PLEASE NOTE:
- After the summer months, we have returned to indoor services at Springford Baptist Church each Sunday at 10:30am and all are welcome.
- 190th Church Anniversary Celebration: Sunday October 2nd 10:30 am. Please plan to attend.
2 Peter 1:3-11
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 Saviour Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:3-11 WHAT KNOWLEDGE OF GOD HAS GIVEN US
Springford Baptist Church: September 18, 2022.
Now that students have returned to school, they are back into a routine of spending their weekdays in class and having homework to complete in the evening. There is a concentrated accumulation of knowledge that takes place during school days. The key will be what gets done with that knowledge. How will it be applied in the living of meaningful and productive lives going forward?
We all spend the early part of our lives in school. The knowledge that we gain there is meant to prepare us for life.
Today we will give thought to how our knowledge of God and the things we learn about Him prepares us for living our lives to please Him every day. Sometimes students may be skeptical of how necessary and useful some of what they learn will be. Everything that you and I gain in our knowledge of God is a gift that enables us to apply this knowledge to the way that we approach life. Knowledge of God is intended to permeate and influence every aspect of our lives.
Here in 2 Peter, we hear from Jesus’ disciple Peter. He had such close association with our Lord Jesus and learned directly from Jesus how to put knowledge of God into practice. Peter writes this letter to those who have received the precious gift of faith in Jesus. He wants them to hold on to what is true and not to be deceived by any false teaching.
We know that if we have the gift of knowledge but do nothing with it that we miss the whole purpose of knowledge.
Gifts that we receive are meant to be used and appreciated.
Think of a gift that you have been given that you have used over and over. For me, I think of a set of stainless steel mixing bowls. They have been useful for several things. If they just remained stacked in the cupboard and were never taken out and used, then the gift would be wasted.
Now consider with me 2 Peter 1:3, “ 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.” As Christian believers, we have been given everything that we need to live godly lives, lives that accurately reflect and represent God. This gift of knowing Jesus, the One who has “called us by His own glory and goodness” provides us with this amazing potential to live God honouring lives.
Verse 4 highlights that there is “corruption in this world caused by evil desires.” We have been equipped to escape this corruption by focusing on the truth of our knowledge of God.
What then do we do with our knowledge of who God is and how He has been revealed through His Son Jesus? I remember a song that was part of a creative telling of Bible stories when our daughters were younger. It went like this: “And so what we have learned applies to our lives today. God has a lot to say in His Book.”
This applying of our knowledge of God to everyday life is crucial. We use the gifts He has given us when we live consistent with Who is God.
The following verses urge “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.” (2 Peter 1:5-7)
Verses 5-7 emphasize what that needs to look like if we are applying what we have learned to the way we live our lives. The root of it all is faith. Our relationship with God is initiated when we place our faith in Him.
There is then some mathematics that happens here in the form of addition. We need to add goodness to our faith. We do not simply trust in our God Who is good, we pattern our lives after His goodness.
Then to goodness we add knowledge. Our increasing knowledge of Who God is and how God is, gives us increasing understanding of how we are to be.
And to knowledge add self-control. What have you learned about self-control in your lifetime? I have learned that I cannot implement self-control without God. My own best intentions do not result in me controlling self. Our self is always demanding attention and wanting to take over. Instead, we need God to take over.
The addition continues. To self-control, we are instructed to add perseverance. We can recognize how necessary is perseverance. When our best intentions do not result in us accurately representing our knowledge of God in the way we live our lives, perseverance reminds us not to give up, but rather to keep appealing to God for help.
Then we are to add godliness. This is a high standard to strive to copy the pattern of God. Only God can bring this about in us.
The addition of mutual affection (vs. 7) indicates a warmhearted kindness extended to others in this family of faith. We are not to be so absorbed in our own faith journey that we overlook others who are on this same journey with us.
The final key addition that we are to make every effort to add is love. Our lifestyle cannot be consistent with our knowledge of who God is if we leave out love. It is love inspired by the example of Jesus that leads us to be willing to sacrifice for the good and well being of others. Only our strong desire to live for God will insist that we live for others.
The gift of knowledge of God must affect the way that we live!
There is a promise here in verse 8,8 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.
We can pray that we will possess these qualities in increasing measure so that our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ will produce worthwhile results.
Do we expect this to happen? Do we expect that the way we live our lives for God will not only transform us, but also those around us?
9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.” Here, Peter concludes that whoever does not have this evidence of God at work in their lives has chosen to be blind. They have forgotten that God has cleansed from past sin and given this remarkable gift of new beginnings and moving forward in new ways.
Then we receive this strong encouragement, “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.”
If we use our knowledge of God to direct every decision and every aspect of our lives, then we will not stumble and trip over what is deceptive and untrue. And ultimately, we can anticipate the promise of a rich welcome into heaven when we reach the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! That will be our graduation when we have finished all the lessons of life here.