Knowing God Study - Lesson 4 Answers Ý
Copyright 2004 by William Meisheid

Chapter 3: Knowing and Being Known

Concern: There are no secrets from God

1  Why do we try to hide something from God?

Because hiding things is a habit and we may not realize we are doing it.
Fear and pride. If we don’t face it then we don’t have to deal with God about it.
Don’t want to admit that God is sovereign and knows already.  

2  What do you think God would do if you had a change of heart and openly shared with Him what you are hiding?

He won’t love me anymore.
If I admit it he will punish me just like my father punished me.
I would have to deal with it since knowledge and admission means responsibility and action.  

Interacting with the text

1  What is the main business of the Christian life? What thing, though true, is a staggering revelation to those who learn it?

To know God and be known by him.
That I can know him and that he already knows me. 

2  What does Packer say exposes whether a person is unregenerate (unsaved)? Do you agree?

Scripture will warm your heart or it won’t.
You will be drawn to it or you won’t.
It will be food for your soul or it won’t.
We sort of agreed, but realized that a lot of people claim those things (e.g. Bishop Spong) without any other evidence of salvation. Maybe this is a tool for self-examination.  

3  From what ills infecting the world today should the Christian be immune? What should this immunity mean when dealing with the problems of daily living, the briars and brambles of the human condition?

Despair – final complete despair.
The wasting disease of no hope.
We should live out Philippians 4:13 “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” 

4  How does the Bible "flesh out" the picture of God for us? Is this enough to really know Him like we know other people in our lives? Why or why not?

Shows us God in action. What he has done, is doing, and will do.
Proves that God is not completely predictable, but he is understandable.
Demonstrates that God is honest about what he reveals about himself so we can know him clearly by what is said in the scriptures.
As well as any character in any book we have read, especially a character in a series of books.
Better because we have ongoing experience of him in our and the rest of the body’s lives.

5  What is the significance of a covenant partner? Why does this matter to our journey of coming to know God?

A covenant partner is willing to bind themselves to us. God is committed to us.
Because God is our covenant partner and has bound himself to us. He makes covenants.
Jesus said we were in his hand and his hand was in the Father’s – it gives us security.  

6  How is knowing God intertwined with knowing Jesus Christ? Why is this important?

If you have seen me you have seen the Father.
Jesus personalizes God for us and more fully reveals his willingness to engage us where we are.
Jesus is our model for life as well as our model for sacrificial love. 

7  What special insight does Packer give us about the resurrection of Jesus (think about the original disciples)?

We know  many things about Jesus better than the disciples did. We have the whole story.
His interaction with us has no limits – where two or more are gathered he is in the midst. 

8  What three things compose the knowing of God?

1. Personal dealing – we meet him face to face. What Moses wanted we have.
2. Personal involvement – It encompasses our mind, will, and feelings.
3. Grace – we did not choose him, he chose us. We can only respond to what he initiated.

9  What separates those who relate to God directly (know Him) from those who have correct notions about him?

They have tasted as well as seen. God has entered the daily activities of their life, shared their burdens.
They are not just cooking the meal but eating it also. Communion is real, not just symbolic and they know it in their heart.

10  What are the three aspects of relationship that enter into knowing God? Which one has been least accepted throughout the history of the Church?

1. Mind – We think about God.
2. Will – We choose to engage and submit to God.
3. Feelings – Our heart yearns for and is filled with the presence of God.
Feelings. We don’t trust experiences and emotions. However, feelings alone are not enough. The problem with some Charismatic and Pentecostal approaches is that they make experience the core and defining issue.

11  What is unique about our relationship with God and how does grace figure into it?

God always takes the initiative.
We cannot earn God’s love. – while we were yet sinners…
There is no one too sinful to be redeemed.

12  What is the most important thing happening here, which brings utter humility to all who confront it?

The fact that God knows me. Key paragraph in the book so far
”There is tremendous relief in knowing that his [God’s] love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me.”     J.I. Packer, Knowing God, page 42.