WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?
We should ask ourselves this question in every circumstance of our lives.
However, it is also true Jesus had a ministry on earth that was very different to our ministry. After all, He was the son of God, coming to earth to reconcile us to God the Father.
He has the authority to forgive sin. He has a beautiful heart. He loves the sinner and forgives the sin.
It is our ministry to point people towards this Jesus of Love!
That is exactly what Angus Buchan was doing on the afternoon of the 22 of April, when he called our nation to prayer. Over one million people came to bow to their knees in the dirt of a Bloemfontein farm. And although they did not literally ‘see’ Gods hand move or ‘see’ his presence as the Israelites saw God on their journey through the desert, as a cloud of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night, they certainly all sensed a change in their hearts and their spirits as they reconnected with Gods love and their hope was renewed.
But, there were a few things that Angus said that hurt and offended a large segment of the people in our country.
So, let us look at the scripture to see what the Bible says about this.
John the Baptist came before Jesus with a message for everyone to Repent. To get their lives right with God before the Messiah came.
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
3 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”[a] 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare[b] the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’”4 Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
Matthew 3:1-6
South Africa has reached a tipping point as corruption and injustice are seen to be spiraling out of control. The desperate drought in our land actually reflects the lack of ‘sustenance’ that the people are receiving from our leaders.
And it is for this very reason that Angus Buchan was called on and implored to ‘Do Something’.
And his ‘Do Something’ was to call the nation to prayer. To call on God to make a change that only God can make. The current situation requires ‘supernatural intervention’. Believers in God, trust and believe that God can make a way where there seems to be no way.
But if we want the God of heaven and earth to move his hand – to intervene in a powerful and miraculous way – then we have to show Him that we love Him, that we are prepared to choose to live our lives according to His will and that we will be faithful to his word.
John the Baptist called people to repent to prepare the way for Jesus. And Angus Buchan called people to repent to prepare the way for Gods hand to move.
How can we call upon God in His sovereignty and ask him to show His power, to be our God and hear our plight, if we still choose to live our lives our own way? If we are calling on God to move, we need to show him that we are truly His people and that we are choosing to live in His way. If we want to see change we need to be prepared to change too.
God knows that we are all imperfect. That we are all sinners. That we all make wrong choices. And He still loves us – more than we will ever know.
That is why He sent Jesus Christ, His one and only son, to die on the cross for our sins.
To be the sacrificial lamb.
Jesus is the lover of our souls. Jesus wants us to know His love.
God Has Set Things Right
21-24 But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.
25-26 God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.
Romans 3:22-28 (MSG)
So, let’s go back to my first question ‘What would Jesus do?’
If Jesus were to have arrived in person at that prayer meeting on the 22nd of April, what would He have said to the people.
I believe that He would sat on the edge of that stage and talked to crowd as if He was talking directly to the hearts of each man and woman present.
I believe that He would have said “I love you. I love you. I love you! I love this nation and I love each and every one of you. I want to see you living in the fullness of my blessings. I know your sins – and they are many – but your faith has saved you; go in peace and I will bring peace to your land. Go in peace and sin no more.”
He would have shown so much love and each one present would have shown so much love back.
A changed heart means a changed life and a changed life means a changed world!
The impact of love makes all the difference.
You see, Jesus isn’t about religion – he is about relationship.
The law puts shame on you, but the grace of Jesus takes the shame right off you.
Jesus Christ is God’s grace personified.
Jesus showed such love and grace towards sinners when he walked the earth. When the religious people saw only the sin, Jesus saw the person and the condition of their heart.
Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman
36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.[a] 37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”
40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”
“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.
41 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver[b] to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”
43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the larger debt.”
“That’s right,” Jesus said. 44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.
47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”
50 And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Luke 7:36-50 (NLT)
Let us show our faith in Christ. Let us go in peace and live peacefully and lovingly towards one another. Let us sin no more.