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What Steps Help Me Build a Permanent Christlike Character? (Christian Character Series Part II)
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Think about the Bible like you never have before.
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You're listening to Christian Questions. Access more audio videos and Bible Study
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resources@christianquestions.com Our topic is what steps help me build a permanent Christlike character?
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Here's Rick and Jonathan. Welcome everyone. I'm Rick. I'm joined by Jonathan, my co host for over 25 years. Jonathan, what's our theme scripture for this episode?
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Second Peter 1:5. Now, for this very reason, also applying all diligence in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence knowledge,
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the Apostle Peter began his second letter to all Christians by addressing the very formation of our Christian lives. He proceeded to lay out a deep and profound series of character development steps to show us how to completely and wholly grow into mature TR disciples of Christ. In part one of this series, we covered the first four verses of 2 Peter chapter one. Now, these verses laid out a broad foundation for the development of our Christian character. It was a broad foundation for that, and that foundation is based on who God is, what he promises us, and what Jesus has done. The next part of the blueprint for our character development is to not only show us what traits we need to have included in our Christlikeness, but but how we are to include them. This episode will reveal how Peter unfolds his spirit driven, exciting and practical approach to building a true Christlike character. And Jonathan, as we go through this, there's a kind of a theme word I just want to throw out there. It's a permanent true and Christlike character.
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Well, let's briefly recap the Apostle Peter's foundation, a condensed summation of 2 Peter 1:1 through 4. To those who have faith by the righteousness of our Savior Jesus Christ, we are abundantly given grace and peace, seeing that God's divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through his own glory and excellence. Because of this, he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature. You know, in God's lofty and unbreakable character, he presents us with promises that can and will lift us out of the corruption of this world stemming from any and all impure human desires. Our being lifted out of these insidious traps is directly dependent upon where we decide our ultimate allegiance is focused. The Apostle Peter's main lesson here is about where our true allegiance lies.
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And that's a big, big point. It's about true allegiance. When you have allegiance to something, you have loyalty. That's what Peter is driving us towards. Having a permanent loyalty in our Christian characters. So what does our ultimate allegiance need to look like? Well, this foundation is all about where our ultimate day by day allegiance will be focused. It's got to be day by day. God's magnificent grace and character is here described in those verses that you summed up as this basis for us being given his promises. And it says, by these promises, we are given opportunity to partake of, of the divine nature. So it's not like, well, you get to. You be faithful and, you know, work it out and you'll get there. It's like he's saying, you got the promises and this is the path that you take to get there. It's pretty amazing. It's pretty awesome what's happening here. So the big question is, what happens as a result of these powerful promises? What happens as a result? Well, let's go to Peter's blueprint. And Jonathan, before we read the Scripture, why do we use the word blueprint? A blueprint is the description of something, what something's supposed to look like and how it's supposed to function. So folks, as we read These verses in 2nd Peter chapter 1, the apostle Peter is saying, I'm describing to you what your permanent Christian character is supposed to look like. And I'm describing to you in great detail how it's supposed to function. You pay attention. That's the message he's giving us. Second Peter 1:5.
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Now, for this very reason, also applying all diligence.
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Stop, stop, stop. Okay, I told you to read the verse, but I didn't really mean it, okay? Because we need to focus on the details to really get the message. So applying all diligence. So he says, now for this very reason. Well, wait, what reason? Well, because God and His might and power and his mercy and his grace has given us the power of his in our lives through his promises. The blueprint that the Apostle Peter is laying out calls for one word at this moment. Applying.
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Applying and applying literally means bringing something alongside what we've already been given.
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Now that's interesting to apply is to bring something along already in the process. And you're just bringing something else into the picture. Something else comes into it. Peter is telling us that as we claim the promises of God, God through the redemption work of Jesus, we are to simultaneously, you know, bring alongside, simultaneously have all diligence. So it's applying all diligence.
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And diligence means speed, eagerness, earnestness, or haste. Well, over the past few years, I have chosen a word to focus on at the beginning of each new year. The word diligence really jumped out at me in this study. Reflecting on its meaning inspired me to make it my New year's resolution for 2026. I want to be diligent in every day in doing God's will and in serving him and my brethren. This means taking each morning to see how I can do the most important things day by day, before the day slips away. This could be preparing for Bible studies. It could be staying close to the Lord in prayer or finding ways to
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serve my brethren, applying all diligence. So that's your word?
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That's my word this year.
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So throughout this year, I can come back to you and say, so, Jonathan, how's that diligence coming?
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I give you permission, brother.
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Okay, well, that's good. That's good. See, and that's a tremendous word when you think about it. So let's look at this earnestness, this eagerness, this haste that the Apostle Peter is talking about. Let's look at another example of this diligence, and that's in the book of Hebrews. Now, the apostle had been writing in a very firm way to these Jewish Christians about making sure they were following after Christ and not after the law and so forth. And here's how he concludes a very specific thought that was about the firmness that he's showing them. You need to be diligent essentially to raise yourselves up higher. Let's look at Hebrews 6, 10, 12.
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For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown towards his name in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end. So that you will not be sluggish, but. But imitators of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. You know, Rick, the word sluggish is the exact opposite of diligence. It means lazy, dull, or slothful. You know, that's what I want to avoid.
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I appreciate the way you described that before, because earlier said you. So the day doesn't slip away. So in other words, the day doesn't get swallowed up in sluggishness and this and that, but it has the diligent application of godliness.
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Absolutely.
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Such a great word to have for a theme for life. I love that. I love that. Let's go a little bit further. Our diligence must be focused on inheriting what we've been offered. We talked about that, especially in part one of the series. It's all about having unequivocal allegiance to our Father through Jesus and Jonathan. Again, it's about building a permanent Christian character. The character has to be permanent. Let's go through and restate what Peter is telling us, what we've seen so far. Let's restate the second Peter thought that we just have gone over because God, in his might and power and mercy and grace, has given us the power of his providence in our lives through his promises. Apply all diligence. You now must, while receiving God's promises, simultaneously apply diligent earnestness. You're bringing things in along with the promises, and with that, you apply this diligent earnestness in. And then we have to continue in verse five. So what? Okay, we're supposed to be diligent, we're supposed to be earnest. And what? Well, let's look at second Peter 1:5.
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Now, for this very reason also, applying all diligence. And in your faith, supply moral excellence and faith as we know means persuasion, credence, conviction, your reliance upon Christ, constancy in your faith.
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So apply diligence in your faith. That's a big message here. You've got that supplying thing going on, and now you're applying this diligence in your faith, in your credence, in your conviction. You know, in Hebrews 11:1, it talks about faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Faith is not a wish. Faith is based on something solid and clear and clean and understandable and believable because of its reality. That's what we have. That's what our Christian faith really needs to be. So apply all eagerness in your faith. This is the beginning, Jonathan. This is the beginning. As we're in the process of applying God's promises, remember, that's what came before the blueprint, what Peter is writing to us, what he's describing, what it's supposed to look like and how it's supposed to work. The blueprint calls for us to be earnestly living our faith. Not just feeling it, not just appreciating it, living it. Remember in part one, we talked about our faith is a faith just like the faith of the Apostle Peter and the apostle Paul. You've been given a faith like ours, he said, which means our faith needs to be vibrant and alive. It needs to be engaged, it needs to be living, it needs to be strong. Faith is a gift. This is the other big part here. It's not planted within us as A result of any works of our own. You and I, we don't deserve the faith that we have been given. Let's look at Ephesians 2, 8, 10.
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For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are all his workmanship. We have faith because the gift of salvation was freely given.
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Yeah. And it's a tangible, real gift. And it's not built upon us. So there's no boasting. And that's the beauty of this diligent, earnest faith. We're supposed to have diligence in our faith. Let's look at this gift of faith. This gift must by definition be tested and developed, otherwise it will not grow strong. That's what James tells us in James 1, 2, 4.
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Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Rick, can you imagine being joyous in trial?
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Yes, because that's what is painted for us. That's what we're looking for in understanding what our permanent Christian character is supposed to look like. The whole object of doing this multi part series on these verses, Jonathan, is to say, what is my life actually supposed to look like? Let me read what the Apostle Peter wrote. Let me put it together in all of its pieces and come up with this blueprint that says, here's what it will look like, here's how it will function. It's a beautiful thing. The testing of your faith produces something. It produces endurance. We talked about allegiance earlier. What's our ultimate allegiance? Well, faith is an allegiance attribute. And that phrase allegiance attribute is going to come again and again and again and again in this series. And we're going to look at these things and say, these are not just things we want to read about. These are things we need to become from the inside out. So faith is an allegiance attribute. Applying this gift of our calling requires an allegiance, a loyalty that is willing to grind through the many testings of endurance for the sake of being completed in Christ. We have an objective. We have to grind through all of those things. This vibrant faith attribute needs to be put into daily use. And here's the problem, because if we don't put it into daily use, it will lose its influence. That's a big deal. James, chapter one. Let's go to the next verses, verses five through eight.
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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. But he must ask in faith, without doubting. For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord. Being a double minded man, unstable in all his ways, asking not in faith is essentially being double minded. Asking in faith is being single minded.
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And that sounds almost so simple. And a lot of times, Jonathan, we read these verses and we sort of brush over those little details. But think about what single mindedness is, what it produces. When you look at those people who are most successful in whatever area of life, you know what they are single minded. When you look at Jesus walking the earth doing what he did, you know what he was single minded. When you look at the apostle Peter who was so impetuous before Christ died and was raised, and then he was given God's spirit and then you see him afterwards, you know what he was single minded. That's where true faith comes into play. So we need to have that single mindedness that that's part of what our faith is, that basis for the building of our Christian characters. So this vibrant faith must of necessity become a foundation for our actions and therefore a foundation for our growth. Let's stay with James, but now let's go to chapter two, verse 18.
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But someone may well say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without the works and I will show you my faith by my works.
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I love James. He just cuts right to the chase. I'll show you my faith by my works. Because it has to be vibrant. Our faith needs to produce tangible results.
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And Rick, we have to ask ourselves, what's the testimony of our faith? Can it be seen?
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That's a really good question. And my immediate response to that question is what kind of diligence have we used to apply to our faith? Because when you apply diligence, that earnestness, that haste, that focus, that's what makes it to become tangible. It's not like you have to preach to everybody with every word, but you live a life that is different. And that is what this allegiance attribute of faith really is all about. It's a loyalty attribute that has a basis so that the other attributes we're going to be discussing in the rest of this series can be built upon it. So let's look at this allegiance attribute of faith.
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Faith is the gift of our calling that requires our full embrace. Why the earnest development of our faith becomes the basis for other allegiance attributes. To have a foundation to be built upon or a basis to be built upon.
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Right. You have to have something to build the other parts of your character on. And remember, Jonathan, this is about the development of. Not a New Year's resolution. This is about the development of a permanent character. Permanent Christ likeness. How is Christ likeness growing in me and literally taking over? It starts with this basis of faith. So let's continue to follow the Apostle Peter's blueprint because. And before we do that, just side note studying these things. And Jonathan, we, you and I have gone through these verses several times before and studying these. Every time I go through them, it's like, wow, look at the details that are just being thrown at you. And we just read past them. Let's slow down, let's observe and let's apply. So let's go a little further. Based upon our receiving God's promises. Remember that was in. In the first few verses of Second Peter chapter one. Based upon our receiving of God's promises and simultaneously applying diligent earnestness to our faith, we can now begin to fully supply our Christian lives as a basis for the necessary development of our Christian character. It's all about the development of Christian character. These verses in Second Peter provide us with several necessary allegiance attributes that are built directly upon this basis of faith. Jonathan, let's go back to 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 5.
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Now, for this very reason, also applying all diligence in. In your faith, supply moral excellence. So moral excellence is next, right?
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Yes and no. Yes, it is next. But. However, let's wait, let's hold on, let's pause a moment because before we get to moral excellence, it's telling us to supply moral excellence. And you say, okay, yeah, well, so what's the big deal? Pause and consider. Peter is telling us that as we claim the promises of God through the redemption work of Jesus Christ, we are to remember this simultaneously have this great eagerness in our vibrant faith to supply something else. Let's look at what it means to supply.
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Yeah, it means to furnish. Besides that is fully supply. Two examples of our fully supplying. First, Paul in Colossians is warning about the temptation of Christians worshiping men in the place of our Lord and head Jesus. Colossians 2:19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.
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There's a lot in that one little verse. So from whom the entire Body being fully supplied. That's that word, to fully supply. So we're fully supplied through our head, which is Christ Jesus, and we need that, so he supplies us because the head tells the body what to do. Now, along with Christ Jesus, we do need other examples.
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How about the apostle Paul, 1st Corinthians 11:1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
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So what do we have? We've got the head, Jesus fully supplying us as the body, so we're fully supplied. And it says, by the body of Christ. Here. Now we just said that the head supplies the body. The Scripture also said that the body is held together by the joints and ligaments, and it grows with the growth which is from God. The joints and the ligaments are parts of the body. The head supplies the body, so the body can supply the body. That's why this fully supplying is a big thing. It's not something that's small. It's not something that's simple. We're fully supplied by the body of Christ as well as the head. We, we therefore must use our faith to fully supply our Christian character, which to the best of our ability, fully supplies the body of Christ. So there is a mutual fully supplying activity going on, starting with Jesus coming to us. Then we in turn need to give it back. And Jonathan, that requires one very specific word. You know what that word is? It's your word, it's diligence, that earnestness to say, this has got to happen.
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And Rick, it hit me that the word applying, which means alongside of, and the word supply, which means furnished beside, are overlooked. They add depth to our Christlike character.
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And it's important to recognize that we are applying this diligence. We are alongside of the precious promises, applying this earnestness so that we in our faith can fully supply our Christian character. You put them together and you're saying you're drawing something along with the promises from God. And now you've got to go to work and you've got to do the fully supplying. In our faith, we need to fully supply something else. So it really is a very, very important combination of things. We're fully supplied by the body of Christ. We therefore must use our faith supply the Christian character. Putting it all together. Now let's go a little further. The last verse of this admonition in Peter. So now we're going to jump ahead to the end of this whole blueprint scenario. The Last verse, verse 11 of 2 Peter chapter 1, repeats this word for supply. Only in this use, it is God doing the supplying. So let's jump ahead to 2 Peter 1:11.
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For in this way, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. Wait, wait a minute. How can it be abundantly supplied if it's already fully supplied?
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Well, and that's why it says you're given the promises, remember? But they weren't just called promises in the new American Standard Bible. It says, he's granted to us his precious and magnificent promises. Anytime we are supplied from heaven, from God, the supply is not just adequate, it's overwhelming. And that's really what that abundantly supplying, abundant supplying is overwhelmingly big and full. And that's the key for us to develop a permanent Christian character that is really going to follow Jesus now and for eternity. We need to have that abundant supply because we're taking this broken humanness and saying it's got to be overhauled, got to be over, completely, completely done over. It's got to be put into the likeness of Christ. We're fully supplied by our mighty God. That's what this last verse in these blueprint verses, in verse 11 is telling us. God supplies overwhelmingly. He fully supplies you. We must therefore use our faith to fully supply our Christian character. And in turn, when we do that, when we fully supply our Christian character, we bring him. We bring God honor and praise eternally. I mean, what's better than that?
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You know, that's exactly what our Christian walk is all about, honoring God.
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We need to put this together. So, Jonathan, we've spent this episode really working on the words that put the process, that give the process a way to unfold, a way to move forward. We want to see how all of this is going to fit together.
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While receiving God's promises. Peter's blueprint calls for us to simultaneously apply diligent earnestness to our faith as a basis for fully supplying our lives with the fundamental character development needed to truly follow Jesus.
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Now, all that you just said, we haven't talked about what it is that we're supplying yet. What we're talking about is the process that Peter's blueprint is calling for. He's saying, you've got this diligent earnestness to our faith as a basis. You apply this earnestness to our faith as a basis so that we can grow all of these other things. Our fully supplying ourselves is modeled after the fully supplying actions of we know who actions of our Father and on our behalf. And God has unequivocally promised us deliverance from corruption and into divine nature. That deliverance, Jonathan, is not a simple little thing. It requires our effort based on his grace and his spirit and his wisdom and the example of Jesus. That's why it says, in your faith, apply diligence, that is, applying speed, eagerness, and earnestness.
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You know, Rick, in our previous episode, we learned about the promises. In this episode, we realize we have to live those promises day by day. And these promises feed our faith.
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They really do. These promises feed our faith. And the theme verse for our episode today is for this reason, because of these promises, apply all diligence in your faith. Supply moral excellence. And we're going to get into the moral excellence next week. But the whole point of putting this in order is to understand there is a process that Peter is telling us you are responsible not to memorize. So what comes after faith, Jonathan? Oh, I know. Moral excellence. No. How do I learn and live the moral excellence based on the faith? That's really where we all want to go with all of this. Because we are given God's magnificent promises, we're told to therefore simultaneously consider with great eagerness and haste, engaging our faith as a solid foundation that will fully supply our Christian character growth. This growth doesn't happen all at once. It comes in stages. And that's why we're reading through the Apostle Peter's blueprints. The blueprint that Peter is laying out shows us how the allegiance of our faith opens the door for the allegiance of our next necessary character trait, which is moral excellence. And from there we'll go to the next one, and from there we'll go to the next one. And from there we'll go to the next one. And what we will see is, this is how you develop a permanent Christian character. Think about it. We love hearing from our listeners. We welcome your feedback and questions in this episode and other episodes at christianquestions. Com. Coming up in our next episode, what does true Christian moral excellence actually look like?