Jesus preached with more than words. He preached with his life. We see this in his sermon on servanthood. Consider John 13:1-5: “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from the God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
It is important to note—in this account Jesus isn’t playing the role of a servant for the sake of making a point. Jesus is a servant by nature. In other words, Jesus isn’t using an object lesson to teach his followers. He is the object lesson. Jesus isn’t calling his disciples to simply do what he does. He’s calling them to be what he is—a servant. Having physically expressed his heart as their servant, Jesus goes on to invite them (and us) to be servants one to another. He continues, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you and example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:12-15).
Here’s the bottom line. When Jesus preached about the serving nature of Christian love, he not only spoke the message so his disciples could hear—he lived the message so they could see. This pattern marked his life and ministry. When Jesus declared, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends,” he did exactly that when he gave himself for us on the cross. When Jesus commanded his disciples to “Go and make disciples of all nations,” they had already seen him faithfully “seeking and saving the lost”. Having heard him preach love for one’s enemy, they watched him wash the feet of Judas.
All this reminds us that our witness for Jesus is not a matter of words alone. The lives we live in Christ—the lives we live for Christ—are an essential part of outreach. When there is no consistency between the words we speak and the lives we live, how can lives be transformed? How can destinies be changed? How can God be glorified? Like Christ, we are called to be God’s message even as we speak God’s message.
Of course, it would be lunacy to suggest that any of us can be God’s message to the perfect extent Jesus was. Even so, if our lives do not proclaim the gospel as loudly as our lips, the gospel’s power to save is obscured. This explains Paul’s statement to the Thessalonians concerning their conversion. He wrote, “For we know, brothers love by God that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake” (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5).
May God empower us to both speak and live the gospel for the sake of those who so desperately need to hear and see it.