Imitate Me!

1 Corinthians 4:9-20 (NIV)

⁹ For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. ¹⁰ We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! ¹¹ To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. ¹² We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; ¹³ when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.

 ¹⁴ I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. ¹⁵ Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. ¹⁶ Therefore I urge you to imitate me. ¹⁷ For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. 

 ¹⁸ Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. ¹⁹ But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. ²⁰ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

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Question… if my primary directives are to love God, love people (the “sum” of the law and prophets), and to go and make disciples… and if discipling is done primarily through “imitation” (i.e. not in a classroom, but rather by living a life that meshes and interacts deeply with one who has the fragrance of Christ), is MY life worth imitating?   

Do I have the authority to say to someone, “Imitate me!”?  Do I have the fragrance of Christ, or the stink of man?  Does my life reflect the values of the kingdom of God, or the values of a fallen world?  Am I living a life of holiness? (Leviticus 11:44, Leviticus 11:45, Leviticus 19:2, Leviticus 20:7, Leviticus 20:26, Leviticus 21:6, Deuteronomy 23:14, Ephesians 1:4, Hebrews 12:14, 1 Peter 1:15, 1 Peter 1:16, Revelation 22:11)    

Am I satisfied with “good” church gatherings only?  Am I living my life in such a way that is not only worth imitating, but have I invited others in to imitate me; or is my life a closed system?

Making disciples is not some great mystery.  It does not require a seminary degree, a 5 year plan, a 10 step strategy, or neatly organized systems.  It DOES however (along with some intentionality) require that those doing “the making” love God, love people, are holy, are accessible, and most importantly, that they live a life worth imitating – SO THAT they can, with the same authority of the apostle Paul say, “I urge you to imitate me.”       

Our Quasi-Seder Meal

Tonight, on this Good Friday, my family and I had a Seder meal in our home.  It was really more of a “quasi-Seder” meal.  I say that because a Seder meal isn’t something you can easily pick up by reading a book, watching a video, or doing a couple afternoons of searching on Google.  The meal involves layer upon layer of tradition, prayers, blessings, and symbolism.  But we decided to do our best to remember together by including elements of the Seder meal into our regular meal time tonight.

I felt like a buffoon at times as we celebrated, because I had no idea what I was doing, even with my laptop right there to guide me.  I thanked the Lord for His forgiveness and grace at least a couple of times during the meal, because I didn’t want to take this thing lightly or flippantly.  Despite my stumbling around, we managed to walk through at least some of the elements of the Seder together as a family.

While we haven’t celebrated Passover in the truest sense of the term, (i.e. a weeklong period of abstaining from leaven, preceded by cleansing our household), we did celebrate by preparing the Seder plate.  The plate included the bone from a roasted lamb shank, a hard boiled egg, parsley, salt water, bitter herbs, matzo bread, and haroset.  Each person also had a glass containing grape juice or wine.  In addition, there was also a bowl of water and a towel used for hand washing.

Every element on the Seder plate has deep, rich meaning.  We walked though each of those elements and did our best to explain to our children what this meant to Israelites in the time of the Exodus, as well as what they mean to us as followers of the Messiah.  It really was a rich time.  But for me, the most meaningful part of the meal came when we sampled the bitter herbs (horseradish) on a piece of matzo with a few pieces of lamb on it.

We explained to our children that the bitter herbs (horseradish) reminded the Israelites of the bitterness of slavery.  We also explained to them that it reminds us (as followers of Yeshua) that we were once slaves to sin and death.  But Messiah came to free us from sin and death, so we are no longer slaves to those things.  When we sampled the bitter herbs, my youngest daughter’s eyes started to well up with tears, and her voice started to quiver (she’s 4 yrs old).  I could tell she was about to start crying.  With her mouth still full, she quietly muttered “It’s too spicy.”

My heart was touched as I saw the look on her little face.  I immediately wanted to come to her rescue and tell her to “Spit it out.  It’s OK.”  But I didn’t.  As much as I wanted to rescue her, I allowed her to continue chewing it so that she would experience the bitterness of slavery and sin – so that she would remember.  She finished chewing, swallowed, and took a sip of her grape juice and she was just fine.

Later, after we’d gone though the various elements of the Seder plate, we did some review and I asked the kids what the various elements symbolized.  Sure enough, my youngest remembered the bitterness of slavery.  As a parent, that was a hard thing to allow my little girl to learn.  It made ME want to start crying.  But I’m truly glad we did what we did tonight.

We finished the night off with some chocolate pudding, and later had some friends over for a time of fellowship, worship, and prayer. If we do this again next year, I’d like to be a little more prepared – so as to better understand some of the richness of this celebration, and perhaps even include some others in the meal.