A few weeks ago I began a 3-part blog series looking at our mission statement at Temple Baptist Church. Our purpose is to “Make Disciples of Jesus Who Think, Act, and Live Like Him.” During this blog series I have been looking at what it means to “think,” “act,” and now, “live” like Jesus. If you haven’t read the other posts, I hope you’ll do so, before reading on.

What does it mean to live like Jesus? As we read the New Testament there is a word that appears over and over, especially in some of Paul’s letters – it’s the word “walk.”  Most often when we see this word it can be read as “live.” For example, in Ephesians 4:1, Paul writes, “Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk (live) in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called….” So, the natural question arises – how do we live?

In this same passage, Ephesians 4:1, Paul answers that question – “…with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Here, Paul lists several trials that can be found in his lists of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, where he writes, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” When reading this list one will observe that each of these traits where personally lived out by Jesus Christ. If we are to live like Jesus a great place to start is by displaying the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

In his book, Think, Act, Believe Like Jesus: Becoming a New Person in Christ, Randy Frazee ask these helpful questions when choosing to live like Jesus:
​
How would my life improve and my relationships be strengthened if I…

• sacrificially and unconditionally loved and forgave others? (Love)
• had inner contentment and purpose in spite of my circumstances? (Joy)
• was free from anxiety, because things are right with God, others, and myself? (Peace)
• took a long time to overheat and endured patiently under life’s pressure? (Patience)
• chose to do the right things in my relationships with others? (Kindness/Goodness)
• established a good name with God and others, based on my long-term loyalty in those relationships? (Faithfulness)
• was thoughtful, calm, and considerate in my dealings with others? (Gentleness)
• had the power through Christ to control myself? (Self-control)
• coped with the hardships of life and faced with courage the prospect of death through the hope I have in Jesus Christ? (Hope)
• chose to esteem others above myself? (Humility)

Today, choose to live like Jesus! You’ll have plenty of opportunities…I promise!

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.
​
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?

Earlier in 2015 our church embarqued on a journey to “Make Disciples of Jesus Who Think, Act, and Live Like Him!” As we think about this mission and mandate, which is grounded in the Great Commission, I can’t help but ask the question – how do we accomplish this? How do we think like Christ? How to we act like Christ? How do we live like Christ? For the next three weeks I am going to take each of these and search the scriptures to see what God’s word has to say. I hope you’ll follow along and grow as a disciple of Jesus!

Thinking like Jesus is rooted in the reality that as children of God we have the mind of Christ. I don’t know about you, but this blows my mind! In 1 Corinthians 2:16, the Apostle Paul said, “For who has known the mind of the Lord, that He will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” To apply this verse it is very important to understand what Paul did mean and what he did not mean. Let’s start with the later.

In this verse Paul was quoting from Isaiah 40:13. Paul was not making the assumption that in having the mind of Christ we are infallible or that we can start playing God. When reading this passage in its context, you’ll discover that just a few verses earlier, Paul asserted, “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God” ( 1 Cor. 2:11). Paul is saying that there are some things in the mind of God, which we will never know. God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, said, “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord, ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts'” (Isaiah 55:8).  There are some things that are reserved for only the mind of God and we must be okay with that. The truth is there are some things we just don’t need to know! But, by the grace of God we have been given all that we need in the mind of Christ. Peter, writing to the scattered and persecuted church said, “…His [God’s] divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence” (2 Pet. 1:3). Peter’s words bring encouragement to us in knowing that God has given us everything we need to grow in godliness and to live for Him in this life–including the mind of Christ.

To have the mind of Christ means that as a child of God we have the capability to think and respond, like Christ, to the situations and circumstance of life. This is possible because the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us as believers (Rom. 8:11). Warren Wiersbe says, “To ‘have the mind of Christ’ means to look at life from the Saviour’s point of view, having His values and desires in mind. It means to think God’s thoughts and not think as the world thinks.”(1)

So, in what ways today, or this week, do you need to think like Jesus? Do you have an important decision to make? Have you prayed and sought the wisdom of God? Have you searched His word for guidance. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” That means that God’s word has the power to guide you and show you the direction that you should take. Together, with the word of God and the Spirit of God, you can’t go wrong! The question is–will you choose to think like Jesus?
​
(1)Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 577.

Central to disciple-making is the disciple-making relationship. At Temple we have begun several d-groups (discipleship groups) to facilitate these relationships. In fact, including those who are currently in d-groups, we have over 30 people in discipling relationships. While we are still in the infancy stages of d-group formations, I am very excited to see how the Lord has already been working through these groups to make disciples who think, act, and live like Jesus!

Here are some common questions about d-groups…
What is a d-group?
A d-group is a gender-exclusive group of three to five believers who meet, at a minimum of, every two weeks. While there are various components to d-groups the purpose should always center around prayer, accountability, encouragement, and Bible study. D-groups should meet for 12-18 months. 

What happens when a d-group meets?
I’ll simply share what happens when my d-group meets. We usually meet at a local restaurant where we can sit together and they don’t mind us staying for a longer period of time (usually 1.5 to 2 hrs). After breakfast and a time of fellowship we open with prayer. The first thing we do is discuss our Bible reading for the week. Our group has chosen to use the M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan. We share insights and lessons we have learned our Scripture reading. As the group leader, sometimes I will pull out something from our reading to teach on for a few minutes, however, my goal is to get our d-group participants to talk about the Word and what the Lord is teaching them. It is important that we start with our Scripture reading because we want that to be the focus of our d-group. While there are great resources that we can, and do, use in our d-group, there is nothing outside the Bible that is more important than the Bible.

After we spend some time going through the Scripture, we turn to an excellent resource on disciple-making that we are reading through together–“Growing Up: How to Be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples” by Robby Gallaty. I was first exposed to this book about three years ago and I haven’t been able to put it down. Yes, it’s a simple read, but it had a tremendous impact upon my life. Most importantly it provided me an excellent resource to use, along with the Bible, to disciple others. We read one chapter a week, if we meet weekly, or two chapters, if we meet bi-weekly. We usually work through the chapters discussing various points of interests and statements from Gallaty. After discussing Gallaty’s work we turn our attention to to applications of the truth we have learned and close with a time of prayer and surrender to the Lord.
​
This is what a d-group can look like. There are other models and structures that serve well. If you are a member or attender of Temple Baptist Church and would like to know more information about being in a d-group, please email me at Kelly@templebaptistfay.com  and I’ll be happy to discuss this in more detail with you.