Our Missison: Live Like Jesus

Following the Master: The Call to Live Like Jesus

Summary: Living like Jesus encompasses understanding His mission and teachings, enabling us to reflect His grace and truth in our actions. This theme challenges believers to engage with Jesus' example as a standard for ethical living, encouraging them to navigate daily life through the lens of His love and mercy.

Application: This sermon can help Christians confront cultural pressures against biblical values by equipping them with a model of living rooted in Christ. By embodying Jesus' love, forgiveness, and compassion, believers can influence their communities and effectively share the gospel message, even amidst challenging circumstances.

Teaching: The sermon teaches that to live like Jesus means actively embodying the principles of His life—love, service, and sacrifice—rather than merely adhering to religious customs or traditions. It emphasizes that authentic discipleship requires practical application in daily interactions and decision-making.

How this passage could point to Christ: The focus on Jesus as the model for our lives situates Him as the fulfillment of God's purpose throughout Scripture; through His acts and teachings, He reveals the nature of God and invites believers to participate in His redemptive mission. This reflects the central role of Jesus in the story of redemption.

Big Idea: Living like Jesus is not merely about imitation but about allowing His transformative love to change our hearts and actions, guiding us as we engage the world with grace and truth, thus fulfilling our calling as ambassadors of Christ.

Recommended Study: As you prepare this sermon, it might be beneficial to examine the Gospels closely, noting the aspects of Jesus’ life that challenge cultural norms and expectations. Look into resources in Logos that dissect Jesus’s interactions with various groups such as the marginalized and the powerful, revealing how His example can apply to our context. Explore cross-references to Old Testament prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, connecting His actions to the larger narrative of Scripture.

Must Be Born Again

John 3:1–5 ESV

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

To live like Jesus

we must first have a change

people can attempt to live like Jesus

They can try to be as good as possible

Successfully living like Jesus means we are born again

We must have placed our faith in Him

We must have accepted His gift of eternal life that He has offered to us

Upon accepting that gift

We receive the Holy Spirit

We see this effectively in John 3:

Jesus offered His life for us

and for this we love Him

For this we believe in Him

For this we surrender our lives to Him

We give Him our everything

This concept of being born again

Being reborn in the Spirit

Being changed within our Soul

Giving us the Spirit to help us live like Jesus

But how does this look

We will look at two different examples this morning

Shine with His Spirit

Matthew 5:13–16 ESV

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

What does it look like to live like Jesus?

We must shine with Him

We must shine with the spirit within us

Serve with Humility

Philippians 2:5–8 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Thus at the end of it all we should serve with humility

in reality we earn nothing in life

the breath in our lungs is a gift of God

everything placed on earth was not for our gain

but was for His glory

recognizing this we can live in humility

recognizing that without God we are absolutely nothing

We have no hope

we have no aim

we have no standing without Him

Thus reflecting back on the need to be born again

In this humility we can find service

Living like Jesus means living for His purpose

For His aim

within the Father’s will

Seeking Him with everything we have

out of love and obedience

We love because He first loved us