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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity |
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September 16, 2007 Can I know God? There are some questions we must have answered for us if we are ever going to have any semblance of peace of mind. We must have an answer for “what is the meaning of life?” That is the first one. It can be stated in any number of ways. We could say, “who am I and why am I here?” Or, “am I real?” But they all come out to the same issue, is there a meaning to life that I can know, which will give order and purpose and happiness to my life? The answer to that question is, “Love God, and keep His commandments.” That is the meaning of life. The second question is even more important, and can be expressed as, “Can I know God?” Notice I framed it in relational terms, can I know God? This is slightly different from asking, “Is God real,” or “Does God exist?” Those are questions for philosophical speculation. What I want to know goes beyond that, to knowing and relating to God. It is another way of asking, “Does God care about me?” We are looking at the Bible’s answers to the big questions of life. And the answer to “Can I know God?” is a resounding “YES!” God is in the business of making Himself known. So let us look at what the Bible says about how we can know Him. We know God in nature. The Bible says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork,” (Ps. 19:1). We know this from our own experience. Who among us, watching the sunset, the geese flying south on a winter morning, or the rise and fall of the tide on a sandy beach would not say, “I see the hand of God in this?” It reminds me of the old pop song, “Every time I hear a new born baby cry, or touch a leave, or see the sky, Then I know why I believe.” In truth, the universe is too complex to be an accident. Someone walking through a forest and finding a watch on the ground, would assume someone made the watch. Yet the forest is much more complex than a watch. And the forest is only a speck on this planet, which, in turn, is but a speck in this vast universe. Surely if the existence of a watch requires the existence of a watchmaker, the existence of the universe demands the existence of a universemaker. It has been said that we could no more expect chance chemical reactions to build the universe, than we could expect a tornado in a dump to build a spaceship. Nature
shows us that God exists, and it tells us something about Him. From nature we see that He is powerful, orderly,
transcendent, and immense. But
nature does not tell us how to please Him or worship Him.
Nature does not tell us who He is.
For this we need further light, so God gave us the Bible. We know God
in The Bible. Why? because
Scripture is from God. When 2
Timothy 3:16 says Scripture is given by inspiration of God it is giving a
picture of speech. It
literally means the Bible is “God breathed.”
How do words come out of our mouths?
They are breathed out. They
come out on our breath. So Paul is saying here that the Bible is the word
of God as though it came out of His very mouth.
And what does the Bible do? The
Bible reveals God’s nature and will. It fills in the details
we cannot discern from nature.
Nature reveals the existence of God, the Bible reveals the heart of
God. So, if you want to know God, read the Bible. We know God
in Christ. Sometimes I hear
people say, “If God is real, why doesn’t He do something to show
us?” They are asking for a
sign. They want God to do a
trick. In
the musical, Jesus Christ Super Star, Pilate, speaking to Jesus at His trial
says, “Prove to me that you’re no fool, walk across my swimming
pool.” He wants a sign,
like the Pharisees, and like so many people in our world.
Well, God has done something.
God wanted us to know Him so much He actually took on flesh and
walked on this planet to show Himself to us.
We call this revelation Jesus Christ.
The Bible says, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in
the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him,” (Jn. 1:18). He is the
explanation-revelation of God. Again
the Bible says, “If ye had known me, ye
should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and
have seen him,” (Jn. 14:7). We
“see” God when we “see’ Christ.
But how do we see Jesus? He
is revealed in the Bible. There
is no other way to know Him. I
once saw a “picture” of “Christ” smoking pot.
You may know that hippies loved Jesus, and claimed Him as one of
them. The problem is He
wasn’t one of them. They
made up a Jesus of their own. They
created a god in their own image, and used it to justify their values and
actions. Other groups do the
same. There are feminist
Jesuses, male chauvinist Jesuses, rock star Jesuses, rapper Jesuses, biker
Jesuses, and many more. But
they are made up. To know God
in Christ we must know the right Christ, the real Christ.
He is revealed in the pages of the Bible, and there alone.
Our task is to learn of Him, know him, and change our values,
ideas, and actions so that we conform to His, rather than making Him
conform to ours. We know God
by faith. I have not proved
the existence of God. Indeed
I can’t. I can’t make Him walk across your swimming pool or do
tricks so you can believe in Him. But
you can know him by faith. Faith
is simply the God given assurance that He is, and that you can trust Him
with your life and your soul. In
faith the Holy Spirit gives assurance to your soul that you know Him and
that you are at peace with God. But
this must be biblical faith, not something we have made up.
More about that later. Finally,
you know that you know God because you have been changed inside.
If you really know God, your life is different, and you know it is
different. You know that the
things the Bible calls sin are less appealing to you than they were a few
years ago. And some of the
things you once considered boring, like prayer and worship are now very
interesting, even vital to you. Once
you were concerned about self
indulgence and satisfying the desires of the flesh.
Now you are concerned with things like the Church, the family of
God, prayer, worship, holiness, and understanding the Bible.
2 Corinthians. 5:17-18 says “Therefore, if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold,
all things are become new, and all things are of God, who hath reconciled
us to Himself.” This verse
means the old things of sin and self have been put aside, and the new
things of God and holiness have been taken up.
Does it mean we are perfect? No. It does mean we want to be. The single most important question of life is “Can I know God?” And the answer is, “Yes.” God has revealed Himself, and you can know Him in nature, in Scripture, in Christ, in faith, and in the newness of life only He can give. You can know God. This naturally leads to the next question, “Do you know God?” God help us to know Him. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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