Walking as He Walked

by Joel R. Beeke

Every Christian yearns to be more Christ-like. This book addresses how we can be more conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29) in four of the most difficult areas of the Christian life: cross-bearing, office-bearing, sorrow, and endurance.

Table of Contents:

1. Jesus' Crossbearing and Ourts

2. Jesus' Office-bearing and Ours

3. Jesus' Tears and Ours

4. Jesus' Endurance and Ours

Author Joel R. Beeke (Ph.D. Westminster Theological Seminary) is president and professor of systematic theology and homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, editor of The Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth, and author of numerous books.

Endorsements "A Christ-centered tour de force which gets us into Christ's servant heart and asks the pointed questions of what that means for us who are in union with Him. Deeply and affectionately pastoral, Dr. Beeke gives us a magisterial example of puritan-infused, preached prose that is as fresh as the air we breath. Like the puritan Richard Sibbes, know to his contemporaries as 'the sweet dropper' Dr. Beeke has a similar touch, presenting to us the confidence, richness, depth, and encouragement of the gospel." - Maurice Roberts

Genres: Christian Living, Theology

133 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 13, 2002

About the author

Dr. Joel R. Beeke serves as President and Professor of Systematic Theology, Church History, and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He has been in the ministry since 1978 and has served as a pastor of his current church, Heritage Reformed Congregation, since 1986. He is also editor of the Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth, editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books, president of Inheritance Publishers, and vice-president of the Dutch Reformed Translation Society. He has written, co-authored, or edited fifty books and contributed over fifteen hundred articles to Reformed books, journals, periodicals, and encyclopedias. His Ph.D. (1988) from Westminster Theological Seminary is in Reformation and Post-Reformation Theology. He is frequently called upon to lecture at Reformed seminaries and to speak at conferences around the world. He and his wife, Mary, have three children: Calvin, Esther, and Lydia.

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walking As He Walked is a collection of four sermons preached by Joel R. Beeke all inspired by 1 John 2:6. In the book he argues that walking like Christ walked is not an optional "extra" for Christians; being a Christian by definition means walking like Christ walked. His point is not to expect perfection and instant victory. No, his point is that believers should want--should desire--to grow in Christlikeness, to aspire to a closer walk, a holier walk. We should strive to run the race, in other words. So what does it mean to walk like Christ? Here is how Beeke describes it:

Walking as Christ walked means making Jesus’ priorities my own by faith (John 6:38). It means delighting in and keeping God’s law as Jesus did (Ps. 40:8). It means having compassion for others, repaying evil with good, and acting in love (John 13:15; 1 Pet. 2:23; Luke 23:34). It means despising the same pleasures and vanities of this world that He despised, speaking and living the same truths that He spoke and lived, and being led by the same Spirit that led Him (Rom. 8:14).

The first chapter is on cross-bearing (Mark 15:21, Luke 23:26). The second is on office-bearing (prophet, priest, king). The third is on tears (John 11:35, Luke 19:41, Hebrews 5:7). The fourth is on endurance. Each chapter focuses first on Jesus: how he lived, how he "walked" before moving onto what it means for us, how it applies to how we live our lives, how we walk in this world.

I would have to say that I found his sermons thought-provoking. For example,

When we have an encounter with Jesus Christ, our lives are changed once and for all. Every time we hear the gospel, our path crosses the path of a crucified Jesus, who is now exalted and walks among us in the garments of the gospel. Each encounter will be either for our salvation or our damnation. It will soften or harden us—never leaving us exactly the same.

and

Too often we Christians expect too little of Jesus and too much of each other.

and

If you think that God does not care about your sorrows and that Jesus is insensitive to your suffering, your concept of God needs correction. Perhaps dullness, blindness, or unbelief makes you feel this way. We are told that “Jesus wept.” The message of those two words is that God cares for us.

and

If you will not think of Him or of yourself, then consider the tears of Jesus. He wept for those who would not weep for themselves, who did not think that they had anything to weep about. He mourned for those who were going down the broad road that leads to destruction; He wept for the perishing! Jesus wept because God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He wept for hell-worthy, perishing sinners. The fault for your unbelief is yours; there is no one else in the entire world you can blame it on. But note this: though Jesus wept because of your willful unbelief, He did not excuse you from punishment.

and

What do we weep over? If we each had two bottles, and into one we put all the tears we shed for ourselves in the past ten years and, into the other, all the tears we have shed over lost souls, which bottle would be fuller? Do most of our tears spring from selfish, earthly concerns, or do they spring from concerns for the eternal souls of those around us? Have we shed any tears we could claim before the Lord, as David did: “Put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” (Ps. 56:8).

And I loved how full of quotes this one was!

Samuel Rutherford; he learned so much in the school of Christ that when he saw another affliction coming, he’d say, “Here comes my Jesus!”

And as Martin Luther used to say, “Letting God be God is half of all true religion.”

Dear friends, as we listen to the claims of the devil, we must say with Luther, “We tremble, for so much of what the devil says is true. The devil has enough strength in his tail to knock my conversion out of me.”

Daniel Smart, a nineteenth century Baptist preacher, once remarked, “The sweetest tears a believer sheds are always in relation to the precious blood of Jesus Christ.”

“Sin,” as John Owen put it, “is always at our elbow.”

Bunyan once said that if sin knocks on your door and you open the door, you have not sinned as long as you shut the door as soon as you recognize sin for what it is. We fall into sin when we welcome sin into the home of our minds and dwell upon it.

Luther was so encouraged by the Psalms when he was going through his own trials that he said, “I can scarcely see how you can be a Christian without David being one of your best friends.”

Luther quipped: “Some of my best friends are dead ones.”

I loved this one. I just loved, loved, loved it. This would be a great introduction to Joel Beeke. It is perhaps a tiny bit more reader-friendly than R.C. Sproul's Pleasing God which I reviewed earlier this year. Both books are on sanctification. Both have some great insights.

[Lizette Vega · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beeke provides a easy review of basic gospel principles. The only reason I gave the book four stars is due to how it is organized. The book consists of sermons previously given by the author, but the publisher merged several texts together. By doing that some of the sections felt long and a little repetitive. Otherwise, this book is a good read.

[Tiffany Dubois · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book based on Sermons Beeke preached. I would definitely recommend reading it and completing the study/application questions located in the back.

[Mark A Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

What does it mean to walk like Jesus did? To answer that question, which Beeke does in a series of four sermons, requires examining the life of Christ. More specifically, Beeke looks into four specific areas: Jesus’ crossbearing, office-bearing, tears, and endurance. Beeke then compares how each of these areas should be played out in Christian’s lives as well—not to duplicate His unique role as Savior, but to imitate the life He modeled and empowers.

[Allen Haynie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joel Beeke explores what it means to live in daily fellowship with Christ by following His example in love, obedience, humility, and prayer. Drawing from Scripture and Puritan insights, he encourages believers to pursue holiness and Christlikeness, showing that true discipleship flows from union with Christ and reliance on His grace.

[Luke Deacon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beeke covers how we are to walk like Christ in 4 areas: cross-bearing, office-bearing, tears and endurance. There were some super bits in the last chapter! It's a transcript of 4 seminars, so has a lovely, personal touch to it.

[Laura]

Walking as He Walked by Joel R. Beeke (2007)

[Zaylie Lopez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, very easy read!

Would recommend for the growing believer, the old believer who has forgotten and the discouraged saint who needs encouragement. Jesus is truly our prophet, priest and king!