Dan DeHaan - The God You Can Know

S everal months ago I was teaching Colossians in the Metro Bible Study in Atlanta. Many people came to me after class and asked questions. Some were answered easily, whereas others were quite difficult. But as time went on I discovered a common weakness among the Christians of today. They were weak in their understanding of God and His character. Their questions concerning various topics such as knowing Gods will, assurance of salvation, home life, and even dating relationships resulted from a definite lack in comprehending the person of God the Father. The burden in my heart grew heavier as I continued to teach. The more deeply involved I became in my exposition, the greater I felt the need to communicate to them something about the perfections of God. Many of the truths in this book come from my desire that God the Father be put back into the Christians perspective on what it means to live that way of life called Christianity.

H ow would you answer the question, Where does personal Christianity begin? The average Christian would say that it begins with accepting Christ as Savior and Lord. That is not true according to the Bible. Personal Christianity begins with the existence of an objective and infinite God.

Genesis 1:1 assumes God; it does not debate His existence. If that personal and infinite God is not the starting point of creation, then we are left to explain every area of life according to frail and questionable speculations. Christians believe in one big, bold miracleGod. As a result, everything else fits into place. The rest of the world denies God, the Creator, and needs a miracle to explain everything created.

If I were truly perfect in all of my waysin my love, motives, actions, and attitudes, and I had the power to create whatever I wanted, would I not create a being who could appreciate me for what I am? If I were that kind of person and I knew how to transfer that perfection to you, would I not spend my energies doing so? The answer is obvious. God knew His power and perfection and longed to create men to appreciate Him. God created men to know Him. God created men to enjoy Him. God put in mens hearts the God-shaped vacuum that could only be filled with Himself. Personal Christianity begins with that infinite God. Only His person can satisfy mans cry for reality.

No other earthly creation can appreciate God for who He is. Only people have the capacity to glorify God on every level of His revealed character. God longed to create a man with whom He could commune. When we begin to see that as the starting point in personal Christianity, we then see that we are involved in something much bigger than just getting people to commit their lives to Christ.

Does God have something to say about Himself that makes our commitment to Christ all the more enjoyable and real? The resounding answer is Yes! Could Christs death on the cross mean much at all apart from Gods prior revelation of Himself? The resounding answer is No! Present-day tendencies to talk of Jesus to the point of leaving out God the Father give a cult approach to God the Son. The way many talk of Christs death, burial, and resurrection, it is as though those events constituted an end in themselves. Yes, they are central in the heart of God, but they only have substance in relation to Gods prior revelation of Himself to man.

And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee (John 17:3). According to that verse, the Christian life is qualitative life, not merely quantitative. It is presently eternal lifeto know God. Why did God create us? To fellowship with us. Why did Christ come to earth? To restore broken fellowship.

Let me warn you here, we must know God before we can do His will. Gods character is at stake in our service to Him. Many of us have belittled the name of God to the point that He exists to meet needs, becoming nothing more than a spiritual Santa Claus. We live as if there were not much to God apart from meeting our needs. If there is more to God than that, we have given up the drive to press on to know Him. In most places I preach, people know little of the desire and motivation God gives through pressing on to know Him. They have had sermonettes for Christianettes and wonder why they cannot spend a day alone with God and enjoy it thoroughly.

First John 2 gives us the three stages of maturity among believers. John speaks of the little child as the one who understands that his sins are forgiven. That stage is very important and in understanding it, we all say Amen. The young men are those who have overcome the wicked one. At that point we have a great drop-out rate among our ranks. There are those strong enough to take on spiritual warfare without hurting Gods name in the process, but they are fewer and fewer compared to what we have seen in church history. Finally, John says the third category is