Sermon: Increasing – 2 Peter 1:5–11 (8/30/26)
Introduction
Scripture
Turn to 2 Peter 1.
Failure in the Christian Life
From our perspective, the first aspect of the Christian faith is our worship of him.
We have gathered here this morning for the primary purpose of honoring the Lord...
We honor him by singing his praises...
We honor him by studying his word...
And that is right and proper...
If that were all there was to the Christian life, that would be REASON ENOUGH!
But that aspect of the Christian faith is not all there is to it...
We also hope (expect) that God will do something in us...
That God will change us...
That God will strengthen us...
That God will encourage us...
That God will give us a measure of his peace and his joy...
But here is the TRAGEDY of many Christian lives...
For many who gather each week, nothing changes IN them.
For many who gather each week, nothing changes ABOUT them.
They participate in the Christian life but...
They have no more peace than anyone else...
They are just as quick to lose their temper as anyone else...
Their vulnerability to prolonged sadness or debilitating stress is no different than anyone else...
They continue to struggle with selfishness and greed...
They are no more kind, gentle, loving than their peers...
They have no more resilient strength and hope than others...
In our passage today in 2 Peter 1, we will learn why this is too often true...
And we will learn how to change it.
Success in the Christian Life
We learned last week that the Lord has given us everything we need to live and thrive in the Christian life...
That was 2 Peter 1.1–4.
Today, in the next half dozen verses, we will learn some very practical principles that will teach us how to take what the Lord has given us and put it into action...
Last week was about God's provision.
Today is about our response to God's provision.
Today we will learn how the Christian life can be...
Practical, not theoretical...
Growing, not stagnant...
Fruitful, not barren...
None of us wants to look back five years from now and realize that we know more Bible, have heard more sermons, attended more worship services, and yet have become very little more like Christ.
Sneak Peek
Before we jump into all six verses, let's take a sneak peek into what Peter says right in the middle of today's passage...
2 Peter 1.8 | For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (CSB)
Focus on the last part...
Keep you from being useless or unfruitful...
So how do we keep our Christian lives from becoming stagnant and barren?
Peter gives us three principles.
First, let us walk through the verses...
Scripture
2 Peter 1.5 | For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, (CSB)
For this very reason...
What is the reason?
2 Peter 1.3 | His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (CSB)
Riding the waves...
Hoisting the sail...
Make every effort...
Note this is a command, an imperative...
We will come back to this.
Faith... goodness... knowledge...
Peter is going to describe the qualities of Christian character...
Not in a staircase style...
But in a description of a person style...
2 Peter 1.6 | knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, (CSB)
2 Peter 1.7 | godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. (CSB)
2 Peter 1.8 | For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (CSB)
These qualities...
See above...
Possess... in increasing measure...
Key point...
Useless or unfruitful...
Contrast...
Useless (ἀργός) refers to activity.
Unfruitful (ἄκαρπος) refers to results.
Useless...
Matthew 20.3 | When he went out about nine in the morning, he saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing (ἀργός). (CSB)
Fruitless
Jude 12 | These people are dangerous reefs at your love feasts as they eat with you without reverence. They are shepherds who only look after themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by winds; trees in late autumn—fruitless (ἄκαρπος), twice dead and uprooted. (CSB)
What does this look like?
You know a lot about the Bible, but you are not...
Kinder...
More patient...
Less critical...
Less prone to anger...
Less prone to lust...
You attend church, but your temper at home is essentially unchanged.
You hear sermons about forgiveness, but you still nurse the same grudges.
You have been a Christian for years, but the people closest to you would struggle to name ways you have become more like Christ.
You are busy in ministry, but not especially loving.
You worship, but your desires are still largely governed by comfort, status, money, approval, or convenience.
You avoid obvious scandal, but there is little evidence of increasing virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love.
You have learned how to look Christian without continuing to grow Christian.
Thomas Manton says Christians should mourn when their knowledge neither warms their affections nor reforms their conduct.
2 Peter 1.9 | The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. (CSB)
Strong language...
This is fascinating because Peter diagnoses spiritual stagnation as a memory problem.
2 Peter 1.10 | Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. (CSB)
This verse confuses people...
How can I make every effort to confirm something someone else has done (calling and election)?
You will never stumble...
Not, "you will never sin."
He is talking about a stable faith that will persevere...
2 Peter 1.11 | For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you. (CSB)
How to Avoid a Barren Faith
I. Spiritual maturity is not a plateau but a climb.
Look back at verse 8...
2 Peter 1.8 | For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (CSB)
Increasing measure...
Two tests/measurements...
Peter has two tests in verse 8...
Do you possess these things?
If you possess these qualities...
Are these things increasing in you?
In increasing measure...
Here is one of the greatest problems that leads many (most?) Christians to stagnate in their Christian life...
We focus on test 1...
We ignore test 2...
Sanctification...
What is sanctification?
The process by which God changes you and forms the character of Christ in you...
How people imagine sanctification works...
You make a profession of faith...
God changes you...
You try to hold on to faithfulness until you die...
What that leads to...
Frustration...
Frustration that you have not instantly reached some better level...
Self effort and condemnation...
Complacency...
Useless... unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ...
The truth about sanctification...
First, it is driven by the work of the Spirit and the provisions of the Lord.
We learned that last week...
Second, God has designed it such that it is most often...
A slow, gradual, continual change where we are increasingly more Christlike over time...
Where we spend a lifetime pursuing Christlike character and discover his resources, patience, forgiveness, and strength a little more every day...
Notice how the apostle Paul talked about his own sanctification...
Paul's background...
Paul's self-described INCREASING spiritual growth...
Philippians 3.12 | Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. (CSB)
Philippians 3.13 | Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, (CSB)
Philippians 3.14 | I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. (CSB)
Philippians 3.15 | Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you. (CSB)
Look at how Paul explains his attitude about spiritual growth to the Corinthians
1 Corinthians 9.24 | Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize. (CSB)
1 Corinthians 9.26 | So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air.(CSB)
1 Corinthians 9.27 | Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified. (CSB)
Listen to how he instructs others in sanctification...
2 Corinthians 8.7 | Now as you excel in everything—in faith, speech, knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love for us—excel also in this act of grace. (CSB)
Many of you have been Christians for a long time...
And you have plateaued...
You are stagnant water...
You are a barren tree...
Maybe you are frustrated about it...
Or maybe you are not...
And that is the real danger!
Measure your spiritual growth...
Is your faith increasing?
Goodness increasing?
Knowledge increasing?
Self-control increasing?
Endurance increasing?
Godliness increasing?
Brotherly affection increasing?
Love increasing?
II. Remembering the gospel provides energy for the climb.
What is the source of the motivation and energy for the climb?
First, look back at the beginning of our reading today...
2 Peter 1.5 | For this very reason... (CSB)
This goes back to how God has provided all we need to grow and thrive.
Now, look back at verse 9...
2 Peter 1.9 | The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. (CSB)
The problem that leads to stagnant faith is forgetting the cleansing from sins...
The gospel is the key to everything...
The gospel for salvation...
GOSPEL
The gospel for growth...
We should...
Start every day with the gospel...
Approach every decision with the gospel...
Deal with every temptation with the gospel...
Talk with every challenging person with the gospel...
Face every fear with the gospel...
Wrestle with any regrets with the gospel...
Fight any shame with the gospel...
Share the gospel with yourself every day...
The 1866 Katherine Hankey hymn, "I Love to Tell the Story..."
Stanza 1
I love to tell the story
of unseen things above,
of Jesus and His glory,
of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story...
because I know it's true.
it satisfies my longings...
as nothing else can do.
Stanza 4
I love to tell the story,
for those who know it best...
seem hungering and thirsting...
to hear it like the rest.
And when in scenes of glory...
I sing the new, new song,
'twill be the old, old story...
that I have loved so long.
Practice...
2 Peter 1.9 | The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. (CSB)
Prayer...
III. Growing maturity strengthens assurance.
Look back at verse 10...
2 Peter 1.10 | Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. (CSB)
Theology
We get into some theological high weeds in this verse, but this is important.
Let me explain a couple of biblical concepts...
The Security of our Salvation
Once a person is genuinely saved, he never lose that salvation.
Nothing can separate us from the Love of God...
We are adopted into the family of God...
All sins are forgiven...
Look at what Peter himself wrote in 1 Peter...
1 Peter 1.5 | You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (CSB)
What about those who seem to walk away?
1 John 2.19 | They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us. (CSB)
Assurance of Salvation
This sounds like the same thing, but it is not.
Assurance of salvation is our certainty and settled confidence that we are saved from our sins.
You can have security without assurance.
When we are living in outward rebellion against the Lord, we may in fact be saved...
And if we are, our salvation is secure...
But we have no reason to have assurance that we are genuinely saved.
This is why John wrote 1 John...
1 John 5.13 | I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. (CSB)
Now, it is a dangerous thing to live without assurance...
Without assurance, we will have...
No peace...
No confidence...
No strength...
No real joy...
No stability...
The Counsel of Verse 10...
Verse...
2 Peter 1.10 | Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. (CSB)
Confirm your calling and election...
Seek assurance...
Because if you do these things you will never stumble...
Why we should seek assurance...
Make every effort...
Notice "make every effort" matches how things began in verse 5.
2 Peter 1.5 | For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, (CSB)
We must make every effort to grow!!!
Not just self effort...
God has supplied everything we need...
God will blow the wind and make the waves...
Philippians 1.6 | I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (CSB)
But we must hoist the sail and paddle out the board...
What does God promise?
Assurance...
No stumbling!
Conclusion
How?
Recognize you have not arrived...
Do not be satisfied to be a barren fruit tree with impressive leaves...
Remember Paul's words in Philippians 3...
Write this down somewhere...
Coasting is always sin.
Remember...
Confess...
Repent...
Worship...
Embrace the means of grace...
Run through the finish line...
2 Peter 1.11 | For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you. (CSB)