Making Disciples Who "Act" Like Jesus!

Last week I started a 3-part blog series on our mission of “making disciples of Jesus who think, act, and live like Him.” It is my prayer that this will become our passion and heartbeat at Temple! It is my prayer that as a disciple of Jesus YOU will mature to such  place that YOU think, act, and live like Him every day of your life! In last weeks post we considered what it means to “think” like Jesus. This week we ask the question of what it means to “act” like Jesus.

When I think of acting like Jesus I think of following in His steps. In 1896 Charles Sheldon first published his famous work, In His Steps. Since then Sheldon’s work has sold over 30 million copies. Yes! 30 million! The book has been, and continues to be, widely popular because it centers around  a simple question–what would Jesus do? You remember, WWJD? I recall as a teenager WWJD being not much more that kitsch art that made somebody a lot of money. We had wristbands, t-shirts, posters, etc – WWJD? Everyone wore the shirt, but not many lived the life. As disciples of Jesus we should not relegate our will to act like Jesus to a simple catch phrase. While it may be helpful in your own sanctification to ask WWJD?, acting like Jesus is much more than just choosing in the moment to respond like Jesus.

Acting like Jesus must be a conscious decision of the will. Acting like Jesus is not being reactive, but proactive. Maybe a better question than WWJD? is WDJD? (What did Jesus do?). We must remember that being a disciple means we are a pupil/student/learner/follower of the master–namely Jesus. As a disciple of Christ I am to imitate His life–walk in His steps. My life should so mirror His life that my natural tendency should not only be to think like Him, but to act like Him.
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While there are many ways in which we should act like Christ, here are two ways in which we are called to act like Jesus. I’ll spend most of my time on the second…

• We should act like Jesus in the love that we show! 
  Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). When you choose to love like Jesus you are acting like Him. You are never more like Jesus than when you love other people. But what motivates, or guides, our love? Read on…

• We should act like Jesus in the attitudes of our heart!
  Nothing reveals our character like the attitudes of our heart. Thomas Paine once said, “Reputation is what others think about me, but character is what God knows about me.” What God knows about me are the attitudes of my heart. I may fool you with my actions, but I can’t fool God with my heart. The attitudes of our heart are always reflected in our actions–positively or negatively. In Philippians 2:5, Paul wrote – “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus…” The immediate question from that verse would be – what attitude did Jesus have? Paul continues – “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:6-8).
  
  One of the first attitudes of Jesus Paul mentions is the attitude of humility. Paul said Jesus “emptied Himself” and “humbled Himself.” That’s what humility is, right? It’s emptying oneself of all selfish desires and motives. It’s submitting oneself to the will of another. That’s exactly what Jesus did! Don’t be quick to forget all that Jesus had to empty. He is co-equal and co-eternal with God. He had to, momentarily,  empty Himself of His divine privileges and step down from heaven. He had to take on humanity, while not forsaking His divinity. This is the mystery of the hypostatic union of Christ. In His humility Christ loved us enough to die for us. That’s the message of the gospel. You see, love always express itself in humility.
  Paul spoke to the humility of love in 1 Cor. 13:4-5, “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own…” That the practical nature of humility. We can only love like Jesus loved when we humble ourselves as Jesus humbled Himself! Don’t miss that!
  Today, will you act like Jesus? Will you choose to humble yourself to love others? It could be that we need to humble ourselves to love the unlovable, those who don’t deserve our love or may not even reciprocate our love. Hey! That’s what Jesus did, isn’t it? I want to act like Him! How about you?