Knowing God, the true Logos

Introduction

The issue I want to address today is knowing God. Now to some of you this may be really obvious, and you may say ‘I already know everything about God’. For others you may not really know who God is or what He is like, or perhaps you haven’t really given this question much thought. And even if you claim to know God, I think so often, our idea of God comes from our own thoughts, our own experiences, our own emotions, or what other people tell us. For example, how often is it that when you do bible study with friends, you read a passage, and you say ‘I feel this way’, or you read the passage and you interpret it based on your past life experiences.

For example, I just came back from working in the countryside, and while I was there, I ran into a really lovely middle aged man from America, who was working as a nurse in this country hospital. And we were living in the same accommodation and we were having a conversation and the topic of religion came up, and we found out that we were both Christians. But then he started talking about these very strange ideas, saying that the God of the bible is true, but the god of every religion is also true, and everyone has god inside them and god is everywhere in the universe, and in multiple other universes, and all you have to do is meditate, and do Indian deep breathing exercises, and somehow you can tap into this god. But what is the problem with his ‘god’? The ‘god’ he is describing, is essentially just something that he has constructed himself: a combination of what he feels is right, his life experiences, and the knowledge he has built up in his life. He has essentially created a god that he wants.

And we all do this to some extent. To some of you, God is someone who helps you when you are struggling - he’s almost like a self-help book, where you just read the bible when life gets tough. To others, God is essentially someone who gives you a set of rules, about right and wrong, and all he is, is essentially someone who tells you how to be a good person. To others, God is a distant being sitting on a throne in the clouds above, he’s not really involved in your life and he is kind of an accessory or an after-thought in your life.

But the Bible doesn’t leave it up to us to create a God of our own imagination - it’s like a dictionary, and defines for us who God is. The Bible very clearly and tells us exactly who God is and John chapter 1 is especially good at doing this for us.

1. We can know God

So firstly, can we know God at all? This question sounds awfully philosophical, but in a sense it actually is philosophical. I don’t know if everyone here is familiar with the term ‘epistemology,’ but it’s essentially a branch of philosophy that deals with the philosophy of knowing. It deals with the question of how do we know what we know? For example, how do you know 1+1 is 2? Well, it’s a pretty silly question but you may take for granted that you are actually using and applying human reason to come to the answer of 2, so reason and rationality is the epistemology used in this instance. Another example is how do you know that the sky is blue? Well, you use your visual senses so empiricism becomes the epistemology of knowing the colour of the sky.

So if we go back to the question of knowing God, the Bible affirms that it is possible to know God, and it tells us that we can know God because God is a God who speaks. If you meet a stranger in a park, can you know anything about that person? Sure, you could probably describe their appearance, but you don’t know anything else about them. You don’t know how old they are, about their life story, where they are from, their job. The only way you can know anything about that person is if that person tells you. So how can we know God? We can know God if he tells us about himself. And he does! He speaks to us. Let’s look at verse 1 - it states that ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’. John uses the term ‘the word’ here deliberately here - it is indicating God’s speech, God speaking to us about himself. But God’s ‘word’ isn’t just simple words that you hear - here the ‘Word’ is described as an individual, because he is described as someone who is with God; not only is he with God, but he is God. So who is the ‘word’ obviously referring to? Jesus Christ. So John is telling us that Jesus Christ is not only with the Father, but Jesus Himself is also God! And John also describes Jesus as the very ‘Word’ of the Father: when God tells us about himself through his word, the Word of the Father is not just sounds that you hear or letters on a piece of paper, it is Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus Christ is the ultimate self-expression, self-disclosure, self-explanation of the Father. Imagine God sending you a letter, to introduce himself to you, but instead of sending you a piece of paper, he sends his one and only Son Jesus Christ.

And Jesus Christ can be the self-disclosure and self-expression of the Father, only because because Jesus himself is God and therefore knows what it is like to be divine and to be God, and also Jesus is so close to the Father that not only does he know everything about the Father, but if you know Jesus, you know the Father -> that is how close and united they are. See John 1:18 “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” See John 14:7 “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

But you know what’s amazing? This divine Jesus Christ, who is God, and with the Father, and is the Word of God, he became flesh. See John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” He came into the world as a human being, who had to eat, sleep, shower. If you lived 2000 years ago, you could have literally physically touched him. Someone who was before the beginning of time, who created the universe, who had all the universe in the palm of his hands, he humbled himself by becoming a mere human.

So going back to the question of epistemology, John tells us that it is possible to know God, and in a sense, you could say that the very epistemology of knowing God is Jesus Christ himself.

2. We are created to know God

But why does this even matter? Why is knowing God important? Isn’t it just going to take up precious space in my already struggling brain?

Well it is important because we are created to know God. If we look at John 1:3 it says “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” This verse clearly states that all creation was done through the Word ie, all creation was brought into being through Jesus Christ. And if we look at John 1:10 it states that “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.” Not only was the entire universe created through the Word, Jesus Christ, but in being created, we were actually designed to know the Word, and we failed to do so. It is part of our created design to know Jesus, to be in a knowing relationship with Him. And what is the Word described as? John 1:9 tells us that the Word, Jesus Christ, is the true light: darkness is the absence of light, and to not know Jesus, to not know this true light, is to live against our original created design - rather than knowing and being in relationship with Jesus, we are independent, wandering in our ways in darkness, divorced from Christ.

There’s another importance to the term used for the ‘Word’. In Greek, it is the word ‘logos’ which had a variety of different meanings to different schools of thought, but it actually was a very specific term used in the Greek Philosophy of Stoicism. Stoicism used the term ‘Logos’ to explain reality. The Logos was like a divine force, permeating through the fabric of the universe, and Stoics used it explain reality and why things happen. So perhaps John is using the term Logos deliberately, because he doesn't want us to be deceived and misunderstand the true light of Christ. John is saying that the Logos, the very explanation of reality, is not this Greek superstition, but the Logos is Jesus Christ himself. Jesus, as the creator of the universe, is the complete/totality of the reality that we live in. Even though most of us don't believe in this ancient Greek philosophy, all of us may have our own alternative ‘Logos’ which distorts our understanding of the ‘true Logos’ ie Jesus Christ, and that is what John here is trying to correct.

And why is this important? Since we are created to know Jesus Christ, the true Logos, by design, and because He is the totality of all reality, the way we experience life will dramatically change depending on whether you know the true Logos, or your own distorted ‘Logos’. I’ll say that again: Since we are created to know Jesus Christ, the true Logos, by design, and because He is the totality of all reality, the way we experience life will dramatically change depending on whether you know the true Logos, or your own distorted ‘Logos’. Put in another way, an incorrect or insufficient knowledge of God will lead to a dysfunctional reality, a dysfunctional life. For example, if you don't know God at all, that leads to idolatry. If you know God, but you think he is a God of goodness only, you’re really going to struggle when you have trials in your life. If you only know God’s righteousness, and don’t fully grasp his sovereignty, your faith is really going to be put to the test when you see the reality of bad things happening to good people in this world. Are you angry at other people all the time? Perhaps you don’t know enough of the rich mercies of God. Or do you suffer from anxiety in this life? Perhaps you don't know enough about God's faithfulness, supreme power, and his personal love and care for you.

So whatever it may be, having a distorted understanding of the true Logos, even if it’s not the ancient Stoic idea of the logos, will lead to a distorted life. To live as we were originally created to be, as blessed children of God, requires that we live in accordance with our original created design, which is knowing the True Logos Jesus Christ, correctly.

3. We need to know God

But knowing God isn’t just important because we were created to know God or because it helps us to live this life properly, but we have a desperate need to know God because our very salvation depends on it. See John 1:5 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” and John 1:9 “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” Jesus Christ came into this world, and this world which we live in, is in darkness. We live in darkness, which is describing an evil, hopeless, corrupt world. And how else is this dark world described? If you see in John 1:10, it states that this ‘[dark] world did not know him’. So knowing God properly and correctly is the dividing line between whether you are in the light, and whether you are in the darkness, whether you are saved or whether you are not saved, whether you are destined for heaven or hell. And God could have left us in the darkness if he wanted to, and we would have no way to know God at all; remember, darkness is the absence of light, and darkness cannot produce light in and of itself. But look at verse 16 “For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace’. God the Father loves us so much, he is so faithful, that he sent his Son who was reigning in heaven as God, to become a mere man, to tell us about who the Father is, so that we might know him. And knowing him isn’t just knowing what he looks like or knowing what he has done. When the Bible speaks about knowing someone, it isn’t just the superficial details, but it is knowing them deeply, who they are, knowing their very character. And where does the character of the Father become supremely displayed in the life of Jesus? On the cross: we see God’s infinite love, unfailing faithfulness, boundless mercy, when Jesus died for our sins on the cross instead of us. And to those who know this miraculous and precious truth, to those who receive Jesus, and believe in him, in verse 12 it states that they are given the right ‘to become children of God’.

Conclusion

So knowing God properly is clearly the most important issue in our lives - our eternal life is at stake. And we can see that God tells us about himself in a very specific way: in Jesus Christ as the very Word of God. Knowing Jesus Christ, receiving him, believing him, and becoming children of God is the very light and life and only hope we have in this world, because John tells us that this world that we live in is in darkness. But how can we know Jesus if he physically isn’t here anymore? Well, what is the Old Testament about? If you look at Luke 24:27 “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself,” this is Jesus saying that all the Old Testament is actually about Him. And what are the Gospels (Matt/Mark/Luke/John) about? It is about the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And what is the rest of the New Testament about? It is about Jesus’ work and teachings in the life of the church. So how can we know about Jesus? By reading our Bibles - our Bibles tell us about Jesus, and remember if we know Jesus, we know the Father. God doesn’t give us an option of making up our own God, to our own tastes and preferences. God is not what you want him to be; He tells you who He is, in Jesus Christ, through the Bible. And you might not like this at times, it may make you uncomfortable, it may make your friends and family uncomfortable. But it isn’t God’s job to twist and turn himself to suit you and the people around you. God, in his mercy and love, though he didn’t have to, told us about himself through His divine Son, by making him become a man, and made him die for us on the cross, to tell us how much he loves and cares for us. So, this book is not just a book - this is God’s love letter to you. Your ultimate joy, purpose and meaning depends on this book, your eternal life depends on this book. Receive and believe this truth, because there is nothing else in this life that matters more than this. Read your bibles, immerse yourself in the Word - read it in the morning, before you go to sleep, when you go to the toilet, when you’re in the bus. Immerse yourself in Christ, and experience the light and life that He will pour into your life as His children.

Opening songs:

-All I have is Christ - in A

-Be Thou My Vision - in C

Closing song:

-What a Beautiful Name - in C