Daily Service: Follow Me?

Follow Me As I Follow Christ

by NOEL JESSE HEIKKINEN | January 13, 2018

“Follow me as I follow Christ.”

The apostle Paul wrote this statement (or something like it) seven times. For comparison, “love one another” is the only “one another” that got more mentions. This one isn’t technically a “one another,” but it does seem to fall into the same general theological bucket. As an apostle in Jesus’s church, he is setting an example for generations of spiritual leaders to come.

“Follow me as I follow Christ.”

To be totally honest, this is a tough one for me. As a pastor, I have sat with those words and asked myself, “Could I say that to my church with a clear conscience?”

That’s where I start to get wrapped around the axle. I know leaders in Jesus’s church are supposed to live “above reproach” (1 Tim. 3:2 esv) and those who teach are subject to “heavier judgment” (James 3:1 esv), but this “follow me as I follow Christ” concept seems to ratchet up the pressure.

Maybe that’s why so many spiritual leaders, following after their patron saint King David, go to great lengths to hide their sin. The fear of being exposed as a fraud is greater than the risk of being found out as a hypocrite, so they hide.

But what if “follow me as I follow Christ” is meant to have the opposite effect? What if, instead of a crusty old finger pointing at our pathetic attempts at obedience, this statement allowed us to live out our faith in glorious and terrifying transparency?

Let’s take a look at one of the times Paul used these words.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

(Phil. 3:12–17 esv)

Source: https://davidccook.org/2018/01/follow-me-as-i-follow-christ/

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