A Quick Look: I Corinthians 11:31-32
Really Read It: I Corinthians 10:31-11:1, I Corinthians 11:20-34
Memorize: I Corinthians 11:1 And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ. (NLT)
All the cats I know ignore everyone. But in 1896, there was a cat who watched others and did what they did. Kids have been cheering for this cat ever since. His name was Copycat.
What happened to Copycat? Did he win or loose? Was he rich or poor? Was he good or bad?
The answer is yes. He won and he lost. He was rich and poor. Good and bad.
It all depends on who he copied. Copycat’s life was sad and short when he copied that guy who walked through the fire, into the swamp, and over the cliff. But Copycat got rich when he copied the guy with all of the money. Copycat was lost, wondering in the forest forever when he copied a fluttering leaf. Copycat found a dish milk and a nice warm bed when he copied the man with the map. To teach a bad copycat a lesson, don’t tell him not to copy, tell him who to copy.
Kids are copycats. Grownups are too, so don’t try to grow out of it. Start now copying the right people. Don’t copy famous people. They are rich and people scream for them because they are really good at one thing. But they are bad at too many important parts of life. Plus 2.3 million people are already trying to copy that famous guy. That puts you really far back in line.
Paul wrote about this in a letter to some people called Corinthians. I think a Corinthian sounds like a pretty tough guy. I wouldn’t want to mess with them, but Paul did. He wasn’t very nice in his letter. These guys were doing a lot of things wrong, and Paul wanted them to know how to turn it around. I Corinthians 11:1 says, “And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.” (NLT) Imitate means copy, do the same things, act the same way, think the same thoughts. Paul left out the part about cats.
We have Paul’s copycat verse at the beginning of Chapter 11, so it looks like Paul is starting a new part of the letter. But Paul didn’t put chapter numbers in his letter, so he had this verse in the middle of a list of mistakes. The things Paul told them in Chapter 10 and Chapter 11 seem weird to us. That’s because Paul was helping those people 2,000 years ago to know how to live in a city on the other side of the world. This side of the world in the 21st century is quite a bit different. It doesn’t really matter but one of the weird things that Paul told them was if someone puts your food in front of a statue and prays to the statue then don’t eat it. But if you don’t know if you food went to visit a statue or not, don’t worry about it. Another one was about haircuts and hats in church. In these simple rules, Paul was telling them what he would do and telling them to copycat him.
Then Paul wrote about communion. Part of his communion speech would go better for us in a list of rules for the church picnic. He told the people who had a lot to share with the people who didn’t have any food. Or if they didn’t want to share, they had to eat at home where nobody saw it. I’m pretty sure my elementary school had that same rule. After the communion picnic rules, Paul talked about the communion part of communion. I have heard the words about the great value of the cup, the Blood of Jesus, and the bread, the Body of Jesus. I hope you have heard that and thought and prayed about that a lot, but Paul put in another thing that I have almost never heard in a communion speech. In verse 28 he said “examine yourself.” Exam is the same as test. Examine is to look at really closely. Give yourself a test. And the test Paul told them to give themselves was about honoring the other people in their church. That part goes with the sharing rules that were right before this. But for you to honor the body, to be nice to your church, it is not enough to share some of your food. You need to share everything you’ve got. Share your food, share your money, all your stuff. Share your brains, your ideas. Share encouragement, good words. Shy is not allowed. It’s not nice and it does not honor the body. Share your muscles, work hard to make your church great, clean, mow, haul, paint. Share your muscles, work hard in worship praising with strength.
Paul wrote his ideas about haircuts and church picnics because he wanted the Corinthians to copycat him. You could copycat Paul too. That why we read his words in the Bible, so we can copy him. But not just Paul. There are a lot of people in the Bible that we can copycat. We can copycat so many other great people from history too. But you must also find people that you know to copy. Find people young and old who love Jesus and who are working to move the Kingdom of God forward. Be a copycat to those people.
If you do, you will look behind you and see other people copying you. Nobody is too young to be the right one to copycat. Younger kids can follow you, but they don’t have to be younger. You can be a great one to copy for kids your own age and even older kids. Pick the right ones to copycat and the copycats will copy you.
Paul was at the end of his food speech when he stuck in the imitate me, copycat verse. But he put a great test right with it. I Corinthians 10:31-33 “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Don’t give offense to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God. I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved.”
Whatever you do. For the glory of God.
Don’t do only what is good for you like a spoiled me, me, me brat. Do what is best for others for the glory of God. So that so many will know this great and awesome Jesus, for the Glory of God.
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What would it look like if the people at church wanted to be there and wanted God? What if God’s people had nothing better to do? It might look like this. http://www.worldrevivalchurch.com
You can find more of Nathan’s writing on lulu and helium.
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