Growing In Our Faith

Growing In Our Faith – 2 Peter 1:1-11 5.5.19

by: Rev. Darrell Williams

2 Peter is obviously written by Peter – one of the disciples – the one we see in the Easter story and the one we discussed on Palm Sunday that failed Jesus by denying Him three times. After the resurrection of Jesus Peter received a challenge from Jesus to “Feed His Sheep” which is exactly what Peter did with his preaching and the beginning of the church.

1st and 2nd Peter was not written to any specific church and was most likely passed from church to church.

Peter has basically three messages or themes in 2nd Peter:

• Discipleship – Spiritual Growth is essential

• A Warning about False Teachers

• Watch out for Jesus’ Return

This morning I want us to look at the first theme which deals with our spiritual growth or our effectiveness as a believer.

How many of you have ridden a bicycle? That is what I thought – most everyone has ridden a bicycle. If you get on a bike and put both feet on the pedals and then you don’t pedal – what will happen? Yes, you will fall. Now, what will happen if you start pedaling and you maintain your balance? You will keep moving and you will not fall. You will be more effective by moving forward than if you just stand still with your feet on the pedals.

Our faith is a lot like riding a bicycle. God does not want us to be stagnant or ignorant about our faith. He would desire for all his people to keep moving forward toward Spiritual Maturity by growing in our faith in this world of darkness in which we live. The people that Peter was writing to were being attacked by false teachers who were advocating a false gospel. If we are not careful we can easily be miss-led which will cause us not to grow in our faith.

So let’s read this passage of scripture and listen for three truths which Peter shares with us about growing in our faith.

2 Peter 1:1-11

1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: 2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The first truth we see in this passage of scripture is:

1. Growing In Our Faith Requires Knowledge.

Knowledge is a very important concept in Peter’s writing. He refers to knowledge in 5 verses so I have concluded that knowledge is very important in our Christian faith. Someone said that this knowledge is “knowledge of God and knowledge from God”.1 As believers, we should know God from an intimate level of understanding and should also be an intellectual knowledgeable of what God says to us through his Word.

One of the reasons I think that Peter is so concern about his readers having the “Knowledge of God and of Jesus Our Lord” is because of all the false doctrines concerning salvation. It is not any different today in that there are many different religions that will try to convince you that there are many roads you can take to get to heaven – when the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the father except through me.”

Peter says in in verse 2 that it is the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord that enables us to experience and enjoy God’s grace and peace. And in verse 3 Peter says that it is through our knowledge of him that we have the divine power to live a godly life. We have everything we need – we have every resource at our disposal to live a godly life and to enjoy the grace and peace of God. It is there if we are willing to grow in our faith with the knowledge of God’s Word.