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One Sunday as they drove home from church, a little girl turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, there's something about the pastor's message this morning that I don't understand." 

"Who: Being Mistaken for .Jesus"     Cicero United Methodist Church

February 13, 2011      Jack Keating         Text: 2 Corinthians 3:18

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            One Sunday as they drove home from church, a little girl turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, there's something about the pastor's message this morning that I don't understand." Her mother said, "Oh, what's that?" The little girl said, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. He said God is so big that he could hold the whole world in his hand. Is that true?" The mother replied, "Yes, that's true, honey."

            "But Mommy, he also said that God comes to live inside of us when we accept Jesus
as our Savior. Is that true, too?" Again the mother assured the little girl that what the pastor had said was true. With a puzzled look on her face the little girl then asked, "If God is bigger than us and he lives in us, wouldn't he show through?"

            And, that's the point isn't it? If we're Christians, when people see us, Jesus ought to show through - in our homes, our offices, our community and in every aspect of our lives. The "Who" of telling our story involves us being people who reflect the story of Jesus and his love.

            Listen to those words once again from the apostle Paul to the church in Corinth, "and
we, who ... reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness ..... "

            It seems to me that there are 2 pretty important ideas for us to consider in that verse. The first is that we who are Christians are supposed to reflect Jesus. In other words, when people see us they should be able to see Jesus in us - in what we say and in what we do.

            And secondly, with each passing day we ought to be more and more transformed to be like him. And again, that is to be evident in what we do and in what we say.

            So the question we might ask this morning is "How would things be different if Jesus came and took your place? Would anything have been different this morning as you got ready to come to church? What if He took over your job at work? Student, what if He sat in your desk at school? Or what if He took my place in the pulpit?

            Whether we realize it or not, that is exactly what He wants - to make Himself known to others through each of our lives.

            You see, as Christians and as witnesses, our goal should be to introduce Jesus to others - to make Jesus known. We should want everyone who doesn't yet know Him to come to love Him, to discover the joy, the hope, the power He can bring into their lives.

FIRST, WE ARE TO LOOK LIKE JESUS

            Now if that is ever going to happen, people must be able to see Jesus. But, unfortunately, the eyes of so many people today have been clouded over by the master of this age. Their vision seems to have been polluted by the trappings of this world and the moral decay that surrounds us. So how, you ask, are they ever going to see Jesus?

            Well I would suggest that if they're going to see Jesus, they'll have to see Jesus in us. And that's why Paul is challenging us to reflect Jesus in our lives by being transformed into His likeness. We must look like Jesus.

            But what does it mean to look like Jesus? Well, I'm guessing you're realizing that I'm not talking about growing beards or wearing a certain kind of clothing. Instead, it means to be like Him, to imitate the character and nature and attitudes of Jesus Christ.

            In fact, in Ephesians 5:1-2 that is exactly what the apostle Paul urged the early Christians to do: "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Be imitators of Jesus? Man, what a challenge to undertake!!!

            By the way, when people look at Jesus what do they see? Well, I think they see a Jesus who is generous with His time, His love and His power. They see one who is genuine in. His care and compassion and in His commitment to the will of God and to others.

            So now pause for a second and consider this            What do people See when they look at us? Do they see us being generous in the same ways Jesus was? Do they see us being genuine about our faith and our commitments?

            People also looked at Jesus and saw Him to be incredibly receptive. He would welcome anyone who approached Him: the intelligent and the illiterate, the child-like and the childish, the prosperous and the impoverished, the dedicated and the desperate, the seeker and the sick.

            He had such an open door to His heart that He is called, not a "teacher of sinners," or "a changer of sinners," but a "friend of sinners". What better friend could anyone ever have than Jesus? And so what kind of friend do sinners find in us?

            Again, do we look like Jesus? Do our lives, our hearts, our nature reflect His glory? Are we imitating Him? We must make Jesus known by looking like Him if we are to witness to his love and power.

SECONDLY, WE ARE TO SOUND LIKE JESUS

            If it is our goal to introduce people to Jesus, then we must begin to sound like Jesus. When people heard Jesus speak teach they were amazed. Listen to verse 11 from the reading we heard from Mark's gospel..... "This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, 'We have never seen anything like this!'"

            People were talking. A modern translation, "the Message" phrases it this way "From this point on, anytime Jesus walked into the synagogue, the market, or into someone's home ... people talked." His comments, His teachings, His rebukes, His words of love had people talking.

            Oh, there were people who didn't like to hear Jesus - but they belonged to the rulers who were desperately trying to maintain their control over the people's lives and loyalty. And there are people today who don't want others listening to Jesus because when they do, questions are raised and hearts and lives are changed.

            In 1 Peter 2:23 the apostle Peter tells us, "When they hurled insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats."

            So our task is to help make Jesus known by sounding like Him. In 1 Corinthians 4:12-13 the apostle Paul writes, "When we are cursed, we bless; and when we are persecuted, we answer kindly."

            Our vocabulary, our conversations, our prayers, our stories - must all echo His love, compassion and care. Our message must be a testimony of hope and change that encourages those who know us to want to know Jesus, too.

            I read that there's been a lot of research lately seeking to determine just how much
patients in the operating room, who are fully sedated, are aware of what is being said around them. In times past doctors assumed that such patients were completely oblivious to everything around them - but no longer.

            Two separate research projects have reported that the minds of the fully anesthetized patients can still be aware of what is being said around them. One of the researchers reported, "What the unconscious patient's mind hears - say a remark like, ‘He's a goner' - can have a very adverse effect on the patient's chance for a recovery."

            In one study, anesthetized patients heard a taped voice during the surgery saying that after the surgery, when they're meeting with the doctor, they should signify having heard the message by tugging on their ears. Later, when they were being interviewed, the patients tugged on their ears, although 'none of them seemed to know why they were doing it.

            At the University of California Medical School a Dr. Bennett, reports that when anesthetized patients were given the suggestion during surgery that one hand was becoming
warmer and the other cooler, the hands temperature actually did so.

            And, like those patients, people in this world who have not given their lives over to
God are walking around with their God-created instincts, reflexes, and morals impaired by the 'spiritual drugs' of our day.

            But God has planted among such people voices to proclaim messages of spiritual
recovery and healing. Who are these voices, you ask? We are. And they will only hear His
words if we somehow begin to sound like Jesus. If they're ever going to hear the love story
of Jesus, they must hear it from us.

THIRDLY, WE ARE TO ACT LIKE JESUS

            Last of all, if we are ever going to introduce people to Him, then we must also act
like Jesus. In John 13, we see our Lord wrapping Himself in a towel, washing the feet of his
disciples, demonstrating the heart and actions of a servant. Listen to what Jesus says in vss. 12-17 as paraphrased in "The Message":

            "After he had finished washing their feet, He took His robe, put it back on, and went back to His place at the table. Then He said, 'Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as 'Teacher' and 'Master' and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher washed your feet, you must now wash each other's feet.

            I've laid down a pattern for you. What I've done, you do. I'm only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn't give orders to the' employer. If you understand what I'm telling you, act like it ... and lived a blessed life. If you understand what I'm telling you, Jesus says, then act like it."

            The person who trusts in Jesus will do what Jesus is doing and even greater things -
because Jesus goes to the Father for US to make it possible.

            We're called to act as He did - to give God's promises, teach them about God's kingdom, serve people's needs, love people with our hearts and hands. We are to bring people into God's presence - to help them find healing and to point them to God's sacrifice on the cross and to help them find salvation.

            A few years ago I heard an interesting story about a young boy living in Paris at the
end of World War II. He had been orphaned by the atrocities committed by the German forces. Now all alone, he was having to scrounge around the ruined city as best he could to find food, clothes and shelter.

            But, nearly everyone was experiencing desperate times, and he found that people either ignored him or had nothing to give him.

            Years before, he had heard someone talk about God and Jesus. But with all the hell on earth that the war had brought into his life, he had long since lost what meager faith he once had.

            One cold morning, he was wandering down the street, starring into the windows of shops and cafes. He stopped outside the window of a small bakery. The smell of the fresh made bread made his stomach ache with pain. He was so absorbed by the smell and the sights of the bakery that he didn't realize an American soldier had come up and was watching him.

            The boy hardly noticed when the G.I. walked past him into the store. He did, however, notice the large bag the baker was filling for the G.I. with rolls, breads, and pastries. And the boy could hardly breathe when the soldier exited the shop, knelt down and handed him the bag.

            He looked up at the G.I with astonishment and gratefulness. Finally he asked the question that was running through his mind: "Mister, are you Jesus?"

            To be mistaken for Jesus.... What an audacious idea - to have our actions so remind others of what Jesus is about and what Jesus would do. But, then again, shouldn't that be the goal for all of us?

            "And we, who .... reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness .... "
May it ever be so as we, each of us, takes the story of Jesus to the lost and hurting in our world. AMEN.