To Be Like Jesus!

MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK

TO BE LIKE JESUS!

Scriptures: 2 Thes. 3:7-9; 1 Cor. 4:16, 11:1; Php. 3:1; Matt. 5:13-16; 2 Cor. 3:18

For over 3 weeks recently I was virtually house bound. I felt miserable. I would wake up sneezing & coughing. And after breakfast start to work on a sermon. But it wasn’t long before I would get sleepy. Now that worried me. If my sermon was making me sleepy as I tried to prepare it, how would you react when you heard it?

I soon realized that even while praying & working on my sermon that my body wanted to sleep all day, & stay awake all night. I didn’t feel like doing anything except eat, sleep, & watch old movies on the TV. And when I say “old” I mean that I don’t want to watch another silent movie ever again!

But I did learn something from those old movies. Clothing styles change dramatically year by year. And it seems that the driving forces behind those style changes are Fashion Houses.

If clothing styles didn’t change, the clothing manufacturers wouldn’t be able to sell as many new clothes. They need new fashions to be introduced on a regular basis, so they try very hard to sell new styles to the younger generations (who don’t want to look like their parents or grandparents anyway).

Now the primary tool Fashion houses use to introduce new styles & trends are live models. Every clothing company realizes it’s easier to sell clothing if customers can see it on live models.

And once we’ve seen those clothes on a handsome man, or beautiful woman the Fashion Houses hope we’ll think, “Maybe I’d look like that if I wore that shirt or skirt or suit or whatever was being modeled.”

You see, those live models are literally “fashion ROLE models” because their purpose is to get us to imitate them; to follow their lead; to desire their styles.

I BIBLICAL ROLE MODELS

In the Bible, God tells us that WE have ‘role models’ too. In 2 Thessalonians 3:9 Paul says that he & his friends made an effort to be “models for you to follow.” And Paul repeated that idea many times for those early Christians:

In 1 Cor. 4:16 Paul wrote: “I urge you to imitate me.” In Php. 3:17 he urged “Join with others in following my example, brothers…” Paul was holding himself up to be a “Role Model” for early Christians.

He was saying that the perfect role model is Jesus, but if you need to see how following Christ looks on someone else, then use me as a role model. “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” 1 Cor. 11:1 So, the Bible urges us to follow Role Models in our Christian life, too.

II THERE ARE MANY ROLE MODELS

But we need to realize that there are many Role Models around us that God does NOT want us to imitate/follow/copy.

ILL: One person put it this way: “Everybody’s an example. Some are good examples… & some are bad.”

For example: we’re constantly being bombarded by pictures of famous people who have become popular role models. They model an attractive, ‘successful’ lifestyle. They have fast cars, big houses, & lots of money. They have the attention of millions.

You’ll see them as guests on late-night TV programs & in gossip magazines. And there are a lot of people who would love to be just like them.

ILL Now that has evidently bothered some of these famous people. Several years ago, there was a commotion when star basketball player, Charles Barkley, said in a Nike commercial, "I’m not a role model."

He was telling people that he didn’t want to be a role model. He just wanted to play basketball. He liked the money. He liked the adoration of his fans. He just didn’t like the pressure of the higher standard of being a good example for others.

And he’s not the only one who feels that way: In Glamour Magazine, Rihanna said: “I don’t want to be a role model.”

Miley Cyrus told her fans that she wanted her family to quit putting so much pressure on her to be a good role model.

Snooki, (Do you remember that name?) was a “Jersey Shores” actress who admitted she did stupid things in that TV series. But she didn’t want her young fans acting like her: “I don’t want to be a role model.”

“I don’t want to be a role model.” Over & over some say: “We don’t want to be role models!”

They say that BECAUSE they know they do things that are wrong. But when people call them on it (“Hey, you’re sup-posed to be a role model”) they rebel because they don’t want the responsibility, the pressure of being a good example.