KNOWING THE GOD OF THE BIBLE PART I
Why Should We Know God?
John 17: 1-5
Introduction: In his book “A Mind for God” James Emery
White, former president of Gordon Conwell Theological seminary writes about the
predicament of one of his daughter who was a freshman at a leading university. “In
her first history course, her professor announced to the class that the entire
historical record that Christianity is based on is untrue: Jesus never claimed
to be the Messiah, none of his followers saw him as divine until centuries
after his death; there was never an intention to form any kind of “church,” and
the four Gospels in the Bible today are riddled with discrepancies and errors.
In
order to pass her first exam, she had to write that Jesus was born in Nazareth,
not Bethlehem, deny Pauline authorship of I Timothy, and maintain that four
canonical Gospels are in complete disagreement on the major facts surrounding
the death of Jesus.” Dr. White says, “I will never forget my daughter calling
me almost in tears over the statements made by the professor about her faith.”[1] In a way, this is the
anguish of Christian parents who send their children to public schools and
secular universities. It seems like in increasing numbers of teachers and
college professors instead of educating our children they are indoctrinating
their students, our children in their classrooms.
They
are discrediting the truth about God, the claims of Christ and our core
fundamental Christian beliefs and values. In the midst of this aggressive
cultural war against the Christian faith, how can we keep our faith alive,
engaging and pass it on to the next generation? In order to find some answers,
I invite you to a three-part series with me as we take a fresh look at this
vast subject matter called “Knowing God.”
A
walker on the beach noticed a little boy making several trips back and forth
from the sea with a small pitcher of water emptying it into a pit on the beach.
Out of curiosity he asked the little boy, “young man what are you trying to do?
The little boy without a blink said, “I am emptying the Ocean;” This morning I
realize that I am like that little boy attempting to explain God who is
unexplainable, and indescribable, who is awesome, and almighty, who is majestic
and magnificently impressive. I would like to share with us a few reasons why
we should know God, and the three key attributes of God that every Christian
must know, and what does knowing God mean and how should we know Him. So, let’s
get started.
I
WHY SHOULD WE KNOW GOD?
In
a society where mentioning God is not politically correct, and among your
friends and colleagues talking about God is not a cool thing, you may wonder
why should I know God.? Yes, why should we know God? I will let the 16th
century reformed theologian John Calvin answer this question. The first line of
John Calvin’s famous book, “The Institutes of the Christian Religion says,
“Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom,
consists of two parts: The knowledge of God and of ourselves.”[2] Think of it for a moment,
of all the true and sound wisdom you may ever possess in your life time consist
of only two parts, to know God and to know ourselves.
If
life is all about knowing God and knowing ourselves how well are we doing with
those two most important aspects of our lives? Let me share with us a few reasons
why should you and I know God?
I.
Know God that you may Know yourself:
For generations people, have been
wrestling with questions pertaining to life, and how to live it. Consider these
questions: Who am I, where do I come from? What is my purpose in life? What is
my final destiny? but the problem is that many look for answers in wrong
places. For example, if you want to know everything about an iPhone who would
you go to? You would get a manual from the company that has developed it.
Similarly,
if you want to know answers to life’s complex questions who would you go to,
other than the one who gave you life in the first place and to the scriptures
that talk about Him. The scriptures tell us that God created us in his own
image. The Psalmist, marveled at how wonderfully God has created him.
Psalm
139:14-18, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your
works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when
I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the
earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were
written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your
thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would
outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.”
It
looks like these days, a lot of confusion in the area of gender and sexual
identity. Some people never seems to be satisfied the way God has created them.
Particularly young people seem more insecure, when it comes to their looks.
They are trying to find out who they are, why they were made and what they were
meant to be. Instead of coming to God they put themselves on wisely on social
media for validation. Don’t let the social media fool you.
I
encourage you to pursue knowing God. Come to God for clarity and understanding
of your true identity. Be assured that you are fearfully and wonderfully made
and no one loves you the way God loves you. No one cares for you the way he
cares. No one understands the way he understands. Awareness of yourself and
your relationship with God are intricately related. In order for you to
becoming your authentic self you need to know who God really is.
II.
God’s challenge for us is to know him.
Three
little boys were arguing about whose father got home faster from work each day.
The first boy boasted that his father was a former Olympian middle distance
runner and ran in record times. He left work at 4:00 P.M every afternoon, and
although his home was three miles away, he would grab his briefcase and run all
the way, reaching home by 4:15.
The
second boy was not to be outdone. His father, he said, had competed with
professional auto racing, and once he put his foot to the pedal, nothing could
get in his way. He also worked three miles away and also left work at 4:00 but
reached home by 4:05. The third one was just chuckling at all these boastful
claims. He knew he had them both beaten. His father, he said, actually worked 5
miles away from home. He left work at 4:00 P.M every afternoon and got home
half an hour before he left work, at 3:30 P.M. He worked for the government.
The
point I want to make is that it is human nature to brag about something or
someone as being exceptional or superior to everyone else, whether it is about
our car being superior than our neighbor’s car, or house being bigger or my culture
is better than your culture, or my race is superior than your race, or my
church is better than your church, or my dad is stronger or smarter or faster
than your dad so on goes the bragging and the game of “one-upmanship.”
In the OT, we read it seemed like the wise,
the strong and the wealthy were bragging to no end, and God was tired of them
so he challenged them saying, “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of
their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the
understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23-24
At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter how wise, strong or wealthy you
are, but what matters is whether you know God and understand his plan for your
life.
God
always wanted us to know him, love him, fear him, serve, him, worship him and
follow him and no one else. To that extent, he revealed himself in many ways
throughout the scriptures. Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the
LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever,
that we may observe all the words of this law.” Isaiah 55 :6, “Seek the LORD
while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.”
Psalm
103:7, “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel.” It
was said of Moses, whom the LORD “knew face to face.” These and many other
scriptures in the OT explain that God has revealed all that we need to know pertaining
to our lives in his Word. The devoted Jews earnestly searched the scriptures so
that they might find eternal life. But when they came face to face with the one
who actually offered them eternal life they had hard time accepting him as
their Messiah. Jesus addressed their unbelief in John 5:39-40“You study the
Scriptures diligently, because you think that in them you have eternal life.
These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to
me to have life.” That brings me to my third reason, why you should know God.
III.
Knowing God is eternal life.
In
John 17:1-5 we read the portion that contained Jesus prayer for the salvation
of the world. Vs 2-3, “For you granted him authority over all people that he
might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life; that
they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
Jesus the perfect fulfillment of the Judaic scriptures.
In
this passage, Jesus is establishing his divine authority, and his ability to
grant eternal life to all those who would come to know God. Jesus came to this
world to reveal to the world what God is really like. Through his death and resurrection.
He paved the way for us to get to know God. Getting to know God is not a magic
formula but a process. It begins with a first step of faith. By faith you ask
Jesus to forgive your sins and reveal the father to you.
By
faith you obey Christ in the waters of Baptism. You seek to become part of a Bible
believing church and part of the life of that church, when you take these steps
hopefully you are on the right path of knowing God. In closing let me repeat
these three reasons why we should know God. Know yourselves that you may know
God, God’s challenge for us is to know him and knowing God is eternal life. My
challenge to you is from Hosea 6:3, “So let us know, let us press on to know
the Lord,” Amen
