I once had the joy of meeting Tennessee Ernie Ford, who was actually a dear Christian man. I was able to talk to him about his testimony that he had just shared on stage a few minutes before. But while I met him, I could never say that I knew him.
In contrast, however, every Christian can know God personally. Paul speaks of our knowledge of [God] in Ephesians 1:17. The Greek word behind knowledge (epignosis) is a powerful one that speaks of an experiential, personal knowledge that is full and thorough, a knowledge that is precise and correct. How vital it is that we have full, precise, thorough, and correct knowledge of God.
A driving force in my own life and ministry is a passion for precision, not the ambiguity and Relativism that rule our day. Paul speaks of precise doctrine, exact knowledge, not something vague and relative to each person’s experience. The modern notions of “open mindedness” and “tolerance” were foreign to Paul’s thinking and they should be expunged from the thinking of Christians today. What is needed in the Church is an epignosis—a deeper, fuller, more precise knowledge of God.
I was thoroughly shocked and appalled the day I heard a fundamental preacher say, “Well, we really come to the place in the Christian life where we pretty much know all there is to know; from there on the Christian life is just review and constant revival.” Depending upon his attitude, that is either incredibly ignorant or blatantly arrogant. May Paul’s words ring in our ears, “That I may know Him” (Phil. 3:10). Even after 30 years of ministry, Paul was constantly growing and deepening in knowledge and intimacy, learning more and more and more. Who are we to do any less?
As one commentator writes, “Here Paul puts his emphasis on the great need of the Church. The wisdom and focus of the world is summed up in two words: ‘know yourself,’ and the focus of many, perhaps most, Christians is very often the same. They are occupied with getting a knowledge of self, improving their Gestalt, rather than knowing Christ! As a result they are stunted in their growth.” How right he is! The norm today is pop-psychology and shallow sermonizing. The Gospel has been reinvented and ministry redefined. A deep knowledge of Christ and His Word, attained primarily through doctrinal preaching, is shunned.
In contrast, Harry Ironside recounts an incident in his life when as a young preacher he met an old, godly Irishman, Andrew Fraser, who was dying of tuberculosis. With lungs almost gone, he could speak only in a whisper, but asked Ironside, “Young man, you are trying to preach Christ; are you not?” Ironside replied, “Yes, I am.” “Well,” Fraser whispered, “sit down a little, and let us talk about the Word of God.” Opening his well-worn Bible, the man spoke about one great Biblical truth after another until his strength was gone. Ironside was amazed as he heard various passages expounded in ways that had never occurred to him, and before he realized it, tears were streaming down his face. He finally asked the old gentleman, “Where did you get these things? Could you tell me where I could find a book that would open them up to me? Did you learn these things in some seminary or college?” “My dear, young man,” he answered, I learned these things on my knees on the mud floor of a little sod cottage in the North of Ireland. There with my open Bible before me, I used to kneel for hours at a time, and ask the Spirit of God to reveal Christ to my soul and to open the Word to my heart, and He taught me more on my knees on that mud floor than I ever could have learned in all the seminaries or colleges in the world.” Not long after, Fraser went to be with the Lord, but Ironside never forgot what he’d said.
I don’t think I’ll forget it either. I would not trade my formal theological training for anything; it was necessary, valuable, and foundational. But I’ve learned far more since those days, and it’s been through decades of study and prayer. I must admit, instead of a mud floor, it was a comfortable office, but wherever it is, God gives His Truth to those who diligently seek it (Heb. 11:6).
Oh, how we need this in our churches today! May we each ask ourselves a few diagnostic questions. Is my spiritual knowledge greater today than this time last year? Is my grasp of spiritual Truth greater now than then? Am I growing just a little more each day? Am I applying that knowledge in my practical living? That is what Paul was praying for the Ephesians and is what a true godly pastor is praying for his people.
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