The CROSSroads: Personal Lessons from Mark's Gospel by Rev. Mitch Schultz

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:34:23utc

Lesson Four: WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? (Mark 1:1-8)

"And this was his message" (vs.7)

Peer pressure is often perceived as a negative social reality, particularly when it involves our children. There is however a flipside to peer pressure that can be beneficial. My son recently came home begging that he might be able to purchase a bracelet with the inscription WWJD or What Would Jesus Do? Everyone in school is wearing one, he argued! Having just moved from England, where living out the Christian life is a cutting-edge reality, it was refreshing to see this positive side to peer pressure.

What Would Jesus Do? Christian young people in my son's school are being challenged to do everything with this question in mind. It is a challenge to place Jesus above everything else. John did, and it showed in his message and his life style. He lived to exalt Jesus. This was the sum total of his life, the solitary purpose for his existence. What mattered most to John (exalting Christ) showed most clearly in his life message: "And this was his message"(or this is what sums up John) "after me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie." John's life message disclosed how he saw himself in relationship to Jesus. He was merely a servant whose solitary task was to serve the Master. There was only one thing important to John and that was to do what he did and say what he said in order that Jesus succeeded.

It's interesting how time has a way of reducing life to the essentials. Early on in my ministry I saw the future in terms of what I could accomplish for Christ. The years have humbled me, and today at a time of deep uncertainty about the future I am beginning to see that life is more about who we are before Christ than what we will do for him. John's life message revolved around his position to the Saviour not his achievements. Isn't it interesting that very little is said about what John accomplished? I'm sure he achieved a lot - after all he did have a team of disciples who followed him and learned from him. Yet his biography is brief and it reveals a penetrating quality that sets aside all servants. Nothing else mattered but exalting Jesus. When the time was right John was willing to step back, fade from the picture if it meant more prominence for Jesus.

What would change in your life if exalting Jesus became your message, your life ambition? How different would each day be if "What Would Jesus Do?" consumed you?

God's main concern is that we are more interested in him than in work for him. Once you are rooted and grounded in Christ the greatest thing you can do is to be. Don't try and be useful; be yourself and God will use you to further his ends. -Oswald Chambers (1874–1917)