Moving on to Maturity
2 Peter 1:1-11
1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Introduction: I believe that it would be safe to say that there is a great deal of immaturity among believers today. One reason could be that there is very little emphasis on growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. This would explain why we have so few qualified candidates for leadership. This would explain why we have so few willing to teach or serve in the ministry of the local church. This would explain why surveys say that the vast majority of professing Christians never personally witness to a single person in a year’s time. This would explain why so many seem to subsist on spiritual milk instead of spiritual meet. This would explain why so many believers do not have a consistent devotional life with Bible reading and prayer. The Scriptures have a lot to say about spiritual growth. For instance…
2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Hebrews 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Hebrews 6:6 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
ILL: A small boy riding a bus home from Sunday school was very proud of the card he had received, which had a picture and a caption that read: “Have Faith in God.” Then to his dismay the card slipped from his hand and fluttered out the window. “Stop the bus!” he cried. “I’ve lost my ‘faith in God!’” The driver pulled the bus to a stop, and as the lad climbed out and went to retrieve his card, one of the adult riders smiled and made a comment about the innocence of youth. A more perceptive adult observed, “All of us would be better off if we were that concerned about our faith."
I. The Grace we need for Growth – “Grace and peace be multiplied…”
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
a. The Essential of Growth- Faith
Without faith it is impossible to please Him.
b. The Elements of Growth
There can be no “grace and peace…” without saving faith and the righteousness of God and of Jesus our Lord…”
II. The Gifts We Need for Growth – “…hath given unto us all things that pertain life and godliness…”
a. The promises - 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
b. The progress - “…add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.”
III. The Grit We Need for Growth - “…giving all diligence…”
Tending Your Garden
Suppose 2 women were planting a vegetable garden. On the same day, they prepared the earth and planted their seeds. One then neglected her garden and waited for her vegetables to grow.
The other woman worked in her garden regularly. She put cages around the young tomato plants, she drove in sticks beside those plants that were going to grow up high, and she put netting around plants that were particularly attractive to rabbits and other animals.
Several months later the 2 women went out for the harvest. One found tomatoes rotting on the ground, weeds that were choking most of the carrots – many of which had been raided by birds and squirrels. She pulled up only a handful of food and figured that planting a garden wasn’t worth it – the food wasn’t as good, the harvest was small, and, well, grocery stores were so much more convenient.
Her neighbour, however, harvested basketful of good vegetables every other day, which had a better taste than those in the grocery store. She figured that, when everything was added up, she probably saved a good 20% on her grocery bill each month.
Both women planted, but only one tended. There are Christians who have committed their lives to following Christ at about the same time; but the influence this ‘tending the garden’ commitment had on their lives soon become clear.
One lives a life of self-centredness. Christianity makes sense, but it becomes almost a convenience - no need to take it too seriously or to reorder one’s life around it.
Another person, however, takes it seriously. She makes an effort to study the Bible, and worship the Lord regularly. She keeps her prayer life fresh. And soon people are asking her for advice and help. She becomes a blessing to many. She has a ministry almost by accident.
Both planted a spiritual garden, but only one tended. If we tend our garden, we will have plenty of food with which to feed others. If we give our garden just superficial attention, we may have enough food just to feed ourselves. If we completely neglect our garden, we are going to be so hungry, we need to feed off others; we need others to help us because we are weak.
... Gary Thomas, Sacred Pathways: Discovering the Soul’s Path to God (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, 2000), 215-216, 220.
From a sermon by Christian Cheong, People of Prayer, 1/9/2009
Growth doesn’t just happen. The must deliberation and intentionality on our part. You will grow if you are determined to grow.
IV. The Goal of Growth – Three fold – vs 8-11
a. The Productivity – “neither be barren or unfruitful…”
I heard of a sermon entitled “The Fate of Fruitless Followers” - In John 15 Jesus uses the relationship of branches to the vine to illustrate our relationship to Him: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. . . . If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned” (verses 1–2, 6).
b. The Perseverance – “ye shall never fail” v 10
Perseverance is the ingredient of life that sometimes makes up for lack of genius.
c. The Procession v 11 – “for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly…”
Entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: Peter here reminded his readers of the great reward of a calling and election made sure. They would enter heaven gloriously, not as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:15).
He desired that an entrance abundant should be ministered unto them.” (Meyer)
F.B. Meyer also wrote that the idea of an “abundant entrance” was really a choral entrance. The idea was of a Roman conqueror coming into his city, welcomed by singers and musicians who would join him in a glorious, happy procession into the city.
“Will your entrance into heaven be like that? Will you enter it, save so as by fire, or to receive a reward? Will you come unrecognized and unknown, or be welcomed by scores and hundreds to whom you have been the means of blessing, and who will wait you?” (Meyer)
www.enduringword.com
Conclusion: Our churches are filled with folks who have been saved for years, 10, 20 or 30 years but the number of years doesn’t tell the whole story. Some have one years’ experience for 30 years. They display their immaturity when they are continually offended.
Ingratitude denotes spiritual immaturity. Infants do not always appreciate what parents do for them. They have short memories. Their concern is not what you did for me yesterday, but what are you doing for me today. The past is meaningless and so is the future. They live for the present. Those who are mature are deeply appreciative of those who labored in the past. They recognize those who labor during the present and provide for those who will be laboring in the future.
Homemade, December, 1984.
Growth is a natural part of growing up! The Lord wants us to grow up…to feed on Him and get growing!
Ephesians 4:15 "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ."
Col. 1:10 "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God."
II Thess. 1:3 "We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing."
We should prepare ourselves for growth. Many of us just sit around thinking somehow it will just happen. When we are not prepared, disaster happens. When difficult days come, if you are not prepared, your immaturity and lack of growth may become a real problem.
106 years ago today, (April 15, 1912) the Titanic sank. 1517 people lost their lives. But it didn’t have to happen. There were only enough lifeboats for half the people. The crew was not prepared. They thought the ship was unsinkable. For the first time in history the new SOS emergency signal was used on the telegraph. But help did not come for over an hour. Those who had survived in the water soon died from the frigid temperature. No one was prepared. In addition to that, The ship’s builder, the White Star Line President Bruce Ismay jumped into the last life-boat even though there were still women and children aboard. Hypocrisy, envy, deceit, pride was still rearing its ugly head as the Titanic sang.
There’s a lesson in that for all of us here today. Be prepared. Get rid of the selfish sinful practices that harm your life and feed on the good that brings salvation, not disaster.
"Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him." (Psalms 34:8, NIV)
