Text: 1 Peter 2:21 (Ephesians 5:1-2; 1 John 2:6)
OPEN:
No doubt you've heard the initials: WWJD (What would Jesus do?), but do you remember who used them first? They come from a little book written by Congregational minister Charles Sheldon. His book, In His Steps, first published in 1896, has sold more than 30,000,000 copies, and ranks as one of the best-selling books of all time. The full title of the book is: In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?
In His Steps takes place in the railroad town of Raymond, probably located in the eastern U.S.A. The main character is the Rev. Henry Maxwell, pastor of the First Church of Raymond. The novel begins on a Friday morning when a man out of work appears at the front door of Henry Maxwell while the latter is preparing for that Sunday’s upcoming sermon. Maxwell listens to the man’s helpless plea briefly before brushing him away and closing the door. The same man appears in church at the end of the Sunday sermon, walks up to “the open space in front of the pulpit,” and faces the people. No one stops him. He quietly but frankly confronts the congregation—“I’m not complaining; just stating facts.”—about their compassion, or apathetic lack thereof, for the jobless like him in Raymond. Upon finishing his address to the congregation, he collapses, and dies a few days later.
That next Sunday, Henry Maxwell, deeply moved by the events of the past week, presents a challenge to his congregation: “Do not do anything without first asking, ‘What would Jesus do?’” This challenge is the theme of the novel and is the driving force of the plot. From this point on, the rest of the novel consists of certain episodes that focus on individual characters as their lives are transformed by the challenge.
Sheldon wrote a sequel to In His Steps entitled Jesus is Here, where Christ actually shows up and visits the characters of In His Steps, supposedly a few years later. This book's recurring phrase used in describing Jesus is: "Like an average man. Only different."
Peter lays down a daunting task in 1 Peter 2:21: “follow in his steps.”
We read something similar in two other New Testament letters.
1) The first is from the hand of the Apostle Paul writing to the Church at Ephesus. In 5:1-2, Paul exhorts them to live exemplary lives and at the climax of his argument makes the startling declaration: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
2) John writes in his first letter: "Whoever says, 'I abide in him,' ought to walk as he walked." (1 John 2:6)
Can you think of anything more preposterous? Latin=Imitatio Dei
Imitate a Creator?
Imitate an All-Powerful God?
Imitate an All-Knowing God?
Imitate an All-Present God?
Peter gives us a clue as to how to implement the audacious demand to imitate Christ. In fact, it is one of the grand benefits of the incarnation—God became human flesh. Not only did his sojourn on earth end in the ultimate sacrifice and victory for our sakes, in the process he provides the ultimate example of how to live.
He is our Savior; he is also our Model.
What does it look like for us to "follow in his steps," to live as Jesus did? If it is not perfection, then what does it mean?
- According to Ephesians 5:2, We imitate Christ by living in love.
And not just any kind of love, this love is the same kind of love that was demonstrated in Christ’s sacrificial death in our place.
I. WE ARE TO IMITATE THE WAY JESUS LIVED.
“Therefore” in Ephesians 5:1 refers back to the last part of chapter 4, especially verse 32: “and be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”
We read a similar command in 5:2, “and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.”
1. Christians are not a cheap imitation.
1) Mimetes (imitator) is the term from which we get “mimic,” someone who copies specific characteristics of another person. As “imitators of God,” Christians are to imitate God’s characteristics, and above all his love.
- The imperative “Be” is something in Greek called a durative imperative: Ever Be!
- The imperative to imitate actually means dependence on God in all our actions and not independent sameness.
Thomas à Kempis was a shy man who liked “books and quiet corners all his days.” Yet, this simple, kindly man walked with Christ in such intimacy that he left Of the Imitation of Christ as a rich inheritance to millions of Christians. In the past 500 years, the little book has been translated into more languages than any other book except the Bible.
“’He that followeth me, shall not walk in darkness’ saith the Lord. These are the words of Christ, by which we are admonished how we ought to imitate His life and manners, if we would be enlightened and delivered from all blindness of heart. Let therefore our chief endeavor be to meditate on the life of Jesus Christ.”
2. Our Relationship With God Underlies Our Imitating the Son.
“Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children…”
“The closes relation underlies our imitating, and this relation to God is both the reason for our imitating Him and the motive that prompts us.” (a Kempis)
1) The word translated “beloved” denotes the closest relationship possible—this is the closest possible family relationship one could imagine.
- This is the son or daughter imitating the father that they love, adore, respect, and most want to be like.
II. WE ARE TO IMITATE THE WAY JESUS LOVED.
The whole of the Christian life is the reproduction of divine love as seen in the person of Christ.
“Kindness, tender-heartedness, and forgiveness are characteristics of God, who is love. God himself is infinitely kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving, and we achieve those virtues by imitating their Source.” (J. MacArthur)
1. Imitating the Son Means Following a Unique Way.
- Conventional wisdom and common sense are not signs of the kingdom of God.
Donald Kraybill, in his book, The Upside-Down Kingdom, suggests:
“The kingdom of God points to an inverted, or upside-down way of life that contrasts with the prevailing social order.”
“In this upside-down kingdom, the first shall be last and the last shall be first, the exalted will be humbled and the humbled will be exalted, sinners are forgiven and welcomed while the self-righteous are chastised, the poor are blessed and the rich condemned, the lost are found and the dead are made alive, the lion lays down with the lamb and spears are reshaped into pruning hooks. This is the language of the kingdom” (James Mulholland).
> Jesus warned some very religious people:
“I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you” (Mt 21:31).
> He announced: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20).
> He shocked his disciples by saying: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Mt 19:24).
2. Christ is most concerned with those who have been ignored, neglected, and even oppressed by the kingdoms of this world.
> Mary, the mother of Jesus, anticipated this when she said: “God has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty” (Luke 1:51-53).
>Jesus began his ministry with similar words; “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” (Luke 4:18-19).
>Jesus seemed to think the kingdom of God would only appear as we work to eliminate poverty, free those who are prisoners (either of their own making or of others), give sight to the blind (especially those blind to their responsibility), and release the oppressed.
CLOSE:
We are commanded to follow the example of Jesus Christ, and we do so by loving the way Jesus did.
(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)
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