Even if We Don't Understand... - 4/13/08pm

Deuteronomy 29:29 -The secret things are God’s, but we obey what God revealed
Isaiah 55:8-9 -My ways are higher than your ways
I Corinthians 1:25 -The “foolishness” of God is greater than man’s wisdom
Sometimes, we don’t understand something in the Bible. Sometimes we struggle to grasp what it says. But we need to be careful to not use that as an excuse to ignore what it says. We may not fully understand something, but that does not excuse us from doing what it says, even if we don’t understand why we’re supposed to do it.

Easy Things and Hard Things
Some things are easy for us to grasp and follow through with. Some things are harder.
II Peter 3:15-16 -Paul wrote some things that are hard to understand
Hebrews 5:12-6:3 -The first principles, which we should move on from
We must grow as Christians, and develop past the first principles. As we grow, more things become understandable for us. It is a building process. We cannot understand everything right up front, but rather it takes us time to grow and mature as Christians. Even if we don’t understand at first, if we study, we can learn much as we grow.

The Apostles Didn’t Always Get it Either
The apostles spent a great deal of time with the Messiah, yet they didn’t always understand what He was teaching either.
Mark 8:13-21 -Disciples didn’t understand the Pharisee’s leaven
Mark 9:30-32 -His disciples didn’t understand what He was saying
John 20:6-9 -Apostles didn’t understand the scriptures of the resurrection yet
If the people who spent that much time around Christ, and who had been chosen by Christ, didn’t understand everything all at once, then we probably can’t expect to either. But notice, that didn’t keep them from following Him. That did not prevent them from learning from the Master.

We Do Not Fully Understand God’s Nature
I think it’s safe to say that none of us fully comprehends the full power and nature of God.
I Corinthians 1:3 -God the Father
John 1:1-14 -God the Son
Acts 5:3-4 -God the Holy Spirit
I don’t think any of us fully understands how this works, but we accept that it is so. In it all, we remember that God is Spirit (John 4:24) and that at some level, it is being put into physical terms so that we can understand it as well as we can. Simply because we may not understand how the Son is God as well as the Father is God as well as the Holy Spirit is God, does not mean we are allowed to fail to recognize God and render Him what is due.

Willful Ignorance is Not Acceptable, Though
Some things we don’t grasp at all. And some things we learn over time. But we cannot use it as an excuse to close our ears and hearts and remain willfully ignorant of what we can know!
Hosea 4:6 -My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge
Matthew 13:10-17 -Wanting to know vs. refusing to see
There is a difference between striving to understand God’s will, and not having matured enough to grasp things and not caring enough to learn more. There are certain things (the first principles, for example) that we can definitely understand. The difference is between “can’t” and “won’t.” God will know whether you are trying or not. He will recognize those who diligently seek to be His disciples, and those who do not (Hebrews 11:6).

Obedience if Rewarded, Even Without Full Understanding
Even if we don’t fully understand why we are to do something, but know we must do it, then we must do it.
II Kings 5:9-15 -Naaman
Romans 6:1-7 -Baptism : it seems like a little “pointless“ thing by human reasoning, yet we know what it reflects and that proper baptism results in the forgiveness of sins. We do not know why God chose this particular method, we accept that He did.
Acts 22:16 -Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins
Sometimes we know only that we are to do something, and not the reasons why we are to do it. Or we understand that something has a certain outcome, even if we are not completely sure of why it has that outcome. We are still held accountable for obeying in that way, regardless of our level of comprehension.

We Must Have Faith and Trust
We must believe that God knows best, and put our trust in Him. God’s knowledge and wisdom is greater than our own, and we must depend on Him.
Psalm 118:8-9 -Better to trust in God
Titus 1:2 -God cannot lie
II Peter 1:3 -He has give us all things that pertain to life and
godliness, through knowledge of Christ (thus, we CAN learn and know)
John 14:1-4 -Trust in God, trust in Christ, that the reward is there (even if we don’t fully understand the reward!)
We trust that when God, the Almighty, says something is so, that it is so. We depend on Him for the truth, and we accept that what He says is true is true.