Closing his letter, Part III

Ready to dive in again?

...but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (II Peter 3:18a)

To persevere as a believer, we must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior. If we are on guard against false teachers, we won't be tossed by every wind of doctrine - and we'll be able to grow.
Growth first depends on life:

Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  (John 3:7)

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:4)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (II Corinthians 5:17)

We must be born before we can grow; the Bible confirms to us that we all enter the world spiritually dead. Being a good person is not enough. Only God can give us new life.

Once we have new life, then we can grow. Actually, then we MUST grow! It's not an optional thing; it's a necessity! Like a child on a new bicycle, if we don't keep moving, we will fall off. So, to maintain our steadfastness, we must be growing, and keep growing until the day that we meet Jesus, our Lord. As Paul wrote:

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV)

Don't be fooled....here on earth we will not say, "I've arrived! I'm complete!" That is what we will say in heaven.
Growth is not only not optional, it's also not fast. Growth is gradual. It takes time to mature and develop. The important thing is to be engaged in the process. We may not discern change from day to day, or week to week, but over the long haul, we should be able to look back and see that we love the Lord more now than we did say, five years ago. We should be able to note that we handle things more maturely than we did when we were younger. It should be obvious from our hearts that we are more sensitive to our own sins than we used to be. We should obey the Word  more consistently than we did before. All of these are signs of true growth!

Now, the popular messages of today would tell us that we can become holy in an instant -- we can have a powerful experience with God and instantly be sanctified. That's appealing, just as the annual sweepstakes that are advertised on television are appealing. After all, who wouldn't like the idea of instantly being rich - no working hard or scrimping or saving or cutting coupons.....I'm in! But God's plan for godliness is through discipline, not through luck or miracles. God may bless us with a dramatic spiritual experience - but they don't make us instantly mature. Growth is gradual.

Growth is difficult sometimes. There are many lessons that we learn only by trial and error. Sometimes we fall flat on our faces! We just have to get up and try again. Brush off the dust and spray some stuff on those skinned knees -- and start over! We might even think, "I've got it now! I learned that lesson!" Be careful; that might be when we fall again and the Lord nudges us to say, "You don't quite understand it yet!" But He is compassionate and merciful, and He will help us. (Praise Him for that!)

Peter says (up there in our focus verse) specifically that we need to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior.
Grace.
What an awesome word.
And I mean that in the old-fashioned, reverent, way that means "awe-inspiring."
God saves us by His grace, which is totally undeserved favor. We humans don't "get that" very easily. We are so accustomed to the world revolving around a merit system. We work for good grades when we are young and get into college; we work hard at our job and get promoted; in this system, we get what we deserve. Many of the world's religions (including some that are labeled "Christian") operate on a merit system, too. They are told that they get into heaven based on what they have done. Merit systems reward our work and achievements - so they feed our pride.

Grace, on the other hand, is totally due to God's love and His blessing us when we deserve His wrath. Because of grace, we do not work to earn our way to heaven -- instead, we freely receive all that God has provided for us, through Christ. That way, He gets all the credit, not us and our human pride.

Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. (Romans 4:4-5, NIV)

So, here is where the plow meets the ground: how do we grow in the grace that comes from our Savior? Growing in grace means coming to a greater understanding of God's holiness, His justice, and His sovereignty, and that makes us see more of our own rebellion, pride, and selfishness. It's just the way it works! We will see more and more of how unworthy we are to be blessed by that awe-inspiring grace.
I enjoy reading Charles Spurgeon's sermons; here is an excerpt that is appropriate:

If you, dear friend, would be truly humble, you must look at your Savior, for then you will say, Alas! And did my Savior bleed?  And did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?

You will never feel yourself such a worm as when, by faith, you see your Savior dying for you; you will never know your own nothingness so well as when you see your Savior’s greatness. When you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you will be sure to grow in humility.

Now, we've discussed how to grow in grace....how to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior? I think it's worth looking at the fact that Peter refers to Jesus as "our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" three times in his letter. Perhaps he wanted to impress upon us that we cannot separate Jesus as Savior from Jesus as our Lord. When we trust in Christ to take away our sins, we yield ourselves to all of Christ that we know. Then we begin a new life, one in which we progressively grow in submitting to Christ as we study and pray. We learn more of Who He is, and more of who we are.

Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them. (John 14:21)

Knowledge of Jesus comes from facts about Him in the Scripture, and also from knowing Him personally, and talking with Him every day. We will know Him on a deeper level as we spend time with Him in the Bible and in prayer.

To remain steadfast, to persevere, we must guard ourselves from spiritual errors, and also grow in the grace and the knowledge of Him.
Tomorrow we'll have our conclusion.