Knowing Jesus

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This message is part of a short series of sermons during the Lenten Season. It discusses the importance of having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Knowing Jesus

Philippians 3:7-8 (HCSB) ⁷ But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. ⁸ More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ

Introduction:

Last Sunday I said that I planned to do a short series of sermons leading up to Easter that were all related to the Lenten season.

The theme of the message last week was “Seeking Jesus.”

We stated that when anyone purposes to earnestly seek for Jesus, the Bible clearly promises that they will find Him.

I believe that the natural consequence of seeking and finding Jesus is getting to know Him.

Shortly after I came to Wayside I preached a sermon about knowing God. In that sermon I mentioned that knowing about someone is distinctly different than knowing them.

I would echo the same thought again today. Knowing Jesus is much different than knowing about Him.

You may have attended Sunday school and church your entire life. You may have learned all kinds of facts and information about Jesus and His earthly life.

You might be able to quote every parable He told and every miracle He performed. You might even be able to name every disciple and every city He visited.

But none of that knowledge about Him even comes close to the experience of really knowing Him in a personal relationship.

Today I want to speak to you about what it means to really know Jesus Christ.

I expect that there are many ways to define what it means to truly know Jesus, but I’m convinced that it includes at least three things.

I. Knowing Jesus means dying to self.

Matthew 16:24 (KJV) Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Whenever Jesus spoke to His followers about becoming devoted disciples, He frequently talked about cross-bearing.

Since crucifixions were common in Judea, the hearers would have been familiar with the sight of condemned criminals carrying their own crosses to the place of execution.

Somehow I believe that just hearing Jesus say these words would have alerted the listeners to the fact that following Jesus means the end of my self-willed, self-centered, self-indulgent life.

To know Jesus means to get the focus off of self and on to Him. (See Philippians 3:7-8 “…everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. ⁸ More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…”)

Imagine a conceited young man going out on a date with a young lady, presumably to get better acquainted with her and get to know her a little better.

Imagine the conversation starting out with him asking several questions to find out her answers…

How do you like my car? Do you share my passion for sports? What do you think about hunting and fishing? Ok, well now, that’s enough about you, let’s talk a little about me.

What little bit he tried to find out about her really had more to do with himself than they did about her.

When we are trying to know Jesus, we can’t get to know Him if we’re always trying to impress Him with our résumé.

Jesus and His desires, His plans, and His agenda are the most important things for me to know.

If I can get my self out of the way and focus on Him more and more, then I will discover a deeper knowledge of Him than I’ve ever had before.

Lord, help us to focus on learning the things that concern you, the things that you’re passionate about, and the things that you desire for me and for our world.

II. Knowing Jesus means practicing radical faith.

As I pondered and meditated about what it must mean to know Jesus more and more intimately, it seemed to me that there must be a deliberate practice of the kind of faith described and encouraged by Jesus Himself.

A. First of all, we must exercise the faith necessary to be saved or born again.

This is the beginning point. You can’t know Jesus if you’re not born again. Jesus told Nicodemus that a person must be born of the Spirit in order to enter the Kingdom of God.

It takes radical faith to accept the claims of Jesus and reject all efforts to save ourselves and only trust His sacrifice for salvation and forgiveness of our sins.

B. After we have sought and found forgiveness, and we have trusted alone in the sacrifice of Jesus for salvation and our hope of heaven, there remains a constant need to practice radical faith in following Him and learning more about Him.

Whenever we read through the Gospels and follow the accounts of Jesus teaching and guiding His disciples, we see a pattern of Jesus pressing his disciples to trust more, believe him more, expect great things, and attempt great things.

Throughout the Bible and all through church history there are countless stories about people who knew God intimately enough that they expected great things from God and they attempted great things for God.

I think this is the one area where I falter and fall short most often. (I’ve never been a big risk-taker when it comes to involving other people. There have been times when I’ve taken personal risks, but not as much when it needs to involve others.)

I’ve had numerous ideas go through my mind regarding ways we might reach out or otherwise impact our community for Jesus, but many times the ideas do not fully develop, at least partially due to fear of failure.

Surely, the more one comes to know Jesus, the more he/she will trust him and expect him to do exactly what he promises. This will translate into a confidence that “whatever Jesus asks of us, He will supply the grace, the courage, the wisdom and the strength to accomplish it.”

There’s a story about Peter walking on the water, which we often view as an example of his failure to fully trust the Lord.

However, think of it this way: When Peter says, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." (Matthew 14:28 NKJV), the only reason he even dares to make this request, is because Peter has been with the Master long enough by now that he expects miracles to happen whenever Jesus is around.

He knows that when Jesus is here, anything is possible. There appears to be no doubt in his mind initially, only after he gets out on the water and begins to look around at the storm.

Dear friends, if we can get to know Jesus more and more intimately, I’m convinced that we will be practicing a greater level of faith and will be seeing greater results from His power in our lives.

III. Knowing Jesus means a constant pursuit of more knowledge.

If Jesus is really God in the flesh, then that means that there is no limit to His attributes.

We can never know all that there is to know about Him. We can never come to the place where “we’ve arrived” and it’s okay to just “coast” the rest of the way home.

(Talk about Dr. Lake speaking at International Assembly last July on the topic of discipleship training.)

Randy Keeling has started this program of discipleship training in his church with some encouraging signs of initial success.

I have a burden to see us begin a program of consistent discipleship training in our church that will develop and grow stalwart followers of Jesus.

Conclusion:   Knowing Jesus is a lifetime adventure.

It all starts by giving our hearts to Him and receiving His forgiveness and accepting His Spirit into our hearts to transform our lives.

It continues as we consistently come to Jesus and seek more of Him.