Lesson 17
Follow The Leader
Philippians 3:17-19
Most of us are followers. We see some quality which we admire in someone else and we imitate it. Advertisers take advantage of this tendency to market their products. They pay millions of dollars to celebrities: movie stars, athletes, etc. to use and endorse their products. We follow the people who we admire in everything from the breakfast cereal we eat (Wheaties: Breakfast of Champions) to the gym shoes we wear (Just Do It!) to the hair style. The word gets out that Ronald Reagan loves jellybeans, and jellybeans become the hottest item at the candy counter. 20/20 reports that Norman Schwartzkoff's favorite ice cream is chocolate chip and that becomes a big seller. Some celebrity wears a certain new-fanged style of eyeglasses, and many people imitate. A basketball player (Patrick Ewing) wears a tee shirt under his jersey and suddenly, 100's of kids follow suit. The reason why there are trends and styles is because the majority imitates the few who are admired.
I am not saying that that is completely bad, I am just saying that it is human nature. Someone landscapes their yard in a certain way, people drive by and admire the way it looks, then they go home and imitate it.
This is not a new thing. I once read that Benjamin Franklin instituted street lamps in Philadelphia, not by talking about it at all, not by persuasion, but by hanging a beautiful lantern on a long bracket outside his house. He kept the glass polished and shining. Each night at dusk he lit the lantern. Before long, lanterns stated popping up all over the neighborhood until eventually the entire city seeing the beauty and value of street lighting followed his example.
It isn't necessarily bad that we are imitators, it is a tendency of human nature. The problem is that many of the most popular, admired, trend-setting people are not good examples. We have all seen people who rise to the status of a trendsetter, someone who is being imitated, only to experience the great disappointment of a bad example. Some of the most influential people in our culture live lewd, immoral lifestyles, use foul, vulgar language, dress immodestly and inappropriately, use drugs or alcohol, and some live on the wrong side of the law. I read recently in one of the major news magazine that Madonna was the second most admired woman in America. She is not my idea of a good example.
The Bible has a lot to say about examples, good and bad. The scriptures tell us to set a good example -
· I Tim. 4:12 "But be thou an example of the believer in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."
But not only does the Bible tell us to set a good example before others, it also tells us to choose good examples to follow. It is as if God understands our human tendency to imitate and so He teaches us to use care in choosing who we will imitate.
Our text for today, Philippians 3:17-19, speaks to that very issue. Paul tells his readers to choose the right kind of people to pattern their lives after and then adds a warning against following those who do not set a good example.
I. Follow Godly Examples, 3:17.
A. Imitate Me, 17a.
In verse 17, Paul encourages the church to follow his own example. "Brethren, be ye followers together of me". The Greek word for followers is the word from which we derive our English word "mimic". It literally means "to imitate". Paul tells the church to imitate him one and all.
This is not the only place in scripture that Paul encourages a church to follow his example. (see I Cor. 4:16; this idea is qualified in 11:1). ILLUSTRATION: When the Mayflower set sail for the new world in 1620, John Robinson preached a charge to the Pilgrims on board. He said, "I charge you before God that you follow me no further than you have seen me follow the Lord Jesus Christ ..." We are told in the Bible to follow Christ (Jesus said to his disciples, "Follow me") and we are also told to follow those who follow Christ. Paul said, "Follow me". He commended the church at Thessalonica for following him (ITh.1:6)
Someone is sure to say, "Who does Paul think he is, telling people to imitate him?" They would improperly interpret this statement as egotistical. They would accuse Paul of thinking himself superior to others. But that is not Paul's intent at all. In this letter, Paul holds forth several persons as good examples to follow. He tells them to have the mind of Christ (2:5ff). He hold up Timothy (2:19-23) and Epaphroditus (2:25-30) as admirable Christians. Furthermore, Paul knows that he has the potential to fail (I Cor9:27) and has just admitted that he is not perfect (v.12). Paul writes these words in a spirit of humility. In verse 18, we read that he is weeping as he is writing. Paul understands that young Christians need not only to hear what is right, but need also to see it being done. He is aware that much of the Christian life is learned by example. Paul is like an experienced craftsman who shows an apprentice how to perform a difficult task, or like a scout who knows the way and thus leads a caravan through perilous terrain. It is with a sincere and humble heart that Paul encourages this church to follow his life.
What a great example Paul set! His words, his lifestyle, his love, his attitude, his faith, his purity and godliness are all exemplary. He was a man of integrity, who preached a message of integrity and performed a ministry of integrity. Anyone who imitated Paul would be a great Christian.
B. Identify Other Good Examples, 17b.
"Mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example." Perhaps the distance between Paul (in Rome) and Philippi would make imitating him impossible. Thus, Paul tells the church to find some good local examples. Perhaps he had Timothy and Epaphroditus in mind. The Christian life is a "walk" meaning it is a "daily living". Paul tells them to mark people whose daily conduct is like his. The word "mark" means to identify and fix your eyes on. In Roman 16:17 the church is told to mark troublemakers and avoid them. Here the church is told to identify good examples and follow them.
Have you done that? Look around the church and identify those people who daily conduct model the Christian life. We have people in our church who are marvelous examples. We have men and women, young and old who are setting good examples. Have you identified them? Are you imitating them?
II. Flee Ungodly Enemies, 3:18-19.
At this point, Paul turns from the positive to the negative. His words from encouragement to warning. This is not the first time that Paul has warned the Philippians about this subject (v.17). He does so now not in angry but in tears. Why? Because of their multitude ("many"); because of their manner ("walk" = daily conduct). Paul says that their walk indicates that they are enemies of the cross of Christ. With their words they may claim to love Christ; they may call themselves Christians; they may wear a cross around their neck; they may belong to a church; they may make claims to be on Christ's team, on Christ's side, in Christ's army; but their ways, their walk indicates that they are, in fact, enemies of cross of Christ. Not just enemies of Christ, but enemies of his cross. The cross represents death. Not only Christ's death to atone for sins, but our own death to self, to sin, to the world. A Christian is more than just a person who claims faith in Christ. Many make such claims. Jesus said that we must take up the cross and follow him. We must die to ourselves and live to obey Him. Those who refuse the cross are the enemies of the cross of Christ.
In verse 19, Paul lists 4 characteristics of a enemy of the cross, of a bad example to avoid.
A. Their Destiny - "whose end is destruction" - the word end means destiny.
The word destruction means punishment, perdition, death; it is opposite of salvation. The enemies of Christ are destined to eternal death and punishment in the lake of fire.
In other words, they worship their own appetite. They are not interested in self-denial. Their thing is self-indulgence, self-gratification, self-satisfaction. They don't care what God says, they are out to satisfy the lust, the desires of their own body.
C. Their Disgrace - "whose glory is in their shame".
In other words, they brag about their sin. That which is shameful, abominable, disgusting in God's sight is that which they are proud of. It is the homosexual who participates in a "gay pride" march; The Monday morning man who brags about how drunk he got over the weekend; the locker-room guy who boasts of his sexual escapades or how many different women he has had; the prom date who laughs about the wild party on prom night. The immodest dresser whose public nakedness is shameful to God, but they show their body off to the world.
D. Their Disposition - "who mind earthly things".
Paul is speaking here of those who love the world and things that are in the world (I John 2:15). They love money and what it buys, or fame, or pleasure. They have not set their affection on things above but on things of the earth (Col.3:2). They have an earth bound attitude. The love of the Father is not in them because of the appeal that this world has.
Sadly, it is those people whose souls are destined to doom, who are controlled by their own desires, who brag about their sinfulness, whose lives' are completely wrapped up in this world, who have become the models which most of us are imitating. They are the very ones which the Bible warns us to avoid. The good and godly person, is mocked and made fun of, when he/she should be held in highest esteem because of the wonderful example which he is setting.
If you could be like anyone in the world, who would you choose? I challenge you today, to look around, close to home, a find the most godly person you know, and begin to emulate their example.