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Intro: We have just heard two readings from the Bible which are earth-shattering in their implications! – for they tell us that the Fullness of God was pleased to dwell in the person of Jesus Christ.

Dr. Mark Strom, the Principal of the Bible College of NZ. wrote a poem which describes just as accurately, but in more everyday terms, what it actually means that God has come among us.

I invite you to ponder and bring alive in your own minds the scenes which the poetry describes.

This God

This God…

This God could put on eyebrows and kneecaps, tear ducts and saliva glands.

This God could be born under the tyrants Augustus and Herod.

This God could accept the smells of shepherds, and the extravagancies of political emissaries.

This God could start life a vulnerable hunted child born into scandal.

This God could grow up under foreign domination and among terrorists and outcasts.

This God could sit in the street playing marbles.

This God could wear with pride the calloused splintered hands of an honest workman building the houses and fixing the furniture of half-castes, outcasts and bigots.

This God could ask his cousin to baptise him along with the rest of the crowd.

This God could make the best vintage Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon even when the guests were too drunk to know the difference.

This God could befriend a bloke in a tree with small man syndrome.

This God could enjoy a sinful woman washing his feet, giving her his full and undivided attention, and ignoring the eye-rolling of lawyers and theologians.

This God could spend a whole night making a whip to crack over the backs of con artists who rip-off the poor.

This God could wrap the greatest truths in the simplest stories, and put a sting in the tail of every yarn.

This God could let himself hang on a tree, nails tearing at his sinews, every muscle screaming, the weight of the world upon his shoulders, life slowly draining away.

This God could invite women to be the first to know that he was back.

This God could delay his own glorious homecoming long enough for a bite of breakfast on the beach and a yarn with an old mate to let him know there were no hard feelings and to pass on his mantle.

This God could take his own story and give it the most surprising ending.

This God, this God, is worth knowing.

This God could reach into the crevices of my soul to bring to life the longings I smother so pathetically and recklessly with shame and excuses.

This God could raise me up to life with him.

This God could give me every blessing he could give himself.

This God could draw me out of my petty self-interest and sad little excuses without even a hint of a ‘tut-tut’, a frown, or a patronising smile.

This God could be more infuriating and fascinating and gobsmacking than any god I could ever make up.

This God could love my obsessiveness and overlook my forgetfulness.

This God could laugh and cry with me, and come and play with me.

This God could make me his glory.

This God could love me.

This God could make my heart good.

This God could trust me.

This God could never be safe, but always be good.

This God, this God, is worth knowing.

This God I want to know.

This God I know in the face and Spirit of Jesus.

****************

The poem concludes with the words - “This God, this God is worth knowing !  This God I want to know!”         So I think the question that follows is - “How do I get to know This God!” 

The typical and obvious answer to the question of “How do I get to know this God” is that we can pray, we can read the bible, we can meet with other Christians and discuss and share our discoveries of faith, we can join with others in worship – and through all of those means, we will get to know about God, and get to know God, in what can only be described as a personal relationship.  Each of those “means of grace” as the old Prayer Book called them; is an extremely important avenue through which we come to know God. But when we think about getting to know God - this God who put on eye-brows and knee caps -  we are thinking really about a journey – its progressive! … and the further I go and the more I explore, as in any journey,  the greater will be the benefit. And the same is true with our journey into God. – because that’s the only way in which we really get to know God! We embark upon a journey with Him. As well as encouraging you to use those ‘means of grace’ I want to suggest to you that there are  Four stages in this journey that I trust will help you to come to know “this God”  who came among us in Jesus Christ.  These four stages are like progress-markers, or milestones, where we can perhaps pause for a moment, take note of where we have got to, how far we have come, and be encouraged for the next stage of the journey.

1.      The first “stage” in getting to know God is that of Hunger and thirst..   You don’t generally embark upon any journey unless you really want to!  So the journey to know God begins in the deep desires of our own soul and mind and heart.     The journey must begin somewhere – and a desire to seek out this God who could make the best vintage Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon at a Wedding Reception is not a bad place to start.  .   Perhaps the writer of Psalm 142 captured the essence of it when he poured out his heart with the words “I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.” (Ps.142:6)  That’s stage 1. – to act on that Hunger., or thirst !    ---  But sooner or later, we will discover that to know more of God we must travel on to arrive at the Second milestone – and that is

2.      The point of Surrender.     The time comes when just as the astronomer surrenders himself to the telescope so that he may see further; so the seeker after God must surrender him or herself to God in order to discover more.  Are you at that place tonight of surrender to God?    If you want to know God – then it involves surrender – a surrendering of the heart and will to God’s grace and purpose.   If you are at that place of surrendering yourself to God,  then you are ready to discover more of God as you go on to the third milestone –

3.      which is the stage of Companionship with God.    It is often in this stage of the journey that we have a heightened awareness of God as the One who is actually with us on this journey, and not just waiting for us at the end of it. In this stage of the journey I become progressively more aware of God’s presence – moment by moment. He is with me as I go about my ordinary business – at home, in the car, at the shopping mall, at parties enjoying the company of friends, - as well as in the hard and difficult moments of life. In those places, and in those times, God is there! What an amazing discovery it is to know that God is with us in all the moments of life! But I believe there is yet one more stage in this journey.  And this stage –

4.       is about Courage, adventure, challenge, risk and faith. This is the stage in the journey where, if we want to know God more, then we need to step out of the boat, as it were, and begin to walk on water.   We need to step out of the safety of our own small lives, seek to know the bigger plan and purpose which God has for us, and live courageously – even dangerously if need be - for Him!    That’s counter-cultural. Its most likely to be costly as well; - personally and financially. But along with the cost comes the benefit.   I think it was at this stage where Jesus offered an adventure to the Rich young ruler when he invited him to sell all he had, give it to the poor, and follow Him. Sadly, the rich young ruler chose the easier, and less fulfilling option.   The challenge to courageous, adventurous, risky discipleship is, I believe, the place where we make the greatest discoveries about God.  I don’t see myself as being there yet - But from what I have seen of those who are there, I believe they have a knowledge of and a relationship with God which far surpasses the value of anything else this life has to offer. “This God is worth knowing. This God I want to know. This God I know in the face and Spirit of Jesus.”

So the four progress-markers of  Hunger, Surrender, Companionship and Courage are just points on the journey which remind us of where we are, how much further we can progress, and how much more there is yet to discover of ‘This God who is worth knowing.”- the God whom I come to know in the face of Jesus Christ. I encourage you, if you haven’t yet begun that journey to begin tonight.