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Becoming like Jesus:
The goal of every Christian should be to become like their Savior. We can do this by being obedient to the Word of God. After all, we were made in the likeness and image of God (Genesis 1:27). This study will show that in fact, it is our mandate to become like Him by doing His work as the body of Christ.

This study will be based on the passage found in Luke 4:18. This is what we see there, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

The background of this passage is that Jesus read this passage from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue in Nazareth. Jewish tradition required 7 readings from the Old Testament at every service. The first six readings were from the Torah, the first five books of Moses. The seventh reading was from the prophets.

The readings were scheduled by liturgy, and Jesus would have been asked to read from Isaiah 58 thru 61. When He read the passage quoted in Luke 4:18, He stated that this passage was fulfilled in their hearing indicating that it referred to Him. God had put Jesus into the position to reveal Himself as the Messiah. This of course, aggravated the leaders and they wanted to throw Him off the top of the hill and stone Him (vs 29). The prophecy of Isaiah clearly was predicting the arrival and ministry of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. It described aspects of His ministry that we are all familiar with. But you ask, how does this passage in Luke apply to Christian. Well, let’s see.

It really begins with Matt 11:29, where Jesus said “take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls.” Jesus almost always avoided bringing attention to Himself. This is the lesson for all Christian, don’t seek the limelight drawing attention to yourself. It is not about you, it’s about Jesus (1Peter 5:6). While this passage prophetic of Jesus, today it applies to all Christians because we are the body of Christ. (Ephesians 5:23, Ephesians 1:22-23)

Jesus spoke in John 14:12 that Christians are to do the same things that He did, even greater (in quantity, not quality). Therefore when we examine this passage, it does pertain to the church because these are things that Jesus did. Matt 28:19,20 and Mark 16:15-18 also speaks of Jesus saying things believers need to be doing.



We are becoming Like Jesus because God says were are:
In Romans 8:29, it says, “For those whom He forknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” The word predestined in the Greek is pro-horizo. It means a preset boundary, God gives us space and freedom to grow but He is conforming us to the likeness of Jesus. While He is doing His work, we can co-operate by following His word and abiding in Christ. God loves us so much that this side of glory we cannot comprehend the depth of His love. The closest we can come is found in Romans 8:38,39. We are to be like Jesus, it is our destiny. How do we do this?

  1. We must believe. It is easy to believe that Jesus could do and did all the miracles that He did. But do your believe that YOU CAN DO THESE THINGS? That is the hard part—you need to say that you can do them because God says you can. He has given you the authority to do them. The Holy Spirit will empower you, you need to believe!!!! Imagine coming upon an accident scene where there are serious injuries, you ask the Lord what you should do, He tells you to heal them, you obey, and they are healed and imagine all the glory that God will receive. It is just these things that God wants and expects us to do.

  2. Jesus said “only believe” Mark 5:36. We do this by knowing what the Word of God has to say about us. Remember, we are what God says we are, we have what God says we have, and we can do what God says we can do. If we do what His word says in the way the Word says to do it. It is infallible. God’s word is real and it is true. Romans 12:2 says we can accomplish this belief by “renewing our minds” and we do that by studying the word of God. Ephesians 5:26 says the Word will cleanse us.

  3. James 1:22 says that we need to become doers of the Word and not hearers only. It is hearers that delude themselves. Hearing is a start but doing is the solution. You will never see God heal someone if you don’t lay hands on them and pray believing God will heal them. James says, PROVE yourselves by being doers!!!



He is on time every time:
Hudson Taylor was a man that left England and went to China totally dependent on God for everything. He went into inland China, settled in a village and dressed like the people, ate what they ate, did what they did. He learned the language over the next 7 years and eventually led people to Christ. God never let Him down, There were times that he ate his last and there was no food in the pantry. BUT God, always made sure there was food by the next meal. There is a song we sing that says, “He is never early, He is never late, He is on time every time!!!”

The multi millions of Chinese Christians owe their faith to a man who trusted God and brought the Word to China against all odds. He really lived Jesus words “only believe” Hudson Taylor said that it all changed when he stopped asking God to help him, and when he asked God how he could held God. How about you?