Know Christ; Not No Christ

1 Corinthians 2:2 “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

Recently, Pastor JJ, once again challenged us with a powerful Sunday sermon on knowing God and holiness. It seems, far too often, that this statement of the Apostle Paul (above) would be considered radical Christian thinking, while the exact opposite statement: “I determined to know everything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified”, has become the new normal today. Active disobedience and passive indifference equates to not caring what God wants and doing what we desire, even when these thoughts, words and actions are directly opposed to his sacrosanct Word, Will, and Way. How do we see this way, or flipped, how do we not see the truth?

When our heart is not filled with Jesus, (godly love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are missing, absent, AWOL, and just plain not there) and there are voids in our life that will be filled with other things. What really matters in life diminishes as “distractions” rule, reign and enslave our hearts, minds and soul. Distraction is defined as the divided attention of an individual or group from the chosen object of attention onto the source of distraction. Distraction is caused by: the lack of ability to pay attention; lack of interest in the object of attention; or the great intensity, novelty or attractiveness of something other than the object of attention. Distractions come from both external sources (that God-rejecting world system and Satan), and internal sources and are a diversion (the sin nature of our flesh); drawing the mind in a different direction from our heavenly Creator and Father Lord God and His government of our life. We need to put down “our way” and walk in the Spirit.

Philippians 3:8-11 “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

The Lord shows us “His perfect way”. Distractions in people, places, and things are not wrong (in and of themselves), unless they are focused on, sought after, pursued and done omitting and void of our revered intimate relationship with Jesus and God’s holy calling for us. Then who and what are we faithful too? The key is to know and love Jesus and His teachings; not just about Jesus. John 14:23-24 “Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.” Know the power of His resurrection. Worship and praise the Lord from the center of our hearts and being that flows through us and lives in us. To know Christ goes deeper than this world and its distractions. But how can we know Him without seeking Him, spending time with Him, without experiencing Him and His love in communication of prayer and worship. Not some five step plan or program, but a changed life through the transformation of regeneration of the spirit, once we repented of our sin and trusted in Jesus for our salvation.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

God is in the business of changing lives. Our misguided society, culture and world is “looking for love in all the wrong places”. The community of faith can and must affect the people around them by being Christ (mirroring Christ) to them. Let’s start participating in the purposes and work of Christ and doing our part in the advancement of the Christian faith, as children and servants of the kingdom of heaven, without stops or impediments, set apart from what the God-rejecting world system throws at us, keeping always in mind who the Lord is and what the Lord wants us to do in our lives. Know Christ, live for Christ and make Him known.

In His Holy name, Brian