Follow My Example
I pray God’s blessings upon you this day!
It is wedding time! The day we have been planning and preparing for will finally come to fruition this Saturday. Meghan and Nate will be united in marriage and our prayer is for a long, healthy, and blessed life as a married couple!
Over the years Steph and I have sought to teach our kids what a marriage is intended to be like according to what God has revealed in His Word. Things like love, support, encouragement, mutual respect, faithfulness, devotion, etc. These all don't simply happen! Everything in this world is set against a couple’s marriage lasting for a lifetime.
We have all heard the saying, “What you do speaks louder than what you say!” I have known parents who said all the right things, but who lived in such a way as to teach their kids the opposite of what was said. We understand this when a parent speaks of not abusing alcohol, but who then spends every weekend getting drunk. You can talk about the value of money but if you blow your paycheck on junk, your kids will learn this is the way to live. When it comes to the relationship of a husband and wife, parents will teach their children God’s way or the world’s way by the relationship they have together and not by the words they say. To put it bluntly, EXAMPLE IS EVERYTHING!
Paul says this to us with regard to our Christian life. Our text today is only one short verse, and yet it carries as much application as many portions of the New Testament.
Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1
How many Churches and individual Christians have preached the love of Christ but then turned around and by their actions driven people away? How many have had their Bible in one hand while at the same time speaking words that clearly contradict what the Bible says? How many have set a double standard for those in a church, where some were held accountable for their sin and others are excused, because of who they are? There is no doubt the apostle Paul sought to live as a Christian and relate to people as Christ would in all that he did. His encouragement to the people of Corinth is to remember his life, which he lived in their presence, and seek to imitate him as he imitates Christ.
What exactly is the purpose of living the Christian life? The reality is that when people come to Christ and place their faith in Him, they are still confronted with life in a broken sinful world. Our sinful nature does not go away when our hearts hold on to Christ in faith. We know as mature Christians that we still struggle with sin. We need each other, not only for encouragement, but also as examples. And nowhere is this more important than with the young ones in our midst. Our example will show them what it means to live by faith, or simply to play the game of religion.
The apostle Paul uses the same thought numerous times in his writings. Here are a couple of other examples.
1 Corinthians 10:33 “just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.”
Philippians 3:17 “Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us.”
But the one which truly caught my attention comes from the book of Hebrews. It reads as follows, “so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance” Hebrews 6:12.
Paul tells us we need to remember those who lived in a faithful relationship with God, but who have now received their inheritance. Paul is speaking of the great saints of old. Now we can certainly apply this to Paul himself and the other apostles, maybe even the prophets of the Old Testament. But what about your grandmother, or a favorite uncle, or some other person who lived their faith in such a way that it impacted your life? Are these not also the great saints of old who have received their inheritance, who as the writer says, lived with faith and perseverance.
Now there's a big word, perseverance! Paul's point is that we should not become lazy in our imitating of those who persevered. Christians today are more likely to deny Christ than suffer a little criticism for what they believe. What will it take for young Christians today to understand the willingness to sacrifice everything, even our very lives for the faith? It takes Christians today who are willing not only to persevere, but to boldly live out their faith. It takes a willingness to stand for the truth in the face of all the opposition that we currently see opposing the truth. It means no compromise, even when all the world is saying what we believe is wrong.
So ask yourself, are you willing to shout it from the housetops that Jesus is alive and the resurrection is true? Will you diligently teach the truth that God reveals, such things as creation, morality, sin and judgment? Will you talk about sexual purity, and God's plan for Christian marriage, even when all the world is saying there's no such thing as boy or girl? If you do, you set an example for others to follow, and Paul says you will be the kind of person who needs to be imitated. If however, you choose to buckle under the pressure and adopt the attitudes of the world then your example will lead others into judgment.
It is well past the time for the Church of Jesus Christ to truly be the Church in the world. If we had remained diligent, and not become lazy, we would not be in the situation we are in. God is calling us to impact the world with the Gospel, that lives might be transformed by his grace. The only way this will happen is when we once again return to the foundation of who we are. May we stand upon the Word of God and proclaim Jesus for all the world to hear, regardless of the cost.
In Christ,
Pastor Russ
It is wedding time! The day we have been planning and preparing for will finally come to fruition this Saturday. Meghan and Nate will be united in marriage and our prayer is for a long, healthy, and blessed life as a married couple!
Over the years Steph and I have sought to teach our kids what a marriage is intended to be like according to what God has revealed in His Word. Things like love, support, encouragement, mutual respect, faithfulness, devotion, etc. These all don't simply happen! Everything in this world is set against a couple’s marriage lasting for a lifetime.
We have all heard the saying, “What you do speaks louder than what you say!” I have known parents who said all the right things, but who lived in such a way as to teach their kids the opposite of what was said. We understand this when a parent speaks of not abusing alcohol, but who then spends every weekend getting drunk. You can talk about the value of money but if you blow your paycheck on junk, your kids will learn this is the way to live. When it comes to the relationship of a husband and wife, parents will teach their children God’s way or the world’s way by the relationship they have together and not by the words they say. To put it bluntly, EXAMPLE IS EVERYTHING!
Paul says this to us with regard to our Christian life. Our text today is only one short verse, and yet it carries as much application as many portions of the New Testament.
Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1
How many Churches and individual Christians have preached the love of Christ but then turned around and by their actions driven people away? How many have had their Bible in one hand while at the same time speaking words that clearly contradict what the Bible says? How many have set a double standard for those in a church, where some were held accountable for their sin and others are excused, because of who they are? There is no doubt the apostle Paul sought to live as a Christian and relate to people as Christ would in all that he did. His encouragement to the people of Corinth is to remember his life, which he lived in their presence, and seek to imitate him as he imitates Christ.
What exactly is the purpose of living the Christian life? The reality is that when people come to Christ and place their faith in Him, they are still confronted with life in a broken sinful world. Our sinful nature does not go away when our hearts hold on to Christ in faith. We know as mature Christians that we still struggle with sin. We need each other, not only for encouragement, but also as examples. And nowhere is this more important than with the young ones in our midst. Our example will show them what it means to live by faith, or simply to play the game of religion.
The apostle Paul uses the same thought numerous times in his writings. Here are a couple of other examples.
1 Corinthians 10:33 “just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.”
Philippians 3:17 “Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us.”
But the one which truly caught my attention comes from the book of Hebrews. It reads as follows, “so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance” Hebrews 6:12.
Paul tells us we need to remember those who lived in a faithful relationship with God, but who have now received their inheritance. Paul is speaking of the great saints of old. Now we can certainly apply this to Paul himself and the other apostles, maybe even the prophets of the Old Testament. But what about your grandmother, or a favorite uncle, or some other person who lived their faith in such a way that it impacted your life? Are these not also the great saints of old who have received their inheritance, who as the writer says, lived with faith and perseverance.
Now there's a big word, perseverance! Paul's point is that we should not become lazy in our imitating of those who persevered. Christians today are more likely to deny Christ than suffer a little criticism for what they believe. What will it take for young Christians today to understand the willingness to sacrifice everything, even our very lives for the faith? It takes Christians today who are willing not only to persevere, but to boldly live out their faith. It takes a willingness to stand for the truth in the face of all the opposition that we currently see opposing the truth. It means no compromise, even when all the world is saying what we believe is wrong.
So ask yourself, are you willing to shout it from the housetops that Jesus is alive and the resurrection is true? Will you diligently teach the truth that God reveals, such things as creation, morality, sin and judgment? Will you talk about sexual purity, and God's plan for Christian marriage, even when all the world is saying there's no such thing as boy or girl? If you do, you set an example for others to follow, and Paul says you will be the kind of person who needs to be imitated. If however, you choose to buckle under the pressure and adopt the attitudes of the world then your example will lead others into judgment.
It is well past the time for the Church of Jesus Christ to truly be the Church in the world. If we had remained diligent, and not become lazy, we would not be in the situation we are in. God is calling us to impact the world with the Gospel, that lives might be transformed by his grace. The only way this will happen is when we once again return to the foundation of who we are. May we stand upon the Word of God and proclaim Jesus for all the world to hear, regardless of the cost.
In Christ,
Pastor Russ
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