Be Like Jesus?
Be Like Jesus?
Can I give you a little insight into my writing process? I like to verbalize what I am learning and thinking, much to my wife’s chagrin. Actually, my wife, Wendy, is invaluable to my writing. She listens faithfully to my rants, asks excellent questions, reads and edits every article, and sometimes offers advice. During the writing of this post, she told me to remember that I am on a journey, and I am inviting others to join me. I thought for a moment and then responded, “what you’re saying is I shouldn’t be so dogmatic.” She smiled. I’m sorry if I come across like I know it all. I don’t, and I often question if I should be writing at all. That being said, I believe what I write, and feel like it would be disingenuous if I tried to qualify everything I said. For example, I need to get something off my chest.
I am a little tired of hearing that I need to be like Jesus. It’s just that when I hear or read this, I don’t think they really mean I should be exactly like Jesus. I believe they mean well, but just aren’t thinking about the reality of what being like Jesus encompasses.
Should I be like the Son of Man and have no place to lay my head? Should I chastise people for having little faith? Am I sent only to the lost sheep of Israel? Should I speak to people in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing they don’t hear? What about calling hypocritical religious leaders whitewashed tombs and brood of vipers?
That last one hits home to me. Not long ago, I respectfully challenged leaders at my church by pointing out that they failed to keep their promises, and I even said they lied. I didn’t call them any names, but still I was castigated for using unwholesome language and being judgmental. I guess I’m not supposed to be like Jesus in everything.
I wish I could walk on water, heal people, or raise the dead; I either don’t have the faith or the spiritual gifts. It would be really cool if I could get money from the mouth of a fish to pay my taxes. I probably could flip over tables and drive people out of the church building if the opportunity arose. I’ll stop with this, I try to discern people’s hearts, but I often get it wrong.
Really, I understand that when people say to be like Jesus, they are saying to be loving or forgiving like Him. I am familiar with the Bible passages that indicate Jesus is an example for me. But I think we need to be careful when we make statements about imitating Jesus. Jesus is an example, but He is more than that. People can imitate Jesus, living as He did without really knowing Him or, more importantly, being known by Him.
People are in one of two spiritual conditions, they are joined to God in Christ, or they aren’t. One of the biggest issues I have experienced in church services is that we don’t delineate between the two. Failure to distinguish between those who are the church and those who are not has serious ramifications. I have heard many Sunday sermons that give good advice about how we can live and relate to others like Jesus did. Then we send people on their way, with them believing they are being the church when they are not. Before the church takes responsibility to show people how to live, we have the responsibility to lead people to life. And our life is being in Jesus Christ, not being like Him.
We can encourage people to be like Jesus, and they may try hard and have some success. People can live rightly, and it will benefit them in their relationships with other people, but if they are not known by Jesus, they cannot please God. Stated another way, good behavior by someone who is not a Christian is of no value in their relationship with God. They can live good, moral lives the whole way on their journey to hell. The church is remiss, no, negligent, if we fail to make this fact crystal clear.
Even for Christians, there is a need for clarity in being like Jesus. As I discussed in my previous post, the teaching of the church is often focused on what we do. Making statements that being a Christian means being like Jesus can add to the confusion of doing. The issues may be similar to those I listed above. More likely, people will focus on behaving like Him rather than being in a relationship with Him.
It can come across that when you are a Christian, there are certain expectations of your behavior. Making a choice to do the right thing can sometimes feel like a burden. This perspective is a shame. Our redemption is the gift of knowing God and experiencing life the way it was meant to be. We don’t have to be good; we get to be good. I am not saying our behavior isn’t important; of course, it is. But behavior is a result, not a foundation of Christianity. Yet, the right choices we make don’t always have good consequences. We may suffer for Christ’s sake, but this is the kind of example He gave us. And we can rejoice if we are mistreated as He was.
Another issue with trying to be like Jesus is that we are not Him. We are ourselves. We can see Him as a historical person and try to emulate the way He lived, and forget that He is alive. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, and at this very moment is advocating for His own. Even more mysteriously, He is alive in us through His Holy Spirit. More than just modeling Jesus, we have life through Him. He wants us to use our new life to be what He created us to be.
Greater things
The Apostle Paul made a confident claim to the Corinthians. He said, “I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church (Colossians 1:24, NRSV).” The first time I read these words I thought they were bold and possibly blasphemous. How could Paul do anything to complete what Jesus had done? The thought didn’t last long; after all, these words were part of Scripture. But to think Paul could add anything to what Jesus did for us was puzzling to me.
As I thought about Paul’s statement and looked into the Bible to discern his meaning, I came to these words of Jesus. He said, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12, NRSV).” As I researched what Jesus meant by this, the indication was that the works are not necessarily better, but greater in quantity. In other words, the church will affect more people than Jesus could during His three-year ministry on earth. We get to participate in His ministry by being His body. What do these truths have to do with being like Jesus?
Each of us is unique, and God desires us to live our particular life. All redeemed people share the life of Christ, and Jesus is an example to us, but He also allows us to be ourselves in the story of redemption. We get to use our personality, gifts, experiences, and our unity in the church to live a redeemed life and to be witnesses in a fallen world. Also, as the church, we have a synergy beyond what we can expect individually.
So, instead of giving the impression that being like Jesus is what Christianity is all about, let’s be who God made us to be. I don’t think any Christian wants non-believers to believe the Christian life is just made up of doing things right or better. We want them to come to Jesus. Yet, sadly, many Christians live under the burden of doing. It doesn’t have to be that way.
We can follow Jesus’ example of dependence on the Father, loving and serving others, and of suffering, while still being ourselves. Let’s live in holy communion with Him. Our behavior can be like Him, but only because of His life in us. Let’s make sure the world knows that Christianity is not being like Jesus, it is knowing Him and being joined to Him.