Philippians 3:17; Fellow-Imitators (It’s OK To Have Heroes)

PastorRodney’s Weblog

07/07 Philippians 3:17; Fellow-Imitators (It’s OK To Have Heroes); Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20240707_philippians-3_17.mp3

Paul has laid out his driving passion, his greatest treasure, his life’s pursuit. He is willing to trade it all in to know Christ Jesus his Lord. Fueled by resurrection power, he desires to deepen in intimacy with Jesus through the fellowship of his sufferings, to be conformed to his self-sacrificial service to others, one day to see him face to face.

Imperfect Example

Philippians 3:17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

Paul has made it clear that he is not yet made perfect, he has not yet arrived. He still had a journey ahead of him in his growth into Christlike maturity.

But he is willing to hold himself up as an example for the believers to imitate. He does not practice a mock humility, begging compliments by being down on himself, saying he’s really not worth following. He knows he is not perfect, he has not yet arrived, and this authentic humble recognition that he has not yet arrived is one of the very things that is worth imitating in Paul. His desires are right. His eye is fixed on the right prize, on Jesus. He is pursuing him with all his might. But he is still in pursuit. He has not yet made it his own. He knows none of us will be fully in possession of the prize until the resurrection.

Fellow-Imitators [Συμμιμηταί]; unity in the Body

Paul addresses those he calls to imitate him ‘brothers’; he doesn’t look down on them, he recognizes them as fellow-believers, brothers and sisters on this journey together in following Jesus.

Paul, as he loves to do, coins a new word, a word found nowhere else in the New Testament or in any other known Greek literature. Paul loves to compound words; he adds this ‘with/together/fellow’ prefix to several words multiple times right here in Philippians:

1:7 [συγκοινωνούς] fellowship-together

2:17-18 [συγχαίρω; συγχαίρετέ] rejoice together (x2)

2:25 [συνεργὸν; συστρατιώτην] fellow-worker; fellow-soldier

4:3 [σύζυγε; συλλαμβάνου; συνήθλησάν; συνεργῶν]

yoke-fellow; help together; fellow-athlete; fellow-worker

Here in 3:17 he tacks this prefix ‘with’ on to the word ‘imitate’; be a fellow-imitator or imitate together.

It is somewhat unclear if he means to imply that they become fellow imitators with him of Jesus (that thought is definitely behind what he says here, and he makes that thought explicit elsewhere), but here Paul himself is the object of imitation, so more probably he means to call them to unity as they together as a church body become imitators of Paul and his fellow-workers.

This may feel uncomfortable to hear Paul call us to imitate him. Shouldn’t we all be imitating Jesus? But when we understand what Paul is saying, he is really calling us to imitate him as a way to look through him to Jesus.

Jesus The Ultimate Example

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10-11

1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

1 Corinthians 11:1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Here he makes it clear; we are to imitate Paul only so far as he is imitating Christ. How is he imitating Jesus? In ‘not seeking my own advantage, but that of the many, that they may be saved.’ Ultimately doing all that he does to the glory of God.

Back in Philippians 2 (:1-8), Paul held up Jesus as the ultimate example, who did not cling to his equality with the Father, but took the form of a servant, humbled himself to death, in humility looking not to his own interests but the interests of others. This is the Jesus we are to model our lives around.

Humble Others Centered Sacrificial Service

This is Paul’s pursuit throughout; he longs to know Christ, the fellowship of his sufferings, his life being conformed to Jesus’ death.

Back in chapter 1 (:12-14), Paul said that his imprisonment served to advance the gospel, and his sacrifice motivated others to boldness. He says (:20-25) that he would rather depart and be with Christ, but he recognizes that to remain in the flesh is necessary for others, for their progress and joy in the faith, so he was willing to continue on in fruitful labor for others.

Here in chapter 3, Paul had to humble himself to receive a gift he didn’t deserve, the gift of God’s righteousness. He counted everything he had worked for as loss for the sake of knowing Christ. He is in pursuit of knowing Christ more, but he is not there yet. He invites those who are mature to have the same mindset, a humble others-centered mindset.

Imitate the Imitator

Here’s what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:

1 Corinthians 4:9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. 14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

Be imitators of me, in lay down your life self sacrificial service for the eternal good of others. He urges the proud Corinthians to become imitators of their apostle. What he says next is surprising:

1 Corinthians 4:17 That is why I sent you Timothy…

I want you to be imitators of me, so I sent you Timothy. How does that follow​​?

1 Corinthians 4:17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

Paul wants them to imitate him, so he sent Timothy because Timothy is a faithful imitator of the apostle, who by his life can remind them of Paul’s ways in Christ.

Incarnational Ministry; It’s OK to have Heroes

But why didn’t Paul think the letter he wrote was enough? He wanted them to imitate him, so he wrote them a letter reminding them of his ways in Christ. But he also sent a person, because we need to see it. We need not only to hear the gospel, but to see the gospel lived out. We need heroes. We need incarnational ministry. Jesus became human to show us what God is like. We need people that follow Jesus who we can model our lives after. I want you to imitate me as I imitate Jesus, so I sent Timothy, because he can show you what it looks like to imitate me as I imitate Christ.

Costly Imitation Sets An Example

Paul wrote the church of the Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 1:5 …You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators [μιμηται] of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example [τυπον] to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.

The Thessalonians became imitators of the apostle, and of his Lord. Notice Paul reminds them of ‘the kind of men we proved to be among you’ and he says it was ‘for your sake’; we lived the way we lived for the good of others, to set you an example.

What did it look like for them to become imitators of Paul and his ministry team and ultimately of the Lord? ‘You received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers’. All the believers in Macedonia (that’s where both Philippi and Thessalonica are) and in Achaia (that’s where Corinth is). The word of the Lord sounded forth from you into those local regions, ‘but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere.’ Earlier in the letter, he commends their ‘work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1Thess.1:3). This was a church that was willing to endure persecution with joy, and be passionate and diligent about the spread of the good news whatever the cost. Where did they learn this? From their apostle.

And he says that they have imitated him so well that they ‘became an example to all the believers’ in those regions. Paul and his co-workers set the example, they followed the example, and they in turn became an example to all the believers. This is what Paul is after. whole churches, every believer, imitating him and becoming a pattern for others to imitate.

Paul’s Example in Acts 20

What was the pattern Paul set? When Paul met with the elders of the church in Ephesus for the last time in Acts 20,

Acts 20:18 And when they came to him, he said to them: “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Paul’s life was consistent; humility, tears, trials, speaking the truth no matter the cost. His treasure was greater than his own life. He lived to serve the Lord, to fulfill the ministry he received from the Lord Jesus. He counted everything loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.

After warning them of the danger of wolves, he says:

Acts 20:31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. 34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Self sacrificial service to others. Not greedy for gain but genuinely seeking the good of others.

Thinking or Walking? Set Your Sights

Philippians 3:17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

Paul has been talking about a mindset; how to think as a mature follower of Jesus, ultimately how to think like Jesus. But this is more than just a way to think. This thinking results in a walk, a way of life that is distinct and imitatable. This wasn’t just a mental exercise for Paul; what he came to count as most valuable determined the path of his pursuit.

What you set your eyes on as the goal, what you are looking toward determines where you step and how you walk. In 3:14 Paul said that what he set his sights on, his goal, was the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. In 2:4 he exhorted us to set our sights not on our own interests but the interest of others. Here he tells us to set our sights on those who walk according to the pattern that we have in Paul. It’s OK to have heroes. Jesus is the one we long to know more deeply. But Paul fleshed out for us what it looked like to follow Jesus.

Paul pointed the Philippians to Timothy and Epaphroditus in chapter 2, two people they knew that fleshed out the same self-sacrificial service of Jesus for the good of others.

Exercise Discernment

Paul exhorts us to be discerning. Not everyone (as we will see next time) walks according to Paul’s pattern. But he invites us to identify those who we know that are walking like Paul walked, imitating him as he modeled his life around Jesus. We can learn from other people. We can be motivated, inspired, challenged, encouraged by other people. People right here, people that we know, here in this body. We need each other. None of us are perfect. None of us have arrived. But there are those on whom you would do well to set your sights.

And remember, people are watching you. You are an example, good or bad, to the people around you. As Paul said to Timothy:

1 Timothy 4:12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example [τυπος] in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

Set your sights on Jesus. Set your sights on those who shape their lives after Jesus. Set an example for the believers in your walk, in every area of your life. For the glory of God.

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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org