“This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

How do we know we are in a relationship with God? That’s a pretty important question. It’s a better question than its more common cousin: How do I know I’m going to Heaven? The ability – or not – to answer that question has had a profound impact on human history. For those who manage to convince others that they have the answer, these folks are able to accumulate enormous power for themselves of just about whatever type they want. Financial? Have you seen the net worth of the Prosperity Gospel preachers? Political? Of course. Cultural? Easy. Religious? Immense. But the ultimate answer to that question is a personal one. Let’s talk for just a few minutes this morning about how we can know.

What got me thinking about this as something to reflect on a bit with you today is a conversation I’ve been having with a religious sparring partner whose questions and challenges I have come to enjoy quite a lot lately. (If you have been following this conversation at all, it has moved from its original location here, to my post from yesterday here.) As we have been going back and forth over several different questions, but mostly those related to whether or not Jesus really rose from the dead, a thought occurred to me. I’m not going to be moved by his arguments. My confidence in the things I have come to believe over the years is pretty firm. I have encountered the kinds of arguments against the faith he has been making before. Nothing he has yet said has surprised me (nor do I think my arguments have surprised him as he’s spent what seems to be a fair bit of time investigating the question himself). I have also interacted with the responses from various Christian thinkers on these questions. On balance, I find their arguments vastly more compelling than the objections he has raised.

But I’m weird. Yes, I mean that generally, of course, but I also mean that in this sense: I’ve spent quite a lot of time investigating some of these very same questions. I have thought through the objections and the responses. I have spent an enormous amount of time studying the Scriptures themselves. I have worked through many, if not most, of the hardest passages and come to conclusions about them with which I am very satisfied. I’ve been to seminary and had the opportunity to interact in person with some of the brightest Christian scholars in the world, men and women who are recognized experts in their fields. My job is literally to teach people how to better understand and apply the Scriptures to their lives and why a relationship with Jesus is not just reasonable, but good. Most people can’t say any of that.

For most people who have grown up around the church and who give at least some amount of lip service to believing in Jesus and accepting the Christian worldview (even though they almost certainly wouldn’t use those terms), though, they likely haven’t encountered objections like these before. They will seem totally new and scary. They don’t know how to answer them. They have some questions of their own that were never really answered well and have gradually become little sparks of doubt. Well, when you have a few sparks of doubt and someone comes along with some kindling of objections, it is easy to find yourself nurturing a bonfire of skepticism.

How can we know we are in a relationship with God? How can we be sure of that even in the face of criticism and questions that seem to make an airtight case against the reasonableness of our faith? When a skeptical world comes calling and insists that you must make your case or else give way to theirs, and you can’t make your case, how do you hold to your faith anyway?

Here are two thoughts. The first is that there are no new objections being raised to the Christian worldview. Solomon was right when he said there is nothing new under the sun. If you encounter an objection that is presented as some novel defeater for the Christian worldview and which is totally unanswerable, not only is it not unanswerable, but it’s already been answered. More than once. It may take a little bit of research (or a pastor close at hand who you can email or comment on his blog) to find what the response is, but you can rest assured there is one. Now, it may be that you don’t find the answer very compelling, and I can’t do anything about that, but there is indisputably an answer.

Your faith is reasonable. It is still faith as we don’t have “proof” like what a skeptic may demand for everything we find in the Scriptures, but there are nonetheless enough points that are indisputably true and enough evidence pointing toward the truthfulness of others, that your willingness to place your faith in Jesus is a reasonable thing. A skeptic won’t agree with you on that point, but neither should you expect her to. If she agreed, she wouldn’t be a skeptic.

Here’s the second thought. One of the things guys like John and Paul and even Jesus give us assurance of is that when we truly place our faith in Jesus, and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our heart, we are going to have a confirmation of the rightness of our faith from Him that goes beyond what words can really express. As John says right here, we know that we are on the right footing with Him because He has given us His Spirit. Once that Spirit is inside of us, He can speak to our hearts words of comfort and assurance that do not come by other means. This kind of spiritual assurance from God Himself can give us the confidence to stand firm in our faith even in the face of withering critiques from skeptics.

But there’s something we have to keep in mind here. A skeptic isn’t going to understand this. Again, if they did, they wouldn’t still be skeptics. This confirmation and assurance is between you and God alone. No one else has access to it. You can’t prove it beyond knowing in your heart and mind what you experienced. But you don’t have to because, again, this is between you and God. And the fact that we have this shouldn’t be a surprise to us. There are some aspects of having a relationship with Jesus that are only going to be understandable by folks who have one. From the outside looking in, they won’t make the first bit of sense. They’ll seem counterintuitive and foolish and even ignorant; a willful disregard of obvious evidence to the contrary.

And when such accusations get lobbed in our direction, we can just smile and know that the person making them simply doesn’t understand. Prayerfully one day they will. Besides, guys like Paul told us ahead of time this might happen. “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.” Jesus indicated to His disciples that some parts of His message were intended for insiders. “Then the disciples came up and asked him, ‘Why are you speaking to them in parables?’ He answered, ‘Because the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know, but it has not been given to them. For whoever has, more will be given to him, and he will have more than enough; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. That is why I speak to them in parables, because looking they do not see, and hearing they do not listen or understand.'”

When you’ve had that confirmation from the Spirit, hang on to that. Mark that experience. Don’t forget about it. It is intended to give you confidence and assurance to sustain you in the face of the world’s attacks. It will indeed do just that if you’ll let it…if you’ll let Him. There is an enemy who very much doesn’t want you to believe. You don’t have to agree with him. Stand firm in the power of the Spirit.