Prof Zebulon No E129

C) The Church (Jesus’ attributes demonstrated in the Church)

When Jesus Christ was on earth in His role as the son of a carpenter, He showed all manner of what was good. The Bible says that “….Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” (Luke 2:52). Not only was He pleasing to His Father but He undoubtedly showed much compassion and gained the favour of man. He was the epitome of kindness, meekness, purity of heart, mercy and many, many other attributes that would be characteristic of the Son of God; He was also absolutely sinless. He accomplished His earthly ministry during the last three years of His life and became what His Father wanted Him to be: the Saviour of mankind. He was and still is the example of what God wants us to be as His Church and His body. We have seen the gifts of the body in other studies and Jesus had them all. Could He preach? Did He show mercy? Was He able to discern sinful behaviour? Did He show faith? Was He wise? Could He exhort? All these attributes were perfected in Him and you know what? He wants us to reflect these same attributes in our lives as members of His Body. Oh, we will never be as perfect as He was and we will never be sinless as He was but can certainly do our best to meet the very high standard that was set by Him. The Lord gave us our marching orders in the Sermon on the Mount. It provides, in detail, how the Lord wants us to behave and what we should do during our ministry on earth. We are His Body, He is our Head and the Holy Spirit works through us to accomplish what we are supposed to do as members of His body. The Bible sums it all up in two verses of Scripture: “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” (Romans 12:18) and “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35).

U) The Twelve Disciples (Peter)

The New Testament contains four lists of the twelve Disciples and in each case, Peter is the first one named; it is safe to say that he was the leader. Peter had the necessary inborn gifts to be the leader of the Twelve and in the hand of the Master, he became just that; but not before much work and much patience on the part of Jesus. Peter was inquisitive; he asked more questions than all the other disciples combined. He had initiative; he was generally the first to answer any question that Jesus asked. Peter also got involved. When Jesus came to His Disciples in the middle of the night on the Sea of Galilee, Peter was the only one to walk out on the water; he had drive, ambition and energy. Jesus knew what He had to do to get Peter to acquire the proper skills for the leader he was to be. During Jesus’ three years on earth, He put Peter through a lot tough life experiences that eventually formed him to be the leader that Christ wanted him to become. Another element that a leader must have besides the right inborn material and the right life experiences is character. Peter had character but had problems controlling himself in various situations. He had to be taught to be submissive, to have restraint, to be humble and he had to learn love. Jesus accomplished what He had set out to do with Peter – in Peter’s first epistle, he penned the following words “5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:” (1 Peter 5: 5,6). Another character trait that Peter had to learn was compassion. Oftentimes leaders lack in this area and are intolerant of underachievers. So how was Peter to acquire all these qualities in just three years? The answer is found in a wonderful verse of scripture in the Gospel of Luke “ 31And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”(Luke 22:31, 32). The Lord knew what He was doing when He chose Peter. (This study and subsequent ones on the 12 Disciples come from a book by John MacArthur entitled “Twelve Ordinary Men”)