473: Paul Our Example – Lesson 2 Part 1 Book 40

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We hope by now that you are so interested in the Word of God that you are studying on your own, as that’s number one priority. So many of our letters tells us that for the first time many of our listeners are studying the Word, and now are understanding what they are reading. After all, the Word of God is Truth, and the Holy Spirit has been given to us so that we can discern it. So this is our prayer and whole purpose for being here.

Now we’ll get right back to where we left off in the last lesson and that will be Philippians chapter 3 and verse 17. And here in this verse Paul makes one of those graphic statements that a lot of people just don’t like to swallow. It just rubs them wrong, and here it is.

Philippians 3:17a

“Brethren, be followers together of me,…”

Do you know what about 99% of so-called Christians say? “Well I don’t follow Paul, but rather I follow Jesus.” Well you know my favorite clique on that is, “Then what do you do when you come to the shores of Galilee and He keeps going?” It’s pretty hard to do isn’t it? So always remember He was God, and we can’t walk in His footsteps, but the apostle Paul is just as human as we are, and we are admonished to follow him as he follows the resurrected Christ. Also remember that I’m always emphasizing that Paul only knows Christ, crucified, buried, and risen from the dead and ascended back to glory. And it was from that position in glory then that the Lord reveals all these precious truths to the apostle Paul. That’s what makes his apostleship so unique, and this is why he can say, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that we now as Grace Age believers are to be following him as he follows Christ.

Let’s chase a few of the references down that command us to be followers of Paul. First let’s go back to I Corinthians chapter 4, and we do this just to show folks that you can spend a whole evening chasing down some of these references that tie everything together. In this first reference let’s begin with verse 16, and again remember that every word that Paul writes is inspired by the Holy Spirit. This isn’t just his personal ego coming out, but rather it’s the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and look what He says in verse 16.

I Corinthians 4:16

“Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.”

Because Paul was the one who was literally now walking in the footsteps of the ascended Lord. Not the earthly Jesus that we see so much in the four gospels, but this is the ascended Lord who has now finished the work of the death, burial and resurrection which of course then becomes our Gospel that we must believe for salvation. Now turn a few pages to chapter 11 for the next one, and he says basically the same thing. I’m always emphasizing, why does the Scripture repeat? Well it’s the same reason we repeat things today. Emphasis! If you want somebody to really get something straight, then you don’t just tell them once, but maybe two or three times, because this is the way you want it done. Well Scripture is the same way. When there is a repetition within a short period of time, it’s there for emphasis. Now look how beautifully this verse also fits.

I Corinthians 11:1

“Be ye followers of me, (now here’s the whole thing) even as I also am of Christ.”

So it isn’t that we are told to follow just the human steps of Paul, but really as he follows Christ in the realm of the Spirit, so also we do. Now keep turning to the right, and come to Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 1. Those of you who have been with me ever since we started in Romans remember that we’re always pointing out that Paul’s earliest letters were pretty much elementary, but when we started those prison epistles of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon we took a jump up, and we get into further revelations that Paul experienced and wrote then shortly before he was martyred. And here’s one even late in his ministry, and he’s still saying the same thing.

Ephesians 5:1-2

“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; (see?) 2. And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.”

And then Paul delineates all the things that should no longer be a part of our Christian experience. So always remember that we follow him, even as he follows Christ. The next one I think I’ll take you to is in I Thessalonians chapter 1. Let’s begin with verse 5, and remember where all of these various congregations are. Thessalonica was up there on the Aegean coast of Greece just a little south of Philippi, and of course was one of Paul’s earliest congregation on the European Continent, and look what he says.

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