Jesus is perfect theology

Our behavior always broadcasts our beliefs. Our actions always reveal what we truly think. In other words, our actions are simply the fruit of thoughts and belief structures. If we believe God is “for us,” then, we’ll feel and act differently towards  Him than if we feel and think He’s “against" us. 

Our beliefs about Him will determine how we treat others, too— even filtering the ministry or service we attempt to do. If we believe our Heavenly Father is pro-healing, for instance, we’ll minister and live differently than we will if we feel He stopped healing thousands of years ago, deliberately withholding healing now to teach people lessons, or even causing illness as a form of punishment.

Furthermore, our beliefs won’t just affect the things we do, they’ll also affect the tone in which we do them. The way we approach others we seek to serve will manifest differently, based on what we believe about God. We’ll express to them what we believe to be the essence of Him.  For instance, if we believe God uses prophecy to build up and encourage others, we’ll communicate differently to someone who is ensnared in sin (1 Corinthians 14:3). Our beliefs about God will color the entire tone of our ministry.

The starting point for anything in life is, really, understanding who God is. Since we’re created in God’s image, by understanding His nature, we get a better grasp of who we are and our ultimate destiny. Everything overflows from here. That’s why it’s important to recognize that Jesus shows us exactly who the Father is.

Not the first time

In the Upper Room, Jesus told His disciples that He came to reveal the Father (14:9f.). This wasn’t the first time they heard this, though.

In John 5 Jesus healed a lame man who sat near the Pool of Bethesda, waiting for the waters to be stirred by an angel (5:4). Whoever jumped into the water first was always healed. Trouble is, that man was lame. He didn’t move very quickly. So, for  38 years, someone always beat him to the healing (5:5). Jesus asked him if he wanted to be well, and the man explained his dilemma. 

In turn, Jesus spoke the now famous words we hear repeated throughout the Scripture, “Take up your mat and walk” (5:8).

The problem with this was… well, it was, as you might imagine, the Sabbath.

The Pharisees launched an all-out assault on the action, questioning why Jesus would, first of all, heal someone on their holy day. This, secondly, forced a man to carry his mat (manual labor), thereby transgressing commandment number 4, to honor the Sabbath (see Exodus 20:8).

Jesus replied that He did this because this is what the Father was doing. “For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise” (John 5:19 ESV). 

He explained that He only does what He sees the Father doing. This, according to Jesus, is why He does everything He does. Jesus elaborated to the Pharisees— like He did with His disciples— that this was true of both the words He says (5:36) and the works He does (5:38). That is, He revealed the Father through both His message and His ministry.

In other words, every time we see Jesus doing anything, we see the heart of the Father in each instance of Jesus ministering throughout the Gospels.

Practically speaking, this means that whenever we see Jesus doing something we actually see the Father doing that very same thing. For instance— 

• Jesus preached grace and freedom to the woman caught in adultery— because that’s what He saw the Father doing (John 8:3f.).
• Jesus touched the leper rather than simply healing Him with a word— because that’s what He saw the Father doing (Mark 1:41).
• Jesus ate with the tax collectors and sinners— because that’s what He saw the Father doing (see Mark 2:15).

We can apply this logic to the things Jesus didn’t do, as well— the implication being that He refused to do certain things because those aren’t the things He saw the Father doing. 

Here are a few things we do not see Jesus doing— meaning that we do not see the Father doing them, either.

• Condemn people— we never see an instance of it.
• Cause sickness or disease— we never seen an instance of Him causing someone to be ill. The Bible tells us that Jesus went about healing everyone (i.e., Matthew 4:23, Matthew 12:15). 
• Create confusion as to God’s nature through the miraculous. Jesus actually used these miracles to confirm His true identity (see Luke 9:2, Luke 10:9). This point is important. Often, the way in which  spiritual gifts are exercised in a church causes people to question as to whether it was— let’s be honest— God or the devil who did it. That assessment is an indicator that the gift-user may be expressing the gift apart from the heart of the Father. The only people who questioned the gifts in Scripture were the Pharisees— not Jesus’ own followers or unreligious people.

The passages from John 5 and John 14 in which Jesus affirms to us that He reveals the heart of the Father aren’t the only two times we find this great truth in Scripture. When Jesus rescued the woman who was caught in adultery, He was clear with the Pharisees who accused her that they obviously didn’t know the Father because they didn’t know Him (John 8:19). 

Why? 

Because to know One is emphatically to have a clear picture of the Other.

The same concept is expressed in various ways throughout the remainder of the New Testament:

• Colossians 1:15 tells us Jesus is the image of the invisible God. If you want to see what God looks like, look at Jesus and you will see a perfect representation. 
• Hebrews 1:3 says Jesus is the perfect imprint, the exact replication of God. Jesus perfectly reveals the Father’s glory, as He’s essentially a “cut-and-paste” of the Father. 
• 2 Corinthians 4:4 confirms the same: Jesus is the image and likeness of God.

I read a book by Jack Frost a few years ago, back when I was first beginning to study this concept. By his own admission, Jack was an extremely hard-hearted, gruff man. He was an emotional bulldozer who readily plowed over people to complete projects and press his own agenda.

Then he encountered God— the tender-hearted Father-version of God we see in Scripture. Not the legalistic, more-like-a-Pharisee-than-a-Pharisee version we often envision. The experience revolutionized Jack’s entire life. 

In his first book he writes, 

Jesus came to demonstrate who the Father is and what He is like, and He does so through His words and His actions. To gain a true picture of the Father’s feelings toward His children, it is best to turn to the One whose purpose it was to show us the Father. 

Jesus spent three years in ministry, demonstrating His Father’s heart of compassion as He forgave sinners, healed the sick, and raised the dead.

It’s worth repeating: if you know what One is like, you know what the Other is like! Imprint it on your mind, like a tattoo for your soul:

• If you’ve seen Jesus, you’ve seen the Father.
• If you’ve heard the voice of Jesus, you’ve heard the voice of the Father.
• If you know of something Jesus has done, you also know of something amazing the Father has done.

I understand this is a big hurdle for a lot of people— particularly for people who were raised in the church. A lot of us come to the Scripture with an “Old Testament vs. New Testament"  and "Law vs. Grace” grid. We often believe that in the Old Testament we see what God is like, whereas the New Testament shows us what Jesus is like. We often believe that Jesus came to save us from God Himself!

When we see Jesus, though, we see a picture of what the Father is like. He is not angry, nor is He a trickster. He is not temperamental. He is gracious.

We noted in a previous video that Jesus reveals the Father, so we drew an arrow from Jesus (represented by a Cross) to the Father (represented by the heart). 

Notice I drew a bold arrow from you to Jesus. We’ve seen Jesus directly. He appeared in history. Though no one has seen the Father (hence, the dotted line), we know what He’s like. Exactly what He’s like. 

Why? 

Because we know what Jesus is like, and Jesus reveals the Father.  

As pastor Bill Johnson has said, “Jesus Christ is perfect theology.” That is, in order to understand God (theology = theo / “God” + ology / “study of”) we should look to Jesus. He shows us exactly what the Father is like because He came to reveal Him completely. In fact, the fullness of God filled Jesus (Colossians 1:19).

LifeLift helps you find and fulfill your purpose. 

For an easy on-ramp, claim your free book at www.Jenkins.tv/purpose — and get introduced to the entire LifeLift framework. 

This video clip comes from the LifeLift workshop— available at https://www.jenkins.tv/lifelift 

It’s in the first part of the framework, Identity, where you learn who you are— www.Jenkins.tv/identity