You Won’t Drift into Godliness

Dannah Gresh: Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth asks a penetrating question.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: How serious are you about becoming a grounded woman of God? Let me assure you, you will never drift into spiritual maturity. It won’t just happen. You have to be diligent.

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast, with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Holiness: The Heart God Purifies, for November 16, 2021. I’m Dannah Gresh.

Yesterday on Revive Our Hearts we heard part 1 of Nancy’s closing message from Revive ’21. If you missed it, you can review that episode on the Revive Our Hearts app or at ReviveOurHearts.com.

Nancy left off in a list from 2 Peter, chapter 1—a list of seven virtues that we need to add to our faith. Let’s listen to part 2. Here’s Nancy.

Nancy: Okay, number five, add to your endurance godliness. Godliness is a God-centered life, an attitude of reverence, devotion towards God, a desire to please Him in every area of our lives to orient our whole life around Him.

Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 4, “Train yourself in godliness [work out in the godliness gym], for the training of the body has limited benefit” (vv. 7–8). My dad used to tell us, “It doesn’t say it has no benefit. It has some benefit.” “But godliness is beneficial in every way since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (v. 8).

Godliness has a price. Training, working out, sweating . . . it’s hard. But it doesn’t just have a price. It also has a promise. It’s valuable both in this life and in the life to come.

Now, godliness doesn’t just happen magically or by some mystical experience. You pay money, you come to a conference like this and think, I’m going to go home, and I’m going to be godly.

Listen, if you don’t exercise physically, if you don’t develop physical muscles, you’ll become weak and flabby. Some of us could give testimony to that. But we’re going to be spiritually flabby if we don’t develop spiritual muscles through consistent, purposeful training in godliness.

So, here’s some questions:

• Is your heart inclined toward God and toward what He loves?
• Is the essential inclination and orientation of your life God-ward or self-ward, self-centered?
• And what are you doing to train for godliness?

Many of you if I were to ask you, “What are you doing to train physically?” you could tell me how many reps you do of this or that. You go to the gym; you take this class, that class, you stretch. Whatever you can do at your age. You’re saying, “I’m doing something.”

What are you doing to train for godliness?

Number six: Add to godliness brotherly affection—devotion to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Listen, godliness is not an end in itself. “Oh, now I’m godly. I’ve arrived.” He’s saying, “Supplement godliness with brotherly affection.” Godliness is to be lived out in our relationships with God and others. Brotherly affection—to be fond of our brethren, genuinely care about other believers. As we experience the love of God, we are to become those who express His love to those around us.

This kind of friendship Peter’s talking about here creates a climate in the Body of Christ where people feel safe enough to get honest with each other about their spiritual needs, struggles, and failures.

I really believe if there were more true friendships, brotherly/sisterly affection between believers, there would also be more victory over sin. We need each other. But don’t wait for others to show you brotherly affection. Give that kind of concern and friendship to others. And as you do, you will see that God uses them in your life.

So a few questions here:

• Do you genuinely care for the people of God?
• Are you cultivating warm, healthy friendships with other believers?
• Are you kind to and considerate of your fellow believers?
• Do you assume the best of them?
• Do you look for ways to encourage and bless them?
• Do you look for opportunities to minister to their needs?
• Or is your focus on getting people to help you, to bless you, to benefit you?

Now, we all need help. But as we enrich others, we’ll be enriched.

And then, what are we to add to this house we’re building on the foundation of faith? What are we to add to brotherly affection? Love. Love—self-less, sacrificial concern for God and others.

This kind of others-centered love, God’s love, is the fruit of diligently adding all these other qualities to your faith. Your growth in the Christian life isn’t so that you can be an amazing Christian. It’s so you can become more loving, more like Jesus.

• Is your life characterized with genuine love?
• Do you seek the interests of God and others above your own?

Let me just say a little parenthesis here: It’s one thing to love the woman who’s sitting next to you when we’re singing these wonderful songs. You say, “Oh, I love these women!” The real test is in the four walls of your home. It’s with the hardest person in your family. It’s with that child for whom no textbook was written. It’s with that hard, contentious person in your workplace. It’s with that neighbor who is a big pain. Do you love? Are you filled with the love of God?

“Make every effort to supplement (to add to) your faith.” Peter goes on to say in verse 8 of chapter 1: “For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure . . .” Some of your translations say, “If these qualities are abounding in you.”

These qualities—which qualities? All these seven qualities that you’re to add to your faith. v, increasing measure, growing in grace, super-abounding, overflowing. Listen, you can’t just stand still and tread water spiritually.

Are you making progress in these qualities? Are you growing in them? Are you progressing in them? Are you abounding in them? Listen, the joy of the Christian life is that you never stand still. You never get bored. You never arrive until we see Jesus face to face.

So in verses 8 through 11, Peter talks about the motivation. Why should we be intentional about spiritual growth? Peter tells us the blessings and the benefits that we will experience if we are progressing in these qualities. He also warns us about some consequences that we will experience if we are not growing in these qualities.

Verse 8: “For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

If you are growing in these qualities, adding to your faith, making every effort based on what God has done for you, you will be spiritually fruitful.

You may be in a nursing home—think of Corrie ten Boom. She had a stroke, and for the last five years of her life, she could not say a word. But God used that woman to be fruitful in the last five silent years of her life.

You can be fruitful in every season if you are progressing spiritually, if you are growing, if you are diligently adding to your faith, your life will be useful and fruitful. But if you aren’t, you will become ineffective and unfruitful. You will idle out spiritually. So if you possess these qualities and you’re growing in them, you will be spiritually fruitful.

Number two: You will have clear spiritual vision. Verse 9: “The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted.” (Some of your translations say nearsighted.)

If you lack these qualities, you will have a great close-up view of what is earthly and temporal, but you’ll barely be able to see things that are heavenly and eternal. You’ll be shortsighted. But if you cultivate these graces, and you keep cultivating them, you will be able to see the things that matter most in time and eternity. You’ll have clear spiritual vision.

Number three: You will have assurance of your salvation. Verse 9: “The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins.”

This person is spiritually nearsighted. He’s blind. He forgets that he was cleansed from his former sins. This was one of the biggest reasons people doubt their salvation. Now, there are multiple reasons.

Sometimes people doubt their salvation because they don’t have salvation. They never placed their trust in Christ. They’ve never repented and turned to Him and been planted in Christ.

But sometimes people are actually in Christ but they aren’t growing. They aren’t being intentional about growing in their faith. They lack these qualities. They forget the cleansing from their past sins.

That doesn’t mean you haven’t been cleansed from your past sins. But if you lack these qualities, you will have doubts about God’s forgiveness. If you are progressing in these graces, you can be assured that you are, in fact, a child of God.

Verse 10: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things, you will never stumble.” Some of your translations say, “You will never fall.” So here’s the fourth benefit: You will never fall.

The first one: You will be spiritually fruitful.
Number two: You will have clear spiritual vision.
Number three: You will have assurance of your salvation.
And number four: You will never fall. What an amazing promise this is!

Every time someone falls into doctrinal error or sin as a pattern of life, you can be sure it’s because they have not been diligently cultivating their faith, pursuing spiritual growth, actively, all the time. You’re never on vacation spiritually. Pursuing spiritual growth protects you from wrong doctrine and wrong living.

That doesn’t mean you will never sin, but it does mean you will persevere to the end, held and sustained by His grace. It doesn’t mean you’ll never trip. It doesn’t mean you’ll never be tempted. But you won’t go down and out. You’ll never fall.

Verse 11: “For in this way [one more benefit] entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.”

One translation says, “You will receive a rich welcome.” Welcome where? Welcome into the presence of Christ. At the end of your life, whether you’re young or old, however it comes that you move from this life into the next, you will receive a rich welcome in heaven.

Now this verse, as with some others, suggests that some may have a more lavish entrance into heaven than others. Scripture indicates that there are degrees of rewards for believers in heaven. There’s a lot of mystery to that. I can’t tell you much more than that. But the Scripture challenges us to live each day here on earth in the light of eternity rather than for the immediate moment. During our days here on earth, however many or few they may be, we’re not just marking days, weeks, years off the calendar. We are making decisions that will affect us forever.

How serious are you about becoming a grounded woman of God? Let me assure you that you will never drift into spiritual maturity. Coming to conferences like this may be a way to jump start the process. It may encourage you in the process. But it’s not going to do it for you.

Each one of these speakers, myself included, has spent hours and hours and hours soaking in the Word, letting it speak to us, trying to mine its depths. We’re the ones who are the richest as a result of that exercise, that labor. It’s a labor of love.

Paul said in Colossians, “We struggle for you.” And we’ve done that. But I’m calling you to roll up your sleeves and struggle—in a good sense—to do the hard work, the labor, the birthing of the growing relationship with Christ. It won’t just happen. You have to be diligent.

Turn to chapter 3 of 2 Peter, verse 17. Here’s the warning: “Therefore, dear friends, be on your guard.” Paul had this same phrase in Colossians: “Be on your guard; be aware; beware.” Be on your guard about what? “So that you are not led away with the error of lawless people and fall from your own stable position.”

Now, Peter just said you won’t ever fall if you’re growing in these qualities. But now he says “Beware lest you fall.” That’s a warning. “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Listen, if you’re not growing, you will be carried away with error. You will lose your spiritual footing. You will fall. And not only will your life be damaged, but the lives of others around you will be impacted because they saw you claiming to be a Christian, claiming to love Jesus, and then they see you living in a way that is not obedient to God’s Word.

The wreckage, the carnage is horrific. That’s why we look to Christ. We lean into His grace. We say, “Lord, give me grace, and by the power of Your Holy Spirit, may I labor, work, be earnest, make every effort to add to my faith.”

We have to keep growing in the knowledge and grace of Christ. We never let down our guard. For how long? Until you’re eighty? No. Until you’re with Jesus, fully sanctified.

Rick Hansen was a paraplegic athlete in Canada. In 1985 he left Vancouver, British Columbia on a two-year, 25,000-mile trip around the world on his wheelchair to raise funds for spinal cord research. It was a grueling trip. He went through thirty-four countries on four continents. He faced all kinds of extreme weather—heat, rain, blizzards, windstorms. He made his way through deserts, forests, and mountains. Mile after mile after mile. Incredible weariness. Indescribable wear and tear on his body.

Finally, on May 23 1987, he returned to Vancouver. While he was still miles outside the city, people gathered along both sides of the highway to welcome him. As he got closer to the city, the crowd grew until there were thousands and thousands of people. They were cheering. They were applauding. They were throwing flowers.

And then Rick wheeled his chair up one final steep hill and headed towards the stadium where his two-year journey, 25,000-mile journey in a wheelchair to the stadium, where that journey would end.

Mark Buchanan describes the scene in his book called, Things Unseen. He says, 

A capacity crowd of 60,000 people, national and international dignitaries, rock stars, movie stars, television crews, family, friends, those lucky enough to get tickets waited inside, delirious with anticipation.

As Rick got nearer the stadium, the streets grew impossibly dense with people. Helicopters hovered overhead. Police in cars and on motorcycles flanked his side. Other wheelchair athletes joined him, coming up behind like a legion of charioteers.

As Rick came over the Candy Street Bridge, he could hear even above the din of the crowd around him, the roar of voices coming from inside the stadium. But not even that prepared him for what happened next.

Rick Hansen entered the stadium. He swooped through the wide lower gates and glided out onto the stadium floor, and 60,000 people went bezerk, leeping, dancing, blowing horns, exploding with applause, shouts of welcome and triumph, a roar to deafen, open the ears of the deaf, to raise the dead. And every time it seemed about to taper off, a fresh wind caught it and carried it higher, louder, brighter, fuller. Such a great cloud of witnesses.

We’re on a long, hard journey. We live in a world that is shaking. So I want to call to you, appeal to you: Be diligent. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And as our theme verse says, Colossians 1:23, “Continue in the faith, stable and steadfast (grounded) not shifting from the hope of the gospel.”

“For in this way,” Peter says, “entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.” (v. 11)

Dannah: Amen. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth will be right back to pray.

We’ve been listening to the message she gave at the conclusion of our recent conference Revive ’21.

Nancy’s written a booklet on this passage of 2 Peter, chapter 1, that we just walked through, and that resource is called, “Strengthen Your Faith.” It’s available to you as a free PDF download. You’ll find the link in today’s transcript at ReviveOurHearts.com.

Nancy’s been helping us know how to stay grounded when everything around us is swirling, and that’s the aim of the 2022 Revive Our Hearts Wall Calendar, too. It’s beautifully designed to help you remember where your focus needs to stay.

This month we’ll send you our calendar, all about staying grounded, when you make a donation of any amount to help support the ministry of Revive Our Hearts. I hope you can help us as we call women all around the world to greater freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

Every year our wall calendar is a pretty popular item with Revive Our Hearts listeners, and this year will be no exception. The thirteen-month calendar is going to help you stay grounded and grateful all year long.

To make a donation and request a calendar, visit ReviveOurHearts.com. You’ll also be able to see pictures of what the calendar looks like there, or you can contact us by phone. Our number is 1–800–569–5959.

Well, I’m sure it’s no shocker to you, but the holidays are upon us. But how could we make our holidays about more than just pumpkin spice latte or peppermint mocha—as yummy as those things are?

That’s what Barbara Rainey will help us think about tomorrow as she helps us know how to have Christ-centered holidays. I hope you’ll join us for that.

Now, let’s close our time by praying along with Nancy.

Nancy: Oh, Lord, how we long for that rich welcome into the presence of Jesus. He is the cornerstone of our lives. Our faith, our hope is in Him. We bear His righteousness alone. And it’s through Your grace and the power of Your Holy Spirit that we leave from this place to press on, to stay grounded in the hope that has been so richly given to us that one day we may hear the cheers and join that throng, that is not praising us, but praising and worshipping the One seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, to whom be all glory and praise, dominion and power forever and ever, amen.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, calling you to add to your faith freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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