Made Known

Made Known

This message will talk about the glory of God revealed in Jesus, with an aside to give attention to the Holy Spirit as the revealer of truth.
(John 1:18)

Sermon Outline

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” (John 1:18)

How do you know you know God?

There’s a difference between knowing God and knowing information about God.

How Jesus makes God known

The Father and Son invite us to share in their relationship. We come to know God three ways:

  1. 1. We observe Jesus.
    1. In John’s Gospel, Jesus reveals what God is like. He sees us. He pursues us. He challenges us. He gives life. He is humble. He loves us, and never coerces.
  2. 2. We trust what we observe.
    1. In how we talk with God: we pray to the God Jesus shows us, not the God we fear He might be.
    2. In how we live: how we treat people, how we forgive, how we love, how we accept our limits and His infinite reach.
  3. 3. He lives in us.
    1. The mystery of mutual indwelling: Christ in us, the Father in Christ, us in Christ, Christ in the Father. We know God by being known by Him, and nothing can separate us from that.

Knowing Him is eternal life (John 17:3)

Eternal life is not measured in time but in relationship. It begins now. It is a never-ending discovery of who God is and who we are.

He chose to know separation, so we wouldn’t have to (John 19)

On the Cross, Jesus entered the destruction and separation from the Father that we were destined for, so that we could know Him and be known by Him for eternity.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. How do you know you know God?
  2. What is your favorite story about Jesus? What does that story reveal about what God is like?
  3. When you talk to God, what do you imagine He’s like when He’s listening to you? Why do you picture Him that way?
  4. Of the things Jesus shows us about God (He sees us, pursues us, challenges us, gives life, is humble, loves us, never coerces), which is hardest for you to actually believe? What in you resists it?

DIG DEEPER

Exploring Faith

  • This verse says Jesus reveals what God is really like. Read John 4 (Jesus and the Samaritan woman). Pay attention to what Jesus does, says, and how He treats her. What does that story tell you about what God is like?

Growing in Faith

  • Pick one Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John). Read one chapter a day for the next two weeks. Each day, write down one observation about what God is like, based on Jesus’ life, words, and relationships.

Centered in Faith

  • Choose someone in your life right now who is hard to love, hard to forgive, or hard to be patient with. This week, treat them the way Jesus would treat them. Notice what happens in you and in them.

Previous
Grace and Truth