06/12/2018
What do we know about Jesus, God, and our faith? Have we read the Bible cover to cover, and memorized key scriptures? Have we taught Sunday school lessons, or preached the Word from the pulpit? Or, perhaps we have learned and spoken on the subject of Church history, and all the councils and creeds... but does this bring us an inch closer to knowing God? My real question this morning is this... “do you know God, or just know of God?”
“And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
Genesis 2:8-9 ESV
Adam and Eve knew every tree in the Garden, and they knew the two special trees that were there in its midst. They walked past them all the time, but there was only one that they were forbidden to eat from... the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They could describe that tree in minute detail; they could tell you the shape of its leaves, the texture of its bark, and the shape and color of its fruit. It would be my guess that they could even describe to you the smell of that tree... to include the fragrance of its fruit. Knowing all these things allowed them to describe this tree and gave them knowledge about it, but in order to really know it for what it was they had to experience it fully... to take it in... to disobey God and consume it. And consume it they did.
They went from temptation to the knowledge of sin in a single bite. They had walked beneath that tree many times. They had touched its bark, felt the smoothness of its leaves, and held its fruit in their hands, but those things weren’t enough to give them anything more than a cursory knowledge of it; to really know this tree they had to eat of its fruit. And consume it they did. They came to know this tree in its fullness, and in doing so their eyes were opened, and their souls were lost.
Knowing what something is, even in great detail, doesn’t give us the true knowledge of it... to have that truth we must experience it... we must consume it, and know it intimately. It wasn’t enough for King David to know what Bathsheba looked like or her mannerisms as she bathed. He had probably walked past her many times, and perhaps even held her hand; after all she was the wife of one of his great commanders, his mighty men... and yet that wasn’t enough. David had to know more than who she was, and to be able to describe her down to the most minute detail... he had to know her completely by taking her in; by consuming everything she was... by tasting the forbidden.
These are ways in which we come to know sin in its completeness, and intimacy, but it illustrates what is required for us to know Jesus Christ and the Father as well. Certainly we can study them, and we can come to the place where we are experts in all that has ever been written about them, and even teach others from our mastery of these texts, but despite all of this... we don’t really know them. We haven’t taken them in... we haven’t consumed, or internalized them. We are like celibate brides and grooms on the eve of their wedding, like a chef who has prepared a dish but is yet to taste it, or an athlete that has watched a new game played, but is yet to play it himself.
“The mind can think about God and know all the doctrine of salvation, while the inner life may not know the saving power of God. We may know all about God and even about love; we may even be able to think beautiful thoughts and say compassionate things, but unless we actually love deeply from the heart, we do not truly know God. Only true love can know God, and the knowledge of God is life eternal.” - Andrew Murray
We know the rules, we have seen the cross, and we even recognize who the man is that was crucified there... who knows, we may have even washed His body and wrapped Him in burial cloth, but we haven’t walked with Him on the road to Emmaus, or placed our hand into His side as Thomas did. We haven’t experienced the heartbreak of Peter when he realized he had denied Him, or wept over Him as Mary did. Until we have done these things, until we have internalized Him, until we have truly come to love Him... then all we possess is a knowledge of Him... we only know Him as that man on a distant rooftop, or the smell of ripe fruit blowing across our path.
“And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
1 Corinthians 13:2 ESV
Are we ready to know who God is? Are we ready to know who Jesus Christ is? Are we ready to breathe in the Holy Spirit? Are we prepared to love and be loved like never before in our lives? If so then we are on the brink of the greatest discovery in our lives... we are stepping into the fullness of relationship with the divine... we are eating the fruit of eternity.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the love you have for us that waits patiently for us to reciprocate. Thank you for calling to us, and making a way for us to come to you. Thank you Holy Father for your Son Jesus Christ who teaches us more than just who you are, but shows us how to love you, and to obey you in a way that only true love allows. Thank you Father of Grace for the obedience of your Son who went to the cross and took our sins out of His love for you.., and for us. Help me Father to love as you do, and to know you as more than an acquaintance, but as my loving Father, and in the fullness of a love realized. Help me LORD to do more than read of your great love in wonder. Help me to know this love by its taste, and the satisfaction of it as I consume it. Walk with me Heavenly Father and tell me those things about yourself that only sons and daughters know, and I will confide myself in you. Give me the ultimate gift every child longs for... to know the depth and goodness of their parent... a love that is unquenchable. I praise you Father, and sing your praises in the sanctuary of my heart, and the quiet of my prayer closet. I worship you and long to know you better each and every day. With your hand in mine I say Holy, Holy, Holy, are you, and in your eyes I see the radiance of your love, and the reflection of my own.
“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
1 John 4:16 ESV
Rich Forbes