Knowing God: The Mark of a True Waymaker

Knowing Before Speaking

A new series is opening up for you: Waymaker, about those who open the way. But before talking about opening a path for others, there is one step that no shortcut can replace: knowing. The title of this message is simple, and it is a test for your life: know.

There is a word few people use: ultracrepidarian. It describes someone who talks and talks and talks about a subject without really knowing it. He thinks he knows, but deep down he doesn't. A true waymaker is not that person. A true waymaker is someone who knows before he speaks.

So the question becomes: who do we need to know, and what do we need to know? Not other people's business. One thing alone should occupy the center: knowing Jesus. In your life, are you walking in search of who Jesus really is?

1. Knowing, in the Bible, Is Far More Than Knowledge

The verb to know, in Hebrew, is yada. Remember that word. Knowing God is not first of all intellectual: it is intimacy, a deep relationship with your Creator. Genesis 4:1 says it plainly: "Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain." To know is to become joined to one another, to become one.

This knowledge begins with an encounter. And that encounter is not something you cause. "You did not choose me, but I chose you," says Jesus (John 15:16). God takes the initiative. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (John 3:16). If humanity had to take the first step, it never would have thought to.

Maybe you've already had this encounter. Yet today, God says to you, "This is a new day. I want to come to you again, to meet you again, and to live a deeper experience with you." Knowing him does not stop on day one.

2. What Intellectual Knowledge Can Never Give You

Saul of Tarsus is the strongest illustration of this. He had been trained by the greatest rabbis. His intellectual knowledge of the Word was immense. He was convinced he was right, and he set out for Damascus to persecute Christians, believing he was serving God.

On that road, Jesus comes to meet him. And on that day, Paul says only one sentence: "Who are you, Lord?" (Acts 9:5). All his learning, all his intellect, everything he had been taught, he would later call "rubbish, compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:8). True knowledge comes through contact, through union with the One who created you.

What Saul lacked was the experience of love. When Jesus meets you, he floods you with love, and you are never the same. Saul died to himself, he became Paul (the small one), so that Christ could grow in him. John states it plainly: "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love" (1 John 4:8).

3. Knowledge Grows Through a Daily Relationship

After the encounter comes the walk. As in any relationship, you don't really know someone if you don't spend time with them. To know their character, their habits, their way of thinking, you have to be close, to talk, to share everyday life.

And every relationship needs care. If you neglect it (with your spouse, your children, your friends), it dies. The same is true with God. If you stop taking the time to be joined with him day after day, the connection fades. That is why you must make the effort to stay in relationship with Jesus, every day.

Jesus could have done everything alone. Yet he chose to walk with twelve ordinary men for three years, to pass on the values of the Kingdom to them and to let himself be known. And yet, the night before his death, Philip dares to say to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us" (John 14:8). Jesus answers, almost disappointed, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?" (John 14:9). How many Philips are among us? How many times has God revealed himself through a word, a person, a circumstance, and we saw nothing?

4. Two Means God Uses to Transform You

God wants to prepare you and transform you, because without transformation, no one will see the Kingdom. Two means make this transformation possible: prayer and meditation on the Word. Note well: meditation, not merely reading.

Before you have personally met Jesus, you can pray for a long time, reciting words for hours, mouth moving while your mind wanders. You can open the Bible every evening, read a chapter without understanding any of it, just to ease your conscience. Everything changes when Jesus comes to meet you and you talk to him like a friend, like someone close to you.

Then you begin to discover not only who Jesus is, but also who you are in him. "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18). You cannot stay the same. The imprint of Jesus must be written on your life like a fingerprint, it is what opens access to the Kingdom.

5. Hosea's Warning and Exhortation

Two verses from the prophet Hosea shed light on this whole journey. The first is an alarm: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). The Holy Spirit is saying: Watch out, my people are dying from a lack of relationship with me. If you feel you are depriving yourself of that relationship, examine your heart. It is not too late: God is good, he redeems the time.

The second is an exhortation: "Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord" (Hosea 6:3). Make the effort. You put in a thousand efforts for so many things in your life, make this one too: find time for God, to grow in the knowledge of your Lord.

Key Takeaways

A true waymaker knows before he speaks; without intimacy with God, you will never open a lasting way.
Knowing God (yada) is an intimate relationship, not head knowledge.
The encounter comes from God's initiative; knowing him then grows through the daily walk.
Real prayer and meditation on the Word progressively transform you into the image of Christ.
There is no middle ground: the flame either grows or goes out. Make a fresh start today.

Personal Application

When was the last time you sought to know Jesus in a way that went beyond words or religious habits?
Is there an "ultracrepidarian" side to your life, talking about God without taking the time to actually know him?
Are you a Philip, someone who has lived close to Jesus for a long time without really seeing him? What do you want to ask him today?
What concrete place do prayer and meditation on the Word hold in your week?
If God looked at your spiritual "fingerprint," whose name would he find written there?

Scripture References

FAQ

What exactly does "waymaker" mean in this message?

A waymaker is someone who opens the way for others. This message reminds you that before opening a path around you, you must first know God personally, otherwise you are speaking without knowing.

Why is the Hebrew word "yada" important?

Yada describes a knowledge of intimacy, not merely of information. It is the same verb Genesis 4:1 uses to speak of the union between Adam and Eve. Knowing God, in the Bible, means entering into a deep relationship with him.

How can I know if I'm growing cold spiritually?

The clearest sign is neglect of the relationship: prayer becomes recitation, the Word becomes empty reading, service becomes routine. Hosea 4:6 is a warning sign: the people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. The good news: God redeems the time when you come back to him today.

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