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You're listening to audio from Faith Church Indy. This spring we're studying the book of 2 Peter, learning about how we can find our anchor in God during unsteady times. Now here's the teaching.

In our journals it is page 3, and in the Bibles in the seats it is page 1207. So 2 Peter 1, 1-4. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. This is the word of the Lord. I am Jeff Schultz, one of our pastors here at Faith Church.

My wife Amelia and I have been here about 10 years, and this summer we're going to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary. So it's, oh, thank you. It's made us a little, it made me a little nostalgic.

I was thinking back, in fact, to a wonderful honeymoon that we shared, where I was standing in the ocean at one point, maybe knee-deep, you know, nothing really too brave or dramatic. But growing up, being in the water for me meant the community swimming pool or maybe the local man-made lake. So the ocean waves were coming in a lot more powerfully than anything that I was used to.

And every time they, you know, they swept back out, I felt the pull of the waves wanting to take me back out with them. But even more than just the pull of the waves, I noticed something else. The sand, the soil, the ground beneath my feet would shift with those waves too.

Forget about going anywhere. Like, I just had trouble standing still. Between the waves and then the ground underneath me, I could feel myself sinking and shaking and being pulled this way and that and trying to find something stable to stand on.

And I realized, you know, it's not just the ocean that's moving, it's the ground underneath me. You're being pulled and tossed around, and you realize you need something steady to stand on. It's disorienting. 

It's scary. And life can be like that. It's hard not to feel unsteady right now.

The pace of change, noise of competing voices, flood of information or misinformation, confusion about what's true, what's good, not just even out there in the world, but among people who claim to be followers of Jesus. Sometimes it's maybe even the quiet drift that we observe in our own hearts, in our own lives. All that can leave us feeling like we're on shifting ground, like things are unsteady underneath us.

And when life feels unsteady, we don't really need more information. We need something to stand on, something that gives us solidity, that gives us direction, that gives us perspective. And that's why we're spending the next several weeks in this little book of 2 Peter.

This is Peter's final letter, almost certainly written to the same congregations that had received his first epistle. He says down in verse 14 of chapter 1 that he realizes that his time is drawing near. He doesn't have many days left on this earth.

And so he's writing to believers who are facing pressure, who are dealing with false teaching and cultural compromise and spiritual drift to help them stand firm. This short book is going to take us through the season of Easter. Did you know that Easter is actually a season? Our culture tends to treat Easter as if it's a day, right? Like maybe a special service, lots of chocolate and candy, maybe ham, a new outfit.

But then it's over and we just go back to ordinary time. It's like looking at Easter as a finishing line instead of a starting line. But historically, the church has recognized Easter season lasting 50 days from Resurrection Sunday to Pentecost, when God poured out His Spirit on the early followers of Jesus and birthed the church of Christ.

Seven Sundays being grounded in the promise that death doesn't get the last word, evil doesn't win, and God's truth is greater than the enemy's lies. So we're going to spend this Easter season in a book that grounds us in what is true and hopeful and helpful. And if we can summarize Peter's message in one phrase, it would be this, live ready.

Live ready. Live ready in a world of confusion. Live ready with a faith that is grounded and growing.

Live ready in light of Jesus' promised return and final judgment. Here's what Peter knows and what I think he wants us to understand from the very beginning of this book. You cannot live ready if you're not grounded.

You can't live ready if you're not grounded. Picture a ship out on the water at night. The sky is dark.

The winds begin to pick up. Clouds are forming. A storm is growing.

And as it moves in, the danger is not just the wind and the waves. The danger is drifting. It's losing position.

It's being pulled off course. Being carried somewhere you never intended to go. And in that reality, the most important thing is not speed.

In fact, you don't even want speed. What you need is stability. So the crew does something simple and decisive.

They drop anchor. And that anchor goes down to the bottom and attaches to something solid. Because when everything around you feels unstable, unsteady, you need something deeper than the storm and strong enough to ground you in what is stable and true.

So before Peter tells us what to do, he wants to remind us of what God has already done. The old fisherman drops anchor. And here's the big idea through this passage that we're looking at today.

You stand ready in what God has already given. We stand on what God has already given. In these verses, Peter is showing us four realities that ground us as followers of Jesus.

A faith that we've received, a grace that we're growing in, a power you've been given, and a life you're growing into. Now, I said those real fast. Don't worry.

For those of you that like to take notes, we'll go through them one at a time. If you haven't already, though, open your Bibles or your New Scripture journals to 2 Peter chapter 1 on page 3. By the way, Claire Kingsley is our communications director. She just always does a great job with creating things like this and the images.

You get a chance. Just thank Claire for her great work. But let's jump in to 2 Peter chapter 1. This is where stability begins.

You stand on a faith that you have received. You stand on a faith that you have received. Now, at the very beginning, the author introduces himself, Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ.

Some manuscripts have Simon. Some have Simeon. It's not a conflict or a contradiction.

Simeon was his Hebrew name, and Simon is kind of how that got transliterated into Greek. And it was common in the world that Peter lived in for folks to have a double name, their birth name, and then a more kind of common Greek name. So, Simon Peter.

And Peter identifies himself as a servant, or more literally, a slave of Jesus Christ, one who lives and serves at the pleasure of his Lord and at his direction. And then he also identifies himself as an apostle, one chosen as an authoritative representative. Apostles don't just deliver the message.

They guarantee the truth of that message. Now, we're going to come back to that, so hold on to that thought. But look at how he addresses these followers of Jesus.

To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours. Now, does that sound a little odd, to obtain a faith? Normally, we think of faith as our response to what God has done. It's believing and laying hold of Jesus and trusting in him, and that's true.

All of us are called. All of us are invited. All of us are implored to trust in Jesus that way and to put your faith in him.

But faith can also refer to the object of faith itself, the deposit of truth handed to us, the Christian faith, we said. But as grammatically unusual as it sounds, I think Peter is talking about the faith that we have in Christ. That word obtained means it's received.

It's not something we've achieved, not something we've produced, not something that we have accomplished in ourselves. Peter is saying, if you are a Christian, it's because God has graciously opened your eyes to see and treasure Jesus as Savior and Lord. Faith is a gift.

That's where the Christian life begins, not with what you have done, but with what God has done for you on your behalf. Think back to that ship, okay? When the anchor drops in the water, the ship is no longer relying on its own strength to stay in place, right? It's relying, it's grounded on something stronger and deeper outside of itself, something even unseen beneath the surface. Peter says that's your faith.

You didn't secure it. You didn't earn it. You didn't produce it.

You didn't achieve it. You received it, and that's what makes it secure. Does that make sense? Because it doesn't depend on my faithfulness, my goodness, my strength.

It's grounded in God's gracious, generous character. And the faith that we have in Jesus is not lesser because we're 2,000 years removed from him. We don't have a second-tier faith because we haven't seen him with our eyes like Peter did.

Look at what he says. To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours. Peter, writing to Gentiles, may be saying, you have a faith of standing with God equal to ours as Hebrews, as children of the promise.

He may be writing to them and to us to reassure us that we are in the same position, the same relationship with God as his original covenant people because we've been grafted into God's covenant promises. We are now just as much the people of God as the offspring of Abraham who were heirs of the promise. Or Peter may be saying, as an apostle, you ordinary believers, you non-apostles, people whom Jesus didn't call and commission by name, your faith is just as precious, just as valuable as ours.

Faith makes us equal beneath the cross. And I think Peter maybe has both of those thoughts in mind. They're both true.

They're both important to know. And I want to pause here, invite us to just think for a second about who is saying this. Peter, the most significant person in the early church.

Peter, one of the three closest people to Jesus in his ministry and life on earth. Peter, who walked on water by faith at Jesus' command. Peter, who saw Jesus transfigured in his glory with Moses and Elijah.

That is who is telling you, you have a faith that is equal to mine, that is just as valuable, that is just as precious. How is that possible? Because we possess this faith by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now first, don't miss the significance of Peter calling Jesus God.

The truth of that is all through the New Testament, but it's actually pretty rare that it's expressed so clearly and directly in the New Testament. And for Jesus to be both God and Savior is a double assurance of the faith and the trust that we have placed in him. That's the stability of your life.

Not your righteousness, not your excellence, not your goodness, not your faith even or your faithfulness, but his. You are grounded and secure because of Jesus, because of his righteousness and his faithfulness. That means your footing is not shaky or unstable.

It means your life, your experience of God doesn't go up and down with every twist and turn of your life. It doesn't rise and fall with your prayer life or how your week is going or that dumb argument that you got drawn into. Your faith, your life in Jesus is secure and stable because it's grounded in him.

The anchor is not your effort. It's Jesus' righteousness, his faithfulness, his limitless divine power at work in you and for you. You stand firm in a faith you've received.

It's God's gift based on his gracious character. It's solid. But it's not static because you stand on a grace that you're growing in.

That's the second thing Peter points us to. You stand on a grace that you're growing in. Look at what he says in verse 2. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

It's God's grace, of course, that has brought us to Jesus Christ. But Peter says that grace doesn't stay the same. He prays, in fact, that it would multiply, that it would deepen, that it would increase, that it would expand.

How is that possible? Right? I mean, how does that work? Because we say that God can't love us any more than he does. Peter's going to go on to say just in the next verse he's given us everything that we need for life and godliness. So how can we have more of what God has given us limitlessly? Is that a word? Go back to that image of the ship in the storm at sea, right? Once the anchor is set, something begins to happen, right? The ship doesn't stop moving entirely, but it settles.

It stops drifting. And even while the storm is raging around it, it becomes steady. So that the people on the ship can start to find their equilibrium in all the rocking and the swaying and the back and forth.

You start to get kind of sea legs we talk about, right? The anchor is the promise that the ship isn't going to go down, that it's not going to be lost. And that reassurance, that security, is what lets you learn different rhythms. It lets you grow in your ability to adjust to the latest wave, the latest storm, the latest thing that would tend to take you off course.

You find power to live in this new reality that you're experiencing right now. That's what Peter's describing. The grace that's our security, being grounded and connected to Jesus, is also the grace that expands in our lives.

The supply of God's grace never increases because he's given to us unendingly. But our experience of God's grace can grow and deepen, especially based on what we're going through. Grace and peace are not static and fixed in your life.

They grow and, in fact, work together. It's like a positive feedback loop. Grace, of course, is God's undeserved goodness.

It's his commitment and promise to do good to you. And the more you see and understand that grace, the more you experience peace and calm and a settledness inside you. And as you experience that peace and calm and settledness, it actually enlarges your vision to see more of God's grace and presence in your life.

The more peace you know, the more you trust and see God's grace in the next thing that you don't understand and the thing after that and the thing that you don't even know that's coming next week or next month. God's grace will expand to empower you for that thing. And what fuels that growth and grace and peace? How does that happen? Look at what Peter goes on to say.

Grace and peace multiply to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Here's the connection. The more you know of God, the more you experience his grace and peace.

Does that make sense? The more you know of God, the more you will experience his grace and his peace in everything. And yes, it means knowing more about God, who he is and what he has done and what he has promised, his nature, his character, his works, his excellencies. And we know him primarily through his word.

So knowing God is not less than knowing about him, but it's certainly much more. It's knowing him relationally. It's knowing him personally.

Because fundamentally, God is not a subject to be studied, but a person to be known and loved. God is not a subject. He's a person.

And as you grow in knowing him, Peter says, grace becomes more real, peace becomes more steady, your life becomes more anchored. Some of you right now maybe are experiencing what I have experienced at times. You feel spiritually thin, stretched, dry.

It's not because God's grace is lacking, but because our knowledge of God has grown shallow. Are you content with what you saw and experienced of God years ago, what you learned about God decades ago? Are you growing in your knowledge of God, knowing about him and knowing him? Do you love him more because you know him better? That's what Peter's encouraging us, as a reality in our lives. Grace is meant to multiply, and it multiplies as we draw near to him.

The more you know him, the more steady you become. You stand on a grace that you're growing in. And that grace empowers us, then, to walk faithfully.

Look at verse 3. Wow. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. This is a whole sermon in one verse.

I wish we had time to dig into. It's a lifetime of learning and living this out. It's one of the most important, stabilizing truths in our Christian life.

You're not under-resourced. You are not lacking what you need. That ship that's anchored in the storm, right? It's not helpless. 

It's not hopeless. It's fully equipped. It has that anchor settled down into the ground.

It has everything that it needs to endure the rough weather, a GPS so that it knows where it is, a radio so it can communicate and get direction and information, a strong hull, a trained crew, proper rigging, food and water to last the storm. The question is not whether the ship has what it needs, but whether it trusts and makes use of what has already been provided. And Peter is saying, you have been given everything that you need for life and godliness.

Not partially, not eventually, but actually, already. You see what that means? You have what you need to be patient when you're tempted to lash out at that person. You have what you need to forgive as Christ has forgiven you.

You have what you need to say no to that same temptation for the hundredth time. You have what you need to fight sin, to grow in holiness, to endure hardship. You have what you need to follow Christ.

It doesn't mean it's easy. It means it's available. And again, notice how it comes.

Through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. Everything, Peter says, flows from knowing God. Not self-reliance, not personality, not willpower, not having better circumstances.

That's not the answer. It's having an ongoing relationship with the living God and knowing him. This is the second time Peter now has mentioned the knowledge of God, and he alluded to it as we saw in the first verse, calling himself an apostle, right? One who is an authoritative messenger of true truth.

False teaching in the church that Peter's writing to is leading people away from the faith, and already Peter is laying out themes that he's going to develop later. It's important, it's in fact absolutely critical to know that you have the real Jesus. Because just as in Peter's day, there are people today claiming to represent Jesus, using his name to baptize and bless lifestyles and policies and priorities and character traits that are absolutely opposed to who Jesus actually is.

That's what's going to take up all of chapter two, as we'll get into that in a few weeks. But just note this, Peter is saying, if I am going to know an increasing measure of grace and peace, if I'm going to grow in godliness, if I would have a life that reflects Jesus' life, I have to actually know the real Jesus. And there's a danger, yes, of a sterile faith.

That has head knowledge of God, that never really gets to our heart. But we also have to be aware of a heart knowledge that isn't actually grounded in truth, that doesn't come from our heads, right? Too many Christians know too little about our faith, and we wouldn't be able to describe the difference between the God of the Bible and the God of Mormonism or Jehovah's Witness or Islam or our cultural therapeutic deism. The New Testament makes it clear that our salvation, our making it to the end, actually can depend on confessing the truth about God, knowing and living about the truth of God and His revelation to us through His Son.

We need, Peter calls us to a faith that unites both head and heart. And God has given us all that we need. We have His Word, we have His Spirit living in us, we have His promises.

So is my knowledge of God leading me to greater freedom, to greater joy, to greater holiness? Because Peter's saying the problem is not God's provision, it's whether we live like it's true. You stand in a power that you've been given. And that power has a goal, it has a purpose.

You stand in a new life that you're growing into. You stand in a new life that you're growing into. Look at what Peter says in verse three.

Through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence. Now the Greek word for glory had this idea, kind of a fame, a reputation, you know, an Olympian with the laurel wreaths around their head, or someone that you erect a statue to. And the New Testament writers take that idea and they combine it with the Old Testament idea of God's majestic presence, His worthiness, His significance.

That's glory. Peter also mentions His excellence, His goodness, His moral perfection. It's a reminder that Jesus is the one human being who has never been corrupted by sin.

He is what we ought to be. And what God calls us to grow into. The phrase, of course, can also be read, and maybe in your translation, as He's called us, by His glory and goodness.

In either case, Peter is saying that what has drawn us to Jesus is seeing His moral excellence, His profound goodness, His beauty. And it's the goodness of Jesus that makes us say, I want that. I want Him.

I want to look more like that. And it's through that glory and goodness, in verse four, that He has granted to us His precious and very great promises. I think Peter again means, it's because of Jesus' glory and excellence, God's greatest and most precious promises are guaranteed and available to us.

Peter doesn't spell out those promises, right? Like, maybe we'd like to know more about it. He probably has in mind all of the promises of God, from Genesis all the way to Peter's day. The promise that evil and sin will not win.

The promise that God will redeem His creation, that He will call to Himself a people who will live for His glory and be witnesses to His power, that He will rescue and keep His children. You know, as the night goes on on that ship, something begins to change.

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