In Jeremiah 9, God has some words for his people about boasting, and they re not, “Don’t brag.” Rather he says to his covenant people, Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, THAT HE UNDERSTANDS AND KNOWS ME, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things, I delight (Jer 9:23-25). What is it about knowing God that causes him to tell us that knowing him is of greater worth than wisdom, might, and riches? What does the rest of Scripture say about the benefits to us of knowing God? These are the questions we seek to answer in this episode.
As you know, this podcast/blog focuses on our mission as men. In Genesis 2:15 we see that God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden to work it. Men are designed to have impact, to rearrange the “stuff "of creation, to get the project done. No wonder every third commercial when watching the NFL is for a pickup truck, the perfect tool for getting most jobs done. Because God created men to be doers, we have an intuitive sense that getting a job done requires some assets—three in particular, which happen to be the same three mentioned in Jeremiah 9. The first is expertise. Every team member doesn’t need an MBA or PhD; but getting the job done requires wisdom, good old-fashioned know-how. Second, success requires the strength to overcome the obstacles we encounter to completing our mission. No goal worth pursuing comes easily, so the might to persevere is required. The third asset required is money. Obtaining the material resources and labor we need requires wealth.
In our Home Depot world where doers get more done, successful men understand the value of these three assets, wisdom, might, and riches to accomplish almost any project we undertake in our vocation or at home. So, as men called to be doers, it should get our attention that the primary assets that preoccupy our thinking to accomplish any mission i.e. wisdom, might, and riches are NOT the keys to our success. They are not what we should depend upon nor boast about. “Rather,” says God, “your boast should be that you understand and know me.” But, practically speaking, what is God saying? Let’s dig into the meaning of the word boast for some clues.
A. Boasting, according to Webster, is rooted in “an awareness of one’s excellence.” In one sense, being aware of our own excellence is a good thing. Acknowledging our own strengths is not pride; boasting about them is. However, an awareness of one’s excellence can apply to someone else. Knowing God leads to an awareness of God’s excellence. God is saying through Jeremiah—I want you aware of MY EXCELLENCE and boasting about that.
B. Boasting means to display proudly. My shirts and jerseys display proudly that I am a Penn State, Baltimore Ravens, and now, repentant Washington Commanders fan. It is amazing how profoundly humans identify with their college or professional sports team, as if we are exalted somehow by their success. It is also surprising how common it is to name drop—i.e. mention some kind of connection we have to a famous player or celebrity as if who we know will enhance our worth in others’ eyes. In Jeremiah 9, God is saying, “If you want to name drop, boast about knowing ME.” God just happens to be the most fantastic being in the universe and knowing him (because he changed my darkened heart) is the greatest privilege in the entire world.
C. “Boasting” in context in Jeremiah 9 probably refers primarily to where one’s confidence lies. This is the meaning in Jeremiah’s other two uses of the word boast. (48:30 and 49:4). Though our masculine call (AVAD) is to be a doer, to transform the world including through our prayer and influence even the hearts of our loved ones, God reminds us that our greatest asset is not our wisdom, our powerful determination, or our riches. It is understanding and knowing God.
D. Boasting in this text is linked not only to understanding and knowing God but specifically to knowing what God delights in. God goes on to tell us what that is, i.e. the practices of steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. The strong implication of God is that the more we know him, the more we will pursue the things in which he delights. There seems to be a link between the moral energy that comes from knowing God and pursing what pleases him. That gets my attention because we are all looking for more motivation. Last week I was talking with a believer who is doing an exceptional job of raising his son and daughter. But he lamented, “Gary, the problem is not that I don’t know what I should be doing as a spiritual leader—it’s that I just don’t do it.” We all need more motivation.
E. Boasting about knowing God will be easier, says Jeremiah, under the New Covenant. One of the major themes of Jeremiah is the failure of God’s people under the Old Covenant to live up to their covenant obligations while giving hope to Israel about a New Covenant to come. The following words from Jeremiah 31 are directly quoted in Hebrews 8:8-12 as being fulfilled in Christ through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Notice the emphasis on better knowing God.
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will PUT MY LAW WITHIN THEM, and I WILL WRITE IT ON THEIR HEARTS. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ FOR THEY SHALL ALL KNOW ME, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Under the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit is poured out 1) to indwell us, giving us the reality of Christ’s presence with us every moment and 2) to apply the Word of God to our hearts (See John 14:25-26). At the core of the New Covenant is boasting that we can now know the Lord personally through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and through the Word of God personally applied to our hearts.
Seven Further Benefits of Growing in The Knowledge of God
A. Those who know God have great energy for God. In one of the prophetic chapters of Daniel, we read, the people who know their God will be strong and take action (11:32). J. I. Packer writes, "In this context, the statement is introduced by ‘but’ and set in contrast to the vile person who corrupts by flattering talk those whose loyalty to God’s covenant has failed. This shows us that the action taken by those who know God is their reaction to the anti-God trends which they see operating around them. While their God is being defiled or disregarded; they cannot rest; they feel they must do something; the dishonor done to God’s name goads them into action" (Knowing God p 23).
B. Those who know God understand how life works. We find this theme all through the book of Proverbs, for example, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the KNOWLEDGE of the Holy One is understanding. For by me your days will be multiplied and years of life will be added to you (9:10-11). Again, J. I. Packer says it well:
"Knowing God is crucially important for the living of our lives. As it would be cruel to an Amazonian tribesman to fly him to London, put him down without explanation in Trafalgar Square, as one who knew nothing of English or England to fend for himself, so we are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it. The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God. Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfold, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you" (Ibid p 14).
C. Those who know God have confidence in his character. Life is full of trials; in a fallen world there is no escape from pain. Scripture does not cover up that pain. Rather, it says, My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives (Heb 12:5-6). Yet, the prophet Hosea points to a growing knowledge of God as the salve for heart-wrenching pain. Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth (Hos 6:1-3). Hosea urges his countrymen going through tough times NOT to let those trials hinder their growth in the knowledge of God. Such knowledge is their hope—in the consistency of the God they have come to know: his going out is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.
D. Those who know God’s perfections can better delight in him, which satisfies our hearts. Desiring heart satisfaction is a good, not an evil thing. As C. S. Lewis preached many years ago:
"If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics, and is no part of Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased" (Sermon, “The Weight of Glory”).
We were made for God, and he is the answer to our deepest longings. Delighting in him and basking in his delight in us is the core foundation to a Christian’s very life. Abide in my love, even as I abide in the Father’s love, said Jesus. Just as in marriage knowing my wife more deeply enables me to love her more fully, our delight in the Lord is a direct result of seeing his perfections. David wrote, One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple (Ps 27:4). Moses recognized the same truth—that our deepest heart hunger needs to be satisfied through intimacy with God when he wrote, Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days (Ps 90:14).
E. Those who know God are better able to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives. In Ephesians 1, Paul summarizes that purpose, Be imitators of God (Eph 5:1). There is a category of God’s perfections called “incommunicable attributes,” his omnipotence, omniscience, eternality, etc. the characteristics of which finite humans do not share. But, as we saw last week, Adam and Eve were created to exhibit God’s moral attributes, and believers are recreated in Christ to recover that calling and are empowered through the work of the Holy Spirit “to be conformed into Christ’s image” (Rom 8:29) which God tells us is the purpose for our trials (Rom 8:28). The more clearly that we perceive God’s moral perfections, the more powerfully they can move us to reverent adoration of them, and impel us with the spiritual energy through the Spirit to imitate them.
F. Those who are growing in the knowledge of God exhibit the fruit of being true disciples. Paul summarizes the life of a true Christ follower in Colossians 1:9-10 when he says, I pray that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of god. Notice how growing to know God is implicit in three parts of this text.
- First, note the phrase worthy of God. Worthy describes an equation. It is balancing the degree to which my life is surrendered to God against his worthiness of that surrender. The more I grow to know God, the more I will see that he deserves the best I can offer him, fullest surrender. It all begins with knowing God’s worthiness—seeing who he really is.
- Next, note the expression fully pleasing him. When you love someone, that love compels you to find out what pleases your loved one. So it is with the greatest commandment. If I am to love God supremely, I must get to know him well enough to find out what pleases him.
- Finally, Paul says explicitly that a disciple is one who is increasing in the knowledge of God. A true love relationship deepens over time as the lovers intentionally seek to know and delight in one another.
G. Knowing God IS life. Jesus prayed to the Father, This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (Jn 17:3). As my Young Life leader used to say, “eternal life doesn’t wait until you die to begin! It’s about the quality of life right now—living life to its fullest—and that quality continuing into eternity.” Notice that the path to such life is knowing God. There are two Greek words for knowing. OIDA, which comes from the word seeing, suggests objective perception of the facts. But the other word, GINOSKO, which signifies a process of taking in knowledge is the one used in John 17. W. E. Vine tells us “In the NT, GINOSKO frequently indicates a relation between the person knowing and the object known; in this respect, what is known is of value or importance to the one who knows, and hence the establishment of a relationship.”
The blessing of knowing God is so enormous that the only way the biblical writers can describe it is to call it life. What is your picture of vitality? Maybe it is the rippled muscles of a man or woman completing a triathlon. Maybe it is a 100% healthy newborn baby. Maybe economic vitality is seeing South Korea lit up from outer space while North Korea is completely dark. Maybe vitality to you is a lush green garden full of vibrant flowers and luscious fruit. Maybe it is the sound of a rushing waterfall or bubbling brook. Whatever that picture is for you—the path to it is knowing God. The benefits of knowing God seem boundless!
The Greatness of God
In the coming weeks we will be studying the specific perfections of God and what difference they make in our lives. But perhaps the best way to wrap up this introductory episode is to remember the greatness of this being who has invited us, indeed urged us, to know him. May we bow in humble adoration, as we consider the wht is probably the most complete descriptive paragraph ever written about our God outside of Scripture. From the WCF:
There is but one only, living, and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions; immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him; and withal, most just, and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.
What a privilege to be invited into the presence of this being—to know him. As we head into the week of the 2024 election, what comfort to know that this is the God who sits on the throne of the universe. As Steve Green sang a decade ago, he is the only being fit to sit on that throne:
God, and God alone created all these things we call our own. From the mighty to the small, the glory in them all, is God’s and God’s alone.
God and God alone reveals the truth of all we call unknown. And all the best and worst of man won’t change the master’s plan—it’s God’s and God’s alone.
God and God alone is fit to take the universes’ throne. Let everything that lives, reserve its truest praise, for God and God alone.
God, and God alone, will be the joy of our eternal home. He will be our one desire; our hearts will never tire, of God and God alone.
God and God alone is fit to take the universes’ throne. Let everything that lives, reserve its truest praise, for God and God alone.
For Further Prayerful Thought
- What is your take-away from God’s command to the wise man not to boast in his wisdom, the mighty man not to boast in his might, the rich man not to boast in his riches but instead to boast of understanding and knowing him? What are your ideas about what this looks like?
- Which benefits of growing in the knowledge of God most stood out to you?
- How would you defend the idea that God and God alone is fit to take the universe’s throne? Which components of God’s character give you the most peace and confidence as you head into the future?
