It has become popular if not simple cant, to ask, “What would Jesus do?” There are necklaces, wristbands, car stickers, decals, shirts and hats, and all-manner of merchandise carrying this question. Or should we call it a slogan. A banal slogan, as it is usually applied so loosely without thought or even serious application.
From the first sightings of this marketing blitz, I was wary that although it may have begun as an altruistic attempt to move believers in the direction of a Christ-centered life, a life that might witness to a fallen world. Or was it, or had it become, one more ploy to sell “Christian” merchandise. Whatever your judgment on this little saying and its use, your heart will testify to your attitude regarding it as you try to deal with its challenge. “What would Jesus do,” may lead you into a best a guessing game based upon your understanding of Scripture and at worst a set of rules and an attempt to follow numerous commandments bordering on Leviticus. Remember, “For the letter kills, but the Spirit
gives life” (3 Cor. 3:6).
It immediately occurred to me, “Why would we ask, ‘What would Jesus do?’” In fact he is doing. The question we must ask is, “What is Jesus doing?” When Jesus walked the earth he gave us the model: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise” (John 5:19). So then we must do what we see the Son doing, which is precisely what the Father is doing. The Godhead is one and not thinking, “What would my Father do?” The Son does what the Father is doing and the disciples of Jesus do what they see the Son is doing.
Jesus is living today. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father (Acts 2:33). He is interceding for us and apparently he even sometimes stands to receive his martyred children (Acts 7:55-56). In fact, by his Spirit, he is living within his redeemed (Romans 8:11; 2 Cor. 1:22; 3:17; Galatians 4:6; Philippians 1:19; 1 John 3:24; 1 John 4:13). And he will come again to receive his own unto himself and pour out judgment on a sinful world.
If any of his words recorded in the Scriptures are meaningful; if they are filled with the power they suggest, if his commands and promises are real, then he is living and “doing” now as you read these words.
He is living and the God of the living not the dead (Psalm 42:2; Matt. 16:16; 22:32). Our faith is vital, intimate, and relational with an imminent God. To ask, “What would Jesus do?” is to confess a great measure of separation between God and us. It is to confess our distance from his living heart and will. We always know what the object of our love is doing, if we are in the presence of that object. Young betrothed couples know the smell of each other, the rhythm of one another’s breath, and the moods of each. Is it any different with the couples of Jesus and his believers, if in fact we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Psalms 34:8)?
So then, let’s abide in Jesus and spontaneously do what he is doing. The world doesn’t need to see poor attempts at mimicking Jesus. “Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus’” (John 12: 20-21). The world needs to see Jesus (Luke 19:3; John 9:35-38). If you are a disciple of Christ, saved by his life, death, and resurrection, with his Spirit dwelling within you. He is active within you. Offer yourselves in sacrifice to him that he might be doing in and through you. This is our “reasonable service” or “spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1). Can it be seen through you, through me, what Jesus is doing?
From the first sightings of this marketing blitz, I was wary that although it may have begun as an altruistic attempt to move believers in the direction of a Christ-centered life, a life that might witness to a fallen world. Or was it, or had it become, one more ploy to sell “Christian” merchandise. Whatever your judgment on this little saying and its use, your heart will testify to your attitude regarding it as you try to deal with its challenge. “What would Jesus do,” may lead you into a best a guessing game based upon your understanding of Scripture and at worst a set of rules and an attempt to follow numerous commandments bordering on Leviticus. Remember, “For the letter kills, but the Spirit
gives life” (3 Cor. 3:6).
It immediately occurred to me, “Why would we ask, ‘What would Jesus do?’” In fact he is doing. The question we must ask is, “What is Jesus doing?” When Jesus walked the earth he gave us the model: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise” (John 5:19). So then we must do what we see the Son doing, which is precisely what the Father is doing. The Godhead is one and not thinking, “What would my Father do?” The Son does what the Father is doing and the disciples of Jesus do what they see the Son is doing.
Jesus is living today. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father (Acts 2:33). He is interceding for us and apparently he even sometimes stands to receive his martyred children (Acts 7:55-56). In fact, by his Spirit, he is living within his redeemed (Romans 8:11; 2 Cor. 1:22; 3:17; Galatians 4:6; Philippians 1:19; 1 John 3:24; 1 John 4:13). And he will come again to receive his own unto himself and pour out judgment on a sinful world.
If any of his words recorded in the Scriptures are meaningful; if they are filled with the power they suggest, if his commands and promises are real, then he is living and “doing” now as you read these words.
He is living and the God of the living not the dead (Psalm 42:2; Matt. 16:16; 22:32). Our faith is vital, intimate, and relational with an imminent God. To ask, “What would Jesus do?” is to confess a great measure of separation between God and us. It is to confess our distance from his living heart and will. We always know what the object of our love is doing, if we are in the presence of that object. Young betrothed couples know the smell of each other, the rhythm of one another’s breath, and the moods of each. Is it any different with the couples of Jesus and his believers, if in fact we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Psalms 34:8)?
So then, let’s abide in Jesus and spontaneously do what he is doing. The world doesn’t need to see poor attempts at mimicking Jesus. “Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus’” (John 12: 20-21). The world needs to see Jesus (Luke 19:3; John 9:35-38). If you are a disciple of Christ, saved by his life, death, and resurrection, with his Spirit dwelling within you. He is active within you. Offer yourselves in sacrifice to him that he might be doing in and through you. This is our “reasonable service” or “spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1). Can it be seen through you, through me, what Jesus is doing?
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