004 From Mimics to Examples: The Proper Progression of a Thriving Church
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And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,
so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
In our culture imitation or mimics means that something or someone is a fake in place of the real thing.
1. Paul wrote in the midst of a culture of mimics.
1. Paul wrote in the midst of a culture of mimics.
A. Students mimicked their teachers.
A. Students mimicked their teachers.
Learning was not done in a classroom as we know it.
Learning was a Master/Learner relationship.
A student attached themselves to a teacher.
They would follow them.
Listen to their teaching.
Watch their lives.
They would begin to walk, talk, and eat like the teacher .
When that teacher died. One of the students would step up and continue teaching.
B. The early church had no choice but to learn from mimics.
B. The early church had no choice but to learn from mimics.
They didn’t have the completed canon of scripture.
They had the law.
The apostles teaching was understood to be authoritative.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Paul’s letters were understood to be authoritative and seen as scripture.
And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
B. The early church had no choice but to learn from mimics.
B. The early church had no choice but to learn from mimics.
Paul’s letters were not complete at the time of Paul’s writings.
The writing they did have was not something everyone had access to.
They relied heavily on memorization.
Individual teaching - passing on what what heard.
And mimicking others.
This is how the church functioned and grew!
This is the model for a thriving church.
2. The church members became mimics.
2. The church members became mimics.
“You became imitators of us.”
We will talk more about his when we get to chapter 3 but…
A. They mimicked their suffering. (3:2-4)
A. They mimicked their suffering. (3:2-4)
and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith,
that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.
For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know.
The heard Paul and Timothy’s teaching.
They watched how they responded to the trials.
who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
A. They mimicked their suffering. (3:2-4)
A. They mimicked their suffering. (3:2-4)
We have a responsibility to respond well to suffering so we can lead others through it.
As you engage in disciple-making relationships, be transparent.
Let them see your struggles and your suffering.
Let when suffering comes to their lives they can mimic you!
B. They mimicked their love. (3:12)
B. They mimicked their love. (3:12)
and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,
B. They mimicked their love. (3:12)
B. They mimicked their love. (3:12)
Paul had an incredible love for the people in Thessalonica as well as the lost people in the world.
The way we love those we are discipling.
The those we love our church.
The way we love the lost.
The way we love our neighbor.
They are watching and will love like we do.
C. They mimicked their holiness. (3:13)
C. They mimicked their holiness. (3:13)
so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
C. They mimicked their holiness. (3:13)
C. They mimicked their holiness. (3:13)
God demand holiness.
We are to be set apart from the world for a special use.
Being holy is a constant battle.
We need to train ourselves for holiness.
This is much easier and done much better when we have help.
When we have someone to follow.
Someone we can mimic.
Suffering, Love, and Holiness.
Our greatest example is Jesus.
If we are leading them in these things then they will become like Jesus.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
C. They mimicked their holiness. (3:13)
C. They mimicked their holiness. (3:13)
D. They mimicked good works.
D. They mimicked good works.
Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,
3. The church members became examples.
3. The church members became examples.
A print or impression made by a stamp showing form of the pattern.
They followed the natural progression and became examples themselves.
A. They were examples individually.
A. They were examples individually.
It is what the church did.
They followed Jesus’ example.
Jesus called out a few people to invest in individually.
They followed Paul’s example.
Timothy
Titus
Silas
Others
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
These example/mimic relationships are exactly the place other things we have been learning are BEST lived out.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
A. They were examples individually.
A. They were examples individually.
The church was following the example and command of Jesus.
Do what Jesus did - invite people to follow you to Christlikeness (Make disciples that make other disciples.)
Let me help you understand in today’s world why examples and mimics is so important.
Look at Barna’s research. (% of people in disciple-making relationships)
Our church has similar numbers.
Here is the impact of this.
“My relationship with Jesus brings me deep joy and satisfaction”
“My relationship with Jesus impacts the way I live my life ever day”
Why do we talk so much about this? Two reasons…
ONE: Example/mimic relationships are critically important even indispensible when it comes to the health of our church.
TWO: We are not teaching a new thing. We are teaching a forgotten thing that was the lifeblood of the early church.
B. They were examples corporately.
B. They were examples corporately.
Their influence spread and other churches followed their example.
We will talk more about this the next time.
4. Three Practical lessons from Paul.
4. Three Practical lessons from Paul.
Having someone imitate you can be daunting.
A. Christlikeness is always the goal.
A. Christlikeness is always the goal.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
A. Christlikeness is always the goal.
A. Christlikeness is always the goal.
We can’t ever lose sight of this!
This isn’t about following a person.
It is following a person to Christ.
If we aren’t leading them to Christlikeness we are failing.
B. We don’t have to be perfect to be mimicked.
B. We don’t have to be perfect to be mimicked.
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
B. We don’t have to be perfect to be mimicked.
B. We don’t have to be perfect to be mimicked.
This wasn’t false humility.
Paul believed this.
Remember (Romans 7)? I do things I don’t want and I don’t do what I want.
Look at this!
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,
Do we miss what comes right after this?
Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
B. We don’t have to be perfect to be mimicked.
B. We don’t have to be perfect to be mimicked.
C. We should be bold enough to invite mimics.
C. We should be bold enough to invite mimics.
I think we miss this!
We tie ourselves up with false humility.
It would be prideful of me to ask someone to imitate me.
Others are better than me - they make a better example to follow.
Paul never embraced these spotlight-avoiding tactics.
These thoughts are simple dodging our God given responsibility.
Paul recognized God’s purpose for His life.
He stepped out in faith and boldly called people to mimic him.
Have you followed Paul’s example and asked someone to follow you?
If not, why not?
Do you not feel as though you are a worthy example?
Do you not feel like you are ready?
Do you not feel equipped?
“Do you ever say to a young Christian, ‘Do you want to know what Christianity is like? Watch me!’ If you never do, you are unbiblical.” - D.A. Carson