Being Christ-like
John 14
5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and
how can we know the way?
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no
man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from
henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth
us.
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet
hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the
Father; and how sayest thou [then], Shew us the Father?
10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?
the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father
that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
11 Believe me that I [am] in the Father, and the Father in me: or
else believe me for the very works' sake.
12. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the
works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall
he do; because I go unto my Father.
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the
Father may be glorified in the Son.
If a man is faithful to his wife most of the time, would you say he is
a good husband?
What about a person who is faithful to Christ most of the time?
I want to bring out two major points tonight:
A Christian must be Christ-like.
A Christian must meet life head-on.
Vance Havner asked the question, "After reading so many impressive
statistics on churches and Christianity in America, I wonder, 'with
this much salt, why is the country so corrupt? With this much light,
how can we be in such darkness'?"
He answers his own question with this next comment, "The Lord would
have his church hot - boiling. But most of us simmer all our lives
and never come to a boil."
Greater works
Notice what Jesus said,
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me.
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from
henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
When you see Jesus, you see God the Father, for Jesus is the perfect
reflection of Him.
10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?
the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father
that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
11 Believe me that I [am] in the Father, and the Father in me: or
else believe me for the very works' sake.
He was so full of the Father that He did exactly what the Father would
do.
Jesus perfectly illustrated what Paul said, "to me to live is Christ."
In other words, Christ is my life. Without Him I have no life. He is
all that I am about.
That's how Jesus lived. He lived the life of the Father God here on
earth. He did only the Father's will.
Joh 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the
Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son
likewise.
Joh 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and
my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will
of the Father which hath sent me.
Joh 8:28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son
of man, then shall ye know that I am [he], and [that] I do nothing of
myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
Jesus never acted in self-interest, but only by the prompting of the
Father.
That is what He wants from us. Notice what He says:
12. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the
works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall
he do; because I go unto my Father.
Now, when we read that passage, we usually think of the miraculous.
"Oh boy, I get to work miracles because Jesus said I would."
But that's not exactly what He said. He said, "What I do, you will
do." Do you get it?
First Jesus said that He had shown us the Father by His actions. Now
He says we will show Him by ours.
As Jesus manifested the Father to the world, we must manifest Christ
to the world - by the things we do.
I believe we must show Him as much by love as by power - and as much
by our works as by our beliefs.
He said, "He that believeth on me�" That is, "anyone who puts faith
in me", or more specifically, "whoever puts his life in my hands�"
will act just like me.
Listen - they will show the same love Jesus showed,
they will attend to people and their needs,
they will notice others,
they will not be selfish and self-serving,
they will love others without partiality,
they will compassionate and caring,
WHAT OTHER THINGS CAN YOU THINK OF?
We are not just talking about the miraculous here. The way most of
us seem to take this verse is like getting the vice president position
and putting our feet up on the desk and ordering people around. YOU
CAN'T HAVE THE PRIVILEGES WITHOUT THE WORK!
I believe we are called to do the things Jesus did - Yes, the
miraculous things are there, but so are the tedious, the time
consuming, the aggravating, the hard things.
In fact, I believe that the miraculous follows the other. When God
sees you loving and reaching out and caring for your fellow man, then
He pours out His miraculous power to work through you. The miracles
are not for our entertainment, but to help us accomplish His work.
If you're not working, don't expect His miracles to.
What works did He do?
Touched lepers - untouchables
ate with sinners
showed compassion while standing for righteousness
stood for truth in the face of opposition
gave time to needy people, even Pharisees
sought out the needy
WHAT CAN YOU THINK OF?
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the
Father may be glorified in the Son.
The 'and' ties this promise to the prior conditions. When we truly
do as He did, THEN we ask and He works.
Christian, meet life head-on.
This world is a sick, messed up place. Of that fact, there is no
question and no denying.
But what should be the Christian's response to that fact? Many are
crying, "come quickly, Lord Jesus", and so I suppose maybe we should.
But the world has accused us of using Christian faith as a crutch and
an escape from the realities of life, and I'm afraid they are often
correct. If all we think about is getting out of here, something is
wrong.
Jesus volunteered to come down here, and all we can think about is
getting out! That's wrong.
Oh, I will be glad when I get to go to heaven. Don't get me wrong.
But if my attitude is to just put up with life until I can get out of
it, I'm missing some very important facts.
I realize this world is not a very good place for a Christian to be,
but there several facts I just cannot ignore:
If we were not here, what hope would this world have?
This really is the best training ground for the Christian. The
character we need to develop is best developed through hardship.
Christians are not citizens of earth trying to get to heaven, but
citizens of heaven making their way through this world. We have to
remember that we are ambassadors of Christ here in this world - we
are His representatives. The object is not to get out of life, but
to put something of heaven into this world.
We've been made to think that we should have some kind of protective
coating around us to protect us from the world. We do have God's
presence, the Holy Spirit within us, and the angels to guard over us,
but that doesn't mean we will not experience some hardship, heartache,
and disappointment.
The Christian believer is not exempted from these things - rather, we
have someone who will go through these things with us and who will
give us victory.
Conclusion:
It is time for the church to rise up and get in the battle.
We are not to cower behind the lines waiting for our champion to show
up - We are the champions. We are God's army. We have been given
the commission and the power to fight. We have been given the ability,
through His Spirit in us, to comfort the oppressed and downtrodden.
Isaiah 61
1. The Spirit of the Lord GOD [is] upon me; because the LORD hath
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to
bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to [them that are] bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of
vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty
for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
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