Almost 100 years ago, a group of Christians began a congregation in Kingsville, Texas. They shared a common commitment to God’s inspired, inerrant Word and the Lutheran Confessions as a faithful confession of that Word. Out of all the possible names they could have given to their congregation, they chose the name: St. Paul.
And that choice was made in large measure because they treasured the central article of the Christian Faith which Paul so faithfully taught—the article upon which the church stands or falls: the article of justification—that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
They chose his name as an enduring testimony to their desire to do the very thing that we are called upon to do in the words we have before us today: follow the example found in Paul and the other leaders of the apostolic church—in what they believed and practiced—in what they hoped for—and in what they were committed to as things of first importance.
In the very near future this congregation will celebrate its 100th anniversary. These kinds of milestones are wonderful opportunities to look back—but also to look forward—to do some real soul-searching and ask ourselves: do we still have the same set of values as those who came before us—do we have the same hopes—do we have the same commitments to the faith and practice as the man for whom this church is named?
As we reflect upon God’s Word today—as individuals and as a congregation—my prayer is that we would re-commit ourselves to follow the apostolic example. Paul writes:
Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
All of us, I think, understand the value of examples. We can read book after book on how to hit a baseball or how to bake bread but to watch someone do it is to really begin to understand how it’s done. This is especially true when it comes to living out our Christian faith as individuals and as a congregation.
Two thousand years after the words of our text were written, we cannot “see” with our physical eyes the example of Paul and the other apostles—but what we can do is read their words in Holy Scripture. And so to imitate them—to follow their example-- means to read and hear their words for what they are: the Spirit-inspired, inerrant Word of God—as the Lutheran Confessions say: the only rule, source and norm for the Christian life.
The content of the apostolic faith—especially the centrality of the atoning work of Jesus Christ--and the living out of that apostolic faith in genuine Christian piety that we find described in the words of the apostles-- is what we are to return to again and again in our lives as individual Christians and our life a Christian congregation.
To imitate Paul and to follow the apostolic example means that we are to ask ourselves: would Paul and the other apostles recognize me and the members of St. Paul Lutheran Church as believing the same things-- and practicing the same things-- and living the same kind of life-- as they did?
This question must be asked again and again because it is very easy to wander away from the apostolic example and instead begin to imitate the world. Paul writes:
Many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
Just exactly who Paul is speaking of in these verses is a question that bible scholars disagree about and so I will set before you the two choices—and show that they are really not all that different and he could have easily been speaking of both the self-righteous Judaizers and the self-indulgent libertines who troubled the apostolic church.
We know that Paul had to struggle mightily against those in the church who said that faith in Jesus was not sufficient for salvation—that besides faith it was necessary to keep the Jewish laws. We also know that he had to fight against those who took the Good News of salvation and turned it into a license to sin.
Both groups he counted as enemies of the cross—not just mistaken or misguided or misinformed—but enemies of Jesus. The legalists were enemies of the cross because when they added their works to salvation they destroyed the Gospel itself—that we are right in God’s sight on account of faith in Jesus apart from deeds of law. The libertines were enemies of the cross because they destroyed the very reason that we have been saved—to bring glory to God by doing the good works he has appointed for us to do.
Now it may seem at first glance that there could not have been two more different kinds of false brothers in the early church than the legalists and the libertines-- but they were just different sides of the same coin: their focus was not on Christ crucified-- but upon themselves—the legalists in making sure that they scrupulously kept the demands of the Jewish law, careful about what they ate—and the libertines in satisfying every earthly appetite. For both groups—their god was their inmost desires—their belly.
One group was not better than the other or closer to Christ or more faithful to the truth—though each claimed that very thing: that they (and not the apostolic example found in Paul and the early pastors) was what being a Christian was really all about. But Paul told the truth: the end of both of these groups was destruction because they were enemies of the cross—one denying the need for the cross and the other its purpose.
Now all this may seem far removed from this place and time and our lives as individual Christians and as a congregation—but it is not—the same spirit that that troubled the Philippians-- and that would lead us away from following the apostolic example-- is present in the church today.
There are those who follow the Judaizers of old and teach the false gospel that we are not saved by Christ alone but by something we do—some good work or some decision we make.
There are those who follow the legalists of old who do not find their identity first and foremost in Christ crucified for the sins of the world but find it in what they prohibit: drinking alcohol or dancing or wearing a certain kind of clothes or the non-use of technology.
There are those who follow the example of the libertines and are morally indistinguishable from the fallen world around them in how they regard sexuality and the sanctity of life.
And so these words from Paul about the importance of following the apostolic example in how we live our lives and how we order our congregational life are as vitally important in 2010 A.D. as they were in 65 A.D. because they call us to keep the cross of Jesus Christ at the center of our lives as individual Christians and as a Christian congregation--finding in him alone our life and salvation—since eternity itself is at stake—destruction for the enemies of the cross but heaven for us. Paul writes that:
Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, He will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Significant congregational anniversaries like the one that we will soon celebrate are an opportunity to look forward—to plan strategically—to set goals. But it is also easy to focus on all the wrong things when we make plans and set goals because we do not always keep the main thing before us. Should we relocate? Should we build a new building? What should our worship life look like? What kind of ministries would serve our community?
All of these are important questions to consider but they are not an end unto themselves. Instead, they are merely means to en end—ways to accomplish the main thing: and that is for each member of this congregation and every person that we reach—to be a citizen of heaven through faith in Jesus.
No matter where we are located or what kind of building we have or what kind of ministries we conduct, if we do not always keep that evangelistic purpose ahead of us as individual Christians and as a Christian congregation—to make sure that we and those we reach have a place in heaven through faith in Jesus—if we don’t do this--we will have failed to be what God has created, saved, and sanctified us to be.
Having that goal always before us has a remarkable clarifying effect on all that we say and do—on what we value and insist upon. And so we put the first priority on faithfully preaching and teaching the Good News of Jesus Christ. We are faithful in administering the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. We reach out boldly to those who don’t know Jesus. We put flesh and bone on the life of Christ in our own lives so that those who don’t know Jesus can come to know him through us.
As we believe these things and do these things we will look like the apostolic church—imitating Paul and following the example of the other apostles—confident that we are about the true business of the church and that when Jesus returns we can give him an account of our congregational life that we do not have to be ashamed of.
And he will come again. The apostolic church never lost sight of that—they lived with a constant awareness that Christ could return at any moment—they looked forward to the restoration of all things including their own lives. And so they lived out their faith and they conducted their ministries and they ordered their congregational life with his return always in view—asking themselves: “How will Jesus view this?”
That too has a remarkable clarifying affect on what we do as a congregation and how we live our lives as Christians, doesn’t it? It helps us to remain steadfast in following the apostolic example. All the silly things that congregations can argue over—all of the fads that we are tempted towards—all of the false doctrine and false teachers and false brethren that try to lure us away from the apostolic example—are seen for what they are: things not worth losing eternity over. Paul writes:
Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
100 year is a long time—it’s a long human life and it’s a long life for a congregation. But it is nothing compared to eternity—and that is exactly what is at stake when it comes to following the apostolic example in our faith and practice-- and in what we hope for and look forward to.
Standing firm in the Lord and following the apostolic example is not trying to return to the first century or the 16th century or the 19th century or whenever it was that we think that the church got it right, but what it is, is taking what we have received from Paul and the other apostles and living it out in the world of our day—committed to being the Christians in this place and time who have remained steadfast in following the apostolic example. May God grant it for Jesus’ sake! Amen.
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