James Meehan - How to Become Someone Great
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All of us want to become someone. We want to become someone great, someone admired, someone respected, someone loved. We wanna become someone who makes a difference, who leaves a legacy that outlasts us. And while that's like a really awesome dream to have, very few people actually achieve it. If you just look around at our world today, you'll see a lot of people who want to become someone but never actually end up living up to their own expectations for their lives. They never actually become the kind of person that they themselves say they want to be. And and for those of us who are followers of Jesus, the tragedy is that many of us never end up becoming the version of ourselves that God made us to be, that we are created to be. And that's why in today's message, we're gonna learn how to become someone. More specifically, we're gonna learn how to become like Jesus.
In Luke 6:40, we read these words, that students are not greater than their teacher, but the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher. The student who is fully trained will become like the teacher. What makes these words so powerful is that they come straight from the mouth of Jesus. And so we can trust that these words are not just describing a process, but they are actually a promise from the savior king of the world, promised by God that we as His students can become like Him. And the thing that we know about Jesus is that He did not live an ordinary or average life.
As a matter of fact, during his three years of ministry, Jesus flipped the world upside down to the point that the world we live in today is radically different because the three years when He made himself known, He traveled across His homeland, preaching about the goodness of God. He kept announcing that the kingdom of God, God's rule and reign was taking root in history. He assembled a team of followers, people very much like him, nobodies from nowhere that everybody else looked at and looked down on. Jesus cast out demons. He performed miracles. He gave sight to the blind. He helped those who could not walk walk. He challenged the status quo. He put the religious leaders in their place. He taught with an authority that nobody had ever seen before, and then they killed Him because Jesus didn't live an average or ordinary life. No, as a matter of fact, He made a big old splash.
And the ripples of that splash rocked the boat of the Roman leadership and the religious authorities so much so that they could not allow Jesus to continue preaching His message because it was upsetting the way of life that they had become so accustomed to, where they had all the power and the privilege. So they killed Him, but Jesus didn't stay dead because he wasn't just a great preacher. He wasn't just a prophet chosen by God. He was God in human form. He's more than human. He is God with us, God among us, God who died for us, God who died to save us. And on the third day, He rose from the grave proving He is who he said He was, conquering death, sin, and the devil so that anybody who puts their trust in Him could be saved. And now He's inviting all of us to trust Him, to follow Him, and to become like Him.
Luke 6:40. Students are not greater than their teacher, but the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher. You are not greater than Jesus. But when you are fully trained, you will become like Jesus. That's why we say that the destination of following Jesus is becoming like Jesus. The destination of following Jesus is becoming like Jesus. Now that is the destination. The question becomes, how do we actually get there? What is the path to becoming like Jesus? Well, that's exactly what we're gonna spend the rest of our time talking about today. So if you are taking notes, I want you to write this down. This is the path to becoming anybody great.
You see, what we believe, it drives how we behave, which shapes who we become, and is held together by where we belong. What we believe, it drives how we behave, which shapes who we become, and all of it is held together by where we belong. The first time I saw the truth of this was when I started training jiu-jitsu as a freshman in high school. When I showed up to the gym that very first day, I believed that my coach knew more than I did. So I behaved by doing everything he told me to do. And thankfully, I wasn't just practicing alone at home, but I was in a gym of other jiu-jitsu fighters committed to getting better and helping me get better. And because I belonged to that gym, over time, I became better. I became more technical. I became stronger. I became more wise and disciplined and self-controlled on the mats because what we believe, it drives how we behave, which shapes who we become, and it's all held together by where we belong.
And I saw it in jiu-jitsu, but, more than ever, I saw it when I started following Jesus because I began to believe that Jesus is the son of God who died and rose again to rescue me from sin. So I started to behave in ways that were informed by what He had to say and the way that He lived. And over time, I became more and more of who he wanted me to be. And thankfully, I had other people alongside me to help me see the things in myself that needed to change that I didn't see, who encouraged me when I was feeling down and low, and who every step of the way have been with me, praying for me to become the version of me that God has created me to be. This is how we become someone. You see, what we believe, it drives how we behave, which shapes who we become, and it's all held together by where we belong. And this process is actually what we see in Jesus' final instructions to His disciples before He left the earth.
As a matter of fact, if we look at Matthew 28:18-20, we're gonna see this. You see, Jesus came and he told His disciples, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go, make disciples of all the nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age". Now, to help us unpack all of the wisdom in Jesus' words, we're gonna take it one piece at a time. We're gonna start by looking at what we believe, then we're gonna look at how we behave, and then we're gonna see how all of it is held together by where we belong so that we can become like Jesus. So starting with what we believe. What we believe it drives, how we behave. What we believe, it drives how we behave.
In her book "Mindset: The Psychology of Success," author Carol Dweck talks about how nothing makes a bigger difference in us growing, learning, changing, developing, becoming more than our mindset, than what we believe. Because if you think it's possible, you might just achieve it. But if you don't, chances are really good that you won't. So what do we believe if we want to become like Jesus? Let's go back to those words of his in Matthew chapter 28. Jesus said to His disciples, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth".
So if you want to become like Jesus, it starts with believing that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him, that Jesus is the true king of the world, that He actually knows what He's talking about. Not just about getting saved and going to heaven when we die, but about all of life, about your life, about the way that you carry yourself in your friendships, the way that you treat your family members, the way that you actually approach your schoolwork or your sport. We have to believe that Jesus actually is the ultimate authority, and He knows what He's talking about. The problem is that there's a lot of people who say they believe in Jesus, and they say they believe that He actually is the King, He's God, He knows it all, He's the Lord of our lives, but, if you look at the way they live, you can see that they don't really mean it. Because what we believe, it shapes how we behave.
And if you really believe that Jesus is the smartest person to ever live, then maybe you'll start to take what He said seriously. Maybe you'll start to really consider that what He had to say is more valuable than what anybody else has to say, whether it's an Instagram influencer, whether it's that TikToker you enjoy following, a Twitch streamer, your favorite celebrity, heck, even your coach. All of those can be good voices to listen to, but nobody else has been given all authority in heaven and earth, only Jesus. So if you want to become like Jesus, the first thing that you've gotta do is actually believe that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus.
If you're taking notes, I want you to write this down. You've got two trust in Jesus as the one true King of the universe and your life. Trust in Jesus as the one true King of the universe and your life. Because what we believe, it drives how we behave. And if you really believe that Jesus is who He said He was, then that will drive how you behave, which brings us to the next part, because we talked about what we believe. It drives how we behave. The next thing is also true, that how we behave, it shapes who we become. This is a guy named Will Durant. He was paraphrasing the Greek philosopher Aristotle when he said this, that we, human beings, we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit. Excellence is not an act but a habit. Why? Because we are what we repeatedly do. You are what you repeatedly do.
The decisions you make today determine the person you will be tomorrow. Your life is the sum total of every choice you make and every action you take because how we behave shapes who we become. And Jesus is pretty smart. And that's why in the next portion of that scripture, He addresses exactly how we are to behave. Back to Matthew chapter 28, here's what he says. He says, "Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you". Jesus is making it really clear how He wants us to behave, to obey all the commands that He has given us. Everything He said, He wants us to do. Because if we're actually His students and He is our teacher, then we should probably do the things that He asks us to do.
If you look elsewhere in His teachings, He talks about, "Hey, those who hear what I say and put it into practice, they're like a wise person who built their house on a rock. And if you hear what I say, but you don't do it, you're like a foolish person who built their house on the sand". The difference between people who call themselves Christians and people who are actually following Jesus are those who actually follow Jesus. And what Jesus wants for your life is for you to experience all the joy, all the bigness, all the wonder of following Him wherever He leads because He's going to take you to places you've never been. He's gonna show you things you've never seen. He's gonna use you to do things that you never thought possible, but that will only happen if you obey all the commands He has given you.
And this is really hard because Jesus is going to ask you to do things that go against your preferences. He's going to ask you to do things that seem unrealistic. He's gonna ask you to forgive that person who hurts you over, and over, and over again, 70 times, seven times. Forgive those who hurt you, why? Because that's exactly what He will do for you. Jesus is gonna ask you not just to love the people you like, not just to love the people you don't like, but to love the people who are your enemies, and pray for the ones who persecute you. He's gonna tell you to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness before you try to go after anything else that this world has to offer. Seek Him first. Jesus is gonna tell you to do things that you don't wanna do. But every time He does, I promise you, it is for your good. It is an expression of His love because Jesus, God in human form, He's the perfect personification of love.
He shows us what God is really like. He teaches us how to live as human beings made in His image, to live rightly in God's kingdom, to become people of love. Every command he gives is an expression of His love, and it is always for your good. What we believe, it drives how we behave. How we behave, it shapes who we become. And so, if you want to become like Jesus, the first thing that you need to do is you need to trust in Jesus as the one true king of the universe and your life. And the second thing, commit completely, not partially, but completely, to obey everything your king has commanded because He knows what He's talking about, and He wants what is best for you.
You see, what we believe, it drives how we behave. And how we behave, it shapes who we become. All of it though, it's all held together by where we belong. It is all held together by where we belong. If you were to take a tree and take it up out of the ground to go plant it somewhere else, that tree can survive, on average, about three weeks before it begins to wither and die. But if that tree is an oak tree, if you plant it back in the ground, you put it in the soil that it needs, you give it the environment that will allow it to flourish, that thing can last for 300 years. If you want to become like Jesus, like that tree, you need to be planted in the community that God wants to surround you within His church. Because as a follower of Christ, you can survive for a little bit when you are disconnected from God's family, but it doesn't take long before you wither and die.
But if you allow yourself to be planted, to be a part of God's family, then you can flourish. You can thrive. You can last far longer together than you ever could by yourself. Because what we believe, it drives how we behave, which shapes who we become, and it is all held together by where we belong. And so I wanna go back to that passage of scripture one more time, and I want you to pay attention to all of the language Jesus includes about where we belong. Starting at the beginning, Jesus came and told who? His disciples. He told the people that belong to Him. He says, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth". That means everything and everyone in heaven and on earth belongs to Jesus. "So therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit".
Baptism is a symbol of being adopted into the family of God. And when we get baptized, we are adopted into the family of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit because we belong to God. And then Jesus closes all of it out with these words. "Be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age". You see, in these few verses of scripture, Jesus lays out the pathway to becoming like Him. He starts with what we need to believe. He moves on to how we are meant to behave, and it is all held together by where He tells us we are meant to belong. So if you wanna become like Jesus, what do you do?
Well, the first thing that you need to do is you need to trust in Jesus as the one true King of the universe and your life. Second, you need to commit completely to obey everything your King has commanded. And third, remain in Jesus. Make your home in His love and plant yourself in His family, in the church, people following Jesus together, committed to making a difference, and becoming who He says we really are. Trust in Jesus, commit to obey him, and remain rooted and planted in His family. This is how you become like Jesus. You see, He promises that we as His students, if we are committed to following Him, that we will actually be become like Him. And He lays out the pathway to transformation, to becoming who we are meant to be. He tells us that what we believe, it drives how we behave, which shapes who we become, and it is all held together by where we belong.
So if you want to become like Jesus, then believe what Jesus says. Obey, behave in alignment with what He commands, and choose to plant yourself to belong to His family. And so what I want you to do is I want you to think about those three elements: what you believe, how you behave, and where you belong. And to seriously consider, of those three things, how are you doing? Do you actually believe what Jesus says? Do you actually believe who He is? And what about how you behave? Maybe you believe it, but are you actually living it? Are there parts of following Jesus that you've just completely ignored or overlooked because it's uncomfortable or it's hard? What about your community? Are you planted in the church?
Do you have other people who know about the parts of your life that you are embarrassed to talk about? Do you have people that are speaking into your life helping you grow and become all that God has made you to be? And if one of those three areas is lacking, what are you gonna do to change it? Because Jesus wants you to become someone great. He wants you to become like Him. He promises that if you commit yourself to His teachings, if you choose to believe He is who He said he was, if you behave in alignment with what He has commanded, if you belong to his family, then you'll become like Him. You'll become a person of love.
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much that you loved us enough to die for us, that you love us enough that we get to live with you. So God, I pray for every single one of us as we're listening to this message, that we would take seriously the words of Your Son, that we would trust that those were not empty, but it is full of life and truth, that it is absolutely true that if we commit to following Him, you will change us from the inside out into people of love. God, help us to trust you are who you say you are, to live in alignment with what you have taught us, and to stay rooted in your family, no matter how difficult it gets. Because no matter how difficult it was for you, you stayed committed to us. So let us do the same for you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.