Get to Know Me ...

There is a child in the youth group who is very resistant to discussing God (or even being in youth group, for that matter!). For this child—indeed, for most children in youth group—God and Jesus are abstractions, based on stories from Sunday School and without most substance.

Does such a child has a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ?

Is it possible to be saved without knowing Jesus? That is, can you pray a sinner’s prayer to an abstraction and expect the prayer to have any effect?

(Strangely, when we discussed this in the service, most people said, "It's impossible to tell if somebody has a saving faith." However, I submit it's easy to tell if they do not! A saving faith changes how one lives: no change = no faith.)

Two weeks ago we learned that the Hebrew word for a single hand is yad. The Hebrew word for eye is a (which is the Hebrew letter ayin). Together they make the Hebrew word for knowing: yada.

What idioms do we have in English involving learning with our hands or our eyes?

Read 1 John 1:1-4:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.

Circle the places where hands or eyes (or touching or seeing) are mentioned. Based on these verses, what would you want to tell the skeptical kid in youth group?

Rabbi Pain writes, “The Hebrew word for know informs us that when we get to know someone or something, we nearly always do so from a very personal point of view. In other words, we really aren’t entirely objective. After meeting someone for the first time, we may say, “that is a most beautiful woman.” In saying this, we are actually revealing as much about ourselves as we are about that woman ... But the hand-eye them in the Hebrew know tells us much more than that we are subjective in judgment. It also tells us that the criterion we subconsciously use when getting to know someone or something is: “What can he, she, or it do to enhance my life?” (Buried Treasure, p 39) What is your reaction to this statement?

Read 1 John 2:12-14:

I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.

I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Circle the places where hands or eyes (or touching or seeing) are mentioned. Based on these verses, what would you want to tell the skeptical kid in youth group?

(Me, I'd want to tell him of a personal God who has touched my life & whom I have seen at work. I think it is significant that John's words to the fathers are repeated: you have known him who is from the beginning. Let us bear witness to the children around us of what we have seen until they can see for themselves!)