“Growing in the Knowledge of God” – 2 Peter 3:13-18

While visiting a patient this past week, I asked her what her favorite subject in school was. She said she really didn’t have a favorite, she just enjoyed learning.

We should all be able to relate to that sentiment. Perhaps we didn’t enjoy the formal education of school, but we all appreciate learning new things, whether it’s cooking a new dish, singing a new song, or discovering something new about our world or the people in our lives.

Learning is how we become able to know things. We all need to know things. The most important thing we need to know is God, and we all need to grow in our knowledge of Him. This is part of Paul’s prayer for the Colossians, and it is what we will focus on today.

Background

The apostle Peter is known to have written two letters. We spent time last year looking in detail at 1 Peter, a letter written to encourage and guide believers who were suffering persecution.

This second letter is in a similar vein. Instead of threats from outside the church, though, this letter focuses on the dangers that can be found within the church. Specifically, Peter wrote his letter to address his concerns about false teachers in the fellowship. The letter focuses on the messages of the false teachers and on the true gospel story.

What Peter wrote in 2 Peter can be summarized in the very last verse of his letter. Everything he wrote built up to the last few verses. Peter wrote that the way to defeat false teachings is to grow in our knowledge of God. It was true in Peter’s time, and it’s true in our times, as well.

When we talk about growing in knowledge, there is a two-fold meaning. One is spending time to learning the facts and truths about God. We do this through Bible study, worship and meditating on the word. We read books about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. There are a number of well-written books by commendable authors that can help us know more about God.

Knowledge also comes in experiencing, though. Israel understood that knowing God was fellowshipping with Him. That meant spending time in prayer and worship, actively following Him as He leads us through His Spirit. As we commit ourselves each day to drawing closer to Him we learn more about Him. We know Him better each day we walk with Him.

It is this dual purpose of knowing that encourages us in our walk with God, and it is what Paul was praying for on behalf of the Colossians. It applies to us today, as well.

Central Truth: Growing in Christ is learning about Him and becoming closer to Him in our relationship with Him.

Growing in knowledge means:

1. We express our hope in the way we live (13-14)

But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him.

When we are anticipating a vacation or going somewhere special, we are eager for the time to arrive. We think about it, we talk about it, we plan. We consider what we will wear. If it’s a vacation, we begin packing prior to the vacation. We make sure we get to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and we take steps to ensure we will be not only ready to leave but also be in good shape for the duration of the vacation or the special event.

Peter knew this about people, and that’s why he spent the time to remind his readers and us that God has planned a wonderful reward for those who remain strong in the true faith. Our faith tells us that God is faithful to keep His promises, and one of the promises is that we will inherit a new heaven and a new earth. John’s report of the revelation he received from God assures of us a new earth that we will inhabit and that Christ Himself will reside with us there. That is one of the reasons Peter refers to our new home as a place of righteousness. It is there where Jesus will reside and with Him those who stay true to Him.

As a result of this promise and our hope, Peter wrote that it must have an effect on our activities here on earth while we wait. God doesn’t call us to go wait on a mountaintop, idly spending our time looking up to the heavens while we wait. Instead, we are expected to live our lives in fellowship with Christ as we listen to and follow the Holy Spirit. When we live according to the Spirit, we will be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Christ. As is his wont, the apostle reminded us that walking with the Spirit is our responsibility. God does not and is not going to make us follow Him. We must choose each day whether we will follow or not. When we choose to follow, we find ourselves growing in Him, becoming more trusting in the Father and His promises made complete in Christ.

Walking with the Spirit, making every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with the Son will inevitably lead us to grow in our knowledge of Christ.

2. We follow Scripture (15-16)

Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

In mystery and fantasy literature, there are always references to secret messages, hidden passages and rare maps, each of which leads the hero or heroine forward in their adventure or in solving the crime. The rest of us prefer plain instructions and directions. While many believe the Bible is the stuff of fantasy and mystery, to those who trust in Christ know it to be plan and direct. At times, the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see a verse in a new way or to gain a deeper understanding of what God is telling us through the written word.

Peter knew we needed Scripture to help us grow in our knowledge of God, both intellectually as well as relationally. In these verses, God led the apostle to cite another apostle, Paul, and his writings to let us know that what Paul wrote carries the same weight as the prophets and other Old Testament writings.

Specifically, Peter wrote that Paul also wrote about the second coming and of how we are to prepare for the day of Jesus’ coming and judgment for all creation. More generally, though, Peter stated that Paul had written the inspired word of God.

As is true of other passages of Scripture, some of what Paul (and Peter and James and John and the other authors of the New Testament) wrote things that were somewhat complicated, complex and requiring deeper awareness and understanding. It isn’t that God is trying to hide things from us, but rather we are not yet spiritually mature enough to grasp the deeper meanings. As we grow in our faith and in our knowledge of God, we become better able to grasp the truths of the Scripture that go beyond the surface and help us to continue to grow.

These difficult passages are used by the false teachers to mislead brothers and sisters in Christ who are still immature in their faith, who are still learning and growing. These false teachers will twist and spin the verses to support their false ideas and insist that their interpretation is the one true interpretation. Peter wrote to warn about such people, reminding the believers of his day and ours that we are to remain faithful to the Bible and grow in our knowledge of the One who inspired so many to write His revelation of Himself.

When we stay true to the message of the Bible, we grow in our knowledge of God.

3. We weed out the lies from the truth (17-18)

Therefore, dear friends, 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. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.

As Peter wrote his letter, he had a confidence in those who were reading it or hearing it. He wanted to encourage them in their faith, and part of that encouragement came through the reassurances that were found in the words that come after “Therefore.” He used a similar phrase at the start of v. 14, and he repeated the idea here. When the apostle wrote those words reminding the readers of what they already knew, he was encouraging them to build on the foundation of their current knowledge and continue to grow in that knowledge.

Here, Peter wanted the readers and us to recognize the false prophets and their false gospel, and stay true to the Christ who saved us and the Spirit that guides us. In contrast to following false teachings, Peter wrote that we are to continue to grow in Christ.

Our knowledge of God, again, comes from our relationship with Him—growing in grace—and in our greater understanding of what we learn about Him through study and reading—growing in knowledge. The focus of our Bible study and our daily following the leading of the Holy Spirit is that we may know Jesus better.

The apostle concluded his letter with the reminder that Jesus is worthy of glory and praise. It was true when Peter wrote it and it is still true today. As we grow in our knowledge, we will allow Him to live through us more and more, and the glory and the honor will go to Him.

Conclusion

Think back to the ways marriages grow. Each marriage started with two people becoming attracted enough to each other to make a first date. As the couple learned initial things about each other in that first date, something led them to want to learn more. So they had a second date. Learning more, they agreed to other dates, and eventually the couple decided they knew enough about each other to realize they wanted to share their lives together. They became engaged, learning and growing, and then they became married. The first anniversary comes, then the fifth, the tenth, the twentieth and on it went as the couple grew closer to each other of the years. Even after all the years, as the couple grew more comfortable with each other, relishing the shared life and the familiarity, there would on occasion be something new that would reveal another part of the life they shared.

That’s the way it is in our relationship with Christ. We came to Him at first because we realized that He was the only source of our salvation, and we turned to Him for forgiveness of our sins. As the Spirit entered into us, though, we began to want to know more about Him. Over time, we have learned more and more, and yet there is always more to learn about Him. Each day we are able to grow in our knowledge of Him if we will spend time with Him and in His word.

Are you taking the time to get to know Christ better? Are you growing in your knowledge of God?