I had a wonderful time discussing 2 Peter 1:3-13 during my one on one sessions with the guys under me in the cell group, and my co-cell leader. It's amazing how such a few verses can bring out such rich revelation from the Lord. Here are some of the things I was able to discuss with the guys...His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness...
+ All that we need for our physical life and spiritual life has been given by God. Everything. There is no lack.
...through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness...
+ Our availment of all the things God gave to us for life and godliness is limited by how much we know Him. If we only have a 10% knowledge of God, we can only avail of that much of the things He has given us. We are limited in how much we received from God by what we know of Him. If we don't know Him as Jehovah Rophe, our Healer, we will never be able to avail of His provision for healing. If we don't know Him as Jehovah Shalom, our Peace, we will never get to know His peace that passes all understanding.
We have to know Him more so we can know what else is included in the all-the-things-He-has-given-us-for-life-and-godliness package, and know how to avail of them and use them. Josiah used the analogy of a medicine kit -- everything is already in there but we have to know what it has in there and know how to use those.
...Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises,...
+ This is part of package. This is part of everything we need for life and godliness. And the more we increase in our knowledge of God, the more we will increase in our knowledge of the promises He has made to us. Promises which He will definitely keep. Promises like "I will never leave you nor forsake you [Joshua 1:5]." Promises like "I know the plans I have for you; plan to prosper you, not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future [Jeremiah 29:11]." Promises like "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you [John 15:7]."
...so that through them you may participate in the divine nature...
+ The package God gave us, our increasing knowledge of Him, and the certainty of the promises He made to us, are there to help us partake and share His divine nature -- that of holiness, love, compassion, graciousness, etc. He has promised to sanctify us and make us holy... it enables us to participate in His nature of holiness. He has promised to make grace abound in our lives... it enables us to partake in His nature of graciousness and be gracious to others. He has promised to change us from glory to glory... it enables us to grow and radiate in the fullness of His glory.
...and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires...
+ Those very same promises also enable us to avoid the evil in the world by the killing off of our selfish, carnal and wicked desires. When we receive His promise of sanctifying us [making us holy] through the Holy Spirit, it also enables us to avoid the unholy things that we have the natural tendency to do. His promise of providing a way out of every temptation enables us to escape the corruption in the world. It means that our resilience against the world, the devil and the flesh exponentially grows when we grow in our knowledge of Him -- we are helped in our flight from evil. And there are many more promises in the Word that give us authority and power to overcome the world's corruption.
...For this very reason, make every effort...
+There is a reason why Peter includes this statement. The Christian life is not a passive life. We are not supposed to be sitting down and let God do everything. He already did everything, but God's Word always urges Christians to action with words like "fight", "run", "take", "go". "Make every effort" is no different.
Although God is in control of everything, and Jesus is the the Author and Finisher of our faith, and the Holy Spirit is the One who brings spiritual growth, every citizen of the Kingdom is still required to do their part in getting to spiritual maturity. This is a choice every Christian must make. No one can do this for you -- not your father; not your mother; not your pastor or cell group leader, not even the Lord. This is about choice. We either decide to make every effort to grow or don't make an effort at all. No one can make this effort for you.
...to add to your faith goodness;...
+ We all have a measure of faith given to us when we receive Jesus' Lordship in our lives. The more we feed our spirit, the better that faith grows. But why add goodness to it? Well, the guys spoke to said that goodness is the way we show our faith. The Bible does say that faith without works is dead. Faith is useless if it is kept within with no manifestation outside. That's why we need to let our invisible faith translate into visible actions -- more appropriately, through good works.
...and to goodness, knowledge;...
+ Josiah pointed out that we need knowledge in order to know what good thing to do and how to do that good thing. Ronnie, on the other hand, said that the way we know God affects the way we do good things, which to me means either you don't know God and the good things you do become religious acts, or you do know God and the good things you do become an act of worship to Him.
Knowledge gives goodness focus. Knowledge gives goodness direction. Knowledge gives goodness purpose.
. . . to be continued
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