Be Worthy of Imitation
Did you know that models who look like Jesus are in high demand in Utah? A growing number of people in the state are hiring Jesus look-alikes for family portraits, wedding announcements, Christmas cards etc. One of those models is Bob Sagers who was discovered at a music festival in Salt Lake City by an artist looking for religious models. Sagers, who is 6-foot-5 with dirty-blonde, shoulder-length hair and a beard jokes “I make for a pretty tall Jesus,” but since being recruited, he has posed as Jesus nearly a dozen times at a rate of more than $100 an hour. Isn’t it amazing that, despite the fact that the scriptures teach that Jesus “had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2), that so many people think of Jesus predominantly from the perspective of an attractive outward appearance?! It’s one thing for people in the world to think of Jesus merely as an image, but it’s another thing for the church to think of Jesus in this kind of way because Christian’s devote their passions to worldly people, worldly causes, and worldly ways. I think it’s safe to say that the Corinthians did all three of these things and Paul has called them out at every turn and will continue to do so. But in this Sunday’s text, after having made clear that the Corinthians were actually practicing idolatry by eating food sacrificed to idols in the banquet halls of the pagan temples, Paul returns to the more general practice of eating food sacrificed to idols in places outside these temples. There was no cookie cutter answer to negotiating this practice faithfully and Paul wanted to equip the Corinthians to faithfully navigate this issue, but what does this look like in real life? You might sum up Paul’s teaching with the question “What would Jesus do?” and can that ever be wrong?!
Yet in a bold statement summing up his teaching, Paul commanded in 1st Corinthians 11:1 “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” In other words, “What would Paul do?” Is your Christian life worthy of imitation in this way? Should it be?
We invite you to come join us this Sunday morning for our in-person worship service at Leptondale Bible Church in Newburgh, starting at 10:55 AM. For those unable to attend, our service can be viewed live on the church’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/leptondalebiblechurch. This Sunday, we’ll continue a sermon series from 1st Corinthians titled “Written for Our Instruction” with a message from 1st Corinthians 10:23-11:1 titled “Be Worthy of Imitation.”
God bless!
Pastor Mike
