What Would Jesus Do? Well, Not Exactly.
“Jesus ate with sinners!”
The drug-addicted mother threw the statement in the face of her substance-recovering daughter as a taunt and manipulative tool. The daughter had recently come to Christ and was seeking to find freedom from a drug-shrouded childhood. She was raised in the drug culture by a mother who was equally given to its grip.
“But, but, I am not Jesus.” The daughter answered.
The daughter had turned down an invitation by her mother to come to a party that the daughter knew would be an overwhelming source of temptation. People do this to us. They try to turn what little they know of theology against us. It is a manipulative tool, and believers—even new believers—must be willing to trust their Holy Spirit-led instincts in these situations even when they cannot quite articulate a response.
“Jesus couldn’t sin, but I can, and I don’t want to sin.” The daughter reasoned.
This is not a made-up conversation. It actually occurred. When the daughter later told us about it, I was taken aback. I have never really thought about that situation from that perspective. It was a truth built on fairly deep theological principles. The impeccability of Jesus Christ meant that He could do things that the rest of us could not do. He had no spiritual weaknesses.
He could not sin. We can.
While we all must follow the example of Christ into Christ-likeness, it does not follow that we must do or even should do, everything that Christ did. He could enter into situations that would present temptations that would overwhelm us. He could attempt things—like walking on water—that would be foolish for us to attempt.
What would Jesus do? Is a moral standard for making choices in life, but as a standard, it is more about the moral reasoning behind the decisions being made, than just the decisions themselves. While Jesus ate with publicans and sinners, he did not party with them in the modern sense of partying. The New Testament clearly tells us to be mindful of our own weaknesses when interacting with sinners (Galatians 6:1-2).
Matthew 11:19 shows us that Jesus was a friend of sinners in that He never rejected sinners who were truly seeking a relationship with Him. He even pursued them. That spirit must also be reflected in my heart. I should be willing to reach out and receive people from the most difficult circumstances in life for the purpose of the love of Christ and the gospel. I should never just join with them in their sin because they guilt me about it.
Do not become a victim of this type of manipulation, whether you are a new believer or have been in the faith for many years. Satan loves to misuse scripture to manipulate us. He even tried it with Jesus. In the record of the temptation of Christ in Matthew 4:1-11, Satan first accused Jesus based upon His identity.
“If you are the Son of God, then command that these stones be made bread.”
Almost everyone has faced a similar claim from someone. “If you are who you really are, and God is who you say He is, then why don’t you just . . . ?” You know what comes next. They will tempt you with something you really want. In Jesus’ case, His body really wanted to eat. The text says it. He was hungry. But at this moment, the will of God for Jesus was to be hungry, and turning stones into bread, although possible for Jesus to do, was not what the Father wanted.
“Jump off! After all, don’t you believe Psalm 91:11-12?” That is my modern paraphrase of what comes next in the temptation. Satan to Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and said this to Him.
“After all, do you have a guardian angel or don’t you?”
This manipulative tactic proclaims a biblical promise and then demands a foolish or sinful action based upon that promise. It is a sin to presume foolishly on the protective hand of God.
“If you worship me, I will release my grip on the world.”
Another way Satan tempted was an “end justifies the means” scenario. This happens commonly to those who are trying to break away from a sinful lifestyle. “If you come with me to the bar, I will go with you to the church.” Or even, “If you sleep with me tonight, I let my kids go to church with you tomorrow.” This kind of deal-making is insincere and always destructive. Satan was promising something he could not, or would not deliver, and even if he did, the sin that it would take on Jesus’ part would not have been worth it (whether Jesus could have or could not have sinned is fodder for another discussion).
Never allow yourself to be manipulated into sin or even a tempting situation that you know would be wrong for you—no matter how much people seek to use “biblical reasoning” to get you there.
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