How to be a better Christian

(Vv. 4, 5). The third means by which the life of the disciple may be rendered fruitful is found in his own hands. It is summed up by the twice repeated word, "Abide in Me." Abiding in Christ presents our privilege, as well as our responsibility, to constantly walk in dependence upon Christ. As one has said, abiding in Christ is "practical habitual nearness of heart to Him." If we have learnt that fruit is the reproduction of the character of Christ, expressed by "love, joy, self-control," we shall realise that such an ideal cannot be reached in our own strength. The realisation of the moral excellence of the fruit on the one hand, and our own exceeding weakness on the other will convince us of the truth of the Lord's words, "Without Me ye can do nothing." His fruit may indeed be sweet to our taste, but it is only as we abide under His shadow that we shall partake of His fruit. Without the light and warmth of the sun, the natural vine could not bear fruit, and unless we abide in the light and love of the presence of Christ we too shall be fruitless. If we abide in Christ then indeed Christ will be in us, and if Christ is in us we shall exhibit the lovely character of Christ.

Thus it becomes clear that fruit is not produced by making fruit an object, or by thinking of fruit; it is the outcome of having Christ as an object, of thinking of Him. Christ precedes fruit.

The apostle does not allow that we have any life here, but talks of our members: "Mortify" - put to death - "therefore your members which are upon the earth." All that proceeds from the flesh the Christian is not to allow for a moment. Mark how different it is to dying to sin. Mortify is just the opposite, it is putting to death. That is power. If I say, "I must die," that is being alive. We are dead to sin, the world, and the law. Christ having died, we have died. What is true of Him is true of us. Having now life and power, we are to put these things to death. There is no more lust, or self-will, or working of the flesh, if a man is dead. I am to reckon myself dead, not setting about to die to sin, for I should not be able; that is, the flesh, the old man, does not want to die. The apostle says, "Reckon yourselves dead." You have died. Then put off the old man. "Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed." Sin has been "condemned in the flesh." Now I have the place of power to put to death every evil that the flesh would produce. Put to death your members, not your life in Adam. You are dead; therefore put to death your members. If you let them act, it is the flesh. The Christian has power in Christ - "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" - to put down everything inconsistent with the life in which this power is. The life is hid with Christ in God, but our members are on the earth; and he says, Now keep them in order; you have the power in Christ.

Now, I hope my young friends will remember that as the green blade requires light from the sun, and rain from heaven in order to produce the ear and the full corn in the ear, so in the Christian life both prayer and the word of God are indispensable for growth and fruitfulness. In prayer you will be consciously in the light of God, Who is light (1 John 1:5). In reading the scripture, God will speak to you out of it concerning His Son, and that will be like showers of refreshing rain upon your heart. By this means, you will "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

Now God having purposed our blessing, and Christ having died to secure it, and the Holy Spirit having wrought in us effectually so that we have been brought to God—is that the end of the matter? Not at all. The Holy Spirit continues His work in us, detaching us more and more from the timings of this world, separating us from the lusts of the flesh, the evil ways in which once we walked, in this way promoting our practical sanctification.

Growth therefore is altogether a question of what we are. — The very epistle that exhorts us to "grow in grace" opens with a fine statement of what it really is. It runs thus: — "Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity" (or love) (2 Peter 1:5-7).

With faith we all have started. But to it virtue or courage must be added, if it is to count for much. Courage needs to be controlled by knowledge. Knowledge to be tempered with moderation. Moderation to develop into patience (or endurance). Endurance begets godliness. Godliness produces and develops brotherly kindness. Love, Divine Love, crowns the whole and welds all together in the heart of the believer.

Now, we have been forewarned. Thus we are forearmed against the error of the wicked, lest we should fall. The error of the wicked was fully exposed in 2 Peter 2. It is not enough however to be warned against evil; we must be in the positive enjoyment of truth. The way not to go back is to go on. Like a man on a bicycle, the Christian must go on if he would avoid falling off. Hence we must "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

This word just summarizes the main teaching of the Epistle. Spiritual growth was the great theme of 2 Peter 1 and to it the apostle returns in his closing words. All true growth is in grace, the grace of God. Then as we expand in grace we grow in graciousness of spirit. All true growth too is in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, in whom the grace of God has reached us.

“If only we exercise a little self denial every day, we shall get on to heaven very comfortably.” What a volume of wholesome practical truth in this brief utterance! The path of self-denial is the Christian's true path. “If any man,” says Christ, “will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). It is not, “let him deny certain things belonging to himself.” No, he must “deny himself,” and this is a “daily” thing. Each morning, as we rise and enter afresh upon the pathway of daily life, we have the same grand and all-important work before us, namely, to deny self.

Fellowship with Christians

"If we walk in the light, as he is the light, we have fellowship one with another" (1 John 1:7). Fellowship and companionship with other Christians are also vital for feeding and developing the divine life. The new nature desires fellowship and companionship with God and with fellow believers Association with fel low Christians draws out the new nature and strengthens the divine desires. "Two are better than one . . . for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow" (Eccl. 4:9-10). If one is weak in the faith and liable to fall, companion ship with stronger Christians will lift him up and strengthen him. "Iron sharpeneth iron; so man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend" (Prov. 27:17). This is especially true in Christian companionship.

We are told in Hebrews 10:24-25 to "Consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together." By associating with other Christians we stir up each other unto love and good works and in attending Christian meetings our souls are fed together and built up in the faith. When two or three gather together unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, He is there in their midst (Matt 18:20), and special blessings are obtained thereby which strengthen and develop the new nature. Therefore fellowship in the light with other Christians is vital for the Christian life.

Nor need we, for an instant, suppose that true humility is either evidenced or promoted by looking at, or dwelling upon, our sins. An unhallowed and melancholy mopishness may, thus, be super induced; but the deepest humility springs from a totally different source. Whether was the prodigal an humbler man, "when he came to himself" in the far country, or when he came to the Father's bosom and the Father's house? Is it not evident that the grace which elevates us to the loftiest heights of fellowship with God, is that alone which leads us into the most profound depths of a genuine humility? Unquestionably. The humility which springs from the removal of our sins, must ever be deeper than that which springs from the discovery of them. The former connects us with God; the latter has to do with self. The way to be truly humble is to walk with God in the intelligence and power of the relationship in which He has set us. He has made us His children; and if only we walk as such, we shall be humble.

Holiness cannot exist in the soul apart from Christ. A man, who is a Christian, but who is trying to be holy, is legal, working on himself to get something out of himself, and thus far leaving Christ out. It matters not to what school he may belong, or what his attainments may be. Again, until what Christ has done for him, or what he is in Christ is realised, his desires after holiness will, generally speaking, run in a wrong path. In other words, the knowledge of the standing of the Christian in Christ affects the state of the Christian for Christ. But the practical difficulty is this: when a person is converted, he is usually some time learning what his standing is, and before he has learned it, his spiritual instincts, as we may express it, yearn after a state of holiness. Hence there is no little danger of these instincts pursuing a wrong direction, and the end resulting in self — either despondent or exultant, and if exultant producing spiritual pride.

Take for example a man who has divine life, but not peace. He realises that he is far from practical holiness; he tries, resolves, and binds himself in order to reach the ideal of his desires. This is legality. He is working at self, shaping it into proper form. Many believers are at this hour in cruel bondage by reason of such efforts, perhaps sinking down into despair, fearing that after all they have no part or lot in the matter, but are deceivers of their own souls. How mysteriously the eye of the soul in such an one is hidden from Christ!

On the other hand, some imagine that they have in part, at least, succeeded. They also took the legal road, and, while legal, become inflated with fancied success. Thus legality and inflation twine round the stem of spiritual pride. And very humbling it is when the Spirit of God shows that all such growth must be cut down before any real holiness can exist.