To Be Like Jesus

you can be seated tonight there's been i'm just going to warn you right up front i'm going to be very weepy because there has been a heaviness and a a and not in a bad or foreboding way but just a very real and sensing of direction for my life and for of course this opportunity that i have tonight to speak to you and i just get to unburden that with you all over and over in my mind the last couple of weeks the old song to be like jesus on earth i long to be like him all through life's journey from earth to glory i only ask to be like him i only ask to be like him i don't ask for other things i don't ask for reprieve from the stress of life i only ask to be like him i don't ask to avoid or be rescued from all suffering and all temptation i i only ask to be like him god loves me just the way that i am but he refuses to leave me that way he wants me to be just like him our goal and our aim as believers as spirit-filled believers is to be transformed into his likeness

and if i'm honest with you i've heard that all my life and with varying levels of intensity and dedication i adopted the goal sometimes giving full effort other times only partial and still other times no effort at all in some areas intentionally choosing to do what i know pleases him and reflects him but in some areas knowingly choosing to do my own thing and yet other areas ignorantly overlooking that he should be affecting that area too but here recently he's been stirring me disturbing me drawing me then you know what it tells me he hasn't given up on me he doesn't give up on us because he wants us to be like him

so last june i picked up this book to revisit it it's max lucado's just like jesus and what i read in chapter one stopped me in my tracks so i really sat and pondered what the author asked what if for one day jesus were to become you what if for 24 hours jesus wakes up in your bed walks in your shoes lives in your house assumes your schedule your boss becomes his boss your mother becomes his mother your pains become his pains with one exception nothing about your life changes your health doesn't change your circumstances don't change your schedule isn't altered your problems aren't solved only one change occurs what if for one day in one night jesus lives your life with his heart your heart gets the day off and your life is led by the heart of christ his priorities govern your actions his passions drive your decisions his love directs your behavior what would you be like would people notice a change your family would they see something new your co-workers would they sense a difference what about the less fortunate would you treat them the same and your friends would they detect more joy how about your enemies would they receive more mercy from christ's heart than from yours and you how would you feel what alterations would this transplant have on your stress level your mood swings your temper would you sleep better would you see sunsets differently death differently taxes differently any chance you'd need fewer aspirin or sedatives how about your reaction to traffic delays would you still dread what you were dreading better yet would you still do what you were doing would you still do what you had planned to do for the next 24 hours

pause and think about your schedule obligations engagements outings appointments with jesus taking over your heart would anything change keep working on that for a moment adjust the lens of your imagination until you have a clear picture of jesus leading your life and then snap the shutter and frame the image what you see is what god wants he wants you to think and act like christ jesus ephesians 4 23-24 but you were taught to be made new in your hearts to become a new person that new person is made to be like god made to be truly good and holy

to be like jesus in frustration in devastations in celebrations in confrontations in rejection pursuing him finding him in these and all moments of life how do i find god in devastation how do i find him in frustration i've just been asking lately lord how are you present with me in this moment how are you here with me when i say pursuing him it's language that we're perhaps accustomed to hearing but maybe not fully accustomed to identifying or defining and so i will identify what i mean by that pursuing him just trying to know him better trying to see him more clearly detecting him in all of life and then from that awareness of him that deeper level of knowing him i begin to emulate him and to follow his example i begin to be like him because i can't be like somebody i don't know i can't be transformed into someone that i don't have knowledge of i have to know how he acts when he's confronted i have to know how he acts when he's betrayed and when he's experiencing a win and a success or a loss and a failure i have to know how he acts how does he respond to offense how does he respond to frustration to accusation to people testing his patience i can't be like someone i don't know

so how do i get to know this man this god manifested in flesh that lived over 2 000 years ago one way is through his word i have a fresh and a new appreciation for his word since god has disturbed me in this way i no longer just read the daily allotted portion in the one year bible or on the youversion app that i'm reading just to check it off and just to say that i've done it because a good christian can say that but lately i find myself as i read asking myself what does this passage teach me about god what am i learning about his character his way of interacting with others because his word reveals him to us it shows us his heart it shows us his character and so his word is one way that i know him and can therefore use to be like him

i know him through his word and i i can know him through prayer through talking to him and listening for his voice and listening for what he is saying to me how he is prompting me how he's challenging me how he's inspiring me and maybe warning me and correcting me when i go to him in prayer i don't just go to be heard i go to hear him because i want to know him because i want to be like him it's my highest goal it's and so my attitude and my behavior and my conversations and my relationships my priorities and my activities should all be affected by my relationship with jesus pastor preached it not too long ago holy his every area of my life is unto the lord and can be and should be worshipped unto the lord and so i know him through prayer and i hear him prompting me and i hear him challenging me and i hear him in worship services like this i sense him lord how are you using this service to transform me how are you using this worship experiences and my brothers and sisters how are you using this time together to transform me

i know him through his word through prayer and through collective worship but i know him by his spirit by yielding to his spirit that lives in me living what we have commonly called around church a spirit-led life and if you're like me terminology sometimes becomes so familiar that it ceases to have any meaning at all so i tried to define that one too so breaking down that terminology to truly understand it in order to be able to practice it i would explain it like this being spirit-led is simply asking what would the spirit of god do in this situation what does the character of god lead me to do in response to fill in the blank david de silva wrote a introduction to the new testament and he he said this the spirit guiding the believer like a constant friend leads the believer into conformity with god's righteousness making christ take shape in him or her what does christ taking shape in me look like how will i know when that happens

the fruit of the spirit reveal his character to us in galatians 5 22-23 says love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control i intentionally didn't read it in the king james version so that it's different words than perhaps you're used to in order to help us think about them it helps me so the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace and patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control and so i have to ask myself in my endeavor to be like christ to know him to if i know that that's his character if i know that that's his fruit then i have to ask myself what is motivating my specific actions and words to be spirit-led means the spirit or character of god is the one motivating and then it's also it is revealed in how i react and how i respond so could i or someone else categorize and classify my actions and words as loving as joyful as patient kind good or gentle i want to be like him

i know him through prayer and i know him through the word and i know him through the spirit and i know him through others through you through the body of christ paul said some scary words when he said follow me as i follow christ i've been hesitant to ever say those words because i know how imperfect i am i know where i miss the mark sometimes but paul was onto something there because the body of christ is a gift to each of us that i don't have to be perfect i just have to be striving to follow him giving myself and others the grace that we all need in order to be like him so the old children's song was absolutely correct i'm not perfect i'm just forgiven i haven't yet arrived but i'm on my way none of us are perfect we're all imperfect people striving pursuing a relationship with the lord that results in a transformation into who he designed and created and appointed us to be we're all in a process though none of us are perfect we can look to one another for examples of how to be like christ while living in a confusing chaotic and stressful and demanding life i know him because you show me him all of us were made in the image of god so there's a bit of him in each of us and then you add to that being filled with his spirit and a relationship with the lord that results in transformation and so i can know him by knowing you and you can know him by knowing me we each have that mutual responsibility as the body of christ to live our life in such a way that others can know and experience god so they too can be like him by following our example

so i know him because i know you because i've known sunday school teachers in my life to wrap their arms around me wild and rambunctious little amber and love me and teach me his word and bring the word to life the way delinda crumb did in fourth grade girls class i know him because i know you brother jeremy you bring [name redacted] in here and you're holding her and you're sitting or standing and you're worshiping i see jesus in that it's the love of a father and you show me jesus sister patty i see jesus in you a tender heart a kind spirit and i know what jesus looks like because you show him to me sister ginger i know the meek and gentle character of god because you model that meek and gentle spirit too jared if he's in here he's out doing his job in the foyer you and the ushering staff i see jesus in you when you help direct guests new to apc or assist members in finding a place to sit i see the care and attention of jesus who also helped direct people when they felt uncertain or overwhelmed i see jesus in you this is a song from the 80s it was sung at a lot of weddings but it kept going over in my mind i see jesus in your eyes and it makes me love him i feel jesus in your touch and i know that he cares you model jesus to me and so i know what it's going to look like when i go through something similar that you're going through i know what it's going to look like to be like jesus in that because i see you i see you go through it and you're faithful to the house of the lord and you're faithful to your relationship with him and you're faithful to your spouse and to your families and it teaches me how to be like christ i know him because i know you and i see him because i see you i see him in you

to be like jesus it's such a tall order and if we're honest at times it feels overwhelming and impossible it certainly can't be done by willpower alone the transformation of my life into what god intended and designed it to be to look like to sound like is a work of the spirit it's a cooperative effort between god and me his spirit prompting and my body yielding his spirit directing and my words following and for this process to occur i know now more than ever we need grace and strength

in a recent prayer time in my office at urshan i was just simply rededicating myself to the lord i was telling him and myself that my earnest desire was to be like him and in that moment of voicing to the lord what i want to be like i was immediately struck with the reality of what i am actually like and it's so far from him his purity and his holiness and his love but yet i felt the invitation of the lord to just keep trying and this realization crossed my lips i told him i'm not going to do this perfectly i'm going to need your grace and he said immediately my grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness in that one solitary moment i knew that he understood that i'm not gonna be like him every moment of every day and i'm not going to do it perfectly and i'm going to need his grace and i'm going to need your grace and he said okay my grace is sufficient for you

i want to be like jesus i don't speak as if i have already attained or am already perfected but i press on that i may lay hold of that for which christ jesus has also laid hold of me brothers and sisters i do not count myself to have apprehended but one thing i do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead i press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of god in christ jesus i want to know him so i can be like him there is no greater goal

oh you see oh he has issued an invitation to you personally where my words have echoed his in your in your ears of light i just encourage you to tune into that and to express to him your desire express to him your challenges that you see in becoming like him could we just pray for a few moments and hear from the lord what he would speak to us i know that he has issued an invitation to each of us tonight i thank you jesus

oh jesus jesus jesus jesus oh god i yearn to hear your voice i love to know you oh help me open my eyes that i would see you open my eyes that i would see you that i could discern from your word who you are so that i know what i need to become so that i know where i need to change what needs to alter in my life oh god i present myself in living sacrifice renew my mind as i worship you renew my mind oh god refresh me in this one goal in this one aim to be like you refresh every effort that i give god refresh it to be after that one goal to be like you oh god it's our desire for you to be seen in us oh god we want your love to be seen in us and through us we we want folks to notice your love and your grace and your compassion through our actions and through our words oh god oh jesus continue to stir me continue to disturb me towards this goal god don't let me become complacent ever again god oh forgive me god for stagnation forgive me for being attracted by other things lesser things i repent i turn back to you from all of that you're the goal you're the number one goal of god it's you it's only you it's only you oh i love you jesus