Moral Exemplar – The solution to our morality

Moral Exemplar is more than just an example to inspire us. Christ’s example of love and pure deeds, should not just inspire us, it should convict us. It should move us to action. It should move us to repentance. The sight of the purity of God’s goodness should undo the darkness that is dwelling within our hearts. But this is so much more than a list of laws for us to follow. It is a real-life example for us to imitate. A list of “do’s” and “do nots” won’t have the power to change us because often such things are done out of fear or for the sake of earning God’s favor. But with Jesus, it’s different. His perfect life is an inspiration to change and a model to show us how. Beholding the perfect life He lived and the selfless death He died has transformative power. Every preacher should start there first. People need healing and that healing comes more and more as we surrender ourselves to the obedience of Christ.

There was a day when I read about Jesus’ life through one of Charles Spurgeon’s books but it wasn’t what Spurgeon said, it was what the Scripture said to me through the Holy Spirit that deeply convicted me. Here is this picture of Jesus walking to the cross after He had been severely whipped, a crown of thorns placed on his head, and had been spat upon and mocked. What I noticed is not once did Jesus have any ounce of self-pity in His attitude. He could barely walk and must have been in so much pain physically and emotionally. What would most of us do in that situation? Would we have a pity-party? Would we be self-absorbed? But Jesus did neither of those things. Instead, while He was stumbling His way over to Golgotha to be crucified, He saw a group of women mourning for Him and He said to them, weep not for Me “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children” (Lk 23:28 KJV). Jesus, being God, had full rights to have people pity Him but He did not want it. He didn’t ask for it. He didn’t accept it by drawing into Himself. His thoughts and His heart were pure selflessness when He had the opportunity to be self-focused. “Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.” Jesus was warning them of the destruction that was soon to come upon Jerusalem and He was concerned for their souls.

When I read this passage and the Spirit convicted me of the selfishness that was in my own heart and the self-pity I was prone to, I resolved from that day forward to imitate Jesus and not have any more pity-parties. Because I realized, it was a sin. It was a sin because of the Spirit’s conviction and because of Christ’s example. But if I were simply told that it was a sin without seeing this beautiful example of Jesus Christ, how much power would there be to overcome it? You see, inspiration is easier to follow and imitate and there is motivation. A real example shows us the possibility to follow and be like that example. You think, “wow, I want to be like that…” Instead of, “well, I should try not to sin today.” Our brains weren’t wired to sustainably operate out of fear or anxiety. We were wired to operate out of love and gratitude to God. Condemnation is one thing. Inspiration is quite another. Condemnation brings shame. Inspiration brings change.

So there I was, convicted to change by the inspiration of Christ’s example. Though at the time, self-pity was one of my greatest weaknesses, it didn’t take long for me to put it to death as I reflected back on my inspiration to do so to imitate Christ. If preachers want their congregation to change, they need to preach Jesus first and His pure example as inspiration for them to follow rather than using rules and regulations to control the sheep. The thing about sheep is there are many things they don’t understand and many things they don’t think through. Sometimes they do stupid stuff. But they know the voice of their Master and they will follow their Master. They just need to hear His voice and they will follow. They just need to see where their Master walked and they’ll follow on after. We need to remember that Jesus is the center of our faith. That means Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the center of our faith because it records all that Jesus said and all that Jesus did. You may have a lot of questions regarding laws and theology and other things but maybe you need to get back to Jesus. Maybe you need to focus your heart and mind on Him again. Jesus is the center of our faith. We must remember that. It’s Jesus—not theology. Sometimes theology can lead us away from Jesus but sometimes we might need theology to correct whatever bad theology we had before so that we can be led back to Jesus. So there definitely is a place for theology but Jesus must be primary.

So what is Moral Exemplar? It’s looking at the perfect and beautiful life and sacrifice of Jesus to inspire and convict us to show us the darkness in our own hearts so that we turn to Jesus. We don’t necessarily need a list of do’s and don’ts to show us our evil. The incarnation, life, and death of Jesus can show us the love of God to such a degree that we come face to face with the lack of our own love and become convicted of our selfishness and how far away from God’s perfection that we are so that we repent and turn from our sin. The pure example of Jesus has power to change our hearts if we respond to Him in faith.

But this isn’t just a one-time confession or prayer to be saved, it is looking upon Jesus continually day after day to be transformed more and more into His likeness and to live a life of continual repentance. Because a continual repentant heart is necessary for God to forgive us. We see this in the Old Testament where an angel of the Lord struck down and killed every person who did not have a repentant heart, who did not sigh and groan over all the abominations which were being committed within the city (Ezek 9:4). In Ezekiel 18:24 God says, “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and does according to all the abominations that a wicked man does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he has committed; for them he will die” (cf. 3:20). It is how we are continually living in the moment that matters to God. No one will be saved because some time long ago in their life they were a Sunday School teacher or Missionary and for all the things they accomplished for God in the past. It’s how they’re living now that matters. But this isn’t just the way it worked in the Old Testament.

It works that way in the New Testament as well (Mt 7:21-23). Jesus gave a parable about a king who forgave his servant an extremely large debt that he would not have ever been able to pay off. The king had mercy on him and completely cleared his debt because of the king’s great compassion and because the man humbled himself and asked for mercy, he was forgiven. But then this servant went to someone else who owed him some money and was threatening and unkind to this other man and would not show mercy to him even as he had previously been shown mercy. And so the king found out about it and decided to rescind his forgiveness so that this evil servant should be handed over to the torturers until he should repay all that he owed. Then Jesus said, “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart” (Mt 18:35). This was a parable He spoke to His disciples and elsewhere, He says, “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions” (Mt 6:15). And “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Mt 5:7). And when speaking of His second coming, He warns that the slave who is evil and unfaithful, who “beat[s] his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mt 24:49-51). John also writes, “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother” (1 Jn 3:10). And “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn 4:20).

Repentance, therefore, is a necessary continuous condition for salvation. It is the evidence of a transformed heart and the overflow of the transformed heart. Love and forgiveness are the very central components of the gospel and if we don’t understand that so that it transforms the way we live, then we don’t understand or know Jesus. Because, as John writes, “the one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). The gospel, then, is not just a creed or confession, but the nature and example of Jesus that transforms us so that we live for God. By Jesus’ pure example, He showed us the way back to God. He showed us how to live and the possibility to live in such a way so that we could turn from our sins and be reconciled to the Father. He showed us that the frequency of God’s life is His love and those who do not abide in love abide in death.

More examples of Jesus to move our hearts and convict us of sin:

In His incarnation: The King of all riches left it all to become poor so that we might become rich. The Infinite stepped down into the finite. The Creator became like one created (though not actually being created Himself but being put into and united into a human body through the Holy Spirit). The God of all power and might subjected Himself to the weaknesses and frailty of humanity. The sustainer of all things became in need of sustenance. The source of all life subjected Himself to death. The source of all joy and happiness subjected His soul to be crushed. The Immortal one, took on a mortal body and died. The source of all pleasure denied Himself the pleasures of heaven to live in this difficult world. The God of all bliss subjected His body to suffering and torture. No one can give more than God gave because no one can lose as much as God lost. No one can outdo the sacrifice of Jesus because no one else was an eternal God become man. Therefore, He receives the highest name above all names and is worthy to receive all praise, glory, power, honor, and strength. To His kingdom there will be no end.

In His life, humility, and selflessness: Jesus was born and grew up in a place lowly esteemed by the world. His bed was an animal feeding trough as He was born in a dirty and smelly stable. Of all the times in history He could have come to the earth, He did not choose the modern world with all of its comfortable lifestyle and pleasant amenities. But He came into a poor, hard, and harsh world. He subjected Himself to the oppression and harsh rule of the Roman government. He became the Suffering Servant, suffering the same afflictions that His own people suffered. The King of all kings and Creator knelt down to wash the feet of His disciples. He subjected Himself to baptism under the servant, John. This King was mocked, beaten, spat upon, and slandered. They accused Him of wrong motives, breaking the law, and operating by the power of Satan. The more good He did, the more they hated Him. While they mocked and yelled to crucify Him, He uttered no threats or insults in return. He did not seek to defend Himself but wholly entrusted Himself to Him who judges righteously. The people He came to save and give His life to requested that a criminal be released from prison instead of Him. He came to His own but His own people received Him not. Those He tried to save didn’t want to listen to Him. Many people left Him, thinking He was a crazy person. One of His closest friends betrayed Him but He did not lash out but still called him “friend.” All of His friends were apathetic and abandoned Him at His most trying time. Peter even denied knowing Him three times. Yet Jesus welcomed them all back with love and forgiveness. Jesus did not weep for Himself or consider His suffering but wept instead for the daughters of Jerusalem who would soon see suffering. In His greatest suffering He showed the greatest compassion and selflessness. To those who mocked Him and nailed Him to the cross, He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” His anger did not burn on that cross but it was His love that burned for the lost and hurting people of this world. The King of all majesty was stripped of everything as He hung there on the cross empty and bare. But He endured the cross, despising the shame of all His humiliation for the joy that was set before Him.

In His death: The God of the universe died for His creation, His enemies, and friends. There is no greater love that could be had or displayed than that.

Romans 5:6-10

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.