What Would Jesus Do?
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“A scantily dressed woman, who appeared to be coming straight from Nightclub, enters a church; and went to sit right in front, just before the sermon. What would you recommend, or do, if you witnessed the above?”
The question above came up recently in a class discussion.
The prescriptions were very many. Some said she should be sent to sit at the back; some said she should be covered with cloth; others said the ushers should not have allowed her to enter the chapel in the first place; one young man said he witnessed a similar thing, and the preacher burst out in a tirade of uncharitable words at the visitor!
There are a lot of times that situations take us by surprise; and when they do, we react in different ways; sometimes surprising our own selves!
When we are dealing with souls, especially those that voluntarily walk into a church or fellowship, we need to ask ourselves, “What would Jesus have done do?
READ Luke 4:14-21
“Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’
Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:14-21)
I consider Jesus’ statements above as His mission statement; and He was quoting from Isaiah 61. He came, not to condemn anyone, but to save. In the text above, He said He came for the poor, broken-hearted, captives, blind and oppressed.
After His famous declaration in John 3:16, this is what He said in the verse that followed:
“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17).
He did not come for the righteous ushers, pastors, and church or fellowship members. He came for the sinners; and we have to be careful. Think of the sinful woman who anointed Him (Luke 7:36-50); the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11); the lepers He touched and healed (Matthew 8:1-3); and the woman with the issue of blood (Luke 8:43-48).
In all cases, He was gracious, loving, responsive, accommodating, tolerant and redeeming. He never criticized, embarrassed, alienated or isolated anyone. He focused on redeeming them!
There are certain things that might shock us socially and culturally, but we have to be careful we don’t replace God’s purpose with our social and cultural norms. I have stayed in cultures where people come to church with very skimpy dressing and no one had a problem with it. I was surprised the first time (because of the culture I was coming from), but when I realized more people came like that, I figured it was normal; although it was one of the coldest places on earth! They simply wear their leather jackets on the skimpy dresses, drop them at the winter closet; and step into the church skimpy! We might just be getting a visitor from one of those places, and would need to be patient!
If they come; let us focus on getting them saved; then allow the Holy Spirit to do its transforming work using the Word of God. It is not physical; it is spiritual, coming from within. That is why Apostle Paul told the Romans,
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND.” (Romans 12:2)
We go out to evangelize such people; if now they are coming to us, we need to be gracious! The weapons of our warfare are not carnal; but spiritual, pulling down strongholds (especially in the mind! – It is mostly “A Mind Fight”)
God help us to see through Jesus’ merciful eyes, and redeeming love.
MEMORY VERSE
“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17).
QUESTIONS
1. Are you sometimes very harsh and unforgiving towards people you perceive as sinners?
2. To always get it right, why not ask yourself, ‘What would Jesus do?’
PRAYER TIP
Merciful Father, please help us to see all people as souls; whose transformation come from within, so we can be merciful too, as You are.
Written by:
BENNY MALM
For:
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