How To Jump Start Spiritual Growth - 2 Peter 1:9a Series

2 Peter 1:8 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 if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Introduction

If you could change one thing about your character, what would it be? Whatever just came to mind, the next question is, why haven’t you changed it? Your answer is probably, “I’ve tried! And I’ve made temporary changes, but it never lasts.” I heard a talk show host say the other day, “One thing you need to learn in life—people don’t change.” And boy, that sure seems true sometimes, doesn’t it? A wife gets frustrated with her husband: “He’ll never change!” Then she falls off her diet or some other goal and thinks, “Ahh! I’ll never change.”

Real, significant, lasting change for the good is so hard and so rare, but that talk show guy isn’t quite right. You can’t say “never.” Sometimes people do change—in dramatic, wonderful ways. So what’s the secret? In an area where you can’t seem to make any progress no matter how hard you try, what’s the trick to finally making a real, lasting change?

Peter’s answer to that in 2 Peter is a little disappointing if you’re an impatient person. It’s the word “growth.” That’s how he sums up his message in the very last verse of the book.

2 Peter 3:18 Grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord.

We like overnight, quick fixes, but God’s design for change is the slow, steady process of growing and maturing. Peter sums up his whole message at the end of the book with the words, “Grow in grace.” And he begins the book with a whole section on how that growth process works, and that’s what we’ve been studying in vv.1-8 so far. It starts with faith, and you use the virtues you have to build the virtues you don’t have. You use character to build character, and it all happens by trusting God’s promises. That’s how you grow. That takes us through v.7.

But now Peter deals with the question we all have at some point: “What if it’s not working? I’ve tried to grow and change. I’ve tried to improve in self-control and perseverance and love and all the rest, but I’m not getting anywhere.” Every one of us has those areas in our character where year after year we just can’t seem to get any traction toward progress. So how do you figure out what’s stunting your spiritual growth?”

That’s a really important question because we found out last time in v.7 that if you stop growing… , your life becomes unfruitful, unproductive, and pointless—you’ll waste your life. So it’s essential that we figure out what’s keeping us from growing.

If you went to your pastor or a Christian counselor and said, “I haven’t been growing spiritually. I’ve stalled out in my spiritual progress”—what do you think he would say? Most likely, he’d give you some combination of Scripture, prayer, and fellowship. More Bible, more prayer, more church, relationships, accountability, etc. If you’ve ever asked me that question, I probably told you the solution is more satisfying fellowship with God. How is that done? Scripture, prayer, and fellowship. That’s the answer we always give.

But what’s Peter’s answer? Instead of just saying, “More Bible, more prayer, more fellowship,” Peter points us to two things I never would have thought of.

Imagine you’re in the delivery room, it’s your first child, the doctor hands you your baby and he looks perfect. Ten fingers, ten toes, nothing wrong. But after a few months, you’re starting to worry because he’s not growing. He’s not maturing like a normal child.

So you take him in, the doctor examines him and says, “I found two causes. Fix those, and he’ll start growing again. But if you don’t fix these two things, he’ll die.

“What are the two problems?”

“Well, the first one is his eyesight. He needs glasses.”

Would that answer surprise you? It should, because I don’t think there are any babies who aren’t growing because of a vision problem. That’s not really a thing when it comes to physical growth, however it is very much a thing with spiritual growth. Listen to how Dr. Peter diagnoses our spiritual growth problems.

2 Peter 1:9 But if anyone does not have them (the virtues in vv.5-8 that we’re supposed to be growing in, here’s why—), he is nearsighted and blind.

If you’re not growing, it’s because you have a vision problem. You might have other problems too (in fact, Peter will point us to one of them in the second half of the verse)… , but the first thing he wants us to know is that if there is some area in your Christian life where you just struggle and struggle and struggle… , you definitely have something wrong with your spiritual eyesight. Peter says you’re blind.