“Time to Grow”
May 7, 2005
2 Peter 3:18
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
Lord willing, this will be our last transitional week before we begin a new series of messages. And I would appreciate your prayers for LeRoy Glover as he prepares to bring the message next weekend and for me as I prepare our next sermon series.
I began last week’s sermon by telling you the story of a street person named Chuck who accosted me for the Gospel one day at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. He wanted to get together with God.
Chuck needed the Gospel like a thirsty man needs water! Have we made any progress this week in our attempts to love the Gospel, pray for the Gospel, and share the Gospel? I hope so. I found myself a few more times this last week being motivated to share the Gospel with others. I hope you have, as well.
Well, just across the plaza from where I talked with Chuck, was a huge stone engraving of 2 Peter 3:18. And whenever I think of this verse, I think about that engraving, larger than a person, on the wall of Culbertson Hall. I used to read it every time I went into and out of my dorm. And it has stuck with me. Something of theme verse for me.
When Kathy Moore was creating our worship banners for this auditorium, she asked me for Scripture texts to include throughout the room. And one of the first ones to jump to my mind was 2 Peter 3:18. It’s right here on the wall behind me. “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
[prayer]
It’s “Time to Grow.”
Our Lord does not want us to stagnate.
Our Lord does not want us to be stunted.
Our Lord does not want us to stay where we are.
He wants us to grow.
It’s Time to Grow.
I’ve mentioned the last few weeks a few of my pastoral concerns for our church. The first was that we learn to humbly and happily give and receive godly counsel. The second was that we grow in gospel boldness. Today, I want to encourage us all to be
growing Christians.
God does not just save us and then leave us where we are.
He loves us right where we are, but He loves us too much to let us stay there.
He wants us to grow. 2 Peter 3:18
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
Notice that this verse starts with a “but.” Most of 2 Peter has been full of warnings against false teachers and false teaching that threatens to unsettle, and if possible, unseat Christians. Chapter 3, for example, has been all about the second coming of Christ and how unbelievers scoff at the idea of Jesus’ return. And Peter has referred again and again to the Holy Scriptures as the way to not get unsettled or unseated because of the false teaching. Verse 17.
“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...”
That is, instead of getting carried away, instead of falling from your secure position, instead of being unsettled and unseated “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
It’s important to grow.
It’s a non-negotiable to grow.
It is not optional to grow.
Without growth we become unsettled and possibly unseated.
It’s time to grow.
Are you a growing Christian?
How do you know?
Well, what are we supposed to grow in?
In what ways are we supposed to grow? Verse 18 again.
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
We are to grow in grace and grow in knowledge.
#1. Grow in Grace.
What does that mean?
Well first, notice that it is the grace...of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is God’s grace given to us in Jesus. It’s Jesus’ grace.
What is grace?
Grace is unmerited favor.
It is not getting what we deserve and getting what we do not deserve.
It is not getting the bad things that we have earned and is getting the good things–that we could never have earned–as a free gift.
That’s grace.
Salvation is a gift of grace.
Paul says, “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Grace is the way that we get into the family of God. It’s the way that we get saved.
If you are saved today, it’s because of God’s free gift of grace.
If you are not yet saved today, God is offering His grace to you to receive by faith.
But grace is not just for us at the beginning of the Christian life. It is the road of the Christian life. It is the path that we walk on.
And we are to grow in it.
We are to grow in grace.
That means to understand the grace more.
It means to appreciate Jesus’ grace more.
It means to rely on Jesus’ grace more.
It means to appropriate more of Jesus’ grace.
It means to grow spiritually because of Jesus’ grace more and more.
Peter has been talking about growth in grace all the way through this letter. I should have started that beginning, but I wanted to get across what is at the end.
But in chapter 1, verse 3, Peter says “[God’s] divine power has given us [That’s grace!] everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. [That’s growth.] For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure [That’s growth!], they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
That describes growth in grace.
Spring time is a great time to talk about growth. Because you see it everywhere around you.
Trees are budding. Flowers are blooming. My grass is growing. I’d like to get around to cutting that, thankfully my father-in-law is coming for at two visit. Maybe he can do something about it!
But growth is all around us.
Are you growing in grace?
Last Mother’s Day, I bought Heather a flowering crab apple tree. It’s a little dinky thing with like a 3 inch trunk. Over the winter, you wonder whether or not it’s going to make it. But there are blooms on it this week, and it is definitely growing.
Those graces in chapter 1 are blooms that show us whether or not we are growing.
Faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love.
Do you have flowers like that growing on you?
“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.”
I’m afraid that many Christians are ineffective and unproductive in their Christian lives.
It’s a major concern of mine that many Christians don’t seem to be growing.
Now, hear me. I’m not saying that you do these things to earn your salvation. No. This is based on grace. It’s growing in grace. The amazing, unmerited favor of the Lord based on nothing worthy inside of me.
But it is not optional.
We need to grow in grace.
Have you made progress in your Christian life?
Are you somewhere different with Jesus than you were a year ago?
Don’t compare yourself with someone else. It’s easy to look at another Christian and either get really proud or really down.
Compare yourself with where you have been and where you need to go–Christlikeness.
Have you made any progress?
Sometimes its leaps and bounds. Sometimes its baby-steps. And sometimes, it’s just still facing the right direction.
But we need to make progress. We need to grow.
Faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love.
By the grace of God, I believe I’ve grown some in godliness these last two months. For my Prayer Class, I had to covenant with my professor to pray a certain amount of time each day from when the class ended to when my paper was turned in.
And getting to this level of prayer has been difficult for me. Especially on very full days–full of ministry and family responsibilities.
But I have grown some in my ability and discipline to pray. I can tell that I have–even though I am far from where I want and need to be.
Are you growing in grace?
Katie Faris had her baby this Thursday on my birthday! 8 lbs, 10oz, 21" long. That’s a pretty big baby. What if Elijah Faris was still 8 lbs, 10 oz, 21" long next May? There would be something wrong wouldn’t there?
Drastically wrong.
Some Christians are like that. They never get past infant stage. Peter calls them “nearsighted and blind and [have] forgotten that [they have] been cleansed from [their] past sins.”
It’s time to grow.
But Peter says, “If you possess these qualities in increasing measure [if you grow!], they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Notice how Peter connects grace with knowledge. He does that at the beginning of the letter and again at the end where we are studying. Chapter 3, verse 18.
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
We are to grow in grace and knowledge.
We are to grow in knowledge.
But this is not just knowledge about something.
It’s knowledge OF something.
Personal acquaintance with the subject.
And the subject here is a person.
This is knowledge of Jesus.
#2. We are to grow in knowledge of Jesus.
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Notice that this is not just information, not just data-gathering about Jesus.
This is a growing knowledge OF Jesus.
This is personal.
Jesus is a person and we are to grow in our knowledge of this person–personally.
Around here, we use the catch-phrase “a love relationship with Jesus Christ.”
That’s what we are to grow in. Knowing Jesus better.
That was Paul’s desire, was it not?
“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8-11).
“[G]row in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Are you growing in your knowledge of Him?
Do you know Him better now than you did a year ago?
Now, you can’t do that without your Bible.
You can’t do that without learning about Jesus in your Bible.
But just learning facts about Jesus in your Bible doesn’t do it either.
You have to meet Jesus over and through your Bible.
“[G]row in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Let’s just take a few minutes and meditate on Jesus’ name and titles here in this verse.
First, notice that He is “our” Jesus.
“[G]row in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
We belong to Him. He is ours. Not that we own Him, but that we are owned by Him.
We belong to Jesus.
And belong to Him together. He’s not just “my” Lord and Savior.
He’s “our” Lord and Savior.
There is a community aspect to growth in grace and knowledge.
We grow together!
Are you linked with other Christians to grow together?
Some people think that they can be “Lone Ranger Christians” who do spiritual growth without community, without fellowship, without the rest of the Body. But the Bible doesn’t recognize anything like that.
We need each other. That’s why we have created ministries like Sunday School, Prayer Meeting, and Link Groups.
We grow together. Because He’s “our” Savior. Yes, He’s “my” Savior. But He’s not just mine. He’s “ours.”
Are you growing together with others in community?
Second, notice that He is called “Lord” here. “[G]row in the grace and knowledge of our Lord...”
Lord means Master.
It means King.
It means Sovereign.
It means Boss.
It means that He is in control and in charge.
Whatever He says goes.
And His Lordship is not to be divorced from His Saviorhood.
Sometimes, we get to thinking that we can just be saved by Jesus and then live any old way we want.
But He is not just our Savior. He is our Lord. He’s in charge.
We need to do things, His way.
I’ve noticed in 8 years of pastoral counseling, that most problems in people’s lives (and also my own) come down to a failure in Lordship. A failure to recognize and submit our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
He says one thing and we disagree and we go our own way.
And there is only danger in that direction.
We teach our children, “With obedience comes blessing, but with disobedience comes danger.”
Jesus said in Luke 6:46, "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?” The very definition of following Jesus as Lord is doing what He says.
Are you growing in your knowledge of Jesus AS LORD?
Or are there areas of your life that remain un-submitted to the Lordship of Christ?
But, third, He is not just Lord. He is also Savior. V.18 again.
“[G]row in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Jesus is our Savior.
He is our Rescuer.
He is our Redeemer.
We need to grow in our knowledge of His saving work.
That’s more of what we talked about last week in not moving from the Gospel and growing deeper in love with the Gospel.
It’s knowing the Savior and knowing better what He has accomplished on our behalf.
I make no apologies for making the Main Thing the Main Thing again and again. If you are tired about hearing about the Cross and the glorious Gospel of grace, then you are in the wrong church with the wrong pastor.
We can’t talk about it enough. Certainly, we need to talk about it in new and fresh ways and see how it applies to every single thing in the world, but we need to be Cross-Centered.
We need to grow in our knowledge of Jesus as Savior.
That’s one of the chief reasons why we eat and drink at the Lord’s Table.
We are reminding ourselves of Jesus’ great rescuing sacrifice.
And we take this time to commune with Him and thank Him for what He did for us–the victory He gained on that Cross. We commune with Him as Savior. That’s why this is called “Communion.”
God uses the Table in our lives to grow us in our knowledge of Jesus as Savior.
That’s what His name “Jesus” means. #4.
The angel that came to Joseph in Matthew chapter 1 said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
The name “Yeshua” means “God saves.”
And that’s what Jesus was doing on that Cross.
He was saving!
Are you growing in your knowledge of Jesus as Savior?
Are you trusting Him more?
That’s what I think of when I see that name, “Christ.” #5.
“[G]row in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
“Christ” is the Greek word for the Hebrew word “Messiah.”
It means “anointed one” and it refers to the great deliverer promised in the Old Testament.
Jesus’ coming as the Christ was the fulfillment of all of God’s great Old Testament promises.
Paul says that every promise that God has ever made is “Yes in Christ.”
When we see that word Christ, we should think “Promise Kept.”
And we should trust Him all the more.
Are we growing in our knowledge of Jesus as the great PromiseKeeper?
What specific promises of Scripture are you using right now to grow in?
I’ve begun working on James 4:8. “Come near to God, and He will come near to you.” I need to remind myself of that as I go to prayer.
“Come near to God, and He will come near to you.”
What specific promises of Scripture are you using right now to grow in?
Paul says “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ.”
Are you growing in your knowledge of Jesus as Christ?
Notice where all of this growth leads. It leads to glory.
And not glory for ourselves that we have done so much growing.
No, growth in grace always leads to glory for God. Because it is grace that is accomplishing all the hard work. V.18
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
That’s the end goal of all of our growth in grace and knowledge–that God would be glorified.
That’s why our purpose statement says we exist to glorify God by bringing people into a love relationship with Jesus Christ.
We exist to help people grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.
So are you growing?
It starts by putting your trust in Jesus as your Savior and Lord and becoming a Christian.
You can’t grow if you haven’t started a new life.
And the One who poured out His life for sinners like you and me invites you to trust in Him and what He did on your behalf on the Cross.
He invites you put yourself in His hands and be saved from your sins.
And if you are a Christian, He calls you to grow.
It’s time to grow.
We can’t be complacent, infant Christians, no different now than when we first came to Christ.
It’s time to grow.
It’s time to grow in grace.
Knowing better the unmerited favor of Jesus.
Understanding His grace.
Appreciating His grace
Relying on His grace.
Appropriating His grace.
Growing spiritually because of Jesus’ grace more and more and more.
Faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love.
And growing our knowledge of Jesus.
Together (our), Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
It’s time to grow.
“To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
May 7, 2005
2 Peter 3:18
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
Lord willing, this will be our last transitional week before we begin a new series of messages. And I would appreciate your prayers for LeRoy Glover as he prepares to bring the message next weekend and for me as I prepare our next sermon series.
I began last week’s sermon by telling you the story of a street person named Chuck who accosted me for the Gospel one day at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. He wanted to get together with God.
Chuck needed the Gospel like a thirsty man needs water! Have we made any progress this week in our attempts to love the Gospel, pray for the Gospel, and share the Gospel? I hope so. I found myself a few more times this last week being motivated to share the Gospel with others. I hope you have, as well.
Well, just across the plaza from where I talked with Chuck, was a huge stone engraving of 2 Peter 3:18. And whenever I think of this verse, I think about that engraving, larger than a person, on the wall of Culbertson Hall. I used to read it every time I went into and out of my dorm. And it has stuck with me. Something of theme verse for me.
When Kathy Moore was creating our worship banners for this auditorium, she asked me for Scripture texts to include throughout the room. And one of the first ones to jump to my mind was 2 Peter 3:18. It’s right here on the wall behind me. “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
[prayer]
It’s “Time to Grow.”
Our Lord does not want us to stagnate.
Our Lord does not want us to be stunted.
Our Lord does not want us to stay where we are.
He wants us to grow.
It’s Time to Grow.
I’ve mentioned the last few weeks a few of my pastoral concerns for our church. The first was that we learn to humbly and happily give and receive godly counsel. The second was that we grow in gospel boldness. Today, I want to encourage us all to be
growing Christians.
God does not just save us and then leave us where we are.
He loves us right where we are, but He loves us too much to let us stay there.
He wants us to grow. 2 Peter 3:18
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
Notice that this verse starts with a “but.” Most of 2 Peter has been full of warnings against false teachers and false teaching that threatens to unsettle, and if possible, unseat Christians. Chapter 3, for example, has been all about the second coming of Christ and how unbelievers scoff at the idea of Jesus’ return. And Peter has referred again and again to the Holy Scriptures as the way to not get unsettled or unseated because of the false teaching. Verse 17.
“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...”
That is, instead of getting carried away, instead of falling from your secure position, instead of being unsettled and unseated “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
It’s important to grow.
It’s a non-negotiable to grow.
It is not optional to grow.
Without growth we become unsettled and possibly unseated.
It’s time to grow.
Are you a growing Christian?
How do you know?
Well, what are we supposed to grow in?
In what ways are we supposed to grow? Verse 18 again.
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
We are to grow in grace and grow in knowledge.
#1. Grow in Grace.
What does that mean?
Well first, notice that it is the grace...of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is God’s grace given to us in Jesus. It’s Jesus’ grace.
What is grace?
Grace is unmerited favor.
It is not getting what we deserve and getting what we do not deserve.
It is not getting the bad things that we have earned and is getting the good things–that we could never have earned–as a free gift.
That’s grace.
Salvation is a gift of grace.
Paul says, “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Grace is the way that we get into the family of God. It’s the way that we get saved.
If you are saved today, it’s because of God’s free gift of grace.
If you are not yet saved today, God is offering His grace to you to receive by faith.
But grace is not just for us at the beginning of the Christian life. It is the road of the Christian life. It is the path that we walk on.
And we are to grow in it.
We are to grow in grace.
That means to understand the grace more.
It means to appreciate Jesus’ grace more.
It means to rely on Jesus’ grace more.
It means to appropriate more of Jesus’ grace.
It means to grow spiritually because of Jesus’ grace more and more.
Peter has been talking about growth in grace all the way through this letter. I should have started that beginning, but I wanted to get across what is at the end.
But in chapter 1, verse 3, Peter says “[God’s] divine power has given us [That’s grace!] everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. [That’s growth.] For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure [That’s growth!], they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
That describes growth in grace.
Spring time is a great time to talk about growth. Because you see it everywhere around you.
Trees are budding. Flowers are blooming. My grass is growing. I’d like to get around to cutting that, thankfully my father-in-law is coming for at two visit. Maybe he can do something about it!
But growth is all around us.
Are you growing in grace?
Last Mother’s Day, I bought Heather a flowering crab apple tree. It’s a little dinky thing with like a 3 inch trunk. Over the winter, you wonder whether or not it’s going to make it. But there are blooms on it this week, and it is definitely growing.
Those graces in chapter 1 are blooms that show us whether or not we are growing.
Faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love.
Do you have flowers like that growing on you?
“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.”
I’m afraid that many Christians are ineffective and unproductive in their Christian lives.
It’s a major concern of mine that many Christians don’t seem to be growing.
Now, hear me. I’m not saying that you do these things to earn your salvation. No. This is based on grace. It’s growing in grace. The amazing, unmerited favor of the Lord based on nothing worthy inside of me.
But it is not optional.
We need to grow in grace.
Have you made progress in your Christian life?
Are you somewhere different with Jesus than you were a year ago?
Don’t compare yourself with someone else. It’s easy to look at another Christian and either get really proud or really down.
Compare yourself with where you have been and where you need to go–Christlikeness.
Have you made any progress?
Sometimes its leaps and bounds. Sometimes its baby-steps. And sometimes, it’s just still facing the right direction.
But we need to make progress. We need to grow.
Faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love.
By the grace of God, I believe I’ve grown some in godliness these last two months. For my Prayer Class, I had to covenant with my professor to pray a certain amount of time each day from when the class ended to when my paper was turned in.
And getting to this level of prayer has been difficult for me. Especially on very full days–full of ministry and family responsibilities.
But I have grown some in my ability and discipline to pray. I can tell that I have–even though I am far from where I want and need to be.
Are you growing in grace?
Katie Faris had her baby this Thursday on my birthday! 8 lbs, 10oz, 21" long. That’s a pretty big baby. What if Elijah Faris was still 8 lbs, 10 oz, 21" long next May? There would be something wrong wouldn’t there?
Drastically wrong.
Some Christians are like that. They never get past infant stage. Peter calls them “nearsighted and blind and [have] forgotten that [they have] been cleansed from [their] past sins.”
It’s time to grow.
But Peter says, “If you possess these qualities in increasing measure [if you grow!], they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Notice how Peter connects grace with knowledge. He does that at the beginning of the letter and again at the end where we are studying. Chapter 3, verse 18.
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
We are to grow in grace and knowledge.
We are to grow in knowledge.
But this is not just knowledge about something.
It’s knowledge OF something.
Personal acquaintance with the subject.
And the subject here is a person.
This is knowledge of Jesus.
#2. We are to grow in knowledge of Jesus.
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Notice that this is not just information, not just data-gathering about Jesus.
This is a growing knowledge OF Jesus.
This is personal.
Jesus is a person and we are to grow in our knowledge of this person–personally.
Around here, we use the catch-phrase “a love relationship with Jesus Christ.”
That’s what we are to grow in. Knowing Jesus better.
That was Paul’s desire, was it not?
“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8-11).
“[G]row in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Are you growing in your knowledge of Him?
Do you know Him better now than you did a year ago?
Now, you can’t do that without your Bible.
You can’t do that without learning about Jesus in your Bible.
But just learning facts about Jesus in your Bible doesn’t do it either.
You have to meet Jesus over and through your Bible.
“[G]row in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Let’s just take a few minutes and meditate on Jesus’ name and titles here in this verse.
First, notice that He is “our” Jesus.
“[G]row in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
We belong to Him. He is ours. Not that we own Him, but that we are owned by Him.
We belong to Jesus.
And belong to Him together. He’s not just “my” Lord and Savior.
He’s “our” Lord and Savior.
There is a community aspect to growth in grace and knowledge.
We grow together!
Are you linked with other Christians to grow together?
Some people think that they can be “Lone Ranger Christians” who do spiritual growth without community, without fellowship, without the rest of the Body. But the Bible doesn’t recognize anything like that.
We need each other. That’s why we have created ministries like Sunday School, Prayer Meeting, and Link Groups.
We grow together. Because He’s “our” Savior. Yes, He’s “my” Savior. But He’s not just mine. He’s “ours.”
Are you growing together with others in community?
Second, notice that He is called “Lord” here. “[G]row in the grace and knowledge of our Lord...”
Lord means Master.
It means King.
It means Sovereign.
It means Boss.
It means that He is in control and in charge.
Whatever He says goes.
And His Lordship is not to be divorced from His Saviorhood.
Sometimes, we get to thinking that we can just be saved by Jesus and then live any old way we want.
But He is not just our Savior. He is our Lord. He’s in charge.
We need to do things, His way.
I’ve noticed in 8 years of pastoral counseling, that most problems in people’s lives (and also my own) come down to a failure in Lordship. A failure to recognize and submit our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
He says one thing and we disagree and we go our own way.
And there is only danger in that direction.
We teach our children, “With obedience comes blessing, but with disobedience comes danger.”
Jesus said in Luke 6:46, "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?” The very definition of following Jesus as Lord is doing what He says.
Are you growing in your knowledge of Jesus AS LORD?
Or are there areas of your life that remain un-submitted to the Lordship of Christ?
But, third, He is not just Lord. He is also Savior. V.18 again.
“[G]row in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Jesus is our Savior.
He is our Rescuer.
He is our Redeemer.
We need to grow in our knowledge of His saving work.
That’s more of what we talked about last week in not moving from the Gospel and growing deeper in love with the Gospel.
It’s knowing the Savior and knowing better what He has accomplished on our behalf.
I make no apologies for making the Main Thing the Main Thing again and again. If you are tired about hearing about the Cross and the glorious Gospel of grace, then you are in the wrong church with the wrong pastor.
We can’t talk about it enough. Certainly, we need to talk about it in new and fresh ways and see how it applies to every single thing in the world, but we need to be Cross-Centered.
We need to grow in our knowledge of Jesus as Savior.
That’s one of the chief reasons why we eat and drink at the Lord’s Table.
We are reminding ourselves of Jesus’ great rescuing sacrifice.
And we take this time to commune with Him and thank Him for what He did for us–the victory He gained on that Cross. We commune with Him as Savior. That’s why this is called “Communion.”
God uses the Table in our lives to grow us in our knowledge of Jesus as Savior.
That’s what His name “Jesus” means. #4.
The angel that came to Joseph in Matthew chapter 1 said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
The name “Yeshua” means “God saves.”
And that’s what Jesus was doing on that Cross.
He was saving!
Are you growing in your knowledge of Jesus as Savior?
Are you trusting Him more?
That’s what I think of when I see that name, “Christ.” #5.
“[G]row in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
“Christ” is the Greek word for the Hebrew word “Messiah.”
It means “anointed one” and it refers to the great deliverer promised in the Old Testament.
Jesus’ coming as the Christ was the fulfillment of all of God’s great Old Testament promises.
Paul says that every promise that God has ever made is “Yes in Christ.”
When we see that word Christ, we should think “Promise Kept.”
And we should trust Him all the more.
Are we growing in our knowledge of Jesus as the great PromiseKeeper?
What specific promises of Scripture are you using right now to grow in?
I’ve begun working on James 4:8. “Come near to God, and He will come near to you.” I need to remind myself of that as I go to prayer.
“Come near to God, and He will come near to you.”
What specific promises of Scripture are you using right now to grow in?
Paul says “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ.”
Are you growing in your knowledge of Jesus as Christ?
Notice where all of this growth leads. It leads to glory.
And not glory for ourselves that we have done so much growing.
No, growth in grace always leads to glory for God. Because it is grace that is accomplishing all the hard work. V.18
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
That’s the end goal of all of our growth in grace and knowledge–that God would be glorified.
That’s why our purpose statement says we exist to glorify God by bringing people into a love relationship with Jesus Christ.
We exist to help people grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.
So are you growing?
It starts by putting your trust in Jesus as your Savior and Lord and becoming a Christian.
You can’t grow if you haven’t started a new life.
And the One who poured out His life for sinners like you and me invites you to trust in Him and what He did on your behalf on the Cross.
He invites you put yourself in His hands and be saved from your sins.
And if you are a Christian, He calls you to grow.
It’s time to grow.
We can’t be complacent, infant Christians, no different now than when we first came to Christ.
It’s time to grow.
It’s time to grow in grace.
Knowing better the unmerited favor of Jesus.
Understanding His grace.
Appreciating His grace
Relying on His grace.
Appropriating His grace.
Growing spiritually because of Jesus’ grace more and more and more.
Faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love.
And growing our knowledge of Jesus.
Together (our), Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
It’s time to grow.
“To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
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