It is a common dynamic in human nature to make comparisons; in these comparisons, the snares of deception are hidden, preventing us from fully pleasing God and fulfillment. Is it enough to be a good Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Lutheran, or Pentecostal, etc.? Too many of us rest in obtaining various milestones of the doctrinal teachings and practical commitments of the organizations to which we belong. We often compare ourselves to other Christians. Yes, some bear a truly inspiring testimony, but too often we tend to compare ourselves to others in a self-preserving way, or even in a contemptuous manner. Both are the result of self-righteousness. Jesus did make a comparison for us. He said we must obtain a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees (see Matthew 5:20), for they were the epitome and embodiment of self-righteousness. None of these are what God is looking for. So then to what or whom shall we be likened? There is only one who pleased and pleases Him to such an extent that on multiple occasions the Father audibly declared it. In Matthew 17:5 (and other places), we read as the Father audibly declares, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Yeshua, Jesus, is the one to whom we shall be likened. He is the standard of comparison. For it is the eternal purpose of God to make man after His own image, after His likeness (see Genesis 1:26). God’s predetermined arrangement is that we would be conformed to the image and likeness of Jesus (see Romans 8:29-30). We are to become like Jesus. His image; His likeness. In this, we become pleasing to God.
To What Extent
How much like Jesus do we really need to be? We are God’s workmanship. His masterpiece. As a part of the new creation, even our works are not our own for we are created for good works in Christ (see Ephesians 2:10). In as much as there is a time when the whole body is brought together in unity and is, at last, a perfect man obtaining the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, this is the destiny of each child of God even today! God desires that we become full-stature Christians, Christ-ones, conformed to the image of Christ through the working of His transforming grace and the power of His Spirit. As Jesus is, so are we in this world.
The Disciple’s Discipline
Many have erroneously approached and embraced a Christianity where we are to be like Jesus as a result of self-discipline. This religious spirit acknowledges that we are saved by grace, yet departs from the grace that changes us in an attempt to follow the law and commandments of God through our own strength. Our prayers merely hit the walls in which we are praying as we ask that God will help us as we try to be like Jesus. This road leads at best to self-righteousness and hypocrisy. Along the wayside are the many who have soured, struggled and failed, and given up completely in bitter sadness and despair. The discipline of Jesus’ disciples is not one of behavioral modification. We cannot be what we are not, and only Jesus can live the way Jesus lives. -Even through us!
As we look at the qualities of the life, character, and virtues of Jesus, we eventually become overwhelmed with the impossibility of being like Him when viewed from the context of what we can do in and of ourselves – even with God’s help! Yes, with men this is impossible. But through Emmanuel – with God with us – “all things are possible.” It simply takes adopting the Disciple’s discipline.
“Well, what is it?” you ask. The discipline, or training, to become Christlike is not behavioral modification. It is about taking up our cross and following Jesus, going where He went, and going where He leads us. In turn, we encounter grace-filled, Holy Spirit-powered encounters where we experience change – the renewal of His transformation of our hearts. Our desires are changed as old desires die, and new ones spring forth. Behavior and attitudes are both lost to us forever, and through His renewal, new ones are discovered and established through the working of His power within us.
The discipline we must engage does include plying ourselves to the changes we seek God about as we seek Him! Yet the discipline we must obtain is centered on seeking God’s face rather than always seeking for what is in His hands. Through our trials, temptations, setbacks, disappointments, struggles, and even woundedness, we have the opportunity to recognize where we don’t look like, behave like, or even have the attitudes of Jesus. When the heat and pressure are on, is it our Adamic nature or Jesus that rises to the surface? Thus begins the crux of our discipline. We must seek God in prayer, through His Word, and through praying with others as we reach forth to lay hold of that for which we were apprehended: becoming like Jesus. The discipline of seeking God, prayerfully reading God’s Word, and receiving Godly impartation through others (Godly ministries as well as our brothers and sisters in Christ) is the discipline we must embrace, and endeavor to obtain. This is the way that leads to the manifestation of the life of Christ. For we have been called to abide in Him, as He abides in you and me (see John 15:4-11).
What If I Have Failed God?
God has called us to do two things: know our spiritual needs and surrender as we present our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him. Whenever we step outside of these two requirements to please God, we have already failed even though it may not yet seem obvious.
Beware when are convinced we are strong and won’t fall. The Word of God admonishes us concerning this: “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12 NASB). Any pride, including spiritual pride, precedes destruction and a fall (see Proverbs 16:18). Peter in seeming boldness and false confidence insisted he would never deny Jesus (see Luke 22:33-34). He was certain and convinced it would never happen. Peter was oblivious to the lurking spiritual pride behind his composure and remarks. But Jesus rebuked the pride revealing that he would deny him three times that same night before the rooster crowed. Later Peter would find solace in what Jesus had also told him: “Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32 NASB). We must fall to rise. We must be sifted to be completed in conversion. In weakness is found the strength of God.
We cannot be like Jesus. God does not want us to display a grandiose performance on life’s stage as we act out the life of Jesus. This stage is a total setup for failure. We will fail in this. Even when the enemy rushes in and embroils us in shame for failing God, God’s Spirit is there to pick us up where we have fallen, and there He begins His undergirding work of establishing the qualities of the life of Christ in us. As the Comforter, He falls alongside us when we have fallen to raise us up and carry us to our destination. Our wounded and abased hearts are primed for the regenerative power of God’s Spirit within us as He manifests and brings forth the life of Christ within us even in the area of our failure.
Falling Before God Before Utterly Failing
Falling in the manner of utterly failing God is not the requirement to encounter the transforming work of God’s Spirit within us. God loves us and He earnestly desires to bring completeness and fulfillment in our lives. We were born to become like Jesus; this is His destiny for each of us. But let us embrace humility for we need not have a catastrophic failure to encounter His transforming grace. Thank God for such richness of His grace should this happen. Humility is easily entreated, is not offended when corrected, and welcomes the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Humility embraces submission. As we bow before God in total self-abandonment and surrender, we fall in meekness before Him. In this presentation, we know our spiritual needs and we submit to God surrendering ourselves to Him. In repentance we do not find condemnation, we find forgiveness and transformation. This part of the discipline of a disciple means we do more than ask for forgiveness, we repent until we bring forth the fruit of repentance. We seek God until He removes the root of any sin and impurity in our hearts. Let us fall before Him before we are crushed by great failures.
Release, Joy, and Peace
Even after we initially come to Christ, there are many occasions of sweet release, overwhelming joy, and amazing peace as we draw from the wellspring of His Spirit. Those who struggle with sinful conditions can know the sweet release of deliverance and transformation. Those who grieve and endure hardships find joy unspeakable in the very near presence of the Holy Spirit of Christ amidst trying and even painful times. Amidst the various faces of uncertainty, we can experience the overshadowing and calming peace as we relinquish all self-control to God and trust His sovereignty and Lordship.
When we are without peace, and joy, and are pressured by inner struggles as well as outer circumstances, let us discern our condition. Let us embrace the convicting work of the Holy Spirit in such times. For He will show us our needs as we press forth to know what we need in such times. What is it we are lacking in the character and virtue of Jesus? This is the higher purpose for such occasions, trials and storms, and seasons in our lives. While the enemy intends our destruction through them, God has purposed that they come to bring to us the awareness of our spiritual needs in our lives. God loves us too much to allow us to live our lives thinking we have need of nothing (see Revelation 3:17). Every human being has a deep inner need to become complete. There is love, great joy, amazing peace, and complete fulfillment in knowing and becoming like Jesus. Our completion can only be found as we are being made after His image, after His likeness – the likeness of Christ.
Father, I bow before you today. I receive your Word and welcome your working in my heart. Thank you for revealing to me what your main purpose for my life is. Lord, I surrender myself to You and humble myself before You as I commit myself to the pursuit of becoming like Jesus. Forgive me for neglecting so great a salvation. Thank you for Your grace, peace, joy, and love that is ever present before me. Jesus, I ask, let my heart, my soul, my life become Your own. Thank You, Lord. Amen.
Hal Garms eWord Messages 