The phrase "What would Jesus do?" (often abbreviated to WWJD) became popular in the United States in the 1990s and as a personal motto for adherents of Evangelical Christianity who used the phrase as a reminder of their belief in a moral imperative to act in a manner that would demonstrate the love of Jesus through the actions of the adherents. The WWJD fad came out of the imitation of
Christ movement. The originator of the WWJD
bracelets is quoted as saying, “I wanted them to be a personal reminder that
they [young believers] had made a conscious decision to live life by a new
standard. It was also a counterpart or
response to the CTR (choose the right) ring of the Mormons.
However, if you want to know what Jesus told
you to do, it is in the Bible, not in
your hearts. The Bible is what we know of the mind of Christ, because it is what he has revealed to us, nothing else. Therefore, we should not presume to know what Jesus would do. We should pick up our Bibles and read what God tells us to do.
Romans 11:33-34:
How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
Isaiah 55:8-9:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
In addition to not knowing what Jesus would do, we should not do everything that Jesus would do.
1)
There are several instances throughout the Scripture where we
find Jesus receiving and accepting worship (Matthew 2:11, 14:33, 28:9, 28:17, John 9:38, and Revelation 5:14.). Yet, we are
told in the book of Acts, when Peter visited the household of Cornelius,
"it came about that Peter entered, Cornelius met him, and fell at his feet
and worshiped him. But Peter raised him up, saying, 'Stand up; I too am just a
man'" (Acts 10:25-26). Obviously, Peter did not do "what Jesus
would do" in this situation.
2)
In Matthew chapter 23 Jesus pronounces His woes upon the
scribes and Pharisees of His day. Jesus, the righteous Judge (John 5:22),
peers into the hearts of the Pharisees and proclaims: "Woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the
dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence . . .Woe to you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on
the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and
all uncleanness. . .You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the
sentence of hell?" (Matthew 23:25,27,33). Since we are finite and
sinful, we cannot judge as Jesus did (John 5:22). Nor do we know what
lies in man as Jesus does (John 2:25). Therefore, again, if presented
with this ethical situation we should not do "what Jesus would do.
3) Lastly, what Jesus would do is to
suffer and die to take the punishment of our sins. I certainly don’t want to die to take the
full punishment of my sins. Jesus did that
so that I don’t have to do what Jesus did. Jesus would also resurrect himself
to prepare a place in heaven for us, which we cannot do.
So what does the Bible mean by following Jesus?
1
Peter 2:21:
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
In both 19 and 20 show that follow in his footsteps means to endure
suffering, which we are able to do only through the Grace of God. This is not
saying to muster our self-will to do the right thing.
For I
have given you an example, that
you also should do just as I have done to you.
What did he just do?
John 13:14
If I then, your Lord and
Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
Here he is talking about
serving your fellow Christian, as he says in vs. 16, not as living his life to
set a moral example.
WWJD is not Christ centered, just because the
name Jesus is in it. It is self-focused. It is all about us and what we should be
doing and does not point us to what Jesus did on the cross. Therefore, the correct question is not, “What
Would Jesus Do?”, but “What Did Jesus Do For You?”
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