To get your copy of the book click this LINK or the image of the book at the end of my notes for the study.
I hope that you have at least read the Introduction and chapter one. “When You Believe In God But Don't Really Know Him”
Let’s first go back and look at some terms:
THEISM belief in the existence of God
ATHEISM disbelief in the existence of God
PRACTICAL ATHEISM acting with apathy, disregard, or lack of interest toward belief in God
CHRISTIAN one who professes belief in the teachings of Christ
CHRISTIAN ATHEISM believing in Christ but living as if he doesn’t exist
Three levels of knowing God
- Level 1: I believe in God, but I don’t know him
- Level 2: I believe in God, but I don’t know him well.
- Level 3: I believe in God, know him intimately, and serve him wholeheartedly.
A Christian Atheist might sound like someone who’s got a faith problem or perhaps at least a spiritual confusion issue. But the core problem for the Christian Atheist Isn't belief; it’s intimacy. The Christian Atheist doesn’t really know God very well.
It says in our book that “A recent Gallup poll reported that 94 percent of Americans claim to believe in God or a universal spirit. However, a quick glance at Scripture and our culture makes it plainly obvious that nowhere near 94 percent actually know God. I mean, really know him—intimately.
Belief isn’t the same as personal knowledge. There’s the account in the book where Greg writes about George Bret. He knew everything about George Bret but didn't really know him at all.
One of the things that I said last week is what you call a person says a lot about how much you know a person. Greg example is what people call him.
And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord , have not forsaken those who seek You.
Psalms 9:10 NKJV
Psalms 9:10 NKJV
He gives this example:
My phone rings. I answer. You’re on the other end, and you say, “Good afternoon, Mr. Gress-shuhl. I’d like to talk to you about your phone service.” I can tell one thing right away: You don’t know me. You don’t even know how to pronounce my name!
Or my wife and I are in a restaurant, and I give the hostess my name while we’re waiting for a table. After a few minutes, the hostess calls -SHELL, party of two!”??The hostess knows my name and how to pronounce it. But we’ve just met. We don’t know each other.
If you call me “Pastor Craig,” chances are you might know a little about me. You know what I do, maybe you’ve heard me speak, and maybe you’re familiar with some of my favorite topics and my up-front personality. But your use of my title doesn’t mean that you know me personally.
You might just call me “Craig,” and I’d usually assume that you know me even better. My friends call me Craig. We’re close.
But if you call me “Groesch,” that means we’ve been friends for a long time. It means we've got stories. (And you’ve promised not to tell them.) “Groesch” dates us back at least twenty years.
Then there are those who possess exclusive rights to a few specialized, far more intimate forms of address. These are the six beautiful, small people, very dear to me, whom I allow to climb up in my lap. They rub their hands on my face and say things like? “You need to shave” and “You’re the best” and “Can I have some candy?” They call me “Daddy.” They know me so much better than even those who call me “Groesch.” The name reveals the intimacy.
What do you call God? The Big Guy in the Sky? The Man Upstairs? Dear eight-pound, six-ounce Baby Jesus? Then you don’t know him. Those titles may be clever or funny, but they certainly aren’t intimate.
If you call me “Pastor Craig,” chances are you might know a little about me. You know what I do, maybe you’ve heard me speak, and maybe you’re familiar with some of my favorite topics and my up-front personality. But your use of my title doesn’t mean that you know me personally.
You might just call me “Craig,” and I’d usually assume that you know me even better. My friends call me Craig. We’re close.
But if you call me “Groesch,” that means we’ve been friends for a long time. It means we've got stories. (And you’ve promised not to tell them.) “Groesch” dates us back at least twenty years.
Then there are those who possess exclusive rights to a few specialized, far more intimate forms of address. These are the six beautiful, small people, very dear to me, whom I allow to climb up in my lap. They rub their hands on my face and say things like? “You need to shave” and “You’re the best” and “Can I have some candy?” They call me “Daddy.” They know me so much better than even those who call me “Groesch.” The name reveals the intimacy.
What do you call God? The Big Guy in the Sky? The Man Upstairs? Dear eight-pound, six-ounce Baby Jesus? Then you don’t know him. Those titles may be clever or funny, but they certainly aren’t intimate.
What are some of the things or names we call God?
- Father
- Savior
- Lord
- Provider
- Shepherd
God cares about how we live. And a relationship with God naturally will flow out in daily attitudes and actions. So if you look good, you are good, right? Well, maybe not. Knowing God can lead to a positive lifestyle, but the reverse isn’t true. Our outward actions alone don’t prove that we enjoy an inward relationship with God. Just because we do good doesn’t mean we know the One who is good. The Christian Atheist, page 35 – 36
Knowing God requires more of us than simply believing God exists
You believe there is one God. That’s good, but even the demons believe that! And they shake with fear.
James 2:19 ERV
James 2:19 ERV
And it requires more of us than dutiful adherence to Christian rules
Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “ Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces ? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
Galatians 4:6-11 NIV
Galatians 4:6-11 NIV
Knowing God requires loving obedience, an obedience that comes from the heart.
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
John 14:23-24 NIV
John 14:23-24 NIV
But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.
Romans 6:17 NIV
Romans 6:17 NIV
On the other hand go to
We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
1 John 2:3-6 NIV
1 John 2:3-6 NIV
Briefly review the following list of statements and place a checkmark next to those you feel are true for you.
- I believe God loves everyone, but I sometimes struggle to believe that God loves me.
- I often feel disconnected from God.
- I pray when I need help, but I don’t routinely spend time with God.
- I feel trapped in a cycle of shame about my past.
- I don’t feel much need or desire to read the Bible.
- I sincerely believe in God, but I can’t say I prioritize my life around him.
- I don’t feel the same devotion to God as I did when I first became a Christian.
- There are some things about me that I know aren’t what they should be, but I don't
know if I can ever really change.
- My belief in God doesn’t seem to keep me from worrying a lot.
- My lifestyle, actions, and decisions don’t always line up with what I say I believe about God.
- I don’t talk about my faith with people who don’t believe in God.
- I don’t experience worship or express praise to God in my daily life.
- I find it difficult to forgive people who have hurt me.
- My sense of security is impacted more by how I am doing financially than by how I am doing spiritually.
- I believe in God, but I’m not so big on the church.
- I’m not sure my heart breaks for the things that break the heart of God.
- I tend to diminish or overlook my sins and failures rather than grieving them.
- I don’t often experience a passionate desire to please God.
- It feels like a long time since I’ve heard God’s voice or experienced God’s leading in my life.
- I sometimes feel God is not fair.
- It’s rare for me to feel completely surrendered to God.
- Sometimes I’m not even sure I want to be.
What two or three statements on the checklist best describe where you're at spiritually right now. Or maybe there is something that is not here.
Based on your responses from the checklist which level are you at now.
Based on your responses from the checklist which level are you at now.
- Level 1: I believe in God, but I don’t know him
- Level 2: I believe in God, but I don’t know him well.
- Level 3: I believe in God, know him intimately, and serve him wholeheartedly.
Connecting Love and Obedience Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the Bible makes a strong connection between knowing God and living for God, or obeying Him. In an authentic relationship with God, it is impossible to separate love from obedience, belief from behavior, faith from practice, the old practice what you preach. Each reinforces and balances the other.
“If you love me, keep my commands.
John 14:15 NIV
John 14:15 NIV
Above all, be careful what you think because your thoughts control your life.
Proverbs 4:23 ERV
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments (Deuteronomy 7:9).But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul (Joshua 22:5).
Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live (Titus 1:16 NLT).
And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him.That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God Should live their lives as Jesus did (1 John 2:3 – 6 NLT).
Based on these passages, how would you describe the connection between loving God And obeying God?
Here’s what some theologians have said about showing love through obedience
If we are to be new people in Christ, then we must show our newness to the world. If we are to follow Christ, it must be in the way we spend each day. WILLIAM LAWA
Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life Fine feelings, new insights, greater interest in “religion” mean nothing unless they make our actual behavior better; just as in an illness “feeling better” is not much good if the thermometer shows that your temperature is still going up. C. S. LEWIS Mere Christianity
The word obedient comes from the Latin word audire, which means “listening” … Jesus’ life was a life of obedience …. Jesus was “all ear.” HENRI J. M. NOUWEN Making All Things New
How would you describe someone who was loving God without obeying God versus obeying God without loving God. In either case, what good things do you think the person might miss out on in their relationship with God?
How about you?
If we affirm that failures to obey God are sin, the next challenge is how to overcome those failures in our lives. In Surrender to Love, author David Benner describes the role of God’s love in helping us move from disobedience to obedience:
If we affirm that failures to obey God are sin, the next challenge is how to overcome those failures in our lives. In Surrender to Love, author David Benner describes the role of God’s love in helping us move from disobedience to obedience:
My attachment to sinful ways of being is much too strong to ever be undone by mere willpower…. Genuine transformation requires vulnerability. It is not the fact of being loved
unconditionally that is life-changing. It is the risky experience of allowing myself to be loved unconditionally.
If genuine transformation requires vulnerability, do you think disobedience could be described as a refusal to be vulnerable with God? Why or why not?
If genuine transformation requires vulnerability, do you think disobedience could be described as a refusal to be vulnerable with God? Why or why not?
There is only one way to love God: to take not a single step without him, and to follow with a brave heart wherever he leads. FRANÇOIS FÉNELON Christian Perfection
What [God] desires is reverential intimacy. He wants us close enough to him that we know his heart—close enough to hear his heartbeat. He wants to look into our eyes, and he wants us to look into his. DAVID G. BENNER Surrender to Love
Would you say that you have had a risky experience of allowing yourself to be loved unconditionally by God? If you have and if you feel comfortable doing so, share that experience and the impact it has, or once had, on your ability to obey God. If not what do you think prevents you from allowing yourself to be loved unconditionally by God?
As you get to know him better, you will change. - The Christian Atheist, page 43
God is in the transformation business. The more we get to know him, the more his love changes us. He brings healing and wholeness that enables us to rest in his love and to follow him wholeheartedly. Here is how the prophet Ezekiel described God’s heart-changing promise:
And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I willtake away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart, sothey will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, andI will be their God (Ezekiel 11:19 – 20 NLT).
And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I willtake away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart, sothey will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, andI will be their God (Ezekiel 11:19 – 20 NLT).
Getting to know God isn’t difficult, and it isn’t about a bunch of rules. Yes, God Wants your obedience, but he wants your heart even more. He loves you so much. Surrender Yourself to that love, and it will be certain death for Christian Atheism — a death that will lead to a whole new life of knowing God.
Read Chapters 2 and 3 for next week. We are going to talk about believing in God but don’t think He’s fair.
Bible Study Audio
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