Did Jesus have a specific job description?

During the busyness of your workday, have you ever noticed a co-worker balk at doing something, only to hear them say, “That’s not my job.”

Or … have you ever said, or at least thought, “That’s not my job!”?

When we describe the life of Christ, or talk about the mission Jesus came to Earth to accomplish, we actually can wind up listing several things. So that leads me to ask, “Did Jesus have a specific job description?”

Yes … well, sort of.

What I mean by that is, instead of including everything that Jesus’ life actually accomplished, we can find in the Bible several scriptures that clearly state a specific reason WHY Jesus came to Earth. Here’s what is probably an incomplete list I put together:

To fulfill the Law and prophets – Matthew 5:17.
“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.”

To bring a sword, separation – Matthew 10:34-36.
“Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword. ‘I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Your enemies will be right in your own household!”

To preach – Mark 1:38.
“But Jesus replied, ‘We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.'”

To call sinners to repentance – Mark 2:17.
“When Jesus heard this, he told them, ‘Healthy people don’t need a doctor — sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

To serve and give His life as a ransom for many – Mark 10:45.
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

To bring Good News, proclaim freedom – Luke 4:16-21.
“When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.’ He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. ‘The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!'”

To seek and save the lost – Luke 19:10.
“For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

To provide eternal life and be our Savior – John 3:16-17.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”

To do the will of the Father – John 6:38.
“For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.”

To render judgment (different than coming as a judge) – John 9:39.
“Then Jesus told him, ‘I entered this world to render judgment — to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”

To provide life – John 10:10.
“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

To die – John 12:24-27.
“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels — a plentiful harvest of new lives. Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me. Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came!”

To bring light to a dark world – John 12:46.
“I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark.”

To bear witness to the truth – John 18:37.
“Pilate said, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus responded, ‘You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.'”

To buy our freedom so God could adopt us – Galatians 4:4-5.
“But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.”

To save sinners – 1 Timothy 1:15.
“This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’ — and I am the worst of them all.”

To help us as our High Priest – Hebrews 2:16-18.
“We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.”

To take away our sins – 1 John 3:5.
“And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him.”

To destroy the work of the devil – 1 John 3:8.
“But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.”

To be the Savior of the world – 1 John 4:14.
“Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”

Although Jesus came into the world He created for all of the reasons listed thus far, those were essential elements of accomplishing an overarching, primary job — to reconcile us back to God:

“For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross,” Colossians 1:19-20.

“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him,” 2 Corinthians 5:18.

When you compare the more narrow list of statements clearly delineating why Jesus came to Earth with His life and all that He accomplished, you can see He did more than what was on His stated job description.

Aren’t you glad Jesus didn’t have a “that’s not my job” mentality?

Scotty