WWJD? Most of you already know what those initials mean. For those of you who don’t, they stand for What Would Jesus Do? I remember back in the mid 90’s these initials came to prominence. These initials were put on lanyards and bracelets and other things. As is typical of most fads, it came and went rather quickly. One of the things that I was taught while growing up was to ask the question, “What would Jesus do?” Now, usually this was framed in the context of drugs, smoking, drinking, or other things that church wanted us young people to avoid. We would be asked the question, “what if Jesus came to your house today?” Some of you are saying, “Why don’t we ask this question more?”

God has been dealing with me this week about the question, “What would Jesus do?” But, I want to take it further than that. Today is the first Sunday in Lent. As a review, Lent is simply the Latin word for Spring. There is nothing magical or mystical about it. The church started observing Lent in the fourth century after Christ and this time is traditionally a time when we examine ourselves and try to discover how we can live lives that are more consistent with the Christ that we claim to follow. I have several questions for you this morning.

1. What does it mean to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself?
2. What would happen if the church followed in the footsteps of Jesus?

The question of “What would Jesus Do?” was popularized by Charles M. Sheldon in a book that he wrote in 1896. The book’s name was “In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?” It’s the story of First Christian Church and it’s pastor and how a person from the streets walked into their apparently perfect congregation and changed it forever. What does it mean?

‘All for Jesus, all for Jesus,All my being’s ransomed powers,All my thoughts, and all my doings,All my days, and all my hours,’

What does it mean to follow in the footsteps of Jesus? For the next several weeks, until Palm Sunday, we are going to look at this question – What does it look like to love God with everything you have and to love your neighbor as yourself?

Before we get there, I want to take a look at the life of Jesus. In today’s reading from Matthew’s gospel, we heard the account of Satan coming to tempt Jesus. First, he was tempted to turn stones to bread. Jesus had been in the wilderness for forty days fasting, so I’m sure he was hungry. Second, Jesus was tempted to throw himself down from the temple and see if God really cared. Third, Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for a little worship. If we break it down, Satan will usually tempt us in three areas:

· Provision
· Protection
· Power

In each one of these areas, Satan was asking Jesus to circumvent God. Instead of doing it God’s way, Jesus was tempted to do it Satan’s way. In reality, it’s always been that way. Let’s take a look at Genesis 2:15-17 and 3:1-6:

15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”
1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”
4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

And so the great deception begins. Did you ever notice that the three things that Satan tempted Jesus with, he tempted Adam and Eve with? Those are always with what Satan will tempt us. Those are things that appeal to our human nature. We like to make sure we are taking care of (Provision). We like to make sure that we will be safe (protection.) And we like to know that we have some control over things (power.)

The one thing that bothers me however about the question “What would Jesus do?” is that by the time we get in to a point in a situation where we ask ourselves that question, it is too late – we have usually already made up our mind. It is not enough to ask the question, “What would Jesus do?” It has to be part of our mindset. It must be so ingrained in our mind that we instinctively react the way Jesus would, because Satan continues to tempt us with provision, protection, and power. We must also remember that if we would have been in Adam and Eve’s shoes (well, they didn’t really have any shoes) we would have ended up in the same place. The apostle Paul reminds us of that. Adam didn’t even see it coming. He is the representation of us. Paul tells us that through the sin of one man we all sinned. That would be a depressing thought. Earlier in his letter to the Romans, Paul reminds us that all have sinned and all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Even if Adam wouldn’t have sinned, we would have and that scripture makes it clear that no one is innocent. That’s the bad news side of this equation. The good news is that while Adam is the representation of all of us sinners, Jesus is the representation of God’s forgiveness. Jesus is the second Adam. He did what we could not do for ourselves.
I love this verse from Hark! The Herald Angels Sing by Charles Wesley:

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface; (remove without a trace)
Stamp Thy image in its place.
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the life, the inner Man:
O! to all thyself impart,
Form’d in each believing heart.

Christ came to change everything about us. Paul writes again:
18 Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. 19 Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.
This gives us hope – we know that Christ came so that we could have new life. Thanks to a little warm weather, I’ve notice the grass has begun to green up a little and there are crocuses poking their heads up in the front flower beds. This is a season of new life. Christ came so that we wouldn’t have to give in to temptation. We are reminded in Hebrews:
14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
This morning, we can have confidence because Christ went through exactly what we went through. We can live a life in his footsteps. Let me ask the questions again. What would happen if we would love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves? How would that begin to change Martinsville and Henry County? I truly believe that the citizens of our county need be shown the love of Christ. We need to follow so closely in Christ’s footsteps that they see nothing else. One of the things I have observed since being called here is that people are really angry – there is a lot of angst. What would happen if we could love them like Jesus loved the people he walked on earth with? Our community needs to be shown the love of Jesus. If Jesus were here in Martinsville today, what would he do? Can we do, what Jesus would do and remember, I want us to get that so stuck in our heads that instead of asking the question – we just do it!