Series Title:
Think Like Jesus
Sermon Title:
Think Like Jesus, The Virtues, Values, and Characteristics of Christ
You may download the PowerPoint I used when I preached this along with the sermon handouts and the booklet I preached from.
Download Think Like Jesus Introduction Files (1.8 MB zip file)
Sermon Introduction: If you were looking for a mate, a friend, an employee, what virtues, values, characteristics, & attitudes would you look for?
__ Strong __ Humble __ Trustworthy__ Honest __ Gentle __ Pure__ Faithful __ Generous __ Reliable__ Peaceable __ Joyful __ Loving
We get frustrated when we can’t find these in others. Other people get frustrated when they don’t see these in us.
Why? These are the building blocks of great relationships. This is how God wired the world to get along. When we have these kinds of values, virtues, characteristics, & attitudes then we are going to have great relationships.
These are the same things that we see in the nature of God. These are the values, values, characteristics, & attitudes of Jesus. These are God-qualities – when we act like these – we look like God
“In Him (Jesus) all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.” Colossians 2:3 HCSB
Remember, when God created man and woman he created them in his image – with these virtues, values, characteristics, & attitudes.
Sin marred this image.
And when God saved you, when you turned your life over to Jesus, this is what he save us for.
Dwight Edwards – Revolution Within – p 87 “Let’s quickly get the big picture here. At conversion, three things were radically altered simultaneously.
First is what happened legally. We went from being guilty before an infinitely holy God to being fully forgiven and acquitted of all crimes. Declared not guilty.
Galatians 4:4 But when the completion of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law,
Second, there was a radical change relationally. We went from being condemned slaves to adopted children
Galatians 4:5b so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, " Abba, Father!" 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
Third, there was a radical change inherently. Something happened to our deepest internal nature.
Dwight Edwards tells this story: “Imagine a courtroom where a newly convicted criminal is standing, about to be sentenced for his crimes. Suddenly the judge looks away from the criminal and calls his son to the bench. The gavel comes crashing down, and the judge pronounces the criminal “not guilty” because his son has agreed to serve the sentence in full. This represents of course, the first aspect of our salvation. Our legal debt before God has been paid in full.
Then the judge steps down from the bench, puts His arm around the criminal, and tells him he wants to adopt him into his family. “You’re coming home with us,” the judge says warmly. This is the next aspect of our conversion, our adoption.
But the third aspect of our conversion—our inner renovation—is something no human judge could ever possibly do. The criminal may walk out of that courtroom forgiven and adopted, but he’s still fundamentally the same person as before. There’s no pill the judge can give him to cause the criminal to actually want to do right from now on, something to offset the man’s criminal inclination.
Yet this is exactly what God has done in our rebirth. We’re changed inherently as well as legally and relationally.
“Biblical virtues are simply a gift.” T. W. Hunt “native equipment born in us a spiritual birth.” T. W. Hunt MOC p. 64
Picture:
At salvation, Christ comes to dwell in us, he baptizes us in the Holy Spirit, he washes us in His blood, our sins are forgiven. He places in us, his fullness. We have all of Christ.
Placed in us His values, His virtues, His characteristics
We have 100% of Jesus
Lucado:
How could we ever hope to have a heart like Jesus?
Ready for a surprise? You already do. You already have the heart of Christ. … If you are in Christ, you already have the heart of Christ. On of the supreme yet unrealized promises of God is simply this: if you have given your life to Jesus, Jesus has given himself to you. He has made your heart his home. It would be hard to say it more succinctly than Paul does: “Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20 MSG). (Lucado – Just Like Jesus, p 7)
Lucado tells the story about a woman who owned a small cottage on the seashore in Ireland at the turn of the century. She was very wealthy but also tight with her money. So everyone in her town were blown away when she decided to be one of the first to have her house wired for electricity.
Several weeks after they installed it, a meter reader showed up at her door. He asked her, “is your electricity working alright?” “your meter shows hardly any use.”
“Oh, it works fine,” she said, “every evening when the sun sets, I turn on my lights long enough to light my candles; then I turn the lights off.”
She’s tapped into the power but she doesn’t use it.
Her house is connected to the power source but she hasn’t been changed.
Some of you have trusted God to save you through your relationship with Christ but you have not allowed him to transform your life.
How can I develop these virtues, values, characteristics, & attitudes in my life?
I need to recognize them “I need God to do a work in me that will allow Christ’s presence and mind to show through my life.”
I must know where they come from (Jesus) and have a relationship with him.Get to know Jesus, worship him, study his word, hang out with his friends, teach these things to others …
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy. James 3:17 (HCSB)
Christlike Virtue Opposite PerversionPure Impure PuritanicalPeaceable Disruptive CompromisingGentle Cruel CarelessApproachable Standoffish Yes-ManMerciful Merciless IndulgentFruitful Fruitless Fruit-obsessedSteadfast Wavering InflexibleHonest Lying Brutal
(Chart adapted from T.W. Hunt’s The Mind of Christ)
Pure Impure Puritanical
Virtue of Purity:
Blameless, clean, spotless, innocent, not contaminated
Opposite of Purity is Impurity: Lustful, carnal, corrupt, immoral, impure
Perversions of Purity:
Puritanical, Rigid, Legalistic, Overly Strict, Severe, Self Righteous
Peaceable Disruptive Compromising
Virtue of Peaceable: Friendly, harmonious, orderly, quiet, agreeable, compatible
Opposites of Peaceable:
fussy, nit-picky, picky, contentious, combative, cantankerous, ornery, contrary, cranky, disagreeable, mean, obstinate.
Perversion of Peaceable: Compromising, wish-washy, go with the flow, people-pleaser
Gentle Cruel Careless
Virtue of Being Gentle: Fair, considerate, reasonable, nurturing, tender, tactful, gracious, considerate, kind-hearted
Opposite of Gentle: Cruel, harsh, rough, abusive, hard, bitter, violent, blunt, snippy.
Perversions of Gentle: Careless, negligent, neglectful, reckless,
Approachable Standoffish Yes-Man
Virtue of Approachable: Entreatable, helpful, accessible, available, open, reachable, cooperative, willing, responsive.
Opposites of Approachable: Standoffish, distant, cold, uncooperative, unresponsive, unwilling to help.
Perversions of Approachable: Yes-man or Yes-woman, pushover, dupe, chump, stuge, sucker.
Merciful Merciless Indulgent
Virtue of being Merciful: caring, forgiving, noble, sympathetic, compassionate, giving.
Opposite of merciful: merciless, unmerciful, unsympathetic, hardened, uncaring.
Perversions of Merciful: Indulgent (characterized by or given to yielding to the wishes of someone ; "indulgent grandparents"), lenient, permissive.
Fruitful Fruitless Fruit-obsessed
Virtue of Fruitfulness: Fruitful, productive, prolific, constructive,
Opposites of Fruitfulness: Fruitless, unproductive, ineffective, empty, hollow, profitless.
Perversions of Fruitfulness: Fruit obsessed, success-driven, obsessed with numbers, vain, showy
Steadfast Wavering Inflexible
Virtue of being Steadfast: firm, unshakable, sure, never-failing, enduring, abiding, resolute, constant, devoted, steady, immovable, uncompromising.
Opposites of Steadfast: wavering, unsure, unstable, fickle, indecisive.
Perversions of steadfast: inflexible, rigid, narrow-minded, stubborn, unbendable, hard-headed.
Honest Lying Brutal
Virtue of Honesty: Sincere, true, genuine, ethical, sound, trustworthy, upright, straight-forward, factual, real.
Opposites of Honesty: Lying, dishonest, hypocritical, counterfeit, fake, fraud, crooked, deceitful, scheming, shady.
Perversion of honesty: brutal, cruel, callous, unkind, hard hearted, indifferent, unrelenting, vicious.
“I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20)
Keys for uncovering:
Relationship with Jesus - Holy Spirit (Come and Worship)
Knowledge through the Word & Encouragement from Fellow Christians (Connect and Grow)
Model, teach, practice, mentor others. (Serve and Go)
Spiritual transformation
Colossians 3:3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (NASB)
Next 4 weeks I want to take us to God’s Word to reveal and unfold the characteristics, the values, the virtues, the attitudes, the mind of Jesus so we can have a vision of what God wants to transform us into.
Truth Power Meekness Love