Jesus, Part 2 - The How

The Method of Jesus

August 2 - The Method of Jesus (How Jesus did it)

Jesus’ method for dealing with our separation was to draw us in closer

I think it’s interesting to note that, in regards to our sinfulness, Jesus reacts differently to us than we react to ourselves or other people

I remember once, Katherine had always wanted a pug, and I had the brilliant idea to try and surprise her by buying her one. And the ladies at the kennel were kind enough to talk me out of it. But I was looking at this one pug, and he was a bit of a goof, a bit aggressive. He wasn’t really a lap dog. He might nip, he might bite. He might not play well with kids. If she wants a lap dog, pick somebody else maybe. And the ladies are all explaining this to me as I’m looking at his goofy, bucket shaped head running around me.

But what really struck me was that after this tirade - maybe he’s not the dog for you - he ran back behind the counter to be with the employees and he seemed way more excited to see them than he was to see me. And they loved on him. They played with him, they gave him treats. They were careful not to push him in a way that would cause him to bite, but I could clearly tell that they loved him a lot - even though he had issues. That really stood out to me. The issue wasn’t that he wasn’t good enough for me - the issue to them seemed more like I wasn’t good enough for him. They wanted him to have the best home in response to his problems.

Jesus sees our issues, he sees our brokenness. He sees all the ways that we’re not good enough to be welcomed into his home. And rather than driving us away, rather than saying ‘Man, you’re really messing things up, go away’, he draws us in closer.

He loves us so much that He wants the best possible things for us

And this gets summed up really well in one of the more famous bible verses out there, John 3:16-18

John 3:16–18 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

And context is important here - Jesus is talking to a pharisee named Nicodemus. Not just a pharisee - he was a member of the ruling council. If there were ever a person that believed the idea that we had to earn his way towards God’s presence, it was Nicodemus. And this verse comes in the greater context of the two of them having a discussion about what it means to enter into the kingdom of God. Nicodemus definately has his own ideas, and they involve a LOT of work and self-improvement.

But Jesus starts the conversation off by saying the entry way into a relationship with God is called being ‘born again’. That

We need to let the Spirit give birth to a new life in us, rather than trying to let the flesh create this new life.

And if you don’t appreciate how big of a deal that is, you don’t have a good enough handle on your problems, or you don’t understand how amazing God is. Feeling like we’re good enough for God is poison in the Christian life, because we’ll never be good enough. It’s literally not possible. All the effort in all the world could never get us to the place that Jesus has to accept us.

But our method of trying to deal with the gap between us and God is to try and close it by our own effort. To try and say, ‘I have to be good enough before God will come into my life and accept me in’. Our method of dealing with the gap in other people is, ‘You have to measure up to a standard’. Jesus’ method of dealing with the gap is by drawing us in closer no matter where we’re at.

Because it takes the focus off the flesh. Telling people that they have to hit a certain level, a certain standard before God is going to have a relationship with them is basically telling them, ‘make yourself better before you can come in’. But Jesus says, ‘just come in’. Don’t look at your fears, don’t look at your failures, don’t look at your inadequacies - His strength and goodness and mercy is more than enough to make up for them.

And I understand our hearts -we still have this natural desire to walk away, to disobey. We still have bad parts of our nature that need to get dealt with. Jesus just asks us to look at that a different way too.

Jesus’ method to deal with our natural disobedience was to help us keep our focus on the Spirit and on other people

Because remember what we talked about last week. The problem isn’t that we walked away before we became a Christian, and now that we have a relationship with God we will never stray again. Our natural selves always try to draw us away.

And Paul warns us about this. In Galatians 5:16-17

Galatians 5:16–17 NIV

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

So the bible talks about this war within us. And the war continues to this day. Paul’s even qualifying this statement at the end - the flesh is naturally contrary to the flesh, so don’t do whatever you want.

Now, we studied this section a few weeks ago, and we talked about how Paul saw this as a self-focused vs others focused issue. The flesh drew attention and focus to itself; the Spirit causes us to ‘serve one another humbly in love’ as v 13 says.

And the key is in verse Galatians 5:24

Galatians 5:24 NIV

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

This phrase, crucifying the flesh, it has a morbid sound to it. But here’s the point -

Jesus wasn’t looking to reform our inner nature

He wasn’t looking to root out the bad things, and plant some good things. Our inner nature has to die. We have to live as if the natural part of ourselves that leads us astray is dead and buried, and all that’s left is a new life that is completely dedicated to walking in the Spirit everyday.

And I do believe that Spiritually, that very thing is happening. That it isn’t a metaphor, that there is an actual, live-giving process that’s going on in the background.

But the real point here is ‘every day’. Jesus in another part of the bible says that if anyone wants to follow Him they have to take up their crosses daily. We can’t act as if Jesus going to the cross got enough done that we don’t have to join him there.

Jesus died to pave the way for us to be able to reach God, our sins forgiven eternally.

We die every day to make sure our nature doesn’t stop us from reaching Him

And it’s good that God puts the focus on Him again here. Because if the focus was on ourselves - I’ll allow you in if you change your character enough, if you’re good enough on your own, if you’re strong enough on your own - I don’t think anyone would make it. But God shows His great love for us in that He’s not willing to let us go when we stumble, when we fall. He doesn’t place the ownership for changing our lives on us. Even the process of becoming a better person before him isn’t called ‘Self-help’, it’s called ‘Spirit resurrection’. We accept that our flesh will always lead us astray, and the process of becoming better people isn’t this process of biting and devouring each other until all the really bad people are gone - it’s a process of all coming humbly before God, saying ‘Have mercy on me, a sinner’, and taking up a new life that God has. It’s a trade, rather than a program.

But I will say this much - that’s not an easy thing to do automatically. It sounds easy - just take this and go - but we have a hard time knowing and understanding what God wants from us.

Jesus’ method for dealing with our ignorance was to patiently teach us in a way that we could understand

We see so many instances in the bible of Jesus sitting down and teaching people in parables. Telling them stories. And he picks stories that mean something to the people. Farming. Baking. Fishing. Weddings. Family.

And part of the reason He spoke in parables was so that people had to connect with Him in some fashion to understand. He used examples that people COULD understand, but knowing Jesus was still part of the exchange.

When Jesus saw our separation, He drew us in. When He saw our natural desire to disobey, He encouraged us to keep our focus on the Spirit and on other people, and let the Spirit do His job. Now, when He sees our ignorance and all the ways we just don’t understand or do things the right way, He responds by patiently guiding us towards the truth.

Jesus does hold us up to a standard, don’t get me wrong there. And it’s a high bar. The difference is -

Jesus is willing to walk the route with us every step to help us get there

At no point are we left to our own strength and knowledge to become better people - it’s a spirit filled, God directed process the whole time.

Jesus explained His priorities for us in HOW He wants us to learn from Him.

Matthew 11:28-30

Matthew 11:28–30 NIV

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Is this our concept of following God? Do we say, trying to follow and learn from Jesus is restful, easy and light? Do we feel like God’s response to us trying to figure things out is ‘gentle and humble in heart’?

If we don’t - then our expectations on God don’t line up with the bible. And I believe that’s our flesh again - we see our problems and failures, or we see the problems and failures in others, and we really want to see them solved because we know they’re bad. The problem is - we need to respond like Jesus did.

When Jesus sees us, or when Jesus sees that other person at church that just doesn’t seem to get how it should work and they’re a real bother - He says ‘Come to me, you weary and burdened people, and I have rest. I want you to learn, but I’ll teach you with an easy yoke and a light burden’. We should never feel oppressed following Jesus - it should lead us to freedom and rest.

And this is hugely freeing, knowing that even in the ways that we struggle to keep up, Jesus meets us right there with humility and a humble heart.

There’s this great song called ‘Might sound wild’ by Hillsong united. And this one line it says ‘When we lost the pitch He moved the score’. I suggest you listen to it. But the point is - maybe you believe that your walk with God is a constant struggle to stay in the right spot, or God will move on without you. But the picture Jesus paints in the bible is one where He’s constantly moving with you, accounting for every failure and problem, loving you and fighting for you to have rest and a light burden.

He knows your problems, he knows your weaknesses. His way of drawing you in accounts for all of those. Learning to follow Jesus shouldn’t be an elimination game. If we feel that way, it’s our flesh trying to drag us away from God. If we stumble, He picks us up again. If we miss a turn off, he reroutes the drive. There’s consequences to our actions, for sure, but Jesus is there with us every day to teach us how to keep on keeping on.

What would it look like?

if you really embraced these things?

What would a church look like?

We would refuse to hold up a standard for entry, and would rather do everything we could to bridge the gap for other people - because God did it for us.

We would stop trying to fix all of our problems ourselves, and we’d fight hard to stay connected to God no matter what’s going on around us

We wouldn’t let our faith be about how good WE are, but rather about how good GOD has been and will continue to be.