I am on a
quest to live by the plumbline of God’s reality that hangs true between the pendulum
extremes of deception. If I must live with rejection from one side of the
pendulum swing or the other, I would rather live with rejection from both. I do
not want to live in that kind of “middle ground” that is compromise between
convictions,[1]
but in that middle-ground of the plumbline of God which combines the whole
counsel of God with a whole life of living worthy of the calling we find in the
whole counsel of God.[2]
In simple
terms, I do not want a life without truth, or to hold on to truth without life.
Rather, I want to live the truth. I want the truth to transform me through the
renewal of my mind.[3]
I want true doctrine to give me true life. I do not want to only “think about these things” that are true,
honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, or “worthy of praise.”[4] I
also want to “practice these things,”[5] as
exemplified by the apostles who both thought and did what was true.
Paul said that
he was, “a servant of God and an apostle
of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge
of the truth.”[6]
If his place in the body of Christ was to bring about both faith and knowledge,
then I cannot be satisfied with knowledgeless faith or faithless knowledge. The
joy I am looking for in Jesus Christ (because he has given me knowledge and
faith that he is working for my joy[7])
is the joy of faith that knows, and knowledge that trusts.
Since true
doctrine and living faith go hand in hand, we can spend a lifetime building
ourselves up in both doctrine and faith. This post is only a primer in what can
happen to us every day of our lives as we seek God in his word and prayer. I
share Scriptures of truth with you so that you can both know and experience the
truth they speak to our hearts.
Just before Jesus
shocked his disciples with his death by crucifixion, he told them this, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”[8]The
truth says that I can “come” to the
Father through Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life. Therefore, I want
a life that is as much an experience of coming to the Father as a child would
know that he or she has come to me when looking for my help.[9]
While the
apostle John recorded Jesus’ words of truth and life prior to the cross, he
applied the things he had come to know and understand of Jesus Christ in his
writings to the churches. In one place he wrote, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us
understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is
true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”[10]
There is a
difference between saying we “know that”
something is true, and we “know him”
who is true. John says that we know things with our minds, we know that certain
things are true, but the things we know are true are all about bringing us into
the experience of knowing him who is true.
On the one
side, knowing that Jesus came and fulfilled the Father’s work of salvation “has given us understanding,” and this
understanding is necessary to the experience of life that Jesus came to give
us. On the other side is that, since we have understanding, as those who were
once dead but now live,[11]this
understanding brings us into the experience of knowing “him” who is true. Having understanding through the life we have
received in our Lord Jesus Christ has brought us to be “in him who is true.” The one who is true, the one who brings us to
the Father, is “his Son Jesus Christ.”
John recorded Jesus’
glorious revelation that he is the way, the truth, and the life, the only one
who can bring people to the Father, and the one who most certainly does bring
people to the Father. When we come to the Father through Jesus, we come to know
the Father. We do not merely know the doctrines of the Father, as though Jesus’
work was to give us knowledge that he came, with corresponding understanding of
salvation and nothing more.
Rather, our
understanding that Jesus came, and our understanding of the great doctrines of
salvation that work to glorify him and all he came to do, promises us that “we may know him who is true,” because “we are in him who is true.” We are “in his Son Jesus Christ,” the way, the
truth, and the life, who brings us to know the Father.
When John
wrote that Jesus “is the true God and
eternal life,” he must have had so many things ringing in his heart, and
soul, and mind, for he had seen with his eyes the Lord Jesus Christ. In his
introduction to the letter we refer to as I John,[12] he
tells us that he had “looked upon”
and “touched with our hands,” the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God who had come. John had understanding “concerning the word of life.” He had
personally witnessed that “the life was
made manifest,” and so could declare, “we
have seen it, and testify to it.”
With that
personal experience of both understanding Jesus Christ, and what he came to do,
John tells us, “that which we have seen
and heard we proclaim also to you.” He will soon clarify that he does not
mean by this that the apostles got to experience knowing Christ, while the rest
of the Church through the last hour would only understand the gospel, but
without sharing in the experience.
Rather, John
makes very clear that the apostles were proclaiming to us the good news of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the things they had personally experienced of him, “so that you too may have fellowship with
us.” John wrote his letter, filled with sound doctrine, “so that” something would happen to us.
It was as
though John was writing to people who were the recipients of the gift John had
sent, and John was asking if they got the gift, and were enjoying using what he
gave them. John did not only send a letter that would give understanding, one that
would merely impart doctrine for people to hold on to the way other religions
have nothing more than their doctrines to live by.
No, John had
sent a package with the letter, and the only thing that would satisfy John was
that we had enough understanding of what he had experienced with Jesus Christ that
we would open the package so that we could have the same experience ourselves.
So, John’s
testimony is that he sent this letter to the church as a way to “proclaim” what they had seen, and
heard, and understood, but “so that”
something distinctive would happen when the believers opened the package, so to
speak. The “so that” was that we who
read the letters the apostles wrote to the churches “would have fellowship with us.” John wanted all believers to not
only understand what John was writing, but he wrote it in a way that it had the
power and potential to bring people into the experience of fellowship.
To clarify who
is involved in the fellowship John describes, he adds, “and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
This sentence is to give us the understanding that John is writing the churches
to bring us into a “fellowship with us”
that includes fellowship with the Father and the Son.
This
invitation, this introduction to John’s wonderful letter, makes clear that the
rest of the letter is to give us both understanding, and experience of that
which is understood. It is as though John has written out the recipe, and
included the bread, so that we can understand how the bread of life came down
from heaven,[13]
and we can enjoy the experience of eating the bread, and experiencing all that
the bread of life came down from heaven to do in our lives.[14]
And then John
gives this wonderful declaration of purpose that can only hit the bulls eye if
we experience what it says. He tells us, “And
we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”[15]
Notice that
John does not say that he was writing these things so that our “understanding” would
be complete, as wonderful and important as understanding is to the person and
purpose of God.[16]
He would not allow us to think God-limiting things about what we were to experience
of this Christian life that was all about life in and with Christ.
John was
writing things that were to give us understanding, “so that we may know him who is true.”[17]
If we would know him who is true, “our
joy” would “be complete”. The
apostles’ joy would be complete because they would see that they were bringing
forth children in the truth.[18]
The beloved children of God would have joy because they would know they are in
the truth. All would share in the joy of the Holy Spirit because all would “know him” who is true.
Jesus is “the true God and eternal life,”[19]
and, as John had recorded for our eternal comfort and wonder in his gospel
account, Jesus had revealed in his cross-preparing prayer, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”[20]
Eternal life is not confined to understanding the gospel, or understanding
things about God. Eternal life is to “know”
God the Father, and to “know” Jesus Christ
who was sent by the Father.
John was
writing his letter to affirm the church in the things he had written in his
gospel account. This meant that he wanted people to know God, not just
understand him. Jesus had prayed that we would know God, and know the Son, and
so John declared his purpose that “our fellowship
is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” John wanted us to
experience fellowship with the apostles in their fellowship with the Father and
the Son, clarifying for both our understanding and experience that Jesus “is the true God and eternal life.”
What wonderful
weaving together of the glorious threads of divine revelation into the
beautiful tapestry of the whole counsel of God! Jesus who came can pray that we
would know the true God through the experience of eternal life, and John would
testify that Jesus himself is the true God and eternal life.
However, Jesus
was not speaking in contradictory terms, or out of some kind of
split-personality disorder. He was speaking as the Word of God who reveals God.
He was speaking as the “image” who
reveals “the invisible God.”[21]
He could say that he was the way to the Father,[22]
and follow this up by clarifying, “Whoever
has seen me has seen the Father.”[23] Jesus
is such a glorious Son of the Father that if we see him as the image of the
invisible Father, we have actually seen the Father in the Son.
This is why another
apostle would describe Jesus as, “the radiance
of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.”[24]Jesus
radiates the glory of God so that we can see the Father. Jesus is the exact
imprint of the Father’s nature, the exact image of the invisible God, so that, “in these last days he has spoken to us by
his Son,”[25]in
order that we could understand and know God.
Which is
exactly what God desires, and exactly what he purposed to do through the
gospel. Hundreds of years before Jesus came, God declared through his prophet
what he was looking for, and what he would one day bring about through the
people he redeemed:
Thus
says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty
man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let
him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who
practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For
in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”[26]
In short, I
simply want to identify that what God is looking for is that his people both “understand and know me”. We must
understand who he is, and those things in which he delights, but that is not
enough. We must know him as he is, and share in the fellowship of joy that
comes from sharing in the things that cause him delight. It was God’s will from
the very beginning to have people in his own image and likeness who could
understand and know him,[27]
and the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ brings us back into that experience,
albeit with the proviso that right now we only “see in a mirror dimly,” while one day we will see “face to face.” In the present time we “know in part,” but we live in hope of
that day when we “shall know fully, even
as I (we) have been fully known.”[28]
In another hundreds-of-years-earlier
prelude to the gospel, God declared, “’You
are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord, ‘and my servant whom I have chosen, that
you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.’”[29]
While the context demands our further attention, my point at the moment is to
simply identify that God wants his people to “know” him, and to “believe”
him, and to “understand” him… all at
the same time!
We cannot
think of belief in Jesus as only understanding, or only knowledge, or only
doctrinal statements of true information. Believing in Jesus means having faith
in Jesus.[30]
Having faith in Jesus means that we have both come to understand him who is
true, and to know him who is true. We can know and understand our God in such
ways of doctrine and experience that the things written in his word will make
our joy complete. Not just our individual, personal joy, but also the joy of
the whole body of Christ as we fellowship together with one another, with the
apostles as the foundation of the church,[31]
and with the Father and the Son through the abiding Holy Spirit.[32]
If sharing in
fellowship through this blog-post has not increased your joy, please consider
it a good start. Your faith in Jesus, and in his revelation of truth, will
cause your joy to grow. Jesus promised this: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that
your joy may be full.”[33]
We experience these things through faith (not just belief), and so John would
encourage us further with this: “For
everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory
that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world
except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”[34]
By faith we
understand God, we know God, and we are “more
than conquerors”[35]
in our Savior. I pray that you know that you share in the fellowship of joy
that is ours in Jesus Christ. In addition, I pray that, to whatever extent
anyone struggles to know these things by experience, that you will call out to
God in faith, asking him to make all these promises of knowing him real in your
life, no matter what it takes.
Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.”[36]
Take him at his word. You come, he will give. And keep asking, seeking, and
knocking, until you receive, find, and the door to this reality opens up for
your joy.[37]
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, Canada, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
[1]
Such “middle ground” is usually the cheap grace side of the pendulum swing
anyway, where people want to live below the life of obedient faith taught in
the Scriptures of the New Covenant.
[2]
Acts 20:27 (with the whole context of Paul’s visit with the Ephesian elders);
Matthew 4:4; Ephesians 4:1
[3]
Romans 12:1-2
[4]
Philippians 4:8
[5]
Philippians 4:9
[6]
Titus 1:1
[7]
II Corinthians 1:24; Philippians 1:25
[8]
John 14:6
[9]
I can attest to this, that children who want to come to an adult for comfort,
consolation, attention, will not relent in their efforts until they experience
the thing they are looking for. It should feel that way to us as well, that our
longing to know God is met with the experience of knowing him in all the ways
he promises. Of course, this will often take some new adventure through the
Beatitudinal journey (Matthew 5:1-12), but our willingness to follow our
Shepherd through the poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, and hungering and
thirsting for righteousness, will bring about the satisfaction that is the
blessing of the beloved children of God.
[10]
I John 5:20
[11]
Ephesians 2:1-10
[12]
I John 1:1-4
[13]
John 6:33,41 (John 6:22-59 as context);
[14]
John 6:50, 51, 58
[15]
I John 1:4
[17]
Back to I John 5:20
[18]
Cf II John 1:4
[19]
I John 5:20
[20]
John 17:3
[21]
Colossians 1:15
[22]
John 14:6
[23]
John 14:9
[24]
Hebrews 1:3
[25]
Hebrews 1:2
[26]
Jeremiah 9:23-24
[27]
Genesis 1:26-27
[28]
I Corinthians 13:12
[29]
Isaiah 43:10
[30]
Romans 3:22 and context (plus many others)
[31]
Ephesians 2:20 (noting that the apostles are the foundation on which the church
is built, but Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone that gives the church its life)
[32]
While John refers to the Father and Son as part of this abounding joy kind of
fellowship, he is also clear that this includes the Holy Spirit as the third
person of the Triune (I John 3:24; 4:13). Paul speaks of this also in II
Corinthians 13:14.
[33]
John 15:11
[34]
I John 5:4-5
[35]
Romans 8:37
[36]
Matthew 11:28-30
[37]
Matthew 7:7-8
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