In last night’s blog, we looked at Peter’s admonition to grow in the grace of the Lord (2 Peter 3:18).  Tonight, I want us to think about the other area of growth that Peter emphasized, that is, growing in the knowledge of the Lord.  Like last night’s blog, two things come to my mind when I think about this.

First, we must continue to grow in our understanding of Jesus Himself.  Ever since Jesus came on the scene, man has misunderstood who He is.  Jesus once asked His disciples what others were saying about who He is.  They were saying that He is John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the other prophets (Matthew 16:16).

Jesus, of course, was not either of those individuals, nor was He just another prophet.  Peter went on to give the correct response to Jesus, saying that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:15-17).

Being the Son of God means that He is divine Himself.  If His Father is God, He must be God too.  All sons are the same kind of beings as their fathers.  Even though you have never met my father, if you know me, you know that my father is a human being.  That is just common sense.

Today, many still do not have a proper knowledge of Jesus.  Like the Jews of old, they think He was just an ordinary man.  They might conclude that He was a great man, or even a prophet, but just a man.  The bible, however, is clear—Jesus is God (John 1:1; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8).

It is not just the deity of Jesus that we need to understand.  We need to know what kind of man He is as well.  As we grow in the knowledge of the Lord, we realize more and more that Jesus is kind, compassionate, and forgiving.  He is a man of patience, but, at the same time, He despises sin and unrighteousness (John 2:14-17).

Why is it important to know Jesus and the characteristics that He possesses?  It is because being a Christian means being like Christ.  How can we imitate a person we do not know?  Paul understood the great value of knowing Jesus.

Philippians 3:8 (ESV)
⁸ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

The other thing that comes to my mind when I think about the admonition of Peter in 2 Peter 3:18 is the importance of growing in our overall knowledge.  The knowledge of the Lord can refer to both knowledge about Him and the knowledge that comes from Him.  The knowledge that comes from Him is found in the inspired teachings of His apostles.  Today Jesus speaks through them as they are guided by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13; John 17:7-8).  Their words are found in the New Testament.  To grow in the knowledge of the Lord is to increase our Bible knowledge, something that Peter exhorts us to do in another passage.

1 Peter 2:2 (NASB 95)
² Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,

We should all crave the knowledge of the pure milk of God’s Word.  That strong desire will result in our studying the Word of God as we should and growing in the knowledge of the Lord.  Of course, when we study and learn more, our faith increases as well.  Remember, faith comes from hearing God’s word (Romans 10:17).

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.