Christlike Men

Character Strengths Demonstrated by Christ in the Gospels:

(Scriptures for each are forthcoming)

♦ Jesus made the greatest sacrifice, willingly giving up His life and dying in your place, taking on the punishment of your sin and paying its price, so you wouldn’t have to.

♦ Jesus drew near to the outcast, the misfit, the leper, the worst “sinners” in society, the sick, and expressed kindness, mercy, and compassion.

♦ Continuing the idea above, Jesus shared meals and ate dinner with tax collectors (in that culture, traitors and the worst of the worst, hated by their peers), prostitutes, and “sinners.” 

“Table fellowship” was a big deal in that culture, as it demonstrated a level of intimacy, affection, and acceptance. 

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day would NEVER have come near the people Jesus intentionally sought out, let alone have dinner with them, as they believed doing so would make them unclean. Yet, Jesus embraced them. Often.

♦ Jesus often physically touched those whom He healed, eg, the leper. Jesus could’ve healed the leper from a distance, but He made physical contact, and said, “Be cleansed,” and healed. 

Why touch the leper to heal him? Perhaps to demonstrate acceptance and love. How lonely the lepers in that day must have been, as outcasts. 

No one was allowed around them, and if someone happened to wander near, the leper was required to yell, “Unclean!” 

The religious leaders of that day absolutely never would’ve gotten close to a leper. Jesus touched the leper, validating his human dignity. And healed him. 

♦ Jesus was gentle with the broken and repentant. When the religious leaders had caught a woman in adultery, utterly humiliated, as a tactic to trick Jesus and catch Him in His words, and thus have a reason to accuse Him, Jesus outsmarted those religious leaders, and they left with their tails between their legs. 

But Jesus ministered tenderly, yet forthrightly, to the woman, and sent her on her way forgiven.

♦ Jesus embraced and blessed children. In that culture, children were at the bottom of society, without much value, not given the time of day. Jesus embraced them.

♦ Jesus broke racial, cultural, and gender barriers. In the story of the woman at the well in John 4, Jesus has a private conversation with a Samaritan woman.

She was a Samaritan (Jews and Samaritans had no dealings with each other), a woman (men didn’t speak to women in public and socialize, believing women were beneath them), AND an outcast in her own Samaritan community (as indicated by going alone to the community’s water well in the middle of the day, when the sun was the strongest, while all the other women went in the morning, during the cool of the day). 

We learn from the story why she was an outcast. Yet, Jesus affirmed her human dignity, in spite of these realities, which was unheard of in His culture. 

Jesus ministered to her, in kindness and truth, bringing healing and salvation into her life, and then to many others in her community.

Jesus’ first post-resurrection appearances were to women. (more examples to come)

♦ While Jesus was gentle with the broken, as stated above, He was RUTHLESS with the arrogant and proud religious leaders. 

In Matthew 25 He verbally lays them out cold. Many other Scriptures demonstrate this (coming soon).

♦ Jesus stood on conviction. His entire life demonstrated this. Again, read His epic confronting of the religious leaders. He never wavered with the truth.

♦ Jesus directly confronted and called out the twisting of Scripture and the invented harmful religious practices by the religious leaders that led to the spiritual, physical, and emotional harm of the people.

Remember Jesus flipping over the tables of the money changers in the temple, and making a whip and driving out the merchants and their animals?

♦ Jesus protected his disciples. During His arrest, He got between His disciples and the soldiers, saying, “If you seek me, leave these go.”

♦ Jesus demonstrated courage, knowing what was awaiting Him in Jerusalem–His arrest and death. Yet, Scripture says Jesus set His face like flint and walked towards Jerusalem.

♦ Jesus demonstrated a servant’s spirit, by washing His disciples’ feet in John 13. 

(more to come)