now most people in here take supplements, take vitamins. And what a supplement does is add to something you already have in order to expand it. What Peter now is offering you, supplements. He says if you take these vitamins, if you take these supplements, the new nature like Pac-Man will feed on it. And when it feeds on the supplements, then the seed expands. It doesn't just expand without something to eat.
It's all there, but like a baby, it's got to have something to eat in order to expand. So if you want to expand the divine nature that every believer has that's in the soul so that the life of Christ is being magnified and the experience of God is being demonstrated, he says, here are the supplements I want you to take. And I want you to take them diligently.
Okay? So let's look at the supplements. First of all, he says in verse 5, applying all diligence in your faith. So the first supplement he gives us is faith. The Bible says without faith, it is impossible to please God. What is faith?
Let's repeat it again. Acting like God is telling the truth. Faith is acting like God is telling the truth. What does faith do?
It does not make God do anything. Let me clarify this because a lot of people are told, well, you don't have enough faith. Jesus said, if you've got faith, the grain of a mustard seed, you can move mountains.
Okay? What he's saying is it's not the size of your faith. It's the content of it. When you act like God is telling the truth, you're demonstrating faith, even if you don't feel it because you're walking in faith. So he says, act like I am telling the truth and the new nature is going to grab that because now you're telling me I believe you, God. Even if I don't want to believe you, even if I don't like believing you, I'm going to act like I'm believing you and the new nature is going to grab that.
Okay? So it's going to feed on that. So the first supplement is faith.
He comes with a second supplement here. He says moral excellence. That phrase is a phrase which means fulfilling a design. For example, if you have a dull knife, you make it excellent by sharpening it because the knife is supposed to cut.
So if it's not sharpened, it can't perform what it was created to perform. So when he says moral excellence, he's saying living up to your creative purpose. Isn't that what we tell our children? You would say to your kid, that's not you.
You shouldn't be doing that. You're not living up to who you're supposed to be. In other words, make your goal God's purpose. And when you make your goal God's purpose, the new nature eats that and then it begins to expand. He goes on to say, add to your moral excellence knowledge. Now, why does knowledge matter? Because you can't do what you don't know. See, you shall know the truth, John 8, and the truth shall set you free. But it's the truth that you know that sets you free.
So if you don't know it, then you won't be free because you don't know what to apply because you never learned it. You don't learn the Bible just so you can quote it. You don't learn the Bible just so you can become a biblical scholar. You don't just learn the Bible so that you can say, I read it today.
You learn the Bible to give the seed something to chew on. Because the thing that you know that you now are acting on because you're operating in faith, the seed is now expanding in the soul because it's getting supplements. It doesn't give it something it doesn't have. It just expands what has already been given. He goes on to say, self-control.
That means not yielding to human instincts outside of the will of God. In other words, as this new nature is growing, self-control means you're controlling you and other things are no longer controlling you. Things that used to own you are no longer owning you. Things that used to dictate to you are no longer dictating to you. The addiction is losing its clout.
And the reason it's losing its clout is because the seed is expanding so the control is more in control. Then he says you add to that perseverance. Perseverance means you don't quit before you're finished. You don't throw in the towel too soon.
You don't walk away too soon. You ask God to make it clear when his purpose has been finished in whatever that thing is that you're dealing with, and you are trusting him, and you're not walking away before God has completed his task. And in your perseverance, godliness. Godliness says that I want to please God in this decision. I want to honor God in this decision.
I want God to be glorified in this decision. Then he goes on, verse 7, another supplement. He says, brotherly kindness. If all you care about is you, you're stifling the seed. If the only person you want to be blessed is you, you're stifling the seed. If you are a cul-de-sac and not a conduit, you're stifling the seed. The seed grows when the family is cared about. You can't just care about you and expect the seed to grow. There's got to be kindness to fellow family, because it's not my daddy who is in heaven.
It's our Father who art in heaven. You're not an only child. Okay?
All right. Then he says, add to your brotherly kindness love. Well, he's talking about kindness within the family. So he's talking about love outside of the family.
That's why the Bible says love your enemies. But we got to define love, because we're not talking about a feeling. I love chocolate cake. I love ice cream.
I love candy. That's not biblical love. Biblical love is the decision to compassionately, righteously, and sacrificially seek the well-being of another. It is the decision to compassionately, righteously, and sacrificially seek the well-being of another. Biblical love starts with a decision, not with an emotion. Emotions often have to catch up to decisions. Okay? So that means showing kindness to people you don't know, who are not brothers.
It's when you see a need, and you meet a need, and you reach out. God says the seed grabs that. Why? Why does the seed grab that?
Why? Because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, who was ever believed in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life, because that's what God does, and God likes when we do it. So when God likes what we do that He does, He grows within us. It becomes a secular reaction, because we are being as He is, and since God is love, when we are loving the love of God that we are showing and loving, He is expressing it in us so that we experience more of His love as we give His love to others to love, He is expanding His love in us.
He says, add to that love. When you take the supplements, and the seed grabs it, and you're taking the vitamins daily, that is, as a way of life, there is expansion in the soul. So you don't have to make God become more real to you, beg God to become more real to you, plead with God to become more real to you. He's gonna show up, because the supplements are working in the seed.
So you don't have to go looking for Him. All you gotta do is add supplements to what you already have, because you already have everything you need to become all God wants you to be. More on nurturing the divine seed God has planted in you when we continue our message in just a moment. First, though, when you visit tonyevans.org, you'll find out more about today's teaching and the short powerful sermon series it comes from, called Pressing On to Maturity. All three full-length lessons on the importance of actively taking steps to grow in your faith can be yours for review and study on your own schedule, available in a CD album delivered straight to your home or as an instant digital download. And when you make a donation to help continue this broadcast ministry, we'll say thanks by sending you the audio collection along with an added bonus, a copy of the powerful book that takes these messages even further, Kingdom Living, the Essentials of Spiritual Growth. The book and the Pressing On to Maturity audio collection are yours with our thanks when you visit tonyevans.org and make a donation. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or call our Resource Center at 1-800-800-3222.
That's 1-800-800-3222. And now let's get back to today's message. It says, for if these qualities are yours and are, get this, increasing, because remember you're doing diligence, you're taking supplements every day, and it's increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For those who lack qualities, so you're not being diligent, you're not taking your vitamins. He is blind, shortsighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. He says, if you've not taken your vitamins, supplementing the new nature, you're blind, you're shortsighted, because you're only thinking about now, and you've forgotten the purification of your former sin. You forgot the cross. On the cross, God's wrath was satisfied by the death of Christ, and he never wants you to forget it. That the only reason you have eternal life, the only reason you have the life of God within, is because of that cross, which purified you. But the moment you forget the cross, you forget why you're supposed to be doing this.
That his forgiveness, his grace, his provision is to be the motivation for you to grow to spiritual maturity. Look, some of us know what it is to have kids who forget who pay them for this education. We sent them to school to study, to go to class, and they're up in there partying.
They jamming. They're doing their own thing. They forgot why we're sending them to school. You know what? They forgot that they ain't paying for it. That's what they forgot.
They forgot that mom and daddy is working and putting up money so they can go to school to study, to learn, to prepare, to take care of themselves when they graduate, and they're up there partying. Don't you understand? That's not what I paid for. God is saying, don't you understand when I died on the cross, what I paid for? What I paid for was your growth in me.
I didn't pay for the world. I paid for my purpose. And that's why he uses the word, don't be useless. He says it is possible to be a useless rather than a useful Christian. It is possible that you could be a Christian that's wasting God's time because he saved you to be useful. He saved you to take you to heaven.
That's eternity. But he saved you to use you in time. There is a historical purpose for your life. He says, but if the seed is not growing, you'll never find it. A lot of people want to know God's will who don't want to grow the seed. And if you're not willing to grow the seed, you will never discover his will because you are a useless saint. Because you're not going to live out the new nature or live out spiritual maturity.
You're going to use the old nature using God's need. So he says, folks who get married who still think they're single, we got a problem. Because what they haven't done is adjusted to the new reality. Things have changed now. So you have to adapt to the new situation if you want the benefit of the new situation to benefit you. See? And so what people, what a lot of people don't want to change is they don't want to change to this new arrangement because they want to still hold on to the old arrangement and they wonder why the new arrangement won't work. When you come to Christ, you're in a new arrangement.
And he wants to make you useful, that is beneficial to the flow of grace that is activating the new nature inside of you so that you become useful and fruitful, that is beneficial. You know, sand on the beach is free. Just walk on the sand, it's free. That same sand, if you want sand for the playground, you got to go to Lowe's or Home Depot and buy it. It's free sand in a plastic bag, and then it costs you. If you want sandpaper, all it is is sand on paper with glue, but you got to buy it.
Free sand on paper with glue. If you go to Silicon Valley where they use sand and computer chips, that's some expensive sand. It's that same free sand. But the reason why it's valuable is because it's useful. It's not just useful to be walked on, it's useful for computer chips. God looks at a lot of his people and says, oh, y'all, it's good to be walked on. And I need some computer chip saints, saints that I can utilize for my kingdom purposes.
I can utilize with their gifts, talents, and skills, I can utilize to be beneficial, but don't expect me to use you if I can't grow you. You know, you go to McDonald's and they say, you want a super saizer? You go to, you go to Whataburger, they don't want to know, do you what a size? You go to Wendy's and they'll offer the biggie size.
You go to Sonic and they'll tell you they'll Sonic size it. What they're saying is, we can make this bigger if you want to. You don't have to be satisfied with regular because we can make this much, much bigger. God is saying, I can do more with you if you want to. You don't, you don't have to be satisfied with regular or even plus. We can go to super unleaded if you want to, but he won't force you to.
He won't force you to because you have to give all diligence, but the diligence isn't making something happen. It's expanding something that's already set up to happen. And that is the seed in the soil of life. When you buy an appliance, it's to be useful. You don't want to buy an appliance, a stove, a refrigerator, a toaster, a can opener to look pretty in the kitchen. That's not why you do that. You do that because you got a juice for it.
You want it to produce something for you. You'll go, oh, that's a cute refrigerator, man. It don't cool nothing, but it look good. Oh, that stove is so nice now. Nothing gets hot on it, but it look good. Oh, that toaster, that's a brand new toaster.
It don't pop up nothing, but it look good. And that can opener over there, it don't even come on when you plug it in, but it's in the right spot. Oh, it may be hanging out there, but it's useless. Many of God's people in church, they sitting there, but I can't do nothing with them.
They just sitting there. They not useful. They're not beneficial because there's no expansion of the seed and the light. So what he's saying is, I want to expand. And he says, I want you to make certain verse 10 about your calling and my calling and choosing you.
If you practice these things, you'll never stumble. Let me explain something. Election is not first and foremost about who gets saved and who doesn't get saved. Election is about purpose. God says, I elected Israel so that they would be a light to the nation. In other words, I elected them to get a job done.
Guess what? He didn't just save you for heaven. He saved you to get a job done. He saved you to benefit Him, His kingdom, His glory.
And yes, you get benefits along the way. He says, and if you will grow the seed and become a useful saint, He says you will experience the knowledge of God. And not only that, verse 11, He concludes with, For in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. Everybody doesn't go to heaven the same way. Everybody who's saved goes to heaven, but everybody who's saved who goes to heaven doesn't go there the same way. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3, Some get in just as so by fire.
In other words, by the skin of their teeth. Others get in with a welcoming committee and people applauding as they cross. When Stephen was being stoned to death in Acts chapter 7 and was getting ready to lose his life, the Bible says while he was still alive, he looked up and he saw Jesus standing on the right-hand side of the Father. Come on home, boy.
Come on home, boy. He applauded him because he was useful. So everybody doesn't get to heaven the same way. He says, but if you are useful and the seed is grown, you will have a glorious entrance into heaven, not an ordinary one. Dr. Tony Evans had one more important closing thought to finish out today's message, and we'll hear what it was in just a moment. But first, if you've missed any part of today's presentation or would like to review the full-length version of this teaching, it comes as a part of the short sermon compilation called Pressing on to Maturity. As I mentioned earlier, all three messages in this collection are our gift to you when you make a contribution to help us keep reaching out on this station.
And for a limited time, we are also including a copy of a powerful book that supplements these messages called Kingdom Living, the Essentials of Spiritual Growth. Just drop by tonyevans.org any time of the day or night where you can get all the details and make your donation online. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or you can call our 24-hour resource center at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members help with your request.
That number again, 1-800-800-3222. God loves to prosper His people and all the more when they want to pass His love on to those around them. Tomorrow we'll listen as Dr. Evans discusses how each of us can move to a deeper level of spiritual maturity, regardless of where we're at today.
Right now though, let's return for today's closing thought. The question is, how do you want your life to work on earth and how do you want to cross the pearly gates in heaven if you've accepted Jesus Christ as Savior? The first thing is you must accept Jesus Christ as your personal sin bearer. You must believe in Him for the gift of eternal life and for the forgiveness of sins. But once you have done that, the seed is planted in your life, but you must give all diligence to give it supplements, to give it vitamins so that it can expand in the soul. That means you don't have to run around to be religious. You just have to grow in the relationship, and the religion will take care of itself.
