Knowing God: Our Key to Worship

  

Knowing God: The Key to Worship

John 17:3

Preached on October 11, 2009 by Dale Tedder

 

 Last week Pastor Bruce began a new sermon series on WORSHIP. He touched on the question: Why Worship? He'll be developing that over the weeks to come, so I don't want to steal his thunder. Instead, this week, what I want to address is what I'm calling our "the key to worship."

 Besides being told by God that it's our DUTY to worship him, I want to focus on what I hope will create deeply within us, an overwhelming DESIRE to worship God.

 I'm borrowing this idea from John Piper who used a similar illustration to make his point...

 Suppose that on Suzanne's and my anniversary, Suzanne gets a knock on our front door. When she opens the door, she finds me standing there with flowers. She then hears me say the following: "It's our anniversary. Our cultural custom dictates that I'm supposed to do something nice for you like giving you flowers. So here you go." That wouldn't exactly sweep her off of her feet, would it?

 

But suppose she gets a knock on the door and she opens it and finds me grinning from ear to ear. And before she's even able to ask me why I'm knocking on the door, she hears me say this: Suzanne, I've been waiting for this day all year. I'm so blessed that you're my wife and I've been spending all day just thanking God for bringing you into my life. And I know that these flowers pale in comparison to your beauty, but I wanted to express my ever growing love for you by giving them to you on this very special day.

 

Now, I ask you: Which of the two versions of getting flowers do you think she would want most to receive from me? In both instances, she gets me and gets the flowers. But there's a fundamental difference between those two versions, isn't there?

 

Hopefully the point is clear: God doesn't want us to worship him only because we have to, or because we live in the South and we're supposed to worship God on Sundays. Or because our parents and grandparents did. Or because we're trying to make social contacts.

 

He wants hearts that deeply desire to express that worship... and not merely doing it out of duty or obligation.

 

So here's the key to worship that I was telling you about. Ready?

 

Þ       The better we know God...

 

Þ       The more we will love him.

 

Þ       And the more we love him, the more we will want to express that love in worship.

 

You've probably heard the expression, "to know him is to love him." Well, that's especially true with God. The better we know God, the more we will love him and want to know him. And I believe that knowing God and loving him will bear the fruit of worship that pleases God.

 

Well, let's look at our text, John 17:3 –

 

"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."

 

These words are spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ at the very beginning of what's called his "High Priestly Prayer." In this prayer Jesus prays for himself, his twelve disciples who were with him then and there, and for all believers who would follow. What this means is that in this prayer, he's actually praying for you and me. I encourage you to read all of John 17 and meditate on its deep truths.

 

In verse 3, Jesus tells us what's perhaps the most important information we can ever hear. He tells us what salvation is and how we can have it. But he doesn't use the biblical jargon that we usually hear when we think about salvation – like being saved, born again, justified, or redeemed.

 

He first tells us what eternal life is: He says that eternal life is: KNOWING GOD. Look at verse 3 again...

 

"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you"

 

So what does it mean to KNOW GOD? Well, let me first tell you what it means by telling you what it doesn't mean.

 

It doesn't mean simply intellectually acknowledging that God exists. Every now and then I've had someone tell me that they believe in God. And to this date I have never ever responded the way I'm sometimes tempted to. (And I thank the Holy Spirit for that because I would not win any friends by saying it.)

 

But what I'm sometimes tempted to say when someone says they believe in God is this: "Well, that's fantastic. According to Scripture, that qualifies you to be a... DEMON." Now you know why I've never said that to someone. But listen to what James 2:19 says...

 

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

 

But you know, even though that verse is true, it just doesn't seem very pastoral or loving to call someone a demon. Or maybe that's just me.

 

My point, of course, is that KNOWING GOD involves more than mere intellectual affirmation. But let me add very quickly and strongly that believing that God exists is huge. It's very important. You obviously can't KNOW GOD if you don't believe he exists.

 

Hebrews 11:6 says...

 

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists... "

 

But let me say again, if all I knew about someone is a few biographical tidbits, I wouldn't KNOW them the way Jesus is talking about here.

 

When I was in seminary I fell prey to an occupational hazard that can sometimes occur in the life of a seminary student... or even a pastor... if they're not careful. Because I was spending so much time studying "about" God, I began to think of God in terms of an object to be studied as opposed to a Person to be loved and worshiped. Now, that doesn't have to happen to anyone. The very thing I was doing – learning about God – could have been the very thing that drew me closer to him and caused me to be more and more in awe of him. And yet, for me, and many who have attended seminary, I began to drift away a bit, my prayer life was lack luster, devotional reading of Scripture suffered.

 

Thankfully, Ken Boa gave me a copy of A.W. Tozer's, "Knowledge of the Holy," which God used to draw me closer to himself. Tozer's chapters are deep and rich and at the same time devotional and encouraging (much like the writing of the Puritans). God used the book to convict and encourage me and draw me back into deeper and more meaningful fellowship than I had ever had before. I highly recommend the book. I've given away many copies of it ever since then.

 

Well, if KNOWING GOD doesn't mean mere awareness of his existence or only believing a few things about him, WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

 

What KNOWING GOD does mean is this: (By the way, this is the Dale Tedder definition of what knowing God means based on my study of Scripture as well as wiser theological guides than I.)

 

To know God means to...

 

Have a deep, experiential, intimate, and personal relationship with God that is marked by a passionate and continual desire to know him better, love him more, follow him more closely, and become more and more like him.

 

You see, God has existed eternally in perfect relationship with himself – within the three Persons of the Trinity. Therefore, we were created to be in relationships – primarily with God, but also with others. And so, to KNOW GOD, as Jesus is talking about in our text this morning... is to know about him, but also to have this ever growing, deep, experiential, intimate, and personal relationship with him.

 

The Bible, especially the Psalms, describes this in different ways. Now, I don't usually do this, but I want to read quite a few of these verses for you. I think it's really important for you to hear and see that is not some peripheral idea, but at the very heart of our faith. Just listen to the language that's used. All these different words and phrases describe what Jesus is talking about in our text. You can even meditate upon these verses as I read them...

 

Psalm 42:1-2

    As the deer pants for streams of water,

        so my soul pants for you, O God.

    [2] My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

        When can I go and meet with God?

 

Psalm 37:4

    Delight yourself in the Lord

        and he will give you the desires of your heart.

 

Psalm 73:25

    Whom have I in heaven but you?

        And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

 

Psalm 9:10

    Those who know your name will trust in you,

        for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

 

Psalm 27:4

    One thing I ask of the Lord,

        this is what I seek:

    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 seek him in his temple.

 

Psalm 27:8

    My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"

        Your face, Lord, I will seek.

 

Psalm 63:1

    O God, you are my God,

        earnestly I seek you;

    my soul thirsts for you,

        my body longs for you,

    in a dry and weary land

        where there is no water.

 

Psalm 143:6

    I spread out my hands to you;

        my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.

 

Matthew 5:6

    Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

        for they will be filled.

 

And I haven't even listed the verses that mention PRAISING God, or ADORING God, or WORSHIPING God. But did you hear the words I did read. To KNOW GOD is to...

 

Þ       Long for God

Þ       Desire God

Þ       Seek God

Þ       Hunger for God

Þ       Thirst for God

 

And so my question for you is this: Do you long for God? Do you desire him? Do you seek him? Do you hunger and thirst for him? You know, what's so glorious about this grand pursuit is that Jesus tells us on the one hand... that when we KNOW GOD, we'll never thirst or hunger again. And yet, on the other hand, really KNOWING GOD... and growing in love with him causes us to want to KNOW HIM EVEN MORE. Therefore, KNOWING GOD will be an eternal pursuit that brings with it more and more joy. That's why Jesus can say that KNOWING GOD is eternal life. And by eternal life, he also means REAL life, ABUNDANT life, and ideas like that. It's finding our ultimate purpose in life and living it.

 

And as I said, what's so wonderful about all of this is that God wants us to KNOW him.

 

Jeremiah 9:23-24

    This is what the Lord says:

 

    "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom

        or the strong man boast of his strength

        or the rich man boast of his riches,

    [24] but let him who boasts boast about this:

        that he understands and knows me...

 

And not only does God want us to KNOW him, but he has, as I said, promised to satisfy our desire once we come to KNOW HIM.

 

Psalm 107:9

    for he satisfies the thirsty

        and fills the hungry with good things.

 

Matthew 5:6

    Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

        for they will be filled.

 

Beloved THAT is good news.

 

And, of course, KNOWING GOD means that we know him as he's revealed himself in and through his Word, and most especially in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ.

 

Look at John 17:3 again,

 

"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."

 

The Apostle Paul talks about his passion for knowing God through the Lord Jesus Christ in Philippians 3. Listen to these words...

 

Philippians 3:8 - What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ

 

Philippians 3:10 - I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

 

Beloved, do you know – really KNOW – God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ? Is your life marked by a desire to KNOW him better? And as John Wesley might say, are you increasing in your love for him? That's a picture of the heart that pleases God. And that's the kind of person whose worship is a pleasing aroma to God.

 

I want to close this morning with this prayer from A.W. Tozer's book, Knowledge of the Holy. I really do pray that it would be the prayer for every single one of us at Southside. As God answers this prayer in our life, may we respond by loving him even more and expressing that love in a life of devoted worship of our great God and King.

 

Let's pray... and let's really tune in to the words I'll be reading. Make them your own...

 

"O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirst for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made thirsty still." Amen and Amen.