We Are Called to Imitate the Lives of Paul and Christ,

What Does That Look Like?

When we look at this, we might say why look at Paul at all.  Why not focus on Christ alone.  That would be fine except for this simple reason, Paul was ordained by Christ to bring the gospel to this earth.  Paul’s words, thoughts, and writings are the actual Word of God. If we look at the life of Paul we will also see the life of Christ working in and through him, Paul was a slave of Christ, a citizen of heaven called by Christ Himself to serve and to do the will of the Father in heaven, he answered his call with joy in his heart and shows us how one who is chosen acts, lives and continually seeks after God.

You see Paul was ordained by Christ to be His messenger, the messenger that will bring forth the Living Word of God, the messenger that will put the Word of God into readable and learnable content for the entire world to read. Think about that God sent Jesus to be our Savior and whoever accepts Him and believes and obeys Him will have eternal life but He also left us Chose Paul to bring us the Good News, he brought us Gods word which for our good to teach us and mold us and prepare us for our eternal glory. If we study the life of Paul, how he lived, how he talked, what he taught, how he overcame evil, how to follow Jesus and how to act as Christians than yes we surely should mimic his life.

If we dive into Acts here we will see an accurate account of a portion of Paul’s life. Paul went through many trials all while being lead by God. Paul was a sinner just like us, in fact, Paul was a murder of Christians but by Gods grace was transformed into his new life, his new identity in Christ. This new identity of his is one of complete obedience to God, he demonstrates this through his continual persecutions for his belief and following of Christ.

Paul’s life started in sin, death, and murder separated from God, but God wanted to choose Paul, someone who most everyone would never believe that God would use.

So there it is our message our number 1 message which is we are sinners saved by Christ, transformed for His goodness. And this is where we start.

Paul tells us in multiple books of the bible how we are to live and conduct ourselves here on this earth. He tells us we should be living as citizens of heaven.  He tells us we should be in this world but not of this world. He tells us that we should be about kingdom business. He tells us that we should count everything as garbage with one exception and that is doing the will of our Father in heaven.

Based on those 4 statements alone we see the life of Christ unfolding in and through Paul.  Paul’s life was fully devoted to doing the Will of God, his life was Gods breath, it was and is the Word of God which is alive, it can split bone and marrow, divide soul and spirit. The word of God is alive, living, it talks to us, leads us, guides us.  We see Paul’s life although he went through many afflictions, trials, persecutions, and hardships.  He remained fully content in his life pursuit because it was God’s perfect will, which Paul followed.  Paul’s eyes were fixed on the end prize and as he traveled down that road getting almost killed, flagged, in shipwrecks, in prison, and he did what?  Spoke the word of God to whomever he came into contact with.  He also planted churches, rose up church leaders, told people how they should live, disciplined Christians, encouraged people, and cast out evil.  He gave clear instructions on how churches, Christians, believers, wives, husbands, and children should act if they were to represent Christ.

So we should be in this world as citizens of heaven…not blending in like a chameleon, but standing out, noticeably different in our speech, in our hobbies, in our likes, in our lifestyle.  We need to look at our life as a mission trip from heaven.  So if we went to Haiti to witness to the people of Haiti would we build a great business for ourselves or be concerned with climbing a corporate ladder?  No!  We would be concerned with witnessing to those people, living a moderate lifestyle as to not look like lovers of money.  We need to be humble in our walk, be content, and be doing the things others don’t want to do.

We need not be conformed to the ways and patterns of the world.  We need to stand apart and not partake in them.  You can’t tell someone to not do something if you yourself do it that falls under trying to clean the speck out of someone’s eye when you have a plank in your own eye.

If you examine Paul’s life it pretty much follows after the life of Christ, dying to your flesh, being a slave to Christ, not conforming to this world, being transformed to live a life after the gospel, spreading the Word of God, conquering evil, spreading the good news, leading people to Christ and to God, teaching them to live a holy righteous life seeking the will of the father, teaching people that there is no life other than one with God on the throne, and serving Him is the only way.  Everything else should be counted as garbage.

Believe it or not, the Bible is very clear about what children of God should and should not be doing.  You need to study the books Paul wrote, dive deep in your Word and let the living God through His Word transform you.  Pick up your lifeline today, start in one book, go one chapter at a time, read commentary, take notes, and listen.  Clear the cobwebs of this world so you can hear God.  Remember this, Jesus is our ultimate example and Paul lived a life following after Christ so to mimic either is doing the will of God.