When pondering “WWJD?” do not forget that brandishing whips and overturning tables is not out of the realm of possibilities.  Jesus was not afraid to get right in someone’s face and offend.  He was much more concerned with God’s will than making friends.  Even when He had a large group of followers He didn’t try to avoid offending them in order to keep them from “unfriending” Him.

Jesus reproved and rebuked people because He genuinely cared and He wanted them to do right and wasn’t afraid to do what was needed whether popular or not.  Sometimes I snicker when someone on social media tries to tell me that I don’t have a very Christ-like attitude:

As it turns out, not even Jesus Christ has a Christ-like attitude.

From the blog “Hope Stands” (link above)

After quoting Tony Campolo, Brandon Robertson writes, “Dr. Campolo has been an advocate for a more Christ-like and loving posture towards LGBTQ people in the church for many years now.”[1]

Right away, that stopped me in my tracks, regardless of what the rest of the article said.  As soon as you use the language of a “more Christ-like posture,” all my red flags go up.  Are we reading the same Bible?  This smells like legalism.

Yes, predictably, Robertson goes on to exude his support of the LGBTQ community, but no matter, because he’s already lost me.  Whatever else he said about LGBTQ makes little difference now, so long as he began with those words “a more Christ-like and loving posture.”  That snide remark showed me that he was about to parade the Messiah out in front of us in order to use him for his agenda and take us on a little guilt trip.

But Jesus won’t be paraded around.  A more Christ-like attitude?  What does it mean to have a “more Christ-like and loving posture?”

Does it mean that Jesus would never call anyone names?  He once called a woman a dog (Mark 7:27).  He regularly called people hypocrites, which was a huge insult in his day (Matthew 7:4).  Here are some other names he swathed onto people: blind guides (Matt. 23:16); fools (Matt. 23:17); white washed tombs (Matt. 23:27); snakes (Matt. 23:33); hidden tombs (Luke 11:43); children of hell (Matt. 23:15); and—particularly biting—“Your daddy is the devil!” (John 8:44).

And Jesus wasn’t just harsh with the religious leaders.  He was an equal opportunity offender.  In fact, he called one of his closest followers “Satan” (Matthew 16:23).  Then check out what Jesus said to the seven churches in the book of Revelation.  He gave a very candid and clear assessment of each church, helping it to see where it needed to shape up or ship out.  “You are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17).

Why is Jesus so harsh?  He gives the answer, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent” (Rev. 3:19).  Reprove?  Discipline?  Tell them to repent?  Is that what you call an un-Christ-like posture?

But there’s more.  Speaking through the apostle Paul, Jesus said, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).  Unless, of course, they are washed, sanctified, and justified (11).

Again, Jesus spoke through Paul, “For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, and idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.  Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” (Ephesians 5:5-6).

I could list many more examples of Jesus’s “un-Christ-like” posture.  My point is that the way of Jesus is to expose the sin and forgive the sinner.  There is grace and forgiveness for every sin named in these verses.  His radical tactics pave the way for his radical love.

There’s no place in Scripture where Jesus calls a person to himself without asking him or her to change.  In fact, by calling us to change, he’s letting us know that change is now possible because of the grace he first gives.  Jesus never validates a person’s natural condition, whether good or bad.  He only asks them to do whatever it takes to follow him.  Pluck out your eye.  Cut off your arm.  Leave your father and mother.  Sell you possessions.  Circumcise your hearts.  Don’t look back.   Take up your cross.  Lay down your life.  Sin no more.

He’s often hard with us because that’s what true love is.  True love is not validating who we are, but true love is helping us to love God more.  True love will wound us in order to heal us.

Please stop equating a more Christ-like and loving posture with only hugs.  Because if that’s the case, then Jesus Christ was one of the most un-Christ-like people who has ever lived.

In fact, I would go so far as to argue that the kind of “love” that some are asking for today is not love at all.  It’s something much worse.