01-26-2020
Dr. E. Dale Locke, Rev. Trevor Johnston, Pastor Efrain Silva
Sermon Series: Best Year Yet
Week 4: Knowledge
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1. Keep practicing our memory verse for this sermon series - 2 Peter 1:3: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
2. Read 2 Peter 1:1-8:
“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: 2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.“
3. This week we’re considering what it means to add knowledge to our faith and goodness. The word “knowledge” actually comes up several times in the passage above. What do you notice about knowledge from these verses?
Informational Knowledge
4. The Greek word translated “knowledge” here has a range of meanings. The first level of knowledge is informational or intellectual knowledge. This is an important starting place. We begin by learning facts about a thing, a person, or even God. Think of a close friend. What information did you initially learn about that person that made you want to get to know them better?
5. Even though faith generally needs to start with informational knowledge, it’s important not to stop there. Read what the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 8:1: “We know that ‘We all possess knowledge.’ But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.”
What are some potential dangers of accumulating religious knowledge? If you’ve ever observed this in a church setting, tell about that.
Experiential Knowledge
6. The next deeper level of knowledge that goes beyond informational knowledge is experiential knowledge. Read what Job said about his knowledge of God in Job 42:5: “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”
Tell about the time when you first went from informational knowledge about God to experiential knowledge of Him. What was that like for you?
7. Talk about some things that help you experience God in a more personal way, rather than just knowing information about Him?
Deep Friendship Knowledge
8. The deepest level of knowledge is the knowledge that comes through a very deep, close friendship. List some qualities or characteristics of a deep, close friendship with another person.
9. Read about the Apostle Paul’s friendship with God in Ephesians 3:14–19: “For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
What was Paul’s desire for the Ephesians with regard to knowledge? What was Paul’s friendship with God like?
10. Note what Peter says about “knowledge” in 2 Peter 1:8: “For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
What is he getting at here? In what situations could knowledge of Christ be ineffective or unproductive?
11. Before Paul got to know Jesus, he had been very proud of how impressive his religious knowledge, credentials and practices were. Read what he writes in Philippians 3:7-14:
“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Describe how Paul had changed.
12. Read what Jesus said in Matthew 7:23: “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘Depart from me. I never knew you.’”
How could it happen that someone thinks they know Jesus, but actually doesn’t?
13. Paul wrote in Colossians 2:2-3: ”My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
What does this passage add to your understanding of how to grow in knowledge?
14. Read Jeremiah 29:13: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
What are some things you could do in 2020 to actively pursue a deeper, closer friendship with Jesus?