Follow the Apostolic Example!

Philippians 3:17-4:1 The question I am about to ask are not intended for our speculation but for our self-examination as Christians and a congregation. 

Would Paul recognize us as fellow Christians?  Do we share the same faith and live the same lives as the early church?  Would the apostles recognize our congregation as one where they would feel at home because we have the same priorities and practices they had?

Even though two thousand years separates us from the apostles, I hope the answer to those questions is “yes” because that is exactly what the Holy Spirit calls us to do and believe.  Paul says:

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

            Each week in the words of the Creed we say that we believe in one, holy, Christian and apostolic Church.  It is unfortunate indeed that we do not confess the creed as it was originally written “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church” because that is exactly what we are talking about today:  the catholicity of the church.

The word “catholic” simply means that we believe and practice what Christians in every time and place have believed and practiced and that is what we have received from the apostles. 

That’s what Paul is talking about today—that all of those who are his brothers, that’s us along with Christians in every time and place, imitate his apostolic faith and practice and follow the example of those Christians and congregations who are also walking in his footsteps.

It is critical that we do that because already in Paul’s day, when he and the other apostles were still alive and teaching, there were those who claimed the name of Christ and yet had abandoned their apostolic example.  Paul write:

For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.

            I wonder what Paul would say about so much of the church today?  If already in his day there were MANY who had departed from the faith and practice of the apostles, what would he say about the church today? 

What would he say about us and what would he say about our congregation?

It’s important that we ask that question about our lives as individual Christians and our life as a Christian congregation—and it’s important that we are discerning about what we see throughout visible Christendom-- because to depart from the apostolic example is to be counted as an enemy of the cross of Christ!  An enemy of the cross of Christ!

Can you imagine a more terrible thing that could be said of anyone or any place (claiming the name of Christ) than what they actually are is enemies of the cross? 

And yet that is exactly what we see in so many places in the church today.

There are churches where the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for the salvation of the world is denied, churches where the members are told that they must do something to add to what Christ has done, if they are to be saved.

There are churches that allow their pastors and teachers to question and raise doubts about the historicity of our Lord’s birth and his miracles and his bodily resurrection from the dead. 

There are churches where the great saving works of our Lord Jesus Christ in his death and resurrections are rarely if ever mentioned and then only as the starting point to you getting what you want in health, wealth, happiness, and self-fulfillment.

There are churches where God’s good gifts of marriage and family that are rooted in the creation of mankind as male and female are twisted and distorted and where the gift of children can be destroyed by the whim of their parents. 

And there are churches where the operating principle when it comes to God’s Word is nothing other than that of Satan in the beginning:  Did God really say?

Let there be no doubt in your mind whatsoever, these churches and those who follow their teaching have abandoned the apostolic example, forfeited the name of Christ, and have made themselves enemies of the cross to their eternal shame.  The Bible says about them that:

Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

            During Jesus’ earthly ministry he said about himself:  I am the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me. 

The ministry and message of the apostles after our Lord’s resurrection and ascension was to set that “way and truth and life” before the eyes of people who had never seen or heard the Lord in such a faithful, Spirit-filled way that they too could come to know and trust Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

The salvation of sinners only takes place when they believe in the Jesus of the Bible witnessed to by the apostles and so to depart from that witness and example is to be destroyed forever in the fires of hell. 

And so then when there are churches and teachers who tell their people (in the name of Christ) that their life with God is all about earthly things-- and when there are church and teachers who (in the name of Christ) glory in some sexual sin and in the destruction of innocent lives—and when there are churches and teachers who tell their members (in the name of Christ) that their salvation is found in the works of their own flesh-- their end can only be eternal destruction.  

That is how serious the apostolic example is:  eternal death if it is abandoned --but eternal life if it is followed.  The Bible says that for those who follow the apostolic example:

our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. 

            As we have considered Paul’s words and the eternal implication of Paul’s words, perhaps you have asked yourself:  why on earth would anyone who claims the name of Christ for themselves and their congregation even think about abandoning the apostolic example?  Why would anyone make themselves an enemy of the cross of Christ? 

It’s a good question and there are a number of answers but at least a part of it is that so often in life it is easier to go along to get along rather than standing fast on the truth of God’s Word.

When I was in Kingsville I had a friend who was pastor of a local church whose denomination had made a church-wide decision to change their teaching and practice on marriage and sexuality.  And I remember visiting with him after this decision and asking him what were they thinking.  And he said that in his opinion the Holy Spirit was doing a new thing—in other words, that God had changed his mind about what Jesus and the apostles had taught.

And I was taken aback for a moment but then I said that it didn’t sound like God at all but sounded like the culture around us was driving that decision.  And he said yes, but sometimes the culture has to lead the church. 

Dear friends in Christ, as individual Christians and as a Christian congregation our citizenship is in heaven; our faith is founded on the unchanging words of the holy apostles; our hope is found in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection. 

We DO NOT take our direction from the godless culture around us when it comes to matters of faith and life.

And while it is possible now for Churches and their leaders and their members to lie and deceive and mislead in the name of Jesus Christ-- and distort or deny outright the example of the apostles--that day will come to an end with the return of Jesus.

On that day Jesus will destroy his enemies-- and all that they have gloried in apart from the apostolic example-- will be used as evidence against them to their eternal shame. 

But for all of us who have followed the apostolic example and have held fast to the faith once delivered to the saints, the days of our battle against sin, death and the devil will be over as Christ raises us from the dead and gives us an eternal life that is forever free sin and sadness.

That is what Paul and the other apostles were hoping for as they preached Christ- and taught his ways- and called Christians in every place and time to do the same.  Paul wrote:

Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

            Following the apostolic example is not adopting the dress and food and clothing of the first century A.D.  It is not an end unto itself simply because these men knew the Lord. 

Instead, following the apostolic example and walking in the faithful footsteps of Christians who have come before us is nothing less than standing firm in the Lord.  That’s how important this is!

            Each generation of Christians has to claim the apostolic example for themselves as their own—not just for the sake of their own salvation—but for the sake of those who follow after them so that they too might have a living reminder of what it means to stand firm in the Lord and walk in the ways of the apostles.  And so then…

We ask ourselves again:  Would Paul recognize us as fellow Christians?  Would he feel at home in our congregation?  Would he call us his beloved brothers in the faith?  God grant that our answer is always “yes” by the grace of God and the help of the Holy Spirit!  Amen.