Church in Chicago

LOVING AND KNOWING GOD

1 Corinthians 8:3 NLT

A lot of people claim that they know God. They say that they love Him and that He is a part of their lives. I’ve met a lot of people like this and I even used to be one of those people. When I used to be out in the streets, every once in a while, the topic of God would come up. Being raised in a Christian home, I always knew about God. So, when we (or group of gang members) would talk about God, I would in the best way I knew, try to defend God or just add in to the conversation whatever I thought I knew about Him and the Bible. I would go on and on though in actuality I was clueless about God. Those conversations didn’t profit me anything but a headache after arguing back and forth about stuff we didn’t know. We didn’t really love or know God because in order to do that, you would have had to develop some kind of relationship with him, just as you would develop a relationship with your friends and family.

What is “loving God?”

Before I get started, let me clear something up first about who Jesus is. Jesus is the Second in the Trinity, or the Godhead. The Godhead consists of one God with three members: The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are all God. And according the Colossians 2:9, “For in Him (Jesus) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily”.

Jesus was God revealed to earth as man. (Read Philippians 2:5-11). He as a man was and still is Almighty, perfect and holy. Jesus is the mediator or peacemaker between God and man. It is because of what Jesus has done that allows us to experience the fullness of God and His grace.

…Now that that’s cleared up, let’s take of look at what Jesus said in John 14:15 about loving God.

“If you love me, keep my commandments.”

Do you love your parents? Well how would you show it? I suppose it wouldn’t be shown through being disrespectful, disobeying what they tell you to do, and fighting against them. No! You would do the complete opposite. You wouldn‘t have to work for their love, but you would do what needs to be done and respect their decisions for your life. Being obedient and loving your parents produces a healthy, long lasting relationship and also a clean house.

… It’s the same way with God.

He is our heavenly Father. He created us. We were subjected to death because of our disobedience. So He took it in His own hands and paid the price for our sins. Not only that, He paved the way for you to be able to have a relationship with Him by Him sending His Son to be an example on how He (God) wants us to live on earth. He raised His Son up from death, so He can be with you to give you hope, strength and peace, because He knows and we should know that we won’t be able to make it in life on our own.

How can we have a relationship with God?

Jesus said in John 14:6, that He is the only way to the Father (God). You have to become a disciple of Jesus. All were called to do is follow after Jesus. We follow His example, how He handled things, how he prayed, and following and doing what He said.

…Now let’s look back at John 14:15. Jesus said “If you love me, keep my commandments.”

What are Jesus’ commandments? In John 15:12 Jesus says:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.”

This love that Jesus is talking about is not just being nice to one another even though that is part of it. The love that Jesus is talking about is a love and passion that you show to everybody regardless of what they’ve done and what they’re doing. It’s a love that forgives anyone regardless of how bad they’ve hurt you. It’s a love that not only sees people as who they are but also looks at what they could be. This love is a love that people might question and get curious about. The love that Jesus is talking about is a sacrificial love and plainly, a love that is opposite to how the world wants to look at people.

The world wants you to treat people good, be nice, and love people that do the same to you. The world wants you to treat the people who do wrong like they are not human, want you to look down upon them because of the choices they make. But according to Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Those people try to make themselves look seem so good because someone else did something that is more serious and worse that what you have done. But the truth is, unless you have turned away from following after sin, and choose to follow after the righteousness of God, you have no right to make yourself look better than the person who killed someone when all you did was have sex before marriage.

The only person who would have had the right to separate himself from the sinful people because of his righteousness would be Jesus. But instead of boasting about His perfection, he practiced what he preached. (Here is what he preached.)

Matthew 5:43-46

43 Ye have heard that is hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despise and persecute you.

45 That you may be children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh the sun to me on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.

46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans (tax collectors) do the same?

Tax collectors back in those days were very disliked by the majority of the tax payers. They were looked at as very bad people for taking the citizens’ money. But here’s what Jesus practiced

Mark 2:14 And as He passed by He saw Levi (Matthew, a tax collector) the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, follow me. And he arose and followed him.

15 And it came to pass, that as Jesus sat at meal in His home, many Publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples. For there were many and they followed him.

16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him (Jesus) eat with Publicans and sinners, they said unto His disciples, how is it that He eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?

And here’s the reason why we as Christians should love those who sin and are hated.

Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it he said unto them, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentence.

We follow after Jesus and love our enemies and those who still are living in their sins because we want to be a light to them and tell them about the hope that we have because of Jesus. And we are to let them know that there’s hope for them too, if they choose to live for God. Nobody is perfect except God. But when we reflect Jesus and love like He did, it shows that we are His. We are seen as holy and complete in God’s eyes because we reflect and choose to follow after His perfect Son, according to John 13:33,34. Jesus said: A new commandment I give onto you that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love another.

35 By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. You love one another.

Now here’s how you will know that you love God and are doing what He said.

John 14.21 Jesus says:

21 He that hears my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Those who are His, will know because Jesus will reveal himself to you. It can be as clear as day or as signs and wonders.

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If man loves me, he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him, and make our abode with Him.

The Father and Son will come and live inside of you. It will be like having special guests come into your house to move in. How?

John 14:26 Jesus says:

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever things I have said unto you.

One of the proofs that Jesus is real besides His resurrection from the dead, is the Holy Spirit. It’s Jesus’ Spirit inside of you. He will teach you everything you need to know about God when you read His Word. His voice would sometimes come as a thought, a small still voice, or He will speak to you audibly. All of the power and wisdom of God is in the Holy Spirit. When you have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit will come and live inside of you. (If you are curious about the Holy Spirit and want to know more Him, you can read in 1 Corinthians 2 and I will also be teaching on the Holy Spirit soon).

1 Corinthians 8:3 NLT

But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.

Those who have chosen to love God develop a real relationship with Him. Christianity is not based off practices and rituals that you perform before God to try to prove your worth to Him. It is a relationship that you build with God based off your faith and trust in what Jesus has already done for us and the promises of His word that are activated by your faith. You learn the true meaning of love and experience joy and peace like never before. You’re satisfied eternally when you choose to receive Jesus, Who is like the missing piece to your puzzle that would make your life complete. Those who have accepted Jesus know what I’m talking about. It’s because of Jesus that we can experience the fullness of God.

So do you know God? Do you really love Him? If not, I encourage you to put your faith, love and trust in Jesus so you can experience all that God has for you and so you’ll know how real God is. He loves you and is longing for you to open that door so you and Him can develop an everlasting relationship. Jesus has already done everything for you and all you have to do is turn from your sins and believe in Jesus and follow after Him by reading His word (the Bible). You won’t know God is truly real until you do so. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

May God bless you according to His riches and glory and may you be filled with a desire to know and love God like never before. Grace, peace and love from God the Father, His Son and Holy Ghost be to you.

Sincerely,

Andrew Lorek