What Would Jesus Do? This important question became the WWJD campaign of the 1990s. Wrist bands and a massive product line promoted this campaign across America as believers were encouraged in the midst of everyday situations to stop and ask this question before they responded. The roots of this slogan probably can be traced back to Charles Sheldon’s book, In His Steps, which was subtitled, “What Would Jesus Do?” This book had a formative influence upon the early 20^th century social gospel movement, which applied Christian ethics to social problems. The WWJD campaign for the most part only dealt with an ethics and social gospel response. It left out of the possibilities the majority of what Jesus actually did, which were supernatural acts of healing and deliverance. So why was the majority of what Jesus actually did in loving people left out as possible ways to respond to personal and social problems?

The primary reason was and still is a critical theological question. Did Jesus perform His supernatural loving acts to primarily prove He was God or to show His followers the full extent of what they “can do” by the empowering Holy Spirit? Our conviction on this question will determine how we interpret the life of Christ and the extent of our ability to live and act like Him. The majority of the WWJD campaign was built upon the conviction that Jesus did His miracles of healing and deliverance to primarily prove He was God, not to show His followers what they too could do. So when the question, “What Would Jesus Do?” gets asked, the only possibilities would be ethical responses. But is this what Jesus intended? Is this what His early followers modeled? How would the first Christians answer, “What Would Jesus Do?” And why would we answer it any different today? Gerald Hawthorne in his book, The Presence & The Power: The significance of the Holy Spirit in the life and ministry of Jesus (p. 234) says; “…the followers of Jesus are faced with a stupendous fact: Not only is Jesus their Savior because of who he was and because of his own complete obedience to the Father’s will (cf. Heb 10:5-7), but he is the supreme example for them of what is possible in a human life because of his own total dependence upon the Spirit of God. Jesus is living proof of how those who are his followers may exceed the limitations of their humanness in order that they, like him, might carry to completion against all odds their God-given mission in life – by the Holy Spirit.”

There are four main reasons within scripture, which reveal that Jesus did His ministry and miracles through his humanity empowered by the Holy Spirit to be a model for how we are to live and minister.

His Humbling

Philippians 2:6-8 says, “…⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”(ESV) Theologians have debated many aspects of theses verses. The most critical question for our discussion is, “What did Jesus empty himself of?” The verb “emptied” simply means “to render void, of no effect”. This passage therefore affirms that Jesus temporarily left his glorified position and the privileges that went along with being fully God.

His Baptism

Luke 3:21-22 says, “²¹Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, ²²and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (ESV) Since Jesus was fully man and fully God, there would be no need for the Holy Spirit to come upon His deity. The Holy Spirit came upon His humanity and empowered Him for the work the Father sent Him to accomplish. As far as we know Jesus did no miraculous works before his baptism. It is only after this event that we see Him (His humanity) “full of the Holy Spirit.”

His Mission

Matthew 28:18-20 says, “¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV) Jesus commissioned His followers to do what He did and to teach others to “observe all” that He commanded, not just ethical teachings but supernatural works as well.

His Submission

In Matthew 26:39 Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane praying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (ESV) Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing. His work was to learn and do the will of the Father and to lead His followers to walk in the will and work of the Father. He did this so that whatever they asked the Father in His name would be accomplished. (John 15:15-17)

Our view on this issue radically changes how we would answer, “What Would Jesus Do?” It changes how we interpret our Lord’s life, what discipleship looks like and what is possible “according to the power at work within us.” (Ephesians 3:20b) The world needs more than biblical ethics; it needs “laborers” (Matthew 9:35-10:1) who will minister to the “whole” person as Jesus did by the power of the Holy Spirit.