Week Two | Blessed By Being Known By Jesus

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Blessed Online Biblical Study
Reading Assignment – Chapters 3 & 4
Listen to the Audio version | Reading Time: 3 minutes

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As a teacher, it is my job to know my students.  By observing them daily,  working with them in small groups, evaluating their data, and watching them interact with learning materials, I am able to understand what they know and what they need to work on.  All this information leads to being able to award each student with a final grade on their report card. 

When we read Revelation 2-3, we are essentially reading a report card, created by Jesus, for each of the seven churches of Asia.  Jesus saw these churches, each individual member, and through John, provided them with a summary of what He saw.   

I Know, But…

Within chapters 2-3 of Revelation, God provides each of the seven churches of Asia with a summary of their “spiritual condition.”  After introducing Himself, Jesus starts by telling each of the churches what He knows about them.  He starts these statements with “I know…”

“To most he says ‘I know your works.’  He’s saying, ‘I know how your faith is being lived out.  I know that fruit is being produced in your life.’  He knows the good and the bad, the big and the small, the public and private outworkings of being in a relationship with Him.”

Nancy Guthrie, Blessed, pg. 63

Jesus tells them what he knows to be true about them, but he doesn’t stop there.  For each of the seven churches, He adds a “but” to his report.  This “but” serves as an opportunity for Jesus to expose, convict, and challenge them to change.  For these churches, this serves as an opportunity to humble themselves in the presence of Jesus and receive his report well. 

Being Known By Jesus

What and who we love, what we are willing to suffer for, what we really believe, what we are willing to tolerate, the reality of our spiritual health, whose kingdom we are committed to, and who we are depending on is no surprise to God.  He knows the deepest parts of us, the truths we may not even be willing to admit to ourselves.  

Jesus knows our hearts.  

As I was reading Chapter 3 of Blessed by Nancy Guthrie, I couldn’t tear myself away from a section of reflection questions she posed.  

“Do we have the ears to hear what Jesus has to say to us?  Are we open to seeing ourselves as he sees us?  Or will we deflect, defend, or dismiss what he has to say?  Will we sit in the room with our fellow believers inwardly pointing a finger at others who really need to hear what Jesus has to say while assuming that we are doing fine?  Or will we do what he calls us to do even though it will be costly, humbling, and hard?”

Nancy Guthrie, Blessed, Pg. 62

These seven churches were given an opportunity to understand just how known they were by Jesus.  The good, the bad, and the ugly.  As followers of Jesus, we have the same opportunity, to open our hearts to our own spiritual report cards.  The question is, are we willing to receive it?

TODAY WE LEARNED:
1. Revelation 2-3 was essentially a spiritual report card for the 7 churches of Asia.
2. Jesus invites each of us to receive our own spiritual report card.
3. Jesus knows every part of us, even the parts that we may not be willing to admit to ourselves.

ANSWER THIS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW:
How can we open ourselves to hearing what Jesus has to say to us, and seeing ourselves as He sees us?