And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of
the Lord and may please him in every way: …growing in the knowledge of God Colossians
1:10
Another
part of living a worthy life and pleasing God is by growing in the knowledge of
God. I think believers miss it on this one most of the time. We have grown to
believe that knowledge of God is the accumulation of vast amounts of biblical
information. If our goal was to become Bible eggheads to win some sort of Bible
Jeopardy to make it into Bible nerd heaven, then I would be at the top of the
class. But, that my friends, doesn’t cut it.
Part
of the error surrounding the Colossian church was a belief in acquiring
superior knowledge that would make them superior beings. Then, they could look
down their bespectacled noses at other lowly, mere earthlings. Paul’s point
here is that knowledge is not just from any celestial source. It comes from
God. And, again, if this knowledge was only the possession of a few elite
believers, then how could others ever please God and live a worthy life?
I
have a Master of Divinity degree in Christian Education. I have to admit that I
disagree with most of what I was taught. The accumulation of knowledge for
knowledge’s sake misses the point. Avoiding your family and serving others to
get your nerd on, is not the intention of knowing God.
I
believe the knowledge of God goes beyond memorizing verses and parsing Greek
verbs. To gain the knowledge of God, we must use a multi-disciplinary approach.
At Brookwood Church, we call that Connect, Grow, Serve, Worship and Reach. We
learn in community with others. We grow in the application of God’s Word, not
just remembering facts. We don’t just read the owner’s manual. We also put the
things we read into practice to learn them thoroughly.
We
take what we learn and share it with others. We learn more when we teach others
than we ever learn on our own. That’s why I would encourage everyone reading
this to open your hearts and your homes to host a small group this Fall.
Worship
takes us to a place where we sense and experience God unlike where studying
will take us. Worship gives us the experience that we know that we know that we
know the presence and reality of God Himself.
Now,
don’t get me wrong. God gave us a book, and He gave us a brain. That’s not a
coincidence. He expects us to spend time exploring and trying on His Word. But,
He also expects us to do something about it. Francis Chan put it this way, “If
I told my child to clean this room, and he only memorized my words, would that
be enough?”
I
apologize for being a little preachy today. I feel strongly about this point.
If the accumulation of Bible knowledge was the sole point, then Jehovah’s Witnesses
would be better Christians than we are.
A
few years ago, we challenged all of our small groups to prepare and serve a hot
meal to the homeless. We committed to every Friday night between November and
March.
One
small group was made up mostly of home builders. One member in particular,
Alan, admitted to me later that his attitude toward the homeless was “Get a
job.” He had built his business from nothing, so could they if they decided to
work hard.
His
group signed up to serve a meal to the homeless one Friday night. As he stood
in the line serving, Alan looked each man in the eye. He began to realize that
if circumstances were slightly different, he just might be on the other side of
that line.
A
few months later, he learned that a ministry was renovating a building in the
Tenderloin in San Francisco. The building was soon to be a homeless shelter.
Every Friday, Alan sent his crews to San Francisco to work on that homeless
shelter instead of building multi-million dollar homes.
What
Alan learned by serving that meal in the homeless shelter and what he committed
to do after that was a far greater lesson than just discussing God’s attitude
toward the poor. That experience changed what he thought. It changed how he
felt. It changed what he did.
How
is the knowledge of God changing you? Are you letting it sink down deep? What
need is right in front of you? What can you do about it? Who do you need to
forgive? What do you need to stop doing? What do you need to start doing? Take
that step today.
To make a tax deductible donation to Galatians 4:19
Ministries:
http://joytotheworldfoundation.org/index.php?option=com_crowdfunding&view=details&id=1149-galations-419-ministries&catid=8-operating-projects&Itemid=10
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