Study Jesus to be like Him?

[Mr. M]

3 hours ago, Vine Abider said:

This morning I heard a radio speaker say rather emphatically, "We must study Jesus and this is the way we can become like Him. We must become life-long learners of what He did and this is God's gift to us!"

Of course we should study the life of Jesus as recorded in the gospels and as depicted in the Old Testament . . . But is this is how we can become like Him?

To become like Jesus, we have to grow into our relationship with the Holy Spirit that He had as the Son of God with His Father.

John 5:

19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 

20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.

John 14:

12 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 

13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 

14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

15 If you love Me, keep My commandments. 

16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 

17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 

John 16:

13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Do we not have the apostles as examples?

1 Corinthians 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

[Vine Abider]

19 hours ago, AnOrangeCat said:

For a Christian, yes. It's part of the process. We're told that if we love Him we'll keep His commandments (John 14:15). The commandments aren't just "thou shalt not"s, there's a lot that we're supposed to do as opposed to just not doing. We know from James 2 that faith without works is dead, and that if we draw near to God He draws near to us in turn (James 4:8). There's also the parable of the talents where each of the three servants was entrusted. Out of the three one of them just sat on what he was given, doing nothing with it. It all points to action being part of the process that we as Christians go through.

So what about the unsaved? At least from my perspective they can't truly imitate Him. Jesus demonstrated a lot of good traits that can be emulated. Charity, compassion, boldness, self sacrifice, mercy, and so on. The thing is that His actions were done with love for the Father as a crucial part of the picture. Without that love for God as a motivator all that's left is a semblance of being Christlike. It would ultimately be hollow for the purpose of sanctification.

Just to be clear, imitation is OK as far as it goes. We may imitate Christ outwardly according to commandments, but only His indwelling Spirit can change us into His image.

[farouk]

21 hours ago, Obedient Christian girl said:

I'm not sure but it seems as though its innate in our souls, we naturally follow the 10 commandments though some need more direction than others.

I would think through intensive prayer, self study, enforced self silence and most of all empathy.

I certainly don't have all the answers I'm curious what others think.

Hi @Obedient Christian girl Here's a good verse: 2 Peter 3.18: "Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ".

We never stop learning about the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, even as by His grace we pursue daily Scripture reading and prayer, right?

[Mr. M]

1 hour ago, Vine Abider said:

Just to be clear, imitation is OK as far as it goes. We may imitate Christ outwardly according to commandments, but only His indwelling Spirit can change us into His image.

I am certain that it is only the Holy Spirit that has

cultivated in me a desire to serve others.

Otherwise, it is 'to the laz-i-boy!'

Luke 22:27 For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? 

Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.

Mark 9:35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them,

If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.

Matthew 10:

24 A disciple is not above his teacher,

nor a servant above his master. 

25 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!

[Vine Abider]

2 minutes ago, Mr. M said:

I am certain that it is only the Holy Spirit that has

cultivated in me a desire to serve others.

Otherwise, it is 'to the laz-i-boy!'

Luke 22:27 For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? 

Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.

Mark 9:35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them,

If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.

Matthew 10:

24 A disciple is not above his teacher,

nor a servant above his master. 

25 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!

Agreed.  As His life grows in us and we become more like Him, He changes our attitudes toward so many things, including a love to be of service to others!

[Vine Abider]

1 minute ago, Tony the student said:

Brother, by imitating Father and Son, you and I reveal God to the world. Men will wonder why our standards are greater than the standards found in the world. God's standards are higher and harder and require strength, courage, commitment, integrity, loyalty, love, and on and on.

The standards and instructions in the Hebrew Bible are copies and duplicates of that which is in Heaven. You can ask a Jewish believer in Christ whether or not I am telling the Truth. Amen.

What you mention, are/should be fruits of the Spirit.  If we try to produce these things out of one's own energy , as Jesus said in John 15:5 - it amounts to nothing.

Trying to produce a high standard of love, joy, peace, etc. from ourselves is a deceptive counterfeit to the real life produced from abiding in Christ's Spirit.

[Mr. M]

14 minutes ago, Tony the student said:

Brother, by imitating Father and Son, you and I reveal God to the world.

Matthew 11:27 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one

knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son,

and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

You are consistently careful to mention the Father and the Son, but you do so

in a manner inconsistent with scriptures. There is no imitating the Father,

because we only know of Him to the extent of revelation received from the Son,

by the Holy Spirit. His working is IN Christ, and those in Christ have the Father and the Son.

2 John 9 Whoever goes forward and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God.

He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 

Honestly and sincerely, having read many of your threads and posts,

I am not sure how you even address the Holy Spirit. I call Him Lord, and I speak with Him

throughout the day, often out loud if I am alone, but never alone. To carry on a regular 

conversation (not just file petitions each day), is an essential element of being in Christ,

and having the Father-Son relationship that Jesus had in doing His Will and always

doing what is pleasing in His sight. Fellowship among the brethren beloved ministers

in the Holy Spirit to the degree that the members are receiving from Him and sharing

with the saints.

1 Corinthians 14:26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together,

each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation,

has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 

Be Edifying!

1 Corinthians 12:7/11

7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

11 and one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

[com7fy8]

22 hours ago, AnOrangeCat said:

It all points to action being part of the process that we as Christians go through.

A person can do things in smog and get sicker and sicker. But if the person does things in fresh air, the person can become stronger and healthier. 

Like this . . . may be . . . if we do things in our own effort and egos, we can break down and burn out and argue and complain. But if we do all things in God's love . . . this love has God's almighty effect in our character while we exercise in this love > 

"Let all that you do be done with love." (1 Corinthians 16:14)

"exercise yourself toward godliness" (in 1 Timothy 4:7)

And we have > 

"Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation," > in Philippians 2:13-16.

So, as we refuse to give in to whatever would get us to argue or complain, we can become more like Jesus and love like Jesus more and more maturely. Of course, we do this with God in us who has us succeeding in saying no stuff in us that would have us complain or argue. And God in us gets rid of that stuff and has us living in sharing with Him in His love. And as we so share with God, He is the One affecting our character to become more like Jesus. 

So, this is exercise, saying no to evil things that cause arguing and complaining. And we are exercising as we submit to God and how He gets rid of that wrong emotional stuff and negative reacting and excuse making. And we are exercising while doing love things in submission to God. All is in sharing with Him 

[TheBlade]

On 6/19/2023 at 12:57 PM, Vine Abider said:

This morning I heard a radio speaker say rather emphatically, "We must study Jesus and this is the way we can become like Him. We must become life-long learners of what He did and this is God's gift to us!"

Of course we should study the life of Jesus as recorded in the gospels and as depicted in the Old Testament . . . But is this is how we can become like Him?

Great question. I just watched a video where this young girl gay and she was sharing about how Christ changed her. You know I just found out by watching I can be a tad hard or maybe cold? But just wow at the way He just loved her just how she was.. she would think she had to change everything but she said it was no we'll were on that later just one thing at time. She even talked about falling back in to it and really started to cry since she found out He didn't leave still loved her. It was so beautiful. That hunger for Him grew and grew it was all over her. What she was.. yeah that today is not her.

So yeah like you said reading the word studying it but something about this life does show Him no?

Edited June 21, 2023 by TheBlade

[com7fy8]

On 6/19/2023 at 2:57 PM, Vine Abider said:

Of course we should study the life of Jesus as recorded in the gospels and as depicted in the Old Testament . . . But is this is how we can become like Him?

Jesus says to live by every word of God . . . right?

So, from this I see that every scripture can help us to become like Jesus so we love like Jesus and please our Father like Jesus is so pleasing to our Father.

This is God's basic purpose, I get through Romans 8:29 >

"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." (Romans 8:29)

This is the basic of what God's word is guaranteed to accomplish > as it is written >

"'So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;

It shall not return to Me void,

But it shall accomplish what I please,

And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.'" (Isaiah 55:11)

What is "the thing" which every word of God is guaranteed to accomplish and prosper in doing? I would say that Romans 8:29 can help to answer this. 

And scripture includes things about . . . His life 

And in the scriptures about Jesus' life we have things He says about how to be and how to love like Jesus.

So, yes, God's words about Christ's life and things He said during His life on earth can help us to become and to love like Jesus.

This means how God Himself is able to use any scripture to minister for us to be perfected in Christ and to love and share as His family and love any and all people the way Jesus was doing, on the cross.

Edited June 22, 2023 by com7fy8