students of jesus

So Easter Sunday has come and gone. Followers of Jesus all over the world have marked the most significant day in history, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The resurrection was the Father’s exclamation point to the ministry of Jesus; the “Temple” had been destroyed and raised up three days later.

But what about Monday? Is the singing and shouting over? Jesus encountered the disciples on Easter Sunday, but what about Monday, or Tuesday, or beyond? The first eleven verses of the book of Acts provide at least five mediations for us in the days ahead.

Meditation #1: The resurrected Jesus remained on the earth for 39 days after Easter Sunday. Many Christians celebrate the victory won at the cross (and rightly so!), but apparently Jesus had more to say and do. The gospels are about “all that Jesus began to do and teach” (Acts 1:1), but the rest of Acts reveals that Jesus was still doing and teaching in the decades after the gospels. Is it possible Jesus is still doing and teaching in our day?

Meditation #2: Jesus’ message in the 40 days of resurrection was the Kingdom of God. (Acts1:3) During that time Jesus continued to speak about the Kingdom of God. In fact, the Kingdom of God is the “good news” preached by Jesus in the gospels. And he had more to say after Easter Sunday. In fact, the book of Acts closes with the Apostle Paul proclaiming the Kingdom of God (Acts 28: 31). Have we meditated on the meaning of the Kingdom?

Meditation #3: What was so important that Jesus told his disciples to stay in Jerusalem? While the gospel accounts end with Jesus saying, “Go!” in Acts Jesus says “Wait!” In our day many Christians are familiar with the “Great Commission” (Matthew 28: 16 - 20) but are we aware that Jesus commanded us to wait? What was so important that Jesus said, in effect. “don’t go anywhere, don’t do anything until you receive all that I have for you?” Have we meditated on the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives?

Meditation #4: Jesus told his followers plainly that there were some things that we would not know, especially regarding the times and the seasons of the last days. Yet this very topic is of great interest in the church today. Literally millions of books have been sold on this subject. In Acts 1: 7 - 8 Jesus tells us to focus on the mission, not the culmination of the mission. Have we meditated on the wrong subject in our day?

Meditation #5: The angels who were present at the ascension asked a pretty good question: “why are you looking toward heaven?” It’s a question worth considering. Frequently we are more concerned with heaven than with the Kingdom of God. The breathtaking sacrifice at Calvary did indeed purchase the forgiveness of sins and the hope of heaven, but in our generation many followers of Jesus have limited his work and message. One final meditation for the days ahead--if the gospel is only about going to heaven, why did Jesus invite us to take up the yoke of discipleship?

NOTE: This week’s post is part two of an article begun last week (see below)

How did Jesus become the man he was? As the record of his life unfolds in the gospels we are faced with an unspoken question: how did Jesus do the things he did? If we choose to say simply, “he was the Messiah, God come to earth,” how can we explain his statement in John 14:12? “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

His earliest followers understood that Jesus lived a life which demonstrated full reliance on the Holy Spirit, and a life in perfect submission to the Father’s will. True, he was without sin and in his perfection Jesus‘ sacrificial death paid the price for our pardon. But his life was more than a substitution, more than payment for our sin--as great as that sacrifice is. His life was a model for anyone who would follow him, a model of both moral excellence and ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit.

But how can his life be a model for anyone if his character and power cannot be imitated? Whether we articulate the question or not, each of us is forced to wrestle with the nature of Jesus--was he God or was he man? If he was only a man, how can his death pay the price for all mankind? If he is God, how can he reasonably expect his followers to live up to his example? It is an important wrestling match because our answer may well determine our own progress as a follower of Jesus.

Jesus clearly expected his followers to do the same kind of works he did. The instructions to the twelve in Luke 9:2 are clear, “he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” Just one chapter later he widened the commission to at least 70 of his followers. In short order they returned joyfully, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." (Luke 10:17) Even as Jesus was pleased with their works he reminded them of their own need for redemption, and then--filled with Holy Spirit-inspired joy, made a most startling statement: "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”

The “wise and learned” debated the nature of Jesus the man and Jesus the Son of God for nearly 400 years. Finally, in 431AD at the first Council of Ephesus the church settled on this formulation: Jesus was one person, not two separate people: complete God and complete man, all wrapped up into one person.

Both aspects of his nature are important for everyday living. Only God’s own Son can purchase the redemption of all humanity--no human sacrifice will do. Our forgiveness rests completely in the sufficiency of God’s own sacrifice. We need to approach him as the only one capable of dispensing divine mercy and grace. At the same time, Jesus is the example of a human life lived in full accordance with the Father’s will. We must see (as was pointed out in Part One) that his miracles were accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit, not by virtue of some divine standing as the Son of God. When Jesus operated under the power of the Holy Spirit, he was showing us how it was done. That is, he was calling us to be like him in every way.

Simple passages like Luke 2:52 point to the fact that Jesus lived a very human life. Other, more enigmatic verses like Hebrews 5:8 seem to point to the fact that Jesus modeled obedience--an obedience he had won by suffering the same difficulties we face. Perhaps most challenging of all, verses like Matthew 10: 7-8 seem to indicate that he had higher expectations for his followers than we have today.

Throughout the 20th century, skeptics and scholars alike attacked the divinity of Jesus. In the academy Jesus’ identity was deconstructed and the gospel record was regarded with suspicion. The miracle accounts were explained away. We were asked to accept the idea that the miracles were not true in any concrete sense, but mythical illustrations of spiritual points.

The evangelical church responded with a vigorous defense of the gospel record and of the truth regarding the divinity of our Lord. The world at large denied the divinity of Jesus in the 20th century, and the church held fast to the truth--Jesus is God come to earth. However, as we rose to his defense we fell prey to a subtle over-emphasis. The church stood firmly on the divinity of Jesus at the expense of asserting his humanity as well. While maintaining the miracle accounts in the gospels were true indeed, we lost sight of his teaching that his followers would do his works.

Some 21st century Christians vigorously defend the miracles of Jesus' day without recognizing his call to do the very same works in our day. Some 21st century Christians vigorously defend the holy and blameless life of Jesus twenty centuries ago without sharing the good news that, by the grace of God, we can live lives of substantial holiness today (see, for example Eph. 5:27 or I Thess 3:13).

To ignore the humanity of Jesus is to ignore his call to be like him in every respect. To over-emphasize his divinity is to give ourselves an excuse to live powerless lives. Lives powerless over sin or powerless over the sicknesses and demonization so prevalent in our world today.

How did he become the man he was? The simple answer is he lived in the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. The more difficult answer is that he calls us to live the same way.

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head,
The stars in the sky look down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus asleep in the hay.

Don’t worry, it’s not Christmas time, but this carol raises an important question to anyone who wants to follow Jesus. The song celebrates the Incarnation, literally, the enfleshment of Jesus, when God Himself became man. It is a powerful carol because any parent remembers well the beauty and mystery of their child asleep in the crib. We can relate to sleeping babies. But then . . .

The cattle are lowing, the poor Baby wakes
The little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes . . .

Right here--at the words, “no crying he makes” the song begins to depart from our personal experience. Most mothers would begin to worry about a baby who never cries. What kind of baby was this Jesus? Did he ever cry? What kind of child was the boy Jesus, growing year after year with Joseph and Mary?

Will you indulge me in some foolishness? This baby Jesus, God Incarnate: how did he receive the Magi when they came to worship? Did the infant in the manger invite them in and gesture for them to sit? Did he say, “Please, come in. You must be exhausted from your journey.” Did the newborn baby thank them for their thoughtful gifts?

Imagine Jesus as a boy learning the family business at his father’s side: the sinless Son of God, perhaps six years old, driving a nail into a board for the very first time. Did he hold the hammer correctly? Did he drive the nail straight and true? Or, like all children, did he gain his skill through experience? When the Perfect Human Being first held a saw and cut a piece of wood, did he cut the board correctly? And if he did not, what does this say of his divinity?

Behind these silly imaginations hide questions for anyone who would become like their Master. If Jesus is our example in both behavior and ministry, how did he become the man he was? If Jesus modeled ministry for us by healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead, by what power did he do these things? Indeed the church has debated these questions for centuries. It is not merely the stuff of theological curiosity because Jesus called us to be like him in every way.

If Jesus accomplished moral excellence and supernatural ministry exclusively through the privilege of his identity as the Son of God, how can he expect us to follow him? Any serious follower of Jesus should take time to consider--how did Jesus do the things he did? Was he sinless because he had some advantage over you or me? Did he heal the sick or multiply the bread and fish because he had some secret power not open to any of his followers? If Jesus did these things because he was the Boss’ son, isn’t it unfair for him to expect us to become like him?

Luke chapter 4 depicts the very beginning of Jesus ministry--the very first sermon recorded in that Gospel. It is short, and revealing:

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4: 16 - 21)

Jesus selects the passage from Isaiah which begins plainly “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” Everything which follows in the life and ministry of Jesus flows from the operation of the Holy Spirit in his life. Luke points out the role of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ baptism (3:22) and in the 40 days of testing in the wilderness (4:1 & 14). In Luke’s second work, the book of Acts, he quotes the Apostle Peter, who gives a one-sentence summary of the ministry of Jesus:

"You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached -- how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him." (Acts 10: 38-39)

Jesus did what he did by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by virtue of his unique identity as the Son of God. Make no mistake--Jesus is God Himself come to earth. His example for life and ministry, however, is through the Holy Spirit’s empowerment, and that same Spirit is available to his followers. What does that mean for us today? Come back next week for part two.

In my youth I was a diver on my high school swimming team. Like most teenagers I had taught myself how to do a front flip and a back flip, but going beyond the basics required coaching. The next step was to learn how to do one-and-a-half summersaults and land in the water head-first. My coach was another high schooler, a senior, and he was a great diver. I asked him about doing the one-and-a-half. I wanted to understand the concept and to know what to expect. His answer was surprising.

“You just throw your head down into the water,” he said. “You just have to feel it. Here, I’ll show you.” and in what seemed like one graceful move he was up in the air, tumbling easily and knifing the water. He didn’t know physics or aerodynamics. He didn’t know the technical terms of diving. But he could show me how. I learned how to do one-and-a half summersaults as a freshman, and by my senior year I could do two-and-a-half summersaults.

That first year I was a disciple of someone who knew how to dive. He was older, more experienced, and he demonstrated how to dive day by day. In less religious language, he was my coach, my mentor, or my example. He established me as a diver and to this day, decades later, I can still do one-and-a-half summersaults.

That same year I became a follower of Jesus, because I knew in my heart I needed a savior. I was grateful for Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. I also knew I need something more. I needed to learn a new way to live because my life was a mess. Unlike my diving career, it took me years to find an example for following Jesus.

“Don’t look at me,” my church youth-leader said. “I’m just a man. Keep your eyes on Jesus.”

This presented a problem for me because I couldn’t see Jesus. I could read about him. I was certain that his sacrifice paid the debt for my sin. I just couldn’t see how in the world I would ever be like him. The problem was Jesus was unreachable. To make matters worse, everyone I knew kept pointing only to him. If the advice for Christian growth ever deviated from "don't follow me, I'm just a man," it became, “be sure to read your Bible and pray.” I tried to do it, but prayer was boring and lifeless. Bible reading was a little more interesting--and also a lot more confusing.

In my experience even the leaders in the church seemed to indicate that we were all in the same boat: sinners who needed a Savior. Right, I got that; but now I was in the boat and I was looking for someone to show me how to become part of the crew.

Then, one day, almost by accident, I came across an amazing statement by the Apostle Paul. It startled me because it was so different from what I was used to hearing in church. This man, Paul, said:

Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
I Corinthians 11: 1

Paul seemed to be confident in his relationship with Jesus. Although he once referred to himself as “the worst of sinners,” he knew what following Jesus was all about. He invited people to imitate his actions. Instantly I knew I needed exactly this: someone to imitate. Yes, Jesus was the goal, and here was someone who could do something more than simply point to the goal. Paul told the Corinthians, "Here. I'll show you how."

How many Christians (or even leaders in the church) make such statements today? I suspect that many people would consider Paul’s words boastful if they heard someone else say them. Yet this is exactly what Jesus instructed in the “Great Commission” when he charged us with “teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 2820)

I believe this is the challenge of the church today. We have a gospel that promotes forgiveness and exalts Jesus as Savior. We have language which declares Jesus is Lord. We do not, however, have much of an idea about how to make disciples who will actually be like Jesus. In fact, some leaders even consider discipleship as secondary to the mission. I have heard this preached more than once: “When you get to heaven God will only have two questions. ‘Do you know my Son?’ and, ‘How many did you bring with you?’” I would like to suggest that this concern for evangelism is sincere but misguided. Even for those whose heart burns to win the lost, the answer is Jesus’ instruction to make disciples. Robert Coleman’s little classic, The Master Plan of Evangelism brings this home powerfully.

Paul's example is not merely an example for recognized church leaders. Leaders and "common Christians" alike, we should each consider how we can share our very lives with other believers. Our example can encourage others, and the practical aspects of following Jesus can be shared from one follower of Jesus to another--apart from formal classroom situations. Each of should should ask, "Is my life worthy of imitating?"