God Is

Keri Folmar talks about a little girl in kindergarten who one day decided to draw God. Her teacher wondered out loud, “No one knows what God looks like.” The little girl responded, “Y’all are about to find out!” Much in the same way, we all try to draw and create a picture of God to our own liking. We prefer to give Him specific attributes that either make Him bearable or conform Him to our desires. Many times what we end up drawing is actually a picture of ourselves. We are all naturally selfish and have placed ourselves at the centre of existence. We believe that everything else exists to please us. However, there is an almighty God who has created us and apart from whom we cannot find joy and satisfaction. An object that is created finds its purpose and meaning in its creator. There is a God-shaped hole in our hearts and nothing can ever fill it apart from God who created us. Graciously, this great God has condescended and revealed Himself to us such that we do not have to make weak and puny caricatures to represent Him. In his second letter to some scattered churches, Peter the Apostle makes a huge case for knowing God. These were churches that were facing severe challenges from outside (great persecution) and also challenges from within themselves (false teachers). Peter ensures that he gets to remind them of a great gift bestowed upon them — the knowledge of God. In this article, we will look at 2 Peter and see why we should fight to know God as I begin a series on the attributes of God. By knowing God, we get to fully grasp His countenance, fully see His care and stand firm on Him as our core. Countenance — The Blessing of Grace and Peace (1:2) Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Among the New Testament epistles, only the letters of Romans, Hebrews, James, 1 John and 3 John do not contain this greeting. Only 4 out of 21 epistles. Interestingly, it is only Peter who explains how we grow in grasping and understanding the particular truths expressed in the verse. By greeting the church in this way, the Apostles were echoing the blessing in Numbers 6:24–26: ‘The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. The Israelites were at the foot of Mt. Sinai and Moses had just finished setting up and anointing the tabernacle. Moses had also just given the Israelites all the laws of God and the presence of the Lord had come and filled the tabernacle. It now became a holy tabernacle and was situated at the very centre of the camp. Since the Garden of Eden, this was the first time the God of all creation once again dwelt among His people. He has allowed His presence to dwell in a tent. The Israelites had experienced God’s massive salvation in the ‘Exodus’ but had not yet reached the Promised Land. They were therefore about to embark on the journey to enter Canaan. But before this, God gives them a blessing, an assurance that He has literally taken notice of His people and is treating them with favour. The apostles were writing to a people who had obtained faith by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. In this faith and by the grace of God, these people were now on a ‘wilderness’ journey towards a ‘Promised Land’ hanging onto great and precious promises of what was to come. Much like the Israelites, they needed to hear God’s blessing and assurance of His graciousness and peace while they sojourn on a foreign land. Peter then says, this particular grace and peace, this particular blessedness from the Lord, is multiplied to us and made more real by knowing God more. - It is through knowing the Living God and what He has done that we get into a relationship with Him. He chose an unworthy people who deserved His wrath, delivered them from bondage, gave them precious promises and bestowed on them His blessing. Do you know this God and what He has done to save His enemies? - It is through our growth in the knowledge of who God is and what He has done that we get to fully grasp and hold fast to the grace that teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and the peace that surpasses all human understanding. Care — The Blessing of everything we need (1:3) His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence As if having a God who looks to us with favour and has made peace with us is not enough, He has given us everything we need. We (Christians) are currently in wilderness experience as exiles journeying towards a promised land. In a very consumer-driven and narcissistic world, we are tempted many times to believe we require many things that we actually don’t. God isn’t interested in helping us live our best life now by giving us every puny little thing we ask for. He is in the business of relentlessly transforming us preparing us for a glorious inevitability. Elisabeth Elliot puts it this way, ‘God had promised us that He has given us everything that we need, such that, what we don’t have, we don’t need.’ This is greatly encouraging and should bring much contentment to our hearts even as we look forward to His return. It calls for discernment to know this and live it out in our daily lives. The Word of God says that it is through the knowledge of Him who has called us that we get to receive, understand and fully grasp how His power has granted to us all things pertaining to life and godliness. - The more we know God, the more we settle into the providence that He has given us in this life. The more we know God the more our heart’s desires are aligned with His will and we get to see the great work He is doing in our lives. - Christian, do you run this race marked out for us with your own strength? Do you believe that you can be godly through your own work? It is through knowing God more, and what He has done that you do receive the power to live a godly life. Core — The blessing of a Firm Foundation (3:17–18) You therefore beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people, But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Peter dedicates the whole of chapters 2 and 3 to warn his readers about false teachers who were denying the authority of the Scriptures and also denying Christ’s return. These greedy teachers aimed to exploit Christians by appealing to their evil desires. They distorted the Scriptures for their own personal gain and thus maligned the character of God Peter’s charge for them was to grow both in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so as have a firm foundation in their faith. By knowing God more, they would not be easily carried away by the destructive heresies of lawless people. The distortion of God’s character has its root way back then in the Garden of Eden where the serpent introduced a false idea about God into Eve’s mind. This led to the first cosmic treason against a holy God and hence the beginning of all death, disease, destruction, depression and misery. Satan asked ‘Did God really say?’ and proceeded on to say, ‘You shall not surely die’. This was in a very real sense an attack on God’s character. Sinclair Fergusson puts it this way, ‘In Eden, the Serpent persuaded Eve and Adam that God was possessed of a narrow and restrictive spirit bordering on the malign. After all, the Serpent whispered, “Isn’t it true that He placed you in this garden full of delights and has now denied them all to you?” The implication was twofold. It was intended to dislodge Eve from the clarity of God’s word (Did God really say?). Later the attack focused on the authority of God’s word (You will not surely die). But it was more, it was an attack on God’s character. For the Serpent’s question carried a deep sinister innuendo: What kind of God would deny you pleasure and joy if He really loved you? He allows you nothing yet He demands you obey Him.’ At any particular time you will be tempted, you have to remember that there is a truth about God that you’re being asked to forget and a lie about Him that you’re being compelled to believe. In order for us to maintain our stability, Peter gives the remedy of growing in our knowledge of this God so that we are not carried away. Conclusion — Mark 12:29–30 Jesus answered, ”The most important is this, “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” The God of all creation created you and redeemed you to have a relationship with you. He has given His greatest commandment through Jesus Christ as one of loving Him. You cannot love someone who you don’t know. You have to intentionally find out more about them in order to truly love them. The more you know someone, the more you love them. The more you love them, the more you want to know about them. And the chain reaction continues. Every day you wake up and look in the mirror, remember that what you see in the mirror is the god the world is calling you to worship. Compare that god with the glorious God revealed in the Scriptures as you study to know Him more.