Knowledge That Leads to Fruitful Service

Have you ever been guilty of hypocrisy? You knew the right thing to do, but when the moment came, you decided to do something that did not please Jesus.

• - Maybe you used your tongue in a way that you knew was wrong.

• A few years ago, I decided to attempt a triathlon. The open water swim scared me. I learned to swim when I was young, but I would have never considered myself a swimmer. I knew how to survive.

• My fear led me to train. I woke up early to complete a morning workout in addition to my main workout later in the day.

• That meant I often woke up my wife. One morning she said in all seriousness, “do you have to wake up at 6am on a Saturday when I can sleep in? Are you taking this too seriously?”

• A God honoring, 1 Peter 3 kind of husband (which I have talked to others about many times) would have responded graciously and kindly. That husband would have seen the opportunity to be like Christ and listen to his wife’s concerns, share his own concerns, and seek a solution that would honor Jesus.

• Unfortunately, I was not that husband. I said quickly, “So, you want me to drown?”

• What was I expecting her to say? Yes, love, I want you to drown. Please ensure you paid your life insurance premium before you do.

• Maybe your thoughts were not very pleasing to Jesus. Thankfully, you did not say what you thought, but you knew in your heart that Christ was not magnified.

I think we all done that to one degree or another. With that in mind please turn in your Bibles to 2 Peter 1:5.

This summer our sermon series is Hope for Fruitful Service. If we are entrusting ourselves to the one who judges righteously, suffering for acting like a faithful follower of Jesus, and humbling ourselves before God by casting our cares on him, THEN we are in the perfect position to make a difference for Jesus – to be fruitful.

• - Our summer series begins by looking at the character qualities found in 2 Peter 1:5-7. The text says …

2 Peter 1:5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

You might ask, where does the concept of fruitfulness come into 2 Peter 1. Let’s read verses 8-9.

2 Peter 1:8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

Church family, I want my life to make a difference. I want to be in v. 8 and not in v. 9. I want to live with moral excellence rather than with compromise.

• - The former leads to fruitfulness and the latter to a life that show one forgets the work of Christ.

This passage promises me that once I understand that God saved me through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and that he has provided what I need for a godly life, I must invest my energy into having these qualities and my life will count in my savior’s eyes.

• - That does not mean my name will be in lights or that I would be an important person in American Christianity.

• - It means that I lived faithful to the calling of my savior. It means I fulfilled his will for me.

Church family, I (and I speak for all our pastors) want that for you. We want you to be fruitful.

• - We want your life to count in the eyes of your savior. When the time comes, to be ready to enter eternity with Jesus with great joy because you had a fruitful life.

• - How do we prepare for that?

The Bible says apply all diligence or some translations use the phrase make every effort. These qualities do not come naturally. They require intentional effort.

Pastor Viars helped us understand the first quality. Make every effort to add to your faith in Jesus moral excellence. At its base level, moral excellence is living consistent with God’s morality.

• - He used the example of Daniel to give us a living picture of moral excellence. Taken as a slave, forced to learn a new culture and language, served for 70 years, but consistently lived faithful to the Lord even when his life was at risk. He refused to compromise his morals even amid intense pressure.

Today we are going to think about the quality of knowledge -- applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge.

To start, we need a definition. Knowledge is one of the most important words in 2 Peter.

• - When you and I think of knowledge we often think of facts or information.

• People who have knowledge get the best grades in school, score high on standardized tests, and could be a contestant on jeopardy.

While the NT can separate those concepts, and sometimes does, knowledge in 2 Peter combines them.

Davids says that knowledge is “the wisdom and discernment which the Christian needs for a virtuous life and which is progressively acquired. It is practical rather than purely speculative wisdom (Peter H. Davids, The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2006), 179–180.)

Schreiner writes, “Peter probably referred to the knowledge of God’s will and ways that are necessary for every Christian.” (Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 299.)

The NIV Zondervan Study Bible defined knowledge in 2 Peter 1:5 as “discerning God’s will and living accordingly.”

Knowledge and wisdom go together here. The content is the truth about Christ and his will, but this is not about answering questions on a theology exam.

• - This knowledge connects the head to the hands and proves itself in daily action. To say it another way, to live with as little hypocrisy as possible.

• - This is fruitful in the eyes of our savior.

Just as compromise was the antithesis of moral excellence so hypocrisy is the antithesis to knowledge.

When we think of practical wisdom, who comes to mind?

• - Who knew what the Lord wanted and lived out practical wisdom from God?

• - Who was the person we thought might illustrate this concept best? Our pastoral team decided on Solomon.

I want to consider 4 truths about making every effort to add to your saving faith knowledge from Solomon’s life.

Please now turn to 1 Kings 3.

As you are turning to 1 Kings 3, I need to give some context. David has been king for 40 years. He dies in chapter 2. There is a power struggle, but God ultimately chose Solomon. Solomon executes a few traitors before gaining official control of the kingdom.

I want to start in v. 3. Please follow along as I read through verse 15. This is the Word of the Lord.

I. Ask God for Wisdom

Chapters 1-2 make it clear that God’s will for Solomon’s life is to be king of Israel. It was a chaotic transfer of power. A rebellion occurred and people were executed. But now it is clear.

• - Solomon must steward this responsibility…. thankfully

Out of a genuine love for him

1 Kings 3:3 Now Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

He loved the Lord. What an important comment in light of what came next. The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream (v. 5) and made the following offer. “Ask what you want me to give you.”

Wow! What a question. Solomon’s heart at this stage of his life is soft and sensitive to the Lord’s calling. He loved him.

He acknowledges God’s call in v. 6-7. He admits that the call is enormous – much too large for him to handle. He says in v. 7 “I do not know how to go out or come in.”

• - Oh, Lord, this task is too great. The responsibility is too heavy.

• - How am I supposed to steward what you have given me?

Solomon asks for the one thing that can help him – wisdom, understanding, and the ability to judge correctly.

1 Kings 3:9 “So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

It would be possible to look at this situation and say, “this is nothing like me.” I am not asked to lead a country. That is true. But wisdom, knowledge, and understanding are not reserved only for kings.

• - Students must choose how they view their friends and acquaintances.

• Who do you trust to give you input? Who do you try to influence but would not want them to influence you? That takes wisdom.

• - Husbands and wives need wisdom to know how to respond. Otherwise, we might say really foolish things like I did … “Do you want me to drown?”

• - Parents need wisdom to parent their children.

• How do you know when they are being rebellious and when they are being innocent.

Solomon’s job was king. God may have called you to be a teacher, a salesman, a mechanic, a technician, a business owner, a manager, or a designer.

We have many different roles in life. Each one requires knowledge and wisdom to faithfully live according to God’s word.

James 1:5 says, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.^”

Knowing God is pleased with a request for wisdom

I have good news. James indicates that God wants to give us wisdom. It is like that moment when a child says to you, “Dad, do you mind if I mow the lawn?” The answer is Yes! You wanted that child to do it anyway, so the answer was easy. Or what if one of your children says, “You know, I have been thinking. I am old enough to do my own laundry so would you be willing to teach me?” Why Yes, yes, I would.

• - I believe James teaches that when we go to the Lord asking for wisdom, the Lord is pleased by that request and provides it.

To Solomon God said,

1 Kings 3:10-12 It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you.

God used Solomon to write Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon showing that God kept his promise.

Church family, part of making every effort to add to your saving faith knowledge is asking God for it.

That seems so simple, but one of the founders of our biblical counseling ministry, Dr. Bob Smith, used to ask one question a lot.

• - I would say he became famous (or infamous depending on which side of the desk you were on) for this question.

• After listening to a person, couple, or family explain the argument, blame shift, and express anger at one another, he would ask, “Where was the Lord while all this was happening?”

It cut right to the point. The Lord was nowhere near the front of everyone’s minds. Each person was fighting for their rights and their views and their emotions.

• - No one cared much about taking the knowledge of God’s Word and applying to that very moment.

• - It was Dr. Smith’s way of reminding them that wisdom comes from the Lord. Seeing situations properly will not come when you have your head down fighting for your perceived rights.

• - Paul Tripp once said if Jesus does not live in the 10,000 little moments of your life, then he does not live in your life at all.

Friends, we need the knowledge of 2 Peter 1:5. We must make every effort to get it including asking for it because there is no other way to properly apply God’s truth to the everyday moments of life. In addition …

II. Wise Decisions Lead to Blessing for You and Others

Immediately after giving Solomon wisdom, the Bible gives an illustration of it. Read vv. 16-28.

The scenario is very sad. Two prostitutes became pregnant and both delivered around the same time. One child dies and they dispute over the living baby. They appealed to the king directly.

The Bible illustrates his wisdom by recognizing the heart behind each woman.

• - The mother of the child would not tolerate watching the king execute her child. If confronted with the choice between his life and his custody the mother would choose life.

• - However, the women who lost her baby and stole her roommates would be far less compassionate. She would rather see the child die, then face the daily struggle of watching her roommate raise her son.

1 Kings 3:28 When all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had handed down, they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

Imagine this scenario differently. What if Solomon gathers 10 experts in baby facial recognition as witnesses. This gets tricky because we do not know what the fathers look like. Newborns might not display their permanent features at 3 days old (I had blue eyes as a newborn, but they changed later on in my infancy). What a huge mess this would be.

• - Can you imagine the bickering?

• - You might have 5 expert witnesses on both sides using the same evidence to explain their position and now each woman has more evidence that she is right.

• - Let’s stick them both on a lie detector.

All Israel recognized that trying to discern whose son was alive would not be a simple task. But Solomon could see beyond. He could look at the heart behind the words.

Before you think I am expanding this too far, lets ask ourselves whether something small has ever become something big because we did not have eyes to see the heart behind what was happening.

Hypocrisy lives here.

• - The same father that teaches Sunday school and tells children not to be angry blows up 2 days later because his wife or his children crossed him after he had a bad day.

• - The same father who corrects his teenage son for being unkind to a teacher earlier that day is unkind to his wife in the van on the way to church.

• - The same mother who reads her Bible in the morning screams at two of her children and punishes them both because she does not understand what happened.

Our focus has been knowledge and wisdom, both the act of knowing the right thing to do and willingness to actively choose it. We need God’s help. In 1 Corinthians 8 the church asked Paul some challenging questions including one regarding the Christian liberty of eating meat that may or may not have been part of a pagan worship service. He opens his answer with these words …

1 Corinthians 8:1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.

Like Solomon, Paul addressed the heart of the matter instead of only focusing on the surface. He understands that knowing a fact about something might not result in the proper behavior to follow.

When I think of making every effort to add knowledge I think of gaining, by God’s grace, an ability to make connections to the heart that are often missed.

I would like to suggest an application or two.

1. Attend the biblical counseling training offered right here. You can do it online, through our 11 Monday program, or through the BCTC (explain each). I took the training in the fall of 2001 when I came as a 30-year-old intern. It was transformational in my life. I do not believe I heard a verse during those 11 weeks that I had not heard, studied, or possibly taught before. But what I got was wisdom. I had never seen those verses in that light. You do not have to become a counselor – you already are one. You counsel yourself, family members, friends, roommates, and acquaintances. You ought to learn to do it well. It will help you understand your heart and ask questions to understand the hearts of others. It will help you see arguments like these two women had and move in the direction of exposing their beliefs.

I realize it will take work. I understand that it is a sacrifice. But the training can help you move from factual knowledge to understanding its application.

1. Read the book Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands. This book is excellent and it is the opening read for those who want to do personal ministry of the Word. Even if it is only to yourself, in your marriage, with your children, or with your co-workers, the wisdom found will help you be fruitful and useful for Christ.

That also takes some work. But it is worth it to live a useful and fruitful life.

Solomon was blessed 1 Kings 4:34 says, “Men came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.^”

Others were blessed as well. The woman who got her son. The woman who lied and stole was given the opportunity to own her sin and repent. The nation was blessed as people could rely on justice.

When you live with knowledge/wisdom then those around you benefit from you living out the Lord’s will skillfully. It is a way we are fruitful because wisdom is a way we love our neighbor as ourselves. We also see …

III. Wisdom is Designed to Bring Glory to God

I want to return to 2 Peter 1:8-9. The text says, 2 Peter 1:8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

Having this knowledge and wisdom that allows the believer to know the Lord’s will for their life and then to properly live it out renders us useful and fruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• - The alternative is forgetting the Lord’s work in our lives.

It is not difficult to see that God’s glory is another result of living wisely. When Jesus’ disciples stand before the religious councils they are amazed at their understanding.

• - The only explanation is that they were with Jesus.

Isn’t that the way we want others to respond to us? To whatever degree we exercise wisdom … knowing the will of the Lord and then actively choosing it … we want people to stand back and say, “Wow, that person must have been with Jesus.”

Wisdom should not make us prideful

Our wisdom is not to make us arrogant like facts sometimes do, but to give the credit to the Lord.

• - If we are known as kind to our classmates because we are able to see through the challenges to the heart --- praise the Lord for his grace

• - If we are able to discern the heart of the matter --- praise the Lord for his grace.

In Solomon’s life we see it, especially early on.

Wisdom provides opportunity to give credit to the Lord

After Solomon completes the building of the temple as God promised David his father, Solomon did the following:

1 Kings 8:22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. 23 He said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart, 24 who have kept with Your servant, my father David, that which You have promised him; indeed, You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand as it is this day…. 38 whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading his hands toward this house; 39 then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men, 40 that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You have given to our fathers.

He concludes his dedication with 1 Kings 8:61 “Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.”

When the Queen of Sheba visits, we find in 1 Kings 10:1, 6, 9 “Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with difficult questions…Then she said t the king, ‘It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom…Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel.”

Making every effort to add knowledge and wisdom should not result in people talking about how awesome they are. Instead, their minds should be directed to the Lord. Isn’t it amazing that the Lord has given that person the ability to do that.

Let’s try to make possible applications clear:

• - When we watch our favorite sporting event, we might say something like, “Isn’t it amazing that the Lord gave that receive the ability to run 18 mph, jump, catch the football with one hand, and then get both feet in bounds? The Lord gives people some amazing talent.”

• - When our children respond to a difficult situation in school, “Wow, Johnny. Isn’t it amazing that the Lord helped you to respond in a way that pointed others to Jesus? I know it was hard to do that, but I am so thankful that the Lord helped you live with wisdom.”

• - When your spouse tells you about a scenario at work. “Thank you love for sharing that story. It is clear the Lord was working in your life to help you live with such wisdom. It will be interesting to see what fruit the Lord might give you in the future.”

Our command is make every effort to add to your saving faith knowledge so that you will be fruitful. We have looked at Solomon’s life.

• - When given the chance to ask for anything, he asked for wisdom knowing God’s calling required it.

• - When given the opportunity to settle a dispute he looked beyond the surface to the heart. As he judged properly, which resulted in a wise reputation and blessing to the nation.

• - At the same time, his wisdom pointed to the one who gave it - the Lord.

It would seem as if Solomon did nothing wrong. We know that is not the case. The last point is a caution.

IV. Wise People Can Sometimes Make Foolish Decisions

I started in 1 Kings 3:3, but there were two verses before that….

1 Kings 3:1-2 Then Solomon formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.

Uhh… What? Solomon for all his wisdom still married many women – including many political alliances specifically against the Lord’s will. We must realize …

Desires that ignore God’s command, lead to sin

For all the wisdom of Solomon, when Solomon ignored the commands of God…his foolish decision led him into sin…

“King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, ‘you shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” (1 Kings 11:1-2)

I am sure it seemed like a good idea at the time. He knew it was wrong but found a way to justify more and more wives and concubines in direct violation of what God commanded.

And because of this,

Unwise choices often lead to loss

“Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the Lord had commanded. So the Lord said to Solomon, ‘Because you have done this, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the Kingdom from you, and I will give it to your servant.” (1 Kings 11:9-11)

Solomon’s hypocrisy cost everyone significantly. I can see how my own wise decisions gave God glory and blessed others and also how my hypocrisy hurt others and did not give the Lord glory.

That is why it is worth making every effort to add to your saving faith knowledge. Although we are all hypocrites to some degree, making every effort to add to our saving faith knowledge/wisdom will help us avoid it and as a result we will be, by God’s grace and work, useful and fruitful.