Know vs. Believe

Introduction

We are a culture that idealises knowledge. We begin trying to impart knowledge to our children at an extremely young age. I remember reading to my kids while there were still infants. They had probably heard the very hungry caterpillar a thousand times before they could even hold their heads up. We put them into preschool by the time they are two. Then at 5 they start their formal schooling in Kindergarten. They will spend the next 13-17 years of their life in school, some even more. All to make sure they have knowledge.

As adults everyone wants to be in the know. You want to know what is happening in the news, we want to know what other people are doing. Probably the worst thing you can say to another person is “it is none of your business.” Have you ever had an accident or something like that happen in your neighborhood? I remember one time on a Saturday morning a fire engine and ambulance showed up at a house just down the street from us. We spent the next several hours watching through our window as they eventually had to cut out the door frame and make a hole in the wall of the house before loading the person on the back of a flat bed tow truck to be taken to the hospital. We wanted to know what was going on.

If something happens in our town it is immediately all over Facebook and if the article doesn’t name a name you know someone will. Everyone want to know.

But just be cause we know something doesn’t mean that we will believe what other people say. In our passage today we see Peter move his audience from knowing, to believing, and finally to being transformed by that knowledge.

Knowing

It is easy to have head knowledge

Head knowledge comes from different sources

Schooling

Reading

Experience

Knowledge means understanding a topic

Knowing is not necessarily believing

My interest in medieval Britain

Believing

Not just head knowledge

Believe means understanding that something is real

accept that something is true, genuine, or real.

Believing does not necessarily mean that you trust

James 2:19 NIV

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

Transforming

Belief is nothing without transformation

God calls us to be holy, transformed, set apart

Transformation means trusting God

If we are not transformed then we are not fully trusting God.

Conclusion

Knowledge is only the first step in our faith walk. We have to allow that knowledge transform us into the new creations that God has designed us to be. As we allow the knowledge to permeate us, it become a core belief. It become who we are. Then and only then will it transform us into the creations that wants us to be. Let us pray.