20230101 Grow in Grace 2023
Grow in Grace 2023 • Sermon • Submitted
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Our message this morning finishes in 2 Corinthians 11 but I would like us to begin in 2 Peter 3 -
The purpose of the message is to remind you that the grace of Jesus is not just a saving grace, it is a sustaining grace, a grace that keeps us secure and safe, a grace that produces peace and stability. a grace that strengthens us in our struggles.
For my 27 years as a senior pastor I have begun with this admonition from 2 Peter 3:18
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
I would like us to begin our scripture reading at verse 13 of chapter 3
13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
v13,14- righteousness does not dwell in this world. We are to patiently wait until the return of Christ. We are to be found by Jesus to be holy and to be at peace.
This is the what, but how?
15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
v15,16 - you be patient because the Lord is patient - watch out for those who distort the truth
v 17 - be on your guard against error so that you do not fall, you are not carried away, you do not lose your stability
Peter has written in chapter 1 that we are to confirm our calling and election. What he is saying is that for those who are called, for those who are unconditionally elected there is the need to add to our faith the divine qualities of virtue and knowledge and self-control and steadfastness and godliness and brotherly affection and love. Doing this will keep you in verse 8
8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
Let’s go back to 2 Peter 3:17
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
The elect are secure in their eternal salvation but the word stability, stayrizo, refers to a state of security and safety, a place of safety, a position of safety, a state of firm inner strength, steadfastness
How many believers do you know that have walk with the Lord for years, even decades, but their faith is tenuous at times, their doubts are overwhelming, the struggles they face and the situations they find themselves in overwhelm them with uncertainty?
verses 13-14 give us the what - be patient and at peace, but not the how
verses 15-17 give us the why, we are in danger of living in a state of uncertainty and doubt instead of a state of security and safety, a state of firm, inner strength.
Which would you rather have?
But verse 17 does not give us the how
The HOW is given in verse 18
18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
The protection from falling, the path to patience and peace, the way to a state of firm inner strength is given in one word
GROW, the word is auxano, means to increase, to spread, to extend, to grow. In col 2:10 we are to grow in our full knowledge of God.
IN 2 Peter 3:18 we are to grow in our knowledge of Christ and grow in the grace of Christ, to have a fuller understanding of grace.
This means that we moved beyond grace as simply the means of being saved. It is the means be which we live, it is the means by which we endure, it is the means by which we keep from falling into despair, and discouragement, and doubt.
“Knowledge of Christ and knowledge about Christ are, if they keep pace with one another, both the safeguard against heresy and apostasy and also the means of growth in grace.” - Kistemaker
If we are to grow in grace we must understand that the grace of Christ is not just a saving grace, it is a sustaining grace.
And we see this most powerfully in 2 Cor 12 -
Turn in your bibles:
1 I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 3 And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 5 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— 6 though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. 7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Paul knows that pride can cause a man to fall and Peter has just warned us of the danger of falling.
Paul now addresses the role of grace and in this passage we see that grace is the true source of spiritual stability and strength.
Paul tells us of his incredible revelation of being in the presence of Christ
Paul tells us of a thorn, and he does not specifically tell us what the thorn is so that all of us might apply his words to those things which are in our lives.
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions and hardships, for the sake of Christ, for when I am weak, then I am strong.
I am content for the sake of Christ, because even though I am weak, I am actually strong in Christ.
In closing, I have two thoughts on this so that we might be able to see the implications of these passages:
Charles Spurgeon. a pastor in the late 1800’s, considered the greatest preacher of all time, on how everything in life happens for a reason:
“Nothing in this world happens by chance. The medicine you have to drink [in this life] is very bitter, but the unerring Physician measured all the ingredients drop by drop, and then mixed them in the very way in which they could best work for your highest good. Nothing in this world happens by chance. That great God -- who sits upon the heavens, to whom all things that he hath made are but as the small dust of the balance, who makes the clouds his chariot, and rides upon the wings of the wind – that same God cares for you with such special care that he has even numbered the very hairs of your head, and put your tears in his bottle. You may therefore rest assured that even those experiences which are causing you so much sorrow are all in accordance with his eternal counsel and decree."
The medicine is bitter but it was done for our highest good.
Second, Samuel Rutherford c. 1600 – 29 March 1661) was a Scottish Presbyterian pastor and theologian. Concerning the sufferings and struggles of the Christian life, he did not refer to them as the valley of the shadow death from Psalm 23. He instead referred to these moments in the believer’s of life as being in the Cellar of Affliction.
And this is what he said:
"The secret formula of the saints: When in the cellar of affliction, I look for the Lord's choicest wines." - Samuel Rutherford