Title: Knowing God / Romans 1:21-23
Contents
When people search for an invisible God, they use what they can see as a stepping stone. Last time, I talked about the eternal power and divinity of the invisible God, which is visible in all things that God has made, so that humans can come to know God. All things contain God's divinity and power, that is, the traces of God. Therefore, human beings were able to recognize the invisible God through all things. However, man did not have the qualities to seek the invisible God revealed in the Bible through all things. Since they have already become sinners, they only need to recognize God from the sinner's point of view.
Therefore, you should know that sometimes believers say, 'If I can see the power of God in front of my eyes, I will be able to believe more in God', after all, it is only the intention to believe on the basis of what I see. If you witness the Red Sea incident yourself, if you witness the sun set backwards, if you can only experience the experience of not dying even if you pick up a snake, you can only believe in God.
Why don't you mention Noah's Flood when you say you want to see miraculous miracles? In the end, you can see that it is not the desire to know God, but only the intention to use it as a foothold for one's faith by experiencing miraculous miracles. Even if the Red Sea incident does not happen again, even if we do not see Jesus walking on the water, God's divinity and power are being revealed through all things. However, sinful humans, discovering the divine nature and power revealed in all things, do not glorify God, but instead turn them into images of corruptible water and garbage. In other words, it was not to give thanks and glorify the invisible God through the visible, but to glorify the visible.
But all that is seen in the world is nothing but vain. It is not the things we see that lead us to salvation. You do not gain salvation just because you have come to know God through all things, and you do not gain salvation just because you experience miraculous miracles. Therefore, trying to use what is seen as a stepping stone for faith is nothing more than turning the thanksgiving and glory that should be given to God into corruptible idols.
“When they knew God, they neither glorified him as God, nor gave thanks; but their thoughts became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (verses 21-23). If you are a believer, you probably think it is natural to glorify God and give thanks to God if you have known God. However, sinful human beings knew God, but instead of glorifying and giving thanks to God, they turned them into idols in the form of corruptible humans, animals, and waste. In the end, man put the glory of God in what he saw, and gave thanks to God through what he saw. Because of this, the glory and thanksgiving that should have been given to God went not to God but to the visible, that is, to the idol.
The problem with believers now is that they recognize the God they know as the real God. Because we know God as the true God, which has come from human knowledge, and we want to thank and glorify God, the thanks and glory that should be given to the true God revealed in the Bible are all being attributed to perishable things. It's a fact. We try to put the glory and thanks of God in what we see.
For example, when I thank and glorify God through the success of my business, God recognizes me as the God who makes my business prosper, and gives thanks and glory. This is the way of knowing God, but not glorifying him as God, giving thanks, and giving it back to corruptible idols. Because he had lost his mind to things that were corrupted, only visible things became the conditions for gratitude and glory.
God wants believers who glorify and give thanks to God as incorruptible if they have known God. This is the believer's response to God, which he realized through the Holy Spirit, not through human knowledge. So, what is incorruptible in this world? It can be seen by looking at the person who came to the corruptible world in an incorruptible body. Therefore, believers should know that it is the most normal to give thanks and glorify God as Jesus who came in the form of incorruption.
This does not mean that we should neither give thanks nor glorify the worldly things that have been given us. However, we must not forget that it is for God's divinity and power to be contained in the visible so that we can get to know the invisible God and give thanks and glory to Him alone.
In other words, it is not God's purpose to provide us with an abundance of what we see, but to understand God through what we see. If you like, thank, and give glory to things that are going well when things are going well, you will not be able to give thanks and glory when things do not go well. Therefore, if I know that God is in charge of my business, whether it is good or bad, I will be able to give thanks and glorify God for being with me. This is what true believers give thanks to and glorify God.
Don't forget that everything in the world is vain and vain, vain cannot glorify God. Vanity is no condition for us to give thanks to God. Building a large chapel and speaking of God's glory and thanksgiving is ultimately changing the incorruptible glory of God into something that is perishable. The glory of God does not sit in a chapel that will decay. Glory is found only in Jesus. Therefore, believers only glorify God by receiving and relying on Jesus, who came in the incorruptible image sent by God. Giving thanks to Jesus is the greatest thanksgiving to God.
This knowledge of God cannot be realized by man himself, but can only be known through the Holy Spirit. Humans can have a sense of God by analyzing the universe and dissecting the human body. You can have the perception that 'the human body cannot be so mysterious unless it is the work of God'. However, this is just admiration for what you see, and you cannot get to know Jesus through the human body.
How can a human being who knows the divinity and power of God contained in all things, but cannot glorify God or give thanks to God, can thank Jesus, who appeared with God's divinity and power in his body, and glorify God through Jesus? This is absolutely impossible without the Holy Spirit. So, if a believer knows Jesus and gives thanks and glory to God through Jesus, it is because I am already in God's amazing miracle.
Even though all my beings are miracles and amazing powers, where the hell am I looking for miracles and powers? Please bear in mind once again that it is an idol to return God's divinity and power to what is shown. It is only because of Jesus that you should give thanks and give glory to God. When we are satisfied with Jesus, give thanks, and rejoice in our salvation through the coming of Jesus, this is the glory of God. Jesus is not known by seeing. It is only known through the Word. We were unrighteous people who depended only on visible and vain things. It is our greatest hope and thanks that Jesus has come to such us. Living with this gratitude is a life that glorifies God revealed in the Bible.
Don't try to glorify what you see. God is not glorified in perishing. The thought of succeeding in the world to glorify God, the thought of glorifying the church by greatly revitalizing it, or trying to glorify God through many things, such as missions and almsgiving, is nothing more than returning the glory of God to a corruptible idol. When the Bible says it will perish, it means that it will not remain in the end times and will not lead us to salvation. In other words, if the success of the world is not eternal, the church that has been greatly revived is not eternal, nor is missions or salvation leading us to salvation. God is doing God's work, so how can we glorify God by doing God's work? You only need to give thanks to Jesus, who revealed God's divinity and power through His death and resurrection on the cross.