Your Superpower - 2 Peter 1:3 Series

That list in vv.5-7 is an amazing list. Think of how happy you’d be if people described you and used that list. But Peter says that’s not enough. Even if you had all of those virtues, you’ll still be ineffective and unproductive unless those virtues are increasing in your life.

2 Peter 1:8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive. So Peter’s objective is more, more, more—grow in grace.

Just look at his opening greeting. All the other Bible writers say, “Grace and peace to you.” Peter says, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you.” “I want you to have more and more.”

And you see it again here in v.3. Not just godliness—living, growing godliness. This is a book about increasing, making progress, getting more and more of all that God offers.

So that’s why I say my summary of the book is the word “more” or “grow.” But forget about how I would sum up the book—look at how Peter sums up his own book. Go to the very last verse.

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It’s all about growing. Why? What’s so urgent in Peter’s mind that he feels such pressure to get the readers to grow so much?

For the Mature

Is it because his readers are weak, immature Christians like the readers of Hebrews or 1 Corinthians, where the readers are like babies who can’t handle solid food?[6] No. 2 Peter is a book that says explicitly that it is written specifically to solid, knowledgeable, established Christians.

2 Peter 1:12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.

These people are solid.

So You Don’t Fall

Why is Peter so concerned about making sure these rock-solid Christians keep growing beyond where they are now? To keep them from falling away.

2 Peter 1:10 …if you do these things, you will never fall.

2 Peter 3:17 … since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.

These people are strong and steadfast, but they could still fall from that steadfastness. And the whole middle part of the book is all about the spiritual dangers that are out there that can cause that fall.

And the thing that will keep you from falling when you face all those spiritual dangers is what? Being godly? No. What will keep you from falling is growing in godliness.

When the end times come and there’s a mass-apostasy and the love of most grows cold and Jesus says, “Will the Son of Man even find faith on the earth?”—who are all those people who fall? Are they all brand-new baby Christians? No. They are people at all levels of godliness who stopped growing. That’s why Peter is so exercised about telling these seasoned, strong, godly Christians that they must, must, must keep on growing in godliness. Don’t ever stall out.

So that’s my quick summary of the message of 2 Peter—keep growing in godliness so that you’ll never fall when the pressures hit. And I wanted to show you all that so you could see how our verse today—verse 3—lays the foundation for the whole book. What is the purpose of all this amazing, divine superpower God made available? What’s the goal that God has given us everything we need to attain? Living, growing, multiplying godliness. That’s the purpose of the power, now let’s move to the second point—the need for the power.