Knowing Jesus (1)
By Abraham Eli
This study was first taught on December 17, 2013
Topic: What We Are Talking About (1): A Head Knowledge?
(use the audio to study)
Background
The last time we met in our past bible study on “The Holy Spirit”, we noted that all that we need to live a life approved of God, and engage in an authentic ministry for God, has already been provided for us. Just as a new born child already has all the features he needs as he grows; features that are not present at his birth—sight, speech, teeth, facial hairs, etc.—but which will all appear as he reaches the appropriate age, so also, when a man is born again, all that he needs to live as a child of God was put in him, and at the appropriate stages of his spiritual growth and development, these graces will appear, provided he is growing as the Holy Spirit leads. Hence, when the Lord breathed on the disciples, and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost”, all that they needed to live for God was breathed into them!
Thus, we noted that if we are ever to amount to anything in our walk with God, and in doing His work, we must necessarily have the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Holy Spirit provided the early disciples with everything that they needed to live and do as God wanted; and He is doing the same for us today, enabling us to live for God, and to do His will. Indeed, it is by the Holy Spirit that the life of Christ is lived in us; and it is by the Holy Spirit that the will and work of God is satisfactorily done. When the Lord Jesus sent His disciples out to preach the good news of the kingdom of God in the course of His earthly ministry, He specifically told them not to go with anything, because all that they would need was already provided for. The same instruction is applicable to you today, because God has already provided you the Holy Spirit, if indeed you are born again. Indeed, without the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, would not have been able to succeed in His divine assignment. The Holy Spirit was involved in His life and ministry—His conception, birth, baptism, and commissioning; and, the miracles He wrought, the casting out of demons, preaching and teaching, and soul winning. The Holy Spirit was also involved in His death on the cross at Calvary, His resurrection, and His post-resurrection instructions—in which He told His disciples to wait for the manifestation of the Holy Spirit before they set out to do anything. In the same way, we also must wait to receive the Holy Spirit, before we can do anything of worth in the kingdom of God. Indeed, living for God, and doing His will, is only attainable through the Holy Spirit. You must therefore, recognize that all that you need to live successfully as a believer in Christ has been provided through the Holy Spirit, Who has been given to you from the instant you got born again, and as you submit to Him, and grow in the Lord Jesus, you will experience His manifestation, and then, you also can do God’s work and will!
Scripture Text(s)
Philippians 3:1-10
There is a way people talk about someone that betrays their ignorance of who they are talking about; and, there is a way people act in relation to someone, which reveals that they know who they are dealing with. In this new series, “Knowing Jesus”, we aim to go beyond a general knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, on to a more personal knowledge of Him. We pray that as our divine Instructor, the Holy Spirit, teaches and directs us, that we shall progressively and certainly attain to knowing Jesus, our Lord, deeply, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
We shall begin our study tonight by looking at what we mean when we say that we want to know the Lord Jesus Christ. From our scripture text, we see that Paul, as Saul of Tarsus, possessed certain qualifications which could have put him in stead as one who knows the Lord—he was a full-blooded Jew, and a Pharisee (one who observed and protected the law of God). But after an encounter with the Lord Jesus, he considered his earlier view of Jesus as rubbish. So, there are things that we may claim to know about the Lord Jesus, which are ‘rubbish’, when truly compared with the excellency or superiority of an intimate knowledge of Him. As a Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, only had a head knowledge of Jesus, Whom his religious sect considered an imposter who was claiming to be the Son of God—a blasphemy, by Pharisaic standards. But all that changed for Paul after his encounter with the resurrected Jesus!
1 Corinthians 8:1-3; 13:2, 4-8a; Matthew 15:1-2; Luke 11:37-39, 42; Matthew 23:2-3, 25-28; Luke 12:1; John 9:39-41; Acts 8:1, 3; 22:3-21; 2 Corinthians 5:16; John 1:10-11; Luke 4:16-30; Matthew 21:10-11; 5:20.
Conclusion
There is a knowledge that puffs up, which also produces a zeal that is destructive. Such knowledge is head knowledge, and it is one form of “Knowing Jesus” that we are not talking about!
Having a head knowledge may make us important to the ignorant, yet our own ignorance is betrayed when we meet with those who truly have a practical knowledge of the subject matter. A head knowledge of Jesus, is like someone who reads a Chemistry textbook without ever entering into a Chemistry laboratory, and yet claims to be a guru in Chemistry! It is one thing to claim to know Jesus, but a completely different thing to truly know Him in practical terms. A head knowledge of Jesus is bland, plastic, and rigid; it is heartless and destructive; and, it is loveless, cold, and selfish. It makes people who think that they know Him, force their knowledge on others; and it makes them arrogate to themselves a repository of knowledge, and so judge others by their unfounded knowledge (Matthew 7:1-5). So, even though the Pharisees had read so much about the Law of Moses, to the extent that they broke down the Law into rules and regulations (what they called ‘the traditions of the elders’), which they micro-managed and monitored strictly among the ordinary people, they themselves completely missed the Lord Who gave Moses the Law (John 1:17; 6:31-42). As a result of their head knowledge, really of the Law of God, they pursued after their own righteousness, or standard of holiness, rather than the righteousness or standard of holiness of God, which can only be attained in Christ Jesus!
If we are to truly know the Lord Jesus Christ, it will take more than a head knowledge of the bible or of the Lord Himself. Let us ask God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, by His Spirit to give us the appropriate knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:17).
Back to all Bible Study Outline List