How can WE become ‘MORE LIKE JESUS’?
October
11 Bible Reading: Matthew Chapters 10-12
How can WE become ‘MORE LIKE JESUS’?
"A disciple is not above his teacher,
nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his
teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the
house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household!"
(Matt. 10:24-25)
Through
the above statement, our Lord Jesus Christ implied that His disciples will be identified
with Him by virtue of their relationship: He was their Teacher and they were His disciples;
He was their Master and they were His
servants; He was the Lord of the household of which they were
members. To be a disciple of Jesus was to follow His footsteps!
It
should not be surprising that a disciple should expect to be treated better
than his/her Master. If the religious Jews had called Jesus “Beelzebub” (the Philistine god of
flies, name used by the Jews to denote the Devil), it is certain that they will
heap even greater insults at His
disciples. Thus, discipleship involves
sharing the Master’s rejection! To the disciples of Jesus in the first-century
it was clear that they would have to endure
ill treatment and that included persecution
and even martyrdom in the hands of
the other people.
Thus
Jesus clearly states what it would cost to be His committed disciple in a
hostile environment. In fact Jesus exposed one of the greatest hurdles that would
prevent anyone from being His disciple: fear—fear
of being misunderstood, fear of being persecuted by the crowd, and fear
of being alienated from one’s own family.
When the disciples of Jesus were identified with Him however, their fears are
countered with the ‘blessed hope’ of
having the promise of a better, rewarding relationship with their Lord and
Master. Jesus was actually preparing His disciples to take up the daunting
responsibilities and accept the repercussions of representing Him on earth in a
skeptical world.
In
today’s marketplace, for the disciples of
Jesus (born-again Christians) what does it mean to “be like Jesus”? The Word in
Life Study Bible has beautifully drawn eight
different portraits from Matthew’s eyewitness account so far that give us
some clues:
- To be
like Jesus means to accept our roots (1:1–17)
- To be
like Jesus means to engage the world’s pain and struggle
(1:18–2:23)
- To be
like Jesus means to commit ourselves to other believers, no
matter how “weird” they appear to be (3:1–17)
- To be
like Jesus means to admit our vulnerability to temptation
(4:1–11)
- To be
like Jesus means to openly proclaim the message of the gospel
(4:12–25)
- To be
like Jesus means to commit ourselves to changed thinking and
behavior (5:1–7:27)
- To be
like Jesus means to serve others, especially those who are
oppressed or without Christ (8:1–9:38)
- To be
like Jesus means to affirm others in leadership (10:1–42)
The
world will hate us because it hates Jesus while He was in this world (vv.
24–25; Phil. 3:10). However, be rest assured that it is a wonderful privilege for
us to be disciples of Jesus even though there is a heavy price to pay. We are like
sheep among wolves (v. 16), enemies
of our own household (vv. 34–36), and cross-bearers
of our own responsibilities in this fallen world (vv. 37–39). Let us sincerely attempt to be more like
Jesus with every passing day!
Let
the following hymn by Eliza Edmunds Hewitt be our prayer today:
More about Jesus would I know, more of His
grace to others show;
More of His saving fullness see, more of His
love Who died for me.
More, more about Jesus, more, more about Jesus;
More of His saving fullness see, more of His
love Who died for me.
More about Jesus let me learn, more of His holy
will discern;
Spirit of God, my teacher be, showing the things of Christ to me.
