Spiritual Growth: Possible, Gradual, and Essential (2 Peter 1:3-11)
This sermon guides listeners through Peter's teaching on how believers can experience profound character transformation. It offers a balanced perspective on spiritual growth, emphasizing both divine enablement and personal effort in cultivating a life of love and godliness.
This sermon unpacks 2 Peter 1:3-11, teaching that spiritual growth is possible, gradual, essential, practical, and wonderful. It emphasizes intentional effort through disciplines rooted in remembering Christ's cleansing grace.
Overview
The sermon opens by identifying 2 Peter 1:3-11 as a crucial passage for understanding spiritual growth, stating that Christian life is not mere willpower but organic character change through the Holy Spirit. It introduces five key aspects of spiritual growth: it is possible, gradual, essential, practical, and wonderful.
First, growth is possible because God's divine power gives believers everything needed for a godly life, enabling participation in the divine nature. This implies no excuses for not growing and offers hope for healing and freedom from brokenness. Second, growth is gradual, occurring "in increasing measure," not all at once. The sermon uses metaphors of a baby's development and an acorn slowly breaking concrete to illustrate that sustained effort over time yields profound transformation, contrasting with modern impatience.
Third, growth is essential because a genuine faith, while saving by grace alone, is never a "faith that stays alone"; it inevitably produces a changed life and a desire to please God. Fourth, growth is practical, requiring intentional effort and "investment" through three disciplines: regular time conversing with God (Bible reading, prayer), vulnerability in "sibling friendship" with other believers for mutual exhortation, and submission to God's will in suffering through perseverance.
Finally, spiritual growth is wonderful because it culminates in love, bringing true freedom. The ultimate key to sustaining this growth and these practices is constantly remembering Jesus Christ's costly grace and how His being "forgotten" on the cross ensures God will never forget us.
Key points
- 2 Peter 1:3-11 teaches that spiritual growth is possible, gradual, essential, practical, and wonderful.
- Spiritual growth is possible because God's divine power has given believers everything needed to participate in the divine nature.
- Growth is gradual, occurring "in increasing measure" over time, much like a baby maturing or an acorn growing into an oak.
- Growth is essential because true faith, though by grace alone, is a "working" faith that produces a changed life and confirms one's calling.
- Practical growth requires intentional "investment" through personal effort and specific disciplines.
- Key disciplines include consistent time conversing with God (through His Word and prayer), vulnerability in "sibling friendship" for mutual exhortation, and perseverance through submission to God's will in suffering.
- The capstone of spiritual growth is love, which brings freedom, and the foundation is remembering Christ's cleansing grace from past sins.
In Tim Keller's words
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life.”
“While you're saved by faith alone, you're not saved by a faith that stays alone or that remains alone.”
“If you stay put in suffering, it's going to turn you into something great.”
Outline
- I. Spiritual Growth is Possible (2 Peter 1:3-4)
- A. Verses 3 and 4 radically contradict the assumption that people don't change.
- B. Through the Holy Spirit, the "DNA of God" is implanted in believers.
- C. God's divine power gives everything needed for a godly life, leaving no excuses but offering hope for healing and freedom.
- II. Spiritual Growth is Gradual (2 Peter 1:8)
- A. Growth occurs "in increasing measure," not all at once.
- B. Biblical metaphors for Christian life (e.g., newborn babes) emphasize gradual development.
- C. Long obedience in the same direction, like an acorn destroying concrete, yields astounding possibilities.
- III. Spiritual Growth is Essential (2 Peter 1:10-11)
- A. Believers are called to "confirm your calling and election" through growth.
- B. Salvation is by faith alone, but it's a faith that works and produces a changed life.
- C. True belief in God's costly grace creates an undeniable desire to change.
- IV. Spiritual Growth is Practical (2 Peter 1:5-7)
- A. It requires intentional, deliberate effort; it does not happen automatically.
- B. The word "add" means to "invest," making personal growth a major priority with a price.
- C. Three practical disciplines (prices to pay):
- 1. The Price of Time with God: The Way of Conversing (2 Peter 1:3, 8)
- a. Knowing God is relational, requiring regular, alone time (reading Bible, prayer).
- 2. The Price of Vulnerability to Other People: The Way of Exchange (2 Peter 1:7)
- a. "Mutual affection" (Philadelphia) means sibling friendship and mutual exhortation.
- b. Being vulnerable to others means risking hurt but avoiding a hard heart.
- 3. The Price of Submission to God's Will: The Way of Acceptance in Suffering (2 Peter 1:6)
- a. Perseverance means staying put and continuing God-honoring practices during suffering.
- b. Job's example shows processing pain within prayer and faithful practices.
- c. This pressure transforms one's heart, like coal to a diamond.
- V. Spiritual Growth is Wonderful (2 Peter 1:9)
- A. Growth culminates in love, which is the freedom to find happiness in others' happiness.
- B. The key to sustained growth is constantly remembering cleansing from past sins by Jesus' blood.
- C. Jesus was "forgotten" on the cross so God would never forget us (Isaiah 49:14-16).
- D. Remembering God's kindness and our redemption melts grumpiness and enables perseverance in suffering.
Scripture references
- 2 Peter 1:3
- 2 Peter 1:4
- 2 Peter 1:5
- 2 Peter 1:6
- 2 Peter 1:7
- 2 Peter 1:8
- 2 Peter 1:9
- 2 Peter 1:10
- 2 Peter 1:11
- 1 Peter 2:2
- Hebrews 3:13
- Isaiah 49:14
- Isaiah 49:15
- Isaiah 49:16
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14 But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.
15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Insights
Divine power enables profound character change within the believer.
Genuine spiritual growth is a process, not an instant event.
Faith that truly receives grace will naturally produce good works.
Questions & answers
What does the sermon say about the possibility of spiritual growth?
The sermon affirms that spiritual growth is entirely possible because God's divine power has given believers everything needed for a godly life, enabling them to participate in the divine nature. This means there are no valid excuses for not growing, and profound change, healing, and freedom are accessible.
How does the sermon explain that spiritual growth is gradual?
The sermon highlights that spiritual growth happens "in increasing measure," not instantly. It uses metaphors like a baby's slow development and an acorn gradually breaking concrete to show that consistent, long-term effort leads to significant, transformative change, countering impatience.
Why is spiritual growth considered essential in this sermon?
Growth is essential because, while salvation is by faith alone, a genuine faith never remains isolated. It inevitably produces a changed life, demonstrating a desire to please God and confirming one's calling and election.
What are the three practical disciplines for spiritual growth mentioned in the sermon?
The sermon outlines three disciplines: regular, alone "time with God" for conversing (Bible reading and prayer), cultivating "vulnerability to other people" through sibling friendship and mutual exhortation, and "submission to God's will" in suffering through perseverance.
What is the "way of acceptance" in suffering?
The "way of acceptance" means paying the price of submission to God's will under duress. It involves perseverance—staying put and continuing faithful practices even amidst suffering—which, like coal under pressure, transforms one's heart.
What is the ultimate key to sustaining spiritual growth?
The ultimate key is to constantly remember the costly grace of Jesus Christ, specifically how believers have been cleansed from past sins by His blood. This remembrance fuels a desire to change and provides strength to persevere.
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