‘Follow my example’
[Philippians 3:17-21]
Today we have come up to the house of the Lord and are worshiping God on the first Sunday of December. What we have aimed at starting this year was "2 Corinthians 5: 7" for we live by faith and not by sight. We have come thus far with the motto “Scripture alone, Faith alone” because we have wanted to live by faith and not by sight. As we look back on this year, I want to have time to reflect and think about whether we lived with the Scripture alone and faith alone or not. By doing so, I hope and pray that we can end this year well before God. Of course, I don’t think this is easy because we are having hard time even to end each day well. That’s why ending the year well is much bigger challenge. Nevertheless, we are trying to do it by God's grace.
When I reflect this year, I personally think that I didn’t live by Scripture alone and faith alone. Rather, I lived by what I saw with my own eyes and carried away by circumstances. I doubted God and even distrusted Him. One the one hand, I am ashamed to think of it, but on the other hand, I am grateful for God’s grace that He helped me to understand my weakness and lack of faith. And I am sorry that such pastor like me has proclaimed the Word of God to you throughout this year. I confess that I didn’t proclaim the Word of God as I show the example of life, living only by the Word and by faith. Especially in the past few weeks, it has been my little earnest desire to be a mature Christian so I proclaimed to you the word of God few times based on Philippians 3:15-16 under the heading “Let us become mature Christians.” Since I had been wanting to be the mature Christian and also wishing you to be mature Christians as well, I titled the messages “Let us become mature Christians” and proclaimed the words few times. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2). For the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame (v. 2). Let us imitate Jesus by enduring the present shame and suffering of our own cross for the joy that we will enjoy in the Lord. Let us endure and be patient by faith and fulfill the mission that the Lord gave to each one of us. In the midst of that, let us seek to imitate Jesus. May we be more like Jesus.
In Philippians 3:17, Paul said to the Philippian church saints, “Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.” Based on this word, I want to think about three things to imitate Paul:
First, Paul said to join with others in following his example.
Look at Philippians 3:17 – “Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.” Do you have anyone you want to follow example? If so, why do you want to imitate him or her? I am sure one of the reasons is because you respect him or her. And the reasons why we respect him or her are different. One of the Internet websites I saw talked about why people respect certain people (Internet):
<Andrew Carnegie> Businessman who knows how to share
<Rockefeller> Tolerance is the forgiveness of the past and the future investment
<Winston Churchill> Making enemy to be his side with composure and wit
<Benjamin Franklin> If you love your life, do not waste your time.
Among the many people in the Bible, I would personally like to imitate Paul. I began to like to imitate him when I entered the seminary and studied theology and became interested in his letters in the New Testament. I don’t remember clearly but the reason I became interested in Paul was because of his passion for the mission that the Lord gave him when he met Jesus on the way to Damascus and believed in Him and be transformed to be more like Jesus. At that time, I wanted to be like Paul who was fire for the Lord.
When we look at Philippians 3:17, Paul said to the Philippian church saints to join with others in following his example. It is interesting to note that Paul who already exhorted them to imitate Christ in Philippians 2:5-11 exhorted them to imitate Paul himself in Philippians 3:17 (Melick). Why did Paul exhort the Philippian church saints to imitate Christ first and then imitate him? The reason was because Paul himself was imitating Christ. So in 1 Corinthians 11:1 he said, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” In Philippians 3:17, Paul strongly exhorted the Philippian church saints to follow his example. What does it mean and why did he exhort them like that? I found the answer in Philippians 3:15-16. When Paul said to follow his example, he meant for them to be mature Christians like him (v. 15). The reason why Paul said to them was because there were not only the mature believers in the Philippian church but also the immature believers as well. In other words, because some of the immature members of the Philippian church didn’t have the same attitude as Paul and the mature believers had, Paul exhorted them to join with mature believers in following his example. Then Paul said to them in Philippian 3:17, “ … and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.” Paul encouraged them to imitate him in the first half of the verse 17 and then in the second half of verse 17 he said, “those who live according to the pattern we gave you.”
So who does “we” refer to here? "We" refers to Timothy (2:19-22) and Epaphroditus (vv. 25-30) whom Paul already mentioned in Philippians 2 and who exemplified piety with Paul. Why then did Paul exhort the Philippian church saints to follow Timothy and Epaphroditus’ example? In Timothy's case, it was because Timothy was the one who sought after the interests of Christ Jesus (v. 21). This means two things:
(1) First, Timothy was genuinely concerned for the Philippian church saints’ welfare.
Look at Philippians 2:20 – “For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.” Timothy whom Paul encouraged the Philippian church saints to follow his example had “likeminded” (v. 20, KJV). And the mind that Timothy and Paul had together was the mind of Jesus Christ (v. 5). And the mind of Jesus Christ was to humble Himself and became obedient unto death of the cross (v. 8). Both Paul and Timothy had humble heart that was willing to be obedient to the Lord until they fulfill the Lord’s will. That was why they were able to be likeminded and have the same mind. Because Paul believed that Timothy was the one who genuinely concerned about the Philippian church saints’ welfare, he wanted to send him to them (v. 20). Here the word “genuinely” means ‘the father's sincerity to his son" (Park Yun-sun). That is, just as the father is sincerely thinking of his son's situation, Paul told the Philippian church saints that Timothy genuinely concerned their situation. That was why Paul encouraged the Philippian church saints to imitate Timothy.
(2) Second, Timothy served with Paul in the gospel.
Look at Philippians 2:22 – “But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.” Here the world “proved” means in Greek “approval gained through testing” (Pfeiffer). This means that Timothy’s character was proven by tests or trials. It seems to me that Timothy was recognized as a person of proven character to the Philippian church saints because he persevered by faith (Rom. 5:4) when he was going through “the most severe trial” (2 Cor. 8:2). And the Timothy’s good character which the Philippian church saints knew and acknowledged was his genuineness (Phil. 2:20). This Timothy, who had proven genuine character, served with Paul in the gospel (v. 22). That was Paul encouraged the Philippian church saints to imitate Timothy. Then how about Epaphroditus’ case? Why did Paul exhort the Philippian church saints to imitate him? There are three reasons for this: (1) It was because Epaphroditus was Paul’s brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who was also the Philippian church saints’ messenger, who they send to take care of Paul’s needs (v. 25). (2) It was because Epaphroditus longed for the Philippian church saints and was distressed because they heard he was ill (v. 26). (3) It was because Epaphroditus almost died for the work of Christ (v. 30). That was why Paul exhorted the Philippian church saints to “take note” of him and his co-workers Timothy and Epaphroditus and follow their example (3:17). Here the word “take note” means “to fix the attention upon with a desire for or interest in” (Wuest). This word is also found in Philippians 2:4 – “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Here the word “look to” is the same word as “take note” (3:17). In other words, to look to the interests of others means to fix your attention upon others with a desire for or interest in (SeVincent). Paul wanted the immature Philippian church saints to join with the fellow mature saints in fixing their attention upon with the desire to follow his and his co-workers Timothy and Epaphroditus’s example, the pattern of their lives (MacArthur). In short, to put it briefly, Paul exhorted all the Philippian church saints to focus on the pattern of Christ-centered life of himself and his co-workers Timothy and Epaphroditus and to considered them as the mirror to live like them (cf. 1 Thess. 1:7, 1 Cor. 10:6).
Who is the role model of faith we are mirroring? Who are we to follow? He is Jesus. All we Christians must follow Jesus Christ. The hymn “Lord, I Want to be a Christian” verse 4 should be our prayer request: “Lord, I want to be like Jesus/ In a my heart, in a my heart/ Lord, I want to be like Jesus/ In a my heart. Ina my heart, In a my heart/ Lord, I want to be like Jesus In a my heart.” But we cannot see Jesus with our own physical eyes like the Jesus’ disciples. The reason is that Jesus is raised from the dead and ascended to heaven and sit on the right hand of God. Therefore, what we can do is to imitate Christians like Paul who imitated Jesus as the role models of our faith. In other words, we must fix our attention on the pattern of life of those faithful Christ-centered Christians before us and make them our mirror and try to live like them. Therefore, I hope and pray that someday we can say to our younger generation brothers and sisters in Christ as Paul did “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1).
Second, we must imitate Paul’s tears.
Look at Philippians 3:18 – “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.” I read an article titled ‘When women shed tears’ in the internet. According to the article, women usually have more tears than men because the women have the prolactin hormones, which are the nerve cells that convey the depression in a sad situation, 8 times more than the men. That’s why we see the tears of our mothers and the tears of our wives. The women cry for no reason, cry for a little thing, cry for instinct of protection, and cry for relieve irritation and stress. Now the question is whether the tears are profitable or useless. Actual tears are said to have a therapeutic effect. When we cry, our mood changes, and our stress goes away a lot. I personally think that when we separate tears from beneficial tears and unprofitable tears, we first think of the useless tears such as tears that we shed while yawning. Although we cannot stop shedding the useless tears, I want to shed the beneficial tears. At least, there are three kinds of beneficial tears. They are tears of repentance, tears of gratitude and tears of devotion. However, I realize that these three beneficial tears are not something I can shed because I want to. I realize that the Holy Spirit has to work in our hearts and touch us so that we may shed these beneficial tears.
But besides these three tears there are tears that we can see in the Bible. One example is 'Tears of Prayer'. When we look at Isaiah chapter 38, Hezekiah the king of Judah “turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord” (v. 2) when he heard God's message through Prophet Isaiah, “Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover” (v. 1). As a result, God's answer to Hezekiah’s prayer was, “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life” (v. 5). Another example is the prayer of Hannah, the mother of Samuel in 1 Samuel chapter 1. Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord (v. 10). As a result, the Lord remembered her (v. 19) and answered her prayer (v. 17) and gave her a son Samuel (v. 20). Not only God gave Hannah son Samuel as a gift, He gave her other six children as well (2:5). In addition to these 'tears of prayers', there are 'tears of love' in the Bible. The best example is John 11:35 – “Jesus wept.” Why did Jesus cry? The reason was because Jesus saw Mary was weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping. That was why Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and troubled (v. 33). When I was meditating on these words, I remembered the word of Romans 12:15 – “… mourn with those who mourn.” Jesus mourned with Mary and all the Jews who had come along with her who wept. How precious these tears are. Shouldn’t we shed this kind of tear as well?
In Philippians 3:18, Paul continued to write to the Philippian church saints and said, “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.” Paul often told the Philippian church saints with tears that “many live as enemies of the cross of Christ” (v. 18). Here we can assume that when Paul said to them “enemies of the cross of Christ” often, this seemed to be a very important and serious matter to Paul. In particular, I think when Paul found out that “many live as enemies of the cross of Christ”, he exhorted the Philippian church saints earnestly with tears. We can see this Paul again in Acts 20:31 – “So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” This is what Paul said to the Ephesian church elders in Miletus (v. 17). The reason why Paul encouraged those elders to remember what he did when he was with them and the rest of the Ephesian church saints, “for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears”, was because he knew that after he left the Ephesian church, “savage wolves” that is, the false teachers, would come in among them and distorted the truth in order to draw away the Ephesian church saints (“disciples”) after the false teachers (vv. 29-30). These false teachers who distorted the truth were the “enemies of the cross of Christ” (Phil. 3:18). The false teaching taught by the enemies of the cross of Christ was a lie that salvation could be earned by observing the Law of Moses, which was taught by the Judaizers. And this was opposed to the truth that Paul proclaimed with was salvation is by faith in Jesus. Paul knew that those who were deceived by this falsehood and who acted as Christ's enemies of the cross were "many" in the Philippian church (v. 18). That was why Paul cried in tears knowing that there were many who lived as enemies of the cross of Christ in Philippi (Park Yun-sun).
Imagine that God used you to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and some of the people were saved by faith in Jesus Chris. But what if now they believed the lie that not only by faith in Jesus Christ that they are saved but also by human endeavor and good work? Will you not cry in tears with great anxiety? Then what do you think Paul’s heart was toward the Ephesian church saints when he knew that the false teachers would come in among them and would make the church saints to fall away from His and His gospel and to go astray and follow the false teachers and their lie? Perhaps a good example of feeling this situation in the skin is the family situation in which even though the parents did their best to teach their children the gospel of Jesus Christ and His words but when they grow up they leave not only their churches but also their God. Will we not cry out to God for them in tears with great anxiety? Will we not exhort and admonish them with tears? That was why Paul had often told the Philippian church saints even with tears because many lived as enemies of the cross of Christ (Phil. 3:18). Then, in Philippians 3:19, Paul told the Philippian church saints who the "enemies of the cross of Christ" were in four ways:
(1) The destiny of the enemies of the cross of Christ is destruction.
Look at Philippians 3:19 – “heir destiny is destruction, ….” What did Paul mean? He meant that the destiny of the enemies of the cross of Christ, who opposed the gospel of Jesus Christ and salvation by faith in Jesus Christ alone, and taught that salvation by observing the Law of Moses, is eternal damnation. Think about it. The Bible John 3:16 clearly says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” But what is the enemies of the cross of Christ keep on saying that we can save ourselves by keeping the Moses’ Law. Will they have eternal life or eternal destruction? The Bible says that only by believing in Jesus Christ that we can be saved. Those who believe that they can save themselves by their own effort and by doing good works are the enemies of the cross of Christ, and the Bible says that their destiny is destruction (Phil. 3:19).
(2) The god of the enemies of the cross of Christ is their stomach.
Look at Philippians 3:19: "... their god is their stomach.” What did Paul mean here? He meant that the enemies of the cross of Christ thought only their physical desire and irresistible binge (Walvoord). Paul said in Romans 16:18 that “such people are not serving the Lord Christ, but their own appetites.” Such people follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature (2 Pet. 2:10). They are like brute beasts (v. 12) who do the harm and their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight (v. 13). “With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed--an accursed brood!” (v. 14) “They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness” (v. 15). They mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error (v. 18). Although they promise people freedom, they themselves are slaves of depravity (v. 19).
(3) The glory of the enemies of the cross of Christ is in their shame.
Look at Philippians 3:19 – “… and their glory is in their shame. ….” What did Paul mean? He meant that it was their shame that the enemies of the cross of Christ, the false teachers and those who followed them, who believed that by observing the Moses’ Law instead of believing in Jesus Christ people could be saved. Also, it was their shame that the enemies of the cross of Christ considered their physical sinful desire as their god. But they took those as their glory even though it was their shame. Dr. Park Yuon-sun said: ‘Since they didn’t repent their sins, but rather considered their sins good and were arrogant, they glorified in their shameful sins’ (Park). How could they consider their sins good? How could they glory in their sins instead of being shameful? The enemies of the cross of Christ regarded the shame of sin as the glory of sin. This is what Daniel 12:2 says, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” The Bible clearly says there will be many who sleep will awake and will receive eternal life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt. If we relate this word to Philippians 3:19, the enemies of the cross of Christ, who regarded their shame as their glory, would be put to shame and everlasting contempt.
(4) The mind of the enemies of the cross of Christ is on earthly things.
Look at Philippians 3:19 – “… Their mind is on earthly things.” Although Paul said to “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things” (Col. 3:2), the enemies of the cross of Christ set their mind on earthly things. Since they served their own physical sinful desire as their god, they aren’t only setting their mind on things above, but also they cannot. Instead, their mind is on earthly things and they are attached to the worldly things (Park Yun-sun). This is what Apostle John said in 1 John 2:16-17: “For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” The enemies of the cross of Christ pursue the things of this world instead of the will of God. They pursue the cravings of sinful man, the lust of their eyes and boast why they have and do. All this comes from the world, and the enemies of Christ who think and pursue the worldly things will eventually perish forever.
Lastly, we must imitate Paul’s eager waiting for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at Philippians 3:20 – “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” As Paul was writing this letter to the Philippian church saints, he exhorted them to imitate him, Timothy and Epaphroditus and to observe those who walked according to the pattern they had in Paul and his co-workers in verse 17. Then in verses 18, Paul talked about the enemies of the cross of Christ. And then in verse 20, Paul said that “our citizenship” that referred to Paul, Timothy, Epaphroditus and the Philippian church saints’ citizenship “is in heaven”. Here, Paul was contrasting between the enemies of the cross of Christ who set their minds on earthly things (v. 19) and himself, Timothy , Epaphroditus and the Philippian church saints who by God’s grace were saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I think the reason why Paul made this comparison was because he wanted the immature Philippian church saints to not to fall in to the temptations of the enemies of the cross of Christ and to imitate them but to set their minds on the things above as the heavenly citizens who already had eternal life and to wait eagerly for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven. Then in verse 21, Paul explained why they were waiting eagerly for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven: “who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.” Paul and his coworkers eagerly waited for Him to return from heaven because He “will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory” (v. 21). Isn’t this what Paul said 1 Corinthians 15:52-53: “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.” Is this not the "redemption of our bodies" that we are waiting for as Paul says in Romans 8:23? So Apostle Peter said in 2 Peter 3:11-13: “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”
We must imitate Jesus. We must also imitate the tears of Jesus. Therefore, we must shed tears like Jesus. We must keep in mind that our citizenship is in heaven. Therefore, what we pray and expect and wait is the Lord Jesus Christ, who will come back to earth from heaven. When our Savior Lord Jesus Christ comes back to this earth, the Lord will transform our lowly bodies so that we will be like His glorious body.