Standing on the Promises - A Study of 2 Peter Lesson 1 - Standing on Abundant Grace Let’s Get Started: Which would you consider a greater challenge to your daily spiritual growth: a. Persecution / the suffering of life. Or…. b. False teachings / temptations to sin. While 1 Peter deals more with option “a” from above; 2 Peter deals more with option “b”. False teachings can be persuasive, and temptations can be powerful; so we need a powerful and persuasive way to deal with them, 2 Peter gives us just that; inviting us to stand on the promises of Jesus. 2 Peter 1:1-2 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. 1. In most cases: would you rather be a servant, or a master? Would you rather send people to do things; or be sent by other people to do things? 2. What would you say is the most valuable thing you possess? What lengths do you go to in order to protect your most valuable possession? 3. Agree or Disagree: Your faith is equally as valuable as the faith of Peter and the other apostles. 4. Through Jesus’ righteousness, we receive precious faith. Is this “faith” more one than the other: a. The content of who he is and what he’s done. Or…. b. The ability to trust in him.
5. Through (literally “in”) Jesus’ righteousness, we receive precious faith. Is this “righteousness” more one than the other: a. His perfect, 33 year, humble, substitutionary life; sacrificial death, and resurrection. Or…. b. His fairness, right-ness, and lack of favoritism as an on-going characteristic of his being. 6. We need frequent reminders that Jesus is God, Savior, and Lord; since we often functionally treat other persons or things as gods, savior, and lords. Can you give examples of alternatives? 7. You could say Peter and the apostles had a favorable position in the early church. It could have been easy for them to use their exalted status for their own advancement. Yet what evidence in these verses do we have that Peter desired the opposite? 8. Grace (favor from God) and peace (whole-person well-being) are constantly sought after in a variety of ways. Some ways of seeking them are better than others. Compare the following ways of seeking to get grace and peace: - You find your own version of grace and peace by “following your heart”. - You find out who God is, what he wants, and then give it to him. - God keeps his own law in your place, faces cruel suffering in your place, rises from the dead, and shares his resurrection life with you. 9. I thought grace and peace were ours through faith in Jesus. Why does Peter say that grace and peace may abound in us through knowledge? Aren’t faith and knowledge 2 different things? 10. Agree or Disagree: When your knowledge of Jesus increases, so do the amount of grace and peace you have.
2 Peter 1:3-4 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. 11. What does Peter mean when he says God has given us everything we need for a godly life? Couldn’t you list things God hasn’t given you? 12. Is there any valid excuse for ungodly living? So why do we still live in many ungodly ways? 13. With all the divine power God has; would you say it’s hard to get people to live godly lives? Why or why not? 14. How does God’s divine power get released to us? 15. God called us by (or to) his own glory and excellence (goodness). Is this “glory and excellence” more one than the other: a. God calls us because he is so glorious and excellent. Or.... b. God calls us so that he gets more glory and excellence. 16. What kinds of great and precious promises has Jesus given us? 17. These promises are so significant they allow 2 things to be ours. a. Participation in the divine nature. And…. b. Escape from the corruption that is in the world due to desire. If you had to pick, which of those two would you consider more important in your own life?
19. So, participating in the divine nature, what exactly does that mean? Take a pick, what do you think Peter is referring to? a. In the future, we will live as glorified people in a glorified universe. b. Each person has a divine spark of goodness inside them, they just need to free their better self. c. God desires us to live more and more “divine” lives; so that we think, say, and do the things he desires as he remakes our natures to be like his own. 20. Why is this world so corrupt? 21. Escaping corrupting desires is a skill that most would like to have, and many make various attempts to do. Compare and contrast the following ways of escaping desire: a. Use your willpower to stop doing things that a part of you really desires to do. b. Learn not to desire things too much. c. Don’t try to stop, just do what you desire to do. d. Learn what your culture or people group considers acceptable desires, and conform to that. e. Use threats of punishments and law coercions to stop doing things that you want to do. f. Get to know Jesus better and better, and let him change your desires from the inside out.