Saturday, August 29, 2020

To Know or To Be Known

 

Matthew 7:21-23

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

                 I have recently begun reading New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton. In the first two chapters, Merton seeks to explain what contemplation is and what it is not. The thing that struck me as I read today was that there is a big difference about knowing about God and knowing God.

                 In the modern world, we tended to distill faith to an academic exercise. We moved away from the unknowability of God (the mystical aspect of our faith) to the search for concrete facts about God. I vividly remember the President of our seminary warning us first year students that the greatest danger we faced in seminary was to become theologians and lose our faith. Because I am a rather linear person, I tend to gravitate toward systematic theology, the placing of our faith into neat categories. This includes our understanding of who God is. Maybe this comes from my background in the “hard” sciences. As a biology major in college, I was taught to look for the facts. There is great value in gaining a fuller understanding of the character and nature of God. The danger is placing God in a box of our making. No matter how extensive our knowledge about God is, it is not large enough to contain Him or expansive enough to explain Him. Ultimately, although we can know some things about God, we will never fully know God.

                 On the other side of the equation, in our post-modern world, many people have made our faith into a mystical experience disconnected from facts about God. Many people have turned their backs on theology and turned toward a highly experiential faith. Whereas moderns put their focus on information about God, post-moderns have put their emphasis on feelings about God. Experience has become king. It is driven by the thrill of the mystical and the unknown. It is driven by a sense of spiritual adventure and personal discovery. These things are not, in themselves, bad. But when they become the end goal, they short circuit genuine faith in God. God becomes a reflection of our personal, spiritual experiences. He becomes defined by our feelings.

                 Both extremes of academic faith and mystical faith actually miss the mark. In both cases, the focus is on our knowledge about God. What is missing, and what Jesus pointed out, is that what is most important is to be known by God. Jesus warned that we can get caught up in our own spiritual endeavors in such a way that we leave Him out of the picture. When we try to confine God to our spiritual boxes, we box ourselves off from His genuine presence.

                 I have often heard people, both inside the church and outside the church, use the phrase “my God.” My God would given condemn anyone. My God is a God of love and acceptance. My God would never tell someone that they are wrong. My God would accept people’s lifestyle choices without judging them. All of these statements seem to echo the essence of what Jesus was saying in Matthew 7. There will be many people who stand before God at judgment day and pull out the list of their spiritual accomplishments. Lord, look at all of the things I did in your name. But Jesus will say, I never knew you.

                 I have always found these verses sobering. I do not want to be the kind of person who does spiritual things on my own in an attempt to win God’s favor. Instead, my deepest desire is to be known by Jesus. My desire is to recognize the limits of both my knowledge and experience, but to use these things to draw me closer to Jesus. My faith is a journey of discovery and adventure. There is much to learn and much to experience. But most of all, it is a journey of fellowship. It is not a solo journey, but a journey of walking with Jesus. When Jesus called His first disciples, He did not invite them to study Him, but to follow Him. The most important thing is to be personally known by Jesus.

 John 10:14

"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me--

 

   

 

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