"WWJD" - Getting Past the Fad
Philippians 2:5-11
February 27, 2005
Introduction
Next week we start a 5-part series touching the life of Christ to take us through the Lenten and Easter Season.
But today I want us to discuss something that’s been on my heart for quite some time, and I referenced it back a few weeks ago as we looked at developing a passion for becoming like Christ in discipleship.
And I wanted to dig a little deeper into what discipleship is all about.
Most of us are familiar with the question, "What would Jesus do?" right?
It was a hugely popular question back in the eighties, and every so often comes up again and is popular for a little while before dying down for a while. But do you know what the source of the question was, originally?
It’s from a book called, In His Steps, by Charles M. Sheldon. This book, which first came out in 1896, centers around the lives of some people who have pledged to do nothing for a year without first asking the question, "What would Jesus do," regardless of what the possible consequences might be.
And it leads to major redefinition of their idea of discipleship, as they try to form their lives around what they believe Jesus would do in their situation, whether it was the newspaper editor, the railroad superintendent, the sought-after singer, or others.
It’s not always an easy journey - in fact, it’s rather rough at times, as the characters are misunderstood and mischaracterized, even by those within the church. But they live on, living by conviction.
The problem is that when some well-meaning believers back in the 80’s began a campaign of attempting to revitalize discipleship using this very valid question, many took it to the point of it becoming a joke.
It became a source of "Christian fashion" within the church. If you didn’t have a "WWJD" bracelet, ring, or Bible cover, you might be considered less than spiritual. But you could always run to the local gift shop and get whatever you needed to help you live up to their outward expectations.
Okay, here’s where I need you to be brave. How many of you had SOMETHING with "WWJD" written on it?
It’s okay - be honest. If it’s too many people, we’ll have a special healing session after the service, okay?
Outside of the church, "WWJD" became a joke as many who didn’t love Christ adopted some of the fashion simply to mock the bandwagon attitude of many Christians.
One time I saw a comic book that took the WWJD and changed the J to a Superman symbol - it was a Superman comic, obviously.
But you know what? The question is one that we really need to ask, if we’re serious about living for Christ. Living for Christ is another definition of the word, "discipleship."
Back a few weeks ago, we looked at a definition of a disciple, and I’d like us to review that for our time this morning.
Definition - (Vine’s): "mathetes" - literally, a learner - indicating thought accompanied by endeavor. A disciple was not only a pupil but an adherent; hence they are spoken of as imitators of their teacher.
The point of the book, In His Steps, and the question, "What would Jesus do?" is that to be effective disciples, we need to be imitators of Jesus.
Today we’re going to look at a passage of Scripture that will help us to get a handle on how we can get past the fad of WWJD and into making it a reality in our lives.
I’d like you to turn in your Bibles to Philippians 2:5-11 - (p. 831) as we take a look at how we can really move to a deeper level of discipleship.
But before we do that, let me just give you the bottom line of what I’m hoping to communicate to day, and that is this:
The key to getting past the fad is to become serious about imitating Jesus.
One definition of a disciple is one who imitates their teacher, right? Well, let’s look at verse five of our passage to get the basic cornerstone of where I want to go.
Verse 5 - Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Does it say the same as the pastor’s? No. Does it say the same as the your favorite TV character? Does it say the same as your favorite politician?
During our time this morning, I want to give just three examples from this passage about what imitating Jesus is all about, and my hope is that you will walk out of here today with a desire to do just that.
And while I may not be able to tell you just what Jesus would do in how to raise pigs, or teach school, or be an attorney, I think I can confidently tell you what Jesus would do in the general day-to-day living of the Christian life.
So let’s take a look at what...
Imitating Jesus means...
* Setting aside your personal agenda.
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Jesus had every reason to stay in heaven. He was loved and adored by all the angels and he could just sit and marvel over the creation he was the agent of.
He had glory, honor, power, and authority. There was no pain, no suffering, nothing like that.
But the Father had a job for him. He needed Jesus to come to earth in the form of a human and be the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the people he loved yet had to punish for their sins.
But since he loved us so much, he asked Jesus to take that punishment on our behalf.
And what did Jesus do? He obeyed his father. He didn’t whine and cry and say, "But that’s not fair! Why send ME? Why bother with them, anyway?"
Nope - he obeyed. And even when the dark hour came, he submitted to the will of the father when he cried, "...yet not my will, but yours be done."
He set aside his own desires for the sake of the father. We need to set aside our desires and our agendas for God’s and the needs of others.
Jesus discussed this with the disciples after they had gotten in an argument about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Mark 10:45 -
"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
He said, "To be like me, you need to be a servant." Servants don’t have their own agenda. Their agenda is set by someone else.
For the follower of Jesus, our agenda should be set by the Word of God, and by the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives.
Sometimes that means putting other people’s needs ahead of our own, sometimes not.
But the idea here is that for the disciple, our time is not our own, it belongs to God.
What would Jesus do? He’d set aside his agenda for the agenda of the Father.
Second, imitating Jesus means...
* Being obedient to the Father.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!
This is obviously related closely to the last point, but it takes it a bit further, I think.
There are those who say that it’s more important to just "love" Jesus, and that obedience to him is not an issue.
Unfortunately, that’s not what Jesus says. In fact, listen to these words from Matthew 7:21 -
"Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
Sounds to me that the Father expects us to be obedient to him and that Jesus expects it as well.
A businessman well known for his ruthlessness once announced to writer Mark Twain, "Before I die I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the 10 Commandments aloud at the top."
"I have a better idea," replied Twain. "You could stay in Boston and keep them." Moody Bible Institute’s Today in the Word, September, 1991, p. 32. (SermonCentral.com. Contributed by: Donnie Martin)
The Bible says one of the things we are to do is to listen to Jesus!
Matthew 17:5 -
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
The point here is the Father expects us to listen and obey Jesus as well. But before we move on to the third thing it means to imitate Jesus, look with me at John 14:21 -
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
Folks, it’s not enough to just have and listen to Gods word, we need to obey it.
Go back and circle the words, and show myself to him. Want to know Jesus and understand him better? It starts with obedience to him.
What would Jesus do? He’d obey the will of the Father. Here’s the third way we can imitate Jesus and that’s by...
* Bringing honor to the Father by spreading the name of Jesus.
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this point, because we dealt with the idea of evangelism last week, and as much as I believe in it, I don’t want to belabor the point.
Okay, I DO want to belabor the point, but I wont! Some of you might still be smarting from last week, and I want to let you know I’m not COMPLETELY without the ability to discuss other issues!
I’m perfectly capable of discussing other topics of spiritual interest such as Minnesota Twins baseball and John Wayne movies.
But it does need to be said that the Father is honored as the name of his Son is spread.
One day every knee will bow. But it’s to everyone’s advantage to bow that knee while they’re still on earth, wouldn’t you say?
John 5:23b -
"He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him."
The honor of the Son is linked to the honor of the Father.
So what would Jesus do? He’d see that his name was spread so the Father could be honored.
And how has he done that? He’s entrusted the good news of forgiveness and a home in heaven to us.
These are obviously some general principles that would apply to anyone asking the question, "What would Jesus do?" and seeking to grow in Christlikeness.
But what about in some specific issues? For instance, what would Jesus do as an employee at your job?
Or what would Jesus do as the owner of your business?
What would Jesus do in your place? That’s the question, and only you can answer it, based on your own study of the Scriptures.
No one can tell you what Jesus would do in your specific case. But as you get to know him better, you will find out just how you can imitate him better no matter your place or station in life.
But let me close this section by offering two cautions when considering this all-important question.
Two cautions:
1. Don’t let the "faddiness" of the question deter you from honest consideration of it for your life.
You’ve no doubt picked up on the fact that I’m not a big fan of the trendiness of the "WWJD" phenomenon.
But as in all things, we need to look at the merits of the actual issue, not the trappings that surround it.
If you’re serious about moving to a new level of discipleship, this is a question you should consider thinking through, and pledging yourself to following through on.
Let me be frank: following through on doing nothing without first asking what Jesus would do in that situation and following through will mean a couple things:
One, it will mean sacrifice, and possibly large ones. You will be misunderstood, and possibly slandered in your attempts. It may even mean financial and social loss. But I think Jesus would be honored, and that he would honor you in your efforts to live by what you feel he would do.
Two, you will discover an intimacy with Christ that you could only dream of before, if even then.
I’m only beginning this journey myself, and I’m not doing it perfectly. But it’s getting better, and I can tell you that I am falling in love with Jesus more and more. It’s a wonderful thing, as I struggle with some things, and find my inadequacies, and finding myself constantly questioning previously held ideas, priorities, and such.
I can’t suggest pledging to do this highly enough.
Here’s the second caution:
2. Don’t judge other people’s honest efforts to apply the question.
I’ve touched on this a bit, but let me just focus on it just a bit, okay?
As each of us tries to apply what we understand what we think Jesus would do in any given situation or circumstance, it’s very important for the rest of us to step out of the way.
Rather than try and nit-pick about what WE think Jesus would do, we need to simply encourage people as we see them honestly working to be like Jesus.
After all, the question isn’t, "What would WE do in THEIR situation," it’s What do THEY believe JESUS would do, right?"
Anybody in here think they’re Jesus? If so, I need to talk to you, but only after I place a quick call to a certain state hospital in Yankton!
Don’t judge. Pray and encourage! Be a blessing, not a discouragement.
Conclusion
Well, whaddya say we wrap this up, okay?
I just want to end by offering you an invitation to read the book and consider if this is something you think God would have you make a part of your life.
You can get the book at any Christian bookstore, and you can even read it on the web or download it for free in a lot of places, because it was never copyrighted.
Do a web search on In His Steps, and you’ll see lots of places to get it off the web.
But do it. Just see if it doesn’t impact you like it has many thousands of people since it came out over 100 years ago.
Folks, Jesus wants us to imitate him. That’s what the word "Christlike" means, after all!
When we imitate Christ, the Father is honored, and when the Father is honored, he honors us.
And the day will come when he says to us, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the King, for eternity."
Let’s pray.
