KNOWING GOD, OR JUST KNOWING ABOUT HIM

Okay, I confess. I was recently watching an episode of Dr. Phil.  It's out now.

But it was actually useful, since it gave me a good illustration for what I wanted to focus on today. There was a couple on the show who had "dated" via the internet for two months.  They met face to face exactly one time, and then decided to get married. Their wedding day was only the second time they had ever actually met in person. She had three children from a previous marriage and he had four. The day of of the wedding was the first time these children ever laid eyes on each other.  They immediately all moved in together, and to everyone's surprise, they had problems!  When this couple married they knew some things about each other, but they didn't actually know each other at all.

We live in a day when there is an abundance of information readily available about politicians or entertainers or anyone with a "celebrity" status.  I don't have to go the library to read their biography.  I can just google their name and I will instantly have access to more information than I could possibly want or need.  With hardly any effort at all I can know all about any number of people I have never met or even seen.  But I don't really know them.

I can't really know someone until I have talked with them, learned how they think, observed what they do and how they respond in various situations.  It comes through a relationship that is built over time.  

What is all this leading to?

While preparing for this week's Christian Living Academy class, I remembered a very well known book written in the 1970's.  The author is J I Packer, and the book is titled "Knowing God".  I read it quite a few years ago, but I'm thinking I need to find a copy and read it again.  

A basic premise of the book is that knowing about God is very different from really knowing Him. I can read all kinds of things about God.  I can read the Bible faithfully every day, and be able to recite everything the Bible says about God.  Does that mean I know Him? No. So far all it means is that I know a lot about Him.

Really knowing God is about cultivating a relationship, talking with Him, spending time with Him, getting to see Him work in my life and circumstances.  

Is it possible that as Christians we can settle for knowing about God instead of really knowing Him?  Could we read the Bible, go to church every Sunday, even attend Bible studies, filling our heads with lots of information about God, but fail to grow in our relationship with Him?  I believe it is not only possible but far too often it's reality.  In fact I believe you could become an expert in theology, and know everything that can be taught about God, and still fail to know him in a personal way or grow into the kind of relationship where we really KNOW Him.

I'll leave that with you to contemplate for a few days, and we'll pick up on this idea again next week.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper 

you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

As I was preparing for the first class of the upcoming Christian Living Academy (starting this Sunday - Jan 24), I did a google search on "what God wants for us".  I was interested in articles or opinions talking about what God wants for our lives.  I was surprised when almost all the responses I got to my search were about what God wants FROM us.  

I see that as symptomatic of a condition that has been prevalent throughout church history. It's been worse in some eras and in some denominations, but even us "saved by grace" evangelicals can at times fall into this trap of feeling my Christian life is all about what I can do for God.  It may be more correct to say "what I've been taught I'm supposed to do for God".

Now, I don't want anyone to misunderstand me here.  I believe that as Christians we are called to a certain lifestyle and to a life of service to God.  No question. The problem is that even if we know better we can feel like our acts of service are a means of earning our salvation, or at the very least the means of earning God's approval. 

The truth is that anything God asks of us is something He wants to use for our own benefit. He doesn't ask us to serve Him because he's short of workers and needs help to get things done.  God can do whatever He wants, without any assistance from me or you.  The things we refuse to do, or do grudgingly because we feel obligated, are actually things God knows will be for our benefit.

I went through a time in my early thirties when I was getting kind of discouraged about church.  We were living in Edmonton, attending a really good church with a wonderful pastor.  Yet I was coming home every Sunday feeling like I wasn't praying enough.  I wasn't giving enough.  I wasn't witnessing enough.  I wasn't working hard enough.  I felt like God was saying "it's never going to be enough!".  

Of course God was saying no such thing. The problem was that I was interpreting God's instructions, things He intended to be for my good, as onerous jobs I could never do well enough no matter how hard I tried. The result for me, at least briefly, was guilt and discouragement.  I came to realize later in life that God never intended to put me on a guilt trip or cause me to be discouraged about all the things I could never do enough of. Rather, God was inviting me to enter into a lifestyle that would help me. God wants to fulfill Jesus' promise, who said "I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full." He wants me to have a great life!  And oh yeah, if I really do pursue the great things God has in store for me, others around might just benefit as well.

God has given us instructions about praying and giving and witnessing and serving.  There's no question about that.  But he's not a boss cracking the whip on an assembly line to get more production out of us.  He's using these instructions and many other principles in His word to guide us toward the wonderful life he wants us to experience, right here on Earth. Being a child of God brings with it a blessed hope for an eternity with Jesus, but it also brings the hope of a life here that is filled with joy and peace and contentment.  

Our Christian life is not about what God wants FROM us. It's about being where God wants us to be, and living our lives in a way that God can provide all the things He want FOR us.

We're going to spend the next seven weeks exploring this on Sunday mornings and afternoons at the Christian Living Academy.  If you haven't registered yet, we can still make room for you this Sunday.

MY BEST, OR GOD'S BEST?

I just completed my 2015 report for The Mission's annual meeting, though in my case it's really only for a few months. I began my report with a verse of scripture.  It's the same verse I used to begin each of my reports for the past several years while Director at CEFOntario.  

"Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain."   Psalm 127:1

This is one of the greatest lessons I have learned in all of my years in Christian ministry.  I have introduced my reports with this verse for a number of years now, not just to make a statement to others, but to remind myself of how essential it is for a person in Christian ministry to keep in mind who is really in control.

Lots of us, myself included, have a tendency to slip into a self reliance.  We have some abilities. We have gained some experience over the years.  The more we do a job the easier it is to fall into the trap of feeling we have what it takes to succeed on our own.  We don't say it out loud. We probably don't even think it, but our actions betray us.  We offer a quick prayer once in a while, if even that, rather than spending quality time before God seeking his wisdom and help for the ministries He has called us to.  Instead of acknowledging in our hearts that we are totally dependent on God, in effect we say, "Thanks God, but I can take of this on my own.  I'll call you when I really need you."  

The tragedy is that we can give the appearance of doing something useful, even to the extent of fooling ourselves into thinking something is being accomplished. But the absolute truth is that in a spiritual work with spiritual goals, we cannot accomplish God's purposes on our own no matter how smart or talented or hard working we are.  Unless God is in charge, and a full partner in our work every day, we are labouring in vain.

Preachers, teachers, worship leaders, children's workers, deacons, board members, etc.  It doesn't matter what the job is we are called to in God's service, the principle is the same.  If we do it on our own we get what man is capable of.  (in a spiritual work that is little or nothing)  If we partner with God we get what He is capable of. I don't know about you, but when I'm labouring in ministry I would really rather see what God is capable of, than be limited to what I can do.  I want to see miracles happen on a regular basis, and that means God has to be in control.

This is not the last time you will hear me talk about this principle at The Mission.  If nothing else, I need to keep reminding myself.  

It's pretty simple really.  God called me to do a job.  I want to succeed.  I can't succeed unless God is my senior partner and actively involved in the work every day.  Isn't that what you want for your ministry?  
  

I WAS AT EASE.

Quite a few years ago I attended a conference where one of the speakers was a well known and remarkable African-American pastor named E.V. Hill.  He was a flamboyant, and gifted preacher who always had the audience on the edge of their seats.

On this particular occasion he was preaching about Job.  He recounted how he had gone on a search of scripture to discover Job's sin.  Not that Job brought calamity on himself because of sin; just that everyone has sin, so Job must have too.  After a lengthy and captivating introduction, he concluded that Job's sin was found in Job 16: 12, which begins with the words "I was at ease".  Job was living in "Uz", a land by all accounts populated by a very ungodly people.  Dr. Hill's point was that Job was surrounded by sin and immorality, and while he himself had not fallen into that sin, he was at ease.  He was unmoved and untroubled by the condition of the people around him.

I've thought about that message from time to time because I. like just about everyone I know, have a tendency to be "at ease" when it comes to my Christian life and my response to the world around me. I can be at ease about the fact that I am surrounded by people who are lost without Jesus. Apart from occasional twinges of disgust and dismay, I can be unmoved by the headlong rush of our society into the worst kinds of sin and immorality. And I can be generally complacent about the state of my own relationship with God and my spiritual development.

Sure, there are times when I'm moved and motivated, but far too often I am simply at ease. Is that where you're at?

As you're well aware by now, my role at The Mission is to help people in their spiritual growth, coming alongside the people of our church to encourage and coach them on their spiritual journey. It's a wonderful privilege to serve God and His people this way, and with God's help I intend to do the best job I am capable of.  Yet I've been aware from the first day I talked with Pastor Paul about this role that the biggest challenge is to help people have a "want to". Creating programs and aids is relatively easy. Motivating people to be concerned enough about their spiritual development that they are willing to invest themselves and their time is a much bigger challenge.  I know that because I also suffer from the Christian epidemic of being "at ease".

The fact is I can't motivate anyone to be more concerned about their spiritual growth.  That really has to come from within each person as the Holy Spirit prompts and urges them.  What I can do from time to time is encourage us all to take an honest look at ourselves, asking ourselves if we have fallen into the trap of being complacent about our spiritual lives.  Are you up for a little self assessment right now?

I am going to do everything I can this year to provide the means for the people of The Mission to grow in their relationship with God.  But whatever those things look like they will have no impact at all on you unless you have a "want to", a desire to grow in your Christian life.  Do you have that desire, or are you at ease?