I preached this short message on 2 Peter 3:18.
Introduction. The Christian life is compared in the Scripture to physical life. Just as physical life begins at birth, so spiritual life also begins at the spiritual birth. As birth initiates a process of growth and maturing, so spiritual birth begins a process of spiritual growth. God doesn’t save people and make them His children to stay children, but to grow and become mature. And just as food, exercise, learning, and rest are essential for proper physical growth, so there are certain things in the Christian life that are essential as we seek to grow and become more mature.
I’d like us to consider a text tonight in 2 Peter 3:18, which says, “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.”
Here we have the command to grow. It is not something that we are just supposed to let happen, although Scripture does say that it is God who causes the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6–7). Though it is God who causes the growth, that does not eliminate the necessity of certain elements for that growth.
So growth is something we are to pursue. And our text seems to present that growth as being in two areas: (1) growth in grace and (2) growth in knowledge. Most of the time these are presented as spiritual growth and intellectual growth—we need to become more spiritual and become more intelligent in our knowledge of God’s Word. But I think that this creates a false dichotomy that is unwarranted by Scripture. They are not two parallel, separate pursuits. And oftentimes people will even set them against each other, saying that you can either be spiritual or be theologically smart. But Scripture does not set spirituality over against having a knowledge of the Word.
To defend this, I would like to look at the opening verses of the book. Second Peter 1:1–2 says, “Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”
In other words, the pursuit of knowledge and the pursuit of growth in grace are not two separate pursuits. Rather, they are logically related—growth in grace is connected to growth in knowledge. God will increase our experience of His grace as we pursue more and more of the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. Growth in grace is tied directly to knowledge of our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Growth takes place through the Word. First Peter 2:2 says, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation.” Acts 20:32 refers to “the word of His grace.” And Colossians 1:9–12 says, “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
Growth takes place specifically through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 4:15–16 says, “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Colossians 2:19 speaks of “the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.” And Ephesians 2:21 says that in Christ “the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”
Conclusion. We must pursue growth. And we must pursue it by pursuing an increase in knowledge, specifically a knowledge of Jesus Christ and of all that we are and have in Him. This is how we are the greatest recipients of God’s grace and will grow the most.