Do You Really Know the God You Worship?

The speaker used everyday images—a college football upset, meeting athletes, and the ease of curated social media impressions—to open a deeper theological concern: people often mistake surface familiarity for true knowledge of God. Drawing the conversation into the Gospels, John 14 and Matthew 16 were read as corrective lenses: seeing Jesus is seeing the Father, and confessing the Messiah must be matched by understanding what that confession means. The narrative moved through Scripture and tradition—Tozer’s warning about the formative power of one’s mental image of God, Jeremiah’s injunction that boasting should be in knowing God, and Exodus 34’s catalog of divine character—to insist that right knowledge of God reshapes worship, ethics, and identity.

The argument held that religious familiarity can be shallow—liking Jesus for what he does is not the same as knowing his heart and character. True knowledge is relational and participatory: Jesus embodied the Father’s glory and invited people into that communion; the Holy Spirit now discloses that presence so people can increasingly reflect God’s holiness. The preacher pressed the practical consequence: understanding God’s claims about himself (holiness, steadfast love, justice) changes who people become because humans are image-bearers made to reflect the divine.

Practical steps were given to move from abstract assent to relational knowledge. Attendees were asked to honestly list the attributes and images that come to mind when thinking of God, then to refine that list through Scripture, prayer, and sustained attention to the Spirit. The point was pastoral and urgent: a distorted or shallow image of God produces distorted life; a deepened, scripturally faithful knowledge produces worship that is ethical, sacrificial, and life-giving. The gathering closed by connecting this pursuit to the table—remembering God’s incarnation and the gift of eternal life defined as knowing God—and sending people to live as altered image-bearers in a world that needs faithful reflection of divine character.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Knowing Jesus means knowing the Father Seeing Jesus is not merely approving his actions but recognizing him as the definitive revelation of God’s character. If Christ is the incarnate image of the Father, familiarity with Jesus must be transformed into relational knowledge of God’s heart—his holiness, mercy, and covenantal love—so that theology becomes intimacy rather than information. This alters prayer, obedience, and how one interprets suffering and grace. [15:07]
• 2. Doctrinal image shapes spiritual life The image of God held in the heart inevitably directs worship and moral imagination; a small or distorted picture produces constrained life and harmful theologies. The communal confession about God forms institutions, policy, and neighbor-love, so examining that image is a spiritual discipline with social consequences. Recovering a biblically rich portrait reorients priorities and resists idolatrous reductions. [22:17]
• 3. Eternal life is relational knowledge Eternal life, as Jesus defines it, is not simply longevity but knowing the Father through the Son—an intimate, present reality of communion. This makes salvation an entrance into quality of life: ethical formation, hope in suffering, and ability to reflect God’s character in practice. The Spirit’s work is to deepen that knowing so earthly life bears the marks of heaven. [31:02]
• 4. Wrestle honestly with your picture Spiritual growth begins with candid self-assessment: list what comes to mind about God, test it against Scripture, and let prayer refine it over time. Honest wrestling exposes pet ideas, softens idols, and creates space for the Spirit to correct and deepen understanding. This practice turns abstract doctrine into lived transformation and faithful discipleship. [37:17]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [08:29] - Getting to Know People (sports anecdote)
• [15:07] - Seeing the Father in Jesus
• [18:48] - Peter’s Confession and Its Limits
• [22:17] - The Image We Hold of God
• [27:10] - Boasting in Knowing God
• [28:47] - God’s Character Revealed (Exodus)
• [30:18] - Eternal Life as Knowing God
• [36:07] - Practical Exercise: List Your Images
• [44:13] - Communion and Prayer
• [61:24] - Blessing and Sending

Bible Reading

John 14:7-9 (ESV)
If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Jeremiah 9:23-24 (ESV)
Thus says the LORD: “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, declares the LORD.”

John 17:3 (ESV)
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Observation questions

1. In John 14, what is Jesus’ response when Philip asks to be shown the Father? What does this tell us about the relationship between seeing Jesus and seeing the Father? [15:25]
2. According to Jeremiah 9, what are the things people typically boast in? What does the Lord say is the one thing truly worth boasting about? [27:26]
3. When Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter gave the correct answer: “You’re the Messiah, the son of the living God.” [19:10] What happened shortly after this that showed Peter didn’t fully understand what his own words meant?

Interpretation questions

1. Jesus asks Philip, “Have I been among you all this time, and you do not know me?” [16:29] What is the difference between being familiar with Jesus—knowing the stories and liking what He does—and truly knowing Him?
2. The idea was raised that “we tend by secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.” [22:54] What does this mean for our spiritual lives? How can a small or distorted picture of God produce a constrained or harmful life?
3. Eternal life is defined not just as living forever, but as knowing the Father and the Son. [31:02] How does this change our understanding of salvation from being just a future destination to a present reality? What does this quality of life look like day-to-day?

Application questions

1. We can easily feel like we “know” public figures from what we see on TV or social media, but it’s a curated, surface-level knowledge. [13:20] In what ways might our knowledge of God sometimes feel more like following a celebrity than being in a deep, personal relationship?
2. When you are pushed to answer the question, “Who is God to you?” what feelings come up inside? Excitement? Apprehension? Maybe even some frustration or bitterness because of things that have happened? [36:30] What do those initial feelings reveal about the image of God you’re currently holding onto?
3. A practical exercise was suggested: to honestly write down a list of the attributes and images that come to mind when you think of God. [37:17] Take a moment to share one or two things that came to your mind. Was it easy or difficult to come up with a list?
4. After making an initial list of God’s attributes, the next step is to refine it through Scripture, prayer, and listening to the Spirit. [37:57] What is one attribute of God from the Bible (like those mentioned in Exodus 34 or Jeremiah 9—steadfast love, justice, righteousness, compassion) that you want to know more deeply this year? What’s a practical step you could take to do that?
5. We were created to be “image bearers who represent the father wherever we go.” [34:49] How does having a clearer, more biblical understanding of God’s character change the way we represent Him to our family, coworkers, and neighbors this week?