Knowing God

            So I shared with some of the youth this past  Wednesday on the topic of Knowing God, and I just wanted a brief explanation here as well, just incase anyone is interested in reading it. The youth really seemed to enjoy it, and I feel that in many ways “knowing God” is the key to changed lives. To quote one of the books we read last semester: “to be in the presence of God is to change.”

            I started off by showing them the above video, to get them thinking about how great out God truly is. And then for a discussion starter, I opened with the question: “how do you see God changing lives today? How has he changed your life and how has he changed others around you?” Obviously there were a lot of different answers, but I remember them saying “surrender” and giving control over to Him was big.

            I talked about four different ways that God rejects us for trying to come to Him: the Pharisees, who who were all about finding knowledge about God, but never knew Him personally or obeyed the commandments; the Zealots, who passionately “served” God, according to their own ideas, but never discerned what God’s heart really was; Old Testament Israel, which always saught to distance themselves from God by having a king, or a priest, or some other “mediator” between them and God; and finally The Rich Young Ruler, who represents everyone who lets their material or worldly possessions or ambitions get in the way of truly “following Jesus.”

            Each of the Biblical examples I tried to give examples of how we tend to do the same things today. We are very similar to the Pharisees when we seek first after knowledge about God as if that was the most important thing that mattered. The end result for them was not to cry outin worship of the mighty Creator, but to take pride in their high positions and their superior theologies. I think Jesus message to them was clear throughout the New Testament: “Not everyone who cries ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven…away from me you evildoers, I NEVER KNEW YOU.”-Matthew 7:21-23. I think that God does want us to know about Him, but more important than knowing about Him, is simply to know Him. Like, for example, how much do you think it would help you to know all about your husband or wife: you know their height, weight, looks, eye color, skin color, birthmarks, how they walk, how they smell, and how they talk, but you’ve never spoken to them before. Is that kind of knowledge “about” them really going to help you “know” them? I also had the kids read Jeremiah 9:23-23, John 17:3, and Philippians 3:8-9

            The example of the Zealots in the New Testament can be related to Christians today in many ways as well. Like the Pharisees they tend to take pride in what they have accomplished for God. They have big dreams and plans, and work hard at accomplishing them, but they are not motivated by a love for God, but by their own desires. I gave them a quote from Leo Tolstoy: “Everyone thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.” The problem with the Zealots is not their passion or their determination to do what is good, but they need more of God in their personal lives. God is not in the business of chaning men’s actions, but he wants to change our hearts, and thereby eventually change how we act. But God always change from the inside-out, not the outside-in. I also had them read Mark 12:30, and John 14:15.

            Thirdly, the example of Old Testament Israel, which has to do with those who distance themselves from God. Like for example, in Exodus 20:18-19, the people have just received the Ten Commandments, and they have seen God’s presence over the mountain in fire and smoke and lightning, and they were afraid. And of course God is someone that we must not take lightly. For He is a mighty and jealous God, but he is also a loving and compassionate God. The problem comes when they become so afraid of God that they no longer come before Him at all, but rather they ask Moses to be their “mediator.” And I think that a lot of the time we do the same thing today when we keep God at a distance and stop getting to Know Him personally. We can do that through reading stories about other believers, reading devotionals, even just reading the Bible, but never seeking after a personal relationship with God (just meditating on how others have lived). Or maybe when problems arise in your life you turn first to other things or other people, and you are not seeking the face of God for guidance and help. We looked also at the story of Israel asking for a king, 1 Samuel 8:6-9.

            Finally there is the story of the rich young ruler, Matthew 19:16-26, which represents all the times we are weighed down from following Jesus because of material or worldly things or people. This is perhaps one of the easiest traps to fall into: when we begin making excuses and allowing ourselves to be distracted by the world, so that we never really become a discples of Jesus. The only thing that Jesus asked of the man was to “go and sell all your possessions so you can come follow me” (in my own words). There is a quote that I think really speaks to this situation perfectly: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” Why does the man walk away saddened? Because he allowed himself to be distracted by the calling of the world: “build up wealth for yourself; eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” And it’s easy for us in the same way to answer any number of “worldly callings” before we answer Jesus calling: whether it be success in this life, or making a family, or fixing up your life first, Jesus calling should override all others. We read Matthew 4:18-20, when Jesus calls his disciples, his does not want us to hesitate, but to drop everything else, and start trusting God by following him daily.

         We talked a little bit about the right response at the end, but basically I want to say I don’t have any perfect “3 step” process to get to know God. He gets to know everyone in a unique way and so I can’t honestly tell you how to do it. I want to emphasize also that there is nothing wrong with learning about God, or serving God or God using someone else to speak into our lives, it’s only when we put these things first that our relationship with God goes bad. When we trade an actual relationship for all these other things, then we don’t really experience the awesome presence of God in our lives.

            And one last thought: we need to be more desperate for God! God tells us in Deuteronomy 4:29 “you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” So we must be earnest and desperate for God, or else I think we are only giving Him our half-hearted worship. Francis Chan talks about in his book Crazy Love how his daughter runs to him when he pulls into the driveway after getting home from work and gives him a huge hug, to show how much she loves him. In the same way we ought to be desperate for the God we say we love. Run into His arms.

            Some thinking Questions:

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!