Re: Stress, worry, fear etc & the Christian

Let's look at the passages we ended with yesterday:

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.

What he is saying here is that Christian growth, is marked by those above qualities and they result in effectiveness and productivity. He is not saying that it's enough to simply have those qualities or characteristics, but rather that a Christian who is being obedient to God will see these characteristics in themselves always increasing.

2 Peter 1:9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

A Christian who is not growing, is not being obedient to the Lord. The word translated unproductive means "unfruitful" as well. This should remind us of what the Lord said:

John 15:5-8 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Do you see the connection here? Jesus didn't save us so we could just continue living our lives the way we always did. He wants us to grow to maturity in Him so we can be productive members of the family.

Much to our great shame and embarrassment though, many Christians, after they are saved, don't bother to pick up their bibles and study them. If they pick them up at all, it's just to read them a little. That is not what God wants from us.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?

Here Paul is berating the Corinthians for doing just that, (although I'd be willing to bed that even those Corinthians had done a little more then many do now days!) He calls them "infants in Christ". They are not being obedient to the Lord and growing in their faith by studying and reflecting on His Word.

Hebrews 5:11-6:2 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

Here he says pretty much the same thing. Although here he defines more exactly what the difference is between those who are still infants in Christ and those who have been obedient and are becoming mature in Christ. I was pretty ashamed of myself when I read this and realized at the time that I was still an infant although I'd "read" the bible quite a bit. The fact is, I hadn't "studied" it and I didn't reflect on it or even apply it to my life much.

When we realize that, Satan's next move to to try and convince us that we're way too old to go back to school now. In other words he tries to get us to believe that since we haven't obeyed God in this in all these years since we've been saved, that there's little point to doing so now. Then his next move is to convince us that we "can't" learn, or that it will "take to long" or things like that. That's all bologna of course.

This is our Lord's command to all who have been born again:

1 Peter 2:2-3 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

Pure spiritual milk is the Word of God! He is most definitely NOT telling us to go out and buy books that tell us what God has said about something, or what God is like. He is telling us to open our bibles, and read, study and reflect on the Word of God, with God Himself as our teacher!

John 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

John 16:13-15 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

1 Corinthians 2:10-12 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

1 John 2:27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him
Finally Peter says that if we are growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord then:

2 Peter 1:10-11 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Again, he is not saying that we have to work FOR our salvation but rather that we are to work it out--apply His Word, his commands, etc. to our lives. We are to grow in Christ; grow to maturity in Him. Those who refuse to do this, will not lose their salvation, but they also will not please the Lord. When they come face to face with the Lord that day, yes, He will love them, and they will be saved, but He will be very unhappy with them! I, for one, don't want that to happen. I want to meet him with joy and hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord!" Those who have not been obedient and done all they could to grow to maturity in Him, won't be hearing that. Please...make sure that you are going to hear Him say that to you!

Finally please take a look at the last verse I posted yesterday for us to reflect on:

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Do you see that all the things we've been talking about, that the Lord tells us to "add to our faith" are fruit of the spirit? This brings us back full circle once again and shows us that we are not in this alone. We are working together as partners with God and He is actually doing most of the work. (although to hear us whine, most often you'd think it was us LOL) Whenever we take a step forward in faith and obedience, He will bless us by both enabling us to grow and and giving us His divine power to do so. Plus, He always seems to throw in a little "surprise blessing" too, just as if to say, "thank you my child, for trying." What an awesome God we serve!

Ephesians 5:8-10 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.

Read the whole study here