Have you ever faced the “Jesus never” argument? Perhaps you were debating some activity’s appropriateness and after a few rounds of argument, it confronted you: “Well, Jesus never …” The statement’s truthfulness could not be questioned but somehow you wanted to question its relevance. But how could you? Its logic is simple and seemingly irrefutable: What Jesus did is what we should do.
Superficially, the “Jesus never” argument appears to comport with the popular pre-hashtag hashtag WWJD, which is but a summary of John’s admonition: “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” (1 John 2:6). However, there’s a significant difference. Instead of asking “What Would Jesus Do?”, the “Jesus never” argument asks “What Did Jesus Do?” Its study begins and ends with the actions of Jesus. WWJD also begins its study with the actions of Jesus but only as a means to an end. WWJD studies the actions of Jesus to discern the values, the interests, the motivations – put simply, the character – of Jesus. Secondly, WWJD studies to discern what actions can best express that character within the context of the life of the student.
This second study results in greatly varying yet equally acceptable answers to the WWJD question. Paul wrote: “I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised” (Gal. 2:7). Based on the context of Paul’s life, WWJD was answered by preaching primarily to Gentiles. For Peter, it was answered by preaching primarily to Jews. Both pursued the goal of preaching the gospel to the world, but their roles in the accomplishment of that goal were different.
Preaching the gospel to the world is a very broad goal. However, this concept also applies to more narrow goals. Based on their knowledge Jesus’ character, Paul and Silas discerned that His goal for the earthquake in Acts 16 was the jailer’s salvation. They further discerned that their role in the accomplishment of this goal was to sacrifice their physical freedom for his spiritual freedom.
Like them, we must each determine what goals and roles God has called us to. To do so we must prayerfully study both Jesus’ life and our own. Our goals are determined by His life’s character and our roles are determined by our life’s context. His goals may be as broad as proclaiming the gospel to the world and strengthening the global church, or as narrow as proclaiming the gospel to my nearest co-worker and encouraging the single-mother on the next pew. They may be as broad as eliminating homelessness, starvation, social injustice, disease, and war, or as narrow as providing the next meal for a homeless man, a sympathetic ear for a victim of social injustice, an hour of cheer for the diseased, and funds for humanitarian organizations.
WWJD calls us to know what roles, if any, we can fulfill in the accomplishment of God’s goals both broad and narrow. These roles can be determined by prayerfully studying our life’s context – who and where we are, what we know and don’t know, what we have and don’t have. Then these roles should guide our actions. Our roles in fulfilling God’s broad goals should guide our major life decisions such as where we live and work. Our roles in fulfilling God’s narrow goals should guide our daily life decisions such as how we use our time, who we speak to and what we say and don’t say to them.
What is God’s goal and what is my role? Submitting our lives to be guided by these questions requires us to go beyond the facts of Jesus’ life. It requires us to study and meditate on His word that we may genuinely and intimately know Him. It requires us to trust each moment of our life to His direction. This is not easy. However, we can be certain that the One who promised to work “in [us], both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Php. 2:13) will answer every prayer in this direction. If we patiently and persistently seek this experience we will surely find it (Mt. 7:7-8).