What Would Jesus Do? (Part 8) – Be Led by The Spirit

This is my 14th post on “Renewed Day-by-Day,” and for some of you who know me very well, you’re probably thinking “How can Pastor Mike make it through 13 blog posts without a ‘Princess Bride’ reference?!” Indeed, some of you may say “That’s inconceivable!” Perhaps now is the time to relieve the tension of that expectation! You see, over the course of these “What would Jesus do?” posts, one of the things I’ve been trying to impress, repeatedly, is the significance of the truth that Jesus Christ is fully human and why this truth is so important for believers as they live out their lives in Christ. But in so doing, I think I can be readily accused of saying too much sometimes. Cue the reference! In Princess Bride, after Wesley has gone from being “only mostly dead” to barely alive again, things are pretty urgent. The wicked King Humperdink is about to marry Wesly’s true love and this must be stopped now! But Wesley needs to be brought up to date on the situation because much has happened while he’s been mostly dead, so Indigo tells him “Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.” So, let me sum up!

Jesus Christ, in the mystery of His incarnation, is both fully God and fully man, and as a man, Jesus lived a human life of perfect obedience to His Father, and by the power of His resurrection and ascension to the Father’s right hand, Jesus imparts the power of His human life to us, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, so that we can grow to “walk in the same way in which he walked” (1st John 2:6) in our human lives. So then, Jesus’ human life is an example for us to follow (1st Peter 2:21), not in our own strength, but by “the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:19-20). In other words, Jesus’ example is one we can grow to follow because there is immeasurably great power towards us to follow His example, and His example is purposeful. He lived as He did so that we can live as we ought.

One important way Jesus lived His human life as He did so that we can live as we ought is in following the leading of the Holy Spirit. We see this right at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Matthew writes that “…when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him” (Matthew 3:16). As Jesus begins the world saving work of the Christ, it is with the Spirit’s presence resting upon Him, and necessarily so, for Matthew then writes “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1). The man Jesus Christ, “who in every respect has been tempted as we are,” (Hebrews 4:15), faced the great temptations of the devil and overcame them by the leading and power of the Holy Spirit…just like we ought to. And if you question my assertion that Jesus relied upon the Spirit’s power as He was led, consider Jesus’ words to His detractors when He tells them “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matthew 12:28).

After Jesus’ temptation, it was time for Him to begin His public ministry, and as He did, “…Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country” (Luke 4:14). And as Jesus began His public ministry, in Luke’s account, Luke begins with Jesus self-proclamation of His fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy as Jesus read “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18).

Jesus’ example of being led by the Spirit and walking in the power of the Spirit is purposeful and powerful for us as we seek to follow Him. We must both heed His example and trust in the power of His example to come alive in us by God’s grace. Paul closes the loop for us on this truth and its real application in our lives in Romans 8, so I leave you with Paul’s words rather than mine!

“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:3-6).