How Much Are You Like Jesus?

"How much are you like Jesus?"

“You are so infected with selfishness and so sick in mind that I could easily SPEND MY TIME pointing out the extent of your sickness, BUT the One who sent me is the source of all truth, and MY MISSION IS TO SPEND MY TIME revealing the truth about him to the world.” (John 8:26, Remedy)

HERE IS the mission of the church. Do we spend our time revealing Jesus or pointing out people’s sickness?

What is the purpose of the church? Seriously, what is the purpose? Did you know there are those who can’t answer this question and so they never go? Yet, Christ lives in their hearts and they’ll, one day, go to heaven. This should alarm you … and from a personal viewpoint. It should cause the church to look at itself and not at the one who won’t go, accusatory. Because that’s what we do. We assume they have a problem and not us.

I’ve said this before, but the Spirit told me there are children of God who serve Him who will never darken a church’s door. More and more, I totally get this. Because why go? I’ve heard lust preached, ego and arrogance, offense. The pulpit has become a stain on display in front of millions of dollars of electronics.

Now that I’ve got your attention and you’re about to turn me off, hang on here because I actually love the church, and I know of pastors and congregations who are so full of the love of God, they overflow with Presence. It would surprise you who they were or maybe it wouldn’t. But my point is, we need to know what we are there for and what we are not. God provides electronics. But to be honest, when that is the front display before a sermon that should have been prayed over, I have a hard time with them. Every word we speak should be in the Spirit. I heard one man of God say it this way, “We now LIVE IN CHRIST.” This stuck with me. I’m no longer just me. I’m “we.”

I wish you knew Him. I wish you knew Jesus, one-on-one. Like, that He’d walk up to you and you’d have a conversation, an actual one and not one conjured up in your head. Because He’s so much better than the image projected by the church, the one that sends people outside. When the church was formed in Acts, it was after the Holy Spirit fell and baptized the 120 in the Upper Room and they were filled and overflowing with God. They had power, yes, but more importantly, they were LOVE. They sacrificed themselves in the years that followed to spread the gospel in what was a tiny part of the planet, and all but one of them, the apostle John, died as a martyr. History’s records of how each one died are flawed and mostly inaccurate, so only do a Google search to say, “Hmmm.” But take Peter, he knew he’d die an unusual death. Jesus had told him so. The same for Paul.

How did they continue to live with peace and joy amidst their described experiences with the knowledge they’d be martyred? And now, they set our example (2 Corinthians 11:23-28).

I turn now to Minister Lance Wallnau, who had a revelation about the church directly from the Spirit. He was doing what so many do, trying to get people IN THE BUILDING when the Spirit reminded him the Scripture says, “GO YE into all the world (Mark 16:15).” It’s not, “COME YE into the church.” Then there’s Minister Bill Johnson who had someone ask to join his “mall group,” thinking they would go out with them and touch lives. He laughed, saying they didn’t have a “mall group.” They had people who came to church and lived for Christ every single day wherever they were at.

Why go to church? And we’re back to that question. When Paul said they were to not miss church (Hebrews 10:35), there were no other ways to hear anything. No internet. No telephone. You either went or you didn’t hear. There were no printed Bibles in any form. Just his letters which you had to be there to receive. You meditated on the Word that you heard, and in hearing it, you developed trust and confidence in God’s love for you (Romans 10:17). Growing in trust and confidence of His love and what Jesus’ death and Resurrection accomplished in the spiritual world, you overflowed with His love all around you.

Here is the church. It isn’t a book of rules. Jesus quashed that idea. Knowing the rules and doing them doesn’t make you sincere in your obedience or give you one ounce of love for others. The Jewish religious rulers proved this. They celebrated the Passover while crucifying the Passover Lamb (John 18:28). Being in a social click and having friends there that you laugh with and gossip doesn’t make you spiritually mature. Maturity comes from what you know of Him in your heart. How much do you study to know and understand? How much do you apply it to your behavior? When the pressure’s on, how do you react – to people, to your next footsteps? How much are you like Jesus?

“You are always making judgments, using narrow and self-centered perspectives; I don’t judge anyone—I heal and restore.” (John 8:15, Remedy)

Now I’m back to that. Because if you knew Him, you’d be changed forever. You’d go to church for the people. You’d teach the Truth for the people. You’d mourn because of people (Matthew 5:4). And none of it would be about personal appearances, ministry offices, electronics, or social groups. Jesus had no personal agenda. He spoke only the Father’s words and did the Father’s works. He wasn’t trying to promote Himself or turn faces toward Him. Though to some, it looks that way. If so, that’s wrong. He understands poverty. He lived without electricity, without appliances, without motor vehicles. He walked everywhere. Food had to be procured and cooked the old-fashioned way. He understands desperation, that feeling that makes you want to act out. He saw it all around Him. Think of it, He healed no one until He was thirty. He walked in humility instead. He was patient and kind. He knows hunger. He fasted many times. The one people read of the most being for forty days was not the only time, just His longest. He knows what it’s like to have the devil in His ear. Satan himself spoke to Him and gave Him visions (Matthew 4:5,8). He was mocked and ridiculed, beaten and scourged. He “gets” bad government and has stared full face in the eyes of death. Yet, His words were, “Today you will be with me in Paradise (Luke 23:43),” and, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).”

“If anyone chooses to follow God’s will, they will discover that the healing power of my teaching comes directly from God, and they will know that I don’t speak to promote myself.” (John 7:17, Remedy)

Here is the image of the church we should keep before us continually. He isn’t a story. Even though most children of God know that, the reality of it is beyond our fingertips. He isn’t an angry judgment God, consumed with wrath. This is the wrong picture of God from the Old Testament and lacks understanding. He isn’t a rulebook, checking to see where we’ve messed up. Here’s how gentle and kind He is: However you have to fight to survive, He will step into your mess and fix it. Just don’t quit.

Who is the church? The church is Jesus.

The church should look like Jesus. The church should talk like Jesus. The church should act like Jesus. We are joined together to be Jesus. To love like Jesus or we’ve missed the reason why He gave His life.

“Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3 BSB)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com