You are to imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.
5 sermons cite this verse
Well, I invite you to keep your bulletins open during this sermon tonight. Get a couple of readings there from the New Testament, Hebrews 9 and 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11 particularly is important for the sermon tonight, so you can either be looking in your Bibles or use it as it's found there in the bulletin. And here in just a moment, we're going to be reading also from the Heidelberg Catechism. So we've been going through the High Liberty Catechism in the evening services. We are up to Lord's Day 30, which is our last Lord's Day on the sacraments and particularly on the Lord's Supper. One of the things that good theology ought to do is to create clear distinctions. to help us to understand clearly a certain doctrine. And sometimes those doctrines are thick, aren't they? And so we need the right language. We need to put things as biblically accurate as we can. And sometimes those distinctions draw lines and they create separations because here's this truth and this truth stands in distinction from this truth. …
… You see, every man should be able to say these words to their children. 1 Corinthians 11.1, these words right here. Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. A father should be able to say that to their son, their daughter, and their wife. Imitate me as I imitate Christ. Children, they are prone to imitate. They are prone to copy It's actually how God has designed them, believe it or not In Ephesians 5.1 Paul writes there, therefore be imitators of God as dear children There's a connection between imitation and dear children That we see here in this verse Children imitate I, as a dad, I try to intentionally spend time with the Lord with my daughter around. I have seen that without me prompting her to do so, if I have my Bible and I'm reading, she'll go in her books and she'll find her Bible, a little two-year-old. she'll go find her bible and she'll go sit and she'll read which obviously looking at the pictures more so She started already to pray. …
… That's exactly what the New Testament teaches us. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1. And Paul says, imitate me, follow me as I follow Christ. And I believe it is high time for the church to raise up and stop shirking the responsibility we have to show the glory of Jesus Christ to the people around us, to show his goodness and his grace and his mercy and his care and his compassion and his word. It is time for us to rise up and take responsibility for the reason for which we have been saved. Follow me as I follow Christ. Well, there it is. And it comes down to the question, will we follow Jesus? I want to challenge you this morning to consider two things. First of all, consider very seriously the cost of discipleship. radical abandonment to His glory, radical dependence on His grace, adherence to His person, radical trust in His authority, and radical obedience to His mission. Your life is not your own anymore. you've surrendered every right to determine the direction of your life that is a great cost But lest we focus completely on the cost of discipleship, I want to challenge you also to consider the cost that I think is much greater, and that's the cost of non-discipleship. …
… the Word of God to you, consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Now, this is the same picture like we hear Paul saying in 1 Corinthians 11 1 when he says, follow me as I follow Christ. Imitate me as I'm imitating Christ. And the picture is a leader, we must hear the Word from a leader's mouth, and we must see the Word in a leader's life. This is why 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 1 through 7, Titus chapter 1 verses 5 through 9, the character qualifications of a leader, an elder in the church are high, and they must be high, and they must not be compromised. Because the church is intended to look at a leader and see faith and life that is worthy of imitation. This is why when a leader falls, there is a process in Scripture. There is a picture in Scripture of how that leader, an elder, is to be rebuked publicly. because the picture of Christ in that leader's life is extremely important. …
… which might sound arrogant until we put this together with what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 1 when he said, be imitators of me as I am of who? Of Christ. So what Paul is saying is, I want so badly for you to follow Christ that I will do everything I can to show you what that looks like in action, such that if you live like me, then you'll be living like Jesus. and it's not just Paul. Back in Philippians 3, 17, Paul says, brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. In other words, focus your eyes on people who are living like Jesus and become more and more like them and the process become more and more like him. so I've got to at least just pause at this point and ask every single follower of Jesus a question based on Philippians 4.9 is your life worthy of imitation? …