What would it mean to “become more like Jesus”? This is the topic of Day 22 of Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life.
Becoming “more like Jesus” may seem like a strange or impossible task, as it seems to imply an impossibly high step change from “us” to “Jesus”, with no clear path as to how to do this. However, we have accounts of how he lived and acted in the world and what he taught and these serve as a good starting points.
But why try? What is the reason we should follow the example of Jesus or strive to become “a bit more like” Jesus? Did Jesus ask us to do this or did we just make this idea up?
Overview
To approach this we will look at five main questions:
- To what extent have Christians tried to be like Jesus through history
- What specifically does Jesus teach us?
- How does this link to the Kingdom of Heaven?
- Do we actually need to be like Jesus?
- The benefits of living from the Kingdom
Imitation of Christ in history
Imitating Jesus isn’t a new idea. The phrase “What would Jesus do?”, although possibly seen as a modern cliché, was in fact first used in a sermon by Charles Spurgeon back in 1891. He cited the source of this phrase as from the book “Imitation of Christ” by Thomas à Kempis written in the 15th Century. This book was wildly successful and was the second most translated book apart from the Bible at the time.
However, the concept of “Imitation of Christ” goes even further back than this to the earliest Christian thinkers. For example, Augustine saw the imitation of Christ as the fundamental purpose of Christian life. So it clearly seems to be a legitimate question to ask and hopefully a question that is of some use to dig into further.
Different people have approached this in different ways and it ultimately has to be a personal decision which aspects you choose to focus on. For example, Book One of the Imitation of Christ emphasises the withdrawal of the outward life and a focussing on solitude and silence. Books Two to Four moved on to different themes. A focus on the internal life may, or may not, be a good spiritual practice but is this imitating Jesus?
Also, which aspects of Jesus’s life should we be imitating? Should our focus be on healing or on teaching? Should we be wandering teachers in the way that Jesus was or stay in one community? Should we have no possessions? Some of these may seem trivial questions but if we think they are trivial then we are instinctively filtering what we think is important and what is not. Who are we to say!
Since there are a range of things we can follow, it would help if Jesus pointed out the key ones, the ones that matter. This would then take us beyond our own interpretations to what he actually intended for us.
Sermon on the Mount – What does Jesus teach us?
Luckily, it seems that he did exactly this. We see in the Sermon on the Mount and other sections in Mathew and Luke teachings that seem to exactly match the nature of Jesus and how he interacts with the world. The words match his actions and he asks us explicitly to follow them. A selection of some of the key sections are below, starting with the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:2-10 (ESV):
The Beatitudes
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called esons1 of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
So from this it seems that we need to be “poor in sprit” – to be humble and teachable; to be willing to be comforted when mourning; to be meek; to hunger and thirst for righteousness; to be merciful, pure in heart and a peacemaker. This is a good list to start with!
Jesus then unpacks and emphasises other key points in the next few sections of the Sermon on the Mount. Examples include:
Love your enemies – “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:43-45 (ESV)
Lay up your treasures in heaven – “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21 (ESV)
Do not be anxious – “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Matthew 6:25 (ESV)
Do not judge – “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:1–2 (ESV)
(Although these verses tend to be seen as very clear, for other verses in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is speaking metaphorically and spiritually and if you miss this you miss the whole point of what he is saying. When Jesus says “the eye is the lamp of the body” (Matthew 6:22-23) he is not talking about your actual “eye”, but that your “way of seeing or thinking” is what lights you up – not that your eye literally lights up your body. So your focus should be on a way of seeing or thinking that brings in light.
Similarly, if your “eye” or “hand” causes you to sin (Matthew 5:29-30) this is your “way of seeing” (eye) or “way of doing” (hand) when interacting with the world. If they cause problems or cause you to sin then change your way or seeing or doing (not your actual eye or hand). And when Jesus tells us the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure buried in a field that a mans sells everything to buy (Matthew 13:44) – again he is speaking metaphorical as you cannot buy the Kingdom with money! Instead he is emphasising the importance of seeking the Kingdom relative to everything else in your life.)
Linking this to the Kingdom of Heaven
Anyway, going back to Jesus’s commandments, what is interesting is that following these commandments may also be linked to the Kingdom of Heaven. There are two main reasons for this.
- The first is that Jesus himself links following these commandments to entering into the Kingdom (we will see this below). Jesus tells us that we enter into the Kingdom by following the will of the Father, with the will of the Father being demonstrated and taught by Jesus.
- The second is that the more we enter into the Kingdom, the more we start to act from the same place of love and power that Jesus is operating from and the more we can become like Jesus.
The need to follow Jesus’s commandments
Starting with the first of these points, Jesus makes a special emphasis that we really do need to follow his commandments and that we need to follow them specifically in relation to entering the Kingdom:
I Never Knew You – “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons vin your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV)
By itself, this verse is very clear but perhaps a bit shocking. It is not enough to call Jesus “Lord, Lord” or do things in his name. Not enough for what? Jesus specifically refers to it not being enough to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Why does it sound so harsh? Because we haven’t necessarily been taught this or studied these verses and it can come as a shock. However, I would prefer to think of it as Jesus providing helpful added emphasis as he fully knows and understands human nature. It is all to easy to hear his words and not do them or think there is some clever reason why they don’t apply to us. This is unpacked and emphasised for a second time (remember the human nature thing) in the verses that immediately follow:
Build Your House on the Rock – “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:24-27 (ESV)
However, the good news is that as we saw above Jesus’s main command for us is essentially for us to exercise unconditional love for each other, to strangers and even our enemies. At its simplest he is saying is “You need to act in a loving way to enter into a state of love.” – which on the face of it makes perfect sense.
He is telling us: “You need to hear my teachings about loving, forgiving and not-judging and actually do them”. It is by doing this that we start to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven by “doing the will of the Father”. If we remain angry, judgemental and unforgiving we remain spiritually stuck. Our connection to God doesn’t change but we have become a bit stuck and it limits us.
Living from the Kingdom
Which brings us on to the second link with the Kingdom. The more we move into the Kingdom by following Jesus’s commandments of love, the more we start to operate from the place of love that Jesus was operating from – which in turn will make us more like Jesus.
First, we know that by following Jesus we start to follow more closely the will of the Father because in John Jesus explicitly says he is only doing what he sees the Father doing (John 5:19) and separately that whoever has seen him has seen the Father (John 14: 9).
Second, when we operate from the Kingdom we start to operate more from a place of spiritual power. It when we are operating from within the Kingdom that miracles can start to happen. Which brings us back to being more like Jesus again – as Jesus did a lot of miracles.
Conclusion
So put this all together in just a few short sentences:
- The aim of “being like Jesus” is one that Christians have looked at throughout the centuries. Luckily, it is also something that Jesus calls us to do as well – it isn’t something we have made up.
- Jesus asks us to follow his commands of unconditional love, and by doing so we enter into the Kingdom, by doing the will of the Father.
- And when we move more into the Kingdom and live from a place of Kingdom power, we can see miracles start to happen, which again brings us back to being more like Jesus.
Which is a very positive virtuous circle. Be more like Jesus, enter more into the Kingdom, become more like Jesus. And keep going.
