Still Chewing From Sunday - Acts 1:12-26 - Do I know God or just know about Him?
We have the plan of God and the response of man. Some respond in repentance to God's plan of redemption and some respond with staying resistance. Repentance leads to restoration and being re-tooled by God to take the message of the gospel back into our broken world. We are set on a path to grow in Christ-likeness, go out in His name, and are given eternal life. Resistance leads to no escape from this broken world and we go to our own home without God which Jesus refers to more than any other as hell.
You have probably come in contact with those who were once in the church but now have nothing to do with it. They were like Judas Iscariot. They were part of the group. They participated in the ministry. They were even numbered on the membership roll. But now, they have nothing to do with Jesus, His church, and His mission. They very rarely frequent the gathering of the saints and communication with them is almost nil and at best very one sided. What happened?
Many times this group is not violently opposed to God. They know alot about God but do they know God and are known by God as one of His children? This turns me back to myself and my continued responses to God. J.I. Packer deals with this issue in his book Knowing God. He refers to the book of Daniel to give us 4 points which help us evaluate ourselves as knowing God versus just knowing about God.
1. A great energy for God and especially in the area of prayer.
Daniel 11:32 says, "With flattery he will corrupt those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will be strong and take action" (CSB).
2. Great thoughts of God and especially with His "in-control-ness."
Daniel 4:25b says, "...until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms, and He gives them to anyone He wants" (CSB).
3. A great boldness for God and especially in the face of unfavorable consequences.
Daniel 3:12 says, "There are some Jews you have appointed to manage the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men have ignored you, the king; they do not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up" (CSB).
4. A great contentment in God no matter the outcome.
Daniel 3:18 says, "But even if He does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up" (CSB).
Words from a very old hymn to go along with this contentment point.
If life be long, I will be glad, That I may long obey;
If short, yet what should I be sad, To welcome endless day?
Back to our looking at Judas Iscariot and others who we might know that seem to fall into this category, I think we need to stop pondering and start praying. We need to look for times to share again about our great God and show it through our boldness for and contentment in Him. It is a time to ask ourselves if we really know God.
Do our lives resemble those given to us in the Scriptures who God wanted us to know about who had an active prayer life; who spoke greatly of God; who stepped up when His name and words needed to be said or acted upon; and who saw even the consequence of physical death in light of being faithful to Him not a time to fear but to see their faith in God ultimately fulfilled?
What would one who has drifted away or grown cold need to see? I think the common idea would be to play down the serious commitment of being a follower of Christ to woo them back but the Scriptures do not give us any examples of this. We are commanded to live "all in" lives of and for Christ and to be distinct or different from the world because we follow the One who is transforming us to be that way for His glory. Do those who are fence riding see Christians who know God?
A lot to chew on this week.
Pastor Adam
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