KNOWING JESUS

Affirming that we know God is a basic thing as a Christian. Getting to know Jesus in a deep and personal way is another thing. Christians know Jesus, and other people might say they know Jesus as well. But the question is, how well do we know him?

Developing a relationship with someone requires a commitment of time and energy. So it is with your relationship with Jesus Christ; it takes time to learn some of the basic principles of the Christian life. 

 The greatest desire of the noble men in the bible like Paul, David and Moses was to know Jesus. 

In Philippians 3:10, Paul stated; “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death”.

Paul testified that he wanted to understand Jesus better. He wanted to have intimate knowledge of God—knowing Him more and more.

In Psalm 27:4, “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” David denoted that we should all continuously desire and grow more in love with God.

As we grow spiritually, we thirst and hunger for an intimate relationship with Jesus. However, it takes a heart of sincerity to have the yearning to learn about Jesus and to intensify relationship with Him. 

As Paul’s example, he desired for the presence of God that’s why he obeyed the Law. Sadly, some Christians think that abiding by the rules is being intimate with God. In Matthew 15:8, people, specifically the Pharisees were so legalistic and just focused on externalism. It’s like merely following a set of rules and it is considered as “legalism”—and God treat this as an insincere act. But God does not tolerate superficial relationship.

11)      THAT I MAY KNOW HIM...  (Philippians 3:10a)

From the time that we committed ourselves to God and surrendered our lives to Him, we became naturally thirsty about knowing about Him further because of His goodness.

But, did we know that it’s possible to be a Christian and not really know God? When the Bible talks about knowing God, it’s not referring to a mere intellectual exercise. Knowing God does not mean knowing facts about God. To know God is not just reciting His biblical resume or hearing testimony of what He has done in someone else’s life. Knowing God involves encountering Him and finding out that He is who He says He is. (John 14:8-9).

22)      THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION …  (Philippians 3:10b)

Paul stated that he wanted to understand Jesus better. He wanted to understand and experience the power found in Jesus' resurrection. He wanted to understand and experience the fellowship found in Jesus' sufferings. In trying times, that we used to think that there is no more hope left for us. But God has the power to give life and nothing is impossible to Him. God has given us the victory so we can have hope--Christ resurrection power.

33)      THE FELLOWSHIP OF HIS SUFFERING… (Philippians 3:10c)

Being made conformable to his death - In all things, being just like Christ - to live as he did, and to die as he did. There can be no doubt that Paul means to say that he esteemed it so desirable to be just like Christ, that he would regard it as an honor to die in the same manner. He would rejoice to go with him to the cross, and to pass through the circumstances of scorn and pain which attended such a death. Sometimes God uses ‘pain’ as megaphone to awaken us and remind us that God is there whenever we’re focusing on some unnecessary things. Some of us even experienced persecution by pursuing the work of Christ (Matthew 5:11-12).Christians are being condemned by friends, hounded by their own family and insulted by colleagues by being different and not doing the common stuffs that non-believers do. It’s hard to be different because we are social beings and we opt for sense of belongingness. Nonetheless, the Bible commanded us that we should be happy for being so.

Many who know a lot about Jesus but they don’t know Jesus in a personal and intimate way. Let us not be contented with our knowledge of Jesus, but our goal should have the desire to have a more loving relationship with Him always.

I AM A DISCIPLE OF JESUS

           

What does it take to be a Christian?  Are we considered Christian because we confessed our sins and prayed the sinner’s prayer? Christianity has a cost, and that is letting God work mightily in our lives.  It is God’s desire for us to become His Disciple.  A Christian life is not only about accepting Christ as His Savior, but making Christ as His Lord, and consequently becoming His Disciple. Discipleship is costly but to not follow Christ is even more costly.

Many of us today do not understand what it means to be a genuine Christian. There are multitudes that often follow Jesus or claim to be a Christian but we do so on our terms and not His. We do not truly comprehend the biblical definition of discipleship. 

In Luke 9:23, Jesus told His people: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  This implies that being a Christian does not just end in going to church, praying and reading the bible. There are conditions that we need to adhere to.

Just like the environmental slogan: Reduceà Reuseà Recycle = LostàSavedàDisciple—we, as God’s followers should abide with the commitment that once we live in Christ, should bear in mind the kind of commitment involved is seen further when we consider the "high cost" of discipleship demanded by Jesus in 2 Corinthian 5:17.

THE COURSE: “If anyone would come after me,…” Come after me means, if we are going to be a Disciple of Jesus then we need to follow His course and not our course. We will submit to His terms and not on our terms. We will praise and worship Him in His terms and not our terms. 

THE CONDITION: Deny. There are two things we need to know about the word “Deny”. Deny means IMMEDIATELY, no Buts and Ifs. Remember:  Delayed obedience is disobedience. God does not tolerate excuses to follow His instructions. He wants us to respond instantly no matter what. Deny also means COMPLETELY. It means entirely and not just to cut off.

Jesus has in mind that as His people, His followers, we are to forsake anything that would stand in the way of embracing Christ with our full allegiance.  We are to forsake, possessions, power, favor of men, and human glory.  We must deny our natural bent toward earthly treasures and strive to make Christ our treasure.  Also, in this, we must deny our self-reliance.  We must forsake relying on our abilities and logic.  We must forsake relying on our human sense of righteousness and totally cling to Christ for righteousness, we must live lives that continually accept grace and glorify Christ.

THE COMMAND: “….follow me.”  ( Luke 9:23a) Follow me is not a suggestion. It is imperative, required, necessary. He is calling people out of the crowd to become His follower. His disciples; someone who has such a vital union with Christ that they routinely do what Jesus taught. He’s calling people to step out of the crowd to become one of those extraordinary individuals.

Daniel, as an example was firmed in his faith in Christ, when they (with Meshach, Meshach and Abednego) were ordered by King Nebuchadnezzar to worship the golden image. But they refused and faced the threat of death. Despite the sentence placed upon them by King Nebuchadnezzar, they have yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.

Discipleship is a daily discipline and true Christianity is a life that walks under the guidance of the Holy Spirit of Christ (Matthew 28:19-20). The cost of being a disciple of Jesus is extreme; it may cost us everything we have. But it may surely be rewarding on the latter part. It does not assure us a comfortable lives but a task to bear much fruit and ready to be reaped in due time. Christianity is a responsibility and our ultimate responsibility as Christians is not just to preach the gospel, but to live Christ because how we act is how we perceive God in our lives.