7/20/08 Knowledge Pt. 2
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We have an interesting morning ahead of us,

at least I find it interesting.

We started something last week

that I want to continue today.

We have been involved in a study of the progressive steps of growth

offered to us in II Peter 1,

steps that are designed to lead us

into a deeper living personal friendship

with our Creator, Jesus Christ.

The specific passage we’re looking at

is found in II Peter 1:5 where Peter says,

Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge...

Step one in our maturing process

is that of allowing our Lord to build moral excellence into our lives,

co-operating with Him

in His efforts to build into our lives

confidence in

and unshakable commitment to

the freedom that can only be found

in a life lived within the moral framework our Lord offers us in His Word.

Then we saw last week

that as our Lord is able to build increasing moral stability,

and with it increasing freedom,

into our lives,

we then move on to the level that Peter calls “KNOWLEDGE”.

I offered you a definition of the kind of knowledge

that Peter is talking about in this passage.

It is understanding gained through hands-on experience.

It involves active interaction between the one learning

and the thing being learned.

It is not simply the accumulation of facts,

but rather it is growth in understanding the true nature of life,

an understanding that can only come as the result of wadding into real life with our Lord

and going through it with Him.

And as Peter is using it here

I see him talking about a very special kind of learning process.

I believe he is talking about

that amazing discovery process we go through

when we begin to awaken to the basic operating principles

of life within the Family of God.

Now don’t go religious on me here.

I’m not talking about organized,

structured Christianity - CHURCH.

Obviously churches have certain “rules of operation”

that make them somewhat unique

in human society.

Those rules include everything from what time we meet,

to how we structure our meetings,

and what type of things we talk about,

and what type of things we do NOT talk about,

and how we handle money as an organization,

and what type of leadership system we establish.

And then, of course, there are all sorts of usually unwritten

but clearly understood rules of operation

that go way beyond the organizational mechanics of being a church.

Things like:

• What sort of attitudes and actions are permissible within the group?

• What things contribute to status or recognition within the group?

• What sort of personal or family image is profitable to project within the group?

• Who are the right people to ‟know”?

• Which people are best avoided?

• How will my association with this group of people help me?

• How will it hinder me?

All those things,

and hundreds others like them

we pick up with our social survival antennae in every group we ever join.

And certainly that process is intensely active in all organized religious groups.

That is not the type of thing Peter is talking about when he talks to us

about growing in KNOWLEDGE.

He is talking about our learning

through hands-on experience

the basic principles that govern

the way our Lord actually relates to us

and lives with, in, and through us as Christians.

It is actually a process in which

we begin to discover a little bit

of the mind and heart of God Himself.

And we are not just talking about

some kind of intellectual grasp of a concept.

We are talking about a kind of understanding

that actually alters the way we approach life -

the way we make decisions

and set directions in our lives.

In my own experience,

each time I begin to awaken to one of these principles,

each time I begin to see some aspect of myself,

or my world,

or my calling,

or my past or future from God’s perspective,

it is a very significant event,

one that often has implications

in all sorts of different areas of my life.

You see,

we all come trotting into the family of God

with our “rules for life” firmly in place.

We know the way things work -

we know the way relationships work -

we know the way we think GOD should do His thing.

We assume that HIS way of doing business

is basically the same as OUR way of doing business,

only HIS is on a much larger scale.

And one of the first things our Lord needs to do once we come to Him through Christ

is to help us discover the way things really operate for effective life in the family of God.

And in order to help you understand

what I’m talking about here

all I want to do this morning

is to offer you a few examples of these “Operating Principles”

so you get a feel for what I’m talking about.

The danger in doing this, of course,

is that we run the risk of confusing

intellectual understanding

with true knowledge that has grown out of hands-on experience.

When I mention some of these principles this morning

you may find your mind saying, “Oh yes, I understand that.”

That’s intellectual understanding,

and it’s all we can hope to accomplish

in a structured teaching situation like this.

But when I mention others

some of you will find your spirit responding,

“Oh yes! I know just what he means. I can still recall when that truth

became a living reality in my life.

Thank you, Lord,

for the way you deal with me as your child.

Thank you for giving me eyes to see and a heart to embrace

what I could never have known apart from you.”

That’s more the type of inner response

that comes when we have gained

the kind of Knowledge

that Peter is talking about

here in II Peter 1.

OK, let me offer you just a few of these examples

to give you an idea what I’m talking about.

We looked at one of these truths earlier in this study

and I’ll just mention it again now to help get our minds headed the right direction.

In the physical world around us productivity is the result of effort,

energy,

time,

and determination.

In the KINGDOM of GOD, however,

where does true productivity come from?

Well, Peter tells us that true productivity

is the by-product of character growth.

Now, if we understand that concept at an intellectual level

we will say to ourselves,

“Oh yes, that means I really need to be a better person

so that I can then be more successful, more productive.”

In other words,

we’ll acknowledge the value of a strong, reliable character

as being an asset in achieving a successful, productive life.

But when we begin to grasp that concept

at the true KNOWLEDGE LEVEL

we will see it

not as something that can be tacked onto our current way of doing business,

but rather as a revolutionary alternative

to the way we naturally approach life.

We will be freed to measure our progress in life,

our “success” by a totally different standard

measured on the basis of what is happening inside us

rather than around us.

It will, of necessity, have a profound affect

on the way we go about making decisions,

and setting goals,

and establishing our short and long-term priorities.

It means we will begin making our life-choices

on the basis of what will most effectively support the character changes

our Lord is seeking to make within us

no matter how it may affect

our success goals by the world’s or by our own personal standards.

It also means we will begin to discover

tremendous inner satisfaction

and fulfillment from seeing God

effectively make changes within us.

In other words, it will have a dramatic

and profound affect on the way in which

we approach success and fulfillment in life.

I can give it to you in a single statement...

or rather our Lord can.

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.

But that’s just one of the discoveries we make in this KNOWLEDGE level.

Here’s another one.

Our entire world system operates on the principle that

good or right behavior is rewarded

and bad or wrong behavior is punished.

The little boy in 2nd grade who gets

all the answers right

is praised by the teacher.

The little boy who didn’t do his work sheet,

or who did it incorrectly,

or whose handwriting and spelling is terrible

meets with disapproval

and is urged to try harder.

The salesman who had the highest sales record for the past quarter

gets the plaque and the bonus,

and the salesman who did not fulfil his sales quota

loses his job.

The husband or wife who fulfills

his or her marriage partner’s expectations

is accepted and loved,

while the partner who fails to live up to exceptions

is rejected.

When we enter the family of God

we just naturally assume

that the rules here are basically the same.

He wiped the old record clean

and now we have another chance

to do better.

What more could we want?

But then somewhere along the way

He will beginning teaching us

that these rules simply do not apply in the family of God.

He did not simply erase the record

and give us another shot at writing it correctly,

HE FOREVER DESTROYED THE WHOLE RECORD-KEEPING FOUNDATION IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.

Let me read you something that Paul wrote to his friend Titus:

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

His work in us

and His friendship with us

and His love for us

are not on the basis of deeds which we have done,

but rather on the basis of His mercy,

and His grace,

mercy and grace that has motivated Him

to cleanse us at the deepest possible level,

and pour out His Spirit on us

and give us a future of incredible value forever.

And our calling now

is not to try to be good enough

so that He will keep loving us,

but rather to discover that He keeps loving us

no matter how good or bad our performance is.

It is a principle of relationship

that defies anything in normal human experience.

Our time together this morning is going quickly

and I we’re only going to be able to look at a sampling

of some of the discoveries about life

that come to us as we grow in our knowledge of the ways of the Kingdom,

but let me just offer you a list of some of the ones that came to mind right away

when I started getting ready for our time together this morning.

And then I’ll expand on just a few more as we have time.

Every one of these,

and many more like them,

have the power to revolutionize our living

when they become a functioning part

of our life with our Lord.

So here are just a few.

• Getting comes from giving.

• Our weakness is our strength.

• Productivity comes from who we are, not what we do.

• Greatness comes from serving.

• Relationships are more important than our rights, our things, or our ideas.

• Material security in this physical world results from spiritual progress in the unseen world around us.

• Enemies are defeated by loving them.

• Freedom comes from limitations - living within the moral framework of God.

• Freedom comes from submission to authority.

• Strength comes through brokenness.

• The physical world is temporary, the unseen world is permanent, eternal.

• Ownership is a myth - everything in this life is simply loaned to us briefly and we are called to exercise stewardship over what has been entrusted to us.

I especially like that one about our weakness being our strength.

For obvious reasons

our discovery of this truth is rarely easy

because it requires us to face honestly

those areas of weakness we’ve been hiding from ourselves and the rest of the world.

But once we grasp it

the results will bring a whole new level of freedom into our lives.

The concept is stated and illustrated all throughout Scripture,

but one of the most powerful presentations of this truth

is found in Paul’s comments to the Corinthians.

In the first few verses of 2^nd Corinthians 12

he talks with his readers about some area of weakness in his own life.

Then he goes on to say,

2CO 12:8-9 Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

“...for when I am weak, then I am strong...”.

That makes no sense whatsoever in the world system in which we live,

but it is a central pillar of our walk with the King.

You see, it takes us right back to the central truth we’ve been wrestling with

throughout this whole series on spiritual growth.

Our goal is to get to know our God better.

Our Goal is to grow in the right kind of dependance upon Him,

the kind of dependance in which we rest in our absolute dependance upon Him

to do in us and through us and for us

those things that desperately need to be done.

But having lived our entire life prior to our union with our God

believing that we don’t need Him,

and don’t want Him in our life,

acknowledging our dependance upon Him is no easy learning curve for us.

That’s where our weaknesses become our greatest friends.

That’s where they become our doorways into both truth and freedom.

This particular area of truth

has significance in so many different areas.

A number of you came into this gym this morning

with something you’re worried about.

Well, the truth is you came in here with someone you’re worried about.

This is one of those few areas in life where I truly excel -

I’m a great worrier.

It’s one of the things I do best.

Several weeks ago

as I was just getting myself all geared up for more worry

I suddenly asked myself a question that helped.

I asked myself what changes my worrying has accomplished during the past 60 years

in the lives of those I’ve worried about.

With all of that mental and emotional energy I’ve expended,

what have I accomplished?

And then I took it one step farther

and asked myself honestly,

what changes am I able to bring about in any person’s life?

Can I protect another person from evil?

Can I change their heart,

or reshape their attitude,

or make even one choice for them?

Certainly I can choose not to commit evil against them myself,

but beyond regulating my own choices,

can I honestly change anything that really matters

in the lives those I care about?

Can I be God to any other human being?

The truth is

there are only two things I can ever do.

I can pray

and I can love them

and choose to act in love toward them to the best of my ability.

And wouldn’t you know it!

Those are the two things that our God tells us

have the ability to bring about real change in another person.

But the beginning of that process within me

is accepting my own weakness,

my own utter inability to change anything through all my worry and futile efforts.

And this strength-through-weakness thing is far greater than just that.

It extends into every area of our lives.

It is certainly deeply tied to our ability

to correctly discover

some of the most crucial truths about our God.

Have you wondered why God has not chosen to remove from you

that one area of weakness that troubles you so much?

Have you found yourself pointing out to Him in a reasonable, logical way

that you would be so much more effective,

and so much more productive as His child

if He would simply remove it from you?

So why hasn’t He done it?

Well, I can give you at least two words

that may help you answer that question - dependancy and grace.

I have become increasingly aware in recent years

of a remarkable and somewhat terrifying discovery.

I have discovered that my spirit’s awareness of Christ,

my hunger for Him,

my need for Him,

my evolving discovery of the depth of His love for me

seems to be motivated far more powerfully by the presence of weakness within me

rather than by it’s removal.

Simply put,

weakness draws me to Him

and makes me dependant upon Him

in ways that strength and health never could.

And now, looking back over 40 years of life with my Lord,

I realize that in most situations

God has not chosen to remove my weaknesses,

He has chosen, rather, to teach me how to share that weakness with Him

in a way that breaks it’s destructive power in my life.

And after all these years,

here is the definition of strength I have come to.

True strength is not the absence of weakness,

it is the presence of Christ

and the awareness of what His presence really means.

We think strength must mean

that God removes the weakness from our flesh,

that He frees our flesh from its corruption.

But the truth is

the flesh is never freed from corruption.

My flesh was immersed in corruption the day I came to Christ,

and it will be immersed in corruption the day I leave this planet.

My hope in this life

is not that God can redeem my flesh,

my hope is that He can create within me

a new spirit,

a spirit that can then exercise leadership over my flesh

in a way that then forces it to become a temporary tool

through which the life of Christ can be expressed through me.

So, true health, true strength is not the absence of weakness,

it is the presence of Christ

and the awareness of what His presence really means.

And what does His presence really mean?

It means that my weaknesses, my failures, my areas of helplessness

do not define who I am.

It means that the corruption within my flesh

does not determine my true identity.

It means that my true identity is now determined

by the recreative work of God within me,

a recreative work that has made me holy,

righteous,

pure in spirit forever,

God’s holy one,

His child,

His friend.

And it means that there is no weakness within me -

physical,

mental,

psychological,

or emotional,

that has the power to control my life

or to determine my future.

My future and my effectiveness in life

is determined not by the body I dwell in,

but by the One who dwells within me,

by my Great Physician, Jesus Christ,

the One who has promised me

that not only will I find Him adequate for my weakness,

but that He will actually reshape that weakness into tremendous good in my life.

It is not the absence of weakness within our minds and bodies,

but rather the depth of our dependance upon our God

that is the greatest and most accurate indicator of true strength.

And then, through it all, I also discover the truth nature of grace -

God’s grace new each day,

poured out on me in endless measure.

These are the kinds of truth, the kinds of knowledge

that our King seeks to bring into our lives,

knowledge that has the power to redefine our very existence

and literally redirect the course of our lives forever.