This study was first taught on March 11, 2014

Topic: Why Should We Desire to Know Jesus? (4)

(use the audio to study)

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Background
Last week, we saw reasons why we should desire to know the Lord Jesus, from the standpoint of God the Father. We noted that when we come to know the Lord Jesus, we would give Him equal honour as we would the Father, for they are one—the Father in the Son, and the Son in the Father. The reasons for desiring to know the Lord Jesus from the standpoint of the Godhead are as follows:
1. God delights in our knowing Him, and by extension, His Son, the Lord Jesus. We saw that the Lord Jesus was displeased with Philip when he asked to know God, even though He, the Lord Jesus, had been with him for so long a time; and, we saw the extent to which God, the Father, went in order to show Moses His glory, when Moses asked.
2. We cannot really and truly serve the Lord as we ought to, until we have known Him as we should. For, even though Isaiah had been prophesying for some time, it was not until he saw and came to the knowledge of the Lord, that he was fruitfully and maximally useful in ministry.
3. There are dangers in not knowing the Lord, and yet claim to serve Him. If you don’t know someone you are supposed to have a close relationship with, you are likely to do things that will offend the person, and incur his ire. The Israelites in the wilderness had a firsthand taste of the wrath of God, when they took it for granted that the same way God had always overlooked their misdemeanor in time past, was how He was going to overlook their refusal to enter the Promised Land; how badly mistaken they were—they all perished in the wilderness (that is, those who were twenty years and above, except Joshua and Caleb). And decades later, Joshua warned those who entered into the Promised Land about the danger of claiming to serve God, while practicing idolatry.

Scripture Text(s)
John 4:19-22
Tonight, we shall be concluding on the reasons why we should desire to know the Lord Jesus Christ personally, as we look at it from the standpoint of worship. We pray that the Holy Spirit will help us to worship the Father and the Son, as we really should, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
The Lord Jesus told the Samaritan woman, whom He met at the well when she inquired about worship, that her worship was fruitless, because she desired to worship a God she did not know. It goes without saying that unless we know the Lord, our worship will likewise be fruitless, futile, and a farce.
2 Kings 17:24-33; Acts 17:16-32; Exodus 32:1-26; 24:9-11; 1 Samuel 15:1-35; I Kings 12:23-33; 11:29-38; Matthew 4:8-10; 8:1-3; Isaiah 58:1-7; 1 Corinthians 11:25-30; Matthew 15:7-9; Romans 12:1.

Conclusion
When we don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ, our worship is fruitless, futile, and a farce. The leper showed us his knowledge of the Lord Jesus, when he worshipped Him stating that he knew the Lord could cleanse him if He wanted—he was not worshipping the Lord as a means of extracting his cleansing! Israel, on the other hand, declared their own fast on to God, and wandered why nothing was happening, whereas, they abandoned the fast that God ordained. Just like Jeroboam abandoned the date that God had ordained for Israel to worship, and created his own, so do we have it today: Christians are today celebrating everything from Valentine’s Day to National Independence Days, except the one celebration the Lord Jesus asked them to celebrate—Holy Communion! And when they do celebrate Holy Communion, it is according to the commandments of men. How sad! The Greeks, with their worldly wisdom did not know the ‘God’ they erected a monument in honour of—what vain worship they were engaged in. And then there was the case of King Saul, whom God asked to go and completely annihilate Amalekites and all their livestock; who afterwards, returned with the same livestock and the King of the Amalekites whom he ought to have slain, and purported that he had brought the livestock to worship God. Samuel’s response was clear—God does not care for a worship that is not backed by obedience, humility, and true repentance.

In our generation today, our churches are filled with people who claim that they have come to worship God, but who are persistently living in disobedience, who are proud and boastful about what they possess, and, who have neither repented of sin, nor turned away from sinful living. Many of these people don’t know the One true God. They think that worship is just about attending a church meeting; they don’t realize that there is more to worship than just attending a church meeting—they don’t know that worship includes and involves how we present our bodies to God, what we are being taught in our church meetings, and the ceding of everything that we own to God.

Idolatry is the outcome of worshipping a ‘God’ that is not known. Some people think that seeing Jesus and knowing Jesus is the same thing; but it is not! Some other people think that offering sacrifices to God and knowing God is the same thing; but it is not! And still some other people think that receiving prophecy and knowing Jesus is the same thing; again it is not! Idolatry, in reality, is the worship of God as a means to an end; whereas, true worship is the recognition of the worth-ship of God!

Beloved, we must desire to know the Lord Jesus Christ, for in knowing Him, we shall also come to the knowledge of God, the Father, and will be able to effectively worship the Father and the Son, in spirit and in truth, as we truly should.

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