The Heavenly Pattern

Romans 12:1–2 NIV

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

I want to talk to you about developing a strong spiritual life through following the pattern of life that Jesus modeled.

I think it is fair to say that the following Christ is something we know we should do but often struggle to genuinely do.

Have you ever had times where you were fired up by a sermon or church service only to struggle to act accordingly after the feeling faded? Or, you heard something that you realized that you didn’t know how to do or live it out?

Part of the problem is that we are often looking for simple, quick fixes, or easy solutions for the complex challenges of life.

We have become accustomed to looking for information when we need wisdom.

We need to understand that following Jesus is more than gaining information or accumulating principles. Jesus is looking for people who know Him, not just know about Him (cf. John 6:66-67). And so is the world.

Romans 8:29 NKJV

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Becoming like Christ—being His disciples or followers—means that we are entering into a new kind of life, one very different that that of the world.

And deep down this is our hope, that we can be like Christ (cf. John 13:13-17). This is the call of God, that we be like Christ. This implies that as Christ followers we are more like Christ than we are like the world.

Becoming

Each of us have felt the effects of sin on our lives (cf. Romans 6:23). How the principle of sin corrupts us and leads us to unsatisfying lives (Romans 7:21-25). The way and life of faith in Christ offers us genuine transformation and change.

For many of us, we have accepted religion over discipleship. Religion offers rules and steps that make us acceptable of God without the relational pressure to change. In other words, religion is about doing something…it is something we can control and choose and apply as we see fit. And religion will never produce Christlikeness (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:6).

It offers us a temporary salve, a quick fix, or a fig-leaf covering but it doesn’t change us. It doesn’t bring us into the fulness of humanity and the purpose of Christ for our lives (cf. Ephesians 2:10).

We need to replace religion with discipleship, simple information with wisdom, doing with becoming.

This is our true high calling in Christ—to share in His glory and abundant life (Philippians 3:12-14, John 17:21-22, John 10:10). And He invites us into this life with a call to “come follow Me.”

Building According to the Heavenly Pattern

Jesus is our prototype, our heavenly pattern (like Moses and the Tabernacle, Jesus is our Pattern). He is the one that we follow and the one that we are meant to conform our lives to. Not our culture. Not the world. Christ.

This series is about how we can build our lives, spiritually and behaviorally, according to Christ. Here are some ways that we can get started.

Learn of Him

The first thing we need to do is learn of Him.

Matthew 11:29 NKJV

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.

Jesus invites us to learn from Him. His promise is that we will find rest for our souls when we do. It implies an intimacy and a closeness so that we can observe and imitate Him.

Learning from Him means that we learn His teachings and His ways so that we can apply them.

Luke 9:23 NKJV

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

We learn of Him by following Him and observing Him.

Illustration: Covered in the dust of the Rabbi.

1 John 2:6 NKJV

He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

We learn to walk like Him as we follow Him, close enough to be covered “in the dust of His feet.”

Love Him

As we learn of Jesus we will grow in our love for Him. If discipleship is the first part of becoming like Jesus, devotion is the second.

Deuteronomy 30:15–16 NKJV

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

John 14:15 NKJV

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.

We demonstrate our love and devotion to Christ by taking His words to heart and applying them to our lives.

This is much more than gaining information about what He expects, likes, etc. It is about embracing them and embodying them (John 8:31).

James 1:22–26 M:BCL

22 Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! 23 Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, 24 walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like. 25 But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action. 26 Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air.

Listening to Jesus is loving Him. Living according to His word is loving Him. The more we learn of Him and walk in His ways the more we show our love and devotion to Him.

Illustration: Newspaper columnist and minister George Crane tells of a wife who came into his office full of hatred toward her husband. "I do not only want to get rid of him, I want to get even. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me."

Dr. Crane suggested an ingenious plan "Go home and act as if you really love your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you love him. After you've convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him, then drop the bomb. Tell him that your're getting a divorce. That will really hurt him." With revenge in her eyes, she smiled and exclaimed, "Beautiful, beautiful. Will he ever be surprised!" And she did it with enthusiasm. Acting "as if." For two months she showed love, kindness, listening, giving, reinforcing, sharing. When she didn't return, Crane called. "Are you ready now to go through with the divorce?"

"Divorce?" she exclaimed. "Never! I discovered I really do love him." Her actions had changed her feelings. Motion resulted in emotion. The ability to love is established not so much by fervent promise as often repeated deeds. — J. Allen Peterson

To be a Christian is to love Christ. To love Christ is to abide in His words. Abiding in His words leads to greater love. And it changes our lives.

Lean on Him

John 21:20 NKJV

Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?”

The last thing we want to do is to lean on Jesus. This means that we depend on Him and take refuge in His presence (Psalm 90:1).

The point is simple but not easy. It is about intimacy and closeness that is more than just simply following steps. It is about choosing again and again each day to learn from and love Jesus.

It is those who move beyond religion and convenient obedience to discipleship, devotion, and dependence that really are aware of the love of Jesus (as John shares).

Illustration: The earliest African converts to Christianity were earnest and regular in their private devotions. Each one reportedly had separate spots in the thicket where he poured out his heart to God. The several paths to these little Bethels became distinctly marked; and when any one began to decline in devotions, it was soon apparent to others. They would then kindly remind him, saying, “Brother, the grass grows on your path yonder.” — Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, p1034.

There is no replacement for leaning on Jesus in dependence and devotion. This is something that develops over time, deepens over time.

This is less a head issue and more of a heart one.

Conclusion

Building a strong spiritual life, the kind of life that leads to blessing and goodness in this life and in eternity, means that we build after the pattern of Christ.

It is in learning from Jesus, loving Him, and leaning on Him that we even begin to recognize the heavenly pattern. As we do this we are changed.

2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

This is the path to a better life, more complete in Christ.

And when we do these things, prioritizing them, we will become closer to God. As we become closer to God we will experience freedom and change.

Then our faith takes on substance. It will not be empty. We will no longer be conformed to this world and its systems. Instead, we will be fit for eternity.

Illustration: Husband and wife changing. Not who they were, but transformed by the relationship.

This is the goal of God for us, to be transformed by our relationship with Jesus. And as we are, we will be better for it and better for the world we live in.