WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.100 --> 00:00:07.880 Please open your Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 00:00:07.880 --> 00:00:13.940 We’re going to begin this chapter today, but we’re not going to go very far. 3 00:00:13.940 --> 00:00:17.980 We’re going to look at the first verse. 4 00:00:17.980 --> 00:00:27.820 Because, I mentioned this last week, verse one goes with the previous section . 5 00:00:27.820 --> 00:00:47.060 I’m anxious to get into chapter 11 with the instruction that it has here, but I don’t want to hurry into this section because if we do so, we might miss out on something that God has for us. 6 00:00:47.060 --> 00:00:57.520 That simple verse that begins chapter 11, which is actually should have gone in chapter 10. 7 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:11.400 Stephen Langton, by the way, is the one who divided the New Testament up into chapters back in the 12th and 13th century, the beginning of the 13th century, somewhere around 1205. 8 00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:20.300 He divided the New Testament up into the chapters, and we’ve followed that tradition ever since. 9 00:01:20.300 --> 00:01:37.040 It wasn’t until I guess it was the beginning of the 1600s that Robert Stephanus divided the section up. 10 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:49.980 He broke the chapter before it ended, before this little section ended, and it included, when Paul says, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ,” that doesn’t hang on its own. 11 00:01:49.980 --> 00:01:51.860 It certainly doesn’t go with what’s next. 12 00:01:51.860 --> 00:01:56.860 He’s not giving an example that they’re to follow in what comes next. 13 00:01:56.860 --> 00:01:58.860 He’s just given the example. 14 00:01:58.860 --> 00:02:05.460 He gave the example all through chapter 9, and he reaffirmed it in these closing verses of chapter 10. 15 00:02:05.460 --> 00:02:08.140 And that’s the particular example that he has in mind. 16 00:02:08.140 --> 00:02:15.760 So let’s read those again, beginning in verse 31 to verse 1 of chapter 11. 17 00:02:15.760 --> 00:02:29.620 I have found neither to the Jews, nor to the Greeks, nor to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own prophet, but the prophet of the many so that they may be saved. 18 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:34.790 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. 19 00:02:34.790 --> 00:02:38.880 So that’s the context, and that’s the text. 20 00:02:38.880 --> 00:02:41.820 Let’s ask God to bless the reading this morning. 21 00:02:41.820 --> 00:02:53.080 Father, as we consider this verse this morning, this text that you have for us, we pray, Lord, that you help us to understand the nature of this commandment from your word. 22 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:58.760 Father, that we would understand it and apply it to our hearts and lives. 23 00:02:58.760 --> 00:03:08.380 Father, that in understanding this text and its application, we would find the joy that you have for us through this. 24 00:03:08.380 --> 00:03:19.360 We pray in the name of our Savior, Lord Jesus, that you give us the strength and the wisdom to understand this verse rightly and to apply it to our lives. 25 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:23.040 His name, Amen. 26 00:03:23.040 --> 00:03:28.100 Well, “Be imitators of me,” Paul says. 27 00:03:28.100 --> 00:03:37.060 I wonder how many people, I mean I’m sure a number of people, read that verse, and it just bothers them a little bit. 28 00:03:37.060 --> 00:03:43.060 It bothers them that Paul would say, “Imitate me, imitate my life.” 29 00:03:43.060 --> 00:03:47.120 I mean, is this some kind of arrogance? 30 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:56.100 Is Paul saying that I’ve got it all together and I’m sinless, and so you should model yourself on my life? 31 00:03:56.100 --> 00:03:59.560 Well, Paul certainly doesn’t say that he’s sinless. 32 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:13.060 In fact, if you remember in his letter to Timothy, which follows this by some time, he says, It’s a trustworthy statement, deserving of all acceptance. 33 00:04:13.060 --> 00:04:20.560 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I’m foremost. 34 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:24.140 So Paul recognized his unsentful nature. 35 00:04:24.140 --> 00:04:35.400 He’s not claiming sinlessness when he makes this claim for us to be followers of him, to imitate him. 36 00:04:35.400 --> 00:04:45.340 Rather, he’s doing something that God has prescribed for believers to do, and particularly for Paul as an apostle. 37 00:04:45.340 --> 00:04:58.860 He is encouraging them to follow him as a pattern of life, as a model, because God instructs believers to do that. 38 00:04:58.860 --> 00:05:03.650 That’s actually the nature of the commission of the Lord Jesus to the church. 39 00:05:03.650 --> 00:05:20.700 When the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 28, just before the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, he says, Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. 40 00:05:20.700 --> 00:05:24.660 And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age. 41 00:05:24.660 --> 00:05:27.220 “Make disciples,” he says. 42 00:05:27.220 --> 00:05:41.900 The discipleship process is this: it’s living your life in such a way that some people can see it, so that some people can see Jesus in you. 43 00:05:41.900 --> 00:05:55.900 It’s instructing people in the word of God and in the truth of God’s word, but doing that in a way that is real by taking the truths of God’s word and applying them to your own life first. 44 00:05:55.900 --> 00:06:26.420 So the things that Paul was doing, and all these directions that he has given them in 1 Corinthians, all this instruction, all this doctrinal teaching that he gives in these letters, in Corinthians, and Ephesians, and Colossians, and Galatians, these are passages that the Apostle applies first of all to himself and is changed and sanctified through it, and then teaches others. 45 00:06:26.420 --> 00:06:34.480 And so one of the ways that we see that it’s not just some kind of arrogance. 46 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:39.180 He calls the people that he’s led to Christ to follow him. 47 00:06:39.180 --> 00:06:46.340 But in saying that, he immediately points away from himself to the Lord Jesus Christ. 48 00:06:46.340 --> 00:06:50.700 He says, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” 49 00:06:50.700 --> 00:06:54.240 But he’s not afraid to say, “Be imitators of me.” 50 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:58.740 You remember we touched on this back in chapter 4 when he says that. 51 00:06:58.740 --> 00:07:00.240 He stops right there. 52 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:06.900 He says, he encourages them to imitate his life. 53 00:07:06.900 --> 00:07:11.480 There is a kind of authority that’s behind this command. 54 00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:15.640 It’s apostolic authority in this case. 55 00:07:15.640 --> 00:07:26.400 He’s saying, “Follow me,” but it’s the authority of the discipler to the disciplee. 56 00:07:26.400 --> 00:07:32.360 It’s not an authoritarianism; he’s not exceeding the authority that he has. 57 00:07:32.360 --> 00:07:48.520 It’s just the authority of the person, it’s the authority that a man has who’s been instructed of God as he teaches and disciples the person that he’s led to the Lord. 58 00:07:48.520 --> 00:07:52.460 So, we are to do this. 59 00:07:52.460 --> 00:08:07.920 You know, one of the things, one of the things that we must understand from this verse is that this isn’t just to the Corinthian church; this is to us. 60 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:19.120 We are specifically told in God’s word to follow the example of the Apostle Paul as he follows Christ. 61 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:37.520 The thing in particular that he’s talking about is this attitude and characteristic that he had to not seek his own profit or his own way, but to prefer everyone else, literally everyone else, before himself. 62 00:08:37.520 --> 00:08:41.540 It’s a very Christ-like quality. 63 00:08:41.540 --> 00:08:44.390 So that’s a truth. 64 00:08:44.390 --> 00:08:57.770 You know, there’s something really remarkable in this pattern that God set up for us, that Christianity is so relational. 65 00:08:57.770 --> 00:09:02.860 It’s a relational, it has to do with relationships. 66 00:09:02.860 --> 00:09:13.000 It has to do with our relationship with God first of all, and our and the indwelling of Christ in us, the indwelling Holy Spirit within us. 67 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:17.740 But it has to do with relationships and people. 68 00:09:17.740 --> 00:09:26.960 There are more than 1,500 commandments in the New Testament. 69 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:28.820 Think about that. 70 00:09:28.820 --> 00:09:36.680 1,500 commandments, 1,500 imperatives in the New Testament. 71 00:09:36.680 --> 00:09:56.400 Now, you could take these 1,500 commandments and be like the Pharisees and make long lists and detail them and make principles for each one and structure your lives according to that, and we would have a very legalistic religion. 72 00:09:56.400 --> 00:10:00.140 But God didn’t do that. 73 00:10:00.140 --> 00:10:02.920 That’s not the way the New Testament works. 74 00:10:02.920 --> 00:10:21.210 We’re not to live our lives that way, in that type of structured, you know, strict, rigid kind of forcing my will to obey these things and demanding it of everyone else. 75 00:10:21.210 --> 00:10:23.860 You know, it’s a relationship. 76 00:10:23.860 --> 00:10:28.040 It’s a relationship with God that is born of love. 77 00:10:28.040 --> 00:10:33.320 And so we do the things that God wants us to do simply because we love God. 78 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:37.700 We do what he wants us to do simply because we love him. 79 00:10:37.700 --> 00:10:43.560 But it’s also a relationship with people, and it’s meant to be that way. 80 00:10:43.560 --> 00:11:03.200 We are to, there’s to be a pattern, and so we as we grow up in Jesus Christ, we’re to pattern our lives around godly people who have been sanctified by Jesus Christ. 81 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:12.780 Now, it may come to your mind that old saying, you know, “Don’t put your eyes on any man because he’s sure to fail you. 82 00:11:12.780 --> 00:11:14.580 Keep your eyes on Christ.” 83 00:11:14.580 --> 00:11:16.400 Well, there’s truth to that. 84 00:11:16.400 --> 00:11:20.020 I don’t want to take away that truth. 85 00:11:20.020 --> 00:11:23.260 But it’s not completely true. 86 00:11:23.260 --> 00:11:34.560 The pattern of scripture is that God intends for us to learn from each other and from the grace of God that is worked out in the lives of his people. 87 00:11:34.560 --> 00:11:48.480 We’re to learn from other people, and we’re to select, we’re to model ourselves after people at times, godly people. 88 00:11:48.480 --> 00:12:01.780 Now, we have to choose the right people, or they should choose us, actually, and they should be there for us, ministering to us, and that should be the reason that we’re able to recognize them. 89 00:12:01.780 --> 00:12:20.340 There are all kinds of people who, pretty much everybody, almost everybody in this world, I don’t I can’t think of a person in this world that I’ve ever met that didn’t have something in their life that I could look to and use as an example for myself. 90 00:12:20.340 --> 00:12:24.100 That’s not what we’re supposed to do here. 91 00:12:24.100 --> 00:12:38.320 I’m just saying that there’s something, because men are created in the image of God, there’s usually something in everybody that is worth thinking about and considering. 92 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:41.520 You know, even a mafia boss. 93 00:12:41.520 --> 00:12:46.080 Even a mafia boss has many things about them that’s probably good. 94 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:51.340 I mean, they’re probably, they might love the opera and support the arts. 95 00:12:51.340 --> 00:12:53.620 Be kind to their mothers. 96 00:12:53.620 --> 00:13:08.440 Actually, if you start to think about it, even though they defy the law, there’s a great order within their community, in their organization and in their community. 97 00:13:08.440 --> 00:13:17.570 There’s remarkable laws and orders and systems that work in that little order that they have, and they are faithful to it. 98 00:13:17.570 --> 00:13:22.480 You better be. 99 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:32.430 And sometimes you could probably see fidelity to there, to their system and courage and all kinds of things. 100 00:13:32.430 --> 00:13:41.300 You know, that would commend them as mafia bosses. 101 00:13:41.300 --> 00:13:44.080 And they do some things that the law says to do. 102 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:46.860 They just don’t do it because the law says it. 103 00:13:46.860 --> 00:13:52.780 They do it because it suits their purpose. 104 00:13:52.780 --> 00:14:00.060 Of course, we wouldn’t want to choose someone like that as an example because they’re opposed to God in at heart. 105 00:14:00.060 --> 00:14:04.500 You see, it’s easy to see that with an extreme example like that. 106 00:14:04.500 --> 00:14:09.980 It’s harder when you deal with, say, church people. 107 00:14:09.980 --> 00:14:12.690 Who should you choose as an example? 108 00:14:12.690 --> 00:14:17.740 I mean, who do you model your life after? 109 00:14:17.740 --> 00:14:22.460 You know, people do all kinds of good things. 110 00:14:22.460 --> 00:14:39.680 They may be a good citizen, they might give a million dollars to build a hospital, but they cannot give a cup of water to a person in the name of the Lord Jesus if they’re not regenerate. 111 00:14:39.680 --> 00:14:48.350 There’s a spiritual quality that comes with the relationship that they have with Jesus Christ, and that’s the predominant thing. 112 00:14:48.350 --> 00:14:53.200 You know, people can do all kinds of good works. 113 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:59.100 But the problem is their motives, and they’re not doing it to glorify God. 114 00:14:59.100 --> 00:15:03.640 They’re doing it for all kinds of reasons. 115 00:15:03.640 --> 00:15:10.080 They they’re living their life for their own glory. 116 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:16.680 That’s not the person that can say, “Be imitators of me,” and we follow. 117 00:15:16.680 --> 00:15:31.270 It’s got to be a person who is a follower of Christ, who’s able to teach us how to follow Christ, and who’s living their life in such a way that we can recognize Christ in them. 118 00:15:31.270 --> 00:15:43.540 You know, one of the things that you can do here that’s worth mentioning is read biographies of great Christian people. 119 00:15:43.540 --> 00:15:56.060 You know, if you read Jim Elliot’s diary, you would learn something pretty remarkable about the Lord Jesus by reading Jim Elliot’s diary. 120 00:15:56.060 --> 00:16:01.860 And one of the things that you would learn about Jim Elliot in reading that diary is he did that. 121 00:16:01.860 --> 00:16:08.020 He modeled himself, he read other biographies of great Christians. 122 00:16:08.020 --> 00:16:28.360 He read, you know, the life of David Brainerd, and he read the life of Hudson Taylor, and he interacted with it, and from their examples of obeying Christ, he learned to obey Christ. 123 00:16:28.360 --> 00:16:45.460 So all those words and commandments that’s in the word of God, they’re there for us to guide us, and we have the Holy Spirit in a relational way to lead us. 124 00:16:45.460 --> 00:16:55.880 But God also gave us his church and people whom he gifted in order to instruct us and to build us up in the faith. 125 00:16:55.880 --> 00:17:04.920 And every one of us is to model our lives on Jesus Christ. 126 00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:14.120 One of the ways that we’re enabled to do that by the grace of God is through the grace that’s operative in other believers. 127 00:17:14.120 --> 00:17:18.240 And we’re not to forget that it’s Christ ultimately that’s the pattern for our life. 128 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:25.510 We’re to be imitators of the Apostle Paul just as he is of Christ. 129 00:17:25.510 --> 00:17:27.920 And so we’re to follow him. 130 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:32.500 Some of your texts read that way, “Follow me as I also follow Christ.” 131 00:17:32.500 --> 00:17:41.640 You know, we’re to imitate him, we’re to pattern our life after him, we’re to follow him. 132 00:17:41.640 --> 00:17:44.710 And following implies a direction. 133 00:17:44.710 --> 00:17:50.680 As Psalm 119 says, Search me, oh God, and know my heart. 134 00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:59.380 Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me into the way everlasting. 135 00:17:59.380 --> 00:18:09.820 And Jesus in John 14 says to his disciples, “I’m the way.” 136 00:18:09.820 --> 00:18:16.960 I’m the way and the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. 137 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:26.880 People who have been born of God, people who are truly regenerate, born again, naturally seek to follow Christ. 138 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:34.340 They naturally want to pattern their life after Christ. 139 00:18:34.340 --> 00:18:43.020 That’s the quality that is in all, that is in every true believer. 140 00:18:43.020 --> 00:18:48.260 We’re to pattern our life after the Lord Jesus. 141 00:18:48.260 --> 00:19:03.280 You know, there’s an important verse here that’s in 1 John, and I’m going to turn to it, so that I have it in my notes somewhere, but I’m going to turn to it so that I don’t misquote it. 142 00:19:03.280 --> 00:19:06.950 And you can turn to it if you wish. 143 00:19:06.950 --> 00:19:37.560 1 John, beginning in chapter 3, verse 1, it says, See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God. 144 00:19:37.560 --> 00:19:39.840 And such we are. 145 00:19:39.840 --> 00:19:46.380 For this reason the world does not know us because it did not know him. 146 00:19:46.380 --> 00:19:53.280 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it’s not appeared yet what we will be. 147 00:19:53.280 --> 00:20:00.760 We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. 148 00:20:00.760 --> 00:20:02.700 Now pay attention. 149 00:20:02.700 --> 00:20:03.820 Look at verse 3. 150 00:20:03.820 --> 00:20:15.340 And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure. 151 00:20:15.340 --> 00:20:17.580 That’s a remarkable verse. 152 00:20:17.580 --> 00:20:24.560 Everyone who has this hope on him, in him, purifies himself just as he’s pure. 153 00:20:24.560 --> 00:20:29.000 We want to be pure like Christ is pure. 154 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:35.380 One of the things that’s interesting about this verse is I talked about the 1,500 imperatives that you find in the Bible. 155 00:20:35.380 --> 00:20:37.060 This isn’t one of them. 156 00:20:37.060 --> 00:20:39.240 There’s no commandment here. 157 00:20:39.240 --> 00:20:45.200 He’s not commanding the children of God to purify themselves just as he is pure. 158 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:50.320 What John is saying in this verse is that’s what they do. 159 00:20:50.320 --> 00:20:59.700 He’s saying that a person who is born of God, who’s a child of God, naturally wants to be like the Lord Jesus, whom they love. 160 00:20:59.700 --> 00:21:01.960 And it’s natural for them to do it. 161 00:21:01.960 --> 00:21:03.040 They do it. 162 00:21:03.040 --> 00:21:10.700 They purify themselves just as he’s pure. 163 00:21:10.700 --> 00:21:13.840 So we are to purify ourselves. 164 00:21:13.840 --> 00:21:19.080 We are to, to live like Christ lived. 165 00:21:19.080 --> 00:21:23.540 Christ is the pattern that we’re to follow. 166 00:21:23.540 --> 00:21:34.380 You know, when we follow the Apostle Paul, we’re following Jesus Christ in the Apostle Paul. 167 00:21:34.380 --> 00:21:42.080 The Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 2:20, I’ve been crucified with Christ, and it’s no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. 168 00:21:42.080 --> 00:21:48.100 And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. 169 00:21:48.100 --> 00:22:00.220 And so, as Paul is sanctified and is made holy, as he’s living a godly life, he becomes an example, and people can see Jesus Christ in his life. 170 00:22:00.220 --> 00:22:08.960 And as they see Jesus Christ, they see the transforming grace of God. 171 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:15.980 In this verse, in chapter 11 and verse 1, what exactly is it that we’re to do in following Christ? 172 00:22:15.980 --> 00:22:19.760 And what is Paul mean more specifically? 173 00:22:19.760 --> 00:22:26.280 You know, we talk about, there’s all kinds of ways, all kinds of examples. 174 00:22:26.280 --> 00:22:29.000 Jesus led a perfect life. 175 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:39.100 And so throughout the New Testament, there are things that are shown to us that Jesus could do, that could be the pattern for our life. 176 00:22:39.100 --> 00:22:41.980 It’s the outworking of the life. 177 00:22:41.980 --> 00:22:52.720 But all of the New Testament is, you can’t live a godly life and deny doctrine, or act as if it’s irrelevant. 178 00:22:52.720 --> 00:23:05.400 It’s the outworking of the teaching of God in our hearts that that, you know, that we actually experience the practical truth of the righteousness that God has for us. 179 00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:07.780 Take the doctrine of salvation. 180 00:23:07.780 --> 00:23:09.540 I mean, justification. 181 00:23:09.540 --> 00:23:12.180 God sees us in Christ. 182 00:23:12.180 --> 00:23:21.460 When he looks at us who have been redeemed and saved and in the blood of Christ, he doesn’t see a sinner. 183 00:23:21.460 --> 00:23:27.280 He sees the Lord Jesus in his perfection and in his righteousness. 184 00:23:27.280 --> 00:23:31.000 So God sees us in Christ. 185 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:35.080 It only follows that Christ should be seen in us. 186 00:23:35.080 --> 00:23:43.640 We should magnify the name of Christ in the world around us so that they see Christ when they see us. 187 00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:49.640 God in his salvation did a great work of love for us. 188 00:23:49.640 --> 00:23:53.290 He secured our salvation. 189 00:23:53.290 --> 00:23:58.720 And we’re to live a life of love that reflects God’s mercy and grace. 190 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:00.940 That’s what we’re called to. 191 00:24:00.940 --> 00:24:07.290 We’re to be imitators of God as beloved children, it says in Ephesians 5:1. 192 00:24:07.290 --> 00:24:15.120 And so that means that we’re to realize in practical living the truths of God’s word that we understand. 193 00:24:15.120 --> 00:24:28.600 When we understand something of the grace of God, when we understand the grace of God, that we need to understand that that grace of God is there to lead us to godliness and to a godly life. 194 00:24:28.600 --> 00:24:33.700 So we’re to be like Christ in purity and holiness. 195 00:24:33.700 --> 00:24:47.540 As John said, you know, everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure. 196 00:24:47.540 --> 00:24:51.780 We’re to live, you know, before Christ in integrity. 197 00:24:51.780 --> 00:25:01.300 As in Ephesians, the Apostle Paul would speaking the truth and love, we’re to grow up in every way into him who’s the head, into Christ. 198 00:25:01.300 --> 00:25:08.520 And so we grow up into Christ as we immulate Christ. 199 00:25:08.520 --> 00:25:10.460 So Christ is the example. 200 00:25:10.460 --> 00:25:19.340 He’s the most perfect, absolute, glorious pattern of grace, and holiness, and virtue, and obedience, and he is to be chosen. 201 00:25:19.340 --> 00:25:27.540 And we’re to model our lives on him because he’s the most glorious person who’s ever lived in this world. 202 00:25:27.540 --> 00:25:37.940 He’s the most glorious being because he is God in the flesh. 203 00:25:37.940 --> 00:25:42.660 But when we talk about this verse, it has a context. 204 00:25:42.660 --> 00:25:52.500 And that context has to do with the Apostle Paul’s own selflessness and the example of selflessness. 205 00:25:52.500 --> 00:25:57.440 He’s struggling with the Corinthians because the Corinthians are out for themselves. 206 00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:04.180 They are immature in the faith, and they want recognition. 207 00:26:04.180 --> 00:26:13.940 They have divided themselves into these little groups, and the groups are competitive, and they’re looking for to meet their own ends. 208 00:26:13.940 --> 00:26:15.820 They’re asking for their own things. 209 00:26:15.820 --> 00:26:17.500 They want their own rights. 210 00:26:17.500 --> 00:26:23.350 “If I want to eat meat sacrificed to idols, what do I care what it does to anybody else?” 211 00:26:23.350 --> 00:26:30.620 That’s their attitude may not have been that extreme, but it was in that direction, and Paul was very concerned about it. 212 00:26:30.620 --> 00:26:33.420 So he gives an example of his own life. 213 00:26:33.420 --> 00:26:52.840 All of chapter 9 is the sacrifices that he made as he was preaching and teaching the Corinthians and leading them to Christ, how he as a pastor deserved, had the right to be given financial support from the people he ministered to. 214 00:26:52.840 --> 00:26:54.440 But he gave that up. 215 00:26:54.440 --> 00:27:05.820 He sewed tents together to earn a living so that they wouldn’t be burdened, so they wouldn’t confuse the gospel or think that he was in it for the money. 216 00:27:05.820 --> 00:27:07.740 He was sacrificial. 217 00:27:07.740 --> 00:27:20.220 And so in every way, and in everything, he says in verse 30, “Just as I please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the prophet of the many so that they may be saved.” 218 00:27:20.220 --> 00:27:23.500 He’s saying, “I prefer them over myself. 219 00:27:23.500 --> 00:27:33.620 Whenever I have a right, I’m willing to give up that right in order to see someone come to faith in Christ or grow up spiritually in Jesus Christ.” 220 00:27:33.620 --> 00:27:35.420 And that’s the point. 221 00:27:35.420 --> 00:27:36.820 That’s what he’s saying. 222 00:27:36.820 --> 00:27:42.340 He’s saying, “If you want to be like, he’s saying, “You should be like that. 223 00:27:42.340 --> 00:27:50.120 You should be like me as I do that, look, learn from my example, because that’s the way Christ is.” 224 00:27:50.120 --> 00:27:54.600 And Christ is exactly, exactly like that. 225 00:27:54.600 --> 00:28:01.440 In chapter 4, chapter 4, verse 16, he had a shorter version of this. 226 00:28:01.440 --> 00:28:05.660 He said, “Therefore, I urge you to imitate me.” 227 00:28:05.660 --> 00:28:07.920 “Imitate me” in what way? 228 00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:20.560 Well, he’s just described the suffering that he has gone through, especially in regard in light of his apostleship, but in his ministry and in connection with the Corinthian church. 229 00:28:20.560 --> 00:28:23.490 In his way of suffering. 230 00:28:23.490 --> 00:28:35.620 He, he, he says, “Up to this point,” in chapter 4, he says, “Up to this point and hour, we’re both hungry and thirsty, we’re poorly clothed, and roughly treated, and homeless. 231 00:28:35.620 --> 00:28:38.060 And we labor, working with our own hands. 232 00:28:38.060 --> 00:28:41.330 And when we’re verbally abused, we bless. 233 00:28:41.330 --> 00:28:44.420 And when we’re persecuted, we endure it. 234 00:28:44.420 --> 00:28:47.580 And when we’re slandered, we reply as friends. 235 00:28:47.580 --> 00:28:57.860 We have become the scum of the world and the dregs of all things even until now, and you should be like me.” 236 00:28:57.860 --> 00:28:59.840 That’s what he’s saying. 237 00:28:59.840 --> 00:29:05.340 The Lord Jesus suffered for other people. 238 00:29:05.340 --> 00:29:13.480 The Lord Jesus, you know, sacrificed for others. 239 00:29:13.480 --> 00:29:24.960 You know, think, think once again about that beautiful chapter in John, John chapter 13, when the Lord Jesus takes out and washes his disciples’ feet. 240 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:34.300 He washes his feet, and then he tells them that a servant is not greater than his master. 241 00:29:34.300 --> 00:29:43.060 What he’s saying is, “I’m your master, and you’re the servants, and if I wash your feet, then you should be servants too. 242 00:29:43.060 --> 00:29:49.200 You should be serving others.” 243 00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:59.340 And then he says in verse 17, “If you know, if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” 244 00:29:59.340 --> 00:30:03.500 If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. 245 00:30:03.500 --> 00:30:11.000 He’s saying, “I’m a servant, and I took the role of a servant, and you are to be servants of one another. 246 00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:15.680 You are to imitate me in this humble servitude. 247 00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:20.550 And if you do this, you’ll be happy.” 248 00:30:20.550 --> 00:30:28.620 We got a whole world, I mean, the whole world is out to pursue their own happiness. 249 00:30:28.620 --> 00:30:30.160 That’s what they’re after. 250 00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:41.280 And they do it by putting down people or by seeking all sorts of entertainments where people sometimes are exploited in various ways. 251 00:30:41.280 --> 00:30:43.400 All kinds of things. 252 00:30:43.400 --> 00:30:45.280 It doesn’t lead to happiness. 253 00:30:45.280 --> 00:30:48.080 None of those things does. 254 00:30:48.080 --> 00:30:56.000 Jesus said, “Give up your life in order to gain it.” 255 00:30:56.000 --> 00:31:02.420 People serve churches for all kinds of reasons. 256 00:31:02.420 --> 00:31:13.440 How many people enter into leadership in a church, and they seek it out because they want to be important in the church. 257 00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:15.640 And they want some recognition. 258 00:31:15.640 --> 00:31:23.380 And if they don’t get the recognition, you know, they’ll seek it somewhere else. 259 00:31:23.380 --> 00:31:27.580 They want some kind of recognition. 260 00:31:27.580 --> 00:31:31.400 Is that following the pattern of Christ? 261 00:31:31.400 --> 00:31:33.430 I’ll tell you who it’s following. 262 00:31:33.430 --> 00:31:42.190 You know, back in in Isaiah, God, God gives us his word. 263 00:31:42.190 --> 00:31:48.660 He says, How you are fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, son of the morning. 264 00:31:48.660 --> 00:32:06.840 For you set in your heart, I will ascend into the heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest side of the north, and I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, and I will be like the most high. 265 00:32:06.840 --> 00:32:09.960 That’s Lucifer. 266 00:32:09.960 --> 00:32:17.620 How easy it is to follow a pattern like that. 267 00:32:17.620 --> 00:32:21.420 Consider Jesus’ example. 268 00:32:21.420 --> 00:32:28.540 Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who humbled himself. 269 00:32:28.540 --> 00:32:36.820 It describes in that chapter 2 of Philippians him giving up the glory of heaven in order to become a man. 270 00:32:36.820 --> 00:32:52.500 And not just a man, but a man who becomes a servant, and a servant who takes on the cross and death for his people. 271 00:32:52.500 --> 00:32:56.560 That’s exactly, exactly the opposite. 272 00:32:56.560 --> 00:32:59.200 That’s the pattern that we’re called to. 273 00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:07.920 That’s the pattern that Paul has in mind when he says, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” 274 00:33:07.920 --> 00:33:13.540 And you know, we are to be that pattern. 275 00:33:13.540 --> 00:33:29.260 We’re to live a life that pursues purity and holiness, and we should live a life so that we can introduce somebody to Jesus Christ and say to them, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” 276 00:33:29.260 --> 00:33:32.500 That’s what it means to make disciples. 277 00:33:32.500 --> 00:33:44.340 We should live a life that is so right that people can see something of God in us, something of the nature of our Lord Jesus in us. 278 00:33:44.340 --> 00:33:59.060 If we live a life like that, then we can, then God can use us in to, that’s that’s the only way that that great commandment can be fulfilled. 279 00:33:59.060 --> 00:34:05.840 When we make disciples, we make someone who in some ways is going to be like us. 280 00:34:05.840 --> 00:34:11.580 It’s like an apprentice who studies under a journeyman or a master. 281 00:34:11.580 --> 00:34:16.860 And they learn from them until they’re like the master. 282 00:34:16.860 --> 00:34:19.940 They they become like them. 283 00:34:19.940 --> 00:34:42.560 For a believer, we’re to live our lives pursuing godliness, not, not because as rule keeping, not in in taking making a a measure of things and making all of these rules to keep us obedient to him, but it is out of a relationship. 284 00:34:42.560 --> 00:34:59.630 It is out of the love that we have for him that we want to do it, and so we serve him, and we seek him, and we make our life a pattern that others can follow. 285 00:34:59.630 --> 00:35:15.240 If Peter says, You have been called for this purpose since Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps. 286 00:35:15.240 --> 00:35:26.700 If you know that he’s righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 287 00:35:26.700 --> 00:35:31.220 So that’s where we’re going to leave it today. 288 00:35:31.220 --> 00:35:36.400 I want to encourage you to examine your life. 289 00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:52.060 And as you examine your life, purpose to live a life that follows Christ close enough that you can say to someone, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” 290 00:35:52.060 --> 00:36:01.180 And reach out with love and care for some other person, and share with them what Christ has done for you. 291 00:36:01.180 --> 00:36:03.520 Let’s pray. 292 00:36:03.520 --> 00:36:12.860 Father, we thank you for your mercy and your kindness to us. 293 00:36:12.860 --> 00:36:14.800 We need your grace, Lord. 294 00:36:14.800 --> 00:36:22.300 And we recognize that there’s no way that we can be like the Lord Jesus apart from the work of your Holy Spirit within us. 295 00:36:22.300 --> 00:36:31.600 So we pray, Father, for the ministry and grace of the Spirit, that he works in each of us so that we can be more like our Savior, the Lord Jesus. 296 00:36:31.600 --> 00:36:36.400 We thank you for the gospel and the transforming grace that we have in the gospel. 297 00:36:36.400 --> 00:37:00.100 We ask, Father, that as we as we think about our Savior, the Lord Jesus, that we would live a life more like him, that we would be willing to give up the things that are precious and important to us in order for the good of others, for the blessing of others, that many might come to faith in Christ and grow up in the truth of him, and that you would bless them in all these things. 298 00:37:00.100 --> 00:37:01.900 We ask this in Jesus’ name. 299 00:37:01.900 --> 00:37:03.900 Amen.