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To Know the Lord and Make Him Known

Why is this our motto?
The Bible often urges these two goals. How did Jesus define eternal life? “This is eternal life—that
they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” What would have been
better than mindless sacrifices for Old Testament Israel? “I desire knowledge of God instead of burnt
offerings.” Paul distinguishes saved from unsaved as those who know God versus those who don’t. Under
the New Covenant “they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” During the Millen
nium “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea.” Knowing the
Lord is what Christianity is all about. Religious activity is pointless unless we do: to some who have
done many things in his name Jesus will someday say, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evil
doers!” We need to know the Lord or, better, be known by him.
We who know him then need to make him known. When Jesus appointed the Twelve, it was for two
purposes: (1) “that they might be with him” (that is, invest time getting to know him), (2) “that he might
send them out to preach and have authority to drive out demons” (that is, make him known in word and
deed). To know the Lord and make him known.
Why should anyone outside listen to us if we don’t truly know the Lord? If we have come to know
him, what right have we to keep him to ourselves?
How important to Paul was knowing the Lord? “I consider everything a loss compared to the
surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” How important was making him known? Think
about what Paul went through to do that—being beaten with rods, shipwrecked, imprisoned, on journeys,
hungry, endangered….
May these twin objectives motivate and shape all we do at Second Cape—how we spend our time,
invest our resources, and shape our ministries. Finally, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let
not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast
of this, that he understands and knows Me.”