Just Like Jesus – Foundations of a Worldview

Just Like Jesus
Foundations of a Worldview

Matthew 5:17-19
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

“You are what you eat.” Or so nutritionists tell us.

Some might say, “You are what you wear,” as if fashion could somehow make us more authentic? Or respectable? Or admired?

God says, “You are what you love.” If we love Jesus, we will keep His commandments. And guess what: When we keep the commandments of Jesus, we become like Him.

We must not separate Jesus from the Law of God, or loving Jesus from obeying the Law. It’s a mistake to think this way, one that is sure to short-circuit our efforts to learn and live a Biblical worldview. Jesus came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. If we love Jesus, we’ll become like Him, eager to fulfill the Law and the Prophets in our own lives.

But we don’t rely on our own strength in this effort. God has given us His Spirit for the express purpose (1) of teaching us His commandments, (2) thereby showing us His glory, (3) thus transforming us into the very image of Jesus His Son, and (4) so empowering us to live the Good Life (Ezek. 36:26, 27; 2 Cor. 3:12-18; Phil. 2:12, 13; Eph. 3:20; Acts 1:8).

Jeremiah declared that as he “ate” the Word of God—the central theme and focus of which is Jesus—that Word, massaged by the Spirit throughout his soul, became the source of great joy and rejoicing (Jer. 15:16). The more he ate, the more he rejoiced; the more he rejoiced, the more he loved to eat.

And the more he became like Jesus.

We should expect that, as we grow in understanding and living the Biblical worldview, our lives will look less like what we’ve always known and more like what we’re learning to love: Jesus.

In this study we’ll be “dining” on the Law of God—like Jesus Himself did—and, as we do, we expect to be transformed into the very image of Him from Whom, through Whom, and to Whom are all things, and to Whom belongs all glory forever (Rom. 11:36).

That should be an interesting journey.

Act: Meditate on Philippians 2:12, 13. Notice that Paul commands us to work out our salvation, not for it. We do not keep the Law in order to be saved; we keep the Law because we are saved. Why? How would you explain this difference to a non-believing friend?

Jesus came proclaiming the Kingdom of God—another primary theme of Scripture. Order a copy of The Gospel of the Kingdom from our online store, and learn how you can become more effective at proclaiming this wonderful Good News.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).