Just What Would Jesus Do?
“W”, “W”, “J”, “D”. (repeat the letters twice).
Most of you know, that that stands for “What Would Jesus Do”.
A phrase that has been quite popular for some time now.
Four simple words in an expression that has meant much to most, or has it?
Not to many months ago, this WWJD was at the height of it’s popularity here on Guam and elsewhere, like in the States.
You could walk into any Christian sales/book/gift store and have a choice of many items bearing the WWJD wording, it’s initials or phrase. When I recently called the home office of the largest Christian bookstore on island to speak with the administrative office, my conception about the continued popularity of WWJD craze was 100% true. Of course I’d been there many times myself and had seen in person many items they sold with this inscription.
The “What Would Jesus Do?“ merchandise is still very much for sale. Still popular enough to fill shelves with these products. The very kind lady on the other end of the telephone proceeded to list by memory, without putting me on hold and checking, many store items they had in stock that carried the WWJD phrase.
They included such items as (Show the items I brought): rings, journals, pencils, pins, erasers, bookmarks, purse mirrors, key rings, pewter jewelry, board games, license plates and neck lanyards (which nearly everyone seems to wear).
Some of these items seem to be very popular as give-aways at children church programs, like AWANA.
And of course we can’t forget about the most popular items like...t-shirts, bumper stickers, and what the lady at the bookstore referred to as “pass-it-along-cards”.
Well, the popularity of this WWJD phenomenon may be fading just a bit, as all commercialized products and fads do over time.
Even now, in a congregation this size,
there is perhaps a few of you here this morning,
with this logo, this inscription, this embossment, this ...inscription of “WWJD” on your body right now, in some form or fashion.
And do you know what ...that’s great! Absolutely fantastic......isn’t it ?
No, no, no. I’m not criticizing anyone for owning such items. I personally don’t buy WWJD item’s for myself, but my own kids certainly have plenty of them, as you saw from what I displayed earlier. They sure have accumulated over the last couple years.
But, ...but!, my concern, and my reason for speaking about this topic today, is ...do we posses one of these “WWJD” objects because it was -one of those “in-things” you just had to have at the time during the height of the craze?
Some folks crave this type of commercial merchandise when it’s hot, when it’s the in-thing.
...or do we own this type of product because we truly want it to remind us of what it’s meant to remind us of?
If not, we could wear any other jewelry. We could use different pencils that simply say “Jesus loves you”. Or we could own a bumper sticker that says something other than “WWJD”, like “At the time of rapture, this car may not have an operator”.
At the peak of this WWJD phenomenon, I’d be willing to believe that over 75% of many church memberships had a WWJD item. That’s how popular it had been. And again, that’s ok, ...if the meaning behind the “WWJD” item meant what it was supposed to mean.
I’d be willing to bet that if you had not had such an item yourself -you would have at least heard about it, read about it, seen it, or bought a “WWJD” item for somebody else. Again, partly because it was popular at the time.
I myself rather like seeing the WWJD lettering everywhere I look. If nothing else, it allows me to “spot” other possible Christians - and in some small way, reminds me of Jesus. And that’s a good thing.
But friends, I’m much more interested in the behavior aspect behind the popular “WWJD” phrase. The action part, not the display part. The theme, the impression, the meaning, behind and involved with this coveted WWJD commercialism. Are we going through our daily lives fulfilling the true intent of what this phrase is supposed to be reminding us of? Think about that...are we?
Can you imagine two girls talking about their new “WWJD” jewelry. Each telling the other how pretty it is, neither realizing the true meaning behind the phrase itself. Purchased, really, because everyone else is wearing it.
So is it just the fad of the time...or as I’ve mentioned, are we using it to remind us of what it’s suppose to remind us of, which is of course is, “What would Jesus do?”.
And that’s not all, there are other expressions beside the “WWJD” expression.
Fully Rely On God -- “F...R...O...G”...found in the form of notepads, pencils and stickers.
Christians Obediently Preaching Salvation -- “C...O...P...S” on t-shirts.
And “D...O...G”, which spelled out says “Depend on God”.
There’s more...
“P-U-S-H” ...“Pray until something happens”.
“GOLF”, rooted by Payne Stewart’s death, means “God Offers Life Forever”.
There are more, but you get the picture.
A strange thing is, “WWJD” didn’t start with the items you typically see today but rather with the association to a good Christian book written by Charles M. Sheldon, titled In His Steps. It’s about a town where no one is left untouched by this probing phrase of “What Would Jesus Do”.
The merchandise came decades later.
But I want to know, I have a burning desire to know...have you thoughtfully considered what this “WWJD” concept means in your everyday life?
Let’s put the commercialism aside and enjoy a let’s look at God’s Word about what Jesus really would have done in several situations.
Let me present to you five short, but meaningful points for this morning.
1. “WWJD?” ...look at Matthew chapter 4. Let’s see just what Jesus would do! Jesus is tempted three times in several important areas of life concerning the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (these areas are also mentioned in 1 John 2:16). Here Christ was severely tempted. The story starts in verse 1. “What did Jesus do?” Satan is trying to get a stranglehold on Jesus and in verse 10 of chapter 4, Jesus says as a final response to the Evil one, “Away with you Satan!” ...it even has an exclamation point in my Bible ...end of that story, Jesus is the Victor.
So I say to you “What Would Jesus Do”,
He would not sin when tempted, and neither should we!
2. “WWJD?” ...One chapter forward, chapter 5, starting at verse 33, with a peak at verse 37- let’s read it. (Emphasis verse 37 when read.) “What would Jesus Do?” ...when it comes to making so called oaths or swearing?
(And I’m not speaking of vulgar language, though the Lord wouldn’t do that either!)
Have you heard people swearing oaths to God. I hear it all the time when I’m out and about.
What Christ is forbidding here is the flippant, careless and inappropriate use of oaths in every day speech. “What would Jesus Do?” Well, Jesus suggested that all our speech should be as if we were under an oath to tell the truth. He wouldn’t swear by God or swear an oath by heaven or earth or by his own head ...and neither should we!
3. WWJD? Let’s look at chapter 7:12 in Matthew, (read it). This is the so called “Golden Rule”. But let’s also look at Luke chapter 10. Turn there in your Bible and let’s look at this section that starts at verse 29 and extends to verse 37. Please allow me to paraphrase this story by Jesus:
It talks of a journeyman passing from Jerusalem to Jericho,
it’s about 17 miles, and
the road is a tough one to travel plagued with robbers.
Robbers who indeed attack him, strip him, wound him and
leave him half-dead.
A priest passes by without helping him,
a Levite passes by with just a glance,
but a Samaritan, one of the most unlikely travelers to stop, does, and helps the journeyman. The Samaritan takes care of his wounds,
puts him up on his own beast to get him to the inn and even
pays for his way for comfort and safety -- a very touching story.
So I ask you, when others need you sincere help, “What Would Jesus Do?”, ... He would’ve followed that Golden Rule, and treated others with love, kindness, sincerity...and so should we.
Point number 4. “WWJD?” Let’s look at Mathew 8:23. Actually, we are going to borrow and blend the same account from Mark 4:35-41 and Luke 8:22-25 to get a complete picture of faith and fearlessness from our Lord.
Here’s the story.
Jesus got in a boat with His disciples. There arose a great storm on the Sea of Galilee, which was not an unusual phenomenon. Strong winds occasionally created these impressive storms, impressive enough that the disciples in this particular case feared for there lives. In Luke’s encounter they were yelling to a sound asleep Jesus, saying “Master, Master, we are perishing”.
I love this....in Mark’s version it tells that Jesus was asleep on a pillow. He was fast asleep and apparently quite comfortable with the surrounding tumultuous sea adventure. “What Would Jesus Do?” ...look at the ending.
He proclaims to the others in the ending of this story, to fear not and have faith. Jesus was undisturbed by the storm. He wasn’t worried.
If we go back to Matthew 6:34, I‘d like to read this as well --“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”
Jesus wasn’t worried about the storm or even tomorrow’s woes and hardships.
He proclaimed to the others in the boat “O you of little faith”
...it does no good to worry!
“What Would Jesus Do?”, He’d live each day by faith depending on God, not worrying about tomorrow ...so should we!
Can we do one more? The more the better.
Point number 5. In keeping with our theme of “What Would Jesus Do?”, let’s lastly go to the very end of the book of Matthew. We hovered over the first half dozen chapters of Matthew, and I’m sure we can extract a “What would Jesus do?” example from every chapter of the book, but time limits us.
I hope you’ve seen a trend about how Jesus himself is our righteous example.
We’ve seen excerpts that could be used into our own practical Christian living, things that Jesus Himself did and showed us by direct example.
Now I’m going to finish with an exciting ending using a portion of the last chapter in the book of Matthew. Look at verses 18-20.
Here Jesus has appeared before the disciples in what is called the “official commissioning”. He spoke with all claimed authority in heaven and earth, and was instructing the disciples themselves to “go and make disciples to all nations”. They were to evangelize, baptize, and teach the truths of Jesus. In my last “What Would Jesus Do?” question to you,
I boldly ask you this: Are we doing what the disciples were commissioned to do? Have we at least been a good witness in our daily lives for the Lord if not outright evangelizing? Jesus Himself on a daily basis was a most excellent example ...so should we!
To recap, in point one, we spoke of temptation.
Point two we spoke of the swearing inappropriate oaths.
Point three we spoke of the Golden Rule of treating others as we would like to be treated.
Point four, we spoke about the lack of faith and the fear of tomorrow.
And point five, we spoke about being a good witness for the Lord.
There’s many, many more points from the Gospels, from the NT, that we could study about what would Jesus do. The main question of “What Would Jesus Do” remains to be the question asked in every situation we find ourselves.
I leave you with one last scripture to make this even more clear.
If Jesus were to return today ...would he approve of all the paraphernalia centered around the “WWJD” phenomenon?
He no doubt would like the truest of meanings behind the WWJD concept.
He wouldn’t like the ungodly aspect of it all.
We need to extract the pure-ness from the “WWJD” phenomenon for the best possible blessing in our lives, otherwise it is meaningless.
“What Would Jesus Do?”. I turn that phrase around a bit and ask, “What Would You Do” in every experience of life. Would it be the exact same way Jesus would have behaved?
Let’s pray about it.
Father, we looked at your precious word tonight to gain greater insight into an area of how Jesus handled circumstances; how he behaved, how his ways were so righteous and true in life’s experiences. Help us be just like Him. Help us take this “WWJD” concept and apply in all we do...everything.
...In times of temptation and in what comes from our mouths at the enemy,
...In the area of treating everyone as our precious neighbor,
...To sleep more comfortably at night knowing God will guide our next day.
...And our personal conviction concerning the Lord’s commissioning, to win souls for you and being the best Christian witness we can possibly be.
Yes, whether we wear or carry-in-though, the “WWJD” concept, to remind us all the day long, to act and behave like the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
