Critical Importance of Spiritual Growth
Background/Introductory Material:
Peter's letter was written to combat false teachers within the body leading people astray.
Believers who did not understand what they had in Christ were being led astray by treacherous instructors who claimed to have truth, but were in fact men who were following their own lusts. Their followers abandoned all they had in Christ to live for the trappings and slavery of their old life.
Most of us have heard stories of priceless vases or pieces of art sold at antique stores or garage sales for a fraction of the cost merely because the owner did not understand the value of what he owned. I have often wondered how differently the story would have turned out if just prior to the sale of the item some dealer in antiquities, some agent from Antique's Roadshow, revealed the true value of the item to the seller.
One day my father was hunting in the southern part of the state and came across a space of ground which had been recently graded for some unknown purpose. My dad happen to notice a larger rock in particular which had the look of previously having been shaped by someone. Knowing that the area that he was hunting was known for Indian artifacts, he kept the rock assuming it to have been used by Indians. During a Boy Scout meeting at my parents house the rock was used to hold a flag up on the mantle. One of the boys jerked the flag pulling the rock on the floor and chipping off a section of the rock. I'm not sure what prompted it, but since that time Dad took the rock to be examined by a knowledgeable person who verified that it indeed was an Indian grinding stone and if it had been kept in its original condition would be worth several hundred dollars. Had my father known this prior to the Scout meeting much more care would have been taken.
Here now in this first chapter of Peter is striving to display the true value of what believers in Christ really have.
So this morning I would like you to see with me Peter’s discussion of the critical importance of spiritual growth.
“1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,”
I. Divine Purpose of a Believer’s Growth
A. Source of the Divine Gifts
“3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,
through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,”
Explanation: Divine gifts come as a result of an intimate relationship with God. It may seem a case of stating the obvious, but how often do persons convince themselves that they are perfectly ready to face the rigors of the Christian life though they are disconnected from the Vine. Only as a person is in a relationship with Christ do we have access to the wealth of resources available to the Christian.
Knowledge – Relationship type of knowledge. If I ask you, “Do know him” you know that I am not asking you if you know certain facts. I am asking if you have a relationship established with him.
B. Purpose of the Divine Gifts
“4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises,
that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
Explanation:
II. Description of the Believer’s Growth
A. Manner
Explanation:
Diligent
“5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence,
Earnestness and zeal
Lavish/Unreserved
“ add”
The term describes the lavish provision that a sponsor would give for the sets and costumes for a play.
Clearly the idea of supplementing your faith is not a matter half-heartedness. No one is going to be able to accomplish Christian growth as one gets fast food.
B. Content
“to your faith virtue” (moral excellence),
to virtue knowledge (practical knowledge when enables the user to discern between right and wrong),
6 to knowledge self-control (self-discipline, the restricting of yourself in areas of your liberty in order to maintain a life of purity and honor),
to self-control perseverance (steadfastness, a determined unwillingness to buckle under the rigors of “the daily grind” which enables the believer to stay consistent when the “daily grind” is overshadowed by intense and faith shaking trials)
to perseverance godliness (a God conscience attitude which turns even the common daily tasks into worship, praise and adoration to Him),
7 to godliness brotherly kindness (a genuine heartfelt love and concern for the needs of your brothers and sisters in Christ which motivates you to “do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith”),
and to brotherly kindness love. (seeking the good and welfare of others without thought to having that love returned. A care and compassion that is not rooted in the loveliness of the object, but in the portraying of the divine love within the lover; God is the ultimate example)”
III. Believer’s Motivation to Grow
A. Positive - Productive relationship with Christ
“8 For if these things are yours and abound,
you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Explanation: Here is the promise the if you are diligently adding these virtues, you will continue to grow in the knowledge of the Lord.
Application: Often we develop a philosophy of our Christian growth with is entirely unbiblical. Spiritual maturity cannot come through spiritual inactivity. Only as we pursue God and seek to live up to the calling wherewith we are called, do we find fruitfulness in our knowledge of God.
Illustration: In the journals of revered saints of the past, you can find chronicled their spiritual battles and wars with their own weaknesses and failures. Being a person fruitful in the knowledge of God does not mean you are exempt from weaknesses and failures, but that you are diligently giving lavish effort to add these spiritual qualities to your life.
B. Negative – Continued bondage in Sin
“ 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Explanation: Shortsighted – one who is myopic or nearsighted; in a spiritual sense is seems to indicate that the person cannot see beyond the temporal. He is bound by the lusts and desires of the world. Thus, he has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
What?
A believer can develop spiritual amnesia on the very point that makes him what he is. If you are following Peter’s logic you are expecting his next statement, “make your calling and election sure.” This professing believer has no surety that he is what he professes to be.
Peter displays for us the proper attitude toward the divine action of salvation. Romans 8 tells us of God’s intimate knowledge of us before hand, resulting in our predestination or election or choosing, and the outworking of these two is His calling us to salvation. This, however, is salvation from God’s perspective. As God’s creation we are unable to fully perceive the working of God toward salvation. Rather we respond to the Scriptural call of God to salvation and thus beautifully fulfill the working that God has already decreed in our lives. Nevertheless, one of the dangers of being unable to see God’s working is that some tares lay hidden among the wheat. As Christ told His disciples in the parable of the wheat and tares, they will look so similar to the true believer that you may mistake him for wheat. However it is by their fruit that they are known. So too is the true believer known by his fruit. Laid upon each believer is the responsibility to demonstrate by his life that he is indeed one of the called and elected. He does not help, supplement, or complete his salvation. That salvation was made complete in the work of Christ on the cross, but the believer’s growing makes sure, makes certain, confirms that he is one of the called and is not just mimicking the part.
IV. Promise for Growing Believers
“10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure,”
A. Perseverance of the Believer
“for if you do these things you will never stumble;”
Explanation: Remember the context of this letter. Peter is writing to warn of false teachers who are coming into the assembly of believers.
These words indicate that the false professor is unable to keep up with the charade. On the other hand the person practicing these qualities confirms in his heart that he is indeed one of God’s children.
B. Provision of an Abundant Welcome
“11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Explanation: The original language leaves us guessing as to which word “abundantly” is describing. Was the supplying of our entrance abundant or is the entrance which is made abundant. It seems to me that in contrast to the NKJ the adj. is to modifying entrance. Thus there is supplied to the diligent believer an entrance of rejoicing and gladness.
You see yonder ship. After a long voyage, it has neared the haven but is much injured; the sails are rent to ribbons. That is like the righteous being scarcely saved. But do you see that other ship? It has made a prosperous voyage, and now, laden to the water’s edge with the sails all up and with the white canvas filled with the wind, it rides into the harbor joyously and nobly. That is an “abundant entrance.” If you and I are helped by God’s Spirit to add to our faith virtue and so on (see 2 Peter 1:5-7), we will at the last enter “abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:11).[1]
Conclusion: Some of you have sat comfortably in a church pew for a very long time, but their has never been any real evidence that you are one of the redeemed of God. These qualities are lacking and your mind is so clouded with the things of the world that you are not quite sure that living the Christian life is really the way that you want to go. Today you need to wake up and give heed to the word of God. If you are not diligently seeking to grow in your Christian walk then there is something desperately wrong. You may be a be a respectable business man, a missionary, work at a Christian school. You station in life does not determine your station in eternity. You need to check your heart to see if you are genuinely trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross.
For those of you who say, “my faith is in Christ alone” you need to be confirming and making sure that your confession is genuine. Give all diligence to supplement your faith for in doing so you will never fall.
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[1]Spurgeon, R. C. H. (2000). Daily Help (electronic ed.) (39). Escondito, California: Ephesians Four Group.