W W J D: How About What Did Jesus Do?
We’ve all seen WWJD on all kinds of things. What would Jesus do? What would Jesus do? I have a better question; instead of what would He do, how about what did Jesus do? Our goal is to be Christ-like, right? So, why don’t we take a look at what He did while He was here?
I know WWJD was intended to make christians think, “what would Jesus do?”, before they did something stupid, like, lets say ….. sin. However, everybody had this logo every where but nobody stopped and thought what would Jesus really do right here right now. Unfortunately what happened, WWJD was worn to keg parties, while teens were engaging in premarital sex, while cussing people out, stealing, pick a commandment to break and WWJD was there. So, again I say, lets look at what Jesus actually did and lets begin to act like He did. Mike Warnke, Christian comedian once said, “People sit around worrying about doing all the don’ts in the Bible. If they would get busy doing the dos they wouldn’t have time to do the don’ts.” That is why we are going to look at what Jesus did.
Jesus began his ministry by being baptized by John the Baptist. At that time the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove and a voice was heard from heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt 3:13-17Matt 3:13-17
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
14 But John would have hindered him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
15 But Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer [it] now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffereth him.
16 And Jesus when he was baptized, went up straightway from the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him;
17 and lo, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
). After Jesus was baptized He was led by the Spirit, into the wilderness, to be tempted (Matt 4:2-11Matt 4:2-11
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered.
3 And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5 Then the devil taketh him into the holy city; and he set him on the pinnacle of the temple,
6 and saith unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and, On their hands they shall bear thee up, lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, Again it is written, Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God.
8 Again, the devil taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 and he said unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11 Then the devil leaveth him; and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
). Jesus was tempted in every way that we will ever be tempted and withstood the temptation so that He would be an example to us, as well as come to our aide when we are tempted (Heb 2:18Heb 2:18
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18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.
). These temptations are in three main areas; lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life. These three things are what we deal with on a daily basis and Christ our Lord and Savior beat them all.
Next we see that Jesus preached. What did He preach? Love? Tolerance? Salvation? Hell fire and brimstone? Be a good person? No. He preached The Good News of the Kingdom of God and Repentance (Matt 4:17Matt 4:17
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17 From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
, Mark 1:14-15Mark 1:14-15
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14 Now after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,
15 and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the gospel.
, Luke 4:43Luke 4:43
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
43 But he said unto them, I must preach the good tidings of the kingdom of God to the other cities also: for therefore was I sent.
). That was His message. Did He teach these other things at the same time? Yes, but this was His message. Good news is what the people were craving and repentance was what they needed. The same thing applies today. God never changes, so why would His message?
The Gospel, i.e. the good news was accompanied by Jesus meeting the physical and spiritual needs of those who came to Him. How? He healed the sick, made the lame walk, the blind see, cast out demons, raised the dead, fed thousands of people with a little boys lunch, twice, made disciples of those who followed Him so the message and meeting of the people’s needs could be expanded beyond Himself (Matt 10:5-8Matt 10:5-8
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5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying, Go not into [any] way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans:
6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give.
, Luke 10:1-9, 17-20Luke 10:1-9, 17-20
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10
1 Now after these things the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself was about to come.
2 And he said unto them, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest.
3 Go your ways; behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves.
4 Carry no purse, no wallet, no shoes; and salute no man on the way.
5 And into whatsoever house ye shall enter, first say, Peace [be] to this house.
6 And if a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall turn to you again.
7 And in that same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.
8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:
9 and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
17 And the seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject unto us in thy name.
18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven.
19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall in any wise hurt you.
20 Nevertheless in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
). If you want to know the miracles He performed, pick a gospel, any gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John and begin to read. You can hardly turn a page without finding the Master meeting the need of someone.
Now here is the really cool part; Jesus did all of this as a man. That’s right, He did all of this as a mere man, not as God in a man suit but as a real man with all of the limitations that you and I have (Php 2:5-8Php 2:5-8
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5 Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;
8 and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient [even] unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
). In the book of Philippians, it says that He emptied Himself, took the form of a bond-servant, likeness of men and the appearance of man. Charles Ryrie explains it like this:
The kenosis (emptying) of Christ during His incarnation does not mean that He surrendered any attributes of deity, but that He took on the limitations of humanity. This involved a veiling of His preincarnate glory (John 17:5John 17:5
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5 And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. ) and the voluntary waiving of some of His divine prerogatives during the time He was on earth.
He had no advantage over you and I except He had no sin nature as we do. That means He didn’t need a savior; He is the Savior for us. So what does all this mean to us? It means we have the perfect example how we are to conduct ourselves while here on this earth (1 Peter 2:211 Peter 2:21
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
21 For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps:
). Everything we deal with on a daily basis Christ has already dealt with and won (John 16:33John 16:33
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33 These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
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Now here is the really, really cool part. Jesus told us that the things He did we would do and even greater things than these (John 14:12John 14:12
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
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 the Father.
). Imagine doing the things Christ did. Healing the sick, making the blind see, the lame walk, casting out demons and proclaiming The Good News of the Kingdom of God. What a ministry the church would have in the communities around them. This is the church that Christ built. This is what our churches are to be like, not dead and in religious bondage.
Jesus told Peter, “upon this rock I will build My Church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.” (Matt 16:18Matt 16:18
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
18 And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
). If you have given your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, you are the Church, we are the Church and anything that comes through the gates of Hell will not prevail against us.
Do what Jesus did and you won’t need to ask, “What would Jesus do?”.
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