Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davy. Stephen has been teaching the Bible for over four decades, and we bring you these messages to help you know God, think biblically, and live wisely. Just before Stephen's message today, please take a moment to like and subscribe to this podcast. That helps more people find this biblically faithful teaching.
Now, here's Stephen. You've heard it this way: If you were taken to court and accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? It's the idea. Would your coworkers be shocked if you told them tomorrow you're a Christian? Would your classmates be stunned to find out that you claim to be a Christian?
It's the idea here. Practice these supplements and. I guarantee you will never need to be afraid of living a life that could be summed up as ineffective or unproductive. For a couple of years, two years, in fact, Rick Hansen. A paraplegic athlete decided to circle the globe in his wheelchair to raise awareness of spinal cord research.
You can imagine how grueling this trip would be. There are photos of him in all kinds of weather: burning heat, slashing rain, cold blizzards, all kinds of terrain, dry deserts. Wastelands, forests, farmlands, roads that led over mountains. At first, nobody really took notice, but over time, journalists began to pick up his story, and news outlets began tracing his journey. His efforts to go up steep mountain roads were captured by photographers.
His arms. Taut with aching muscles, his hands bandaged and calloused, wheeling through little cities and villages as he literally circled the globe. On May twenty third, nineteen eighty seven, Rick headed home on his final leg of the journey. By this time, his name was well known. Was caused for the paralyzed greatly appreciated.
While he was still many miles away from his home in Vancouver, Canada, West Canada, people came out and thanked him as he would wheel by. As he came nearer the goal, the crowds thickened along both sides of the highway, and people stopped in their cars to get out and wave. As he wheeled his way toward an arena they had chosen, where he expected his family and some friends to show up, and he just wanted to do one final victory lap while a few friends clapped. Instead, the arena—you didn't know it—was packed with thousands of people, national and international leaders, movie stars, camera crews. The streets grew impossibly dense as he grew nearer.
Drew near to that arena. Helicopters hovered overhead. Police on motorcycles then came in and flanked both sides of him. And other wheelchair athletes came in behind them. And one reporter said, "Like a legion of charioteers, followed him." As he as he swooped through the wide lower gates and glided out onto the stadium track, to his utter surprise, tens of thousands of people exploded with cheering.
One reporter said it was wild. The celebration was incredible. His grueling journey for the sake of others was now. Complete. A great picture.
You can just see it, can't you? That, beloved, is a taste of what your future reception will be like in heaven. And when I say that, I can feel it. You are saying, "No way." You don't know me. You know, I'm a little side note.
I'm gonna slip in and hang my head, probably apologize to Jesus for taking up His time.
Now, the Bible presents a very different picture. Sin is forever gone in the record. It's never the issue. His grace multiplied in your life, and how it demonstrated through your life is the issue of the bema, the bema seat, the judgment seat. The Bible clearly refers to degrees of reward for faithful living.
The servant who managed Jesus preached five talents for his master was given five more. The one who stewarded his money well received more to manage. In the Apostle John's second letter, he warns us. The believer that we need to watch ourselves, lest we lose our full reward—not our salvation. That's impossible.
Our full reward that would come from straying into indifference, unrepentance, backsliding where we should be. But even still, the picture of our homecoming is presented as a time of reward. Paul uses the analogy of the bema—that's the raised platform where victorious athletes would be given their reward by the officials for having run their race. Paul uses that language. Whatever was unprofitable will be burned up like wood and stubble.
It won't. It won't be. Anything rewardable, but that which is rewardable will be received as they were gems.
Now we'll recognize at that moment that whatever we do receive was his empowering, which is why the Bible tells us we give them back. Wouldn't it be tragic to have nothing to give back, though? What joy we'll feel when we have something!
Some theologians believe the bema seat experience will take place immediately after a believer dies, and I would agree with that. For to be absent from the body, which is death, is to be in the immediate presence of the Lord. The tour of heaven will come later. You'll see your grandparents who know the Lord later. That they're not waiting yet.
You're going to see the Lord. And in His presence, I believe every Christian will meet privately with their Savior. The Lord will review our lives in a very personal setting, and then personally reward everything possible that we did in obedience to Him. And Jesus preached that giving someone a cup of water, little cup of water, rewardable. Visiting the prisoners, rewardable; showing kindness, rewardable; meeting the physical needs of some, rewardable; doing something for someone who can't pay you back, rewardable.
The writer of Hebrews says that God is not unjust to overlook your service and the love that you have shown in His name. He's not going to forget. You'll forget. I'll forget, but God hasn't forgotten anything that you've done out of love for others. Ultimately, out of love for Him, it presents this sense that He's eager not to condemn, but to congratulate.
Now, can you actually guarantee that a Christian could live in such a way that standing before the presence of the Lord would Give this joyful anticipation. Can you guarantee that you can live some kind of life that at the end of it the Lord would reward you? Isn't that bold? Isn't that you know? Isn't that kind of proud?
Isn't that the wrong incentive? Just read your New Testament. Paul talking about having run his race. He's anticipating the reward ahead. And by the way, I wouldn't be so bold as to suggest this if Peter had been written it down, of all people.
If anybody would rather say he didn't deserve anything, let's just move on. It'd be Peter. He never forgot that threefold denial. You can bank on that. I have no doubt he never heard a rooster crow for the rest of his life that he didn't remember that courtyard.
That signature failure, but Peter is convinced because of the gospel, where Paul says there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. That's the gospel.
Now he says, "Look, your failure isn't fatal. All the way along your life, there's a path to pursue. Get back on it." He writes in chapter one, "Give it everything you've got." It's his idea. You you you tracked with the Lord imperfectly yet persistently. You can expect a commendation, not condemnation.
As you stand before your gracious Lord, what kind of life is that? How do we live it?
Well, Peter's been answering that question in his second letter. I invite you to turn back there. He's broken down that lifestyle into the form of seven supplements. We've been studying them carefully.
Now, if you track Peter's list down to the end of the paragraph, so let me jump ahead there for a moment. You'd never think we thought we'd get there, but let's take a look here. He's talking about your entrance into heaven, so he gets to the end of your life.
Now, this is going to happen. Let me show you what that's like. Notice what he writes in verse eleven: For in this way, that is according to this life you've lived, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Be careful; he's not saying this is how you get in. He's saying this is the kind of entrance you will have when you get in.
He describes your entrance here as richly provided. You could translate this phrase as referring to a lavish entrance, a lavish entrance. God has lavishly provided for you when you enter. He's got a reception, and it's lavish. Really, yeah.
What a promise. This is Peter's way of referring to the Bema seat. It's a time of rich reward and commendation. Why? Because this has been your life.
This has been your attempt—not perfect, but consciously—to add these seven supplements to your life.
Now, if you're new to our study, and for all of us, just to refresh our memory, back in verse five, Peter began for this reason, make every effort to supplement your faith.
Now he gives the seven with virtue. Let me give you a brief definition: virtue is a passion to pursue excellence, pursuing excellence in every endeavor. You're not going to cut corners. Add to virtue knowledge. That this word knowledge is practical knowledge.
That it means you're applying what you learn God's word into your life. This kind of knowledge, as we studied, isn't related to your SAT scores. We're glad about that, aren't we? This isn't referring to intelligence. This is referring to obedience.
Add to knowledge self-control. This is personal discipline of refusing sinful appetites, battling against it, repenting when you fail, quickly getting back on the path, adding to self-control, a steadfastness. This is seeking God's strength to handle the pressure of life. This is bearing up under the word means the load of life, the pressures of life. Rather than walking out the back door, quitting.
Add to steadfastness, godliness. This is the passionate pursuit of a pure life. Add to godliness, brotherly love. This is a winsome spirit of graciousness toward every everyone, really, but especially every member of the family of God, your brothers and sisters in Christ. Finally, add to your life the supplement of agape love.
That word is self-sacrificing commitment and humility to treating others as Christ has treated you. None of these seven supplements are beyond the reach of every believer. These are our goals in life. We won't perfect them. But we will pursue them.
What you simply have here is a practical definition for living for Christ. This is the Christian life.
Now, having studied all of that, it's it's not ironic to me to discover that he and I want to rephrase them because what he's going to do is give us seven guarantees that follow these seven supplements.
So let me rephrase them, and then we'll look through the passage, and we will get to verse eleven. Here is the first guarantee: they will guard you from wasting your time. Verse eight: for if these qualities, these supplements, are yours, and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective.
Now, the word Peter uses here for ineffective could be translated idle, idleness. A refusal to work—it's a reference to being inactive, uninvolved in in your Christian life, unconcerned about advancing the gospel. This this believer is is is choosing to sit it out. I'm going to sit out the race. Too much, too much of it's uphill.
I'm going to the sidelines. He slipped. That gear shift into neutral, the engine's on, but is idling. Peter is saying, you know, you're going to waste time that way. Pursue this, and it will guard you from wasting time.
The second guarantee follows naturally. Secondly, let me put it this way: these supplements will give you opportunities to demonstrate the character. Of Christ, these supplements will give you opportunities to demonstrate the character of Christ. He goes on to write in verse eight: "For if these qualities, these supplements, are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective. Notice or unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Unfruitful carries the idea of unproductive. Unproductive means there's." Well, there's nothing to show for your Christianity. This is the challenge of James. You ain't going to show anybody the reality of your Christianity by your faith. They can't see that.
Let them see your works. You're saved by faith. You prove it by your works. Unproductive living means there's nothing to show. You've heard it this way.
If you were Taken to court and accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? That's the idea. Would your coworkers be shocked if you told them tomorrow you're a Christian? Would your classmates be stunned to find out that you claim to be a Christian? It's the idea here.
Practice these supplements, and I guarantee. You will never need to be afraid of living a life that could be summed up as ineffective or unproductive.
Now, it might feel like it at times, and there may be times of greater productivity than others. You are not going to pillow your head every night and say, "Man, was I effective today, or what?" Was I productive? No, you're glad nighttime came, so you can interrupt a very unproductive day with some sleep. But let me tell you, according to God's word, as you pursue these supplements, no matter how you feel, no matter how you ebb and flow, He will sum it up as that was effective, that was productive. In fact, you you forgot a lot of things you did or said.
Is the encouragement of your presence to someone near you rewardable? That note, that phone call, rewardable. Helping out in some way, rewardable. You haven't even calculated it. Can't wait to congratulate you.
Third, these supplements will provide spiritual guidance and perspective in life.
Now, this particular guarantee is coming from what I observe in the form of a warning. Notice verse nine: for whoever lacks these supplements, these qualities, is so nearsighted that he is blind. The word he uses here for nearsighted is "mupadzo." You don't need to write that down. It gives us our word "myopic." It. It occurs only here in the entire New Testament, and in this context, it refers to a believer whose eyesight has begun to focus on things around, just around him, earthly things up close.
He can't see the big picture. He doesn't see others, just himself, his family, his job, his stuff. Peter adds the idea that he's effectively blind because of it. That's strong language. What that means is he can't visualize what God is doing, not just out there, but but even in his own life.
He's lost that perspective. He can't see down the road. He's blind to the reality of what God is doing. Can't see God's hand at work. If you're reading through the Bible, as I am, you've encountered now that signature event with Joseph.
I love that account, don't you? Where his brothers show up to buy grain, and they don't recognize him. He's the prime minister of Egypt. He's dressed differently, his hair, everything's different. Every time I see a picture of him, that seems he's got a great tan, whatever that means.
He's got a great tan.
Well, they're there bowing down to buy grain, and they don't recognize him. And finally, he can't hold back, and he stuns them in chapter forty-five with the news: "I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold." They're speechless. They're ready to panic, and then he says very quickly three times, verse five. God sent me here, before you. Verse seven.
You didn't send me here. God sent me here. Verse eight. God sent me here. How do you handle imprisonment without growing bitter?
How do you handle betrayal, disappointment, suffering, waiting? These are all experienced by Joseph. This is spiritual perspective, where God gives you the wisdom to say, "This has been sent to me, and I have been sent into this by God." It's a wonderful guarantee as you face life. Here is a fourth one. Supplements will number four keep you from developing spiritual amnesia.
Again, this follows closely naturally. Person who is blind to what God is doing for him in the present has probably forgotten what God has done for him in the past. You see how Peter connects these. Verse nine again: For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind. Having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
In other words, if you don't pursue these seven supplements, you not only develop a problem of spiritual vision, you develop a problem. One author wrote of spiritual amnesia, which gave me the idea. You not only fail to see what God is doing, you've forgotten what God has done in your life. Living a disobedient life as a believer, then, as a way of dimming our vision, clouding our memory, you forget that God has saved you. You forget that God has forgiven you, rescued you.
Perhaps you've met a few, but the most impactful Christians I have ever met are people who've never quite gotten over their conversion. The verb here for forgetting implies that the individual is deliberately putting out of their mind the idea of being sinful, being forgiven, the need of being cleansed, having been cleansed. This happens to a believer when they are, in fact, backsliding. Peter makes it clear in this passage: you're either moving forward or you're moving backward. You're making progress, or you're backsliding.
The Christian who chooses to forget their need for forgiveness, the Christian who stops thanking God for their salvation, is is edging back into sinful ways, old ways. Don't talk to me about cleansing from old sin, because I'm I'm being pulled by that undertow back in. I'm going to go back under. See, that's somebody you might know that's entering the lifestyle of sin, and you say, "Hey, you're you're a believer. You you shouldn't be doing that." Don't talk to me about that.
Don't tell me what sin is. Don't judge me. They're on dangerous ground of wasting, wasting away. Here's a guarantee to keep you from being pulled back under. Just take a couple of them.
The supplement of virtue, the refusal to cut corners. Are you cutting corners? That job you're doing when when the supervisor's not looking, what do you do? Supervisor shows up, everybody gets to work. How about godliness?
Isn't it interesting? He tells Christians to be godly. The refusal to make excuses when you fail in that passionate pursuit of purity.
Well, this will keep you from developing amnesia, and to forget history, you remember is to repeat it. That was Stephen Davy, and this is Wisdom for the Heart, a production of Wisdom International. Learn more at wisdomonline.org.
