Spiritual, Like Jesus

By Les Hardin

When it comes to spirituality, I find myself caught between two conflicting truths.

The first truth is I was born and raised in the church. My parents took me to church when I was only two weeks old, and there”s never been a time in my life when I didn”t know Jesus on some level. I am descended from elders and deacons, trained at the seminary by serious men: a discipler, a teacher of Israel, and a ministry veteran.

But here”s the second truth: in spite of my upbringing and training, I have no idea what it means to be “spiritual.”

The exact nature of spirituality is elusive and slippery, and we haven”t (so far) been able to agree on a definition.

Is being spiritual about cultivating a life of holiness? Some of the most spiritually minded people I”ve ever known worked hard to weed out the sins of the flesh and become more and more blameless in the eyes of God and men. But others I esteemed as spiritual struggled mightily with sin, and their spirituality comes from recognition, above all else, that they are anything but holy.

Is spirituality about becoming divine? The gurus of our day define spirituality as “aligning yourself with the power of the universe.” Employing a clever blend of divinity and secularized metaphysics, these new preachers of spirituality suggest over and over that one can achieve enlightenment (a godlike state of oneness with the universe). But I recognize this as the original lie: “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). That lie came from the mouth of the serpent.

Is spirituality about power and the workings of miracles? Receiving a second dose of the Holy Spirit, enabling one to speak in tongues, perform healings, see visions, and receive direct messages from God? I was born and raised in the church, but I”ve never spoken in tongues or received visions. And, according to the Bible, neither did Jesus. If Jesus is the paradigm, then this isn”t what it means to be spiritual.

So there it is. In spite of all my world tells me, I still have no idea what it means to be spiritual.

 

Where Can I Turn?

What am I do to? Where can I turn to understand the true nature of spirituality? I cut my teeth in the Restoration Movement. I was born and raised only 15 miles from Cane Ridge in a church founded by Barton W. Stone. So when I wanted to know what true spirituality looked like, I did what my forefathers taught me: I turned to Scripture. More specifically””I turned to the Gospels.

What I found there was a way of thinking about spirituality that outclassed all the approaches mentioned above. It was a way of understanding spirituality as a means of becoming authentically human, while simultaneously being filled with the Spirit of God. It was “Spirit-ual.” And it was more exciting, more tangible, and more authentic than anything I”d ever known.

I found it in the life of Jesus, the Spirit-filled man.

We”re accustomed to thinking about Jesus as divine, as God””and rightly so, for that is what he is: “The image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15); “The one and only Son, who is himself God” (John 1:18).

Jesus was also intensely human. John said, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). Jesus emptied himself of his divine rights: “He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:7), being “made like them, fully human in every way” (Hebrews 2:17). Conceived by the Holy Spirit, spiritual was in his DNA. Humanly speaking, though, he was endowed with the Spirit at his baptism (Matthew 3:16; Luke 3:22), and as a human being, he fostered the power of the Spirit of God in some very mundane, routine activities.

Jesus did some pretty weird stuff, to be sure! He raised the dead, opened the eyes of the blind, cast out demons, and multiplied bread. Defining spirituality this way will sorely disappoint! I can”t do these things. (I did walk on water once. Though, to be fair, it happened in Michigan in January.) Jesus seems to have done these things as a function of his role as Israel”s Messiah, and in that role he is unique. We”re not called to imitate that part of his life.

 

Spiritual, like Jesus

What we can imitate, however, are his everyday activities, the disciplines Jesus engaged in regularly throughout his human life. Those disciplines fostered the power of the Spirit, and put him in a position to allow the Spirit free reign in his life and ministry. How did Jesus do this?

Jesus prayed. He prayed in the morning (Mark 1:35) and in the evening (Mark 6:45-47). Sometimes he prayed short prayers (John 11:41, 42) and sometimes he prayed all night (Luke 6:12). His prayers were always simple and honest and without pretense; his prayers fostered intimacy in the Father”s presence.

Jesus studied Scripture. He regularly quoted the Old Testament and found there a number of images, metaphors, and texts to explain his ministry. I am impressed how thoroughly Jesus knew his Bible. He recalled at will, not only the Commandments (Matthew 19:18, 19), but texts from the Psalms, prophets, and historical books. Jesus” practice of the Spirit was formed in part by studying the writings of those who were “speaking by the Spirit” (Matthew 22:43).

Prayer and Scripture study gave Jesus the necessary resources to rebuff temptation. Jesus defeated the devil in the desert just before his ministry (Matthew 4:1-10; Luke 4:1-12). Luke says the devil left him “until an opportune time” (v. 13), indicating temptations continued to appear in Jesus” life. He defeated these temptations and “learned obedience” (Hebrews 5:8).

Jesus worshipped with God”s people. Luke says it “was his custom” (4:16) to spend the Sabbath in prayer and recitation of Scripture in the synagogue. He also attended the prescribed Jewish temple feasts, making his way to Jerusalem regularly from the time he was 12 (Luke 2:41, 42). Worshipping with God”s people (at synagogue and temple) gave him opportunities to teach from the Scriptures, to heal those in need, and to challenge the Jewish leadership about their nonparticipation in God”s kingdom (John 8:12-59; Matthew 21:23″”22:46).

Jesus cared for the oppressed and the outcast. Gentiles, tax collectors, prostitutes, the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame were all welcome in Jesus” presence. As David welcomed Mephibosheth at the king”s table (2 Samuel 9), so the “Son of David” welcomed many who were infirm at his own table. He gave them adequate space to listen to his teaching, and to repent.

Jesus also ate with a wide range of people who were otherwise unwelcome at the table of Pharisees. In doing so, Jesus brought to reality the promise of the great messianic banquet (Isaiah 25:6-8) prepared for “all peoples.”

Jesus also practiced the discipline of simplicity, but not as many understand it. I used to think of simplicity as a “cabin-in-the-woods” kind of experience, a life with no appointments and no responsibilities. Jesus, however, was likely one of the busiest public figures in the ancient world! But here”s the difference: Jesus had a single focus: God”s kingdom. That”s the essence of simplicity. And he told us if we had this kind of singular focus, everything else in life would find its place (Matthew 6:22-24, 33).

Jesus submitted to his Father. From an early age, Jesus knew who was in charge of his life (Luke 2:49), and from that point forward he built his life around obedience to Yahweh. On at least one occasion, Jesus found doing God”s will difficult (Matthew 26:38, 42, 44), but he always came back around to submission and obedience. “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

Jesus proclaimed the kingdom. I think, in this, we come very near to a glimpse of Jesus” giftedness in the Spirit. Mark says Jesus started his ministry proclaiming the kingdom (1:14, 15), and from that point forward Jesus couldn”t not preach. Everywhere he went””from the synagogue to the temple, open country, private homes, and the shores of the sea””Jesus was preoccupied with preaching. Like his forerunners in the prophetic ministry, Jesus saw the advent of God”s kingdom “like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in” (Jeremiah 20:9).

 

For All of Us

Jesus was a man full of the Spirit, and that spirituality found expression by communing with the God of Israel, seeking his guidance (revealed in Scripture), and being submissive to his will and counsel. It turns out that being spiritual isn”t out of reach after all. It”s as simple as imitating Jesus””not the miracles that were a function of his role as Israel”s Messiah, but the common, everyday stuff within reach of all of us.

 

Les Hardin is professor of New Testament at Florida Christian College in Kissimmee. His book, The Spirituality of Jesus, was published by Kregel in 2009.