[Greg Thomas] Happy Sabbath to you all once again. Well, it is less than five weeks from the Passover this year. I would like for all of us to continue to think about the Passover, and continue to take a look at our lives, as we prepare for it and the days of un-leavening. What I would like to do today is talk about the personal example of Jesus Christ – what He did and what He said – and take a look at His personal example and create for ourselves – again, not for our spouses, not for the person sitting next to us, but for ourselves – a checklist. “Yep, I do that well,” or, “In that scenario, I need to work on…,” or whatever the case may be. So, what we are going to take some time doing today, again, is looking at the example of Jesus Christ and creating a little checklist – looking at His attributes, and looking at His qualities, and looking at His expectations, and see how we are doing.

Now, I am not going to include some very important spiritual qualities, because they would take up thirty minutes of my sermon today – essential qualities that should be self-evident truths – qualities like the fact that He prayed regularly – many scriptures regarding that. His meditation – as soon as He heard His relative, John the Baptist, had been beheaded, it said He went into the dessert. He needed private time, so He would go and He would meditate. His obedience – His obedience was legendary to God’s law. He lived a perfect life. Fasting – we know He fasted before He confronted Satin the devil and He began His ministry. So, we are not going to take a look at those qualities, as important as they are, because they should be self-evident truths to all of us. We should already know these things and we should understand the importance of them.

What I want to cover today are some qualities that Jesus Christ had that are often missed or overlooked – maybe just some simple little phrases or simple little things, that He said or did that oftentimes, it’s just easy for us to overlook the impact of them. So, that is what I would like to talk about today. So again, we are going to go through these items one at a time. This is a personal checklist that you can say to yourself, “Yes, I am right on, I get that. I am doing that,” or “Maybe I need to work on that. I need to work harder at developing those qualities in my life,” because, after all, Jesus Christ is not only our Savior, but also our role model as the perfect Son of God.

So, let’s begin here. The first question that I have – or this statement – as we go down this checklist: Number one – He consistently worshipped on the Sabbath publicly. He consistently worshipped on the Sabbath publicly. Let’s go to Luke, chapter 4, and verse 16..Of course, when you do something publicly – if I were to go to a dictionary – it says: so as to be seen by other people. So, let’s take a look at a scripture here and see what the habit – what the custom – of Jesus Christ was. Again, this is Luke, chapter 4, and verse 16 – He is our role model. It says:

Luke 4:16 – He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. So, He observed the Sabbath day as a custom. Publicly, He demonstrated to the world that “I am here to worship my God. I am seeking first the Kingdom of God in My life. And I want other people to see, whether they like it or not, that I worship on His Sabbath day – that I am a follower of the Great God.” I am going to read this from another translation – the New Century Version. It says: Jesus traveled to Nazareth, where He had grown up. On the Sabbath day, He went to the synagogue, as He always did – Wow!Again, that is the New Century Version – and He stood up to read. Part of their service allowed individuals to stand up and read the scrolls to the entire congregation. And He did that consistently. He worshipped on the Sabbath day consistently. And He did it publicly. He didn’t stay home. He didn’t worship quietly by Himself. And again, as I said before, I certainly understand that there are times when we are ill and there are legitimate reasons not to worship publicly on God’s Sabbath day – particularly, if you are ill and you are contagious. It would be a greater act of love not to come here and get everyone else sick, if you are dealing with something contagious. But the example of Jesus Christ was to consistently worship on the Sabbath day publicly.

Now my wife wouldn’t say this, but I will say this about her, because she would never say this publicly, and I did not talk to her about this in advance, so I may be in big trouble later. But I thought of her when I was looking at this, because I have known her since 1971 – that is a few days ago – a couple of days ago. We have been married since 1974, and in all of those years, I couldn’t tell you five Sabbaths that she missed in all of those years. So, she gets it. She understands the importance of consistently worshipping on the Sabbath day publicly. It is part of who and what she is. One of those five times is when she was recovering from breast cancer surgery. We probably – I don’t remember – we probably struggled to keep her home that day, because she loves God’s Sabbath. She loves to be with God’s people. That is an important part of her life. We could say it is her custom. It is her habit. It is her way of life – and it has been since she was a teenager.

What Jesus did here shouldn’t shock any of us, because this is the very Being who told Moses that the Sabbath was a commanded assembly. In Leviticus 23 – we will certainly read this in the future, to prepare for the holy days – but here’s what it says, beginning in verse 1:

Leviticus 23:1 – And the Lord God spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations… – a convocation is a convention. It is a gathering together of people. Continuing here, it says in verse 3: Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath day, a day of solemn rest, a holy convocation. The Sabbath is a holy convention. I can not enjoy that convention if I stay home. I can only participate in that convention – that gathering of people – that assembly of people – if I publicly go out and I worship with people of like minds on God’s Sabbath day. We find numerous times in the New Testament when Jesus observed the Sabbath and the holy days publicly – usually at the synagogue or, occasionally, in the temple. In John, chapter 7, and verse 37, we find Him observing and actually speaking at the Feast of Tabernacles when He was attending the Feast of Tabernacles during that year.

So again, number one: He consistently worshipped on the Sabbath publicly.

Number two: He was passionate about righteousness. He was passionate about righteousness. Righteousness is defined in the dictionary as the quality of being morally correct and made just in God’s eyes – morally correct and being made just – justified – in God’s eyes. Matthew, chapter 5, and verse 6 – let’s take a look at a few scriptures here in Matthew 5, if you will turn there with me. We see some examples where Jesus talks about righteousness, because righteousness was obviously on His mind. Righteousness is who He was, and He wanted His disciples, He wanted His people to understand that He had a passion about righteousness, and we should as well. Matthew, chapter 5, and verse 6:

Matthew 5:6 – Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. for they shall be filled. Now take a look at verse 10 – dropping down to that:

V-10 – Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Someone was telling me before services today that he wasn’t going to be able to have a job in the near future because the job required him to work on Saturday. The person sneeringly said to him, “Well you can’t do this job, because it is going to be on Saturday.” That is being persecuted for righteousness sake. You are being persecuted because your moral beliefs – being morally correct in loving and respecting God’s Sabbath day and being punished for it. That is simply what that is. He says: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The reward of someone who is persecuted for righteousness sake is, they will be in the Kingdom of God, because they maintained their values no matter what. Let’s drop down to verse 19 – this one causes some people to swallow really hard – but Matthew, chapter 5, and verse 19:

V-19 – Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven, for I say to you, “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Wow, they were pretty strict people. The Pharisees fasted every week – it was either Wednesday or Thursday – at least one day of the week. They meticulously tithed. They would take grains of seed and divvy it up to make sure they didn’t miss something. They were pretty righteous, pretty meticulous, pretty stringent in their religious observances.

So, allow me to ask you this question. As mere mortal human beings, how can those who hunger and thirst for righteousness be filled?  How can our righteousness exceed that of the dutiful righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees? Well the answer is: Because God’s children have something that they didn’t. You know what we have? We have the Spirit of God dwelling in us. When the Spirt – that same Spirit that the Father and Son share – dwells in us, we become righteous in the eyes of God. While we are in the process of becoming sanctified, and while we are developing the fruit of the Spirit – that’s a process that takes a long time – while we are growing and learning to reject sin, while we are developing the mind of Christ, the Spirit of God fills our spiritual void and declares us righteous in the eyes of God – because we share the same Spirit that the Father and the Son both have. You may recall in John, chapter 14, verse 23 – I think one of the most beautiful scriptures in the New Testament – Jesus said that He would be manifested to His disciples after His departure, and Judas – it says, “…not Iscariot” – asked Him, “How could you be manifested to us after your departure?” And here’s what Jesus said:

John 14:23 – Jesus answered and said to him,” If anyone loves me, he will keep My word and My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home in Him.”

So, you see, it all starts out when the Spirit of God enters our minds and we become righteous in the eyes of God. And as we grow – Jesus also said, “Become you therefore perfect…” – as we grow and as we change and as we develop the fruit of the Spirit, that void, that is in our lives, because we are carnal and merely human, is filled by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who dwells in us through the Spirit of God. Jesus made it possible for us to become spiritually righteous while we grow towards perfection and overcome the carnal human nature that resides within us.

So, are we passionate about righteousness? Do we want to grow? Do we desire to grow? Do we wake up with the commitment to develop more of the fruit of God’s spirit? To analyze ourselves during this time of year, and say, “I still need to work on this?” “I haven’t made much progress on this. I need to work on this particular attitude that I have, or in this area of my life.” Do we still have that passion about becoming righteous and not just taking God’s Spirit for granted – not grieving it – not taking it for granted – that wonderful power that God gives us – that strengthens us, coaches us and gives us the ability to help us make those changes?

Let’s take a look at the third statement and example of Jesus Christ – part of our checklist. Here it is: He had compassion. As a quality – an emotional quality – He was wired to have compassion. If you went to the dictionary, it would say: compassion is sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings and misfortunes of others. Let’s go to Matthew, chapter 9, and verse 35, and see one of the many examples where it says He was moved to compassion. He saw something that made Him sad and He saw something that touched Him. Have our hearts become so hardened that we have lost our ability to demonstrate compassion – sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings and misfortunes of others?

Matthew 9:35 – Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd. He is looking at the simple people out there and they are struggling to survive. You talk about poverty! Most of them are just living from day to day, hoping to sell, or provide some service, or do something to get enough food to feed their families today. Then they get to do it all over again tomorrow. They are weary. They are tired. They are oppressed. There are few leaders in the community. Most of the religious leaders in their community are charlatans. They are out for themselves. He says, “They are scattered like sheep having no shepherd.” When He saw the condition of their lives – the ongoing aggravated poverty that they lived in – and the fact there is no leadership in their community, it touched Him. It says He was moved with compassion. He said to His disciples, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few – those who are willing to make that sacrifice to work hard, care for others and to give them the gospel – the good news of encouragement and hope. There are very few people in the world who are willing to do that. Jesus says, “Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” That need is still as critical today as it was two thousand years ago when Jesus uttered those words. He genuinely cared for those who were suffering. I don’t want you to get me wrong. It wasn’t His time to remove all suffering and disillusionment from the world. He didn’t heal people in Greece. He didn’t heal people in Egypt. He didn’t even go – even in Jerusalem – and empty out the leper colonies, and heal thousands of people, and make it a great mission to empty out all the hospitals. But He did what He could in His area of influence. As He came across people, or people specifically went out of their way to come to Him and ask for help, He helped them. Again, it wasn’t His time to remove all suffering and disillusionment from the earth, but He did what He could in His own little world – in His own area of influence. And brethren, we can too, if we understand the importance of having compassion on people.

When He pondered the destruction of Jerusalem to occur forty years after He made this statement, in Matthew 23, and verse 27, He said:

Matthew 23:37 – “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How I often wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” He was broken-hearted. He knew prophecy and He understood that in forty years, this city is utterly going to be destroyed by the Romans. “How I’d just like to protect them! I’d like to say, “Hey, come and let Me be your protector. Let Me be your teacher and guide. Come to Me, you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” But they were too proud. They were too blind. They weren’t willing to do that. Jesus had compassion on the disadvantaged and the suffering.

In Matthew, chapter 14, when it said He fed five thousand men, not including women and children, it states in verse 14 of Matthew, chapter 14:

Matthew 14:14. “And when Jesus went out, He saw a great multitude, and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.” Before He fed them, He was moved with compassion. He didn’t say things like, “Well, you will have the poor with you always.” Jesus did make that statement, but in context, that statement was meant by the fact that Jesus was only going to be on earth a short while, and they needed to hear and listen to Him, because after He was gone, they would have plenty of time to care for the poor. So when people make statements and misquote Jesus Christ with statements like, “Well, you’ll have the poor with you always,” implying you don’t have to care about the poor, that is shameful! That is an embarrassment to the concept of Christianity!

Jesus had compassion. Do we follow the personal quality of Jesus? Are we caring and compassionate toward the lost and confused world, or are we just judging them all the time? It is also not yet our time to remove all suffering and disillusionment from the world. That is not our calling. We couldn’t do that. That day will come. May God will speed the Kingdom of God so we can do that. But we can do some compassionate things in our own little world. The people that we connect with, that we know, that we come into contact with or who seek us out, we can demonstrate our compassion to them, and we can help them in ways that we can help. And sometimes, that includes just encouraging them. Think about what Jesus did for most of the poor. What He did for most of the poor. What He did for most of the poor was not feed them. He fed them rarely, like the case of the five thousand, and He healed some, but here is what He did most of all: He gave people, who had no hope, an encouraging message about their future. He gave people who were despondent and disillusioned and had no reason to live, and said, “There is a Kingdom coming in which you are going to live in peace and prosperity, and your children and grandchildren, and God will establish His Kingdom on this earth. And you have the opportunity to be there and be part of it.” He gave them an inspirational message of hope! That is primarily what He did. We can do the same thing. We know people who are discouraged, who are despondent. who are disillusioned with life. We come across them all the time. What we can do is we can give them an encouraging message of hope. Again, we can show some compassionate actions and do some things, in our area of the world, in our own way, that we can influence others.

All right. Here is something else, let’s ask: Jesus Christ was not bigoted. He was not a bigot. Being bigoted is one who regards or treats the members of a group, such as a racial or ethnic group, with hatred or intolerance. That is what bigotry is and that is what bigots do. Let’s go to John, chapter 4, verse 3. Now if there was a classic example of what bigotry was in the time of Jesus, it would have been the attitude of the Jews toward the Samaritans. They hated the Samaritans so much they, wouldn’t even usually walk through Samaria. If they could avoid it, they would go around Samaria. They would walk longer, travel longer, in order not to have to look at, rub elbows with, or do anything with those despised Samaritans. They hated Samaritans. The Jews were bigoted against the Samaritans. So, it is really remarkable what we read in John, chapter 4, and we’ll pick it up here in verse 3. I am not going to go through this deeply – in a theological sense – we just covered that a few weeks back in that perspective – but I want to draw at a different perspective today.

John 4:3 – He left Judea and departed again to Galilee, but He needed to go through Samaria. So, He came to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied from His journey…. He was physical. He was certainly the Son of God. , sat thus by the well. So, you see He was brought into this world by the power of the Holy Spirit impregnating Mary, but He was also physical, and He got tired, and we see here that He was weary. He was tired. It had been a long day. …wearied from His journey, He sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” She says, “I am surprised. I’m surprised you would even speak to me – that you would say something like that, because everyone knows that the Jews hate us. They avoid us in every way they can.” For the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” And they continued on the conversation. But the point is, that even the woman is shocked that Jesus wasn’t bigoted like other Jews were. Jesus judged people as individuals by their conduct and their character. He did not judge people as a group.

In the story of the good Samaritan in Luke, chapter 10, He praised the conduct of the Samaritan, of all people, and criticized the selfishness of the religious leaders of His very own people. In Luke, chapter 7 a Roman Centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant without even needing to come. He says, “Look, I am a man under authority. I know the way it works. You don’t even have to come. Just say it and I know that my servant will be healed.” And sure enough, that happened. And it states there in verse 9:

Luke 7:9 – When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say unto you, I have not found such great faith, even in Israel.”  The Roman Centurion was a Gentile, but you see, Jesus did not judge groups. He judged people individually by their conduct and their character.

How about us brethren? We live in a world that puts everyone – the day they are born – into a manmade box, and that box has certain expectations – we are not supposed to jump out of that box – according to our income, or our skin color, or our ethnicity, or our language or our religious heritage. Do we simply lump people together in these groups? Are we bigoted in that way? Or do we realize that there are good and bad people in every manmade distinction. You can’t judge an individual by being part of a group. Like Jesus Christ, if we do need to pass judgement, we should pass judgement on the individual, according to their conduct and character and not label them as part of a group. Jesus was not bigoted.

Another question to ask, as we continue our checklist: His focus was on the future. He sought first the Kingdom of God. He taught us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Matthew, chapter 19, and verse 27 – let’s turn there. Peter asked a very profound question. I think this is a fair question. Jesus answered it well. In our own way, we too may, sometimes, have asked this of God in our prayers, as we are going through a difficult time. Peter said in Matthew, chapter 19, and verse:

Matthew 19:27-29 – Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You, therefore, what shall we have?” “What is going to be my reward for giving up everything – for giving up possible promotions, a lifetime sacrifice, of tithing, giving up income, giving up Saturday to worship You on Saturday, rather than going to work and doing all the things we do, to obey Your word of life?” Verse 28: So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” That is His direct promise to His original disciples. And then, beginning in verse 29, He talks about you and me. He talks about us. “And everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold – and here’s the best part – and inherit eternal life.” So, what is Jesus saying? He is saying in the time of regeneration – that is a Greek word, paliggenesia, and it means spiritual rebirth or renovation – He says, “In the Kingdom of God, those of you who followed Me, will be rewarded a hundred times more that you could have achieved in your lifetime. You had to give up a home? How about owning a hundred homes in the Kingdom of God? You had to give up a family. How about a spiritual family now of hundreds around the world – people you meet at feasts, people you meet in the local congregation, and someday having thousands and thousands and thousands of brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers to replace those that may have rejected you because of your faith? This is very encouraging. Jesus wanted us to appreciate and understand the importance of this. You see Jesus – yes, He enjoyed His physical life – but He was firmly focused on the future. It says in Mark, chapter 1, and verse 14:

Mark 1:14 – Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. That is that encouraging and inspiring message that I spoke about earlier that He preached continually. It is a message about the future. It is a futuristic message of hope and inspiration.

When Pilate asked Him what He had done to anger the Jewish leaders – the reason they wanted to crucify Him – He stated in John, chapter 18, and verse 36 – He said:

John 18:36 – “My kingdom is not of this world.” It is not about here, and it is not about now, because ultimately, here and now, in a physical sense, always passes until you run out of here and nows. We call that death. He said, “That is not My life. That is not what I am about.” “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now My kingdom is not from here.”

So, are we motivated to live not simply for today? We certainly should plan, and we should be gaining the most out of the opportunity in this physical life that God has given us the opportunity, but are we motivated to live not simply for the now and for today, but to live with a focus on the coming Kingdom of God. The only sure way this world’s problems are going to end is the establishment of that Kingdom. The only way that all of our personal challenges and difficulties and our struggles in the flesh are going to end is when Jesus Christ returns, and we are part of that first resurrection. We either come out of our graves, or those who are alive will leave this earth, and meet Jesus Christ in the air, as He returns, to this earth to establish that wonderful Kingdom. Focusing on the future – not living only for today and for the now, as unfortunately, is what our culture – our western culture – is all centered on.

Another question to ask ourselves – or statement – as far of this checklist: He treated sinners with respect and dignity. He treated sinners with respect and dignity. If you look in the dictionary the word respect means a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, their qualities or their achievements. So why should we have respect for everyone? Because everyone has the same Creator we do. Everyone, no matter how bad they are, was created in the image of God with incredible potential. Jesus was directly related to God the Father by being born through the inception of the Holy Spirit. He was truly the Son of God, yet he mingled with common men. He mingled and talked to prostitutes, thieves, politicians – I’m sorry, I repeat myself – thieves, politicians, tax collectors, and He spent time with the severely disabled. He didn’t think or act like He was above or superior to anyone. Mark, chapter 2, and verse 13 – this, of course, stunned His critics and they criticized Him over the fact that He treated everyone, including sinners, with respect and dignity. He even sat down and enjoyed a meal with then, and communicated and talked with them, and laughed with them. Mark, chapter 2, and verse 13 – it says:

Mark 2:13 – Then He went out again by the sea and all the multitude came to Him and He taught them. As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office and He said to him. “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. Now he was a tax collector. And the reason tax collectors were so hated was, to become a tax collector, you basically would give a lump sum of money. You would buy the ability – purchase the ability – to collect taxes in a county, or in a region, and you would have to pay that to the governing authority. Then it was your job to go out and collect taxes from individual people. And, if you collected more taxes than were really due, you made a big profit. So, your profit was after you went beyond what you paid for that ability to collect all those taxes. So, tax collectors were notoriously greedy, and misused people, and abused them by charging taxes that were higher than they should have been. So, the average person despised them. We have some professions here in the western world that people also despise. Continuing here: He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples, for there were many.  That is the second time it said “many.” So, do you think there were many? Sure, there are a lot. And they followed Him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Now, the way this is in the King James, we don’t pick up on the sarcasm that Jesus had in the original Greek. Let me read this to you in another translation. Here is God’s Word for Today: When Jesus heard them, He said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but those who are sick do. I have come to call sinners, not people who think they don’t have any flaws. See the difference? Christ knew these people had grave sins. He even refers to them as spiritually sick. But His internal values were strong, and He wasn’t afraid they would influence His high personal standards. He went there to be an example, not to be influenced by them.

Do we treat people from all walks of life with respect and dignity, or do we act or think like we’re superior to them? Are we kind and patient and respectful to the powerful, and then treat the disadvantaged with little respect? Do we treat everyone in the church with respect and kindness, but then everyone outside the church like they are condemned and unworthy of our time? Or do we look at every person and see a potential child of God. And yes, maybe they are blinded now. Maybe they don’t get it. Maybe they are living some pretty perverse and dysfunctional life styles, and they’re certainly paying the consequences for living that way of life. Still, they were created in God’s image and we should treat all people with respect and with dignity. In John, chapter 8, and verse 7, when a woman was caught in the act of adultery – you may remember that story – John wrote, and I will quote:

John 8:7 – So, when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And it says in verse 9: Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last, and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst. Now Jesus was not condoning her sin. He was probably wondered where the guy was – to be honest. Seems to be a little bit of hypocrisy here – where’s the other half of this adventure? But He wasn’t condoning her sin. He told her to go and sin no more. But He also knew that all of the hypocrites condemning her were just as guilty of sin as she was. They may not have been an adulterer, but they were a liar, a cheat, and they stole and they were evil, or wicked, or hated their brother, or were cheating parents, or other people, out of things. He could read the human heart, just like He told the Samaritan woman how many times she was married, and the fact that the man she was with now wasn’t really her husband, He could read and look into the human heart and mind and know everything there was to know about a person. And He knew they were all guilty of sin as bad as she was. But again, in this case with her, he treated her with respect and dignity, even though she was a sinner, and told her to go and sin no more.

Next statement – something else to put on our checklist: He was a loyal follower and He submitted to authority. He was a loyal follower and submitted to authority. A follower is defined in the dictionary as an adherent or devotee of a particular person cause or activity. You know, before Jesus became a leader, He first learned the importance of being a great follower. He learned to follow the Father’s direction and instruction. Great leaders are always great followers first, because the experience of followership teaches them compassion and wisdom, and an attitude of service, and how to motivate others in a genuine way. In John, chapter 5, if you will turn there with me, we’ll take a look at a few verses. John, chapter 5, and verse 19:

John 5:19 – Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son of man can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do, for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” Over and over again, Jesus said, “I follow the Father’s direction. He is the leader and I am the loyal follower. And I am submitting to my Father’s authority.” Verse 30:

V-30 – “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me.” I am going to read verse 30 from the New American Standard Bible – a different translation: “I can do nothing on My own initiative, As I hear I judge, and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”  Now this doesn’t mean Jesus didn’t have His own opinions or that He didn’t express them. He certainly did. On the eve of His crucifixion, He asked His Father if there was any other way for destiny to be completed without Him having to experience such a painful death, including crucifixion. He wanted to know if this cup – this burden – that I am to carry could somehow be altered, could be removed from Him – that is Matthew, chapter 26 – but He knew it couldn’t. And He followed the Father’s plan. But He certainly had His own opinions and certainly expressed how He felt about things. But to His core, He was a loyal follower. He submitted to authority.

How about us, brethren? I know this is hard for those of us who grew up here in the western world – that focuses on the importance of individualism. Unlike nations in the Far East, where the most important thing is the balance of society, and individual rights are secondary to the balancing of what is best for everyone, in the western world, it is all about individual rights – and will inconvenience the 99.9% in order to cater to someone who has some particular form of dysfunction. It’s a whole different mindset here in the western world. Are we willing to be loyal followers and to submit to authority? Are we willing to listen and learn and follow? Are we willing to let others lead us on the job, or do we bristle that we have a boss on the job, or that the boss may tell us to do something? Are we willing to let others lead us in our homes, in our communities, even in God’s church? Everyone, ultimately, answers to someone else. Even as your pastor, I serve you at the pleasure of the United Church of God’s administration and the Council of Elders. I’m under their authority. They have the right to replace me at any time and for any reason. A time will come in the future when I will step aside, and this congregation will have another pastor, and I will be a loyal follower and submit to the authority of that pastor. As long as I am not asked to do anything that is unethical or immoral, I will be follower and submit to the authority of that pastor at that time.

Jesus Christ set the example of being a loyal follower and He submitted to authority. Are we willing to do that? I know in our western world that is very difficult, because our culture emphasizes individualism so much.

One final statement we will take a look on our checklist to conclude the sermon today – and here it is: He expects His disciples to bear consistent fruit. He expects His disciples to bear consistent fruit. Let’s go to John, chapter 15, and verse 12 – last scripture that we will look at today – a few verses we will look at in John, chapter 15.

John 15:12-16 – This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. Jesus Christ would soon be doing that Himself. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends…. He says, “I want a close intimate relationship with my followers. I don’t want to be far off somewhere where it is just servant and master. I don’t want that kind of a relationship. I want a friendship. I want to talk to you. I want you to talk to Me. I want you to know Me, I want to know you.” This is what Jesus is saying. For all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. Verse 16: You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain. So, the goal isn’t just to bear fruit for a while – ta da! – and then we go back to our old way of life. That’s not what He is saying here. He says, “I want you to bear fruit. I want you to take two steps forward and realize that you made growth. I don’t want you to take one step forward and two steps backward. I want you to consistently be growing and developing the fruit and going forward and that fruit is remaining.” …that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you that you love one another. I am going to read verse 16 from the translation the New Century Version; You did not choose Me, I chose you, and I gave you this work to go and produce fruit that will last. He expects his disciples to bear consistent fruit – not just for a season, not just for a couple of years and then lapse back into our old ways, and our old habits, and the old man, and the kind of thoughts and attitudes we had previously. That is not what He is looking for in a disciple. In my forty-five years plus in the church I have seen a lot of supernovas. These are individuals who came into the church in a blaze of glory – very talented. They were on fire for God’s way of life. And a lot of them, frankly, were ministers, but most of them had a personal agenda. They had an Achilles heel – some spiritual flaw – an Achilles heel, and they didn’t last. They produced fruit for a short period of time, but then, unfortunately, went right back into the sin or depravity that they previously had. They were supernovas – a bright light for a short period of time and then darkness. They are gone. They vanished. Jesus said in the parable of the sower, in Luke, chapter 8, and verse 15 – He says:

Luke 8:15 – But the ones that fell on good ground are those, that having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it – not just for a season. Don’t show growth just for a little while – for a short period of time – but with a good and noble heart, they keep it and bear fruit with patience.

It takes patience to grow. It takes patience to bear fruit. Sometimes we have to be patient with ourselves, because of our own weaknesses. Sometimes we have to be patient with others, who we know and love, because they may do some things that irritate us and aggravate us. Sometimes we may even need to have patience with God, because we may be going through some things, and He is working in us in a way that we don’t even understand why. Why am I suffering like this? Why are not my prayers being answered? Why am I struggling with these things, seemingly year after year, God? Keep it and bear fruit with patience, and know that God is working out a plan in your life, and we may not exactly know what it is yet. We may not know why we are going through the things that we are. Our faith teaches us that we trust God – that God knows what He is doing – and that He is working out something for our good in our weakness to serve Him for eternity.

So today we have looked at the example of Jesus Christ. If you noticed, I didn’t use any examples from Paul. I didn’t go to Old Testament prophets. I didn’t read anything from Peter. We specifically zeroed in on the example – the things said, or the things done – by Jesus Christ Himself. We did this to create our own personal checklist and a comparison with His example and maybe some things we can work on, as we prepare for the holy days this year. Again, Jesus is not only our Savior, but He is our role model as the perfect Son of God. So, I hope you take this checklist and meditate on it during the next week, and it is something we can all learn from as we compare ourselves, not among each other, but as we compare ourselves with Jesus Christ. Have a wonderful Sabbath.