To Be Like Jesus

I Jn.4:17 - Herein is our love made perfect, that may have boldness in the day of Judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

To be like Jesus, or in reality allow Him to manifest His life through the prism of our visible lives. A daunting task that can never be fully accomplished this side of heaven, and it is a journey rather than a destination. Just when I am focusing on showing mercy I find I am not boldly speaking truth. Just when I am speaking boldly about sin I find I have neglected grace. Just when I am exhibiting a complete grace I find I have neglected to warn and rebuke. Do you see what I mean, emulating the life of Jesus is multifaceted and quite comprehensive and the danger is always that when we believe we are, we may not be. Did you hear that? Sometimes when we believe we are exhibiting the life of the Lord Jesus is when we are most vulnerable to deception.

If you have it all dissected and figured out then you need not go any further in this post because I struggle with all the many elements of the Person of Christ as revealed throughout Scripture and most visible in the gospels. Let me provide some tangible examples. Bordering the back yard in our previous home was a house in which two gay men lived. OK, no matter how you want to verbally and Biblically frame it they were lost and their lifestyle was sinful. Yes, yes, just as sinful as two heterosexuals living together but that is not my focus here. People like this are usually used as doctrinal footballs as some desire to soften the language while others want brimstone, so let us just agree they are lost and in sin.

So how would Jesus feel and interact with these people? Don’t be fooled into thinking that the body of Christ will generally agree in how to approach and view these two men, there is significant disagreement in both orthodoxy and orthopraxy in this matter. Should we invite them over for dinner and sit at the table with our children? Or should we take them out for dinner so as to avoid bringing them into our home? And if we are invited into their home for dinner should we go and if so can we bring our children? If I have a barbecue in my back yard and invite my Christian friends can I invite them? How about a pool party?

Before I go any further let us all not attempt to hide behind the “Jesus loves them and wants them saved” curtain, because so often we have found refuge in that statement without addressing how this same Jesus wants to use us to effect that result. And if they indeed accept an invitation to a pool party, and during the water volleyball game they are having such fun with everyone that they peck each other a couple of times on the lips, should I immediately ask them to leave? Should I at least show some outward disapproval or roll my eyes to my fellow believers so everyone will know my stand? Should I quickly shepherd my children out of the pool and inside the house?

And then the all important question that solves the problem, “What would Jesus do?”. Now if the answer to that question varies significantly throughout the body of Christ, then I have some other questions that have some direct implications. If we cannot agree on how Jesus would interact with this lost world and the most well documented sinners, do we all know a different Jesus? And if we cannot agree on the life of Jesus in this world, how can we ever manifest Him to this dark and needy world? And I’ve just used the homosexual example to frame the discussion, so let me put it this way. The gay issue runs the gamut from Phelps to gay preachers, and most of us would disapprove of both extremes, but that still absolves us from attempting to emulate what Jesus really would do in the midst of these issues, and others, and the people they represent.

Now have been given the ministry of reconciliation, and that ministry has its beginning, its existence, and its destination at the cross. To befriend people, or feed people, or to take up causes for the oppressed become irrelevant if indeed redemption is defined simply by acts of kindness, for if redemption could be found in the compassionate acts of man then Christ would never had to come. And if people could see Jesus in the compassionate acts of man then the gospel message would become irrelevant. One side seems to amplify the ministry to the different earthly plights of people while the other side wants to downplay the important element those earthly ministries can play in opening the hearts of people to the message of the gospel.

When Jesus came to earth He came to seek and to save that which was lost. We as believers can never see people as poor first and lost second, our mission is to spread the message of redemption while showing compassion to the least of these among us by any means at our disposal. This is why our commission is to go into all the world and preach the gospel. The apostles did not lose their lives because they fed the poor, they were martyred over preaching Jesus. The accusation was that these men had turned the entire city upside down with their doctrine, not their food bank. How unruly we humans are, even we who follow Jesus. Even if the Spirit wants to challenge us to do more humanitarian deeds throughout the world, some take that and systematically reduce the urgency of the message. And some even go further, somehow attempting to actually intertwine the message of the cross with a world changing outreach that brings God’s kingdom to the earth through humanitarian efforts. And they seem to teach that these two things are one in the same. They are not.

You may have your gay neighbors over every day for dinner and love them and show them sacrificial hospitality, but if you never share the message of the cross they will die in their sins, not just homosexual sins, and they will be lost forever. Doesn’t that put into perspective the difference between works of compassion and the gospel message? And if the gospel message must be shared to everyone before their death then which works of compassion should we not engage in? How far must we remain away from sinners so as to appear righteous? They called our Lord a “Friend of sinners” and must we never be misrepresented as such? But all the while we must remain ever vigilant about becoming cause oriented and leaving the gospel which is our eternal cause.

Humanitarian efforts and personal outreaches to others must always be the means but not the end purpose, Christ and His offer of salvation must always be our calling. Some demean that thought process as “head hunting”, but in reality we are “heart hunting”. This is no game, this is the business of eternity. Keep your ears open and your ax sharpened, these are dark days. The deception doesn’t come in like a tsunami, it creeps in like a burglar. Some of the conduits that are carrying the deception are brothers who name Christ and are in Him, but some have been fooled into a change of focus that has resulted in a change of substance. The gospel will still be there but it will not be center stage. And in some instances it will be repacked with the deeds of man and not the deed of the Son of God. That is the deception that is upon us. But there also is a deception among those who would never succumb to that type of change. They like me still believe only the Word can change and regenerate a sinful heart and only believing on Christ can save. But some have been deceived into thinking that they can stem the overall tide of apostasy in the church.

They cannot, no one can. But some have so envisioned themselves in that light that they can justify any unchristian behavior within the context of their mission. Harshness and meanness are now accepted and even demeaning humor and mocking are accepted by Christ they say because their mission is just. An “end justifies the means” mindset now sweeps that wing of the evangelical world, and in an attempt to reclaim and protect the message they have neglected to reflect the Messenger, Christ and His Spirit. Many point to the scourging of the Temple, but few want to heal the Roman Soldier’s ear in Gethsemane’s Garden. They plaster the flannel board with Jesus’ words of rebuke to the Pharisees, but where is the portrayal of Jesus as He washes the feet of Judas? They put on the whole armor of God but ignore the command to be clothed with humility. Some are so consumed with confronting evil that they have returned evil for evil.

And with all the confusion we are left with the original premise and question of this post, just what does being like Jesus look like today? Can we as His followers love and reach out to homosexuals while still believing what God says about their sin? Can we mobilize efforts to feed the hungry without neglecting the gospel message? Can we strongly object to the doctrinal slide while still attempting to reflect Christ? Is it possible to reprove and rebuke while being clothed with humility ourselves? And when we see the darkness of sin all around us can our eyes still see our own sin illuminated by the Spirit of God? So you ask me, "What is it exactly to be like Jesus?".

"You know, I thought I knew yesterday, but today I am not quite so sure. I'll be sure again tomorrow."

Being like Jesus cannot be captured by a single perspective, and just when we think we have it surrounded we will discover that being like the Master is an ever sharpening journey of humility and change. The message must never change and He Himself is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But we must continually change to allow Him to more brightly shine through a vessel that has a tendency to block His light and shine our own.