Imitate Christ So Others Can Imitate You - 1 Corinthians 3-4

1 Corinthians 4:16 (ESV)

I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

How many people in the world would be so bold as to tell others that as they walk this life to imitate me in that walk?  This might seem very arrogant to some, that Paul would point to himself as the model he wishes others to follow.   However, as we read the rest of this book we can see Paul’s mindset.  Notice why he says this as he elaborates on the thought in a subsequent chapter:

1 Corinthians 11:1 (ESV)

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Paul did not simply want them to follow him, he wanted them to follow him because he was following Christ.   He is not being arrogant, he is being a leader.  He is mimicking Christ, so he wants them to mimic him.   That should be the equation for every leader and every father and certainly every church elder.  What does that look like?  Notice what Paul had just told them about his walk like Christ? 

1 Corinthians 4:11-13 (ESV)

To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

The above is a picture of Christ.   This is how Christ lived and walked on this earth.  And since Paul walks like Christ he wants them to walk like Christ too.  When that is the formula, you can say, imitate me.  The word imitate is the translates as such from the context of the Greek sentence and the Greek word parakaleō.  It means to walk along side.   So, Paul wants them to walk along side him as he walks along side Christ.    Paul tells other church bodies to do the same thing in other areas of his writings:

Philippians 3:17(ESV) 

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

1 Thessalonians 1:6(ESV) 

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

Philippians 4:9 (ESV) 

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

2 Thessalonians 3:9 (ESV) 

It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate.

When we lead in churches it is our Biblical responsibility to set the example for those we lead.  Not because we are arrogant in our walk, but because we are walking in humility like Christ walked.  Our job is to mirror Him to those we lead.