Because of our faith in Jesus, we live a righteous life. In order to reap more rewards of our virtue, we need to add knowledge to eat. We need to develop the earnest desire to know him and we shall receive the fruits of his knowledge in abundance.
Jesus asked his disciples who do people say he is and he then asked them, “But what about you, who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). Peter replied by saying that he is the Christ, the son of the living God.
Because Peter illustrated that he has had the earnest desire to know Jesus, he was blessed and his knowledge was effective and productive. He received all the powers from Jesus and his work after the ascension is well documented in the book of Acts.
Another lesson we learn here is that the more you seek the knowledge of God, He reveals to you the mysteries that are hidden from men. For his knowledge of who Christ is, Peter received this blessing from Jesus;
“Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven,” (Matthew 16: 17-19).
This is it! Because Peter supplemented his virtue with knowledge, he received a powerful blessing that gave him authority to control everything on earth. More than anything he received the keys to the kingdom of heaven. He received the anointing to lead people to the kingdom of heaven.
The knowledge of the heavenly secrets is a blessing given to those who seek the kingdom of God and are walking with Jesus all the time - those who develop a close relationship with him. The disciples asked Jesus why he was speaking in parables to the crowd and he responded by saying that the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has not been given to them.
“But blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear but did not hear it.” (Matthew 13: 16-17).
The revelation of the secrets of God was not given to many righteous people because they did not have the privilege of knowing Christ. If you seek to know more about the secrets in heaven, you receive your fruits in abundance. “Whoever has will be given more, and he will have in abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him,” (Matthew 13:12).
You can have faith, live a righteous life but if you do not seek the knowledge of the secrets of heaven, you even risk losing what you already have.
Showing posts with label Virtue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virtue. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Supplementing Faith with Virtue (goodness/righteousness)
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be given to you as well,” (Matthew 6:33).
In this message Jesus was teaching about not worrying about the future but instead putting your faith in God. Jesus was teaching that our priority should be seeking God’s kingdom and his righteousness. Because we have faith in God through Jesus Christ, Jesus was teaching us to supplement our faith with his righteousness (virtue).
In other words, we should live a righteous life so that we receive the kingdom of God. These are the fruits therefore: “All these things shall be given to you as well”. The things that we spend time and energy worrying about shall not be fulfilled unless we rest our faith in God and then strive to live a righteous life. God already knows what we need and he shall provide as long as we focus on entering his kingdom (through living a righteous life).
We are longing for good fruits through our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we need to be good ourselves just as he was and is a good teacher and Lord. If we do not add goodness/righteousness into our faith, how do we expect to bear fruits?
Jesus told the Pharisees who thought he was driving away demons from a man by Be-elzebul’s power, “The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good and an evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil,” (Matthew 18:35).
Prior to that Jesus figuratively said that you make a tree good and its fruits will be good. In order to bear good fruits of knowing Christ we need to add goodness to our faith and our prayers will be effective and productive.
Living a good life simply means doing the will of God. The kingdom of God is for the righteous and that is why Jesus was teaching us to first seek that. Jesus also said, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven but only he who does that will of my Father who is in Heaven,” (Matthew 7: 21).
In other words Jesus was saying that many people may have faith in him but that alone is not enough to enter the kingdom unless you live a righteous life to supplement your faith.
In this message Jesus was teaching about not worrying about the future but instead putting your faith in God. Jesus was teaching that our priority should be seeking God’s kingdom and his righteousness. Because we have faith in God through Jesus Christ, Jesus was teaching us to supplement our faith with his righteousness (virtue).
In other words, we should live a righteous life so that we receive the kingdom of God. These are the fruits therefore: “All these things shall be given to you as well”. The things that we spend time and energy worrying about shall not be fulfilled unless we rest our faith in God and then strive to live a righteous life. God already knows what we need and he shall provide as long as we focus on entering his kingdom (through living a righteous life).
We are longing for good fruits through our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we need to be good ourselves just as he was and is a good teacher and Lord. If we do not add goodness/righteousness into our faith, how do we expect to bear fruits?
Jesus told the Pharisees who thought he was driving away demons from a man by Be-elzebul’s power, “The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good and an evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil,” (Matthew 18:35).
Prior to that Jesus figuratively said that you make a tree good and its fruits will be good. In order to bear good fruits of knowing Christ we need to add goodness to our faith and our prayers will be effective and productive.
Living a good life simply means doing the will of God. The kingdom of God is for the righteous and that is why Jesus was teaching us to first seek that. Jesus also said, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven but only he who does that will of my Father who is in Heaven,” (Matthew 7: 21).
In other words Jesus was saying that many people may have faith in him but that alone is not enough to enter the kingdom unless you live a righteous life to supplement your faith.
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