You Became Imitators and Examples
This is a transcript. It may contain small inaccuracies.
You remember the founding of this church set forth for us back in Acts chapter 17, when in a very brief period of time–possibly just a period of three weeks, a little bit more, perhaps longer–a company of believers was called out by the grace of God and formed this assembly of God known as the Church of the Thessalonians. And in its infancy, Paul had to leave—you remember—that church quickly, knowing and knowing that persecution not only attended him while he was there, but also attended the people of God after he was gone. He's deeply concerned about the state of this infant church under much affliction.
So, Timothy's dispatched to check on them, and then word comes from Timothy that all is well and the work of God is flourishing there in Thessaloniki. And, in his mingled attitude of joy and yet fatherly concern for his church or this church, he writes this letter. Having considered the general introduction and then what we might call the beginning verses in this paragraph of praise—really, for it is nothing short but a paragraph of thanksgiving and praise—we have seen where Paul commends this church for the three cardinal virtues manifested in them as we read in verse 3: remembering without ceasing your work of faith, your labor of love, and your steadfastness of hope.
These things mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:13, "But now abide faith, hope, love–these three." And these things were manifested in the church and increasing, and Paul delighted to hear that report and he rejoiced in hearing that report and praised God for it. Then he stated in verse 4 that he also rejoiced because not only of something that he remembered, those three virtues which are the work of the Spirit, but because of something he knew—knowing. Not only remembering but knowing as well. Brothers, beloved by God, your election.
And he was confident that they were peculiar—they were the peculiar objects of God's redemptive distinguishing love, the love of God—and that they were also the chosen of God, the elect of God, beloved of God or by God and elect of God. Then he tells us in verse 5 why he's convinced that they were beloved of God and elect. For he says in verse 5, "for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance." In other words, he's confident of their election because of their effectual call.
The gospel came not just as a lot of religious verbiage, it came as a powerful transformative word from heaven that laid hold of them and radically transformed their lives. So, as Paul saw the working of God in the effectual call of God, then he was confident of their election, their election of God. Then, this produced many very practical results or fruits. And we are considering those things together now in verses 6 and 7.
And in our last study we looked at the last part of verse 6, which we called one of the first results of the effectual call of God. And what was it? That one of the first results—the first result, one of them—of the effectual call of God, he says, “having received the word in much affliction and with the joy of the Holy Spirit.” Whenever the gospel comes in power, whenever truly the gospel comes in power—the power of God through the Holy Spirit of God—the indication that it comes in power is that men and women receive that Word. And, the word for receive here, you remember, that word is a strong word, ‘dechomai’, which means to receive with a warm welcome, to receive with glad abandonment, to receive and to retain with joy, with delight, with tenacity, with open arm. It's a warm appropriating of the Word. And so the effectual call of God comes to light when men embrace the Word as the Word of the living God and as the Word of their own salvation.
Now, that in turn, will always, always, always, inevitably produce some wonderful things. The gospel comes in power, men receive it, then what happens? What happens? Well, having received it, Paul says there were two wonderful effects from this spirit-wrought reception, ‘dechomai’—this warm welcome, the spirit-wrought reception—two wonderful effects. First part of verse 6, that's the first one: “You also became imitators of us and of the Lord.” And the second one is found in verse 7: “so that you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.”
Notice now the connection. Trace the connection with me. Verse 5 says, the gospel came in power, they received it. They received that word biblically with welcome, with delight. Even though it meant affliction and opposition, they welcomed the Word gladly. They rejoiced in the Word, in receiving the Word, because the Spirit of God had effectually worked in their hearts. Now, having welcomed the Word, a spirit-wrought reception of the Word then had two blessed effects–verse 6: you became imitators, verse 7: you became a model. You became imitators, you became a model.
So our study this evening—and there's so much meat here for us—our study this evening will be on the theme of the two inevitable effects of a spirit-wrought reception of the Word. The two inevitable effects, and I would underscore the word inevitable. Inevitable effects of a spirit-wrought reception of the Word. Are you receiving the Word? Are you ‘dechomai’ the Word? Have you received the Word? You say, ‘well, yes, I have.’ If so, these two inevitable effects will be undoubtedly true of you.
If we, as a church, have received the Word, if we are receiving the Word every time we meet and hear the Word read and taught and exposited, if we are receiving the Word in all the richness of that biblical meaning of receive, then these effects will be true of us, and should be increasingly true of us the more of the Word we receive as it comes to us in the Holy Spirit.
Very simple. You became imitators. You became models. Simple. So, not only do you have the theme, but also the outline that we're gonna follow this evening.
So, first of all, you became imitators as a result of receiving the Word. You became imitators. Now, what does this word imitators mean? Imitator is a good word. It's a good translation. Literally, the word—the Greek word—we get the English word from it: mimic. Mimic. Mimic. ‘mimētḗs’ is the Greek word. So, we get that word mimic in English. So, we say of someone, oh, look at him, he's mimicking his dad. He's mimicking his dad, or he's mimicking so-and-so. Well, that's the word we use. You also became literally mimics of us and of the Lord.
Now, of course, today, if we use the term mimic, very often we think of it as something perhaps humorous or negative. You know, "Stop mimicking me," kids say to one another. "Stop mimicking me." But it was intended here to be positive, a good thing, a compliment. Imitation is one of the highest forms of flattery, really, and admiration.
Now, what is an imitator? What does it mean to imitate something or someone? An imitator is one who closely observes a fixed pattern of voice, speech, action, or of a certain substance, and studiously attempts to duplicate it. When you speak of imitation vanilla flavor, you expect it to taste like real vanilla bean. If it tastes like cinnamon, you're in trouble. You've missed it. It's poor imitation. Imitation vanilla flavor is supposed to so closely approximate the true thing, so that you won't know the difference, that you won't be able to tell the difference. And when you talk about imitation mink, they take synthetic artificial fur, they dye it, they try to fix it so that to the untrained eye, it looks as close as possible like mink. If it looks like something else, like a fox or a rabbit, you've missed it. You've missed the boat.
You see, imitation has this connotation of, here's a fixed standard, the ideal, and then you're trying to, as closely as possible, to approximate that ideal. You know, in a talent show, you have people who are imitators of popular singers, and it's amazing how some of them can really approximate so closely the real thing, that if they just sang a few bars, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
Now, I don't need to press this. I think you've got the idea of the word and its meaning. And Paul said, as Paul said of these people, and he commends them for it. This is a commendation. When the gospel came in power, you received that word, and you received it though there was much affliction that you were enduring. The first effect it had on you was to make you a mimic, to make you an imitator, to bring you into this place where you became involved in seeing a certain standard, and you were determined by the grace of God to approximate that standard as closely as possible by the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now, of what did they become mimics? That's the next question. Or, rather, more particularly, of whom? Of whom did they become imitators? Well, notice the text. He tells us, you also became imitators–mimics–first of all, of us, of us, and secondly, of the Lord. Now, this is a strange sort of a statement, isn't it? You know why? Because we have been brainwashed by this familiar cliché: We don't put our eyes upon man, we put our eyes upon the Lord. Don't put your eyes upon man, put your eyes upon the Lord.
How often, when faced with inconsistent Christian profession, has this little cliché sort of been a general blanket to cover all forms of ills, lacks, in the professing people of God? Well, God doesn't expect us or ask us to look at men. He tells us, keep your eyes upon the Lord. I think Paul had a different perspective. He's actually commending them for the fact that they did put their eyes on men. And furthermore, they followed men. He's commending them. He's not scolding them here, is he? He's not. He's not scolding them, saying, well, the Gospel came in power, but you Thessalonians botched things up by looking at us. No, no. The text is clear. He says, the Gospel came in power, you received that word, and the first effect was you became mimics of us. You became studious to discover how we walked, how we behaved, how we lived our lives. Then you applied yourself to walk in the ways that we, the servants of God, walked.
So the first object of imitation, or actually I would have liked to title this message, sanctified mimicry, sanctified mimicry. The first object of the sanctified mimicry are the faithful servants of Christ, the faithful servants of Christ. Now notice Paul says, verse 6, “you became imitators of us.” Us, not just me. This is not something peculiar then to apostles, but you also became imitators of us, Paul and Silas, or Silvanus–the ones who were there at the formation of the church. And then he says that the letter comes from him and his associates, Timothy and Silvanus, or Silas. So this idea that we're not to follow men immediately runs aground on this reef of Paul's statement.
Now what is the principle involved here specifically? Why did Paul commend them for being imitators of him and of his associates? Well, the principle is this: man as a creature is an imitative creature. We're made by God and we're imitative creatures. We're imitative creatures. You take our kids. Long before they know how to consciously say, well, so-and-so is doing something this way, I want to do it like them. Well, what? What do they do? They pick up our characteristics. Just like that. We talk about this. We say more things are caught than taught. Right? They mimic us. Your son didn't sit down and say one day, ‘Well, I want to be like my daddy, therefore I'm going to…’ No, no. He didn't say that. But you see, just the presence of another human being. We are imitative creatures and subconsciously we pick up these characteristics and these attitudes as well as habits.
And God, who made us, recognizes this, this imitative quality that is true of all of us and now God, in working His work of redemption, takes into account what man is and how man is. So, as He works out His purposes of redemption, which are not only to bring us into saving relationship with Himself, but to make us like His Son, He uses, He employs this principle that man is an imitative creature and He seeks to teach us what it is to obey Him, to love Him, to serve Him, not only—follow closely—not only by giving us a precept and say, ‘Well, this is what thou shalt do,’ but then by having that precept embodied in a life, a flesh and blood, so that God says, this is what you're to do, but this is what it will mean in actual experience if you do what I've told you.
So that, just as we need the law in its precept form to guide us, so we need the law in its flesh and blood form of actual experience to guide us. Hence, the fellowship of the body of Christ.
Hence, one of the elements that really underscores the importance of the church. What did it mean to love God? These Christians wanted to know. And Paul says, you looked at us and you learned what it means to love God. Well, what does it mean to follow Christ at any cost and be a disciple who counted the cost? Well, he says, you people looked at us and you saw us, you actually saw us being run out of town in the midst of all the jeerings and the pressures and the threats of our very lives and seeing us loving God nevertheless, even if it meant our necks, our lives. You learned something of what it was to love God and not being just simply fair-weather Christians. So the principle that God takes into account in His dealings with His people is this principle here.
Now, having said this, of course we know, and the Scripture is clear, we are not to venerate the faithful servants of God, worship them. We are not to pray to them. We are not to trust in them. He doesn't say anything about, you prayed to us, you trusted in us, you worshiped us. None of it. He said, ‘You mimicked us. You followed us. You followed our example.’
Now, would it shock you if I told you tonight that it's part of your Christian duty and mine to mark the faithful godly saints of God and to studiously seek to imitate their lives? Do you know that's part of your and my Christian duty? You ought to have in your mind faithful saints of God whose walk is a commendable walk, and you ought to be working at imitating their walk before God. This is a Christian duty. Oh, well, you say, isn't that a bit strong statement? Isn’t that heavy-handed?
Well, let's look at several passages together and let's see what God says. Let's see if there are those passages that clearly indicate that this is a Christian duty. Turn with me, 2 Thessalonians, chapter 3 and verse 7. Chapter 3 and verse 7. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 7. "For you yourselves know how you”--and what's the next word?--”ought.” Is that a suggestion? Is that a suggestion? Ought. Ought–something you ought to do as a duty. “For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us.” In the original, it's the same word in verbal form. How you ought to mimic us. You ought to follow us. You ought to imitate us “because we did not act in an unruly manner among you." Verse 9: "not because we do not have the authority, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would”--what?--“imitate us." Paul said the example we set is not to be lightly regarded, but rather it is to be studiously followed.
Then, if you will please turn with me to Hebrews chapter 13. You know that passage. Chapter 13 of Hebrews, verse 7. Hebrews 13 and verse 7: "Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct,”--and what's the next word?--”imitate their faith." Imitate their faith. Same word in the original. Mimic their faith. Follow. Imitate their faith.
Now, speaking now not of apostles, but in this context speaking of those who had been spiritual leaders in the assembly there in the church to the Hebrews. Remember them. They've spoken unto you the word of God. Follow their faith. Mimic. Imitate their faith. What does it mean to be a believing man? A believing woman? The Scripture tells us in precept that we are to be believing men and women. Paul says, you look at those people who stood among you, ministered in your midst, and there you see what it means to be a believing person. Now imitate their faith. Mimic their faith.
And then several other passages. I mean, it's not like one or two. 3 John verse 11. 3 John. 3 John verse 11: "Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.” And how are we not to imitate what is evil, but to imitate what is good as abstract principles? No. He tells us, “The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good witness from everyone, and from the truth itself.” In verses 9 and 10, he was speaking about the negative example. Speaking of this, “Diotrephes who loves to have the place of preeminence.” He had a disease. This man Diotrephes. He had a big shoddy-itis. He wanted to always feel like he's a big shot in the assembly. And John speaks about his negative example. And then he then follows with Demetrius as a positive example. And in the midst of it he says, imitate not that which is evil, but that which is good. How? In terms of its embodiment in human beings. Don't be a Diotrephes, but rather be a Demetrius. That's what he's saying. So here the command again.
And then of course 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1. "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ." Be followers. Same word. Mimics. Imitators of me. And one last passage. Philippians 3:17. “Brothers.” Philippians 3:17. “Brothers, join in following my example.” Join in following my example. One word in the Greek. Same word. And then he says, “and look for those who walk according to the pattern you have in us." What a tremendous statement. What a tremendous statement. Look for, ‘skopeo’. It means to spy out. Look intently towards an object. Contemplate. Not just a glance. Contemplate. Give attention to. Mark. Mark those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. Paul says, ‘You look around. You spy out. And look around. And see people who are walking before you as we did. And mark them. And set them there as an example to imitate, to follow.’
Now, how did this idea that we're not to look at men, follow men, ever invade the church the way it did? I thought about this. And I have a sneaking suspicion that the standard of piety, I believe, has been so low, and the standard of practical godliness at such a low end, that we didn't dare hold forth this duty of following the example of the saints of God. And, so, we've covered over our low degree of piety by saying we shouldn't look at man, we should only look at the Lord. And we discover together that this is an unscriptural concept.
It has an element of truth, as we're going to see, but it's been pushed way out of proportion. Paul really gives the balance: "Imitate me, as I imitate Christ." Right? So Paul then commends them, that they became mimics. They became imitators of the faithful servants of God. And then he says in verse 6, back to our text, "and of the Lord." And of the Lord. They became imitators of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And of course, He is the only perfect example.
And again, we have been invaded in the church with some really erroneous ideas. Whenever you speak of Christ as our example, immediately, we're traumatized and so we have a knee-jerk reaction. And we react because liberals have had nothing but a Christ who was just an example—nothing more, nothing less. So much so that we've thrown out the baby with the bathwater.
But you see, Jesus Christ is just as much as your example in Scripture as He is your Savior if you're a Christian—and my Savior. They just got—you've got to get the order right. You don't follow His example in order to come into a saving relationship with Him, but coming naked and stripped of any grounds of hope in yourself, and embracing the Lord Jesus Christ in a penitent faith as He's offered in the gospel, He becomes our Savior, our Sovereign. But once He has become our Savior and our Sovereign, He then becomes our example—the perfect example for the child of God. He is the God-man, the perfect man—the perfect man, fully God, fully man.
And, so, the Scripture not only commands us, as part of our Christian duty, to follow the example of the faithful servants of Christ, but it also commands us, as part of our Christian duty, to follow the example of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And here are some scriptures that really underscore that for us. 1 Peter 2 verse 21. 1 Peter 2 and verse 21: "For to this you have been called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should”–and here it is–“follow in His steps." Follow in His steps. He suffered that He might bring us to God—that's chapter 3 and verse 18—but here this passage says He also suffered to leave an example for the saints of God, that we might know how to walk here on earth in the face of all that we encounter. He left us an example.
And then in 1 John 2:6, 1 John 2:6: "the one who says he abides in Him”--referring to Christ–“ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." And of course, Matthew 10:25, our Lord Himself says, "It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master." The whole concept of Christ being the supreme exemplary figure for the Christian, and that he studiously—the Christian seeks to discover how the Lord Jesus acted and reacted in given situations, and then seeks to imitate—that is a Christian duty, beloved.
And, you see, the difference between that and empty morality is that a Christian—the Christian, the believer, the genuinely saved—imitates from an indwelling power of the Holy Spirit that enables him more and more to be made more like his Savior. Whereas the unregenerate, the religious but lost, in trying to imitate Christ, they try to do it simply going through the motions—sort of like the motions of a puppet. Unreal. They have the semblance of the real thing, but they lack the flow of true life and power.
And, so, Paul commends these people, that they become mimics, that they become imitators of the faithful servants of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Now, let me pause here at this point and ask this question in a practical way: How does one do this? How does one do this? Let's get very practical. How do we do this?
Well, the way the Thessalonians became imitators of Paul was what? To watch him. To watch him. If we're going to imitate something, you've got to watch it. If you want to make an imitation mink, you've got to study what a real mink is. If you want to imitate somebody's voice, you've got to listen again and again until you know all things—all things that make, for example, Matt Boswell's voice different from Matt Papa's voice. If they all sound the same to you, you won't be able to imitate with any distinction.
So, our responsibility is to watch the faithful servants of Christ in the Scripture and out of the Scripture. And when you read the biographical section of the Scripture, we are to study these things, not just to know the history—Elijah did this and Elisha did that—but now, how did they act? How did they react in a given situation? And where we see their action and reaction, and their attitude and their disposition, there's the example that we are to follow. And we say, Lord, there's the pattern, but I'm so unlike that. But Lord, by Your grace, help me be like that servant of Yours in a given situation.
You study that. You study the life of the Shunammite woman, and you see her stillness, her steadfastness, that how she did not do in the time of Christ is anything different than what she did when the sun was shining. And you learn. You imitate. This is why you read Christian biography. Wonderful things happen in the reading of Christian biography. Literally, whole nations have felt the impact of, for example, a 300-page book called “The Life and the Diary of David Brainerd”.
It's when Henry Martin, the English missionary, came near to the heat and passion of Brainerd's heart in the pages of his biography, that something was kindled in his own breast that made Henry Martin, with all his brilliance, turn his back on everything else, and his passion was to go out and establish an opening for the kingdom of God in the land of India. John Piper writes concerning the biography of David Brainerd and the impact of David Brainerd. He says concerning Henry, the impact on Henry Martin: "Pursuing the life of David Brainerd, his soul—Henry Martin—was filled with a holy emulation of that extraordinary man, and after deep consideration and fervent prayer, he was at length fixed in a resolution to imitate his example." He goes on to mention different names: William Carey, and Edward, and Robert Morrison, and Robert Murray McChain, and John Mills, and Frederick Schwartz, and many others. And he says, “All of them count David Brainerd a teacher, a model, and stand in awe of him, and find inspiration from him.”
That's the benefit of it, beloved. You see? That's the legitimate use of being a mimic, being an imitator—the faithful servants of Christ. But not only in Christian biography, but here today, as we rub shoulders with our brothers and sisters. You parents, for example—again, this is very practical—you ought to mark those men and women who have, as you're in their presence, a real sense of openness and good communication as husband and wife. Those husbands and wives who apparently, amidst all the problems that you face, they've learned how to communicate together. When they face a problem, they've learned how to ride through storms together and talk out their differences. And you have to get near those people and watch them and see how they operate and imitate them.
Homes that are well ordered, whose children are well disciplined—it didn't just happen. They didn't just go to bed some night with a book under their pillow on how to communicate effectively and influence your kids, and suddenly woke up the next day and their home was well ordered and their kids were well behaved. Didn't just happen. Somebody's sweat, somebody's work, somebody's wrestled with issues and problems and on the knees of prayers.
And Paul says in Philippians 3:17, look for—look for—mark those people, mark those people's walk, and then imitate them. Find out how they do it and imitate them. Mark out where you see a home where there's a beautiful relationship between a husband and wife, and they really have learned the art of communicating together. They move as one. You sense when you're in their presence, though they're two, they're one. They're not just under the same roof, sleeping in the same bed, sitting and eating at the same table—they've been fused together as one. And that doesn't just happen. Look for, watch, watch, and then learn and imitate.
Others in the body of Christ—you look to older, more mature, really, not simply older, but mature men and women in the season of singleness, and you look at their example, and you look at their resolution and how they live their life to the glory of God, devoting their time and energy to the things of God. And you go up to them and you say, ‘I look at your life and I see your devotion in the midst of all of…how do you do it? Because I want to do the same.’
It's obvious. It's obvious when you see those virtues in someone or in a family, that this is the work of God. And you and I are responsible to look for, to mark out godly examples to imitate. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You're sitting maybe here and thinking, Wait a minute. I have to humble myself and go to someone in the church and say, ‘Look, it's obvious that you. You are walking in the good of the gospel. Or to go to a couple and say, It's obvious that you and your wife have a relationship that me and my wife would like to cultivate. Would you please tell us how you…’—that's why we're here for, beloved. This is the family of God. That's why God incorporates us into the body of Christ, the family of God, that we might help one another.
But, it means that you've got to pull away that mask behind which you live, pull away that facade, and you know you botched it up in your relationship with your brothers and sisters, with your wife, with your husband, with your friend, and you need help. Let us have the humility and sanctified resolve to go and say to godly, faithful Christians, ‘Look, the Bible says mark those that are walking as an example and imitate them. And you've got something that I see—how you carry yourself, how you walk with Christ, how you love Christ, how you serve Christ’ and, if married, ‘how you treat your wife, how you treat your husband’, or ‘in this season of your singleness is an exemplary attitude’, ‘your attitude in the face of affliction is exemplary’, ‘your attitude in the face of sickness is exemplary’. ‘Tell me how you do it. Tell me what you wrestle with. Tell me how you overcome.’
Beloved, is that unreasonable? Or is that a valid application of this scriptural principle? "You also became imitators of us." The principle of following the faithful saints of God. And then he says, you became imitators of the Lord. And how do you do that? Again, let's be practical. How do you become an imitator of the Lord? Well, we've got to get ourselves under conviction, you see. If I'm to imitate the Lord, I've got to know what the pattern is. Well, how do you know what He is like? You read the Gospels. You start with the Gospels. How did He act in a given situation? You read the Gospels. How did He react? What was His attitude? You read the Gospels.
The Gospels then become this beautiful, many-sided portrait of the Lord Jesus. And as you see Him as the great example, then you cry out, ‘Oh God, by the Holy Spirit, give me grace to imitate my Lord.’ “You also became imitators of us and of the Lord." Seek to know those that you can mimic to your profit as an adult, as a student, as a church, as a parent, etc. Read the book of Acts. Read those great periods in the history of the church when God has broken in with power, and you will see that we know so little about zeal, so little about worship, so little about holy abandonment to God. And we need desperately to read those who walked so as to leave us an example, and to imitate them by the grace of God.
Now, if you are one who is not savingly joined to Christ, never been born of the Spirit of God, obviously this is not a word to you. Remember, this was a fruit, not a root–a fruit, not a root. They had received the Word, then they became imitators. So, God's Word to you is not to be an imitator, but rather tonight God's Word to you is to be a receiver of the Word. Hear the Word of salvation and embrace that Word that comes with His promise of mercy to all who repent, to all who believe.
But I want to say a word particularly to those who profess to be believers. Now, we must believe in order to learn, right? We must believe in order to learn. And if you haven't believed, you don't start by learning, you start by believing. You must believe in order to learn, and you must learn in order to follow. But if your believing and your learning is not leading to following, it's not true faith. It's not.
For our gospel came, Paul said, “in power”. That's what the text says. Now, how did he know it came in power? Not because they went on and stood up on a Wednesday night or a Sunday evening service and gave their testimony at a prayer meeting or an evening service, but because they became imitators of the Lord and of His servants. Paul knew that the gospel had come in power and had been truly believed and embraced because of the fruits of belief, namely a holy imitation of the Lord and of His servants.
I must hurry on to the next phrase and touch on it very briefly. You became not only imitators, but he says in verse 7, “so that you became a model”--I love that–"you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia." Now, what's this word model, ‘tupos’? What does it mean, this Greek word? Well, it's an interesting word. The verb form of it means ‘to strike’. So it's the mark left by a blow. When Thomas said to the other disciples, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger in the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe"—the word he used, the imprint, the mark left by the blow of the nails, literally. The word he used is this, and Paul says you became a ‘tupos’--a model, an imprint. The word came, it left its mark upon you, and then that mark became a pattern for others to follow.
I thought of Plaster of Paris–a powdered gypsum cement. You take an object. Let's say, suppose you want to reproduce that object in Plaster of Paris. Maybe you've got a little bust of Alexander the Great and you want to reproduce it, so you smear upon it some Vaseline or some greasy stuff, oily stuff, so the plaster doesn't stick to it, and then you mold the Plaster of Paris around the mold, and then you split it down the middle. You take it off and you have a form, you have a mold, and then into the mold you can then pour some more plaster, and out will come another bust of Alexander the Great, and then he could do the same thing with the reproduced bust until you can keep on reproducing.
You see, beloved, here's the point. As one thing conforms to the pattern, then it becomes itself a pattern to which others can conform. That's the idea. A father begets a son who in turn grows up and becomes a father who begets a son who in turn grows up and becomes a father who begets a son. That's the process that Paul is talking about here. He said you became mimics when you became imitators of us and of the Lord. A wonderful thing happened when that happened. As you followed the pattern we set for you and the Lord set for you, without even knowing it, you yourselves became a pattern for others to mimic, to follow. You see, they didn't seek to become an example. They were seeking to be what? Followers. Followers. But in the becoming followers, one of the blessed by-products is what? They became a model. They became an example, and that's what Paul is talking about here. So these two things are inseparably joined.
Beloved, this is so rich for us. There's so much meat for us here. Notice Paul uses them in one verse in several places. We will only look at one of the instances, 2 Thessalonians 3:9. He uses the two words together. They're inseparably joined. You'll see them. "[N]ot because we do not have the authority,"--he says, 2 Thessalonians 3 and verse 9–"but in order to offer ourselves as a model"—that's the same word, ‘tupos’—"for you, so that you would"—what? ‘mimētḗs’-- “imitate us”--mimic us. Now, what do you mimic? What do you imitate? You imitate the model, the example.
So Paul says in this passage, ‘we are the model you are to imitate, and as you imitated us, you became an example, a model that others began to imitate and began to mimic.’ Now there are negative examples we're warned against. 1 Corinthians 10:6 speaks of the children of Israel in their idolatry, their immorality, and it says, "Now these things happened as”–‘tupos’--“examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved." An example here to what? To shun, to avoid. But, this is speaking about being an example in a positive way as Paul says in Philippians 3:17, mark–“look for those who walk according to the–‘tupos’ you have in us–" the pattern you have in us.”
Now in a very peculiar way, this responsibility of being an example is intensified for those who would aspire to places of spiritual leadership, and I want to say a word about that. It's interesting that the same word for model, example, is used three times with reference to those who take leadership in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12, "show yourself as a model"—‘tupos’, same Greek word—"to those who believe in word, conduct, love, faith, and purity." Be an example, Timothy. Be a model, Timothy. Be an embodiment of the truth you preach so that others following you will, in reality, be following Jesus Christ.
Titus, he says Titus in Titus 2:7, "in all things show yourself to be"—same word—"a model of good works, with purity in doctrine, dignified." 1 Peter 5:3 says to the elders, "nor yet as lording it over those allotted to you, but being"—what?—"examples,"--‘tupos’--"to the flock."
Now, do you see why the first requirement for the elder, the under-shepherd in the church is this? Titus 1, “if any man is”—what's the next word, the first word?—“if any man is beyond reproach”--blameless, no just cause of censure. Paul under inspiration puts at the top of the list the manner of life: beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of dissipation or rebellious, for the overseer must be beyond reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of dishonest gain, but hospitable, loving, so forth and so forth. And then you get to verse 9 and he speaks of doctrine, holding fast the faithful word, holding fast the faithful word.
Beloved, Paul does not disregard or undermine or push aside doctrine, it's quite the opposite. Look at the first half of Ephesians: all doctrine. But he says in essence, you might have a church full of men who've got their doctrine straight, full of them, but if that doctrine can't be preceded by a life that is exemplary, they are disqualified at the outset. They are disqualified at the outset.
And I say to any young man considering the ministry, don't forget the biblical order. A life beyond reproach is at the top of the list, and to cultivate a life beyond reproach means that you are determined by the grace of God that you're going to be a man of prayer, you're going to be a holy man, you're going to be a man of consistent life, a man when he stands to teach in the presence of his wife and children, they will listen to him because they know there's no contradiction between what comes over the pulpit and what they see in the living room and in the kitchen. That's why, at the top of the list, you became a model. It's not only the truth conveyed by spiritual leaders, but by the life in which that truth is couched that is of tremendous importance.
I must close tonight. Let me close by asking, are you a model? Are you an example? Now, you're being an example to others regardless–either a negative or a positive, a good or bad example. What kind of an example are you? Fathers, mothers, young people, married, single, older ones, are you being the example that your younger brothers and sisters follow, a path of blessing? They're following either for good or for evil.
Oh beloved, may the Lord help us to so receive His word as His people that, becoming imitators of the Lord and of His servants, we may in turn become models, models for others to follow. So, as Paul rejoices in the Thessalonian church that the gospel came not only in power but in the Holy Spirit, he rejoices that having received the Word, they became imitators of the Lord and of His faithful servants. In turn then, they became examples, models for others to follow. May God grant that as we receive the Word from week to week, that it will be producing more and more in us this twofold effect by becoming imitators and then models. May God grant that it will be true for His glory and for our profit.
Let's pray.
So, Timothy's dispatched to check on them, and then word comes from Timothy that all is well and the work of God is flourishing there in Thessaloniki. And, in his mingled attitude of joy and yet fatherly concern for his church or this church, he writes this letter. Having considered the general introduction and then what we might call the beginning verses in this paragraph of praise—really, for it is nothing short but a paragraph of thanksgiving and praise—we have seen where Paul commends this church for the three cardinal virtues manifested in them as we read in verse 3: remembering without ceasing your work of faith, your labor of love, and your steadfastness of hope.
These things mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:13, "But now abide faith, hope, love–these three." And these things were manifested in the church and increasing, and Paul delighted to hear that report and he rejoiced in hearing that report and praised God for it. Then he stated in verse 4 that he also rejoiced because not only of something that he remembered, those three virtues which are the work of the Spirit, but because of something he knew—knowing. Not only remembering but knowing as well. Brothers, beloved by God, your election.
And he was confident that they were peculiar—they were the peculiar objects of God's redemptive distinguishing love, the love of God—and that they were also the chosen of God, the elect of God, beloved of God or by God and elect of God. Then he tells us in verse 5 why he's convinced that they were beloved of God and elect. For he says in verse 5, "for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance." In other words, he's confident of their election because of their effectual call.
The gospel came not just as a lot of religious verbiage, it came as a powerful transformative word from heaven that laid hold of them and radically transformed their lives. So, as Paul saw the working of God in the effectual call of God, then he was confident of their election, their election of God. Then, this produced many very practical results or fruits. And we are considering those things together now in verses 6 and 7.
And in our last study we looked at the last part of verse 6, which we called one of the first results of the effectual call of God. And what was it? That one of the first results—the first result, one of them—of the effectual call of God, he says, “having received the word in much affliction and with the joy of the Holy Spirit.” Whenever the gospel comes in power, whenever truly the gospel comes in power—the power of God through the Holy Spirit of God—the indication that it comes in power is that men and women receive that Word. And, the word for receive here, you remember, that word is a strong word, ‘dechomai’, which means to receive with a warm welcome, to receive with glad abandonment, to receive and to retain with joy, with delight, with tenacity, with open arm. It's a warm appropriating of the Word. And so the effectual call of God comes to light when men embrace the Word as the Word of the living God and as the Word of their own salvation.
Now, that in turn, will always, always, always, inevitably produce some wonderful things. The gospel comes in power, men receive it, then what happens? What happens? Well, having received it, Paul says there were two wonderful effects from this spirit-wrought reception, ‘dechomai’—this warm welcome, the spirit-wrought reception—two wonderful effects. First part of verse 6, that's the first one: “You also became imitators of us and of the Lord.” And the second one is found in verse 7: “so that you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.”
Notice now the connection. Trace the connection with me. Verse 5 says, the gospel came in power, they received it. They received that word biblically with welcome, with delight. Even though it meant affliction and opposition, they welcomed the Word gladly. They rejoiced in the Word, in receiving the Word, because the Spirit of God had effectually worked in their hearts. Now, having welcomed the Word, a spirit-wrought reception of the Word then had two blessed effects–verse 6: you became imitators, verse 7: you became a model. You became imitators, you became a model.
So our study this evening—and there's so much meat here for us—our study this evening will be on the theme of the two inevitable effects of a spirit-wrought reception of the Word. The two inevitable effects, and I would underscore the word inevitable. Inevitable effects of a spirit-wrought reception of the Word. Are you receiving the Word? Are you ‘dechomai’ the Word? Have you received the Word? You say, ‘well, yes, I have.’ If so, these two inevitable effects will be undoubtedly true of you.
If we, as a church, have received the Word, if we are receiving the Word every time we meet and hear the Word read and taught and exposited, if we are receiving the Word in all the richness of that biblical meaning of receive, then these effects will be true of us, and should be increasingly true of us the more of the Word we receive as it comes to us in the Holy Spirit.
Very simple. You became imitators. You became models. Simple. So, not only do you have the theme, but also the outline that we're gonna follow this evening.
So, first of all, you became imitators as a result of receiving the Word. You became imitators. Now, what does this word imitators mean? Imitator is a good word. It's a good translation. Literally, the word—the Greek word—we get the English word from it: mimic. Mimic. Mimic. ‘mimētḗs’ is the Greek word. So, we get that word mimic in English. So, we say of someone, oh, look at him, he's mimicking his dad. He's mimicking his dad, or he's mimicking so-and-so. Well, that's the word we use. You also became literally mimics of us and of the Lord.
Now, of course, today, if we use the term mimic, very often we think of it as something perhaps humorous or negative. You know, "Stop mimicking me," kids say to one another. "Stop mimicking me." But it was intended here to be positive, a good thing, a compliment. Imitation is one of the highest forms of flattery, really, and admiration.
Now, what is an imitator? What does it mean to imitate something or someone? An imitator is one who closely observes a fixed pattern of voice, speech, action, or of a certain substance, and studiously attempts to duplicate it. When you speak of imitation vanilla flavor, you expect it to taste like real vanilla bean. If it tastes like cinnamon, you're in trouble. You've missed it. It's poor imitation. Imitation vanilla flavor is supposed to so closely approximate the true thing, so that you won't know the difference, that you won't be able to tell the difference. And when you talk about imitation mink, they take synthetic artificial fur, they dye it, they try to fix it so that to the untrained eye, it looks as close as possible like mink. If it looks like something else, like a fox or a rabbit, you've missed it. You've missed the boat.
You see, imitation has this connotation of, here's a fixed standard, the ideal, and then you're trying to, as closely as possible, to approximate that ideal. You know, in a talent show, you have people who are imitators of popular singers, and it's amazing how some of them can really approximate so closely the real thing, that if they just sang a few bars, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
Now, I don't need to press this. I think you've got the idea of the word and its meaning. And Paul said, as Paul said of these people, and he commends them for it. This is a commendation. When the gospel came in power, you received that word, and you received it though there was much affliction that you were enduring. The first effect it had on you was to make you a mimic, to make you an imitator, to bring you into this place where you became involved in seeing a certain standard, and you were determined by the grace of God to approximate that standard as closely as possible by the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now, of what did they become mimics? That's the next question. Or, rather, more particularly, of whom? Of whom did they become imitators? Well, notice the text. He tells us, you also became imitators–mimics–first of all, of us, of us, and secondly, of the Lord. Now, this is a strange sort of a statement, isn't it? You know why? Because we have been brainwashed by this familiar cliché: We don't put our eyes upon man, we put our eyes upon the Lord. Don't put your eyes upon man, put your eyes upon the Lord.
How often, when faced with inconsistent Christian profession, has this little cliché sort of been a general blanket to cover all forms of ills, lacks, in the professing people of God? Well, God doesn't expect us or ask us to look at men. He tells us, keep your eyes upon the Lord. I think Paul had a different perspective. He's actually commending them for the fact that they did put their eyes on men. And furthermore, they followed men. He's commending them. He's not scolding them here, is he? He's not. He's not scolding them, saying, well, the Gospel came in power, but you Thessalonians botched things up by looking at us. No, no. The text is clear. He says, the Gospel came in power, you received that word, and the first effect was you became mimics of us. You became studious to discover how we walked, how we behaved, how we lived our lives. Then you applied yourself to walk in the ways that we, the servants of God, walked.
So the first object of imitation, or actually I would have liked to title this message, sanctified mimicry, sanctified mimicry. The first object of the sanctified mimicry are the faithful servants of Christ, the faithful servants of Christ. Now notice Paul says, verse 6, “you became imitators of us.” Us, not just me. This is not something peculiar then to apostles, but you also became imitators of us, Paul and Silas, or Silvanus–the ones who were there at the formation of the church. And then he says that the letter comes from him and his associates, Timothy and Silvanus, or Silas. So this idea that we're not to follow men immediately runs aground on this reef of Paul's statement.
Now what is the principle involved here specifically? Why did Paul commend them for being imitators of him and of his associates? Well, the principle is this: man as a creature is an imitative creature. We're made by God and we're imitative creatures. We're imitative creatures. You take our kids. Long before they know how to consciously say, well, so-and-so is doing something this way, I want to do it like them. Well, what? What do they do? They pick up our characteristics. Just like that. We talk about this. We say more things are caught than taught. Right? They mimic us. Your son didn't sit down and say one day, ‘Well, I want to be like my daddy, therefore I'm going to…’ No, no. He didn't say that. But you see, just the presence of another human being. We are imitative creatures and subconsciously we pick up these characteristics and these attitudes as well as habits.
And God, who made us, recognizes this, this imitative quality that is true of all of us and now God, in working His work of redemption, takes into account what man is and how man is. So, as He works out His purposes of redemption, which are not only to bring us into saving relationship with Himself, but to make us like His Son, He uses, He employs this principle that man is an imitative creature and He seeks to teach us what it is to obey Him, to love Him, to serve Him, not only—follow closely—not only by giving us a precept and say, ‘Well, this is what thou shalt do,’ but then by having that precept embodied in a life, a flesh and blood, so that God says, this is what you're to do, but this is what it will mean in actual experience if you do what I've told you.
So that, just as we need the law in its precept form to guide us, so we need the law in its flesh and blood form of actual experience to guide us. Hence, the fellowship of the body of Christ.
Hence, one of the elements that really underscores the importance of the church. What did it mean to love God? These Christians wanted to know. And Paul says, you looked at us and you learned what it means to love God. Well, what does it mean to follow Christ at any cost and be a disciple who counted the cost? Well, he says, you people looked at us and you saw us, you actually saw us being run out of town in the midst of all the jeerings and the pressures and the threats of our very lives and seeing us loving God nevertheless, even if it meant our necks, our lives. You learned something of what it was to love God and not being just simply fair-weather Christians. So the principle that God takes into account in His dealings with His people is this principle here.
Now, having said this, of course we know, and the Scripture is clear, we are not to venerate the faithful servants of God, worship them. We are not to pray to them. We are not to trust in them. He doesn't say anything about, you prayed to us, you trusted in us, you worshiped us. None of it. He said, ‘You mimicked us. You followed us. You followed our example.’
Now, would it shock you if I told you tonight that it's part of your Christian duty and mine to mark the faithful godly saints of God and to studiously seek to imitate their lives? Do you know that's part of your and my Christian duty? You ought to have in your mind faithful saints of God whose walk is a commendable walk, and you ought to be working at imitating their walk before God. This is a Christian duty. Oh, well, you say, isn't that a bit strong statement? Isn’t that heavy-handed?
Well, let's look at several passages together and let's see what God says. Let's see if there are those passages that clearly indicate that this is a Christian duty. Turn with me, 2 Thessalonians, chapter 3 and verse 7. Chapter 3 and verse 7. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 7. "For you yourselves know how you”--and what's the next word?--”ought.” Is that a suggestion? Is that a suggestion? Ought. Ought–something you ought to do as a duty. “For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us.” In the original, it's the same word in verbal form. How you ought to mimic us. You ought to follow us. You ought to imitate us “because we did not act in an unruly manner among you." Verse 9: "not because we do not have the authority, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would”--what?--“imitate us." Paul said the example we set is not to be lightly regarded, but rather it is to be studiously followed.
Then, if you will please turn with me to Hebrews chapter 13. You know that passage. Chapter 13 of Hebrews, verse 7. Hebrews 13 and verse 7: "Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct,”--and what's the next word?--”imitate their faith." Imitate their faith. Same word in the original. Mimic their faith. Follow. Imitate their faith.
Now, speaking now not of apostles, but in this context speaking of those who had been spiritual leaders in the assembly there in the church to the Hebrews. Remember them. They've spoken unto you the word of God. Follow their faith. Mimic. Imitate their faith. What does it mean to be a believing man? A believing woman? The Scripture tells us in precept that we are to be believing men and women. Paul says, you look at those people who stood among you, ministered in your midst, and there you see what it means to be a believing person. Now imitate their faith. Mimic their faith.
And then several other passages. I mean, it's not like one or two. 3 John verse 11. 3 John. 3 John verse 11: "Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.” And how are we not to imitate what is evil, but to imitate what is good as abstract principles? No. He tells us, “The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good witness from everyone, and from the truth itself.” In verses 9 and 10, he was speaking about the negative example. Speaking of this, “Diotrephes who loves to have the place of preeminence.” He had a disease. This man Diotrephes. He had a big shoddy-itis. He wanted to always feel like he's a big shot in the assembly. And John speaks about his negative example. And then he then follows with Demetrius as a positive example. And in the midst of it he says, imitate not that which is evil, but that which is good. How? In terms of its embodiment in human beings. Don't be a Diotrephes, but rather be a Demetrius. That's what he's saying. So here the command again.
And then of course 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1. "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ." Be followers. Same word. Mimics. Imitators of me. And one last passage. Philippians 3:17. “Brothers.” Philippians 3:17. “Brothers, join in following my example.” Join in following my example. One word in the Greek. Same word. And then he says, “and look for those who walk according to the pattern you have in us." What a tremendous statement. What a tremendous statement. Look for, ‘skopeo’. It means to spy out. Look intently towards an object. Contemplate. Not just a glance. Contemplate. Give attention to. Mark. Mark those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. Paul says, ‘You look around. You spy out. And look around. And see people who are walking before you as we did. And mark them. And set them there as an example to imitate, to follow.’
Now, how did this idea that we're not to look at men, follow men, ever invade the church the way it did? I thought about this. And I have a sneaking suspicion that the standard of piety, I believe, has been so low, and the standard of practical godliness at such a low end, that we didn't dare hold forth this duty of following the example of the saints of God. And, so, we've covered over our low degree of piety by saying we shouldn't look at man, we should only look at the Lord. And we discover together that this is an unscriptural concept.
It has an element of truth, as we're going to see, but it's been pushed way out of proportion. Paul really gives the balance: "Imitate me, as I imitate Christ." Right? So Paul then commends them, that they became mimics. They became imitators of the faithful servants of God. And then he says in verse 6, back to our text, "and of the Lord." And of the Lord. They became imitators of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And of course, He is the only perfect example.
And again, we have been invaded in the church with some really erroneous ideas. Whenever you speak of Christ as our example, immediately, we're traumatized and so we have a knee-jerk reaction. And we react because liberals have had nothing but a Christ who was just an example—nothing more, nothing less. So much so that we've thrown out the baby with the bathwater.
But you see, Jesus Christ is just as much as your example in Scripture as He is your Savior if you're a Christian—and my Savior. They just got—you've got to get the order right. You don't follow His example in order to come into a saving relationship with Him, but coming naked and stripped of any grounds of hope in yourself, and embracing the Lord Jesus Christ in a penitent faith as He's offered in the gospel, He becomes our Savior, our Sovereign. But once He has become our Savior and our Sovereign, He then becomes our example—the perfect example for the child of God. He is the God-man, the perfect man—the perfect man, fully God, fully man.
And, so, the Scripture not only commands us, as part of our Christian duty, to follow the example of the faithful servants of Christ, but it also commands us, as part of our Christian duty, to follow the example of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And here are some scriptures that really underscore that for us. 1 Peter 2 verse 21. 1 Peter 2 and verse 21: "For to this you have been called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should”–and here it is–“follow in His steps." Follow in His steps. He suffered that He might bring us to God—that's chapter 3 and verse 18—but here this passage says He also suffered to leave an example for the saints of God, that we might know how to walk here on earth in the face of all that we encounter. He left us an example.
And then in 1 John 2:6, 1 John 2:6: "the one who says he abides in Him”--referring to Christ–“ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." And of course, Matthew 10:25, our Lord Himself says, "It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master." The whole concept of Christ being the supreme exemplary figure for the Christian, and that he studiously—the Christian seeks to discover how the Lord Jesus acted and reacted in given situations, and then seeks to imitate—that is a Christian duty, beloved.
And, you see, the difference between that and empty morality is that a Christian—the Christian, the believer, the genuinely saved—imitates from an indwelling power of the Holy Spirit that enables him more and more to be made more like his Savior. Whereas the unregenerate, the religious but lost, in trying to imitate Christ, they try to do it simply going through the motions—sort of like the motions of a puppet. Unreal. They have the semblance of the real thing, but they lack the flow of true life and power.
And, so, Paul commends these people, that they become mimics, that they become imitators of the faithful servants of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Now, let me pause here at this point and ask this question in a practical way: How does one do this? How does one do this? Let's get very practical. How do we do this?
Well, the way the Thessalonians became imitators of Paul was what? To watch him. To watch him. If we're going to imitate something, you've got to watch it. If you want to make an imitation mink, you've got to study what a real mink is. If you want to imitate somebody's voice, you've got to listen again and again until you know all things—all things that make, for example, Matt Boswell's voice different from Matt Papa's voice. If they all sound the same to you, you won't be able to imitate with any distinction.
So, our responsibility is to watch the faithful servants of Christ in the Scripture and out of the Scripture. And when you read the biographical section of the Scripture, we are to study these things, not just to know the history—Elijah did this and Elisha did that—but now, how did they act? How did they react in a given situation? And where we see their action and reaction, and their attitude and their disposition, there's the example that we are to follow. And we say, Lord, there's the pattern, but I'm so unlike that. But Lord, by Your grace, help me be like that servant of Yours in a given situation.
You study that. You study the life of the Shunammite woman, and you see her stillness, her steadfastness, that how she did not do in the time of Christ is anything different than what she did when the sun was shining. And you learn. You imitate. This is why you read Christian biography. Wonderful things happen in the reading of Christian biography. Literally, whole nations have felt the impact of, for example, a 300-page book called “The Life and the Diary of David Brainerd”.
It's when Henry Martin, the English missionary, came near to the heat and passion of Brainerd's heart in the pages of his biography, that something was kindled in his own breast that made Henry Martin, with all his brilliance, turn his back on everything else, and his passion was to go out and establish an opening for the kingdom of God in the land of India. John Piper writes concerning the biography of David Brainerd and the impact of David Brainerd. He says concerning Henry, the impact on Henry Martin: "Pursuing the life of David Brainerd, his soul—Henry Martin—was filled with a holy emulation of that extraordinary man, and after deep consideration and fervent prayer, he was at length fixed in a resolution to imitate his example." He goes on to mention different names: William Carey, and Edward, and Robert Morrison, and Robert Murray McChain, and John Mills, and Frederick Schwartz, and many others. And he says, “All of them count David Brainerd a teacher, a model, and stand in awe of him, and find inspiration from him.”
That's the benefit of it, beloved. You see? That's the legitimate use of being a mimic, being an imitator—the faithful servants of Christ. But not only in Christian biography, but here today, as we rub shoulders with our brothers and sisters. You parents, for example—again, this is very practical—you ought to mark those men and women who have, as you're in their presence, a real sense of openness and good communication as husband and wife. Those husbands and wives who apparently, amidst all the problems that you face, they've learned how to communicate together. When they face a problem, they've learned how to ride through storms together and talk out their differences. And you have to get near those people and watch them and see how they operate and imitate them.
Homes that are well ordered, whose children are well disciplined—it didn't just happen. They didn't just go to bed some night with a book under their pillow on how to communicate effectively and influence your kids, and suddenly woke up the next day and their home was well ordered and their kids were well behaved. Didn't just happen. Somebody's sweat, somebody's work, somebody's wrestled with issues and problems and on the knees of prayers.
And Paul says in Philippians 3:17, look for—look for—mark those people, mark those people's walk, and then imitate them. Find out how they do it and imitate them. Mark out where you see a home where there's a beautiful relationship between a husband and wife, and they really have learned the art of communicating together. They move as one. You sense when you're in their presence, though they're two, they're one. They're not just under the same roof, sleeping in the same bed, sitting and eating at the same table—they've been fused together as one. And that doesn't just happen. Look for, watch, watch, and then learn and imitate.
Others in the body of Christ—you look to older, more mature, really, not simply older, but mature men and women in the season of singleness, and you look at their example, and you look at their resolution and how they live their life to the glory of God, devoting their time and energy to the things of God. And you go up to them and you say, ‘I look at your life and I see your devotion in the midst of all of…how do you do it? Because I want to do the same.’
It's obvious. It's obvious when you see those virtues in someone or in a family, that this is the work of God. And you and I are responsible to look for, to mark out godly examples to imitate. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You're sitting maybe here and thinking, Wait a minute. I have to humble myself and go to someone in the church and say, ‘Look, it's obvious that you. You are walking in the good of the gospel. Or to go to a couple and say, It's obvious that you and your wife have a relationship that me and my wife would like to cultivate. Would you please tell us how you…’—that's why we're here for, beloved. This is the family of God. That's why God incorporates us into the body of Christ, the family of God, that we might help one another.
But, it means that you've got to pull away that mask behind which you live, pull away that facade, and you know you botched it up in your relationship with your brothers and sisters, with your wife, with your husband, with your friend, and you need help. Let us have the humility and sanctified resolve to go and say to godly, faithful Christians, ‘Look, the Bible says mark those that are walking as an example and imitate them. And you've got something that I see—how you carry yourself, how you walk with Christ, how you love Christ, how you serve Christ’ and, if married, ‘how you treat your wife, how you treat your husband’, or ‘in this season of your singleness is an exemplary attitude’, ‘your attitude in the face of affliction is exemplary’, ‘your attitude in the face of sickness is exemplary’. ‘Tell me how you do it. Tell me what you wrestle with. Tell me how you overcome.’
Beloved, is that unreasonable? Or is that a valid application of this scriptural principle? "You also became imitators of us." The principle of following the faithful saints of God. And then he says, you became imitators of the Lord. And how do you do that? Again, let's be practical. How do you become an imitator of the Lord? Well, we've got to get ourselves under conviction, you see. If I'm to imitate the Lord, I've got to know what the pattern is. Well, how do you know what He is like? You read the Gospels. You start with the Gospels. How did He act in a given situation? You read the Gospels. How did He react? What was His attitude? You read the Gospels.
The Gospels then become this beautiful, many-sided portrait of the Lord Jesus. And as you see Him as the great example, then you cry out, ‘Oh God, by the Holy Spirit, give me grace to imitate my Lord.’ “You also became imitators of us and of the Lord." Seek to know those that you can mimic to your profit as an adult, as a student, as a church, as a parent, etc. Read the book of Acts. Read those great periods in the history of the church when God has broken in with power, and you will see that we know so little about zeal, so little about worship, so little about holy abandonment to God. And we need desperately to read those who walked so as to leave us an example, and to imitate them by the grace of God.
Now, if you are one who is not savingly joined to Christ, never been born of the Spirit of God, obviously this is not a word to you. Remember, this was a fruit, not a root–a fruit, not a root. They had received the Word, then they became imitators. So, God's Word to you is not to be an imitator, but rather tonight God's Word to you is to be a receiver of the Word. Hear the Word of salvation and embrace that Word that comes with His promise of mercy to all who repent, to all who believe.
But I want to say a word particularly to those who profess to be believers. Now, we must believe in order to learn, right? We must believe in order to learn. And if you haven't believed, you don't start by learning, you start by believing. You must believe in order to learn, and you must learn in order to follow. But if your believing and your learning is not leading to following, it's not true faith. It's not.
For our gospel came, Paul said, “in power”. That's what the text says. Now, how did he know it came in power? Not because they went on and stood up on a Wednesday night or a Sunday evening service and gave their testimony at a prayer meeting or an evening service, but because they became imitators of the Lord and of His servants. Paul knew that the gospel had come in power and had been truly believed and embraced because of the fruits of belief, namely a holy imitation of the Lord and of His servants.
I must hurry on to the next phrase and touch on it very briefly. You became not only imitators, but he says in verse 7, “so that you became a model”--I love that–"you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia." Now, what's this word model, ‘tupos’? What does it mean, this Greek word? Well, it's an interesting word. The verb form of it means ‘to strike’. So it's the mark left by a blow. When Thomas said to the other disciples, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger in the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe"—the word he used, the imprint, the mark left by the blow of the nails, literally. The word he used is this, and Paul says you became a ‘tupos’--a model, an imprint. The word came, it left its mark upon you, and then that mark became a pattern for others to follow.
I thought of Plaster of Paris–a powdered gypsum cement. You take an object. Let's say, suppose you want to reproduce that object in Plaster of Paris. Maybe you've got a little bust of Alexander the Great and you want to reproduce it, so you smear upon it some Vaseline or some greasy stuff, oily stuff, so the plaster doesn't stick to it, and then you mold the Plaster of Paris around the mold, and then you split it down the middle. You take it off and you have a form, you have a mold, and then into the mold you can then pour some more plaster, and out will come another bust of Alexander the Great, and then he could do the same thing with the reproduced bust until you can keep on reproducing.
You see, beloved, here's the point. As one thing conforms to the pattern, then it becomes itself a pattern to which others can conform. That's the idea. A father begets a son who in turn grows up and becomes a father who begets a son who in turn grows up and becomes a father who begets a son. That's the process that Paul is talking about here. He said you became mimics when you became imitators of us and of the Lord. A wonderful thing happened when that happened. As you followed the pattern we set for you and the Lord set for you, without even knowing it, you yourselves became a pattern for others to mimic, to follow. You see, they didn't seek to become an example. They were seeking to be what? Followers. Followers. But in the becoming followers, one of the blessed by-products is what? They became a model. They became an example, and that's what Paul is talking about here. So these two things are inseparably joined.
Beloved, this is so rich for us. There's so much meat for us here. Notice Paul uses them in one verse in several places. We will only look at one of the instances, 2 Thessalonians 3:9. He uses the two words together. They're inseparably joined. You'll see them. "[N]ot because we do not have the authority,"--he says, 2 Thessalonians 3 and verse 9–"but in order to offer ourselves as a model"—that's the same word, ‘tupos’—"for you, so that you would"—what? ‘mimētḗs’-- “imitate us”--mimic us. Now, what do you mimic? What do you imitate? You imitate the model, the example.
So Paul says in this passage, ‘we are the model you are to imitate, and as you imitated us, you became an example, a model that others began to imitate and began to mimic.’ Now there are negative examples we're warned against. 1 Corinthians 10:6 speaks of the children of Israel in their idolatry, their immorality, and it says, "Now these things happened as”–‘tupos’--“examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved." An example here to what? To shun, to avoid. But, this is speaking about being an example in a positive way as Paul says in Philippians 3:17, mark–“look for those who walk according to the–‘tupos’ you have in us–" the pattern you have in us.”
Now in a very peculiar way, this responsibility of being an example is intensified for those who would aspire to places of spiritual leadership, and I want to say a word about that. It's interesting that the same word for model, example, is used three times with reference to those who take leadership in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12, "show yourself as a model"—‘tupos’, same Greek word—"to those who believe in word, conduct, love, faith, and purity." Be an example, Timothy. Be a model, Timothy. Be an embodiment of the truth you preach so that others following you will, in reality, be following Jesus Christ.
Titus, he says Titus in Titus 2:7, "in all things show yourself to be"—same word—"a model of good works, with purity in doctrine, dignified." 1 Peter 5:3 says to the elders, "nor yet as lording it over those allotted to you, but being"—what?—"examples,"--‘tupos’--"to the flock."
Now, do you see why the first requirement for the elder, the under-shepherd in the church is this? Titus 1, “if any man is”—what's the next word, the first word?—“if any man is beyond reproach”--blameless, no just cause of censure. Paul under inspiration puts at the top of the list the manner of life: beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of dissipation or rebellious, for the overseer must be beyond reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of dishonest gain, but hospitable, loving, so forth and so forth. And then you get to verse 9 and he speaks of doctrine, holding fast the faithful word, holding fast the faithful word.
Beloved, Paul does not disregard or undermine or push aside doctrine, it's quite the opposite. Look at the first half of Ephesians: all doctrine. But he says in essence, you might have a church full of men who've got their doctrine straight, full of them, but if that doctrine can't be preceded by a life that is exemplary, they are disqualified at the outset. They are disqualified at the outset.
And I say to any young man considering the ministry, don't forget the biblical order. A life beyond reproach is at the top of the list, and to cultivate a life beyond reproach means that you are determined by the grace of God that you're going to be a man of prayer, you're going to be a holy man, you're going to be a man of consistent life, a man when he stands to teach in the presence of his wife and children, they will listen to him because they know there's no contradiction between what comes over the pulpit and what they see in the living room and in the kitchen. That's why, at the top of the list, you became a model. It's not only the truth conveyed by spiritual leaders, but by the life in which that truth is couched that is of tremendous importance.
I must close tonight. Let me close by asking, are you a model? Are you an example? Now, you're being an example to others regardless–either a negative or a positive, a good or bad example. What kind of an example are you? Fathers, mothers, young people, married, single, older ones, are you being the example that your younger brothers and sisters follow, a path of blessing? They're following either for good or for evil.
Oh beloved, may the Lord help us to so receive His word as His people that, becoming imitators of the Lord and of His servants, we may in turn become models, models for others to follow. So, as Paul rejoices in the Thessalonian church that the gospel came not only in power but in the Holy Spirit, he rejoices that having received the Word, they became imitators of the Lord and of His faithful servants. In turn then, they became examples, models for others to follow. May God grant that as we receive the Word from week to week, that it will be producing more and more in us this twofold effect by becoming imitators and then models. May God grant that it will be true for His glory and for our profit.
Let's pray.
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