What Would Jesus Do?

Title: What Would Jesus Do?

Text: 1 Cor 10:31-11:1, 1 Peter 2:21

Date: 11/11/07

Location: Sulphur Spring Baptist Church

Introduction: It was a beautiful Sunday morning in the little town of Raymond. The members of the First Church of Raymond were all decked out in their Sunday finest, and were enjoying another inspirational worship service.

Rachel Winslow an attractive young lady had just finished singing a beautiful arrangement of the song, "Where He leads Me I will Follow.” The pastor, Rev. Henry Maxwell stood up, walked over to the podium and began to deliver His message to the congregation.

Today’s message was on being a Disciple of Christ and Following His example. As usual Maxwell did a wonderful job of delivering the message. Just before the close of the service a man who had been seated at the back of the church stood up and made his way down the aisle to the front of the auditorium.

The man looked to be in his early thirties. His clothes were dirty and torn, he looked as if he hadn’t had a bath in several days. He turned around to face the congregation and said, "I’ve been wondering about something ever since I came in here, and with your pastor’s permission I would I would just like to say a word at the close of the service.”

First of all, I want you to know I’m not drunk, and I’m not crazy, I am perfectly harmless, but if I die, which is very likely, I want the satisfaction of knowing that I had my say in a place like this, and before this sort of a crowd."

The people didn’t know what to think or what to do about this stranger, so they just sat there and listened to what he had to say.

He told them that he was unemployed even though he had been looking for a job for several months. Then he asked them a very important question, He said, "What does it mean to follow Jesus? What do you mean when you sing, "I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way?" "Do you mean that you are willing to deny yourself or even suffer like He did as you seek to save those who are lost?”

Then after a short pause the man told the congregation that the other night he had listened to another group of Christians sing several beautiful songs. He told them that as He sat there listening to those beautiful old hymns a thought came to his mind.

He said, “there seems to be an awful lot of trouble in the world that somehow wouldn’t exist if all the people who sing Christian songs went and lived them out.”

Then he shook his head and looked at the pastor and the crowd again before saying “I suppose I just don’t understand. But what would Jesus Do? Is that what you mean by following His In Steps?

Then all of a sudden the man collapsed. Rev. Maxwell quickly dismissed the crowd and a doctor in the congregation came to the man’s aid. But there wasn’t much he could do, the man never regained consciousness and died later that afternoon.

The incident I just shared with you never really took place. But it has challenged thousands of Christians around the world to take a good look at what it means to be a Disciple of Jesus Christ.

It comes from a book entitled, "In His Steps,” which was written in 1896 by a man by the name of Charles Sheldon, who was the pastor of a church in Topeka, Kansas.

This book, and another book entitled, "What Would Jesus Do?" Which is a contemporary version of Sheldon’s book that was written by his Great Grandson, were the inspiration behind these little bracelet’s with the letters W. W. J. D. on them. They stand for "What would Jesus do?"

The bracelet serves as a reminder to the individual wearing it that they are a disciple of Christ, and therefore what they say and do is a reflection on Him and His teachings.

This morning I want to use that question as we discuss some practical ways of living out our faith in the 21st Century.

I want to do this by presenting you with a number of real life situations that Jesus faced, which will also face.

1. What would Jesus do if he came across someone in need?

Of course this was something that happened all the time. When Jesus wasn’t teaching or preaching He was trying to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the people.

A. One day Jesus had spent much of the day teaching and ministering to a large crowd of people near the Sea of Galilee. When his disciples came to him and encouraged him to send the people away so they could go find something to eat since it was getting late in the day and it was a remote place. Jesus told the disciples to feed them.