Imitation

We are glad that you are here with us at bcsm and we want you to know, more than anything, that you have a community of people here that love and care about you, you have a purpose or a place within this community which means we are better off with you than without you and you have a mission outside of this community. All of that rests on this one foundational truth that we want you to hear and want you to share: God wants to have a relationship with you.

I am _______________ and before we start, let me pray.”

*Pray for God to use what you have to say to move someone further along in their journey towards Jesus.*

Introduce Series. Where are we going and where have we been?

We are continuing on in our series today based on Philippians: a letter written by Paul who describes himself as a servant or slave for Jesus. He is writing to a church in Philippi from Rome, where he is under house arrest. But the Philippians are worried about Paul and his well being and they are not really getting along with one another. So Paul is writing to them with the solution to all of their problems. We introduced that solution a couple of weeks ago and it is all about forming your mind around the gospel, adopting an upside-down mind. A mind that can process what it means that the first shall be last, where death is life, and where the king is a slave. Last week we saw that if we could form this new mind, we would have joy. But thus far we have been talking about very abstract concepts. This week and next week we are going to be fleshing out some very practical stuff. So if you have been lost the last couple of weeks, we are going to kind of put it together for you today.

Teaching

This is the main point/ story of your lesson. Everything you want your students to Know should be covered here.

Watch this clip real quick.

Show video of celebrity impressions

That is just amazing to me. Does anyone have an impression that they would be willing to share with the rest of the group?

Here is the thing that makes impressions so amazing to me. If you asked me to tell you what makes the way that Barack Obama’s speech pattern or mannerism’s unique, I could maybe, after a long time to think about it point out some things. But I would have a hard time. But the impressionist kind of nails all those things that you subconsciously associate with that person. They see the hidden formula or code that makes that person unique and are able to display it for you. And the crazy thing is, we recognize it.

So it is like we have this ambiguous idea of what a person talks like, or acts like, but in a way it all seems a little mysterious to us, we could not really point it out until someone reveals it to us in an impression. All of a sudden you realize that guy does do this hand gesture all the time or he says that word all the time.

I have heard people who do impressions say that doing a new impression is like cracking a code. Once somebody figures out the code, many times, that impression becomes easier for other people to do. They just use that code to get into the impression and then they add their own flair to it. So really they are just doing an impression of the person who is doing an impression of somebody else. Like a copy of a copy, but because the code is good, the impression still works.

So that is what we are talking about today. Finding someone who has cracked the code, following their lead and then adding our own flair to it.

So far in this series we have said that we have to form our minds around this Jesus guy, allow that to produce joy in us and then live that all out somehow that shares that message and joy with other people. We have talked about how Paul gives us a way to form our minds around this idea in Philippians 4, but I think we are still in the place where we have a subconscious idea of what Paul might be talking about, but we haven’t quite cracked the code yet.

So look at what Paul says in Philippians 3:17

Philippians 3:17 (ESV)

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

He says the same kind of thing in

1 Corinthians 11:1 (ESV)

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

So, here is how this works. All of this stuff that we have talked about throughout this series, forming our minds around the upside down Kingdom of heaven where there is truth, beauty and justice is possible because Jesus cracked the code. He put skin on them. Subconsciously we all know that these things exist. We just don’t always know how to access them. Well, Jesus solves that.

He comes and lives a life that we can imitate.

Tension

What is the rub? Create some questions and feeling.

But maybe when we look at imitating Jesus… even that might be a little abstract for us. Right? What does it mean to imitate Jesus in the way that I drive my car? They did not have cars in Jesus’ day. What does it mean to imitate Jesus on the internet? There are some things you can know. Jesus gives us some principles we can use in deciding what websites to open and which to avoid, what messages to send and what to post on social media. But there may be some gray areas there where we just aren’t sure.

So Paul, as he is writing to the Philippians who, like us, probably never met Jesus face to face, recognizes the problem and says, “Well, you can imitate me.”

That’s fine for the Philippians but we still run into the same problems, right? So what do we do then? Well, Paul says, “look around you. Find the people who have gone before you to form this mind themselves. If they are walking according to Jesus’ example through Paul’s example, follow them. Imitate them.

How do we know if we are following the right person? How do we know if they are using the right code? Jesus says to look at what they produce. Paul says this...

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

In other words, if you see someone producing these things in their lives they are “walking by the Spirit.” They are living out this code, at least it seems like it.

And here is the thing, we don’t always know someone’s motivations. And so we can look at someone and think, “You know they seem to produce the fruit of the Spirit in public.” That does not necessarily mean they are producing the fruit of the Spirit when they are alone. But even if we don’t know the whole story we can imitate what we see. They might be faking it. But look at what Paul says

Philippians 1:15–18 (ESV)

15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

So Paul is saying when we see someone living in a way that displays joy in suffering and absolute commitment to the unity of the church, when we see people doing Beauty, Truth and Justice… just do the things that they are doing. They are following the code Jesus cracked. Even when they do it imperfectly or for the wrong reasons. We can learn from them and do those things for the right reasons.

So if you imitate me, and I am imitating one of my mentors and on down the line, and we are producing the fruit of the Spirit, if all of that lines up with what Scripture tells us, we are doing the work that is required of us and we are experiencing this joy that Paul is talking about... even when we do it imperfectly. We are doing the things that will help us to form that upside down mind.

Response

This is the response portion. Everything you want your students to Do should be touched on here, but you should have at least one immediate action that can be taken.

Now every week in this series we end up back at this practice Paul gives us that will help us to form our mind around the reality of the gospel of Jesus. In Philippians 4:8-9 he says,

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

So if you are a believer in Jesus, if you want to turn your mind upside down and start to form your mind around the perspective that Paul has told us about through out the book of Philippians, where slavery, suffering, imprisonment and death become badges of honor and hope and peace and life, it is all about using the time you have here on earth to contemplate the things that come from God. Truth, Justice, Honor, Integrity or Purity, Beauty, Goodness, Things that we like… spend time thinking about those things. But not just by yourself. We have to think about these things together as a community. We have to point them out when we see them in each other. And we need to imitate somebody else that is imitating someone else who is imitating, ultimately, Jesus.

And I know that sounds too simple of a concept. But it is not just about forming neural pathways. Paul says that we need to practice these things as well.

So what does truth look like in light of who Jesus is and what he has done? We can see that in the way that such and such loves their neighbor. So let’s do that too. What is Justice in light of who Jesus is and what he has done? We can see that in the way that such and such is standing up for that one kid who was getting picked on at school. So let’s do that.

But the other side of this coin is that we need to be an example for other people, too. We need to be the kind of Jesus follower that other people can look to as someone to imitate. Paul says imitate me.

So we need to think about these things and do them. When we do, we get to see a little piece of the world flip over, if just for a second. And the more we see that happen, the more we begin to believe that Jesus, who has a habit of doing the impossible, can do the impossible in and through our lives if we just let him.

Maybe you have just started to form your mind around this idea of the gospel and you need to commit. You need to say today, I am a citizen of the upside down kingdom. Jesus is the king of my life. If that is you, the way to make that commitment, to mark yourself as a follower of Jesus is to be baptized, to, in a way, participate in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. We can do that today.

Maybe you are not there yet. That is ok too. You don’t have to believe to belong here. We are better off with you than without you. But obviously, if this is true, if there is truth, justice, peace, unity, freedom from death through Jesus, we don’t want you to miss out. We want you to experience it too. We want to help you to see the world flip upside down. So, if that is you, stick with us for the rest of this series. Maybe try and think about the things Paul mentions in Philippians 4:8- 9. See what happens. Try to practice them in your life. Experiment.

But right now I am going to play a song as we go into our time of Communion. This is something we do every week to remember the event that turned the world as we know it upside down. Feel free to move during the song. If you want to take eat the bread and drink the juice to remember Christ’s broken body and spilled blood, just make your way up here to do that. If you need prayer or want to make a decision today, let one of us adults know. If you want to listen to the words of the song or pray or read Scripture, you can do that too.

Song

I Will Follow- Vertical Worship

Discussion

Start with Prayer

1. Paul uses some sports imagery in Philippians to describe his Christian walk. So let’s get this burning question out of the way. If you lived in ancient times, would you prefer chariot racing or spear throwing? Why?

2. Does imitating other players help you improve in sports? In music? In other things?

Read Philippians 3:12-17

Are you seeking the same prize that Paul is talking about here?

What kind of opposition do you face in your struggle to live as a Christian?

How can you imitate Paul’s life and example?

How can Christ help you stay on track and reach the goal?

What spiritual workout or training this week will help you run your Christian marathon?

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