The Journal of Biblical Accuracy

http://www.jba.gr/

Article

• You are known

Please feel free to copy and forward this article

 You are known

I was recently speaking with my wife about a missionary of the 19th

century that preached the gospel in China and then in Africa. It really impresses
me that people I don’t know would do this. But what about all of us in the body
of Christ? I don’t know you, you don’t know me but each of us is a member of
the body of Christ; a member the Lord Jesus Christ - the Head of the body -
knows personally very well. And here is the point: We may not be known by
many. Our names many not make it to the pages of Christian magazines, the
screen of Christian TV or the shelves of Christian bookshops. They may never
be remembered, as Paul’s or Peter’s name, and may not be among those
mentioned in the church history books. BUT, and here is a big BUT, the LORD
knows all of us perfectly well! For the Lord, all of us, known and unknown to
men, have made a huge difference by believing in Him! All of us, known and
unknown to men, ARE KNOWN BY HIM. To all of us that believe in Jesus
Christ and in His resurrection is written in Romans 8:

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love
God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He
foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son,
that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He
predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified;
and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to
these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him
also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It
is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and
furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes
intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,

2
or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We
are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Yet in all these things we are
more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor
things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other
created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:28-39)

These words are not written only to famous Christians, only to those that
gave their life for the faith, or only to those for whom we read about in the
Bible. These words are also written to US, the simple believers in Jesus Christ.
May be in this world our names will not make it past the pages of the telephone
book BUT they have made it to the pages of the book of life! May be in this
world only few will know and remember us BUT I KNOW ONE THAT IS
NEVER GOING TO FORGET US: GOD.

Isaiah 49:15
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of
her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you.”

Hebrews 13:5
“He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Do you know all the 12 apostles?

Continuing on the same topic, I would like to go to Matthew 10:2-4
where the names of the 12 apostles are given. There we read:

Matthew 10:2-4
“Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called
Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

3
Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son
of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the
Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.”

I’m sure you will find very few people that don’t know Peter, John and
Thomas. But I’m pretty sure that you will also find few that if asked who were
the twelve they would without difficulty remember Simon the Canaanite or
Lebbaeus or James the son of Alphaus. These are the rather “unknown” of the
12. Except occasions like the above, we will find them mentioned in the
Scripture only with the collective term the twelve or “the disciples”. They don’t
have their own epistle in the New Testament, they do not have their own story
in Acts and we don’t hear much about them in the gospels. They were however
disciples of Christ, PERSONALLY CHOSEN AND KNOWN FULLY WELL
BY HIM….. As you and me! As the Lord said:

John 15:16
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go
and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the
Father in My name He may give you.”

It is not we that chose the Lord but the Lord that chose us, YOU,
personally. You are his personal choice, his preference, greatly favored by
Him! His love for YOU passes knowledge it says in Ephesians 3:19! And as II
Corinthians 15:58 tells us:

II Corinthians 15:58
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding
in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

4
 Your work in the body of Christ is NOT in vain. You may not be somebody
that Church history (as it is written on earth) will ever write about but you are
somebody that Church history as it is written in heaven will do. You are chosen
by the Lord and your labor for Him is not in vain! KEEP IT UP strongly! You
are personally chosen by Christ “to go and bear fruit and that your fruit should
remain”

Tassos Kioulachoglou