In order to believe in Christ, we have to know Christ. This devotion looks at how our ignorance can lead us away from Christ and the consequences for not knowing Him as our Savior.
Nuggets
- Knowing Christ consists of more than just worldly knowing Him.
- We choose whether we are going to submit to God or not, but there are consequences when we don’t.
Devotions in Knowing Christ series
Knowing Christ is the most important thing we will do in our lives. By knowing and accepting Him as our Savior and Redeemer, we gain peace, holiness, and salvation.
These are — and should be — very important to us. Because we gain eternal life through salvation, we can give up whatever God asks of us. What we gain to replace it far exceeds what we give up.
I used Lyth and Burder’s The Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ as the foundation of the devotion.
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Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Let's Put It into Context #2
We’ve talked a lot about God’s wisdom. Let’s see if we can learn anything more.
Horton described the different kinds of wisdom found in Scriptures.
- It is one of God’s attributes.
- Jesus is called God’s wisdom (I Cor. 1: 24).
- The Holy Spirit within us is wisdom.
- Scriptures contain His wisdom (Lk. 11: 49).
- The gospel proclaims God’s wisdom (I Cor. 2: 7).
- Creation shows God’s wisdom.
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Let's Put It into Context #3
The world is used to identify any who has not been regenerated — in other words, has not ABCDed. Putting it in its simplest form, the world is the opposite of the church.
- Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal new birth and requickening that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
Comparing Knowledge of Christ to Ignorance
“Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe” (I Cor. 1: 21 NLT)
Knowing Christ consists of more than just worldly knowing Him.
We may know things without really knowing them. We know of people because we see them on TV, read about them in books, and hear others talking about them.
But if we have never met them, we really don’t know them.
Even if we have met someone, we may not truly know them. So many of us keep a part of ourselves back and don’t share it with others.
God has only revealed some of Himself to us. Yes, He tells us Who He is in Scriptures, but there is much that He does not tell us. He may reveal some about how things work and how He accomplished what He did, but He doesn’t tell us everything.
You see, knowledge is important, but it isn’t the most important thing. Knowing God’s wisdom is important.
Knowing God’s righteousness and love are more important.
But worldview people don’t want to do that, do they? Dale told us what they do instead. He wrote,
“Wise men have [endeavored] to construct a philosophy of the universe, and to reach God by reaching His thought as it underlies the universal order. They have not succeeded. In our times the [endeavor] to master the laws of Nature has achieved a brilliant success; but this is science, not philosophy. Philosophy attempts to discover what lies behind and above all the laws. It asks whence and where the universe came, and is not satisfied with learning its present structure or its history. It attempts to reduce all things to unity — to determine the relation of man to all things, to verify the certainty of the real value of human knowledge, and to discover the truth about destiny. If it had been successful it would have reached the thought of God, and so, in a measure, God Himself. … It is not the theory that holds the planets in their orbits, but the force which the theory attempts to explain.”
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Elaine-speak. Mankind has tried to reach God by attempting to understand Him. We use science to try to explain the processes God used and to replicate, fix, and duplicate His work. We use philosophy to give things meaning.
In other words, we try to be God.
We aren’t.
We try to reduce everything to our understanding and, more importantly, our opinions. We want things to be the way we want them.
Doesn’t work like that.
God is still Creator and Sustainer. He is still in control of His creation — which includes us.
No, God doesn’t want us to be dumb. He wants us to acknowledge His superiority in all things.
In fact, Dale stated that our wisdom increases after we accept God’s gift of salvation. That is logical. We are giving Him the glory and honor He deserves.
It is more than that. God revealing Himself only to His children.
Think about it. The Plan of Salvation is all about getting knowledge. It is to deal with our ignorance of Who God is and how He expects us to act.
We can’t gain salvation if we don’t know God through Christ.
The problem with many is that they feel the Plan of Salvation is foolish. For that matter, they think all of Scriptures are foolish. (Talking donkeys, burning bushes that don’t burn, lame men who get up and dance — seriously?)
Yes, very seriously. Scriptures are true.
Sexton brought up a good point. He reminded us that the Jews asked several times for signs. “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees told Jesus, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from you’” (Mk. 12: 38 ESV).
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The Jews asked for the signs so that they could understand. It would give them knowledge of what to look for in the future.
But God wants us to operate on faith, not sight. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11: 1 ESV).
What does Scriptures say to remedy the ignorance? “And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation’” (Mk. 15: 16 ESV).
Ooo, baby. Worldview people don’t want us to preach to them.
But that is what they need — and it is our marching orders.
What we are preaching is the gospel. That is fact, not foolishness. We are a witness to Christ, not just spouting theories and opinions.
No, they aren’t going to take kindly to being corrected. But it is what they need.
They aren’t going to like they can’t depend on their worldly wisdom. They don’t want to need faith. Faith is a gift from God and a work of the Spirit that enhances the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives and distinguishes us from others.
They think they don’t need to know and believe in Christ — especially a crucified Christ. They do.
The King James Version brings out a point that the English Standard Version doesn’t. “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (I Cor. 1: 21 KJV).
It pleased God. What does the it refer to? The foolishness of preaching.
Yeah, that thing we say we aren’t qualified to do and, many times, refuse to do.
Close tells us what preaching is.
- Announcing God’s gospel and Plan of Salvation to those who need to hear
- Calling sinners to repentance
- Revealing God to others
- Showing His mercy
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It is as simple as that.
Oh, yeah. It is a little more involved for the Pastor Steve-types.
But really it isn’t for us when we witness. We don’t want to get it tangled with the worldview’s culture, polish, and rhetoric.
For us, it is a simple statement to others of what we believe.
Finlayson said something I hadn’t thought about before. He noted that preaching was new to that time period. We hear about the reading of the law and the prophets in the synagogue, but we don’t hear of its interpretation. There may have been, but we don’t hear about that.
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Preaching is a form of instruction. We help others gain the knowledge that we have. The interpretation of the Scriptures helps us to really know what God is saying.
Oh, yeah. The worldview people may struggle with accepting this. That is to be expected, and God is okay with us working out how something so unreasonable can be true. That shows He is not a dictator and increases our faith.
Don’t miss the last part of the verse. Yes, Mark’s gospel says we are to preach “… the gospel to the whole creation’” (Mk. 15: 16 ESV).
Paul said “… he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe” (I Cor. 1: 21 NLT).
These verses don’t contradict each other. Mark told us this is in our job description. Paul told us what God accomplishes when we do our job.
It is God’s job to save, not ours. It is our job to believe.
Our part is the simple part, too. If we can understand that we have sinned, we can understand that we need to be saved.
It is just hard for some people to understand and accept they can’t do it on their own. They need God.
Consequences of Knowing but not Doing
“Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused” (Rom. 1: 21 NLT)
We choose whether we are going to submit to God or not, but there are consequences when we don’t.
There is a difference between having head knowledge of God and heart knowledge. We can have heard there is a God in Heaven. Because of the Christmas season, we may know that He sent a little baby to be our Savior.
But some choose not to fully submit to Him. They don’t get their worship of Him to the heart level.
The interesting part of the verse is the middle part. “… And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like …” (Rom. 1: 21 NLT).
We’ve said that an idol is an object of worship in any form that is below God that takes from God the worship that is His due and is needy and dependent on its worshipers. So, idolatry is the worship of that object.
South expanded on that definition — and then narrowed it. He wrote, “So idolatry is a worshipping the true God in a way wholly unsuitable to His nature — viz., by the mediation of corporeal resemblances of Him.”
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True, they may have felt like they were focusing their worship. Too many times, they weren’t. They were substituting their idea of worship of God for true worship.
What was the truth for which they were substituting? South told us what is true.
- God is Sovereign God Who is “… perfect, omniscient, omnipotent, eternal, good, and holy.”
- He created all seen and unseen things.
- God deserves our worship.
- We just worship Him in ways that are righteous.
- We must repent when we worship Him in other ways.
- We will be punished for those deviations.
Too many times, we know the way God wants us to worship Him. But we try to do our own upgrades. Then we aren’t worshiping God the way He requires.
But back to my tripping over South’s definition of idolatry. I like what Wardlaw says about it. He wrote, “The spirit of idolatry is the alienation of the heart from God; the withholding from Him, and the giving to other objects, that homage and those affections to which He alone is entitled. Every man’s idol is that on which his heart is supremely set.”
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I like that because most people don’t physically bow down to something — though they can. But it is more a condition of the heart.
Idolatry is really focused on the object of worship, not just how we do it.
Venn said something that was interesting. He said that, when we get blessings, we don’t track them back to see they are from God. We may think we’ve earned it, or it is something normal — especially if others have the same blessings.
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To get the knowledge to the heart level and worship God correctly, we need to study His Word and His character.
Wardlaw said something I am sure worldview people would quickly try to counter. He wrote, “Immorality in the life is the natural consequence and evidence of impiety towards God in the heart, while the love of sin inspires the wish that God were other than He is.”
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There are consequences when we sin. One of them is immorality. This sin makes us want our way to be acceptable, when God says it isn’t.
Making the Connections #1
Dale gave a good explanation of what Paul was addressing in this letter to the Corinthians. They were doing things the way they had always done it and expected Paul to tell them everything they were doing was good and make the gospel understandable — but to rubberstamp their understanding.
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Ooo, baby. Don’t we do that? Oh, God. Please let us keep singing our hymns, and don’t make us add any contemporary hymns. Explain about how we need to work to earn Your approval. Don’t talk to us about relationships and submitting in obedience to You. Just tell us that You are giving us eternal life, and let it be done with that.
Paul wasn’t having any of that. Paul always laid things out God’s way.
God doesn’t compromise with the worldview. He doesn’t pander to our intelligence.
Making the Connections #2
Close put the world Paul lived in into perspective. Yes, Rome ruled over Israel, and they were definitely warriors. But it wasn’t a barbarous age. In fact, it was a time “… when man’s intellect had been developed to the utmost.”
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True, we’ve learned a lot since then, but the mindset was probably still the same. They were probably proud of the advancements they had made, so they didn’t feel they needed God.
But mankind needed God just as much then as we need Him now.
Making the Connections #3
Spurgeon nailed the worldview perspective. Whether there is a God or not is not their priority. It is all about whether they can prove it or not.
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If they can’t prove it their way, their consciences will be clear to not believe.
Doesn’t work that way.
I don’t know what is worse. We don’t have the right concept of God — or we just don’t care and do what we want anyway.
How Do We Apply This?
- Learn about the Plan of Salvation.
- Learn humility so we can accept God’s Plan.
- Preach God’s Word to others.
- Hear God’s Word, believe Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer, and confess God is Sovereign Lord.
- Give up thinking that we can earn salvation on our own merits.
- Don’t give excuses when we worship God the wrong way.
- Use our knowledge to increase our worship to God.
- Better our character to better our work.
- Strive to imitate God.
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Father God. We want to know Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. We want to know You as Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign God. We submit all to You – what we know and what we don’t know. We worship You. Amen.
What do you think?
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