What Would Jesus Do?

When I was in middle school I remember the “WWJD?” craze that swept the nation. I had several different bracelets which bore the famous four letters, my friends had them blazoned on everything from t-shirts to Bible covers, and it seemed every car in the church parking lot posed the question on their bumpers. Professional athletes, including many whose walk and talk looked nothing like Jesus, displayed their WWJD? attire.

While the movement was big in the 90’s it actually began in ’96. 1896. Pastor Charles Sheldon began a Sunday night series in which he wrote a fictional story about people who applied the simple question to their daily lives. He started reading one chapter a week as a challenge to his church, and the local newspaper was soon publishing his weekly chapter. In the end the story was so popular that Sheldon’s congregation exploded in growth as people wanted to hear what was going to happen next.

The story Sheldon told centered on a pastor in a town called Raymond; the pastor challenged his congregants to devote one year to asking themselves What would Jesus do? before making any decisions. Church members began to change Raymond for the better as they became convicted of their spending habits, their luxurious living, the compromises made at work, and their wholesale ignoring of those people in the slums of Raymond in an area called The Rectangle. Asking themselves that simple question opened their eyes to the fact that they were worshipping God on Sundays, but giving Him little thought the other six days of the week.

Sheldon’s story was soon published as In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do? The book stands as one of the best selling books of all time at fifty million copies sold.

I would challenge you to make that pledge. Ask yourself What Would Jesus Do? Don’t do anything that He wouldn’t do. Do the things you believe He would do. That challenge may lead you to change your business practices, break off a relationship, spend your money differently, or roll up your sleeves and minister to “the least.” What ever it looks like, if Jesus would do it, we should too.

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

2 Peter 2:21

Fruit of the Spirit

In a familiar passage of Scripture Paul described what he called the fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians 5:22-23 we see, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” The Spirit that Paul referenced is God’s Holy Spirit, and the fruit is what He can produce in the life of a believer. The fruit of the Spirit differs from the gifts of the Spirit in that the former is a package deal and the latter is a list.

There are many gifts of the Spirit, and we do not get to pick which ones we get; furthermore, we are not expected to have each of the gifts on the list. When it comes to the fruit of the Spirit, however, we are not sovereignly given certain fruits. It is the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruits. We do not get to say, “I’ll take peace, but don’t expect me to be patient. That isn’t my fruit.” As maturing Christians, God wants us each to have all of the fruit Paul listed, and He sends His Holy Spirit to help make that happen.

At the end of Paul’s list he writes, “Against such there is no law.” That shows Paul’s sense of humor. In essence he was saying, “It isn’t against the law to live like this.” Not even the worst human governments have passed laws making it illegal to be faithful or gentle; none have outlawed joy or self-control. While some today think they can be good without God, the reality is God defines what is good. The atheist claims he is a good person without God’s help, but it is God that told us not to murder, not to lie, not to steal. The things that God told us to manifest—goodness, kindness, love, etc., are valued qualities across the board. There is no goodness without God because God is the one that established what is good.

For those who belong to God it is not optional whether or not we produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, for it is by that fruit that we prove we really are God’s children (Matthew 7:16-20). If the nine fruits mentioned in Galatians are constantly on display in our lives, we will surely point the world to our Father. After all, it is the Holy Spirit, the Master Gardener, that produces these good works in us. If you are lacking any of this fruit, ask the Lord to help you cultivate them in your life.

Jesus’ Death was no Accident

Have you ever considered the theories that say the death of Jesus was not planned by God? While the theories vary, the bottom line is the same: Jesus did not come to earth to die, and the crucifixion was a horrendous mistake. The Gnostics believe Jesus was a demigod, but not the divine Son of God. He had God’s spirit resting on him during his earthly ministry, but the arrest, trial, and crucifixion were not part of the plan. They teach that God withdrew his spirit, so that when Jesus died, he died as a man and not as God. Others teach various forms of accidental death—that things escalated too quickly and Jesus was not able to escape the people determined to silence Him.

If Jesus died accidentally, not as part of God’s soverign plan, then His death did not accomplish anything. The beauty of the atonement is that Jesus came here intentionally to die, understanding He had to live a sinless life in order to be the perfect substitute—the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). The Bible says that Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), meaning that before time began God already knew Mt. Calvary would be pivitol to the salvation of mankind.

Consider the fact that Jesus frequently spoke about it not being His time yet. He would slip away from the crowds that tried to kill Him before the appointed time. In fact, no one could kill Him, He said, because He would lay down His life (John 10:18) of His own accord.

We also need to remember how often Jesus foretold His death. During the Last Supper He told the disciples that His body would be broken like a cracker and His blood would be poured out like wine (Matthew 26:26-28); in Matthew 16:21 we see Jesus “began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Similar language appears in 17:22-23 and 20:17-19. There were even veiled references that were mysterious at the time but later made sense, such as, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up (John 2:19),” a reference to His body, not Solomon’s temple. Just as Moses lifted a bronze serpent up in the wilderness, Jesus said it was imperative that He also be lifted up (John 3); Nicodemus would not have understood that at the time, but in hindsight it makes perfect sense. 

Any theory that says Jesus’ death was not God’s plan must be rejected because it is simply contrary to Scripture, but more importantly, because it undermines the atonement. Jesus death was no accident; it is our only hope of salvation. It is something that should be celebrated, not downplayed. Praise God for the death of Jesus!

And God Said

Most of us are familiar with the Bible’s account of the fall of man as recorded in Genesis 3. We know about the sneaky serpent and the forbidden fruit, how Adam and Eve chose to treat themselves instead of trust in God. Last week I wrote about how the doctrine of separation is found in Genesis 1, and now I want to show you how the doctrine of inerrancy also has its roots in the opening chapter of Scripture.

Have you noticed how Satan chose to tempt Eve? He twisted God’s words. In Genesis 3:4 the serpent said, “You shall not surely die.” He added a single word to God’s earlier warning (“You shall surely die”)that greatly changed the message. You may have also noticed that Eve herself got the words of God wrong. In verse 3 Eve told the devil, “God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” She added the clause “neither shall you touch it,” which is not recorded in Scripture. Eve added to God’s words and Satan subtracted from them. Both were in error (Deuteronomy 4, Revelation 22), although Eve’s was unintentional. 

If we turn the page back to Genesis 1 we see no fewer than ten instances of “and God said…” Just as this chapter established the idea of separation, we also see Moses laying the foundation for the importance of the spoken word of God. The author connects God’s words, spoken ten times, with perfection, then contrasts the manipulation of His words with sin and the curse.

God’s Word, preserved for us as the Bible, is infallible and innerant. We may have differences of opinion among ourselves as to how to interpet a certain piece of Scripture, but if we agree that the Bible is from God, then we must agree that it is free from any error. What is inspired is surely inerrant. 

The original sin in the Garden of Eden came as a result of not trusting God’s word, and we repeat that sin as often as we choose to live outside of it. Christians, as people of the Good Book, let us determine to make this our creed. The opening chapter of the Bible establishes God’s words as perfect, so every succeeding chapter is likewise perfect. We can and should trust it.

Separation

In the Bible’s opening chapter we see God create every tangible thing in the universe, but He also created some intangible things. For example God created time, days, the seven-day week, and the Sabbath concept of a day of rest. But He also gave us a glimpse of something that would prove to be the imperative doctrine of separation.

Notice the repetition of the verb separate in just five verses of Genesis 1:

6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus God made the firmament, and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so…14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years…17 God set [the sun and moon] in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.

Four times in five verses we see separation. I believe God inspired Moses to emphasize this separation because it was a foreshadowing of salvation and the Christian life. Separation is synonymous with holiness, and God is holy. God is completely unlike anything in the universe, so we can say that God is separate. He is separate from Allah, separate from Buddha, separate from Zeus. That is why He declares, “I am Yahweh, beside me there is no other (Isaiah 45:5).”

In order for us to be saved we must also become separated from the world. The Father instructs us to “Come out from among them and be separate…Do not touch what is unclean (2 Corinthians 6:17),” and “Be Holy for I am holy (1 Peter 1:16).” We must chose to become so unlike the world that we stand out like a sore thumb.

Holiness, the process of separating ourselves, remains an ongoing work as long as we live down here. A third synonym for separation and holiness is sanctification, which Paul stated was the will of the Lord for our lives (1 Thessalonians 4:3). The more we are sanctified the more the world will notice our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

Just as the Creator separated light from darkness during the first week, He will one day separate the sheep from the goats. To the former He will say, “Well done;” to the latter He will say, “Depart from me.” Separate yourself from the world now, or you may be separated on Judgment Day.