29 April 2013 - know relationship

29 April 2013 - know relationship

Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

Love is how we come to know God.  This may seem counterintuitive.  Why can't he just blast knowledge of himself to the whole world so that everyone can know him?

“Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us
and not to the world?”

The relationship which God wants with us is one which can't be based on knowledge alone.  We can know all sorts of things and yet have no real relationship with them.  We can even know all sorts of details about historical personages and yet not have a relationship with them.

“Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

Love, and therefore relationship, is first and foremost a matter of the will.  Putting oneself at the service of the other and wanting to be conformed to the other are fundamental.   Knowledge of the other can exist without any of this and so it isn't necessarily helpful.  Even the demons believe, James tells us.

Whoever does not love me does not keep my words;

Jesus really does want to reveal himself to the whole world.  He wants to be in relationship with all people and to pour out his love upon us all.  But he won't settle for disinterested knowledge.  Without love at its base this knowledge quickly degenerates into exploitative use of the one who is known.

This is how God can entrust the power of kingdom to human beings such as Paul and Barnabas.  If all they had of God was knowledge and he bestowed on them his power it would be easy for them to exploit it to make their own names great.  But they do not.

We are of the same nature as you, human beings. 
We proclaim to you good news
that you should turn from these idols to the living God,
who made heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them.

This relationship which they have with the LORD is based on love.  It reveals to the world something more than its philosophies and superstitions to which by which it is otherwise quick to categorize its entire experience as do the people at Lystra.

“The gods have come down to us in human form.” 

Philosophies and religions apart from relationship are idols.  They are precisely something one can have knowledge of but not with which one can have true relationship.

Our God is in heaven;
whatever he wills, he does.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the handiwork of men.

It is loving relationship which enables one to say "[n]ot to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory."

He is preparing his people for the revelation of who he is.  But this knowledge, like the knowledge of a husband and wife, can only happen in the context of love.  And the Holy Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son.  We share in this love by observing the commandments and keeping the word of Jesus.  And in sharing in this love we experience the true revelation of the face of God!

The Advocate, the Holy Spirit 
whom the Father will send in my name– 
he will teach you everything

So let us bless his name from our hearts.

May you be blessed by the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.