…in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Summary: There is knowledge, and there is knowledge. The kind of knowledge Peter is talking about is precise and detailed.
Do you know how to drive a car? Most of us do. But how well can you drive?
A television show I used to watch was about three British car buffs who landed their own TV series. They each worked a day job as a writer. They all wrote about cars. New cars, old cars, in between cars. It didn’t matter. They all loved cars.
The thing was that they were just a bunch of guys who liked cars. They have driven more types of cars than you or I have, and they had a test track where they could drive as crazy as they wanted, but that did not mean that they knew how to drive well.
In one episode, they made a bet with a retired race car driver that he couldn’t train one of them to take ten seconds off his fastest time around a racetrack in a formula one car. They volunteered the klutziest one of the three to be the guinea pig, and the hilarity began.
Throughout the episode, the veteran driver coached the klutzy TV host through a day of driving. By the end of the show, he had won his bet. The klutzy driver had improved his time around the track.
To do that, he had to gain a deeper knowledge of how to drive. How he approached the corners was critical. When he accelerated out of the corner was equally important. His knowledge of driving had to go from ordinary to the beginnings of being professional.
This is the knowledge that Peter is talking about as he finishes this passage. It is one thing to know Jesus as your savior. It is another to have a precise and correct knowledge of who our Lord is and what he wants us to be doing.
Instead of coaching us around a racetrack, Peter is coaching us through something much more important: life. Add to your faith goodness. Add to that knowledge. Then add self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and finally, love. Not just any love, but a God-like agapē love.
Zoom! Now you are moving.
Application: Take Peter’s coaching to heart.
Food for Thought: How does following Peter’s coaching help us become more knowledgeable about Jesus?
If we obey what Peter says, we are operating in God’s will. I see it not just as following Peter’s coaching, but being obedient to our Lord (2 Timothy 3: 16 – 17; 2 Peter 1: 20 – 21; James1: 22)
Well, yes … there is that. 🙂
You make a great point, Rich. The Word of God is uniquely consistent and unified. I suppose if you get right down to it there is really only one command, “Love God above all else and your neighbor as yourself.” (Jeff’s Paraphrase! Matthew 22:37-40)
09-22-2021, 2 Peter 1:8d, How does following Peter’s coaching help us become more knowledgeable about Jesus?
Christian maturity requires a total restructuring of our priorities, changing over from pleasing self to pleasing God as we learn to obey God. The key to maturing is consistently doing those things we know will bring us closer to God, developing spiritual disciplines through Bible reading, study, application, prayer, fellowship, service, and stewardship. These are only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit within us. We are to walk in and by the power of the Spirit. Begin the process of living in the Spirit, being guided by the Spirit rather than our flesh. Being filled with the Spirit means we choose to walk under the Spirit’s control. We will see an increase in the fruit of the Spirit in our lives as we mature spiritually and submit more and more to the Spirit’s control. Galatians 5:16, 5:22-23.
When we accept Christ, we are given all we need for spiritual maturity. God is our resource, and all growth comes by grace through Him, and received by acts of obedience.
Peter wrote… For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 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” 2 Peter 1:3, 1:5-8.
Being effective, fruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus is the sign of our spiritual maturity, and becomes visible to the world around us as Jesus Christ is seen ministering through us, not by our power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit in us.
Galatians 2:20—“It is Christ who lives in me” “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.”
Ron,
Thank you. Well said! I appreciate the reminder that our journey here on earth is one that draws us closer to Jesus. Spiritual maturity is the measure of getting closer to our Lord.
Happy Wednesday y’all
Thanks JRM!
It’s been said that knowledge is power,..but knowledge is useless unless it’s applied,..
Today while out on an estimate as the customer and I were talking I noticed a fig tree and told the lady it would have to be cut back a bit for the gate to be able to go in,..she said that she hates figs,..I looked at her and said,..well it’s no wonder why Jesus cursed the tree on His way out of town,..she said I didn’t know that He cursed a fig tree,..that opened the gospel wide up for me to share with her about Jesus words having power and that He gave us that same power,..I told her that’s why we need our words to be encouraging and uplifting instead of bringing and breaking others down,..
So if I had no knowledge of what our Lord Jesus did for us then I wouldn’t have been able to apply the good news into the conversation,..the Holy Spirit moves is some of the most unusual ways,..I am certainly joyful to be able to share the knowledge that has been imputed within me,..there are days when I feel a brush up from the back of my head giving me tingles because of the conversation,..that’s when I feel that God has brushed His hand up the back of my head,..like a pat on the back in a gesture of saying,..good job my child,..good job,..today was one of those days,..
John,
Awesome story! Thank you for sharing. 🙂