1 Corinthians 11 … Consider Him, Our Example to Follow

Originally posted: 6/18/2020

Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ, (11:1).

Yes, I have a lot of unanswered questions; I’m sure many of you do as well. I’ve done some research on head coverings, and I still have a lot of unanswered questions. But unfortunately, a head full of questions about shaved heads, wives’ positions in church and more, does not turn my attention to Him. So what I determined to do was to intentionally look for Him, even in the midst of my unanswered questions.

And I saw Him, within the context of gathering together for worship in the body of Christ, as Our Example to Follow.

Consider Him, Our Example to Follow

• He is Our Example to Follow in His Submission
  • But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ, (11:3).
    • Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, (Philippians 2:5-6).

•  He is Our Example to Follow in His Surrender
  • …that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; ²⁴ and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me,” (11:23-24).
    • but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men, (Philippians 2:7).

• He is Our Example to Follow in His Sacrifice
  • In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes, (11:25-26).
    • Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, (Philippians 2:8).

How do we respond to Him, Our Example to Follow?

I am a proponent of seeking answers, but not at the cost of seeking Him. As we turn our attention to seek Him, Our Example to Follow, He will lead us to every answer we need.

Much of this letter to the Corinthians had much to do with unity. And that is one answer we desperately need: unity in the body. If we, as believers, cannot gather together in unity, why would we ever expect the lost to want to join us?

But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. ¹⁸ For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you… (11:17-18).

If we will choose to Follow Him, Our Example, in Submission, Surrender, and Sacrifice, think of the kind of unity we would experience in the body of Christ.

• Let us Follow Him, Our Example in our Submission.
  • Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ, (Ephesians 5:21 NIV).

• Let us Follow Him, Our Example in our Surrender.
  • And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me,” (Luke 9:23).

• Let us Follow Him, Our Example in our Sacrifice.
  • “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends,” (John 15:13).

• Let us Follow Him, Our Example; that we would love the way He loved.
  • Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end, (John 13:1).

• Let us Follow Him, Our Example; so that others may see His love and peace in us.
  • The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you, (Philippians 4:9).

Oh, may we each choose to Follow Him, Our Example, in His Submission, Surrender, and Sacrifice; that we would become a people and place of welcoming unity that brings Him glory and invites the world to see and know His love.

“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; ²³ I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me,” (John 17:22-23).

Let’s Grow Together!