Fruitfulness, not Legalism Pt.3

Last time we talked about the proponents of fruitfulness: Supplementing and Exercising your faith.  Now we will deal with the traps of unfruitfulness.

2 Pet 1:8-15 – The big idea is fruitfulness.  God wants our lives to be fruitful and for us to enjoy our salvation.

1:8    For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 enemies of fruitfulness: Laziness & Busyness.

• Lazy people don’t do enough, Busy people do too much.  Both destroy fruitfulness.
• When someone is lazy, it’s easy to detect their sin… They’re lazy.  They’re not doing what they are supposed to be doing!
• Busy people are equally guilty of being unfruitful, but are rarely rebuked b/c they look like they are holy and doing much for the Kingdom.  They do too much! Phone calls, emails, driving, games, practice, church, ministry, work, hobbies, etc…  They have exchanged fruitfulness for busyness.
• We need to work on our lives, not just in them.  Pull back and see the big picture.

Four things that will help us avoid the traps of laziness and busyness.

1.Vision
1:9    For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

• Blind to the future and the past.

Two ways to be blind

• Blind to past: Forgetting what Jesus has done for them.  They are busy trying to do something that Jesus already did. Righteousness, forgiveness, reconciliation.
• Blind to the future: Don’t see where they are going.  They are consumed by this world, living for the moment.  Unwilling to see the future.  God has given them the ability to see where they are going and live with the end in mind.
• Søren Kierkegaard (Danish philosopher) “Define your life forward and live it backward” or “Reverse engineer our lives”.  Have a vision for what we want our lives to look like and put our lives together in such a way to get there.
• A vision is a map.  I’m going to Jesus, I will give an account to Him, I will be judged and rewarded by Him.  I need to live in light of that.

2.Enjoy the assurance you have in Jesus.

1:10    Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

• If you’re not a Christian, you shouldn’t have any assurance of salvation, if you are a Christian you should enjoy the assurance of your salvation.  We didn’t choose God, He chose us, therefore our security depends on Him holding on to us, not us holding on to Him.
• Peter is talking about assurance, not security.  Assurance has to do with us, in our minds.  Security is up to Him.  If we are sure in our salvation, we will enjoy it more!
• We enjoy our salvation by supplementing and exercising our faith.  We keep walking with Jesus!
• Have you ever had a season where you doubted your salvation?  I have.  Looking back I can see that it was a time where these qualities were not increasing in my life.  I’ve never met a person who doubts their salvation and is reading, studying, memorizing their Bible, praying, going to church, going to Sunday school (or home groups), repenting, ministering, etc.
• Phil 2:12  “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling”.
• Never fall – Big statement.
• Sometimes we over-emphasize the extraordinary testimonies. “I walked away from God for 20 years and destroyed my life.  Now I’m back and all is great!”
• I would want you, I would want my kids to have a boring testimony.  Having a life that’s not without stumbles, but always walking with and loving Jesus!
• He’s not saying here that you will never sin or slip up at all, because as we know, Peter still stumbled.  Remember, he fell into favortism and Paul had to rebuke him.
• He is saying here that if you strive for these qualities, you won’t have these huge pitfalls into sin, like he had when he denied Christ.

3.Live for your reward.

1:11    For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

• We will not get our rewards here on this Earth.  “Don’t store your treasures on Earth where moth and rust destroy.  Store your treasure in Heaven where moth and rust do not destroy.”
• As believers, we will not be judged for salvation, we will be judged for rewards.
• Live for that day.  C. S. Lewis – I live with two days in mind, today and that day.

*Side Note: Practical applications for fruitfulness.  Work on your life, not just in it.  Either live your life on purpose or life will live you.  You’re always reacting to things rather than being proactive in your planning.

3 quick rules for fruitfulness (Driscoll): Plate, Priorities, Pruning

Plate.

• You have to recognize and understand the size of your plate.  How much capacity do you really have.  Need to honestly assess that.  Some people can handle more than others.
• Multitaskers can get a bigger quantity of tasks done, while those who don’t multitask well can do a few things, but do them with great quality.
• Lazy people never fill their plate.  Lots of spare time.  Too much TV, laying around, don’t get much accomplished.  Unfortunately, unless they are confronted or the Holy Spirit convicts them, they never change.
• Busy people stack their plate way too high.  Things fall off.  Other people have to pick things up for them. They start a lot of projects and have trouble finishing them.  When they finally do realize that they are doing too much and they’re stressed out, they say “something’s got to go.”  What do you think is the first thing to go?  Not hobbies or TV.  More times than not, it’s church and ministry.
• Know the size of your plate and fill it.  Do no more.  Do no less.

Prioritize.

• Before you fill your plate, you must prioritize.
• How it works with me:

1.Christian – Read the Scriptures, pray walk with God and His people.  I read other books to help me know and understand more about God and His church.

2.Husband – Love Pam, live with her, work on our marriage together, love and serve God with her.

3.Daddy – read with them, pray with them, read the Bible to them, worship with them, correct them, instruct them, spend time with them, play with them, take them on daddy dates, be there for them, etc.

4.Job – work hard, do a good job, provide for my family, be a good witness.

5.Ministry – Volunteer my time, run sound, run website, teach.

6.Be alive – None of this stuff happens if you’re dead.  Find a way to get some exercise.

No matter how big your plate is, that is a full plate!  I don’t have time for anything else much.

7.Hobbies – If there is anything left over.  Sometimes my hobbies give me a little exercise and sometimes my hobbies are also ministry opportunities.  I can kill 2 birds with one stone.

• There is a lot of stuff I can’t do.  I have no more time.  I’m not a good golfer anymore, don’t play softball, fish, hunt, etc.  Are those things sinful?  NO.  But they’re not priorities.  Especially when I have little kids at home.  Maybe later in life when I am not needed at home so much ,but not now.
• What happens with some people is they put their hobbies on the plate first and everything else works around it.

Prune.

• The key to life is pruning.  If you have a tree that is fruitful and you don’t prune it, it will eventually become unfruitful.  Dead or dying limbs take up too much energy and resources.
• The key is knowing what to cut &  when to cut them.
• What relationships do you need to let go of?  Can you watch less TV, What obligations do you need to let go of?  What disorganizations do you need to let go of?
• Are you organized?  Do you have a schedule?  Do you have a budget?
• Pruning is a constant thing.  It will change with your season of life.  Life is all about seasons.
• Jesus said I only do what I see the Father doing.
• Life is a checkbook.  You either pay for things with money or you pay for things with time,  Everything costs!  God holds us accountable for all the checks we write.
• Count the cost for everything before you agree to anything. (ministry, friends, work, help)
• Again, the key is fruitfulness.  Work on your life.
• Ecc 10:10  If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen {its} edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving success.
• Are you swinging a dull axe?
• Pull back, see the big picture, make a plan and go to work.

4.Do what you know to do.

1:12-15    Therefore I intend t always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14  since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

• You already know what to do… Do it.
• Peter is writing his dying letter, his last words on paper.  We should be hanging on his every word asking ‘what is the secret to life?’  His response.”There isn’t one”.  You already know what to do, just remember to do it.
• If someone knows the good he should do and does not do it sins.  James