Knowing God in 2008: The People Who Know Their God

We're going through J.I. Packer's modern classic Knowing God, and have just finished the second chapter. We will try to cover one chapter per week, and you are invited to join in the reading or simply "overhear" the discussions here and at the New Covenant blog.

In the second chapter of Knowing God, Packer once again stresses the difference between knowing about God and knowing God. Knowing God is not just knowing the facts, but radically applying such knowledge to our lives. Those who know God "count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus...and do count them but dung, that I may gain Christ and be found in him...that I may know him" (Philippians 3:7). Counting things as loss or dung, Packer says, means that one "does not live with them constantly in his mind: what normal person spends his time nostalgically dreaming of manure? Yet this, in effect, is what many of us do. It shows how little we have in the way of true knowledge of God."

That statement reminded me of the sexual purity conference at church several months ago at which the speaker likened wallowing in sin to going back to a dead skunk. How much more should we yearn to have joyous thoughts of God than thoughts turned to a dead skunk? This knowledge of God and not merely about God is evident in the book of Daniel and summarized by Packer in four points. As I read through each of these four, I realized how much I fall short of truly knowing God though I know about God.

1. Those who know God have great energy for God: They react to the anti-God culture around them. This reaction is not only through public actions, but it starts with fervent prayer. "Men who know their God are before anything else men who pray, and the first point where their zeal and energy for God's glory come to expression is in their prayers...If, however, there is in us little energy for such prayer, and little consequent practice of it, this is a sure sign that as yet we scarcely know our God."

2. Those who know God have great thoughts of God: The central truth proclaimed by Daniel is that "the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men." Packer asks if this is how we think of God. Do our prayers reflect this perspective? "Does this tremendous sense of His holy majesty, His moral perfection, and His gracious faithfulness keep us humble and dependent, awed and obedient, as it did Daniel?"

3. Those who know God show great boldness for God: "They may find the determination of the right course to take agonisingly difficult, but once they are clear on it, they embrace it boldly without hesitation. It does not worry them that others of God's people see the matter differently, and do not stand with them."

4. Those who know God have great contentment in God: This is reflected throughout the book of Daniel, as well as in Paul's epistles: "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ" (Romans 8:38-39).

So if we desire such knowledge of God, two things must follow: we must recognize how much knowledge we lack of God, and we must seek Christ. The next chapter focuses on "Knowing and Being Known."

photo source: Erwin C. Nielsen/Painet Inc., Illinois Department of Natural Resources

Blogging Bridges: Envy, Jealousy, and Related Sins

Bridges offers a somewhat narrow definition of both envy and jealousy - envy is "the painful and oftentimes resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by someone else." Two usual conditions tempt us to envy: envy of those close to us and envy in the areas we value most. Jealousy is intolerance of rivalry, or a fear of someone becoming equal to or superior to us. I thought it was curious that Bridges leaves out covetousness in this chapter and instead focuses on the interpersonal aspects of these types of sin.

Three important reminders can help us in the fight against envy and jealousy: turning to the sovereignty of God (which Bridges understandably turns to as an important theme in dealing with many subtle sins); remembering we who are in Christ form one body, and each member belongs to the others (Romans 12:5, NIV); and finally, realizing that if we spend emotional energy on these sins, we "lose sight of what God might do uniquely in our lives."

Bridges also discusses competitiveness and controlling in this chapter as sins related to rivalry. The competitiveness section especially convicted me - the Pearces like to brag about our competitive genes (Killer Uno anyone?). Not that competitiveness in all forms is sinful, but Bridges says that it is basically an expression of selfishness. I don't think Bridges is advocating a fluffy anti-competition lifestyle (in fact, he encourages healthy competition especially among children and teens), but believes that the Scriptures emphasize doing one's best, working heartily, and seeking to bring glory to God in everything. Competition is good, but only in the context of glorifying God in doing our best. It might be easy to get sucked into bantering over semantics here - but Bridges is using "competition" in its sinful context - not in its gaming context. But competition in games can become sinful if we are ruthless or self-seeking for example.

Sometimes it seems like American culture is ultra-competitive, ultra-self-serving. Other times, it seems feminine (not in a sexist way, but in a cultural-studies/sociological way) and anti-competition. The former reminds me of a jungle mentality, the latter of a flaky one. But there is a balance, Bridges claims. I know too often I fall into the uber-competitive category and give in to the temptation to selfishness and self-edification. But Paul says in Romans 12:10 that we are to "outdo one another in showing honor" (ESV). This verse drips with love and bringing glory to God, and leaves no room for selfishness, rivalry, or competitiveness.

Blogging Bridges: Unthankfulness (or Giving Thanks in Everything)

The next "respectable" or "subtle" or "acceptable" sin Bridges deals with is unthankfulness. Bridges focuses on three main areas that we are commanded to cultivate as gratitude toward God. Each one was challenging and convicting to me, and I wish I had the room to write on each one. The first area is a thankfulness for salvation, which Bridges compares to the healed leper in Luke 17. Spiritually, our condition was much worse than the leper - we were dead in our sins and God gave us a new spiritual life. How much more thankful we should be for our salvation everyday! A second area we need to be continually grateful for is the abundance of blessings God has bestowed upon us.

The third area was probably the most challenging for me, as I realized that it is a serious "respectable" sin in my life (though I was also convicted by the first two as well). This area is in giving thanks to God in everything - including when circumstances "go awry and do not turn out the way we had hoped." In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Paul says to "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

So often I engage in the sin of ingratitude during difficult circumstances. My (sinful) tendency is to be blind to the blessings of God in that circumstance, and to not give thanks to God until after the situation has past. Then I look back and specifically give thanks to God for getting me through and working through me (hindsight it 20/20, right?). I was using Romans 8:28 (...all things work together for good...) out of context and thinking that the situation would work out in the end.

But that's not the entire meaning of that passage, as Bridges points out. Instead, verse 29 goes on to explain that the "good" in verse 28 refers to us being conformed to the image of Christ. In other words, God intends all our circumstance - good and bad - to be instruments of sanctification, of growing us more and more like Christ. We are to give thanks in faith during every difficult circumstance, trusting God's promise to conform us to the image of Christ and to develop our Christian character through the situation. Romans 8 goes on to exclaim the promise we should cling to during every circumstance: Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Bridges writes this helpful prayer for giving thanks during those difficult times:
"Father, the circumstance I am in now is difficult and painful. I would not have chosen it, but You in Your love and wisdom chose it for me. You intend it for my good, and so by faith I thank You for the good You are going to do in my life through it. Help me to genuinely believe this and be able to thank You from my heart."