2nd Sunday in Lent – 2025c

Old Testament – Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

New Testament – Philippians 3:17-4:1

 

The Imitation of Christ

 

INTRODUCTION: In 1989, NBC started airing a public service announcement called The More You Know. 

 

A short spot, usually between 15 or 30 seconds long, The More You Know segments provide informative and positive messages on all kinds of subjects. The segment has covered such topics as bullying, civic engagement, the importance of learning, as well as mental and physical health related topics.  

 

And over the years all sorts of famous people have starred in the various segments. Tom Brokaw actually presented the very first one. But since then, people as far ranging as Joan Rivers, George W. Bush, Jimmy Fallon, and John Legend have done spots.        

 

Recently, the people that produce The More You Know have been running a spot on mentoring. One version of the segment stars Zachary Quinto, Melissa Rauch, Stephanie Ruhle, and others as folks discuss the importance of having mentors, as well as being one. 

“A mentor can guide you, support you, and unlock your potential,” goes one part of the spot.

 

But the spot also encourages people to be mentors too. “Being a mentor can be just as life changing,” someone says a bit later in the segment. “You can create opportunities and inspire the next generation.”     

 

It’s actually a nice PSA, I think. For it’s good to be reminded of the importance of both having, and being, mentors. For mentors can be really important role models in people’s lives, right? They guide, support, lead, nurture, and pass along invaluable life lessons. 

 

Or as the self-proclaimed mentor and speaker Jim Rohn once put it: “My mentor said, ‘Let’s go do it,’ not ‘You go do it.’ How powerful when someone says, ‘Let’s!'”  

 

ONE: Of course, long before NBC began running PSAs about the value of mentors, the Apostle Paul also seemed to understand it is important for people to be role models. In fact, Paul wasn’t afraid to lay claim to his own role in the world as a mentor. 

 

Writing to the church of Philippi, which was facing some behavioral issues among some of its members, Paul encourages his brothers and sisters to join in imitating his behavior, and to take note of those among them who were living in a way consistent with his original instructions.

 

You see, the church in Philippi had apparently gotten itself into a little bit of jam. Apparently there were some folks in the Philippian church who were taking the whole notion of Christian liberty to extremes.

 

For some, all the talk about the law being abolished in Jesus Christ meant his followers were then free to do whatever they wanted.       

 

So instead of living responsible lives in their new found freedom, some folks were giving themselves over to fulfilling any desire that might crop up. They were, in other words, libertines who were living unrestrained and undisciplined existences. 

 

So Paul writes his letter to the Philippians, in part, to encourage them to imitate his life rather than the lives of those who were living licentiously and wastefully. “Follow me,” declares Paul, “and the good example I have given you.”  

 

TWO: Now, admittedly, we hear such words from Paul and it’s easy to wonder if he couldn’t have benefited from a nice, big slice of humble pie.  

 

After all, confident he has lived correctly before others, Paul is more than willing to offer himself up as a model for people to follow. Forget leading by quiet example. Paul seems to have no use for that old adage that various coaches and teachers love to rely on: “Do as I say,” we hear such folks mutter, “not as I do.”  

 

In Buddhism, there is a koan, a kind of parable, that says, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” While the koan has had numerous interpretations over the years, there is one in particular that I have always liked. In short, it is the idea that no one, finally, can teach enlightenment to someone else.

 

The Buddha nature already lies within all of us and so seeking it from someone else is folly. Hence, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” 

 

Well, Paul would have surely snorted at such an idea. Writing to the Philippians, he has no problem claiming he’s shown them exactly what they need to be doing to find “enlightenment.” “Join in imitating my behavior,” says Paul, “for I have shown you through my own actions how you need to be living and behaving.” 

 

Paul, apparently, would not have made a very good Presbyterian, given our rather dour view of humans and our collective habit of mucking things up. How did John Calvin put it when describing humans? We are “naked of all virtue” he said, and “empty of all good.” A rosy depiction, right? 

 

But Paul didn’t quite feel that way, did he? “Join in modeling my behavior,” Paul says more or less, “for I have shown you what is proper and right conduct.”  

 

THREE: Of course, to simply accuse Paul of being a bit egotistical would be missing the larger point he is trying to make in urging folks to imitate him.

 

You see in Paul’s theology, as followers of Jesus Christ, we’re tasked with the tough job of imitating Christ in our daily lives. So when he says “join in imitating me,” what Paul is really saying, according to many scholars, is “be imitators with me” in seeking to live like Christ.

 

With discipleship, in other words, we followers are to engage in a lifelong journey – a journey that leads us, ever so slowly, to becoming more and more like Christ with each passing day of our lives. Discipleship for Paul means that we, as Christ’s followers, are to intentionally set about conforming our lives to his life - as wild and unbelievable as that sounds.   

 

Is it any wonder, then, that there is a whole school of theology that deals specifically with what is called “the imitation of Christ.” And that St. Augustine, who considered the imitation of Christ to be the fundamental purpose of the Christian life, could famously say, “Why art thou proud, O man? God for thee became low. Thou wouldst perhaps be ashamed to imitate a lowly man; then at least imitate the lowly God.”

 

And that a few hundred years later, St Thomas Aquinas, like Augustine could say, "Religious perfection consists chiefly in the imitation of Christ."

 

So Paul is being more than just a glory hound when asking people to imitate him. Because what he really wants is for people to follow his example as he strives to imitate the life of Christ himself. 

    

FOUR: Back in the 1990s Italian engineers started to do something amazing. After concluding that the Leaning Tower of Pisa was eventually going to tumble to the ground, they set out to save it.

 

Built on sandy soil the tower began to lean almost immediately after construction started in 1173. But despite the lean and related problems, the builders carried on eventually completing it. But over the years, little by little, the lean of the tower continued to increase until it was a full 15 feet, or 5.5 degrees, short of being perpendicular.   

 

But through the efforts of assorted engineers and scientists, the Leaning Tower of Pisa was saved. Along with shoring up the foundation and temporarily installing cables to keep the tower from leaning even more, long thin pipes were also inserted into the ground on the high side of the tower. By slowly removing bits and pieces of the ground underneath the tower’s high side it slowly started tilting back up.

 

As you might imagine, it was an agonizingly slow process. On a good day, the pipes were able to remove an entire shovel full of dirt! If too much dirt was taken out at once or even in the wrong place, it was feared the whole tower would come crashing down. So centimeter by centimeter, the tower lost its tilt. Eventually, the tower was brought back upright about 20 inches. 

 

Fear not though, the engineers decided to stop short of making the tower perfectly perpendicular in order to keep the tourists coming. So now it is only 4 degrees off center, and according to the engineers, should be stable for over a hundred years.

 

CONCLUSION: Well, a nice way to think about our journeys of faith as disciples of Jesus.

 

For bit-by-bit, we too are being righted as well. By the grace of God, we are being pulled up straight, we are being molded and shaped into the image of Jesus Christ.

 

And here’s the best part. Unlike the engineers who left the Leaning Tower of Pisa a few degrees short of perpendicular, we don’t have to worry about that problem. Because God promises to completely and totally finish our restoration, right? 

 

Yep, one day, someday, as amazing as it sounds, people will look at our lives and the first thought they're going to have is, well, Jesus Christ.  

   

To the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.