Real Knowledge
“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11, NASB).
You either know something or you don’t—at least, that’s what I’ve always thought, or never thought about much at all. I love learning, so I’ve been an avid word-lover and knowledge-gatherer my entire life. As a result, I have spent the last thirty-three years studying the Bible and gleaning its truths. I should know a lot, but in the last year or so, I’ve learned how little I really know as I’ve faced points of application previously untested.
I think Peter learned (although to a more extreme degree) the same lesson about “real knowledge” that I’ve been learning, and it offers me much comfort and encouragement as I struggle on. Peter, a simple fisherman, was one of the first disciples called by Jesus (Matthew 4:18). When called, he immediately abandoned his nets and unabashedly followed after Jesus. He spent almost three years in His presence, listening, watching, and learning from the Word himself. He was part of the inner circle of Jesus. He was zealous for Jesus to the point he bought a sword and cut off one of the ears of the high priest’s slave (John 18:11). Peter zealously desired to follow Jesus, yet he denied and abandoned him at the point of His arrest and trial (John 18). Despite all of these exposures to knowledge of who Jesus was, despite all of his first-hand experiences that demonstrated the power of Jesus, Peter did not have “real knowledge.” Peter did not have complete knowledge until he saw the whole picture and applied what he knew to his life. As he sat hiding in fear in a locked room, Jesus appeared to the disciples, and it changed Peter’s life (John 20). Shortly after, when Jesus appeared to the disciples at the Sea of Galilee, Peter threw himself out of the boat in his eagerness to get to Jesus who waited on the shore (John 21). When Peter got to shore, Jesus fed him and then asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” (John 21:15). As many times as Peter had denied Jesus, Jesus asked him if he loved him and told him to tend and shepherd His sheep. Each time, Peter answered that he loved Jesus, and Jesus knew exactly how much because he knew all things (John 21: 17). Jesus gave Peter the opportunity to apply the knowledge that had previously lacked context, and it changed him. Peter, a simple, uneducated fisherman, was filled with love for others and a confidence he previously lacked because he had been with Jesus and was filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:13). The same man who boldly denied Jesus three times spoke out after his arrest in Jerusalem that he could not stop speaking about what he had seen and heard (Acts 4:20). Peter abounded more and more in real knowledge as he suffered and spoke out for Christ. I love his last words to us in II Peter 3:18: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
You either know something or you don’t—at least, that’s what I’ve always thought, or never thought about much at all. I love learning, so I’ve been an avid word-lover and knowledge-gatherer my entire life. As a result, I have spent the last thirty-three years studying the Bible and gleaning its truths. I should know a lot, but in the last year or so, I’ve learned how little I really know as I’ve faced points of application previously untested.
I think Peter learned (although to a more extreme degree) the same lesson about “real knowledge” that I’ve been learning, and it offers me much comfort and encouragement as I struggle on. Peter, a simple fisherman, was one of the first disciples called by Jesus (Matthew 4:18). When called, he immediately abandoned his nets and unabashedly followed after Jesus. He spent almost three years in His presence, listening, watching, and learning from the Word himself. He was part of the inner circle of Jesus. He was zealous for Jesus to the point he bought a sword and cut off one of the ears of the high priest’s slave (John 18:11). Peter zealously desired to follow Jesus, yet he denied and abandoned him at the point of His arrest and trial (John 18). Despite all of these exposures to knowledge of who Jesus was, despite all of his first-hand experiences that demonstrated the power of Jesus, Peter did not have “real knowledge.” Peter did not have complete knowledge until he saw the whole picture and applied what he knew to his life. As he sat hiding in fear in a locked room, Jesus appeared to the disciples, and it changed Peter’s life (John 20). Shortly after, when Jesus appeared to the disciples at the Sea of Galilee, Peter threw himself out of the boat in his eagerness to get to Jesus who waited on the shore (John 21). When Peter got to shore, Jesus fed him and then asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” (John 21:15). As many times as Peter had denied Jesus, Jesus asked him if he loved him and told him to tend and shepherd His sheep. Each time, Peter answered that he loved Jesus, and Jesus knew exactly how much because he knew all things (John 21: 17). Jesus gave Peter the opportunity to apply the knowledge that had previously lacked context, and it changed him. Peter, a simple, uneducated fisherman, was filled with love for others and a confidence he previously lacked because he had been with Jesus and was filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:13). The same man who boldly denied Jesus three times spoke out after his arrest in Jerusalem that he could not stop speaking about what he had seen and heard (Acts 4:20). Peter abounded more and more in real knowledge as he suffered and spoke out for Christ. I love his last words to us in II Peter 3:18: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
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