“Be Diligent to Pursue Knowledge”
2 Peter 1:5
INTRODUCTION What is the Meaning of 2 Peter 1.5 Part 2 Knowledge
What changes a person’s life? When someone says, “It changed my life” what do people most often claim did change their life? One writer wrote this…
“Although a small minority of people might mention something that [changed their life] in therapy, or a classroom, or formal learning experience, the vast majority of cases occurred after recovering from a challenging or even traumatic event—the death of a loved one, a major failure or disappointment, a crisis or catastrophe, a relationship or job ending, a threatening illness” or an injury.
There is something in difficulties, like death of a loved one, a failure, crisis, relationship crisis, or an illness that can change your life.
But the question is …. what happens exactly in those moments? Why do those events actually change people…
I would argue this morning that people become bolder to change, and there is a deep-seated knowledge even as a lost person, that changes them. They think about that failure and never want that again. A job ends and they make bold decision to set out on a new, adventurous path. Death of a loved one can change someone’s life for the better; almost dying could really wake a young person up.
Either way, it’s experiential knowledge that brings real change in people’s lives. That’s the way God made us.
Almost dying would bring real experiential knowledge of how temporal you are. Deep seated knowledge changes people.
And that’s what Peter is driving at in verse 5 when he says …
2 Peter 1:5 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
READ just v. 5 and verse 11. … adding these qualities in vv. 5-7
2 Peter 1:11 11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
Here’s what we’re talking about … POINT: Experiential knowledge of Christ will change you to be like Christ and to ensure that you have an abundant entrance into the kingdom.
Application is this…Cultivate your heart for knowledge.
SALVAtion: every Christian has some knowledge of God and has been changed to some extent into His likeness. Everyone who has committed to Christ and to following Christ whom God has rescued from the wrath to come, has some likeness to Christ. But we need to be diligent to supply knowledge in order to be more conformed to His image.
REVIEW
So the series is on Ensuring an Abundant Entrance into Christ’s Kingdom
to have that abundant entrance, we need to practice vv. 5-7.
Somebody, “But I don’t have everything I need to practice those things so I can have an abundant entrance.”
No, you do…v.3…v.4
1. Promises
2. Partaker of God’s nature
3. Escaped perversion
Everything you need! No excuses!
And so last time, we studied some of verse 5…
B/c we have everything we need, apply diligence.
Work hard….
ASK: Btw, what kinds of things is it easiest to work hard at?
But in this passage, we’re to work at … supplying.
-Remember that word has to do with supplying money to a theatre so others do the acting.
-Or, we thought of it like gardening. We cultivate the ground so that the ground produces the vegetables.
-Similar way, we’re to cultivate the ground of our hearts through repentance, praying, Bible reading, Christian fellowship, etc., so that God can produce that fruit in us.
And so we need to cultivate the soil of our hearts so that in turn God produces in us moral excellence.
And moral excellence we discovered, was fulfilling our purpose. We by God’s grace need to be diligent to fulfill our purpose in life of becoming more like Jesus. Let’s be diligent to seek that out and to focus our lives to be more like Jesus.
TRANS: That naturally leads to knowledge. Cultivating our lives to be pursue the excellence of Christ-likeness naturally leads to knowledge, or informing the heart about Christ.
ILL: Let me illustrate that…. Last time I told you that growing up, I wanted to be like Mike.
ASK: If you believed your purpose in life was to be more like Michael Jordan, what would you do?
ANS: study everything about him, i.e., get knowledge! Inform the heart on who He is.
POINT: Experiential knowledge of Christ will change you to be like Christ and to ensure that you have an abundant entrance into the kingdom. Be diligent to supply it to your purpose of being like Christ.
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What knowledge is
ASK Kids: What are ways you get knowledge?
Knowledge occurs a lot in this book: 2 Pet. 1:2-3, 5-6, 8, 12, 14, 16, 20; 2:9, 12, 20-21; 3:3, 17-18. Several things in Peter’s letter that you need to know in order to be more like Jesus.
POINT: Experiential knowledge of Christ will change you and help ensure an abundant entrance into His kingdom.
Knowledge is this: Personal, experiential, and life-changing understanding of Christ.
Peter emphasizes knowledge. Could think of it like this: starts with head knowledge, reaches the heart and changes the life. And it takes the Scripture.
TRANS: Get it! So what do we have to do? Peter says to supply to your pursuit of Christ likeness, knowledge…like changing knowledge. How do we do that?
[turn to some verses]
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Cultivating your heart for knowledge
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Starts with fear of the Lord,
Without the fear of the Lord, no life changing knowledge and wisdom.
Takes being afraid of disobeying God, reverencing Him. Without salvation, no real life changing knowledge in God’s sight. And there’s no promise for those who
TRANS: Once a person is a true Christian,
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Continues with a whole-hearted pursuit of wisdom/knowledge (Prov. 2:1ff; 4:7)
TRANS: ASK kids, where find wisdom? Bible!
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Results in diligence in His Word (Josh. 1:8; Dt. 6:6-9; Ps. 119:11)
ASK about Ps. 119:11…What would you do if you really treasured something?
ILL: I watched this cartoon about these cartoon ducks and this one duck was really rich, gold coins in a multi-story vault. And he would swim in his money. He loved money.
If we love the word of God and love knowledge of Christ, we’ll grow to digest large amounts of Scripture.
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Finalizes in obedience and conformity to the Word of God (James 1:22-25)
!!Many PhD’s in theology commit adultery. Why? They don’t have a real, intimate, glorious understanding of the majesty and goodness of God! They have viewed the minutia of the word of God as simply facts to be gained and only as information to be absorbed. It starts there, but with Christ followers that knowledge of God is life changing, and it causes a conformity to Christ and the Word of God. A believer will cultivate his heart to receive that truth and be changed by it. That diligence will even come out in a service like this.
ASK: What are ways we can get a life changing exposure to the word of God?
ILL: Get clever on Scripture memory. This year I’ve started doing an exercise and I memorize scripture during that time by listening to a passage over and over again.
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CONCLUSION What is the Meaning of 2 Peter 1.5 Part 2 Knowledge
Necessary b/c we’re born foolish:
Proverbs 22:15 15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.
We’re not naturally on the course to an abundant entrance into the kingdom.
So if you want an abundant entrance, apply diligence. I trust you’ve prayed some about cultivating in your life God’s purpose for you from last week.
Some need to repent of rejecting knowledge of God because they say it’s all about heart knowledge not head knowledge. But you can’t have heart knowledge with out head knowledge! A hunger soul will eat much.
Some need to repent of laziness in the word.
A scripturally hungry soul will digest Scripture and take that extra step and seek to become conformed by it.
God will give us grace; in fact, He’s already given us everything we need to live a godly life!
POINT: Experiential knowledge of Christ will change you and help ensure an abundant entrance into His kingdom.