Tag Archives: They took note that they had been with Jesus

Posted on

Just Be With Jesus

The First Priority Of Your Walk With Christ

More than anything, we were created for an intimate relationship with God. Now there are certainly other things that will please God and bring glory to him through our lives, but nothing is more honoring to the Creator than to walk in a close, personal and loving relationship with his Son, Jesus Christ. Being in an all-consuming, life-altering journey that comes from persistently hanging out with Jesus as his devotee is the greatest calling and highest privilege we have as disciples.

The Journey: Mark 3:12-15

Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.

More than anything, we were created for an intimate relationship with God. Now there are certainly other things that will please God and bring glory to him through our lives, but nothing is more honoring to the Creator than to walk in a close, personal and loving relationship with him.

According to the Bible, the only way that gets expressed is by knowing Jesus: by being in an all-consuming, life-altering journey that comes from persistently hanging out with Jesus as his devotee. In fact, the Apostle John, the one who knew and loved Jesus as much as any human being ever, said this was, in itself, eternal life.

Acts 4:13 shows us the inevitable outcome of being in that kind of intimate, persistent, loving relationship: “When the Jewish council saw Peter and John’s courage and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”

Peter and John had simply “been with Jesus” until they looked and acted increasingly like him—they had assumed his mindset, absorbed his characteristics and expressed his behavior. They had hung out so closely in such an intense way with Jesus that they had absorbed him to the point they were now exuding him without even thinking about it. They had been transformed through that relationship and conformed to that relationship!

That is what you and I were created to experience: A relationship with Jesus whereby his life gets transmitted to us, and through us, so that we begin to transmit the infectious DNA of Jesus Christ.

You may not have a religious pedigree or be well-versed in theology. You may not be naturally winsome, or articulate, or even all that likeable. Your “cool factor” may be pretty much non-existent. Maybe you lack more than you have. That doesn’t matter! What you do have trumps all you don’t have: You have every possibility that Peter and John had to “be with Jesus”.

That is the greatest goal you can have—that at the end of the day, the only thing people can do with you is to take note that you have been with Jesus. They may not like you or be impressed with you and they may wish you would just go away. But when it is all said and done, all they can do with you it to admit, “obviously, you have been hanging with Jesus!”

Make that your goal today. And then start hanging with Jesus. Pure and simple—that is eternal life!

You were made for that! The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:29, “From the beginning God decided that those who came to Him should become like His Son.” That is God’s inexorable plan: to make you like Jesus! He is orchestrating everything in your life right now for that purpose—circumstances, disappointments, temptations, opportunities, blessings. At this very moment, God is leveraging heaven’s resources to conform your character to Christ’s. That ought to give you confidence. As A.W. Tozer noted, “When I understand that everything happening to me is to make me more Christlike, it resolves a great deal of anxiety.”

So your journey into Christlikeness is not all up to you! God is rearranging heaven and moving earth to give you opportunity to be with Jesus—and to become like Jesus.

Yet divine transformation needs human collaboration. In a way, being with Jesus is on you! It is not just a mindset or a good intention. It is an intentional posture. As much as anything, to get intentional with your growth toward Christlikeness will require of you the daily practice of being with Jesus.

Divine transformation requires human collaboration!

I would simply suggest that each day—and throughout the day—you literally invite Jesus to join you in what is in front of you. Literally ask Jesus, “How would you handle this situation? What do you think about this opportunity? What should I do about this challenge? How would you respond to this person?” Just practice being with Jesus in the ordinary moments of your daily life.

To get practical with this, think about it this way: If you were to literally spend time with Jesus, what three attributes, attitudes and or actions would you witness in him?

For me, when I think of what Jesus would be doing in any one of his ordinary days: One, he would be unbendingly truthful yet incredibly gracious with people. Two, he would serve people—especially those we would consider the least worthy of his service. And three, even when he was treated unfairly, he would never retaliate; he would only offer love and grace in return.

Gracious, serving, forgiving—there are thousands of descriptives I could come up with—you too. So take a moment and write down the first three qualities of Jesus that come to your mind. Then your assignment this week will be to intentionally hang out with Jesus, consciously and consistently doing those three things you wrote down that you believe Jesus would do. Give that your best shot, and most likely, you will look a little more like Christ by this time next week!

And maybe people will take note that you have been with Jesus.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, give me the courage and the determination to make secondary things second to the primary duty I have to just spend time being with Jesus. There is no greater thing. Doing will come, but first, help me just to be.
Posted on

Hanging Out With Jesus

Reflect:
Acts 3:1-4:37

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)

Peter and John didn’t have much—no money, no position, no education, no religious pedigree. They were simple Galilean fishermen—blue collar, hardhat types who were now standing before the most august body of religious leaders in the land. And not only were they holding their own, they were blowing these highbrow Jewish leaders right out of the theological water.

The Jews wanted them to stop using the name of Jesus. They thought they had taken care of the “Jesus” problem when they had him crucified. They figured his small band of uneducated, backwoods followers would disband and go away once their leader was dead and buried. Now here they were, not only teaching in the temple and perpetuating this myth, they had actually healed a man who had been crippled for over 40 years. What were they going to do with these pesky disciples?

Peter, who had publicly denied Jesus just a few weeks prior, and John, who had fled naked into the night when Jesus was arrested, now standing toe-to-toe and looking eyeball-to-eyeball with these intimidating leaders, told them in no uncertain terms that it would be impossible to quit preaching about Jesus and healing in his name since salvation came only through Jesus, “for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Since the man who had been healed was standing right there as living proof of Peter and John’s message, the Jews had no alternative but leave this narrow, intolerant theology alone and let these ignorant men go. But on the way out, they Jewish council paid the highest compliment any follower of Christ could ever receive—that “they had been with Jesus”. (Acts 4:13)

You may not have much of a religious pedigree. You may not be well versed in Christian theology. You may not be naturally winsome, articulate, or all that likeable. Your “cool factor” may be pretty much non-existent. In your self-assessment (and the assessment of others, too), you lack more than you have. Doesn’t matter!

What you do have trumps all that you don’t have. You have every possibility that Peter and John had to “be with Jesus”.

That is the greatest goal any and every Christian can have, including you—that at the end of the day, the only thing people can do with you is to take note that you have been with Jesus.

Make that your goal. And then, simply begin to hang out with Jesus.

“By the time the average Christian gets his temperature up to normal, everybody thinks he has a fever!” ~Watchman Nee

Reflect and Apply: Imagine that at the end of your life, those who know and love you inscribe on your gravestone, “Had been with Jesus!” What a high compliment! Now, between now and then, how can you live so that possibility becomes a reality?

Posted on

Hanging Out With Jesus

Essential 100—Read:
Acts 3:1-4:37

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)

Peter and John didn’t have much—no money, no position, no education, no religious pedigree. They were simple Galilean fishermen—blue collar, hardhat types who were now standing before the most august body of religious leaders in the land. And not only were they holding their own, they were blowing these highbrow Jewish leaders right out of the theological water.

The Jews wanted them to stop using the name of Jesus. They thought they had taken care of the “Jesus” problem when they had him crucified. They figured his small band of uneducated, backwoods followers would disband and go away once their leader was dead and buried. Now here they were, not only teaching in the temple and perpetuating this myth, they had actually healed a man who had been crippled for over 40 years. What were they going to do with these pesky disciples?

Peter, who had publicly denied Jesus just a few weeks prior, and John, who had fled naked into the night when Jesus was arrested, now standing toe-to-toe and looking eyeball-to-eyeball with these intimidating leaders, told them in no uncertain terms that it would be impossible to quit preaching about Jesus and healing in his name since salvation came only through Jesus, “for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Since the man who had been healed was standing right there as living proof of Peter and John’s message, the Jews had no alternative but leave this narrow, intolerant theology alone and let these ignorant men go. But on the way out, they Jewish council paid the highest compliment any follower of Christ could ever receive—that “they had been with Jesus”. (Acts 4:13)

You may not have much of a religious pedigree. You may not be well versed in Christian theology. You may not be naturally winsome, articulate, or all that likeable. Your “cool factor” may be pretty much non-existent. In your self-assessment (and the assessment of others, too), you lack more than you have. Doesn’t matter!

What you do have trumps all that you don’t have. You have every possibility that Peter and John had to “be with Jesus”.

That is the greatest goal any and every Christian can have, including you—that at the end of the day, the only thing people can do with you is to take note that you have been with Jesus.

Make that your goal. And then, simply begin to hang out with Jesus.

“By the time the average Christian gets his temperature up to normal, everybody thinks he has a fever!” ~Watchman Nee

Reflect and Apply: Imagine that at the end of your life, those who know and love you inscribe on your gravestone, “Had been with Jesus!”  What a high compliment!  Now, between now and then, how can you live so that possibility becomes a reality?