One day shortly after Jesus returned to heaven Peter and John were coming into the temple. Seeing a lame beggar Peter says to him, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6). The man did! Amazed, all the people came running together and Peter started preaching to them in the name of Jesus. The authorities were very displeased, arrested Peter and John, and brought them before the Sanhedrin, the highest court in the land.

But Peter and John didn’t respond as the authorities expected. “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). It wasn’t that the disciples knew more “stuff;” they had become different through being with Jesus.

Imagine some accused you of being a follower of Jesus and were hauled into court. Would there be enough evidence to convict you? Have you become different because of your time with Jesus?

When I’ve asked people to imagine what being like Jesus would entail I usually get “soft” answers; loving, patient, kind, welcoming. Jesus was certainly those things. But He was also fiercely intentional, deeply courageous, and unchanged/unmoved by people who loved or hated Him.  What the authorities recognized in Peter and John was their boldness. Both Christian and secular scholars have called Jesus the most differentiated person ever to have lived.

That’s who we are to become. The early followers of Jesus were different from those around them. Are we similarly different from our surrounding culture?

Countercultural Distinctives

Well-known pastor and author Tim Keller often summarized the distinctives of the early Christian church as five countercultural characteristics. These made the church both attractive and offensive to the surrounding culture because they didn’t fit neatly into contemporary political categories – then or now. Here are the five:

• Multi-racial and multi-ethnic community
  The early church united people across ethnic and social boundaries in a way that was unusual in the Roman world.
• Radical care for the poor and marginalized
  Christians became known for caring for the sick, widows, abandoned children, and the poor — even during plagues and crises.
• Responding to harm, even violence, with forgiveness and non-retaliation
  Instead of vengeance, early Christians emphasized reconciliation, mercy, and loving enemies, even to their own hurt.
• Strong commitment to the sanctity of life
  The church opposed practices like abortion, infanticide, and exposure of unwanted infants, which were common in Roman society. Christians often rescued abandoned infants and raised them as their own.
• A revolutionary sexual ethic
  Christians held to a sexual ethic that viewed covenant marriage as the only context for sexual activity, challenging both the exploitation and the permissiveness of the surrounding culture.

In today’s world, some of these values seem more aligned with the political left and others more with the political right. But just as in the days of the early church, the way of Jesus cannot be defined by any political movement or party.

Let’s make this personal. Would people say those things about your church? What about you, in your personal life? Do those values, those ethics, describe you?

Self-Evaluation

Perhaps you are very aware of a gap in your life between what you believe is “right” and the way you actually live. If the Holy Spirit is working on something specific in you, focus there. But let’s consider what those five characteristics might look like for you and me today.

• Do the people you hang out with all look like, think like, you? Regardless of what you say, are people from different backgrounds equally at home around you? Does your personal friend group include people of different ethnicities? If you’re a leader, how multi-colored is your work group, your church, your sports team, or whatever?
• What group of marginalized people do you invest in? We cannot all help everyone, but we are each called to minister to those in need. Categories abound: sick, mentally challenged, incarcerated, traumatized, refugees, foster children, abuse survivors, those with addictions, and we could go on and on. Who are you called to help?
• What is your immediate response when someone is against you? As Andy Stanley says, “When someone treats you as an enemy, you do not have to return the favor.” How do you respond to the irritating neighbor or angry customer, someone with opposite political views, the boss or coworker who delights in embarrassing you, or the person criticizing your Christian values or lifestyle?
• Where are you engaged in supporting the dignity and life of those who are at risk? That might be supporting women with at-risk pregnancies. But it could also be supporting single mothers, foster children, those with mental or physical disabilities, the terminally ill, or others on the margins of life.
• How are you personally living out a Christian sexual ethic? If unmarried, are you living with chastity, stewarding your sexuality in body and mind as Jesus did? If married, are you pursuing true intimacy with your spouse and living in faithfulness? Are you refraining from supporting or celebrating the pornified hypersexualized culture we find ourselves in?

Where’s the gap the Holy Spirit is highlighting for you right now?

Taking a Step Forward

The Holy Spirit doesn’t “dump” everything on you all at once. But He does long to make you more like Jesus.

The thing about spending time with Jesus is you can’t help but notice clashes between His personality and what’s most natural for you. This is not about self-contempt or trying harder; it’s about agreeing with God about what He values most and giving the Holy Spirit the freedom and space to change you. It may mean reflecting on some assumptions you’ve had, reordering your priorities, or doing some hard work to bring your actions in line with how He would have you live.

If you’ve been around this blog for a while you’ve heard me say it before:

• Keep showing up in places where Jesus is showing up.
• Keep saying Yes when the Spirit invites you to some new step.

May it be said of you, “That one has been with Jesus.”

Your Turn: Which distinctive have you focused most on in becoming like Jesus? Which one might the Spirit be convicting you about today?  Leave a comment below.

Want more? On the podcast this week I talk with Dr. Emily McKnight about what makes it possible for a couple to live specifically according to their Christian sexual values. Listen or watch.

And you might check out Dr. Em’s Still Faithful, Still Single free webinar.

Tweetables: why not share this post?

• If you were accused of being a follower of Jesus, would there be enough evidence to convict you? This is not about behavior; it’s about becoming someone different. Here’s what that looks like. Tweet that.

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