In the next month or so we are going to be doing a study on God together. I havenít yet decided all that we will study about Him because I have so many choices. In fact, that which we can learn together about God is overwhelming in its scope. For example we could consider passages of scripture that touch upon: Godís sovereignty, his justice, his mercy, his love, his patience, his power, his wrath, his oneness, the Trinity, his foreknowledge, his goodness, his glory, his Fatherhood, his jealousy, his grace,etcÖ
One of my goals in this series is that your knowledge of God, of who He is, what Heís like, what Heís does, may be enhanced. In fact, some have contended that the highest of all studies is the name, nature, person, and work of God.
No doubt about it, each one of us needs to have an increased familiarity with who God is. If someone asks you "Whatís God like?" its good for us as His followers to be able to answer that question.
Q From where are we going to learn about God?
THE BIBLE because it is a revelation of God. He reveals who he is through his Word
WARNING: JUST BECAUSE YOU MIGHT BE BETTER INFORMED IN RESPECT TO WHO GOD IS DOESNíT MEAN THAT YOU KNOW HIM ANY BETTER.óin that respect my prayer is that we would each come away knowing Him better.
Theres a difference between knowing about someone and knowing that person personally.
Itís one thing to have the facts in your head about who God is. Itís another thing all together to know God or for the Christian: to know Him all the more.
AS WE BEGIN THIS SERIES WE MUST FIRST OF ALL ADDRESS WHAT IT MEANS TO KNOW GOD.
The Bible tells us that all people, everywhere, and in every age have known about God and yet only a few have known God or rather have had a relationship with God.
Knowing God or having a relationship with God is what we were created for
-consider why God created Adam and Eve and how he walked in the garden with them
The person who "knows" God has a relationship with Him
Makes sense. We understand that from our human relationships. You and I claim to know only those who we have met and related to. We donít claim to know a person who we have merely read about. Itís the same with God. If all you have is read or heard about God that doesnít mean you know him. You have to meet him and relate to God to say you know him.
Jesus is the way to knowing God/ having a relationship with God. Thatís why he came to earth: that we might have peace with God. Sin separated us..
In the book of John, Jesus tells his disciples that they know the Father because they know him. Meaning: a relationship with Jesus means a person has a relationship with God the Father because as Jesus attests they are one. "If you have seen me, you seen the Father," John 14
In John 17:3 Jesus in his prayer says "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."
A relationship with God is only had through a relationship with Jesus Christ. "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" John 14:6, Acts 4:12
Point: Can only know God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eternal life, peace with God, forgiveness of your sins. Only through Jesus
A relationship with God is by his invitation, or in other words "one gets to know God by his initiative alone"
Our human relationships help us to understand this truth. i.e John Cretien is our PM. Heís a very important man who has a very important job. Access to him is strictly regulated. You and I canít just decide one day that we are going to be his fishing buddy. Such a thing is preposterous for us to imagineóto think that we could take such an initiative. Now it would be a totally different thing if our PM said "Iíve had my eye on you and I want you to be my friend, lets spend time togetherÖ"
The Bible asserts that God in his mercy has chosen certain ones for the privilege of knowing Him in a personal, beneficial, and eternal way. Godís choosing incredibly enough took place long before you were born- in fact it took place before the world itself was createdónot based on merit but on the grace of God aloneófor all merit judgement and eternal damnation for by our sins and willfull rebellion against God we forfeited any claim upon his mercy and love. This calling is mediated by the word of God for as the scriptures say "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God" or in II Tim. 3 "these scriptures are able to make you wise unto salvation)
Also: one comes to know God or have a relationship with Him at the time of his choosing. Ie. I Sam 3:7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, now was the word of the LORD yet revealed to him
Point: as the special object of Godís undeserved favor and mercy how ought we to respond?
Some donít like the fact that God chooses people. The marvel is that he chooses anyone at all
A relationship with God is something that is evidenced in the way a person lives.
-they will be found obeying Godís word I John 2:5 "But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him" Conversely I John 2:4 says "He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. See also I Tit. 1:16
-those who have served well gain an excellent assurance of their salvation (I Tim)
-love for their fellow man and the saints I John 4:8 "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love"
-a relationship with God spurs us to know Him all the more. Knowing him is what spurs our deepening hunger for him
-the Bible also says that the Holy Spirit testifies to our hearts that we are his
Other people ought to be able to tell that you and I have a relationship with God.
They must see something different in the way we live. If they canít tell or donít know that you and I are a followers of Jesus Christ- then what is the matter with us? Are we ashamed of Christ or just guilty of gross negligence in our witness?
We are to call people to turn to God.
Message of repentance and turning to Jesus as Lord and Savior
"I implore you, be reconciled to God" Corinthians
MANY OF YOU HEAR HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. YOU KNOW HIM. But the relationship needs to grow. The relationship needs to deepen
In Ephesians 1:17 Paulís fervent desire and prayer is as the NIV says in v. 17 that the Ephesians come to know God better.
I trust this is your hearts desire as you and I embark on this new series about God. My prayer is not that you just come to an increased head knowledge of who God is but that we together come to know God better.
Read text.
This text closely parallels Col. 1:9-10 which says "For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God"
A moment ago I asserted that people ought to be able to tell that we are Christians. Paul confirms this for us because as he says in v.15 "Iíve heard of your faith"
-the faith of the Christians in Ephesus in the person of Jesus Christ was no secret. In fact Paul is so encouraged by the reality of their faith because he says "Iíve also heard of your love for all the saints"
No doubt about it: these people were genuine followers of Jesus Christ. There faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord was being declared and demonstrated (more than just a profession) and they were loving the saints (a mark that shows one a true follower of God I John)
IN THIS TEXT PAUL SHOWS A REAL PASTORAL CONCERN FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD.
Given to praying for them. Holding them up in prayer. Deep, abiding, specific, intercessory prayer
As Christians we ought to be praying for each other
Prays very specifically for them
Prays for the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives. In particular his prayer is that the Holy Spirit will enable their eyes to behold God in all his glory, that the Holy Spirit will continually work in such a way that they would get to know God more and more and deeper and deeper.
Prays that they might grasp with all their hearts what awaits them in the life to come and what they are currently possessors of in Jesus Christ. This grasping that he has in mind is not merely an intellectual grasping. Paul is concerned that they have an assurance deep within their hearts, an assurance fed by their experience and walk with God. (see Heb. 11:1-2, Rom. 15:13, Rom. 8:23-25)
Prays that they might know and experience the power of God in their lives
We are going to consider the first part of Paulís prayer HIS PRAYER THAT THE SAINTS, HE HAS HEARD WONDERFUL THINGS ABOUT, WOULD GET TO KNOW GOD BETTER AND BETTER
The agent for us knowing God better: The Spirit of wisdom and revelation
-simply put the Spirit will help us to live wisely in Godís sight (which only takes place when we live according to his word). So in order to help us live wisely the Spirit teaches us Godís word which is a revelation of Godís self and standards to us and brings it to our remembrance.
-this ties in last week. Last week we asked the question: How do I understand the Bible. Well in John 14:26 we learned that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be the disciples teacher
-itís the indwelling Holy Spirit who reveals the Father to us. Itís the indwelling Holy Spirit who is in the process of transforming us the be like Jesus Christ who enables us to understand the things of God.
-our job is to read the word, meditate on it, memorize it. The Holy Spirit helps us to do it and understand it. The Holy Spirit helps us to grasp who God is.
Paulís prayer is that by the work of the Spirit, God may be more and more revealed to those who love God. To get to know God more means to experience him more deeply.
Reflection: One cannot divorce experiencing God from knowing Him, otherwise all you have is a head knowledge of Him. To know him is to experience him. To experience his love, his mercy, his protection and to know it by first hand contact. This is Paulís prayer that by the Spirit they and we may grow in our walk with God.
Paulís prayer is that the knowledge and wisdom of God mediated by the Spirit would reach to the very core of the believers beings "the eyes of your heart being enlightened"
-he understood as you do that the knowledge of God must drop into a persons heart to be of true value to person. When the knowledge of God gets down into the heart it means that they are doing what they have learned from the word. That is true knowledge of God. That is an example of a true relationship with God.
Boaz and Ruth are 2 OT examples of them truly comprehending the way God wanted them to live. This true grasp came about because of their relationship with God: which they evidenced to be deep and not superficial. There concern was with the intent and spirit of the law which they grasped evidenced in their living by it.
For those of us who teach Godís word we need to pray that the Holy Spirit would take the truth we communicate and make it come alive in our hearers. We must pray as Paul did that those who hear the word would do it for the doing of it speaks of a deepened walk with God.
As the word is taught it first comes to our minds then it goes to the heart. The will is never properly motivated until the heart has been moved as well. This is the work of the Spirit.
God, by his word reveals himself to men. Such a revelation of himself goes unheeded because of sin and spiritual blindness. The Holy Spirit works in the hearts of those chosen by God stripping away their blindness that God those in question might come to have a relationship with God. God continues to use his word to reveal himself to the new Christian. The Holy Spirit helps us as Christians to grow in our relationship with God. We grow in this relationship as we grow in our knowledge and application of the word of God.
Paulís concern is also that we be certain of the things we know in our heads
-certain of the power of God available to us to live as the followers of Jesus Christ
-certain as to the glorious bodies we will receive at the last day
-certain that heaven is ours
In the weeks to come as we study God my prayer is that we would be certain of the things we learn about him. Certain and assured of his sovereignty, justice, mercy, love, patience, wrath, etc.
Q How does such certainty come?
Such certainty comes by the ministrations of the Holy Spirit who 1. Teaches us the word 2. Reveals God to us. God revealed to us by the Word which the Holy Spirit opens up to usónot merely intellectually. Such certainty comes through our experience of God.
Our present experience of God confirms to us those things which are not visible and yet promised to us. Paulís prayer is that we grow in our knowledge of God. Paulís prayer is that our relationship with God gets deeper. As these things happen our certainty grows for we are walking with God and experiencing his undeniable power.
One thing we need to understand is that God wants us to know him better. God wants us to experience him (his love, his power, his presence). He has given us his word. He has given us the Holy Spirit. His word informs us who he is and it is the Holy Spirit who helps us to truly grasp Him and to deepen in our relationship with him.
CONCLUSION
To know God better is something which is measurable. The more our life reflects his revealed will the better we know him
Jeremiah 9:23-24 "Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight says the LORD."
Song: Open my eyes #381
