How Can You Know God?

Christianity is about knowing God. But in our culture, what it means to be a Christian is often misunderstood.  Some think of Christianity as an ethical system.  Others think of it as an experience.  Many think of Christianity as a set of political views.  None of these gets to the heart of what being a Christian is.  At its core, Christianity is about a relationship between a person and God.  “Now this is eternal life:  that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).  Being a Christian means knowing God.

According to the Bible, there is a deep longing for God in every human being, but most people don’t recognize that desire for what it is.  We try to satisfy that longing by accomplishing goals, finding love in marriage, or acquiring things.  While these may satisfy at some level, there always seems to be something missing – something no friendship or achievement or possession can satisfy. There are several ways we respond to this feeling of emptiness:

We blame others – “If I just had a different spouse, I would be happy.  If I had a different job with a different boss or a better salary, then I’d be happy.

We blame ourselves – “If I had just made better choices and tried harder, I would be happy.”

We blame the world – “Life offers so much but delivers so little!  If only I hadn’t dreamed big dreams, I wouldn’t feel disappointed.”  We become cynical about life and conclude that any hope of real, deep, lasting joy is an illusion. 

The Bible’s message is filled with good news for people like us!  The feelings of disappointment and emptiness in life have an explanation:  God made you to enjoy a relationship with Himself.  Only God can satisfy the longing He has created in you.  And a personal relationship with God is possible because God has provided a way back to Him.

To know God, you must first understand who you are and who God is.

1.  Who we are:  According to the Bible, human beings were created by God and made for a relationship with Him.  Because He made us, we owe Him gratitude.  Because we were made to live with Him, we owe Him worship and honor.  We were made to worship God, and if we won’t worship God, we will always find something else to worship.

The Bible’s message starts with bad news before it provides good news.  The bad news is the truth that we are all sinners.  We have chosen to reject God and find happiness on our own, apart from God.  We don’t want to worship God or honor Him.  We choose to devote ourselves to things we believe will give our lives meaning and provide happiness:  success, relationships, achievements, comfort, or possessions.

The result of our rejection of God is not freedom, but bondage.  To live for anything other than God leads to slavery.  If we were made to worship God, then worshiping anything other than God will not provide the meaning and joy we long for.  Those things we pursue were never meant to provide ultimate satisfaction.  They may be good things in and of themselves, but they were never meant to replace God.  These “God-substitutes” end up enslaving us in different ways:  We end up defining ourselves in terms of an achievement or relationship and are terrified that something will happen to undermine that relationship or undo the achievement we want so badly.  Instead of freedom and joy, we find bondage and fear.

2.   Who God is:  The Bible’s story is a message of hope and freedom for sinners.  God cares about people like us!  God actually loves sinners enough to seek them out and pursue a relationship of love with them.  Most people love those who love them.  But God loves people who are his enemies by nature – people who are hostile and rebellious toward Him.  God is so good and so loving that he hates evil.  He is not indifferent to the evil and suffering in this world.  He hates it and has done what is necessary to overcome evil completely.  And because God is loving, He doesn’t turn a blind eye to justice.  He is a perfectly righteous judge who does not ignore evil.  This is the dilemma we face as human beings:  How can God be just and pardon guilty sinners at the same time?  We want God to act toward us in love, but at the same time, we can’t imagine God ignoring justice.

The word “gospel” means “good news!”  And the good news is that God has provided satisfaction for the demands of perfect justice so that he can forgive sinners and still remain just.  He did it through Jesus Christ.  God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ.  Jesus lived a sinless, perfect life, always obeying God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength.  He lived the life that you should have lived before God.  Then, instead of receiving the reward he deserved (eternal life with God), Jesus voluntarily laid down His life as a sacrifice in the place of guilty sinners.  He took the punishment sinners deserve.  God carried out the demands of justice by punishing Jesus in the place of sinners.  Jesus died in order to bring people back to God!

We know that God accepted the substitutionary death of Jesus because God raised Jesus from the dead after three days and raised Jesus to the throne in heaven, where He reigns even now as King.  Jesus now offers peace to all who will accept His terms and embrace Him in faith.

All this calls for a response:  God offers full pardon for all your rebellion and sin against Him and He offers you a new life on the condition of repentance and faith.  To repent means that you admit the truth about yourself – that you have been living as your own master, worshiping the wrong things, and failing to obey God.  Repentance means you ask God to forgive you and change you.  To put your faith in God means you believe what God says in the Bible about Jesus:  that He died in your place, that your punishment was laid on Jesus and your sins were paid for by His death.  Faith in Christ Jesus means you believe God credits to you the perfect life Jesus lived, so God accepts you as if you have done all that Jesus did.  Faith in Jesus means you quit trusting your own efforts to make yourself acceptable to God and trust Jesus alone for that acceptance.  As a sinner, you don’t deserve God’s love.  You have nothing in yourself to offer to God to obligate Him to accept you or love you.  But by faith, you are joined to Jesus, who is worthy of God’s full acceptance.  Faith means trusting Jesus alone for acceptance with God.

There is no particular formula that has to be followed to take hold of Jesus by faith.  You can say something like this to God:  “I understand now that I am more sinful than I ever imagined.  But I also believe that I am loved and accepted by you through Jesus Christ.  I turn from trusting my own efforts to find joy and meaning and approval and take hold of Jesus in faith.  I know I have nothing to offer you that would obligate you to love me or forgive me.  But I rest in what Jesus did and ask to be accepted into your kingdom for His sake!”According to the Bible, when you trust Jesus like this, several things happen:  1) Your sins are permanently and completely forgiven, 2) you are legally adopted into God’s family and receive all the rights and privileges that belong to God’s children, 3) God takes up residence in your life through His Spirit and begins to change you gradually from the inside out, and 4) you become a citizen of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, a part of the Church that Jesus bought with His own blood.  For all these reasons, if you trust Jesus, you need to involve yourself in the basic Christian disciplines of prayer, worship, Bible study, and fellowship with other Christians.  God does not intend for anyone to live the Christian life in isolation.  You need the church.  If God is working in you, look for a group of Christians who will encourage you to walk with God and know Him more deeply.

What if you’re not ready to take this step of faith?  It may help to clarify the barriers that keep you from crossing the line into faith.

It may be that you feel no need for God.  Ask yourself honestly whether those things you look to for satisfaction and joy will provide what want or whether they will eventually disappoint you and let you down.

It may be that you don’t understand the basic Christian message – who God is, what it means to be a sinner, who Jesus is, and what it means to trust Him in faith.

It may be that you have questions about how the Bible’s story fits together - are there objections to the Christian message that you can’t resolve in your own mind?

It may be that you are afraid of commitment and realize that following Jesus requires your whole heart.  Are you afraid to give yourself completely to Christ as Savior and King?

The issues the Bible deals with are of ultimate significance.  They are matters of life and death.  It is worth taking the time to find answers.  Talk to a Christian friend who can help you work through your questions.  But best of all, read the Bible for yourself and ask God to help you understand what it is saying.