Knowing Jesus
Scripture: First John 2:3-5; Job 36:26; Matthew 28:19-20
The title of my message this morning is “Knowing Jesus.” As I go through this message, I want you to consider this question: On a scale of 1 to 10 how well do I know Jesus?”
Now some people could answer this question by saying I know “of” Jesus but I do not know Him personally. That would a 1. Some could answer the question by saying “I am very acquainted with Jesus” which could apply to some Christians. The definition of the word “acquainted” means “having some, often not very much, knowledge of something.” So, let’s say that would be a 2. I will explain shortly why this could possibly apply to some Christians. Still others might say that they know Jesus because they grew up in a Christian home and went to Church every Sunday. But, does growing up in a Christian home and going to Church every Sunday truly make us know Jesus? For the sake of argument, let’s make going to Church every Sunday a 3. So how well do we know Jesus? Are we just acquainted with Him or do we have a more personal relationship with Him? Some pray to Him occasionally but not regularly – is this proof of knowing Him? On a scale of 1 to 10, how well do we know Jesus? Job said, “Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; nor can the number of His years be discovered.” (Job 36:26) Job confessed that they knew that God was great but still, at the same time, they did not truly know Him. We know things about Jesus, but does that mean we know Him?
First John 2:3-5 records the following, “(3) Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. (4) He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (5) But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.” (First John 2:3-5) John wrote that the way we know that we actually know Jesus is through keeping His commandments. We often think about keeping His commandments in relationship to the “do nots.” What I mean by this is we focus on the commandments that tell us what not to do – sins that can get us into a world of trouble. But knowing Jesus is about lot more than what He commands us not to do – it’s also about what He commands us to do and the impact those choices have on our lives and the lives of those around us.
In my last message I shared with you about the path of least resistance. In that message I told you that when we make a concrete primary choice, in this case accepting Christ as our personal Savior, all of our secondary choices should align with and/or support the primary choice. So in order for this to happen, we must spend time getting to know Jesus as this is the only way to understand the change that takes place within us when we make the decision to accept Him. Spending time with Jesus and the Father and getting to know them is a requirement for every Christian if we are truly going to walk with Him in knowledge. So this morning I want us to consider how well we know Jesus. I believe that every person who is hearing or reading this message has some knowledge of Him, but this morning I want us to focus on the depth of that knowledge. Do we have that closeness with Him that causes us to consciously and always be aware of His presence in our lives regardless of where we are? Do our thoughts turn to Him throughout our day or just when we are in Church, bible study or during our personal meditation times? Think about it, on a scale of 1 to 10, how well do we really know Jesus? Let me narrow our focus on the answer with a few questions for you to ponder.
Do we know Jesus well enough to recommend Him to others? If we are thinking about a scale of 1 to 10, it would be difficult to be in a position to recommend Jesus is you’re at 1-3 on the scale of knowing Him. What does it take to recommend someone to someone else? In order to refer someone to someone else we have to know them – we have to be certain that they are more than capable of doing whatever it is we are referring (or recommending) them for. This comes from more than just a cursory knowledge of what someone is capable of doing. This type of referral comes through personal knowledge and experience with the person. We know what they are capable of because we have witnessed it, not just in a one off situation, but repeatedly. They are consistent in what they do and, based on that consistency we are able to refer them to someone needing their expertise. When Jesus rose from the dead He gave His disciples (and us) this commission: “(19) Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.” (Matthew 28:19-20) Jesus told His disciples to go into all nations and do what? They were to go, share His word, win souls for Christ and teach them how they can be like Jesus by making them His disciples. He tells them to do this by “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” The disciples knew Christ personally so they could speak of Him from personal experience. When you read the book of Acts and the other letters to the Church, we see example after example of them speaking of Christ from a personal experience point of view. We cannot have the disciples’ point of view per se, but we sure can have our own. No one can tell our story like we can. No one can speak to what Jesus has done for us better than we can. Do you know Jesus well enough to recommend Him to others? Has He been true to His Word in your life? On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say that the disciples’ knowledge of Jesus was 10. How would you rate your knowledge of Jesus to be able to recommend Him to others?
Someone wrote that it is easier to stand up and give a testimony that Jesus is our all and all, but quite another thing for Him to really be our all in all. The reason for this is because for Him to be our all and all, our actions, attitudes and conduct must testify, be a witness, that this is the case. Do you remember how upset the religious leaders were with Peter and John because they teaching the people about Jesus? They said the following in Acts 4:13: “Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” Have we allowed Christ to be our Savior in every aspect of our own lives so that we are not afraid to recommend Him to others? Do our family members, friends, and those we encounter on a daily basis know that we know Jesus, that we have a relationship with Him, because of how we live? Can they hear it in our conversations? As I thought about this question, another example of Peter and John came to mind, which is also found in Acts 4. The religious leaders had threatened to beat them if they continued to talk about Jesus. I want you to hear their response in verses 19 and 20. “(19) But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than God, you be the judge; (20) for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard.’” (Acts 4:19-20) There have been many times that I have had former employees call and ask if they can use me as a reference as they interview for jobs with other employers. They wanted to use me as a referral. If a prospective employer called, they wanted me to be able to talk about their performance, attitude, knowledge, and overall work ethics. These were things I could speak to from personal experience because I knew them; they had worked for me. Can we truly recommend Jesus to others based on what we have allowed Him to be to us personally? If you can answer yes to this question, give yourself a 6.
Do we know Jesus well enough to be willing to sacrifice for Him? Our answer to this question will depend on how we define the word “sacrifice.” Sacrifice is defined as “a giving up of something valuable or important for somebody or something else considered to be of more value or importance.” We make sacrifices when we choose to give up something that is valuable and/or important to us personally for someone or something who mean more to us than what we are giving up. For example, in Churches we talk sometimes about giving God a sacrificial offering – which simply means choosing to give to God an offering that you would normally keep for yourself. It’s when we give more than we originally plan to give because we want so much to help spread the gospel that we willingly shift money from other things to give to God. I want you to see an example of this in scripture. God had commanded Moses to build Him a sanctuary. Let’s read what Exodus 36 says about the people giving. “(3) They (the builders) received from Moses all the contributions which the sons of Israel had brought to perform the work in the construction of the sanctuary. And they still continued bringing to him freewill offerings every morning. (4) And all the skillful men who were performing all the work of the sanctuary came, each from the work which he was performing, (5) and they said to Moses, ‘The people are bringing much more than enough for the construction work which the Lord commanded us to perform.’ (6) So Moses issued a command, and a proclamation was circulated throughout the camp, saying, ‘Let no man or woman any longer perform work for the contributions of the sanctuary.’ Thus the people were restrained from bringing anymore.” (Exodus 36:3-6) The people wanted to help financially with the construction of the sanctuary that they gave and gave and gave until Moses said they had already given too much! The people had willingly sacrificed their time by working extra hours so they could give more and that’s what we see in verse 6: “Let no man or woman any longer perform work for the contributions of the sanctuary.” In this situation, giving for the construction of the sanctuary above their normal giving was a heart issue because it was for the Lord. So, for some, giving anything to the Church is a sacrifice and God understands this. For some just coming to Church on the one day they have off and could sleep in is a sacrifice. God understands this too. We measure our levels of sacrifice based on what is important to us personally. But, do we know Jesus well enough to make sacrifices for Him?
Do you recall the story of Abraham when God asked him to sacrifice his only “promised” son Isaac whom he loved dearly? Abraham knew God so personally that he, without question, took the knife in his hand and was ready to slay his own son. Before he could do it, the angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and stopped him. Abraham had proved his loyalty and willingness to be obey God completely. Genesis 22:12 records, “(12) And He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Genesis 22:12) To know Jesus in a sacrificial way will cause us to place our personal comforts and pleasures in the proper perspective. Have you ever thought about why Abraham was so willing to sacrifice his only beloved son? It’s because he knew God. And this is what he knew about God: “(17) By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, (18) of whom it was said, ‘IN ISAAC YOUR SEED SHALL BE CALLED,’ (19) concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.” (Hebrews 11:17-19) Abraham concluded (he KNEW) that God was able to raise Isaac up from the dead. Abraham was willing to obey God because he knew God and knew what He was capable of doing. God told Abraham, “….I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Would it not be wonderful if Jesus told each of us, “I know you love Me since you are withholding nothing from Me”? Do we know Jesus well enough to make real sacrifices for Him? If you can answer yes to this question, give yourself an 8.
Finally, on a scale of 1 to 10, how well do we know Jesus in order to reach out to Him in a crisis? For a Christian, you would think that this would be a no brainer. I do not know about you, but I have experienced some crisis moments in my life. I have had times when everything seemed like it was going great and then, Bam!, out of nowhere a problem arose. And not just any problem, but one of those you hadn’t thought you would ever face kind of problems. It is during these crisis moments when our first response is indicative of how well we know Jesus. Going immediately to Jesus when a crisis arises requires trust. We have talked about this many times so this is just a reminder. How we respond to crisis moments that arise speaks to the faith and trust we have in Jesus that He is able to see us through. Now all of us will eventually get to that point as we go through the situation, but wouldn’t it be wonderful to start from that point. The crisis hits and we turn to Jesus. We don’t wait; we don’t immediately shift to worry; we turn to Jesus. David wrote “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.” (Psalms 19:14) If what David says is true for us, when we are in crisis mode, our words and the things we meditate on will be those things of His promise because He is our strength and our redeemer. If we know Him as such, when we are in a crisis we turn to Him.
Remember that I said that eventually we would all get there – calling on Jesus in our times of crisis? I said this because there are times when the pain is so great, and the trauma is so bad that it is hard for our minds to concentrate on praying. We shift to worry and with every thought of things not working out, the worry increases. But, when we know Jesus and live closely aligned to Him, when we experience a crisis, we have a spontaneous cry out to Him for help. It’s not delayed; it’s not something we have to build up for; it’s not the learned prayer of our parents; it’s the immediate out cry for help in that moment of need. It’s knowing that we can call on the name of Jesus at any moment, any time and any place. We must know Jesus well enough to know that He is always by our side – in every situation, good or bad.
In the first part of this message, I talked about how well the apostles knew Jesus. I talked about how they stood their ground in the face of severe beatings from the religious leaders. And we read that they did not waver on Who they knew and Who they served and because of that, I said that on a scale of 1 to 10 how well they knew Jesus they would get a 10. Looking at the lives of the apostles and what they experience, is one way of gauging where we are in our knowledge of Jesus. And the three questions we examined also helped us think about and gauge how well we know Jesus. So, given all of this, on a scale of 1 to 10, how well would you say you know Jesus? I don’t want you to share it with anyone, unless you choose to do so, but I want you to make a note of it because it is you honestly acknowledging where you are in how well you know Jesus. And let me add this: none of us, and I mean none of us, at this point, if we are completely honest, will score a 10 in our knowledge of Jesus. Wherever you find yourself on this scale, you know that knowing Jesus is totally determined by how well we know His word as He, and the Father, is revealed through His word. We all face times of uncertainty, and it is during these times that our knowledge of Christ will come to the forefront. How well we know Him enables us to recommend Him, sacrifice for Him and know that we can always call on His name.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
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