Growth and the Knowledge of Christ
In Craig’s message Sunday from 2 Peter his main point was to remember that God has provided everything you need to grow. This provision (1) comes through the knowledge of Christ, (2) is found in the promises of God, (3) is dependent on Christ’s glorious character, not yours, and (4) results in conformity to Christ’s character.
I ran across this quote from the great preacher and theologian John Calvin, and immediately thought of Craig’s message.
So then, from this we must gather that to profit much in the holy Scripture we must always resort to our Lord Jesus Christ and cast our eyes upon him, without turning away from him at any time.
You will see a number of people who labor very hard indeed at reading the holy Scriptures — they do nothing else but turn over the leaves of it, and yet after ten years they have as much knowledge of it as if they had never read a single line. And why? Because they do not have any particular aim in view, they only wander about. And even in worldly learning you will see a great number who take pains enough, and yet all to no purpose, because they kept neither order nor proportion, nor do anything else but gather material from this quarter and from that, by means of which they are always confused and can never bring anything worthwhile. And although they have gathered together a number of sentences of all sorts, yet nothing of value results from them. Even so it is with them that labor in reading the holy Scriptures and do not know which is the point they ought to rest on, namely, the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
John Calvin, Sermon on Ephesians 2:19-22 (1559).
So then, from this we must gather that to profit much in the holy Scripture we must always resort to our Lord Jesus Christ and cast our eyes upon him, without turning away from him at any time.Calvin reminds us that our pursuit of God through the promises of God must aim at a genuine knowledge of Jesus Christ — a knowledge that yields a real and vital relationship with our Savior.
I trust God is using the truth, and our sincere pursuit of Himself through those precious and magnificent promises, to conform us into His glorious image. May God bless your pursuit of Him this week.
