Sermon Tone Analysis

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

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

Examples of grace, mercy and peace from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Who do you look up to in life?

Which Superhero did you dress up as when you were a kid?

Did anyone desire to be like Mike during the 90’s?

When asked what you wanted to be when you grew up did you give answers such as wanting to be a police officer or a firefighter?

C.S. Lewis once remarked that since children will witness and see so much evil in life, that they should therefore hear stories of great heroes who stood up to terrible darkness, just so they would have examples in life to emulate.

But it is not just children that need this, but every age group as well.

Language, habits, mannerisms, wisdom, likes and dislikes, these are all picked up by watching others.

So, like it or not, we are products of the world around us.

We feed into the culture that we live in, and then that culture feeds back into us.

This is how we should think about the Church as well.

It is what Paul encourages throughout his letters, but especially in Philippians.

He calls the Philippians to imitate him and to watch those who set the example.

In chapter two he calls everyone to have the mind of Christ.

This is only done by imitating.

This is one of the reasons we should pay more attention to the Saints, today for example, being St. Patrick’s day.

He was sold into slavery, escaped, but came back and brought love and forgiveness in Christ to his former captors as a missionary.

But we can ask closer to home.

Who do you emulate here in this congregation?

Is there a Christian here whom you desire to be like?

There should be.

Who do you mimic here?

Who sets the example?

While you think, I will list some from my life in the church.

I remember George Crock, as a kid, who would ask me after every church service what I heard, and if I could say something about a hymn or the reading, or the sermon then he would give me a tootsie roll.

He soon moved away, but in the waning months of my time in Michigan, we reconnected when he moved back to the area.

He found out that I was leaving to become a Pastor, and my last conversation with him before I left and before he died a few months later was him encouraging me to always stay in the Word.

He set the example in repentance, he was someone to mimic.

I remember also Dotty Cress.

She was a widow, a Pastor’s wife herself in life, and during my time in High School we became good friends to the point that we picked her up for church and monthly had lunch with her.

We joked together that she was my church grandma.

She had a lot of advice for me as a wannabe Pastor, and through the lessons she had learned as a Pastor’s wife, she told me the dangers of neglecting Rebecca, my soon to be wife, and any kids that might come along and that are now here.

Dotty too is now with the Lord, but a memory from her that sticks out to me was when her friends told me at her funeral that Dotty prayed for 3 hours every morning.

And in those prayers, she devoted 30 minutes to me and my family.

Every day.

She set the example for me in prayer.

There is someone to mimic.

I remember also during my internship year in Ste.

Genevieve Missouri, two years ago.

I was a Vicar at the time, and I remember all of them fondly down there at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, especially a man, our brother in Christ, named Martin Radmer.

He is in his mid-90’s, but during our weekly bible classes, I soon discovered that Martin was a walking, talking, living Bible.

He knows the bible better much better than even I do.

I remember times when I would sit there struggling to remember where something was, and Martin would quote it chapter and verse.

During one of our talks, he told me that his dream in life and prayer to God was for him to be half the Christian that his Father was, and now I still find myself praying to God to be half the Christian Martin Radmer is.

Finally, a story from here that comes to mind is when Jan Thomas told me that she was with Audrey Wichmann in the hospital during her last hours and that she prayed with her all the prayers that they knew together for hours.

What an example to imitate.

I pray that when my time comes that I have a brother or sister in Christ to be with me and pray for hours with me when I can no longer pray.

There are many more of course, but time constrains me.

I could tell stories of my parents, my wife Rebecca, Pastor Lauer, Pastor Ulm, Pastor Hess, Pastor Bahn, Tammy, Dana, Sandy, Carole, Jack, Ed, the SaLT group, PUPPETS and so many others.

So many brothers and sisters in Christ whom God has put here and there as examples.

From here there are two important things to note.

First, those who we might mimic are not always those who are older than us, it is those who are more mature in the faith.

And second thing to note is the purpose of imitating.

We soon realize that the people we mimic first learned to mimic someone else.

And what everyone seeks to mimic is Christ.

Paul in our Scripture reading is not telling people to imitate him simply because he is Paul.

But rather because Paul is imitating Christ.

Paul who would also be beaten, like Christ.

Mocked like Christ.

Ridiculed, like Christ.

Sent to Prison, like Christ.

and eventually killed because of the Gospel, like Christ.

Paul’s life started to look like Jesus’ life.

We should find those to imitate who closely look like Jesus.

And that right there is key.

We begin to look like the ones that we mimic.

So, as we follow Jesus, we will begin to see that our lives will begin to look like Christ’s life.

Therefore, we are called to die with Christ.

This is what it means to pick up your cross and follow Christ.

Life is all about looking like our Lord.

So in the end, the Christians we mimic end up teaching us about the faith.

And their example also teaches us about Jesus.

Therefore, there is a close connection between imitating and discipleship.

Which also means that imitating and mimicking have a direct bearing on how we should go about making disciples.

Because making disciples is the purpose that our Lord has charged us with here at Christ Lutheran Church.

That is the chief task that overrides all other tasks.

It is why you are sitting here right?

You want to be disciples.

You have heard the call of Christ, you have repented of your sins, received his forgiveness, been made his child in the waters of baptism, receive Christ in this sacrament and now you desire to follow Christ wherever he goes.

If being Christ’s disciples is why you are here, then I implore you to listen to what I have to say next.

The trick to making disciples is to imitate the behavior and actions.

The way to make Christians is by having new Christians look to the more experienced Christians.

Those of you who have sat in these pews for a while are to set the example.

You are to show forth that love, that forgiveness, that joy.

We look to you to see how you pray, how you worship, and whether we see you gathering to study God’s Word for Bible Class.

The previous generation must tell the deeds of the Lord to the coming generation.

Disciples are made through examples.

And the best examples are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.

That is the only way we learn and grow as disciples, by watching others.

This is seen most evidently in children.

And it is why Jesus sets a child in the midst of his disciples as the chief example of discipleship.

For instance, ask yourself how children learn language.

It is the most miraculous thing in life is watching a child learn language.

They learn by watching mom and dad over a long period of time.

Eventually they begin to mimic and repeat what they hear.

Soon enough they know enough words to begin making thoughts and sentences, and it only grows from there.

All of life is learned from mimicking.