There’s something almost poetic about Pastor Josh White returning from a two-month sabbatical to deliver a message on stability. He even joked that being away from his church family for two months was harder than he expected — which is a good thing. It turns out God designed us to experience our faith together, not in isolation.
As he closed out his series in 2 Peter, Josh rooted us in the final two verses of the letter — Peter’s parting concern for the people he loved.
“You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away by the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 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.”
— 2 Peter 3:17-18
What Is Stability?
Peter uses the word twice in two verses. He’s deeply concerned these believers won’t lose theirs. So what does he mean by stable?
A stable person is someone who allows God’s grace and truth to guide their entire life — no matter what’s happening in the world around them. When everything else is shaking, a stable believer can think clearly and distinguish truth from error.
Josh pointed out that all of us face things that threaten our stability. Financial stress. Health problems. Broken relationships. These are real, and they hit all of us. But a stable person doesn’t primarily define themselves by their circumstances — they define themselves by their identity in Christ.
First Command: Take Care
The Greek word phylasso (translated “take care”) means to be on guard, to watch out. And here’s the key: this is your responsibility. Not your pastor’s. Not your small group’s. Yours.
“Take care that you are not carried away by the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.”
— 2 Peter 3:17
Josh warned against outsourcing our spiritual lives. We live in a culture that increasingly expects someone else to be responsible for our wellbeing. And Satan loves this. He wants us to hand our understanding of God over to whoever will take it — whether that’s a influencer, a celebrity pastor, or a false teacher.
Peter’s remedy? Take care. Test everything against Scripture. Don’t believe something just because someone said it with confidence. Make sure it lines up with the Word of God.
The Dependency Trap
Josh shared a convicting framework from the book Toxic Charity — the five stages of dependency:
- Appreciation — “Thank you, this is a blessing!”
- Anticipation — “I wonder if they’ll do it again…”
- Expectation — “They’re supposed to do this.”
- Entitlement — “They owe me this.”
- Dependency — “I can’t function without this.”
This applies spiritually too. If we’ve handed over our walk with God to someone else and that person turns out to be a false teacher — we’ve lost everything. Guard your own heart. Study for yourself.
Second Command: Grow
But Peter doesn’t just tell us what to avoid — he tells us what to pursue.
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
— 2 Peter 3:18
Christian growth is never meant to be stagnant. The word grow means just that — to increase, to develop, to advance. And Peter tells us to grow in two ways:
1. Grow in Grace
That means understanding more deeply what God’s grace has actually accomplished for us: complete forgiveness, no condemnation, access to the Father, righteousness, redemption, and an eternal hope. When we truly grasp that God accepted us while we were still sinners, it changes how we treat others.
2. Grow in Knowledge
Never stop learning about Jesus. Never stop communing with Him. Even Paul — who arguably grew more than almost anyone in the New Testament — said he hadn’t arrived yet:
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect… but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
— Philippians 3:12-14
If Paul wasn’t finished, neither are we. There’s always more ground to cover, more fruit to bear, more of Christ to know.
Peter’s Bookends
Here’s a beautiful pattern: 2 Peter opens with the same idea it closes with. Go back and read 2 Peter 1:2-10 — it’s essentially the same charge. Faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, patient endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. These aren’t checkboxes — they’re a chain, each one building on the last.
“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
— 2 Peter 1:5-8
Those who don’t grow? Peter says they’re “short-sighted and blind, having forgotten that they have been cleansed from their old sins” (v. 9). That’s a sober warning.
Satan’s Playbook: What’s Coming Next
Before wrapping up, Josh gave us a preview of the fall series. Satan wants believers to lose their stability. And according to Scripture — and a surprising conversation with a former Satan worshiper — here are his four main tactics:
- Distraction
- Division
- Deception
- Discouragement
Starting next week, the church will be looking at each of these in depth. This is spiritual warfare, and Peter’s final word to his people is: stand firm. Put on the whole armor of God.
So What?
Two questions to take home:
- Have you taken personal responsibility for your spiritual growth — or are you waiting for someone else to do it for you?
- Are you actively growing in grace and knowledge of Christ, or has your faith become stagnant?
God has given us everything we need to grow (2 Peter 1:3). The question is whether we’ll use it. Don’t let another week go by without pressing in. And as a church family — let’s fight for stability together.
Scripture References
- 2 Peter 3:17-18 — Stability: take care and grow
- 2 Peter 1:2-10 — The chain of growth: faith to love
- Philippians 3:12-14 — Paul’s example: pressing on
- Ephesians 6 — The armor of God