What Would Jesus Do?

Back in the year 1897, a man by the name of Charles Sheldon wrote this book entitled In His Steps. In this book, he talks about a mythical town by the name of Raymond in which there was a pastor whose name was Reverend Maxwell. Reverend Maxwell was upstairs studying one Saturday afternoon, which pastors often do as this one also did, studying and preparing a message and the text that he was working on was 1 Peter 1. Would you turn in your Bibles to that passage of Scripture?

1 Peter 2, if you found chapter one, chapter two is not far from that. The text he was wrestling with was 1 Peter 2:21-23: “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

While the pastor was writing out his sermon upstairs in his study, there was a knock at the door. He went to the door and did not like the interruption, but there was a young man there who seemed to be a tramp, and yet he appeared to be so young. He was not an alcoholic. He did not seem to be bitter or angry. The young man said, “I’ve been out of a job for 10 months and I’m wondering if there’s any way you can help me. I know that you can’t find a job for me. I’m a printer by trade, but here I am and I just wonder if you could give me some leads because I’m willing to do anything.”

The pastor expressed sympathy for the young man and said that he really didn’t know of anyone to whom he could send him, and hoped that he would indeed be able to find a job. So, after a moment of conversation, the young man went down the sidewalk. The pastor closed the door and saw him walk away. The young man had his hat in his hands. He held his hat with both of his hands, and as he walked along the sidewalk looking very dejected, the pastor’s sympathy was touched by the young man, and felt badly that there was nothing that he could do.

A few minutes later, the pastor’s wife returned from home, as she had been out at a daycare center, and she said that there was a young man who came by looking for a job. They compared notes and found that it was the same young man looking for some place to find something to eat and to find work.

The next day was Sunday, and the pastor preached his sermon on this text. Jesus Christ left us an example that we should follow in His steps. He talked about the atonement and then he outlined what it would be like to follow in Christ’s steps. At the end of the service, just as the benediction was being given, a young man who was sitting near the back of the church came forward and began to speak to the congregation. The pastor recognized him to be the young man that he had seen the day before.

The man said, “I’m not drunk, nor am I crazy,” but he said, “I’ve been out of work for 10 months. I’m a printer by trade. I listened to the pastor’s sermon on following Jesus Christ. I’m not angry with anyone. I know that you can’t find a job for me and for 500 others like us in this town. But I do want to ask, what does it mean when you sing ‘All For Jesus’? What do you mean when you sing ‘Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow thee’? Are you actually willing to help people like me and to go out of your way for those who may be going through a specific trial? My wife died four months ago. I have a little girl that is now living with someone else because I can’t take care of her. I know that you can take care of everybody, but I wonder, what does it mean when you say that you follow Jesus Christ and you’re willing to walk with Him all the way?”

The young man at that point began to become very weak on his feet, and stumbled, and fell, and they carried him out, and took him to the pastor’s home. By the time all that ended, there was a lot of talking in the church. People began to say to one another, “Well, what did you think of what he had to say?” The congregation by and large simply said, “Well, he must have been somewhat demented, maybe mentally unstable to have spoken to the whole church.” Later on, as the story progresses, that young man wants to see his daughter one last time before he dies, and he does. His last words before he dies in the pastor’s home, the last words were, “Thank you so much for taking care of me.” I think this is probably what Jesus would have done.

The pastor was deeply touched by the whole experience. He was shaken in spirit, mind, and body, and during the week he could scarcely study. All that he could think about was this young man and what he had said to the congregation the Sunday before. So, the next Sunday, the pastor stood up and preached without notes. He told the congregation once again what the young man had said, told him about his death, and then said this to the congregation. He said, “How many of you would be willing to pledge that for one year you are willing to say, by God’s grace, I’m going to face every decision that I’m going to make for this coming year. Asking one question, what would Jesus do? And then by God’s grace and power doing whatever you think Jesus would actually do.” Now the pastor said, “That does not mean that we will always know instantly what Jesus will do. In every situation there may be a lot of disagreement among ourselves as to what Jesus would do.” Furthermore, he said, “There is no way that you can follow this by looking at the immediate results of your decision. But are you willing to say that in those areas where it does become clear to you what Jesus would do, that you’ll be obedient.”

There were hundreds of people who were there that morning and only about 50 were willing to stay after the service to say, “Yes, we pledge ourselves for one year that we will live our lives by one basic principle: What would Jesus do.”

In that group of fifty, there was the publisher of a newspaper, there was a superintendent of the railway, there was a school teacher, there was a woman who had just inherited a million dollars. They were all wondering now, “What will Jesus have us do?” And the rest of this book is the story of what that basic principle did in their lives and some of the problems that it produced.

The publisher of the newspaper asked himself, “Would Jesus publish a Sunday edition?” He said to himself, “I don’t think that Jesus would have a sports event, a boxing match on the front page. I don’t think it’s that important.” People began to no longer subscribe to his newspaper, but it didn’t matter because you see, he didn’t say, “Well, if you don’t publish sports, your newspaper is going to go under.” That wasn’t the issue. He had committed himself to a basic question, namely, “What would Jesus do regardless of the immediate consequences of my decision? How would Jesus spend a million dollars that He had just inherited? What kind of a car would Jesus drive?” We know that Jesus, if he lived today undoubtedly would probably drive a car. He would become a part of this culture, but the question is how would He spend His money? What kind of a car would He drive? Would He buy a cheaper one so that He could give money to help the people in the Soviet Union have hymnals? What would Jesus do? 

I think we make life so complicated. We think to ourselves, “If only we could do more things.” And we do more things, and we get so busy, and we’re doing this, and we’re doing that, and we commit ourselves to this obligation, and that obligation. Wouldn’t it be interesting to simplify our lives and simply say, “Look, for one year I’m going to base my life on the question: What would Jesus do? And then do it.” I know there are many instances that we may not know what Jesus would do, but for every one of those there would be two or three in which we would know instantly what Jesus would do.

What I’d like to do today is to give you five priorities that would be a part of our thinking, if we were to respond to the question: What would Jesus do? Five priorities and they all begin with a letter P, and you can write them in the flyleaf of your Bible, or tack them onto your bulletin board at home. Five priorities that would be a part of our thinking. What are they?

Number one, the priority of prayer. As a matter of fact, this priority is so important that next week I’m going to speak on that topic, and the entire message will be devoted to it. So, we’re going to simply omit it today. But we find in the Gospels that wherever you can turn the pages of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus is there praying to His Heavenly Father. And He’s not just praying, Jesus is communing with God. Jesus is having His own soul refreshed in the presence of the King. If that is not your understanding of prayer, I feel sorry for you. It is not merely asking God to take care of problems, though it involves that, it is the soul in communication with God. Come back next week for the details.

Secondly, the priority of people. You read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and if you were to take those four Gospels and cut out everything that had to do with Jesus interacting with people, you’d find that you have almost nothing left. The whole Gospels are nothing but the story of Jesus interacting with people.

One day there was a man by the name of Jairus who said, “I have a child that is dying.” He wanted to pull on Jesus Christ coat, and hurry Him along so that He would get there before the child died. And Jesus meets a woman who had had a hemorrhage for many, many years. He stops to heal her, and to interact with her, and to discuss with her. And Jairus is saying, “Why are you standing there? I’ve got a child that’s dying.” Jesus then, after He interacts with a woman, He goes and raises the child to life.

You say, “Well, Pastor Lutzer, we can’t do that.” That’s true, but the principle is there. Jesus constantly pouring Himself and the mercy of God into the lives of people. Some of them were people who hurt, some people who didn’t hurt but should have, and ministering to them all.

Jesus meets a young wealthy man, and He interacts with him. It says specifically in the text that Jesus beheld him and He “loved him” (Mark 10:21). And I want you to know today that Jesus beholds you and He loves you. Children, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” [Matthew 19:14]. The whole spectrum of the ages, Jesus becoming involved in their lives, and giving priority to people.

Secondly, there’s the priority of purity. We read a text at the invocation that says “[He] who thus hopes in him purifies himself as [Christ] is pure” [1 John 2:3]. I want to tell you that Jesus Christ could not be seduced by the big three. [First,] the lust of the flesh. Satan came to him and said, “Turn these stones into bread.” Jesus was hungry for 40 days; He had not eaten. But the Lord said, “There is no way that I’m going to fulfill my bodily desires, no matter how strong they are. I will not fulfill them independently of the will of my Father. The answer is no.” He would not allow the desires of the flesh to rule Him.

Now, what implications would that have in our lives if we faced each decision asking: What would Jesus do? What kind of television programs would Jesus watch if he lived in this century? The next time you go into a video store, and you see all of those videos that are available. Before you check one out, ask yourself the question: What video would Jesus take home to watch on His VCR? What would Jesus do? How pure would Jesus be if He were in this world?

Then, we think of the lust of the eyes. Satan said to Him, “You fall down and you worship me, and I will give you all of the kingdoms.” Jesus didn’t say, “Satan, listen, you have no right to tell me that, because you don’t own the kingdoms of the world.” Jesus didn’t say that. Why? Because God has given Satan awesome authority, and he had evidently the right to say, “Jesus, bow down and worship me in the kingdoms are yours.” But Jesus said, “I will not take a shortcut to the kingdom. No way am I going to be seduced by instant power, and the glory, and the prestige that would come to me. The answer is no, ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.’” And then [Satan] said, “Jesus, become a hero. Fall down from the pinnacle of the temple, and the angels will catch you, and you’ll be front page news on the Jerusalem post, and everybody is going to be talking about you.” Jesus said, “No, I’m not for sale. I can’t be seduced. I can’t be bought.” Oh, my friends today, how we need men and women who have character right from the top of their head to their tiptoes who say, “I am not for sale.”

Here in the city of Chicago, we passed a homosexual ordinance. And as you know, many of the alderman voted for it, the majority voted for it. I have in my files letters from some of them who wrote to me many months ago and said, “Pastor Lutzer, we stand with you in opposition to this ordinance all the way, and we will never vote for it.” But they did a few weeks ago. Why? Because somebody told them, “You don’t vote for that and you are not going to be reelected. We are going to make sure that we will put money into a candidate that agrees with us.” And one alderman said, “How am I going to withstand that opposition when I’m up for reelection?” That was the basis upon which he changed his mind. Wasn’t it Will Rogers who made the interesting statement? He said, “The members of the US Congress are the best men that money can buy.” Isn’t that interesting? [laughter]

Jesus said, “I refuse to be intimidated. I refuse the power of a shortcut to gain wealth, and prestige, and power. I delight to do Thy will, oh God, regardless of the consequences.” He was committed to purity.

As a matter of fact, if I may throw this in as a parenthesis, I was opposed to that ordinance and I received a lot of mail from folks who didn’t agree with me. I was called anti-Christian and a lot of less charitable epithets. But I want to tell you something, it is not because we hate homosexuals. It is not because we were angry with homosexuals. Jesus said that the prostitutes went into the kingdom of heaven ahead of the publicans, and the Pharisees, and He could have added repentant homosexuals as well, I suppose.

That ordinance is going to cause incredible havoc in this city. How do I know that? It’s because a province in Canada has a similar ordinance, and you have homosexual marriages. You have marriages between a man and a wife that broke up, and then the man decided to have a homosexual marriage, and now he wants custody of the kids. Under equality, he has the same right to have custody as the mother does, and on, and on the problems go. So that’s why we stood against it because we did not want to, in any way, give legal and public credence and support to homosexuality, which is what this ordinance does.

Let me give you a fourth point that would be important if we follow Jesus Christ, and that is patience. I hope you still have your hand in that passage in 1 Peter because it talks there about Jesus, Christ’s commitment to the cross and it says in 1 Peter 2:22, “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

What Jesus said is I can live my life in such a way that I can be patient to commit my concerns to the judge of the universe. I do not have to make every injustice correct in this life. I do not have to give insult for insult, railing for railing, hit for hit, slap for slap. Rather, I can receive all this and that I commit myself to God who judges righteously. I can wait for the supreme lawgiver of the universe to go ahead and to bring justice to my situation and to my cause. For that kind of patience, He hung on the cross as men nailed Him there as a sacrifice for sin.

Fifth, we have the priority of purpose. Notice what the text says. 1 Peter 2:21, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” What Jesus said is, “I have come to do the will of God, and that will of God will be done, and I will not be sidelined. I will not be deterred. I will do the will of God regardless of the consequences, no matter how much it costs, regardless of the implications.” He said, “I have come to die, and die I will.” And His face was set directly toward Jerusalem as He began to go the last steps on earth before the crucifixion. Jesus said, “I’m willing to do that.” Committed to do the will of God. In John 8:29, He says these words, “The Father has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

Crowds didn’t matter. In fact, He said to the Pharisees, “How can you even believe if you seek honor from men and seek not the honor that comes from God alone?” Sometimes people say, “Well, I just don’t have that much faith.” Well, there are many reasons for a lack of faith. One is a defiled conscience, it says in 1 John. But another reason is Jesus said, “You can’t believe if you are only seeking the honor that comes from men, and not the honor that comes from God alone.”

Now, as I was thinking over these five priorities of prayer, of people, of purity, of patience, and of purpose, it dawned on me that one way that we could really prove to Christ that we loved Him. Wouldn’t you like to do that? He said to Peter, “Loveth, thou me.” Let’s suppose Jesus is asking you that question today.

Would you really like to prove that you’ll love Him? I’ll tell you how. Make some really tough choices in His favor. And these five priorities would really enable us to make those tough choices. Think for example of the priority of time. If we began to take seriously prayer, and people, and all the other things that we have mentioned, it would mean the rearranging of our schedules. It would mean our time would be God’s, and no longer ours. We could not say, “I have a free day and I can do whatever I like.” We would say, “What would Jesus do?”

The priority would force us to make some tough decision regarding our schedules, regarding our comfort zone. We feel comfortable with those who are of our kind. I feel comfortable with Christians. Sometimes I don’t feel that comfortable with non-Christians. Yesterday evening I went to a basketball game because my daughter was playing, and they won by the way. But I was at the basketball game, and I was sitting there thinking of this message, in addition to watching them play, of course, but I said, “Would Jesus be here?” And the answer is yes, of course He’d be here. He’d be here making friends of sinners and asking them questions that would lead them into truth. Yes, Jesus would be there. But what it means is that if we are serious about following Christ, we must break out of that comfort zone and learn to befriend to sinners whom God has come to seek and to save. It means that we would make some tough decisions regarding our emotions. We would have to give up some of our bitterness, some of our petty difficulties that we may have, some of our prejudices. It would have tremendous implications in terms of our money. What kind of a car would Christ drive? How much money would Jesus Christ give if He were married and had a family, how much would he put into a retirement account? What would Jesus do if he were me? That’s a question. I mean, I think that Jesus would influence our pleasures, wouldn’t He? I mean, just think of saying now, “What would Jesus do with what is sometimes called discretionary time? How would Jesus spend that hour?”

As I was thinking about this past week, what He was asking me is, are you willing to live this year making every decision, facing every situation, just simply saying, what would Jesus do? And then trying to find the answer to that question, which sometimes may not be hard to find and sometimes difficult to find. But in those cases where it is clear and intuitively, of course Jesus would do this. Would you be willing to say, “By God’s grace, that’s the way I’d like to live this year.” What would Jesus do? And I was agonizing and I was saying, “Lord, this could be a very revolutionary concept. It could impact the way I preach. It could impact the ministry at the church, my family. It could impact my schedule. Lord, Lord, hold it.”

But then I thought of something that was of great comfort to me. Do you know that no matter what Jesus may require of me, no matter what He may require, it’ll always be less than what His love for me required. There is no way that my love for Jesus Christ will ever cost me as much as His love for me because I can’t think of any sacrifice that I have to make in the next 365 days that would be equivalent to being nailed to a cross. I can’t think of anything that Jesus would ask me to do that would cost that much. And that’s what He did for me in obedience to the will of the Father.

Listen, there’s some of you here who are in businesses that if you began to ask the question, what would Jesus do, you might find out that your business would go under because what you are doing may not be totally honest. It may also mean that some of the things that you are doing are really honest, perhaps, but outside of the will, and the purpose, and the desires of God, though they are honest. You say, “Well, I’d lose my business.” I say this to you lovingly, but with a smile on my face, “So what? Jesus went to the cross because He loved us so much.” We’ll never have to do that. I mean, we may have to die as martyrs sometime. I don’t have any plans to do that in the immediate future, but maybe someday. But Jesus Christ did so much for us. Is it unreasonable for us to say, “Lord Jesus, whatever, wherever, whatever the results, whatever the consequences, I will follow you and ask, what would Jesus do? And when I have my answer, when I know what he will do, by your grace and your power, and the strength of the spirit, and the word which needs to be poured into my heart to give me that grace, I will do it. I will do it.”

Perhaps you heard the story of a man who took his son to work one day and he was responsible for a big huge draw bridge. Over the draw bridge, a train would run a couple of times a day. But now the draw bridge was up because a huge steam liner was coming through the river. After the steam liner had gone through, the man began to let the draw bridge go down until suddenly he heard screams ring out and he looked down and he saw that his son was in among the gear system of this huge contraption. But he had only a second to make a decision. He could reverse the gears and save the son, but there was a train coming and the train would plunge into the river. So, in his agony, he decided to do the only reasonable thing that it seemed to do, and that was to just let the drawbridge continue to go down and to let his son be torn up and killed. And he did that. And as the train went over the drawbridge, the people that were in it waved out the window at the man not knowing the tremendous price he had just paid for their safety.

Isn’t that the way in which the world is? They go on their merry way, they go doing their thing, totally unaware there was a Jesus Christ who went to the cross, and while being reviled, he did not revile. In return when he suffered, he threatened not, but he committed himself to God. He gave himself over to God the Father, and he hung there and he died there. And now the text says to you, and to me, having freely received the gift of salvation without strings attached, the Bible says, “Now you follow in His steps.” Is it unreasonable that Jesus would ask us to do that? Is it unreasonable?

Many years ago, Henry Light wrote a song. It says,

“Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow thee;
Destitute, despis’d, forsaken,
Thou from hence my all shalt be.
Perish, ev’ry fond ambition,
All I’ve sought, and hop’d, and known;
Yet how rich is my condition;
God and Heav'n are still my own!”

The text reads, for you have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps. And we might add whatever the cost, whatever the cost, let us pray. Our Father, in this moment, you see our hearts, you know our frailties, our insecurities, our fears.

You know, Lord, how often we have sung songs all to Jesus, I surrender and then we have gone home and done what we have wanted to do. We pray that in these moments, you will not make our commitment as the do, which is there in the morning on the grass, but by noon is gone. But that your Holy Spirit may so sear us with this text that we may do nothing unless we know that you would approve and itas something that you might do. Father, you have seen our hearts, the tremendous transformation that we need be gracious unto us and granted Father, and may we this year be able to say that we do nothing until we ask What would Jesus do? What would Jesus do for employees? How would he treat them? What would Jesus do when it comes to our income tax? What would Jesus do when it comes to our wives brand this upon our mind. Paint every wall with this question in our homes. May it hang above our television sets, and may we never be free until we answer it and our obedient to it, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Editor’s Note: In this transcript, the verbatim intelligent transcription process simplifies and enhances spoken content by eliminating redundant words, unnecessary sounds, fixing grammar errors, and clarifying meaning while preserving the author's original intent. All Scripture quotes are according to the biblical text, not as they were originally spoken.