What Would Jesus Do? Part 2: In Response to His Father

What would Jesus do? As we observed a couple weeks ago, Jesus not only came to die on the cross to redeem us from sin but also to leave us an example so that we might know how to live this new life that he has given us to the glory of the father. In John thirteen fifteen, Jesus said, for I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. Now, in context, that's specifically speaking of his washing of their feet with a towel humbling himself to be a servant. Who is the Lord of all As an example that they should serve one another and not seek to be the greatest or the most popular or the most powerful or to have the most authority but to serve as our savior served us.

He is our example. Furthermore, God has made it clear of his determination and his purpose and saving us not only to give us a home in heaven but to mold us into the image of Jesus Christ, his son. Romans eight twenty nine, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be what? Conformed to the image of his son. Who is that?

Jesus Christ. So, Jesus Christ came to redeem us and then to leave us with an example. He was God but yet he was also a man and we might see as it's recorded in scripture for us. How Jesus responded to certain situations. How Jesus dealt with certain people.

How Jesus responded this evening to his father and to the will of his father. It is entirely biblical and valid to ask and answer this question, what would Jesus do based upon what Jesus did? And what is taught in his word. When we're faced with life's decisions, we should at least think what would our savior do because what our savior would do would be what our father in heaven desires for us to do. And that is his prerogative.

As Paul said in Galatians two twenty, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ live it in me and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God, who love me and gave himself for me. We are bought with a price. Our life now belongs to him. So, it should be our desire to do his will and to follow in the steps of his son, Jesus Christ.

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and what? Follow. How we respond to our father in heaven is one of those questions which can easily be answered by observing how Jesus responded to his father who consequently is now our father also. In Christ Jesus. During your life as a child of God As you read through God's word, you're going to find many things that God says, you shouldn't do.

As his child. And as his child, you ex, he expects you as he should. To heed his instructions. As you read through God's word, you're also going to find many things that you're supposed to do. We're not only to avoid certain sins in our life but we're also to be out telling others about Christ.

We've been commissioned to do so. We are also to be going to church. We are we are also to be showing love to our neighbor to love them as ourselves whether they deserve it or not because we certainly don't deserve the love of Jesus Christ. As you travel along this journey, there are certain things that God is going to show you that he wants you to do. Specific things, places he wants you to go, ministries, he wants you to be a part of.

Kind words that he wants you to say to somebody who is in need. Rebuke that you may have to say to warn somebody that they're on path that leads to destruction. How we respond when the father speaks to us through his word and by his spirit is vitally important And when it comes to knowing how to respond to the things that God has asked us to do, we have an example. Jesus Christ, the God man, the son of God, and the son of man. To show us how to respond to the will of the father.

Let's begin in Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter two, the the message that we find here doesn't begin on Earth. This begins in heaven. Philippians chapter two verse five, let this mind be in you. Which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.

He thought it not something to be hung on to. He thought it not something that he was unworthy of. He was indeed God. But but he made himself of no reputation. He took upon him the form of a servant.

He was made in the likeness of men, that's us and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and he became what? Obedient unto death even the death of the cross. Jesus Christ, God the son, we see in this passage submitted himself to the will of God the father. He left heaven's glory to come to Earth to die on the cross for our sins. He humbled himself.

He he was he was he's the God of the universe. He is the sovereign of all. He he has glory so bright that man cannot look upon it and live. But he shed that that glory Instead, traded it for a feed trough of hay. We like the word manger.

Manger sounds, you know, nice but manger is feeding trough. For you and for me and obedience to the will of the father. Despite the humiliation of the mission Jesus was sent to do. He simply obeyed the will of his father. Submitted himself as any true servant should.

Jesus put it this way in the Garden Of Gethsemane. He said, in his prayer to his father, not my will but thine be done. When the order went forth, when the command was given, for God sent his son, his only begotten son in the world to die for sinners. Jesus obeyed. He did what his father commanded him to do.

It is our privilege and our responsibility to do as God in heaven and our heavenly father has sent us to do. Jesus said to his disciples, as the father has sent me, what? So send I you. And as Jesus obeyed the will of the father, it is our prerogative to obey the will of Jesus Christ and in so doing, we also obey the will of the our father. In heaven.

Do what is right. Obey the Lord for he is the Lord. Obey your father because he is your what? He's your father. The authority, and the privilege is his.

He is God. I am not nor are you. It is our prerogative not to question. It is our prerogative to obey. To obey his instructions as the servant his master.

It isn't the place for the servant to say why. It is the place for the servant to do as he is told. We tell our children when they're young. After they've asked us why, 23 times, we say finally, why? Because I what?

Because I told you so. Now, so often in God's word, he does tell us why but there are some things that are hard for us to understand. Even if he does tell us why, our little brain can't can't grasp it. He told Joshua and the children of Israel to walk around a city wall 13 times to praise the Lord and the wall would fall down and the city would be theirs. So, that's what they did.

There wasn't a lot of human rationale in that. That's not what Joshua have would have chosen had he have listened to the world's wisdom. If he would have followed his intellect but instead he chose to what? Simply obey his God and the walls fell down and the city literally fell into their hands. It is our prerogative to obey his instructions as a servant, his master, as Jesus did.

It is our prerogative to yield to his will as the clay to the hand of the potter. For he is the potter and we are the clay. It is our privilege to be clay in the hands of the creator and sustainer of the universe and the savior of the world. He is the potter. We are the clay.

It is our place to yield to him. It is our place to follow his commands as the soldier, his captain. He is our commander in chief. It is his prerogative, his place, his responsibility to lead us. It is our responsibility to what?

To follow. To follow him. God has a perfect will. He has a perfect word. We must obey for he is the potter and we are the clay.

For he is the master and we are the servant. For he is the commander and we are the soldier in the army. He has commanded us to be baptized. He has commanded us to attend church. He's commanded us to study his word.

He has commanded us to give of our increase. He has commanded us to love our neighbor as our self, to tell our neighbor about Jesus Christ, to pray and do good for them who despitefully use us to flee fornication and youthful lust which war against the soul, we can go on and on and on and on. You say, but we're pastor, we're not under the law, we're under what? Grace. So, God expects less of us because we're under grace?

I don't think so. No, my New Testament tells me, God doesn't expect less of me. God expects what? More. Because I have his spirit living inside of my heart.

And because I have been freed. Freed from the slavery of sin that I might serve him. Serve a new master. Some things are scary. Some things we don't understand.

Some things, to be honest, we just don't want to do. If you've got a neighbor who's mean to you, you just sometimes don't want to be nice. That's our human nature. But we have something better. We have his nature.

We have his word and we have his instruction. We're to love our neighbor as ourself even when our neighbor is playing that loud music in the middle of the night. Even when our neighbor throws his trash over on our side of the property. Even when our neighbor tree sheds all kinds of leaves. On my side and doesn't care.

We are to love them as our wife, as ourselves. We're to study his word even when we don't feel like it. We're to pray for those who do us harm. We're to avoid the things that the world seeks and finds pleasure in. Deny ourselves.

Pick up our cross and follow him. That's the example that Jesus has left for us. He was sent here to go to the why? To go to the cross. Nothing God has asked us to do begins to compare with what Jesus was sent here to do it, to do, and he did it perfectly.

He did it perfectly. Obediently to leave us an example that we should follow in his steps. Turn if you would to Matthew three. We see that Jesus responded with obedience. I want us to see something else about how Jesus responded.

How Jesus responded. Matthew four verses three and four. Matthew four verses three and four. Well, let's start in verse one. Then, was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, Okay, after Jesus's baptism, he was led by the what?

Spirit. Now, what spirit is that? That's the Holy Spirit. He was led by the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit?

God. God. The same as the father. They share the same nature, the same power, the same goals, the same purpose. So, if the spirit led him, that was the will of the father.

Then, was Jesus led of the spirit into the wilderness? The wilderness is an area which we would usually probably describe as desert. There weren't a lot of food. There weren't a lot of water and there weren't any wasn't anybody else around. It was sort of a isolated place.

So, Jesus led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. After Jesus baptism, he was led by the holy spirit, the will of the father into the desert, to be tempted by who? The devil. That was God's what? Will and he followed God's will and he was led into the desert there to be tempted by the devil.

There was a purpose in this to show and demonstrate who he really is. The sinless son of God. Who is greater than his enemy, the devil. Verse two, and when he had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was afterward a hungered. He didn't eat for forty days and forty nights and he was hungry.

I guess that's what you would call an understate ment. He must have been very hungry. Even if he had got past the point to where he was feeling hungry, his body certainly needed it and he knew it. So, after he had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was hungry and when the tempter came to him, that is the devil, he came, he said, if thou be the son of God, command these stones to be made bread. He said, if you are really who you say you are, if you're God, if if you are the sovereign Lord of the universe and you have the power, the creative power to speak the world into existence.

Then, why are you sitting here hungry? Turn that stone to bread. Eat. Why deprive yourself? What did Jesus say?

Verse four, but he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that preceded out of the mouth of the Lord. Jesus's response There's something more important than my physical needs and that is doing the will of my father and I trust him. I trust him. And I will eat when he says eat. I will eat when he provides.

I won't take it upon myself. But I will trust in him. Not only did Jesus obey his father but he trusted his father. He demonstrated trust in his father and the will of his father by resisting the temptation of the devil. And declaring his submission to the word and to the will of the father in heaven.

In the military, when you're asked to do something you do it. That's your place and you trust that the people that are over you are doing their job and you do yours. Our God in heaven knows what he's doing. The commander in the military might actually not know what he's doing. But God does.

Our father in heaven is trustworthy and we know that. We should trust him. We shouldn't take matters into our own hands. We should just be willing to trust him and do as he commands. Jesus plainly declared several times in the book of John his submission to the will of his father.

I'm just going to read a few verses. John five thirty. Jesus said, I can, of mine own self, do nothing. As I hear, I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not mine own will. But the will of the father which has sent me.

In John four thirty four, four thirty four, Jesus said unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. That's my place. That's my meat. That's that's how I'm fed. That's how I'm fulfilled and satisfied.

Is in doing what? The will of my father and trusting him. In John six thirty eight, he says, for I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me. You say, well, that's Jesus. Yes, that's Jesus.

God sent him from heaven to do the will of the father and he did it. But that's also us. Who know Christ as savior. For we are now his what? Children.

We are his children. He is our father and he's left us here. Why? He has a mission for us to fulfill. He has a purpose for us.

He has a will for us to do. We need to trust him. As Jesus trusted his father in heaven and became obedient to death even the death of the cross. We need to trust him to do what he wants us to do, to go where he wants us to go. In Genesis, Noah trusted God and he built an ark.

It took him over one hundred years. He probably didn't build it on the shores of the ocean. Probably built it in the middle of nowhere. People didn't understand. The people mocked him.

The people wouldn't listen but God said, Noah, you build an ark. By faith, Noah did to the saving of his household. Jonah was told to go to Nineveh. He's not one of the better examples. He didn't trust God.

Not at first He went the other way and God said, I'll have none of that, Noah, Jonah. So, he sent a fish. He swallowed him. He brought him back and he spit him back up on shore and I said, okay, let's try this again. Now, you're going to go to Nineveh, right?

That time he did. He had to learn a lesson. He didn't trust God the first time. He really didn't trust God entirely the second time if you read through the end of the book of Jonah. He was still upset and angry.

Shouldn't have been. He saw himself as being better than the people of Nineveh. That's a problem we all often have. After we've been saved for a while, sometimes we think, well, they don't deserve it. And we did.

We don't. But Jonah finally did go. Elijah was called to go before Ahab When Ahab was trying to kill him. God protected him. Elijah was told during a famine to go see a widow lady in Zarephath and Sidon up above Israel.

If you were in the midst of a famine, there was no water to speak of and there was no food, the last place you would go particularly in that day and age was to a widow. But he trusted God and he went and he got to the widow's house and he said, can you give me some to drink and something to eat? And she said, well, I can get you something to drink but but I'm picking up sticks right now so that I can cook the last meal for me and my son and then we'll have nothing left and we'll starve. And Elijah said to her, feed me first. Feed me your last meal.

And God will provide for you through the rest of the famine. She did. She did. She trusted in the God of Elijah and she fed the prophet first and for the rest every morning, the rest of that famine, when she got up, there was just enough oil and there was just enough meal to prepare the food for that day. As there was manna on the ground for Israel in the wilderness.

As she trusted in the Lord. Abraham took Isaac to the mountain, Mount Moriah and there, he sacrificed his son. He didn't actually sacrifice Isaac but he did. A ram in his stead. But he obeyed and he trusted in God.

And God called him his friend. Because of that trust. He left his homeland to go to Canaan. Israelites came to the land of Canaan after they were delivered from Egypt and they came to the border and they sent in spies. And 10 spies came back and said, what?

He said, we can't do it. We can't do this. There's no way. The walled cities, they got chariots. They're they're grasshoppers in their sight.

We can't do this. And the people sided with the 10 spies against Moses and against Joshua and against Caleb. What was their problem? They didn't trust the Lord. They didn't trust the Lord.

So, they didn't go into the land and that whole generation died off in the wilderness and never got to see the land that God had promised to them except for Joshua and Caleb. And Moses from the top of Mount Nebo. Trust in the Lord. Jesus gave us the example Trust him. He won't steer you the wrong way.

If he's asking you to go say something to that neighbor, go say it. Asking you to get involved in a ministry, go do it. He's asking you to move here or there, do it. Now, I personally don't want any of you to move away from here. Matter of fact, I'm still a little aggravated with the Stevens.

I love em but I'm aggravated with it. But the Lord knows best. I don't. He does. We need to follow God's will.

And trust him. That's what our savior did. Not only should we trust him, but we should also love him. John fourteen thirty one. John fourteen thirty one.

Jesus said, but that the world may know that I love the father and as the father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. Where was he going? He was going to Jerusalem. Why was he going there?

He was going there to die. Why was he doing it? To demonstrate his what? His love for the father. I love the father because I love the father, here we go.

So, he went. He went all the way to the cross. For his love not for just for us though he loved us but also his love for the father. How should we respond to the God's will in our life? First of all, you need to obey it because it's right.

He is God and you're not. Second of all, you should obey it because you should trust him. Jesus showed us that but also number three, we should obey him because we love him. And whom you love, you obey. The authorities in your life.

There were times when I came to my mom and dad and said, I love you when my actions didn't back up my words and now as a parent, I begin to understand that a little bit. For our actions often speak louder than our words. And how many times do we say that God, I love you but our actions speak louder than our words. There's several hymns in our hymn book. Oh, how I love Jesus.

We should love Jesus. We should love our father in heaven. We should love God with all our heart. But as we love God, if we do love God with all our heart, then it will translate into our why, Into our actions, into our obedience to his will. Jesus left that example for us.

He loved the father more than he hated the suffering. And he did the will of the father that he loved In the next chapter in John 15 verses nine and ten, Jesus said to his disciples, as the father hath loved me, so have I loved you, continue you in my love. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love even as I have kept my father's commandment and abide in his love. Oh, okay. So, we have to do everything God says to abide in his love.

No, it's not what Christ is saying. As we abide in the love of the Lord, if we abide in the love of the father, we will naturally do the things that want. That demonstrate that love to him. In doing his will. When we do the opposite, are we demonstrating the love of the father?

No. Love not the world neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the what? The love of the father is not in him. When we're doing the will of the world and not the will of the father, we're demonstrating not love for the father but we're demonstrating what?

Love for the world. And and you can't be doing both the same time. The two are contrary one to another. Jesus chose to love the father. Jesus chose the praise of the father.

Jesus chose the way of the father. Out of love He left us an example that we should do the same. God loves you more than you will ever be able to understand on this earth. We should love him because he first loved us and as we love him, it will become more and more natural for us to do his will. Jesus loved the father perfectly and so Jesus always did his what?

Always did his will. Obviously, we have some work to do yet. We don't love him as we should or we wouldn't struggle though. Problem is often times, we love ourselves. And we love others more than our God and it gets in our way.

When we love God, his commandments don't seem so burdensome. They don't seem so grievous as the word John uses in first John. Because they're not a burden when we want to do what pleases him out of love. So, we see Jesus gave us an example. We should obey the father because he is the father.

We should obey the father and trust him. He will provide for us. He told us in Matthew six thirty three, but seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Trust him. As we obey him, we should do so because we love him.

As Christ gave us an example. And when we're tired, when we're weak, and when we're not sure which way to turn and what to do, what should we do? We should go to the what? We should go to the father. You know, there were times when Jesus was weak.

He wasn't weak maybe in respect to temptation but he was weak in the flesh and he was hungry and he did get tired and he did get overwhelmed physically at times and where did he go? He went to the father in prayer. That's the example that Jesus has set for us. There are times when God says, do this and and you're going to feel burned out. You don't have to be.

You need to go to the one who can keep your fire burning. There are times when you're just going to not know which way to turn but there's one who can clear your vision and show you the right path to take. Go to him in prayer. Jesus went to the father several times in the scriptures in prayer. In Imma read two from the book of Mark.

Mark chapter one verse 34. Mark one thirty four and he healed many that were sick of diverse diseases and cast out many devils and suffered not the devils to speak because they knew him and in the morning rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed. You know, Jesus got tired after a while. He would look for a place, a solitary place spend time in prayer to be recharged to share his burdens with his father but you say Jesus is God, yes but Jesus is also what? Man.

And so, he needed that and he gave us an example. For though we are not God, we are what? We are man. And we need that in our lives and when God is pulling us in a certain direction, when God is wanting us to do something and we just don't see how we can do it. The Bible says, I can do what?

All things through Christ who strengtheneth me. Go to him. Go to him. Matthew six and verse Mark six and verse 46. Mark six forty six and when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.

In the garden right before he went to the cross, what did he do? He prayed. Matthew 26 verse 38. Then saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Tarry you here and watch with me and he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed saying, oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

Nevertheless, nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt and he cometh unto his disciples and findeth them asleep and said unto Peter, what could you not watch with me an hour? Watch and pray that she enter not into temptation, the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak and even Jesus's flesh was weak, he needed time with his father before he went to the cross. Our flesh is not just weak. Our flesh is bent against us. In doing the will of our father.

We need to spend more time on our needs. If Jesus needed to, I know I need to. We need his power. We need his answer. We need to follow our savior's example.

We can do what he's asked us to do but we won't be able to do it in our own strength. We won't. There are times when I've been up here and preached and I thought I was doing it in God's power. And later on, I was stricken in my heart that I was doing it in the flesh and it didn't didn't go all that well. I can't do this on my own.

I can't begin to do this on my own. This is not not me. It has to come from God. And it's only going to come when we go to him in prayer. As Jesus gave us example and then finally, Jesus sought not his own glory but Jesus sought the glory of his father.

John seventeen one, Jesus said, it says, these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son. That thy son also may glorify thee. John seven eighteen, he that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true and no unrighteousness is in him. In John fourteen thirteen, Jesus said, and whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that I will do, why?

That the father may be glorified in the son. Why are you doing it? Why why are we trying to do the work of the Lord? Why do we want to talk to our neighbor about Jesus? Why do we want to flee temptation and sin in our life?

Are we doing it simply for our own good and our own glory? If we are, it's not going to work. Jesus followed through with the will of his father because it wasn't just about him, it was about his father in heaven and he left us an example. It's not just about me. It's not just about you.

It's about the glory of our father. Matthew five sixteen, you should have it memorized by now. It's one of those verses that I always at least every other week seem to come back around and hit. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and help me out. Glorify thy father which is in heaven.

Are we doing it to the glory of God? Are we doing it to the glory of self? If the purpose is to glorify self, then you're going to find a lot of things that God wants you to do difficult. Because they're not there to glorify you. They're commanded to glorify him and he deserves it and as we glorify the Lord, it always resounds to the benefit of us.

For our good and for his glory. Because why were you created? You were created to glorify your creator. Why were you saved to glorify your father? Which is in heaven.

Jesus has left us an example. In doing the will of God, to do it because in obedience because he is God. He is the father. To trust him. To love him, to pray to him, and to do it for his glory and if we'll follow his example, we will not fail.

We will not fall. It's when we walk not in the spirit but in the flesh that we stumble. What did Jesus do? He did the will of his father which is in heaven and that we too have been called to do also. Let's do it in his power and with all our might.

Let's pray. Dear God, we thank you Lord for the example that you set for us. Lord, there are things that you have called us to do things, Lord, Even in our heart right now, maybe things that we must deal with you about, we must confess, things that need to change in our life, things that you have asked us to do in reference to a friend, a neighbor, a ministry. Lord, I do not know what is on the hearts of your children that are here but Lord, I pray that we would not fear for you have not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind and that we might choose out of love for our God and trust in our God and submission to our God. To pray and seek your face and your strength that we might do your will to your glory.

We thank you Lord for that privilege. May you be honored in our lives this week as Missouri Avenue Baptist Church and as sons and daughters of the king. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.