Our Father and our God, we thank You for today; we thank You for the gift of life, the most important gift that we receive from You on a daily basis, without this gift we cannot receive any other gift; so because we have received this gift today that is why we are here, we return all the glory unto You in the name of Jesus.
We ask that as we listen to Your word, Holy Spirit please guide us; let the name of the Lord be glorified; let each and every one of us be blessed in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You everlasting King; blessed be Your holy name in Jesus mighty name we have prayed. Amen.
My message this morning to the people of God (as we have listened to the song) is titled “What manner of man is this?” If you like you can say “What manner of man is Jesus?” And the text is taken from the Book of Mark 4: 35 – 41, it says “And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, let us pass over unto the other side. 36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. 37And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. 38And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 And he said unto them, why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, what manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
We can see from this passage that even the disciples of Jesus who had always been with Him and the closest were wondering what manner of man is this. So Jesus meant different things to different people, but one thing is constant that we all know that Jesus is Lord.
Now as Christians, we are all obligated to live and act like Christ. In Philippians 2: 5 – 9 (and I want to take it from the New Century Version) , this is what it says, “In your lives, you must think and act like Christ Jesus. 6Christ himself was like God in everything. But he did not think that being equal with God was something to be used for his own benefit. 7But he gave up his place with God and made himself nothing. He was born as a man and became like a servant. 8And when he was living as a man, he humbled himself and was fully obedient to God, even when that caused his death – death on the cross. 9So God raised him to the highest place. God made his name greater than every other name”.
So from this passage, we have that duty, obligation, to live a Christ-like life, but we must not be like the people of Athens who claimed to be worshiping a God that they did not know as we find in the book of Acts 17: 23 where Apostle Paul said, “For as I walk around and examine your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, what you worship as something or none, I now proclaim to you”.
So this morning, we don’t want to be like the people of Athens who say they worship an unknown God; we want to take some time to look at just one chapter in the life of Christ so that we can be guided in living a Christ-like life, and so we go;
Number one: what manner of Man is Christ? He is a Man of love. The life of Jesus epitomizes love, everything about Him is love.
In John 13: 34 -35, it says “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you have love one for another”. So the first characteristic of a Christ-like life is love; there are no two ways to it, you cannot be a Christian without having the characteristic of Christ and that is the first thing – love.
Jesus bequeathed love to us, so we should know that as a child inherits the father’s assets, so have we inherited love from Christ; and there is no greater evangelism any man can do than the outward manifestation of love towards other people.
In John 15: 12&13, it says “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”. So Christianity is all about love; a true Christian must live a life of love for his fellow man like it is said in 1st Peter 4: 8, it says “Above all love each other deeply; because love covers over a multitude of sins”.
Number two: Jesus was a Man of service; this was a typical servant leader, He was a Master, yet, He was a servant of His disciples. So to live a Christ-like life, we must render selfless service.
In John 13: 3 – 5, we are told of the story where Jesus took upon Himself to serve His disciples by washing their feet and wiping them; and in verse 15, Jesus said ‘I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you’. The leader must serve; so what manner of Man is this who is so great and powerful, yet teaches the principles of servant leadership? He leads by example.
In Luke 22: 25 – 27, we are taught that the leader should be one to serve those who are being led (if you take those verses), but this is however one of the problems of our society today; those who we have elected to serve us behave as our bosses; they don’t only lord it on us, they also lead in their pockets. Christians should not behave like that.
Is there any part of this country where you can assuredly call your Local Government Council or even the Commissioner responsible for Works to complain that there is no water in your neighborhood or that the road passing through your streets are littered with potholes and they will respond? I don’t know if there’s any part of this country where you can confidently say that, where then is service onto the people? So as Christians, we must imbibe the culture of selfless service.
Matthew 20: 28, it says “For even the Son of man came not to be served but to serve others, and to give his life as a ransom for many”. He came not to be served, but to serve.
Albert Einstein once said ‘only a life lived in the service of others is worth living’; think of how you can be of service to your fellow being. I want to give you one example: some years back we went for a program in Hawaii, in the United States; it was a Haggai Institute’s program, and with different people from different parts of the world. When we came in, the bus that drove us to the center; a couple approached us, one carried my bag – an old man, I tried to resist it but the man insisted that that is why he was here; then when he had settled us, he led me into my room, put the box there and I asked him, who are you? He said he and his wife came all the way from Canada as volunteers to come and serve.
The wife was in the kitchen, the husband was carrying bags, and they flew, they are not paupers; they paid for their own tickets, they flew all the way from Canada just to come and serve as volunteers in an evangelism center. Can we think of what we can do to serve others? And Lord will bless you as you do that.
Even in this church, there are people who clean where you are seated; there are people who wash the toilets; there are people who stay outside to ensure that there is no chaos when you drive in. Many of them are company directors, but they serve you; think of how you can serve others without expecting any benefit from it.
Galatians 5:13 -14 says, “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. 14For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”. And one of the manifestations of the love for your neighbor is to serve your neighbor. So it is also imperative that we show gratitude when we are served; show gratitude when you are served.
Number three: what manner of Man is this? Jesus was a Man who lived a life of sacrifice. Ephesians 5:1 – 2, “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for his sweetsmelling savour”.
To give sacrifice, you must deny yourself, deprive yourself of something that is otherwise comfortable. It was not easy to give up your life on the cross for the sin of others. In Matthew 26: 38-39, Jesus felt the pain of the sacrifice of laying down His life, yet, He did not avoid the sacrifice. What manner of Man is this who has power to avoid death, yet, He gave up His life.
Matthew 26: 51-54; when one of the disciples of Jesus attacked one of His assailants with his sword, what did Jesus do? He cautioned him and asked, “53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? 54But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be”? He had power to kill those who came to attack Him, but because of the sacrifice, He gave up His life.
There is one example I will give to you: there was one occasion, a gentleman was flying on an international flight; he saw a former boss of his at the lounge, but when they got onto the plane, he was sitting in the first class and his former boss was in the economy class; he would not believe it, this man said no way, he would not sit in the first class cabin and his former boss (who had now retired) would sit in the economy class. He walked over to him in the economy cabin and insisted he must come to the first class seat while he goes back to the economy class. That is great sacrifice; the price of a first class is almost times three or times four the price of an economy ticket. He said no, you were my boss, I knew what you did when I was in service, I will not sit in first class and you sit in the economy class, he gave up. Think of how you can give a sacrifice, something that you will feel discomfort.
Number four: what manner of Man is this? He was a Man who lived a life of obedience. Jesus lived a life of obedience and we can see from these examples, Jesus had control over the law, yet, He obeyed the law.
1st John 1: 1- 3 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made”. The Word here is Jesus; He was equal to God.
Then let us look at the second passage that demonstrates His life of obedience, that’s the Book of Luke 5: 24 – 25, where Jesus spoke about His power to forgive sins. So Jesus was God, secondly He had power to forgive sins; but despite His power, despite the fact that He was equal to God, despite the fact that He had power to forgive sins, what did He do? He submitted Himself to the law. What is the law? The law is that without the shedding of blood there cannot be forgiveness of sins, and every Christian should realize that; without the shedding of blood, there cannot be forgiveness of sins, and that is why you have in the Old Testament that when they sinned they must go and sacrifice by killing, by shedding blood, that is the law.
Did Jesus not have power to override that law? Yet He submitted to the law by allowing His own blood to be shed for the forgiveness of our sins. I don’t know if that sounds some example to us. You are required to pay tax, Jesus is above the law, He submitted to the law, He paid tax.
The Book of Luke 20: 21 – 25 where He commanded His disciples to render unto Caesar the things which belong to Caesar and unto God what belongs to God. He had power to override the law but He submitted Himself to the law. So the first example: He submitted His blood to be shed for the remission of our sins because the law is that without the shedding of blood there cannot be forgiveness of sins, and that is why as Christians, when you pray for the forgiveness of sins, you must certainly plead the blood of Jesus, because without the shedding of blood, your sins cannot be forgiven.
Now those who occupy positions of authority in this country, do they submit themselves to the law? Only recently, the Inspector General of Police was telling us that he will now begin to obey traffic rules in the year 2023, but very good of him that he realizes it that it is now good to obey the law; but if Jesus could submit Himself to the law, who are we not to submit ourselves to the law? The fact that you are the head of your own office or business does not mean you should disobey the rules that you have put in place for the smooth running of the office.
Because Jesus had power to override His own law that without the shedding of blood there will be no remission of sins, but He submitted to the law. If you put the rule in place in your office, obey the law, so that you can be a good example. How do you disobey the law and punish your staff for disobeying it?
Number five: what manner of Man is this? He was a Man who lived a life devoted to doing good. You will find this in the book of Acts 10: 36-38, it says “The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) 37That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; 38How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost with and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that we are oppressed of the devil; for God was with him”. There was no day that passed without Jesus doing good to one person or another; you can also find that in the Book of Luke 7: 21 – 22, it says, “And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. 22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached”.
Brethren, do not pass without you doing good to one person or the other. It is of course good to do good because the beneficiary of your today’s good may be the helper you need tomorrow; and I’ll give you this typical example: many years ago, some students in the University were rusticated by their University, and a lawyer took up their case free of charge. He fought the case up to Supreme Court; he won for them; they were taken back.
One of them was a medical doctor; he had completed his program, he was practicing in a hospital. Several years thereafter, this same lawyer was arrested by the government during the military regime and he was flown to that same state where that doctor was practicing but he had forgotten about the student, he didn’t know him anymore. The lawyer was apprehensive that he was going to be poisoned in detention by security agents; so the doctor approached him to treat him, he refused, he said, I don’t know you, go away. Because there were security men around, the doctor whispered to him, you don’t know me? He said, I don’t know you, he screamed; then he tried to calm him down, ‘students rusticated, students rusticated’, as soon as he heard that, ha; he said, don’t talk…
If you do good to them, they will see Christ in you, they will begin to worship the God that you worship. Think of how Christ drew sinners close to Himself; you’ll find the second example again in the Book of Matthew 9: 9 – 13; again Jesus invited Matthew, a tax collector, to follow Him, what did the people say? They said He has gone again with the sinner, but in verses 12- 13, “But when Jesus heard that, He said unto them, they that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick”. Only the sick go to the doctor, “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, both sinners to repentance”.
In fact if all of us are righteous it will not be necessary for Jesus to come; if all human beings were righteous there will be no need for Jesus to come, because it would not be necessary to lay down His life, it would not be necessary to have His blood shed because He will not be asking for the forgiveness of our sins.
Some time ago, I had the privilege of taking up a case for a colleague who was also a senior lawyer in the profession; and very early in the morning, another colleague called me from outside Lagos, very early in the morning, I was in the bathroom; he said Tayo, Tayo, I read you are the one appearing for this man, I said yes, what is the problem? He said how can you? That man that has no name; I looked at it, has he been condemned? Has he been found guilty? If no one speaks for him, who else will do? If no one tells the sinner that there is Christ, how will he know that there is Christ?
One of the things that Christians do that we must look into and change is the idea of condemning others, because you believe they are sinners, it is not Christ-like; draw them closer to you, live a life of examples through which you can change them, because the more souls you draw to the Kingdom, the greater the crown that you will receive. If it’s me and me alone, not many crowns; if you are righteous and only you go with your righteousness, not many crowns for you. Think as much as possible how you can draw people to Christ by the word you speak and by the actions that you show them.
Number seven: Jesus lived a life full of the spirit of forgiveness. What manner of man is this who likes to forgive all sins? Despite the trauma that Christ went through on the cross when He was being crucified, He was still full of the spirit of forgiveness, how many of us can do that?
The Book of Luke 23: 33 – 34, it says “And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. 34Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots”. Even under the pains of being stabbed and humiliated, He was still asking for forgiveness.
So how many times are we supposed to forgive those who offend us? Matthew 18: 21 – 22 tells us seventy times seven times, which simply means as often as we are offended. Seventy times seven times is a simple way of saying as many times as you are offended, forgive; and that is why in The Lord’s Prayer, it is said, ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’.
I had an example of myself about this part of the word; some time ago a relative of mine sent a message to me that his car he was using for business was bad, send me money; I sent him the money. For the next two years I didn’t hear from him; then he sent another text message again about two years thereafter, uncle, send me money, this car again is giving me problem, and he now said that his mother would be very happy in her grave if I sent the money. I was fuming; so I called him and started abusing him thoroughly, I said everything I could say; but brethren, just as I was saying that, a spirit just knocked me, how many times have you received from God without thanking Him?
Ah, and I’ve already abused the boy thoroughly, I’ve dropped the phone, then the spirit said you, think, how many times have you received from God without thanking Him? Ah, do I call this boy now? Do I apologize? So reluctantly I picked my phone, send your account number, because it’s just human; you travel from one spot, you get down, you just walk away without saying ‘thank You Father for journey mercies’; think of how many who passed through that road and didn’t reach their destination. You wake up in the morning, you receive gift of life, you just took your bath and you walk to your office, you think it’s just like that? Many people went to bed yesterday they didn’t wake up in the following morning and you didn’t say thank You Father for the gift of life today; and somebody collected money from you, he didn’t thank you, you want to crucify him?
Morning, you are still alive, Somebody gave you gift of life, you didn’t thank Him. I quietly took my phone and I told him, send your account number, and I quietly sent the money to him. If I don’t have, I don’t have to steal, but if I have the money I send. So we should think of some of these things and apply them in our daily lives, forgive those who trespass against you.
Matthew 6: 14 – 15, it says “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”. Thank God this passage came to my mind the day I was involved and I quietly applied it. Remember this verse when anyone offends you; think of how many times you too have failed to give thanks to God for the gifts that you have received from Him.
Number eight: what manner of man is this? Jesus was a Man who lived a life of humility. Philippians 2: 5 – 8 says “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross”. He was full of humility.
I’ll tell you another story about a governor who helped another man to succeed him as governor, and because he was the one who put him in office, he believed that he was still greater than the governor. Anytime there was a social function, this man would come to the function after the governor was seated; he did it first time, they overlooked; he did the second time, they overlooked it; did the third time, they overlooked it; the governor was not perturbed but his henchman said enough is enough, the next time the man was coming they gated him, oga is already seated, go back. Governor was seated expecting him to come in, he didn’t know that his henchmen had already gated him.
There was nothing he did not say; I will not enter? They said you will not enter, oga is already seated, come before oga is seated. He looked at everybody, he tried to phone the governor, governor was not picking his phone; the people who did it made sure that the governor did not have access to his phone; he tried several times, governor did not pick phone; with his tail behind his leg he walked back and went back home. What is the lesson? Humility; they taught him that lesson, a hard one of course, and thereafter the man will never do that. Be humble even when you have power.
There was another story (very quickly) of a gentleman who employed his primary school classmate as a driver. He was well to do; this man would never sit at the back, he would sit in front with the driver; throughout his lifetime he never sat at the back of the vehicle, he still saw him as his friend, he sat in front with him, the two of them would be talking, chatting, because they were old men, he never sat at the back, he regarded him as his friend; until the end that was what he did. May the Lord give us the spirit of humility in the name of Jesus.
In conclusion, our mandate as Christians is to live a Christ-like life. We need the help of the Holy Spirit (of course) to achieve this, and the Holy Spirit will enable us to live a Christ-like life. You cannot live a Christ-like life if you do not first surrender your life to Christ.
So if you are here this morning and you have listened to this message and you have not surrendered your life to Christ, this is the time for you to do so. If you want to surrender your life to Christ, please come forward very quickly now that we’re about to pray; you would have listened to this message, you want to take the benefit of all that we have said but you have not yet given your life to Christ or you want to rededicate your life to Christ, please come forward very quickly while the rest of us will rise to pray.
Let us pray: let us give thanks to the almighty God for knowing Him as our Lord and personal Savior; let us thank God that we give thanks unto Him for the opportunity to know Him as our Lord and personal Savior. Let’s say Father, I give thanks unto You O Lord for knowing You as my Lord and personal Savior, in the name of Jesus.
Let us say Father, please help me to live a Christ-like life, loving my God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind and with all my strength. The grace to live a Christ-like life loving God with all our heart, all our mind, our soul and our strength in the name of Jesus.
And lastly, let us say Father, please let me also love my neighbor as myself; give me the grace oh Lord and the spirit to love my neighbor as myself. Father please give me the spirit and the grace to love my God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind and with all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself, so shall he be in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
