Mobile Baptists Association

"Serving Together to Make an Eternal Difference"
A Fellowship of 108 Southern Baptist Churches in
Mobile County

Mission Plan Book

February 2005

Thomas Wright

In the years after Jesus’ resurrection many people became followers of Jesus. They studied His life and teachings. They tried to imitate everything that Jesus did. They tried to obey His teachings.

The followers of Jesus in Antioch were so much like Jesus that people called them Christians (Acts 11:26). It was intended as an insult. The non-believers said to the believers, "You act so much like Jesus you are just a Christian." The believers heard the insult in those voices. They thought for a few moments and said, "Thank you. We are honored that you see us trying to be like Jesus."

To imitate Jesus means that every person we know or meet can see that we are trying to be like Jesus. It is often hard to do. This lesson will talk about the difference between imitating and imitation. It will also share three important ways that we imitate Jesus for others around us.

The Difference Between Imitations and Imitating

Walking through the night market in Hong Kong is an adventure. It is very crowded. The stores sell everything you can imagine. There are stores that sell the imitations of expensive watches and purses. These imitations look just like the real watch or purse. They are very inexpensive compared to the real item. But the name on the outside is not true to what is on the inside. The quality is not the same. They are imitations.

There are people who are imitations of Christians. They use the name on the outside but it is not true to what is on the inside of their heart. This has become so common that we now have to use the word "believer" for the followers of Jesus Christ. The Bible warns in Matthew 7:21-23 that imitation Christians will not go to heaven.

There are many ways to imitate Jesus to others. Here are three important ones.

Many people who are not interested in religion want to know God. We can help them know God by imitating the prayer life that Jesus had with His Father. Jesus is the Son of the creator God. He helps people find the real God instead of the many false Gods that Satan offers us.

Jesus talked a lot to His Father. John 17 shows Jesus in prayer to God. Jesus prayed for personal needs (vs. 5), believers (vs. 9-10), and unbelievers (vs.20-21). This gives believers a good outline for our prayer time. We usually do a pretty good job praying for our personal needs. We need to imitate Jesus by praying for other believers and for those who do not believe Jesus yet.

There is a lot of false teaching about prayer. So many people think that prayer is not useful. When we imitate the prayer life of Jesus they learn about powerful prayer.

The life of Jesus is a living example of God’s love. Gods love is pure and freely given. 1 Corinthians 13 is the love chapter. Take a minute now to read that chapter in your Bible. God’s love is very different from friendship love or lust.

In John 13:35 the Bible says, "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Galatians 5:22 teaches that we can love others when we allow the fruit of the Spirit to give us love.

1 John 4:7-11 is another beautiful passage about love. "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us . . . ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (NASB).

Jesus tells us his purpose in Luke 19:10. "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

There are many things that we do at church. We worship, praise, fellowship, study, and evangelize others. We will do all of those things in heaven except evangelize others. So why are we still on earth? To evangelize others.

Evangelism comes from a satisfied customer who loves people. Too many people see evangelism as selling something to people who are not interested. The Holy Spirit is working in every human heart. We can be used by God to help others meet Jesus.

Visit www.wmu.org or look at the catalog for resources to help you imitate Jesus to others. A very good book you find there is A Woman’s Guide to Spiritual Wellness. This Bible Study of Colossians teaches about imitating Christ in every part of our life.

It is an honor for people to carry the name CHRIST-ian. We earn that honor when we imitate Christ. Imitating Christ is different from the imitation Christians that we meet. Each believer can imitate the prayer life, the love, and the purpose of Christ to help others accept Jesus as their savior.