Likeness to Christ — Zac Poonen

Christ’s Humanity and His Submission to the Father

Today we want to look at the reason why God sent his Son to this earth. It is more than merely to die for our sins, even though that was our primary need. Jesus himself said in John's Gospel in chapter 6 and verse 38.

He described the purpose with which he came from heaven in these words, I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. It's quite an amazing statement when you come to think of it, because when Jesus was in heaven from all eternity, as the second person of the Trinity, there was no conflict between his will and his father's will.

In heaven for eternal ages he could say, I do my own will, because it is the same as my father's will. But the moment he came to earth and became like us, and if he had to be like us, then he had to have a free will.

All human beings have a free will. Our children have a free will. They can disobey us if they want. And if Jesus was not to be a robot, and we know he was not, then he had to have a free will. And he says in connection with that, because of the freedom of choice he had as a human being, we saw that earlier that Jesus was 100 God and 100 man, and it is this 100 man aspect of his personality, both in the same one person, he wasn't two people.

So it's this part which is not sufficiently understood or emphasized or even accepted by many born-again Christians. They think they degrade Jesus by emphasizing his humanity. Actually, they degrade him by not emphasizing his humanity.

They think that if we say he was just like us, we make him sinful. No, man was not created sinful, and there was no sin in Jesus at all. But he was like us, and therefore he had a will. And if he was to please his father as a man, he had to say no to his own will.

And that's what he says here. I have come from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. This is a verse in his own words which proves his humanity, and we should be proud and delighted by the fact that he became one like us.

Christ as the Ladder Between Heaven and Earth

Jesus once described his coming to earth and being a man, compared it with the ladder that Jacob saw ascending up to heaven. He said that in John 151,. Truly, truly I say to you, you shall see the heavens open, he told Nathaniel there, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

He was referring to the dream that Jacob had way back in the Old Testament where he saw when he was sleeping one night on his journey, a ladder going from earth to heaven, and Jesus here and the angels of God descending and ascending on that ladder, and Jesus applies this to himself.

He is that ladder. He is the Son of Man who connects heaven to earth. And the point is, if the last rung of that ladder did not touch the earth, it could not connect us to heaven. He did not come and stay a little bit above us.

He came all the way down the ladder, bottom of the ladder, touched the earth. He was like us, and therefore he denied his own will, and that's what encourages us to believe that we can follow him too.

Jesus as Both Substitute and Example

So in the Father's will for Jesus on earth, he was not only to be our substitute, our savior, dying on the cross, he was also to be our example, as we considered in our last study. We are called not only to believe in him for our salvation and for the forgiveness of our sins, but also to follow him, and that's what he asked us to do constantly.

There is a very lovely verse in Philippians chapter 2. Most Christians are familiar with this verse. It says in verse 5, Philippians 2 .5,. Have this attitude in yourself, which was in Christ Jesus, or let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.

So we see here very clearly that he emptied himself of those rights and resources he had as God when he came to earth, though in his person he continued to be God. And because he was a man like us on this earth, the word of God challenges us to have the same mind that he had, to have the same attitude towards people, circumstances, material things, towards trial, temptation, towards everything.

The secret of true Christianity is in this verse. If you want to be a disciple of Jesus, this is what you need to do. Allow your mind to be transformed into likeness to the mind of Christ. Now this was not possible in Old Testament times, for one reason, that the Holy Spirit did not dwell within man.

The Holy Spirit as the Power of Transformation

You know the most significant event that took place after the resurrection of Christ and Christ going to heaven is the coming of the Holy Spirit. It's as important as the coming of Jesus Christ to earth.

A lot of Christians appreciate the fact that Christ came to earth, but they haven't sufficiently understood the implications and the blessing of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, coming to earth as well.

Why did he come to earth? He occasionally visited people in the Old Testament, but now he came to indwell people, to come within, to make this body his temple. This is the true temple of God now. When I receive Christ into my life and open my being to his Holy Spirit, he makes my body the house of God.

In the Old Testament, the house of God was in Jerusalem, a physical building. Today there is no physical building that is the house of God. 1 Corinthians 3, 16, 6, 19 teach that this body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

And he has come inside the body to give us the strength to control the passions in our body and also to renew our mind. What does that mean? Our mind has a certain way of thinking. We have a certain value system in our mind.

And that value system was acquired as we grew up from childhood, from our surroundings, from people, and from the Adamic nature that we were all born with. And that's what makes all human beings, whatever religion they may call themselves as they grow up, selfish, proud, often jealous of others, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure, comfort, seeking one's own, and numerous things which are characteristic of the entire human race, irrespective of religion.

The purpose of God is that when Christ comes into our life and we open our beings to be filled with the Holy Spirit, not just to receive the forgiveness that Christ offers us on the cross, but beyond that, when we open our beings to allow the Holy Spirit to control us, what will happen is he will change our way of thinking.

He will change our value system. He will make us think more like Jesus thought in his earthly days as a man. Do you think that is happening with most Christians? Unfortunately not. How many Christians do you find who are serious about looking at things the way Jesus looked at them, who are seeking with all their heart, even if they don't attain it, at least seeking with all their heart to climb this mountain with the power of the Holy Spirit, to look at people and things and circumstances, etc., the way Jesus looked at them?

Developing the Mind and Attitude of Christ

That is the meaning of this commandment. This is not a suggestion. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul says in Philippians 2 verse 5, you must have the mind of Christ. You must have the same attitude that Jesus had.

That means we are to look at people the way Jesus looked at people. We must look at women the way Jesus looked at women, with purity. We must look at material things the way Jesus looked at them, not in a covetous, greedy way, seeking to grab as much as possible for ourselves, but being content with what God has given us and when we have more than enough for ourselves, to use it to bless other people who are needy.

That's how Jesus was. Jesus didn't grab all the money that people gave him and keep it all for himself. No. He would give to the poor. You read that in John 13 verse 29. He himself was so poor that he had no place to lay his head.

But whatever people gave him, he gave to the poor as well. Those around who were needy. And at the same time, we read in the same verse, John 13, 29, he bought what was needed. There's nothing wrong in using our money to buy what we need.

But very often we have to say that most Christians have not changed their attitude to money because they have not allowed the Holy Spirit to renew their way of thinking. Transformation into the likeness of Christ is God's goal for us.

Predestination as Conformity to Christ

In Romans chapter 8 and verse 29, we read a word called predestined. The subject of predestination has been discussed by so many Bible scholars and they have different interpretations and there are people who talk about some human beings being predestined to go to hell and some human beings being predestined to go to heaven.

I don't know where they get all these ideas from. Certainly not from the Bible because there's not a single verse in the Bible that says anybody was predestined to go to heaven or hell. The word predestination in the Bible is not connected with heaven or hell.

That is not the destination God has predetermined for us. You see predestination means beforehand the destination being determined. God has determined a destination for us who are his children. And I want to say to you, this may surprise you, it is not heaven.

Where is it then? That destination is, according to Romans 8, 29, conformity to the likeness of Jesus Christ. It says here, he predestined them, those whom he chose and called, whom he knew beforehand.

When it says he foreknew them, that means he knew beforehand that certain people would respond to the claims of Christ. So he made a plan for them before they were even born. I mean he knew who all would respond to the call of Christ before he created the world.

That's why he could put their names in the book of life. He knew who all would endure faithfully till the end, trusting Christ. Their names were put in the book of life. And he prepared a destination for them, which is what the Bible calls predestination.

And that destination is total conformity to the likeness of Christ. In other words, if you were asked to ask me, what is God's ultimate plan for me? What is he predestined for me? What is my predestination?

I'm very clear in my own mind that in my personality I will be totally like Jesus Christ. In my attitude to people, to things, to serving others, to everything in my life. And I'll tell you something, that is a far greater goal than going to heaven.

The Goal of Christlikeness Rather Than Self-Preservation

Desire to go to heaven can be a very selfish desire. The desire to escape hell can be a very selfish desire. No fool wants to go to hell. Even a fool doesn't want to go there. Nobody wants to go there.

Only a man who doesn't understand what hell is or is off his head would talk lightly about hell. Otherwise nobody, no sensible person would want to go there, not even a fool. But heaven also is, I mean to choose heaven doesn't mean you're a spiritual person.

Would you choose a mansion or a hut to live in? If you choose a mansion, it doesn't mean you're spiritual. It can be a very selfish desire to choose heaven. But here is the goal. It's not heaven or hell.

It's a question of conformity to Jesus Christ. And that process starts right now. That as soon as Christ comes into our life and the Holy Spirit fills us, God begins a work in us. That work is called in the New Testament sanctification.

And the word sanctification means being separated. Separated from what? Separated from, please listen carefully, everything un-Christlike. Everything Adamic. We have got a lot of the nature of Adam within us.

And that nature is basically selfish and proud. We think only about ourselves and we look down on others as though they are beneath us. When Jesus came to earth, he never did anything like that. He never looked down on any human being.

The lowest beggar was just as precious to him as King Herod or Pilate or anyone. All were equal. Like all human beings are equal before God. And he never thought only of himself. The very fact that he came to heaven shows that he was totally unselfish.

Christ’s Unselfish Love and Inner Reality

Why did he come from heaven to earth? I mean, why did he come to earth from heaven? It was not to get anything for himself. We may do Christian service or social service to get some satisfaction for ourselves that we are doing something for God.

Jesus didn't come to earth to get some satisfaction that he was doing something for his father. He came with the purely unselfish loving motive of bringing us to where he is. Taking us out of the pit that we are in and bringing us to where he is.

To enjoy everything he enjoyed. His desire was that we should enjoy what he has. That is total unselfishness. A mother is like that. A good mother, a good father too, will want their children to enjoy what they're enjoying and to enjoy even more.

The most unselfish manifestation of love that we see on the face of this earth is the mother's love for her little child. She's willing to sacrifice so much so that her child may be comfortable. This is the purest form of love you can see on this earth.

And God's love, multiply that by a million and you understand God's love. It's totally unselfish and Christ came to earth to change us. We cannot change ourselves. It is impossible. No matter how much we try, we may on the surface appear to be or pretend to be kind, unselfish because we get honor for that.

We can get a bad name if we act proud or unselfish. So we can act unselfishly, act humbly and get a reputation for ourselves. But that's not Christianity. Christianity is where our inner life is changed, where we are the same within.

When Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. What did he mean by the word truth? The opposite of truth is lie. What he meant was there is no lie in me. I'm not pretending. I'm not acting out something on the outside which I'm not inside.

Truth means reality. I'm real. Christians must be real. You must appear to be on the outside what you are genuinely inside. Now, in the beginning, that's not true. We are all hypocrites, actors, pretenders.

The Adamic nature that we have inherited from childhood has taught us to pretend, to act, to do what other people will accept. Christ came to change us on the inside. And when we see that that is the destination that God himself has planned for us, we can be pretty sure that he will do everything to take us to that destination.

God’s Providence in Making Believers Like Christ

We read in Romans 8 and verse 28, the verse immediately preceding verse 29, that God makes everything around us to work together for our good. And what is that good? Mentioned in the next verse, to make us like Christ.

So God has a goal in his dealings with us. And that goal is to conform us to the likeness of Christ completely. And all the events and circumstances and things that happen around us are planned by God to bring us to that goal where we become like Christ.

So God's very serious about this. He's determined to bring us there at any cost. And if we also cooperate with him, we'll get there pretty quickly. But if we don't cooperate with him and he has to drag us, he's certainly not going to drag us because God respects a man's free will.

Human Freedom, Conversion, and Spiritual Growth

And the clearest proof of that is that if a person wants to go to hell, God Almighty doesn't stop him. Isn't that amazing? That every day there are millions of people dying in sin, going to an eternal hell separated from God and God doesn't stop them.

If they want to go there, they are welcome to go there. Why is that? Even though God knows that's so terrible for them, if they choose to go there, he will not interfere. He will not force man to come into his presence.

He won't catch a man by the neck and say, you got to come to heaven. He gives us freedom of choice. Even after we have received Christ as our Savior and the Holy Spirit has come in, he still respects our freedom of choice.

He tells us if you want to reach this destination of becoming like Christ, you're welcome. But if you don't want to reach there, I'm not going to force you. And that's the reason why millions of born again believers do not seem to grow spiritually into the likeness of Christ.

Even 20, 30 years after they are born again, they are selfish, they are proud, they're jealous, they're angry, they're bitter. There's hardly any difference between these so-called born again Christians and those who are atheists.

Sometimes those atheists behave much better. What is the reason? One reason could be these people have probably not genuinely been born again. They probably have just gone through a formula taught them by some preacher to say these magic words, Lord Jesus come into my heart, like some type of mantra, which they thought would change them.

There was no sincerity in their heart. There was no repentance. There was no turning from sin. There was no recognition of what Christ had done for them, the price he had paid for them. And so they respond in a selfish way because they want to go to heaven.

They are threatened that they'll go to hell if you don't believe and so they believe. That's one category of persons and the other is those who may have been genuinely born again, but have not understood that God has made provision for them to have their whole mind controlled by the Holy Spirit so that they can be transformed into the likeness of Christ.

Yielding to the Holy Spirit’s Transforming Power

The power of the Holy Spirit is like electricity. We're like bulbs. It's only when the electricity flows into the bulb that the light burns. Otherwise it has the capacity to burn, but it doesn't burn.

God's desire is that we open our being. He's not telling us to burn on our own. No, He knows we can't do it. He's telling us to open our beings to His power, the power of His Holy Spirit. The Christian life is really very simple.

It's actually very exciting because He doesn't expect us to do anything on our own. Open your being, God says, to the power of my Holy Spirit and I will change you. The responsibility to change us is God's.

The destination determined is by Him and He works things in our circumstances and He works inside us to make us like Christ. So when you have a command saying, have this attitude which is in Christ, He's the one who's willing to produce that in us if we are willing to change.

Isn't that a wonderful message? It takes the responsibility of us completely to be transformed. All we need to do is to be willing. Are you willing? It's all God wants from you. Tell Him that. God bless you.