INCARNATED TO IMITATE
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What comes into our minds when we think about Jesus is the most important thing about us. A.W. Tozer
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.
Jesus moved into our neighborhood so that we can KNOW him.
So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.
For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
The Lord has made a way for us to know him.
Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,
but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
The works of Jesus enable us to know him.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
He is worth knowing.
A little knowledge of Christ is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about Him. J.I. Packer
Knowing Jesus is your single greatest privilege as a Christian. Sinclair Ferguson
For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—
though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
There’s a difference between knowing Jesus and knowing about Jesus.
When you truly know Christ, you have the energy to serve Him, boldness to share him, and contentment in Him.
Are you suspicious of your knowledge of Jesus?
Are you satisfied with your knowledge of Jesus?
Jesus moved into our neighborhood so that we can know that he KNOWS and LOVES us.
Jesus experienced real temptation to sin so that we can really overcome sin’s temptation.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Jesus knows what it is like to experience our experiences.
He is not a cold, emotionless judge, or a flawed, fickle spirit.He is the only One who has both experienced and overcame the power of sin and temptation. As the next verse shows,this not only takes away our excuses for failure;it reassures us that, when we fail, He will offer us mercy and compassion. Jesus became sin so that we could become sons and daughters.
“The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
“To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial.To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness,and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”Tim Keller
When Jesus looked down from the cross, he didn't think,"I am giving myself to you because you are so attractive to me." No, he was in agony, and he looked down at us-denying him, abandoning him, and betraying him-and in the greatest act of love in history, he STAYED. He said,"Father, forgive them;they don't know what they are doing."
He loved us, not because we were lovely to him, but to make us lovely.
Jesus moved into our neighborhood so that we can BECOME like him to our neighbor(hood).
Jesus incarnated so that we can imitate.
Ephesians 5:1
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Notice the last word in the lawyer’s answer, mercy. Why did he not use the word grace?
The lawyer felt as though the man deserved his fate. Grace gives us the gift we do not deserve while mercy does not give us the punishment we deserve. We must treat those we meet on the Jericho Road with mercy for Christ found us on that road. We were beaten and battered when we had no strength to care for ourselves or call out for help. The gods whom we trusted left us. Those whom we worshipped those gods with passed by on the other side.
We deserved our fate for we had put our faith in other god’s but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us healed our hurts, rubbed balm into our brokenness, and paid in full my debt.
Christ became my neighbor so that I can be a neighbor to others.
Jesus said greater works than these shall you do, which is greater one Jesus incarnate or millions of Christians imitating Christ.
The Christian Gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less