009 - 01 - Lesson 1: The Importance of Knowing God
The Theology of God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 49:42
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The Importance of Knowing God
The Importance of Knowing God
Theme verse for the class – Colossians 1:10
The Old Testament in Seven Sentences: A Small Introduction to a Vast Topic Knowing the Story We Are In
1. Where are we? What is the material universe we see around us? Where did it come from, or has it always been here? Is it real? Why and how does it exist, and does it have any purpose or destiny?
2. Who are we? What does it mean to be human? Are we just the same as the rest of the animals on this planet or different from them in some way? What (if anything) makes us special or unique? Why are we the dominant species, and is that a good or bad thing?
3. What’s gone wrong? Universally, humans believe that things are not how they are supposed to be, or at least not what they could or should be. We live in the midst of a world gone wrong, between ourselves and between us and the natural order. Why is this? What caused this wrongness to be the dominant reality of human life on earth?
4. What’s the solution? Universally, humans also seem to believe that things could be fixed and made better, and all kinds of solutions are proposed—by religions and philosophies, by politicians and reformers, even by revolutionaries and anarchists. Who is right? Is there anything we can do to solve the human predicament? Is there any escape, or salvation, from the mess we are in? Is there any hope for the world?
10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
The second prayer request on the part of Paul toward the Colossians is that they “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord” Paul told the Ephesians that they are to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Eph. 4:1).
The word “walk” indicates a manner of life throughout the New Testament (NT).
The word “worthy” (axios) = “a thinking worthy, a bring thought worthy, reputation... a demand or claim...” (LS 85). Christ “demands” that His saints would conduct themselves in accordance with truth (cf. Jn. 17:17; I Jn. 2:4ff).
Those who meet the demand of Jesus will certainly “please” Him (cf. II Cor. 5:9).
Such a faithful and obedient manner of life will cause me to “bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (cf. Jn. 15:7-8; Gal. 5:22ff).
While I am living faithfully I cannot help but “increasing in the knowledge of God.”
What does it mean to “know God”?
The Priority of Knowing God
The Priority of Knowing God
The greatest command is to love God (Matthew 22:34-40).
34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
The whole duty of man is to fear God (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
“Applies to every person” (NASB)
“This is man’s all” (NKJV)
“Because this is all that human beings were created for” (GNT).
The most compelling thought is the beauty of God (Psalm 27:4; 84:1-2, 10).
"I have known people who were impressed and awed by the beauty of nature, but I have never seen them because of that begin to lead a new life of charity, peace, and understanding. Yet that does happen when people meet the Christ who is spoken of, and who speaks in the Bible." — C.K. Barrett
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! 2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
The ultimate mission of man is to reflect the image of God (Genesis 1:26-28; Colossians 3:10).
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
The final goal of man is the presence of God (Philippians 3:14; 1:23; Revelation 21:3).
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
That which Paul has not yet “attained” of is to “attain the resurrection of the dead” (3:11) which he terms “obtaining perfection” (3:12). Until the time of his death and judgment, Paul must do as we all must do; i.e., “forget the things that are behind us and stretch forward to the things ahead” (i.e., “the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” [attaining the heavenly resurrection of the dead]).
It is the “goal” of every Christian to attain heavenly perfection; however, until that time comes we must continue to “pursue” (press) that objective.
These verses help us understand that one does not obey the gospel, gain the forgiveness of sins, and then sit back doing nothing (cf. Rev. 2:10). Satan is not sitting back doing nothing (cf. I Pet. 5:8). We will sin from time to time and therefore we must continue to pursue our goal of heaven with humility, repentance, and forgiveness of sins (cf. Ps. 51 all and Isa. 57:15).
God “calls” all into the gates of heaven who would so desire to live through the gospel message (cf. II Thess. 2:13; II Pet. 3:9).
23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
False Concepts of God
“I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.” (A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, p. 2)
1. The Absent Landlord
1 And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. 2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this Scripture: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 11 this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” 12 And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.
2. The Doting Grandfather
3. The Cosmic Superhero
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