Love and Serve Like Jesus

Amir Tsarfati's Bible Bite message for today:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bible Bite: Love and Serve Like Jesus

It seems as though the significance of the moniker we wear as the body of Christ is lost on many in the church today. When we tell someone we are a Christian, we are not informing them of our religious affiliation nor are we identifying ourselves with an organization. When we say we are a Christian we are saying we are “like Christ”, for this is the very definition of the term.

Now before we wander into despair as we think about what we are like and what Christ is like, or before we lapse into the unbiblical thinking that Christians can and should arrive at a state of moral perfection in this life, we need to remember this:

Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
This gives us the duration of the task of making us “like Christ” which will last until we meet Jesus.

1 John 3:2
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

There is an old saying that; “If you aim at nothing, you are sure to hit it.” As a Christian, our aim is to be like Christ, and Christ has committed himself to the task of working on us until we see Him. But we also need to remember that John said, “Beloved, now we are children of God” not we will be children of God when we are like Christ. John, as Paul did in Philippians, said this aim to be like Christ is going to be our goal the whole of our lives on earth, and only when we see Him will we finally be fully like Him.

So what was He like? His self-description in Matthew gives us a portion of our target to aim at in a Christ-like life:

Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

The first aspect we note of the Lord’s self-description is He offered rest to the weary and heavy laden.

Galatians 6:2-3
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

As Christians we should be known as burden-bearers, people who can be counted on when others fall apart, people who are a support to others in their distresses. After all, the One we claim to be “like” endured the cross though He despised the shame. (Hebrews 12:2) He also prayed that if possible that this “cup” would pass from Him. 

However, He also prayed that the Father’s will would be done. (Matthew 26:39) We too will encounter and endure unpleasant and unwanted things. Yet, the presence of a Christian in any situation should be a calming one to others, not a source of agitation. People should sense something in us that puts them at rest or ease.

We also see that Jesus sought to yoke Himself with others, so they could learn from Him. This, too, should be our aim when interacting with others. Our relationship and identification as a Christ follower should infiltrate every encounter and relationship we have. In other words, people should see and hear in us something that is distinct, calming, assuring, like Jesus was to those around Him.
We also see that Jesus was gentle and lowly in heart.

Philippians 2:3-4
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

The heart, being the source of thoughts, feelings, and emotions paired with gentleness of the words that come from the heart, gives us an even clearer picture of what we are saying when we say that we are a Christian. We are saying we are like Jesus in that we lighten the burdens of life in those around us, and others learn of the attributes of Jesus by watching us and hearing us.

Some years ago it was not uncommon to hear a pastor say if they came to your work to arrest all the Christians, would you confess to being one? The weakness of this quip is simple; if they came to arrest the Christians at your work, everyone should already know you are one.

Saying you are a Christian is the most significant claim that anyone will ever make in life, let’s live so our lives look like that of Jesus. Amen!
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.

Compelled by the Holy Spirit

If you are walking daily with the Holy Spirit, and you are having a bad sense about someone or something then ask Him to reveal more to you. When the Holy Spirit speaks it is not a "feeling" it is a strong "sense" or a "compelling" about something.

Whenever I have gotten this sense, every time I learned later why the Holy Spirit was warning me or redirecting my actions to a better way I couldn't see ahead.

When we plan things out of fear or personal desire we cannot hear the Holy Spirit. When we ignore the Holy Spirit we suffer things we need not suffer.

Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths."

When we desire to lean on Christ, believe His Word and obey Him, He will direct us.

James 1:4-6 "…4 Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.…"

The Culture is Growing Worse and God Said it Would

We now live in a culture that is rude and crude much of the time. If someone in the family gathering says or does something rude and one person says; "that was rude, " the rest of the people in the room are angry at the person who told the truth. Perhaps they are fearful that when they are found out they will be called out. Everyone is so guilty of something that they cannot tolerate honesty because it might expose them personally.

This is common now, truth-tellers are seen as the bad ones just as the Bible says would happen in the last days; "bad will be called good and good will be called bad."

We see this in every walk of life now, politics, families, churches, schools, and every other venue.

As a born-again believer, it is possible to kindly and in a friendly way speak the truth without any fear of what others will say or do against us. When we know we were right in our assessment because it was based on the Bible, we need not feel diminished when a room full of foolish worldly people condemn us for telling the truth.

John 8:31-32

"The Truth Will Set You Free

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

When we tell the truth without guilt or guile there may be someone else in the room who needed to hear it to be encouraged, even if no one speaks up to join you in the truth they are realizing you were right and it may at some future time empower them to live a life of honesty.

Let me be clear though, just blabbing everything on your mind is not acceptable. If we think someone is ugly, their hair looks terrible or their wall hangings in their house are less appealing, it is not honest to tell them they are ugly or their wall decor is ugly, it is rudeness because it is merely your own opinions and does nothing to help anyone.

There has been a lot of rudeness cloaked in the lie of honesty, this is not the kind of honesty I am writing about.

Just because we think someone might be ugly or their decor is ugly doesn't mean it is, it is only the opinion of the rude person. What does the rude person expect their target to do with their opinion, should they change what they are doing to accommodate the rude person? The rude person wants the target to feel bad about themselves, this is the reason they show their rudeness. Then if the target says anything at all the rude person will accuse them of "being too sensitive" or "combative."

Narcissists use their mouths to start trouble and then blame the innocent party for being a troublemaker. Never buy into the tactics of the narcissist who loves to diminish others because they are so weak they cannot be adequate on their own, someone else must be demeaned for the narcissist to feel superior.

When we see that the narcissist will not learn from a rebuke according to Scripture, then is time to exclude them from your home and your life.

The only way we can live free from these mean-spirited devilish people is to stop caring if others like us. When the friends of the mean-spirit people continue to enable the narcissist by saying nothing and even defending the rudeness, this is the time to remove the friends of the narcissist.

Proverbs 14:6-8 "…6 A mocker seeks wisdom and finds none, but knowledge comes easily to the discerning. 7 Stay away from a foolish man; you will gain no knowledge from his speech. 8 The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools deceives them."

If you want to live in peace keep companions who love Christ. Speak the truth of the gospel to the unsaved but make your constant companions only those who love the Lord.