Do What Jesus Did

To be Christ-centered is to be Community-concerned. These two go hand in hand. We cannot be the one without the other. Being community-concerned is rooted in and flows out of the community and fellowship of the Holy Trinity, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Also, being in Christ we are members of the Body of Christ, his church, his community. We will come back to these foundational principles of being community-concerned in the next sermons. Today we will look at how being apprentices of Jesus makes us community-concerned. We learned that as apprentices we are with Jesus and become like Him. Being with Jesus and becoming like Him, we learn to do what He did. Jesus not only transforms us into kingdom people but He also sends us to continue His kingdom mission and work. The end goal of our apprenticeship to Jesus is to do what He did.

1. We Are Children of Light

We are children of light. Jesus is the true Light of the world. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn 8:12). He came into the world and gave us the right to become children of God (Jn 1:9-13). As his apprentices, we become like Him. We become children of light. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) …” (Eph. 5:8-10).

God’s mission and purpose for human history, is to bring forth an immense community of people, from “every nation and tribe and tongue and people” (Rev 14:6). In this world, they will be “a kingdom of priests” under God (Ex 19:6;  Rev 1:6; 5:10). These people are us. We are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that [we] may declare the praises of him who called [us] out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Pet 2:9). We will also rule with Him in the eternal future of the cosmos, in the new creation, “forever and ever” (Rev 22:5).

We are the special living community of God’s people in this world. We know God and make God known. Through us, the true Light of the world shines his love into the world. We are the Body of Christ. We are His hands and feet doing his work. We are the salt and the light of the world. When we as apprentices of Jesus live like Him and do what He did, when we put His words into practice, then the world will see the kingdom life, a new way of life. They will come to know the Lord of that kingdom, and they will “glorify our Father in heaven” (Mt 5:16).

2. Do What Jesus Did

Therefore, we must do what Jesus did. Being with Jesus and becoming like Him, He trains and sends us to do what He did by the power of the Holy Spirit. What did Jesus do? Jesus came to usher in God’s kingdom. He came to seek and save the lost and invite them into His life in the kingdom.

After fasting for forty days and being tempted by the devil, Jesus returned to Galilee and began his ministry — From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Mt 4:17). He called his first disciples. “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt 4:18-22).  Then, “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him” (Mt 4:23-25).

Jesus continued his ministry and performed many miracles. He called Matthew the tax collector — As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mt 9:9-13)

Mt 9:35-38 — Jesus continued to proclaim the good news of the kingdom and healing people. He saw the crowds and said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Then He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. “… These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions:  … As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give” (Mt 10:1-8). Basically, Jesus is saying, “You have been with me and saw what I did. Now it’s your turn, go and do what I did.”

Fast forward to the end of Jesus’ ministry. Mt 28:18-28 — Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” He called disciples, apprentices, who were with Him and became like Him. Now they are ready to go and make disciples. Follow My example. Continue My work.

In the same way, the end goal of our apprenticeship to Jesus is to do what He did. What did He do that we should do? Jesus came to usher in the kingdom of God. He did so by preaching the gospel, teaching the way, healing the sick, casting out demons, eating and drinking with people far from God, doing justice, peacemaking, praying, standing up against religious and political corruption and injustices, and prophesying. When we are apprentices of Jesus our end goal is to do all of that. And by doing all that, we announce to the world that in Jesus Christ, God’s kingdom has come. In Jesus Christ, a new way of life, a new way to be human, is available for all who believe in Him. Follow Him and learn this new kingdom life that begins now and lasts forever.

Wait a minute! Do all that? Not for me. It’s okay for Jesus. He was God. We are not God. Only God can do that. Do you see the problem with that? Yes, the miracles of Jesus were evidence that in Him God’s kingdom has broken into the world and that He is the Son of God and the Son of Man. Jesus did what He did while being a true and fully human empowered by the Holy Spirit. The disciples did miracles and they were not God but humans just like us. Jesus did what He did by the Holy Spirit. His disciples and the early church did what they did by the Holy Spirit. And throughout Christianity, followers of Jesus Christ did what He did by the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit. The Spirit came and by His power, we are Jesus’ witnesses here and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:4-5, 8). And now we do what we do what Jesus did by the Holy Spirit. We can do what Jesus did.

3. We Are the Salt and the Light of the World

Doing what Jesus did we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We live in a very complex and challenging time, culture, and world. Much has changed — information technology, artificial intelligence, the Internet, increasing urbanization, and the over-busy-hurry epidemic. We have moved into a post-Christian culture where there is a strong reaction against Christianity. We experience hostility and bias to outright rejection and persecution. In this world, in this digital age, in this secular, constantly changing culture, in this place, in this time, in this SU Valley community, we are called to be the special living community of God’s people; to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

ILLUSTRATION — 100 lbs meat, 25 lbs salt; spread over and rub into the meat. What will happen? Slow down decay. Give flavor to the meat. We complain about how society and our country are going down the drain. Why are we surprised? That is the way the world without Christ will go. We easily point fingers and judge. But who is to be blamed? It’s claimed that there are 25% of evangelical Christians in America. Why are we not the salt of our land? As a kingdom community, we must do what Jesus did so that we can counter and slow down the sinful decay of this world. As the salt we should live such lives that we show the communities around us that there is a new way of life available in Jesus Christ, a better tasting life, a life of abundant flavors, the kingdom life.

The harvest is plentiful. We are the workers. But we have made missions and evangelism so overwhelming, complex, and difficult. There are all kinds of programs, strategies, and methods for missions. So, many believers shut down and don’t do anything. While it is actually very basic and simple. Be with Jesus and become like Him. Reorient your life around God. Abide in Christ. Lean into the Holy Spirit. You will be changed and become like Jesus. And then you will begin to do what Jesus did. The Holy Spirit will stir in you the calling to go and make disciples, to join in His kingdom work.

Where do we begin? Start with the basics and begin with something all of us can do. Eat with people who are far from God. Practice radical hospitality as our Lord did.  Jesus, “… the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Lk 19:10). How did He do it? “The Son of Man came eating and drinking …” (Lk 7:34). We have already seen how in Matthew’s house Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors. In Luke 19:1-9, Jesus was again the guest of a sinner dining with Zacchaeus. Meals have always been a special place of community, fellowship, and building relationships.

How do we reach our community? Eat with the people who are far from God — the sinners, the rejected, the marginalized, the poor, widows, and orphans, even the enemy. Share a meal, go on a lunch break with someone, invite them into your home, and make a space for them at your table. Rom 12:10 commands us, “Practice hospitality.” If we are known for radical hospitality as a practice of love, for the simple act of eating with people who are far from God, we can change a community. We can change our world. Don’t underestimate the power of practicing the way of Jesus in community. Being children of light, being the salt of the earth, being apprentices of Jesus doing what Jesus did, we impact the society around us. 1 Pet 2:11-12 — “Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

Dallas Willard said this about our mission — “There is a special evangelistic work to be done, of course, and there are special callings to it. But if those in the churches really are enjoying fullness of life, evangelism will be unstoppable and largely automatic. The local assembly (church), for its part, can then become an academy where people throng from the surrounding community to learn how to live. It will be a school of life (for a disciple is but a pupil, a student) where all aspects of that life seen in the New Testament records are practiced and then mastered under the leadership of those who have themselves mastered them through practice. Only by taking this as our immediate goal can we intend to carry out the Great Commission.” (Willard, 247)

Go and make disciples. As you are going about your daily life, take notice and see people. As you encounter people where they are at in their lives, pay attention to what God is doing in somebody’s life. And join with God in that moment. No matter how complex life, our day, and age are, no matter what season of life, or stage of discipleship you are in, all of us can sit at a table with someone who is far from God. All of us can grow and mature as apprentices under Jesus to become the kind of people who do what Jesus did. All of us can slow down, open our eyes, and see the kingdom of God breaking in. See what God is up to and join in.