Can we really know God is real? This week we will look at that question as we kick off a three week mini-series in Colossians. Many believe God exists, but how can we know for sure? This week’s message is from Colossians 1:13-20. To read it now, click here.
This week we are starting a new series in Colossians, sort of a miniseries, and this morning I want to look at the question, “Can We Know God?” Studies show that the vast majority of Americans believe in a god, over 90%, and most believe that Jesus is the Son of God, not as high a percentage, but it’s still around 80%. So most people can believe in God, but there is another question that is a natural follow-up: Can We Really Know God? We can believe in God, the vast majority do, but can we really know Him? This is a more difficult question, because if we’re honest with ourselves, we have to admit that most people out there don’t truly know God. They may believe in Him, but they don’t really know Him. And I’ll admit, there have been times in my faith journey that I question how well I know Him. Faith is like that, at times we make great progress, at other times the progress is so slow we question whether there is any progress at all. I don’t think there has ever been a time when I didn’t wish I knew God better. It seems the more I know Him, the more I want to know Him. I long for that closeness of relationship with God that some of our church fathers had, some of the Saints, that closeness that Paul had. I know Him, but I long to know Him more. But this morning, the question we will look at is whether we can know God at all, and how can we know Him for sure. I’m sure this won’t come as any surprise to you, but I really believe that we can know God. And I believe that most of you here this morning do know God. So this might be a bit of a refresher as to how we might know God. For others that might be questioning whether we can really know God at all, this might give you some things to think about. Reflect on them, and see if you don’t see God in some of the things we talk about this morning. First, one of the ways I believe that we can know God is by the mystery of creation. In Matthew 11:25, during a prayer to the Father, Jesus says, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.” What things? He’s talking about the mystery of the creative power. We cannot know God, or the power behind his creation, unless he reveals himself to us. If we seriously look at the majesty of His creation, we are humbled, because we are faced with a reality of scope that we know almost instinctively has to be well beyond human power. I can’t understand evolutionary theory, I get the basics of it, but I just can’t believe for a minute that everything out there could have happened by random chance. There’s just too much out there, that’s just too beautiful, that works together too perfectly, for it to all be random. This is known as General Revelation because it’s been given to everyone; everyone can see creation. And it’s the first way that we can know God – by seeing the evidence of God in His creation. Everyone can see the genius and power of creation and realize that there must be something more, there must be an incredible power at work holding it all together. Paul writes about it in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Robert Jastrow was an authority on space and astronomy. He was a leading NASA scientist, and founded and directed NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, as well the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. He had written a number of books, including one he titled, God and the Astronomer. In the book he claims he is an agnostic, doesn’t believe in God at all. However, he also claims that his studies in astronomy have led him to believe that the universe had a beginning and that it will be nearly impossible to discover how that beginning came to be. Scientists, for a while, had great success in tracing the chain of events back in time to a certain point, but now, he claims, they have hit a barrier to their understanding so great that he concedes that we may never understand the mystery of creation. In his book, he tells us that he believes that the creation of the world was some twenty billion years ago, and he admits that somewhere out in the great dark vastness of the universe, there just may have been a God who called it all into being. I think it’s interesting that many people who started out studying to prove Christianity is a lie, wind up proving it to themselves to be true. Mr. Jastrow is almost an example. He still claimed to be an agnostic, yet he wrote in his book, “For the scientist who has lived by his faith (in evolutionary theory) and power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.” Doesn’t sound like an agnostic, does it? This is evidence of general revelation, which in itself, just by the awesomeness and complexity of creation, brings people to at least a longing to know more, at least, perhaps, to a shallow faith. I think for a lot of people it is a beginning. Another way we can know God is through the mystery of Christ. We can know God by the mystery of creation, and we can know God by the mystery of Christ. A lot of people are drawn by general revelation, believing there must be a God because the awesomeness and complexity of creation, but that’s not enough. Redemption and reconciliation, our being made right with God, can only be found in Christ. In Matthew 11:27, Jesus said that “no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” In our reading in Colossians, verse 15, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn overall creation”. And verse 19, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.” Jesus Christ reveals some very specific things to us about God:
We can only know God as He reveals Himself to us, and so we’ve seen Him revealing Himself to us through General Revelation (creation itself), and through Jesus, a physical revelation –God coming to earth in the flesh, revealing himself to us in person. There is a third way that we know God. We can know God through the mystery of personal revelation. Creation itself is general revelation, God reveals himself to all mankind through all of creation and nature. But He also reveals himself to us individually through personal revelation. This largely takes the form of answered prayers; we can know He’s real because He answers our prayers. This also takes the form of the Holy Spirit working on our hearts, bringing conviction when we do wrong. When we feel bad when we’ve sinned, that’s the Holy Spirit revealing Himself to us. It can also take the form of that sense of peace and inward joy that we might feel during desperate times. Why do we feel peace when we should be feeling chaos? Because we sense God’s presence and purpose. Personal revelation is plentiful. But it’s easy to miss. Just as we can watch a beautiful sunset and believe that everything just lined up just right to create that beautiful sunset by coincidence, we can also look at a miraculous healing in our life, and think it’s a coincidence, or just think we have a really good doctor. Or sometimes we can look at the work of God in our lives, and come away thinking we’re pretty good, we’ve really got it together. It’s easy to miss personal revelation. So as wrap this up, I’m going to ask you reflect on those times that God has revealed himself to you. And I’m going to encourage you to try journaling, if you don’t already. Truth is, if we don’t write it down, we often don’t remember. So just spend a few minutes at the end of each day to reflect on God’s personal revelation, those times He was at work around you, and in you, write it down. The more you see His hand at work in your life, the easier it will be to see His hand at work in your life. And when you see it, take a moment to thank God for that small sign that He is there. And that He is at work. God is with you, even now. The creator of the universe, the author of life itself, is with you. He reveals himself through the enormity and magnificence of creation. He reveals Himself through the redemptive work of Christ, and His teachings, and His life. And He reveals Himself to you each day – many times each day, all so that you might know Him. Make sure you do.
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