If we are going to “think like Jesus,” we need to at least know what he is like, right?
Have you had a time when you needed someone to speak up on your behalf? Share a story when someone stepped up for you, or when you hoped someone would but didn’t.
Lots of times we feel like we go through unjust pain.. Pain we don’t deserve.. And we feel that we really need Jesus to stand up for us. Have you ever been through some great difficulty, and felt like Jesus didn’t show up to help you, or didn’t seem to care?
The book of Hebrews was written to people who were going through severe persecution… Quite unlike anything you and I have ever experienced…
You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.
Hebrews 10:34 NLT
In the current cultural and political climate, would you “accept it with joy” if they came to take what you owned? Do we respond like the Hebrew believers? What are our discussions usually like when the government starts talking about taking our guns, for example?
Why do we get so hung up about those things? Of course, them taking our guns, our cars, our homes, our money would be absolutely wrong, and would be horribly unjust. But the Hebrew believers went through exactly this and “accepted it with joy.” How were they able to do that, according to Hebrews 10:34 (above)?
Is it possible they simply had a faith in Jesus that we can’t even understand? They “knew there were better things.”
If we are going to “think like Jesus,” we have to know that he was able to do what he did because he also “knew there were better things.”
Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Hebrews 12:2 NLT
Jesus clearly knew there were better things. Do we?
While we wait here below, it is easy to lose focus on the things above. We get distracted by so many things, and we feel like our troubles are far more difficult than they really are.
Don’t worry.. Jesus understands. He does.
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. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 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.
Hebrews 4:14-16 NLT
What does it mean that Jesus is our “great high priest?”
Why did Jesus have to be fully human in order to fulfill his role as our “great high priest?”
Does it encourage you to know that Jesus went through pain and suffering here, but that he has now “entered heaven?”
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5-8 NLT
What do we learn about Jesus in this passage?
Of the words and phrases here, which gives you the best idea of the attitude of Christ we are most supposed to imitate?
What does that attitude look like when lived out? How does it change the way we relate to God and to others?
What do you think it must have been like for Jesus to leave the Throne Room of Heaven and become a peasant-class human? What did he give up in doing so? What did WE gain from it?
Typically, humility is regarded as a weakness. In what way does Jesus’ humility convey and require strength?
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ ” Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’” Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.” “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.
Matthew 4:1-11 NLT
Why do you think God’s Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry?
Jesus is tempted by Satan multiple times here. What, in your own words, was the devil tempting him with in each of these instances?
What does Satan want us to think about ourselves? How does he try to distort our thought process about our identity?
How did Jesus (and how should we) respond to those temptations?
How are we most tempted to think like Satan, rather than to think like Jesus? How can Jesus as our High Priest help us re-think?