Knowing God: Experience & Love Him

Paul J. Bucknell

Knowing God | Transcent vs. Immanent | Bible Says | Can I Know God? | How can I? 1 | How can i? 2-4 | What changes? | Reflections

Knowing God: Handout pdf | Study Questions | Video
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Knowing God Series Index

Series Introduction| Knowing God | The Revelatory God | Goodness of God | Holiness of God | Power of God | Omnipresent God | Exalted God | Faithfuness of God | Wisdom of God | Mercy of God |Wrath of God | Love of God | Sovereignty of God | Providence of God

Knowing God (1 John 1:3-4)

(3) Does knowing God bring a change in my life?

Purpose: God is of such magnificence in every way. If we as God's people dare to claim we know God, then we ought to be able to show our lives reflect this claim in that we are like God rather than trust in belonging to some religion.

"These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete" (1 John 1:4).

What is it here that we see but that God’s people are changed from being in His presence. The closer to God, the more joyous His people will be. A simple listing of the fruit of the Spirit reminds us of the glorious work of God in our lives. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace ...” (Galatian 5:22-23).

One of God’s great promises is to bring about a new covenant by which we could openly know God.

“They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:34-35; Hebrews 8:10-12).

How different this was than the Old Testament law which man could never fulfill! The privilege of knowing God means that we can live in His presence and share His holiness.

Despising Christianity

The reason people despise Christianity in countries where the Gospel has been proclaimed is largely because of unfulfilled claims. People who do not know God, and yet confess to be associated with Christianity, stain the world.

People are hoping more from Christianity. When it functions merely as a religion devoid of God’s Spirit, the adherents clearly do not know God and thus the religion becomes superficial and repugnant. It becomes only another disappointing act from the plays of mankind.

=> Read more on Paul’s (the author) experience growing up in one of these dead traditional churches.

Why do they look down upon those professing faith in Christ. You probably know why. They call them hypocrites. The person professes one thing and yet lives another. What can we expect from a person who does not personally know God? They are from the world, wolves wearing sheepskin.

How shall we deal with this problem?

Jesus warned that many tares would be brought in with the wheat. In other words, there are many disingenuous believers associated with genuine believers (Matthew 13:24-43). They might think they are truly believers but are not.

“Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn”” (Matthew 13:30).

It is not the duty of the believer to go examining the lives of others, but it is our duty and sensible action to examine our own lives (2 Corinthians 13:5). The point is that if God really dwells in our lives, shouldn’t there be a change in our heart and lives? Let’s make some observations.

Knowing God brings change

Jesus warned us again and again to be careful to whom we listen. The principle is simple, “Judge by the fruit one sees.”

“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit” (Matthew 7:16-17).

The lack of change speaks of at least a superficial relationship with God and probably a nonexistent relationship with God. The consequences can be serious. Jesus says the tares will be burned up in the last day.

We need to wake up to what it means to follow Christ. A believer is not just joining a church and finding a great group of people to hang out with. We get to live in the presence of God and similar to Moses, time with God radically changes us.

=> Walk in the Spirit

Don’t be superficial and confused by religion

We personally need to examine our lives. It is quite foolish to go along life’s path without rightly discerning our lack of a spiritual life. Surely, Judgment Day is not the time to discover only to that we never had known Christ because it speaks about no more time to make improvements upon our lives like our time here, now on earth.

Don’t let any religion fool your soul that all is okay for the basic problem has been unresolved with man’s religions. We only can cling to God’s offer of forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

It is clear that God expects all of us to know and obey Him despite the fact that many of us do not know Him but believe in other things. Only through Christ we can know God. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 Jo 4:7). Knowing God is a gift to us, the gift of eternal life.

Our life’s quest is to better understand what this ‘knowing God’ means and to actually develop in our appreciation of who He is.

Next => Meditations on genuine change

Biblical Foundations for Freedom ( BFF )

Rev. Paul J. Bucknell