Known

On Sunday nights, I’ve been teaching a discipleship class called Known.  It’s all about a what a personal relationship with Jesus looks like.  In this post, I’ll present the basic premise of the class, and in subsequent posts, we’ll start digging deeper into scripture about what this relationship is all about. 

My goal is to post something from the class every Tuesday, so I guess since we have Matthew Mondays, we’ll call this Relationship Tuesdays:

So what’s the class all about?

Many Christians come to faith in Christ Jesus through an invitation because of a friend’s testimony, a child’s Sunday School lesson, or maybe a pastor’s sermon, and it most likely included some variation of the phrase “have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ” or “personal savior”.  If like me your surrender to Christ was somewhat different, I’m sure you’ve at least heard these phrases and maybe have even used them when telling others about your faith.

But what does it mean to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?

A personal relationship with Jesus has two main principles: knowing about God is not the same as knowing God; relationship is a two-way road--in other words it’s not just enough to know Jesus, we must be known by Him—and finally God doesn’t just offer us the opportunity to be in relationship with us, He is zealous for a relationship with us.  He has made all the overtures, and our decision is to accept Him or spurn Him.

God also sets up the guidelines of what the relationship will look like.  He defines what it takes to be in relationship with Him, He defines what’s necessary on our part to maintain the relationship, and He offers not only to teach us what it takes but also offers us grace when we fall short and power to do what He’d like us to do.

Over the next few weeks will be looking at how God defines the relationship He wants with us, what it takes to know Him, and what it takes to be known by Him.

Next Week: Knowing God vs. Knowing About God