| Walking in the Spirit Footsteps of Jesus |
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| Walking in the Spirit Footsteps of Jesus |
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Introduction:
Walking in the Spirit means following Jesus’ example. He lived His life here on Earth just as He expects us to live our lives. We need to follow Him! This may sound somewhat like Mozart expecting us to learn to play the piano by following his methods! He wrote a symphony at age 5. He had a unique ability that very few, if any, possess. It seems unfair to expect ordinary people to follow this extraordinary musician. It seems even more unfair to expect us to follow Jesus, the Son of God. He is God, Creator of Heaven and Earth. In Him all things exist and have their being. He is both the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God. He is the Bright Morning Star. Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is so far above us, we can't conceive in our wildest imaginations that we could possibly follow His example. How can mere mortals learn to live like God? He has capabilities that we will never have. It seems totally unfair for Him to expect so much of us. The question – What would Jesus do? – seems like an impossible taunt that urges us to frustration and guilt.
But wait.
John 1:1-5, 14What if God became man, and in becoming man, refused to use the attributes He possesses as God? What if God in becoming man chose to humble Himself enough to become susceptible to sin and death?
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen
his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and
truth.
(NIV)
We will look at Jesus and reflect on His life and discuss the manner in which He "walked". We will look at what He did and the POWER with which He did it. What He did, we are called to do likewise. This lesson begins to delve into how we are supposed to do this.
The goal is to learn the reality of the spiritual realm and how to appropriate the Power of the Spirit in and through our physical being.
A Word of Caution:
Before we embark on this goal, however, we need to discuss an ancient misconception so as to avoid any misunderstandings as we proceed. During the first century after the death and resurrection of Christ, a heresy developed known as Gnosticism. Two aspects of this heresy need to be discussed. First they professed to possess a secret knowledge that was reserved for only a select few. The second was that physical things were irrevocably evil and spiritual things were inherently righteous.
We must guard against these two misconceptions creeping into our thinking with respect to walking in the Spirit. This walk is not only for the select few who know some hidden formula. It is really not mysterious at all. The Holy Spirit is given freely to all who believe in Jesus. He is available in His fullness to anyone who will yield to Him. There is nothing magical or mystical about it. It is concrete reality! As surely as the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, so too did He send the Holy Spirit to fill us, immerse us into His Body, teach us everything Jesus wants us to know, and empower us to live our lives right now to the glory of God!
As we glimpse the reality of the Spirit and the spiritual realm, we may have a tendency to fall prey to the second Gnostic misconception. That is we may begin to adopt an unhealthy separation between physical and spiritual. The Gnostics believed that our physical bodies are evil and that our spirits are righteous and unaffected by this sinful flesh. The only way we can separate our spirits from our bodies is to die physically. Our bodies, intellect, emotions, and spirits are all intertwined. These must all work in harmony for us to successfully follow Jesus. In this lesson we will distinguish somewhat between things physical and things spiritual so that we might become as adept spiritually as we are physically. This should not be considered an attempt to separate these two aspects of our being, but rather an attempt to differentiate them so as to improve the functionality of both.
GNOSTICISM
The Gnostics also taught that man is composed of body, soul, and spirit. Since the body and the soul are part of man's earthly existence, they are evil. Enclosed in the soul, however, is the spirit, the only divine substance of man. This "spirit" is asleep and ignorant; it needs to be awakened and liberated by knowledge.
According to the Gnostics, the aim of salvation is for the spirit to be awakened by knowledge so the inner man can be released from his earthly dungeon and return to the realm of light where the soul becomes reunited with God. As the soul ascends, however, it needs to penetrate the cosmic spheres which separate it from its heavenly destiny. This, too, is accomplished by knowledge. One must understand certain formulas which are revealed only to the initiated.
Ethical behavior among the Gnostics varied considerably. Some sought to separate themselves from all evil matter in order to avoid contamination. Paul may be opposing such a view in (1 Timothy 4:1-5). For other Gnostics, ethical life took the form of libertinism. For them knowledge meant freedom to participate in all sorts of indulgences. Many reasoned that since they had received divine knowledge and were truly informed as to their divine nature, it didn't matter how they lived.
Such an attitude is a misunderstanding of the gospel. Paul, on a number of occasions, reminded his readers that they were saved from sin to holiness. They were not to have an attitude of indifference toward the law. They had died to sin in their baptism into Christ (Rom. 6:1-11) and so were to walk "in newness of life." John reminded the Christians that once they had been saved they were not to continue living in sin (1 John 3:4-10).
These Gnostic teachings also had a disruptive effect on fellowship in the church. Those who were "enlightened" thought of themselves as being superior to those who did not have such knowledge. Divisions arose between the spiritual and the fleshly. This attitude of superiority is severely condemned in the New Testament. Christians are "one body" (1 Corinthians 12) who should love one another (1 Corinthians 13; 1 John). Spiritual gifts are for the Christian community rather than individual use; they should promote humility rather than pride (1 Corinthians 12-14; Eph. 4:11-16).
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary)
(Copyright (C) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
| God | became |
Human |
| Omnipresent | became |
Confined within space and time |
| Omnipotent | became |
Relied upon the power of God to work in and through Him |
| Omniscient | became |
Depended upon God to tell Him what He needed to know |
| King of kings | became |
Bond servant, son of a carpenter born in a stable |
| Immortal | became |
Death on a cross |
| Holy & Innocent | became |
He became sin on our behalf |
| Above temptation | became |
Tempted in all points as we ourselves are tempted |
Jesus’ Example:
Jesus, being God, did not clutch onto His deity, but humbled Himself and took on the very nature of a man. In so doing, He did not stop being God, but rather He, as God, chose to live as a man rather than as God. This is a mystery that none of us will fully understand this side of Heaven, but it is quite apparent from the Scriptures that Jesus did precisely that. He lived and ministered in the way He expects us to live and serve.
John 5:19
19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by
himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does
the Son also does. (NIV)
John 5:30
30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek
not to please myself but him who sent me. (NIV)
John 8:28-29
28 So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I
am and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.
29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do
what pleases him." (NIV)
John 12:49-50
49 For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to
say and how to say it.
50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what
the Father has told me to say." (NIV)
John 14:10
10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I
say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his
work. (NIV)
With the thought in mind that Jesus did nothing of His own initiative nor out of His own personal Power, reflect on the life of Jesus here on Earth and see His demonstration of walking in the Spirit. He lived in complete dependence upon His Father in Heaven. The same Holy Spirit that led and empowered Jesus, is available to us.
Look first at Jesus in the only recorded events of His childhood.
Luke 2:39-52
39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.
40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
41 Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.
42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom.
43 After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.
44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends.
45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.
46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."
49 "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"
50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. (NIV)
There is something very different about this boy, not just because He was God incarnate. He chose at an early age to be in subjection to His parents, to follow His Heavenly Father’s will by learning the Scriptures and obeying them. At the age of twelve, He was able to converse on a par with the scholars in the synagogue. He knew the Scriptures well. He knew also at this tender age that there was a reason for His being here. But He continued in subjection to His parents and grew intellectually, physically, spiritually, and socially. As God, He has no room for growth for He is perfect in every way. As a human, he grew in all aspects of life.
When Jesus was led by His Heavenly Father to begin His public ministry. He went to His cousin John to be baptized. He did this not to repent from sin for He was not a sinner. He did this to publicly identify with believers and to inaugurate His ministry. Then, He was led by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness.
Luke 4:1-2
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert,
2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. (NIV)
If Jesus would have discerned His Father’s will as many Christians do today, He would have never gone into the wilderness. What excuses might He have used?
The things that motivate many people today are not what motivated Jesus. He was not distracted by the praise of men nor by their threats and anger.
Luke 4:14-29
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.
15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.
17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him,
21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'"
24 "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown.
25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.
26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.
27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed-- only Naaman the Syrian."
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.
29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. (NIV)
Jesus did not rely on the praise of men to know if He was doing the will of His Father. He was not distracted by praise nor by rejection and threats. He knew what the Father wanted Him to do because He "listened" to the instructions from His Father and followed them. Furthermore, Jesus did not interpret His Father’s instructions in the light of the cultural norms of the day.
Luke 5:29-32
29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
31 Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (NIV)
He was led to a party in His honor. The people in attendance were some of the most notorious sinners in the region. Tax collectors, thieves, and prostitutes. What will people think?!? People might think He condones their sin by His association with this kind of people?!?!
As you continue to trace His steps, you will find Jesus exercised supernatural power over disease, nature, demons, and death.
What Jesus Did |
What I Am Called To Do |
| Submitting to earthly authority | Submit to the authority God has placed you under |
| Handling temptation | Follow the Spirit even into
the wilderness and withstand temptation. |
| Experiencing both praise and ridicule from people | Know the good, pleasing and perfect will of God and not be sidetracked by popular opinion. |
| Commanding evil spirits | Discern correctly the work of Satan and go into the den of sin and bring redemption to those enslaved there. |
| Healing those who are sick | Extend the hand of God to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders and know when to extend it and when to withhold it. |
| Expressing compassion toward sinners | Hate sin but love sinners and demonstrate that love by getting close enough to touch their lives. |
| Confrontation with religious leaders | Know what to say to
adversaries of the Gospel, know when to confront and when to remain silent. Teach others to become like Christ |
| Faced the agony of crucifixion | Face death, both of your dreams as well as your body, with victory not fear and hopelessness |
In addition to the above, Jesus spent many hours in prayer, sometimes all night long. He chose and taught His disciples. He could perceive the thoughts of people before they revealed them with their words. He touched lives in an eternal dimension every day. He did all of this, and more without relying upon His own innate capabilities, but instead He drew solely upon the Power of the Holy Spirit and followed His Father.
Jesus now says to each of us FOLLOW ME. He said just before His crucifixion and resurrection:
John 14:12
12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (NIV)
What must we do to realize this promise?
Walk as Jesus walked. It was said of Jesus when He was only twelve years old that He grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. (Luke 2:52) As was mentioned earlier, Jesus grew intellectually, physically, spiritually and socially. He incorporated all of these aspects of His being into His ministry. He amazed scholars with His intellect. Early in His life He learned the Scriptures and was able to recite them from memory and apply them to the situations of life. When He moved among the people He touched them physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. He put His whole being into serving others. We cannot do less. Walking as Jesus walked means we will need all the physical, mental, emotional, and social capability we can muster. We will need to constantly work to hone all of our natural capabilities. However, as important as these capabilities are in following Jesus, they will never be enough. We must rely upon these skills, but we must not overlook the One who transforms these natural capabilities into supernatural power. Do as He told His disciples just before His ascension: Wait until the Holy Spirit comes upon you, then you will be His witnesses; then you will be enabled to follow Jesus.
Listen to the Holy Spirit to understand the will of the Lord then draw upon His power to accomplish it.
Following His Example:
Have you ever played the game, Follow the Leader? It’s a simple game. We just watch to see what the leader does and then we do just that. However, when Jesus Christ is the Leader, you and I will find that we are not capable of following Him without a complete overhaul. We must be transformed.
Jesus told Nicodemus, "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. (John 3:6) All people have a spirit because God breathed it into our first parents, and we received this aspect of our nature from them. Albeit, what we received from them was dysfunctional; we received it nonetheless. Sin in our original parents and in our lives has rendered our spirits dead. However, death for an eternal thing, like our spirit, is a bit different from physical things that can indeed perish. Death for a spirit is separation from its source of power. It’s somewhat like a person who has permanently damaged his spinal cord. The body is disconnected from the head and cannot function as a result. The body in this condition cannot behave as it was designed. Neither can our spirits, severed from God, function as they were intended; therefore, we must be born again! Each of us must be born of flesh to be alive physically and we must be born again, this time of the spirit, to be alive spiritually. Your spirit is designed to commune with God. Those who have their spirits regenerated, through faith in Jesus Christ, are designed to hear Him, understand Him, and to communicate to Him their adoration and worship. Our bodies are designed to sense and live within the physical world. Our spirits are designed to sense and live within the spiritual world.
Most healthy people function very well in their physical environment. Years of practice have honed their sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. We can understand our physical world because we have used these senses for years and have learned to distinguish reality from fantasy, locate physical preferences, and recoil from harmful or undesirable sensations. On the other hand, most people do not function nearly as well in their spiritual environment. Many of us get easily confused in our spirits wondering if a thought that enters our minds intuitively has come from God, Satan, or just our own personal mind game. Some get right and wrong turned upside down. Others ask for God’s direction and then try to discern it through physical means and personal preferences.
There has been a time in all of our lives in which we were inept in the physical realm like many of us are today in the spiritual realm. We needed to learn the correct application of some basic laws regarding gravity, thermal dynamics, leverage, inertia, friction, electricity, and more too numerous to mention. I remember a time when I thought an electrical outlet was an interesting place to probe with a hair pin. I rapidly learned that it wasn’t interesting at all! Then there was the time I learned that normal surface tension of water was not sufficient to support the specific gravity of a small six year old boy. I jumped in a swimming pool at the deep end and tried to drink the pool down to a safe level. Eventually, I finally learned enough of the essential lessons that I can function reasonably well in my physical environment.
Like children, some of us need to go back to the basics in the spiritual realm and learn how to walk according to the Spirit.
Romans 7:21-24
21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law;
23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Romans 8:1-9
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
2 Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,
4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.
8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. (NIV)
What does it mean to set your mind on the Spirit? It’s like tuning a radio; your mind is a receiver. It will receive signals from either the flesh – KFLS or from the Spirit – KGOD. By an act of your will, your dial can be set on the things of the flesh or you can tune into the things of the Spirit. You need to consciously decide, to which station will I tune?
Things of the Flesh |
Things of the Spirit |
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KFLS |
KGOD |
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The basic beliefs of unregenerate humans are contrary to the patterns of God. They must be forsaken. Do not be conformed to them.
Ephesians 4:17-23
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.
21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; (NIV)
Changing a belief system requires a complete transformation. The word transformation used in Romans 12:2 comes from the Greek word, metamorpho - to change into another form, to transform, to transfigure. It gives us the word for the process that a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly. The process is known as metamorphosis. We must be changed in this manner by the renewing of our minds; therefore, set your mind on the Spirit.
Renewal of the mind occurs when we are engulfed in the Word. The Word that was with God in the beginning and Who is God. The Word Who became flesh and lived among us. Let the Word dwell in you richly!
1 Corinthians 2:16
"For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. (NIV)
This is not a call to more Bible study (although that may be a part of what happens). This is a call to spending time conversing with and listening to the Lord Jesus. This conversation needs to center around the Bible, for it is the guide you need to help you know the voice you are listening to is from God. He will never contradict Himself. So go now and be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Immerse yourself in a deep, personal relationship with Jesus Christ through frequent and intimate conversations with Him around the Scriptures.
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