1 John 1:1-5
Can I tell you what inspired me to write this message? I am subscribed to one of the Bible-discussions groups on Facebook. There was this post one day. Someone published a picture of a pile of books about philosophy. That person asked a question: Can a Christian study philosophy? It is an interesting one! I like philosophy.
Dictionary definition of philosophy is this:
the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline.
And the word philosophy comes from Greek: φιλοσοφία, philosophia, ‘love of wisdom’
So philosophy is an interesting human concept. I have a book here by Marcus Aurelius, titled ‘Meditations’. I read it with huge interest. The author was a Roman emperor. He was a very wise man. What I found exciting in his book was the concept of how Roman Gentiles perceived God. They were pagans and had limited knowledge of Christianity. They did not know the personal God, but the book nicely presents the ideas about God they had. These ideas came as consequence of observing the natural laws of nature. It is these observations and meditations that led them to the conclusions of one, supreme, divine being whom we call Creator.
With regards to the Facebook post mentioned earlier, I was struck by one particular answer. Someone provided a very erudite, sophisticated comment to the question of whether a Christian can study philosophy. It said in a very loose translation: ‘You have to study philosophy if you want to properly understand Christianity. You even have to study the Eastern religions because of the impact they had on Christianity.’
That sounded to me so dull at first and my thoughts were: Is that really so? And I replied to this person and I said: ‘Actually, all you really need to understand Christianity is to know Jesus Christ.’
And that person asked a very simple question, which was like:
‘how can you know Jesus Christ?’
How can you know Jesus..? At that point I realised it is not an easy question. And I struggled to give him an answer. The only answer I could actually provide came as a verse from the gospel of John:
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” J. 3:3
He is blind! He cannot see the Kingdom of God!
So how can you know Jesus? My hope is to give you some answers to that question today and what it means to know Lord Jesus. Before we go into that though, I need to come back for a moment to that original thread of philosophy. Human race created many systems of thoughts, or philosophies as we call them. There were countless great thinkers among our human race, like Plato, Mark Aurelius, Pascal… If you study their thought systems, like for example stoicism, you will see many analogies to the real Christian faith rooted in the Bible.
You see, people always tried to understand and get to the bottom of our existence. They tried to get a grasp of God. But to say that philosophy had influence over Christianity is utterly wrong. I was reading Mark Aurelius from a totally different angle: I wanted to discover the viewpoint of a natural man and how close he can get to the discovery of the nature of God. As I will show you in a moment, this is taught by the Bible, that the natural man can have some understanding about the Creator by observing the creation and its laws. For that reason, the conclusions of Mark Aurelius make a great insight into subjects of human mind and soul for a careful Christian reader. It is an amazing anatomy of what he believes and how far we can go in knowing about God, without actually knowing Him through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So does philosophy have a mark on Christianity? Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius gave me the necessary evidence for a thesis of the exactly opposite. It is the Word of God making a mark on human thought and our ability to perceive. The particular Scripture that supports my view is from the epistle to Romans:
“Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:” Rom. 1:19-20
So there are some things that are around us that we can learn about God by looking at the natural world and the laws that govern the world, the physics and mechanics of our reality. For example, we can look at the physical light and wonder what it is and where it comes from. We further learn that nothing can go faster than light, so it is the fastest known electromagnetic wave. What are the particular properties of light that we can study? There are so many. Light is needed for life. We can take physical, biological, chemical study approach to light properties and every single scientific discipline will bring interesting insights. Even simple observations on an early spring morning, when the rays of sun warm our face, can tell us something about God, don’t they?
But all this only gives you secondary view. You see and observe the creation. But you still do not know the Creator. You do not know God. So let me get back to that important follow up question which was, how do you know Jesus? Because only when we can answer that, the picture becomes complete.
While I tried to figure some answer, I started to consider this: Is that really all there is to Christianity? We come together, we sing these old hymns and read from that old book. But is that all? And by no means get me wrong: I love the Bible as the work of literature. It is simply amazing. The Bible is the most beautiful book ever written. Its language has shaped modern English. It contains some of the most incredible poems that touch the very essence of your soul. And I love Christian hymns. They are the best music ever written, they are beautiful and praise our Creator. But is that it? Is that what Christianity means? We gather, we sing, we read?
NO! Of course, not. Those of you who are Christians, who are born again, know what I mean. There is very much more to it, because we have a living God. We have Jesus, who lives, who is resurrected and He is real. Coming back to that first epistle of apostle John, look at the first two verses and see in them what it means to be called to be a witness for Jesus Christ:
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)” 1 J. 1:1-2
They describe faith that is tangible and experiential. Of course, I know that John was the Apostle. He was at the Last Supper, he was walking with the Lord, he was in a living relationship with Jesus when the Lord was walking on earth, but these verses can and should be applicable to all Christian witnesses, who have experienced the living God by actually meeting Jesus Christ.
There is the witness part: “We have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life”. We have witnessed, we have experienced. We can now share that eternal life with you.
“Which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;”
Jesus Christ was with the Father as the Son of God (J. 1:1), He came from eternity. Remember He has no beginning or end (Rev. 22:13). He is not a created being like we are. Jesus Christ is the eternal, living God.
The reality of Christian faith is this: “God is light”. It is our knowledge of Jesus Christ. And the question was: ‘how can I know Jesus Christ’? I still do not really have an answer to that. I do not. Because it is all in His hands. Only He can heal your blindness. True, Christian faith is a binary state. One or zero. I see or I do not see. You are either in the light or you are in the darkness.
How do you describe light to a blind person? Try to explain to them a rainbow. Or the burst of colours in the middle of autumn. Describe to them its beauty. How do you do that? I do not know. But God knows and He can show you. Look with me at the following verses:
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,” Eph. 1:17-18
God can give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation. He can heal your spiritual blindness. He can make the eyes of your understanding being enlightened. All this is involved with the knowledge of Jesus. This I mean by knowing Him personally.
I frequently read Oswald Chambers and please let me put some quotes from his insightful book My Utmost for His Highest:
“It is not enough to give mental assent to the fact that God has redeemed the world, nor even to know that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did a reality in my life.”
“I must have the foundation of a personal relationship with Him. Paul was not given a message or a doctrine to proclaim. He was brought into a vivid, personal, overpowering relationship with Jesus Christ.”
“Paul was devoted to a Person, not to a cause.”
The reality of darkness
But what is the reality of darkness? If you are in the darkness today, you do not see it. And I know that because we all come to this world blind. So I know what it is like. Here is what the Scripture tells us:
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;” 1 P. 2:9
So it is God who has to call you out of darkness into his marvellous light. I can talk to you about this living relation you can have in your life with God, but until you are called out, you will not understand what I am talking about. I can also tell you that every single book on my theology shelf is obsolete, at the very moment we reach the real and true wisdom which is in the knowledge of the glory of our risen Lord Jesus Christ. But you will not understand that, until you see. But that is how I try to describe to you the light that is in Him.
But here also is my hope for all. As long as we have this book which is the Word of God, we will always find truth and truth only in it. The truth of the Scriptures is my way to light. And when you finally see this marvelous light of Lord Jesus, you do not want anything else in your life. As the Apostle Paul says to the Phillipians:
“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” Phil. 3:7-8
These are the words of someone who had seen and touched the marvelous light. The Apostle Paul had witnessed Him and saw that nothing in this world is worth anything compared to the glorious knowledge and having this personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Comfort for Those Blind
So does it mean I have no words of comfort for those who are blind today? Not at all. I understand what it means to be blind, for I once was too. Look at the gospel of Matthew:
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Mt. 7:7-8
Ask and it shall be given to you. So if you are in darkness today, here is the answer of what you should do: seek, knock and ask until you find the answer. I remember when I came back from Nepal and I was listening to all these sermons and studying the Word of God, I started to understand that I had to be born again. Yet, I was not sure whether I was born again or not. I just kept praying every day. I kept on knocking: ‘Lord, Have mercy on me! I do not know if I am yet born again but you can do that.’ And now I know that I was just a baby who did not understand that I was born again the moment I started searching for Jesus. But I needed this confirmation, so I kept on knocking: ‘My God, save me. Am I saved? Have thou made it that I am born again, O Lord? This is the promise that you gave in your Word, that if I keep asking you will give. Father, please answer me.’ So that is my word of comfort for you: Just keep on knocking in repentance. Be persistent. He has the power to save you.
The second verse of comfort that I want to share with you today is from the book of Jeremiah:
“But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.” Jer. 3:19
This is the answer from God: Thou shalt call me, My father and shalt not turn away from me.
You are called out already! Return the call! This is the first step we need to do. Call your Father and tell Him you need help. ‘I need to see, I am blind. Father, help me to see that marvelous light.’
In this verse we also find confirmation that God is waiting for that call from you. He wants us to call Him: “My Father”
Finally, you may not feel like you have this personal relationship with God yet. But I tell you this: Your personal relationship with Jesus begins the moment you believe the gospel. All begins there with the faith in Jesus. From that point you will grow in the knowledge of God, because you will be walking in light.
May God make this light visible to you today, that you may live in Him.
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.”
2 Cor. 4:6
