What is the “natural knowledge” of God? Since our “examination / confirmation Sunday” is just over a month away I hope that one of our confirmands can answer that question. What is the “natural knowledge” of God? The “natural knowledge” of God is what all people know about God from nature and their conscience—which we say is the voice of God in a person. Around the world and throughout the history of the world people have believed that there must be some wise and powerful being who made the universe. They have come to this conclusion by observing creation. Humans also instinctively know that things aren’t right between them and whoever it is that made the universe. Again we see evidence of that fact across the ages and across the cultures of the world. The obvious question that follows on the heels of a description of the “natural knowledge” of God is was is the “revealed knowledge” of God. Let’s again ask one of our confirmands to answer that question. What is the “revealed knowledge” of God? The “revealed knowledge” of God is what we know about God through his revelation to mankind. Obviously the revelation we are talking about is the Bible.
Now I want you to think about the knowledge we have of the knowledge of God. I suppose we could pat ourselves on the back and tell each other how much Bible knowledge we have. But obviously it would be much better if we actually did something with the knowledge we have just demonstrated.
Our Savior has asked each of us to lead others from their natural knowledge of God to the knowledge he has revealed to us. The revealed knowledge of God has the power to save souls from hell. That is what every person needs to hear and believe.
In the first Scripture lesson for this Sunday the Apostle Paul started with what a group of people naturally knew about God and led them to what they needed to know about God. There we see an example of how a Christian can use the natural knowledge of God as a bridge to the revealed knowledge of God. May the Holy Spirit work in us an understanding of how to do this and also give us the desire, determination, and dedication to actually do it. We are told to:
“LEAD OTHERS TO KNOW GOD”
I. Start with what they know about God
II. End with what they need to know about God
As the Apostle Paul did wherever he went we find him sharing the truth about Jesus in the city of Athens. On the Sabbath days Paul spoke with the Jews and used the Old Testament to prove that Jesus was the promised Savior. During the other days of the week Paul went where the people were. In the city streets and in the market places he served as a witness for Christ.
Paul’s teaching was obviously getting noticed. He was asked to defend his ideas at a meeting of the Areopagus. The Areopagus consisted of a group of philosophers. They were sort of the “idea police” in Athens serving as an open forum in which new ideas could be aired. Although it may be hard for us to grasp all the finer points of what happened in these verses from Acts 17 we can take away a couple of key thoughts. Paul started with what this group of unbelievers knew about God and led them to what they needed to know about God.
I.
“22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: ‘‘Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” Paul started his message about the revealed knowledge of God by referring to the natural knowledge of God that his listeners had.
Even though the Apostle Paul began his speech carefully and courteously he did go on to point out misunderstandings that his listeners had about God. Paul jumped back and forth between what the Athenians knew about God naturally and what they needed to know about God. Although a Bible class would probably be a better place to take up each of these points let’s walk through them quickly. We can at least get a flavor for how the Apostle Paul built a bridge to the men to whom he was speaking. “24 The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.” These men in Athens had a view of God that was too small. The true God didn’t live in one of their magnificent temples. He fills the heavens and the earth. Then Paul went on to address the misunderstanding the Athenians had about how they related to God. “25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.” God didn’t need to be fed and cared for as the Greeks and Romans thought. He is the creator and preserver of all things. Paul continued, “26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.” Instead of being distant, unconcerned, and uninterested the true God was very involved with the history of the world that he had created. The God that was unknown to the Athenians also desired to have a relationship with humans. Paul went on to say, “27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’” Finally, before moving on to what every person needs to know about God Paul pointed out another big misunderstanding that his listeners had concerning God. “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.” Out of a cloudy mist of misunderstanding the Apostle to the Gentiles slowly led his listeners to know the “unknown” God. He began with what they knew by nature about God.
Friends in Christ, what do the people around us know about God? Although the revealed knowledge of God found in the Bible isn’t foreign to the people of our nation experts say that Bible knowledge is at an all time low. In addition to that fact we have many people in our country who have come here from nations where the Bible is relatively unknown. So in all our interaction with other people it is probably best to start with the natural knowledge of God. The people we work with, those who live near us, and our friends and relatives, all know that God is wise and powerful. Deep down they also know that things aren’t right between them and God.
That basic knowledge of God can serve as a bridge to the true knowledge of God that all people need to know. When someone talks about the power of the weather we might say how much we appreciate God’s control of the weather. Hopefully such a comment will lead to a discussion of who God is and what he does. When a new discovery in the natural world hits the national news it may be a chance for us to start a conversation about God’s wisdom and power. But I would say our best avenue for leading someone to know God is found in their natural knowledge of the fact that things aren’t right between them and God. Imagine a friend or neighbor saying, “Why do bad things happen to me? What does God want from me?” We could ask, “What relationship do you have with God?” Or we might say, “Do you think God is involved in your life?” Hopefully a discussion will start that will lead to what that person needs to know about God. Or think of what you might say if someone said to you, “I try to live a good life, and I give to charities, and I’m a good person. I’m sure things are okay between God and me.” You might ask that person why he or she thinks God wants them to be good.
There once was a farmer that had a wife who was very critical of his grammar. One evening he told her he had a friend named Bill and he wanted her to meet him. “Don’t call him Bill,” she insisted. “Call him William.” When the friend arrived, the farmer said, “Let me tell you a tale.” His wife interrupted and said, “Don’t say tale, say, ‘anecdote.’” That night, when going to bed, the farmer told her to put out the light. His wife exclaimed, “Don’t say ‘put out the light,’ say, ‘extinguish’ the light.” Later in the night she woke her husband and sent him downstairs to investigate a noise. When he returned, she asked him what it was. “It was,” he explained carefully, “a William goat which I took by its anecdote and extinguished it.” In other words (in simple language) he said, “it was a Billy goat that I took by its tail and put outside.”
Sometimes we may think that we can’t use plain language to lead others to know God. We become convinced that we have to be able to quote chapter and verse and talk in King James English. That is not the case. In plain language with an understanding of the natural knowledge that all people have of God we can lead people to know God. Like Paul we simply start with what they already know about God’s wisdom, power, and holiness.
II.
As these verses from Acts continue we see how Paul ends with what his listeners needed to know about God. He bridged his conversation from the natural knowledge of God to the revealed knowledge of God. “30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” What God really wanted for the Athenians was to have them repent of their sins and turn in faith to Christ. In their ignorance they would never have a relationship with God. But through faith in Christ they would. On Judgment Day if they were clothed in the holiness offered by God’s Son to all who trust in him for salvation they would receive eternal life.
Once again we are challenged to apply this example to our lives as Christ’s witnesses. At some point we have to make a transition from the natural knowledge of God to the revealed knowledge of God as we lead people to know God. Obviously we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We need courage, wisdom, and patience. But we must always keep in mind what every person needs to know about God. Knowing that there is a God and that he is powerful and holy won’t save anyone. So at some point we are going to have to share God’s plan of salvation. One way of doing this is to use an approach called God’s Great Exchange. If you have a piece of paper like this you can draw out the basic facts of saving faith. You can start out by drawing a stick person. Then you can draw a cloud and say that it represents God. Pose the question, “How does a person get into a right relationship with God?” Let the person you are talking to offer some suggestions. Then, go on to say. This is what God says in the Bible. He says that through faith, or trust, in God’s promises a person exchanges his or her sinfulness for Jesus’ holiness. God then changes the way he looks at that person. God chooses to declare the believer not guilty of all sin. Then you can “fast forward” to Judgment Day. Now in spite of the fact that a person has violated God’s holiness he or she will spend eternity in heaven.
I can’t tell you exactly how this type of conversation will go with another person. But always remember that the essential part of our leading a person to know God is making the transition from the natural knowledge of God to what the Bible reveals about him. And the central truth that God has revealed to mankind is how a person can be in a right relationship with him through Christ. And then it is important for us to remember that the clock is ticking. Every second that passes brings us closer to the end of time. Then it will be too late for people to know what they need to know about God.
Although the verses of our first Scripture lesson for this Sunday stop with Paul’s statement about repentance, and Judgment Day, and Jesus’ resurrection we have to remember that the Areopagus cut Paul off. Some sneered at him and others said they wanted to hear more. But a few people took his words to heart and were brought to faith in Jesus.
Although it can be frustrating and seem unproductive we are simply called to lead others to know God. If they accept our invitation or reject it is not our doing. That is in the hands of the Holy Spirit. When it comes to leading others to know God we may at times feel it would be so much easier if we could be like Lucy in the old Peanuts cartoon: Lucy says to Charlie Brown, “I would have made a great evangelist.” Charlie Brown answers, “Is that so?” She says, “Yes, I convinced that boy in front of me in school that my religion is better than his religion.” Charlie Brown asked, “Well, how did you do that?” And Lucy answers, “I hit him over the head with my lunch box.” That we can’t do. We can only start with what people know about God and try to lead them to what they need to know about God.
This past week my wife Teresa saw a sign about a lost dog at the end of the road that leads out of our subdivision. After stopping here at church she was heading back toward the parsonage along Landen Lake. There she saw a sign for the same dog. But instead of saying “lost dog” the sign said “dog found.” She dialed the phone number of the person who lost the dog to connect him or her to the person who had found the dog. Hopefully there is a brown and white dog safely back at home.
Now of course any of us who love our pets, and even some of us who don’t, would have done what Teresa did. How much more then won’t we be ready to serve as the connection between lost souls and a heavenly Father. Paul gives us very practical advice on how to do it. He shows us how to lead people to God. We start with what they know about God. And by nature people do know certain things about God. Then we end with what they need to know about God. May God enable us to share him with all who don’t know him. Amen.
