If something is an imitation, it isn’t as valuable, right? The off-white, naugahyde handbag with LV splashed on the side will never impress. The Rolex with a jerky second hand, well, don’t even try. Surimi paste, though made with real Alaskan Pollock, will never be real crab. A Waterman pen is not negotiable; you must have something thrilling with which to record your boredom (to quote an advertisement from the Waterman Pen Company). If it’s an imitation, it belongs in the trash receptacle at the end of the driveway, right?

Not so fast. You see, the value of imitation was assumed in the Classical World. For instance, Democritus wrote that imitating the web-making skill of the spider could be counted on to improve weaving techniques. Hippocrates taught that the motor functions of the human body could teach builders how to build lifting machines. Very few disagreed with the insistence of Heraclitus that all good artists, whether they be musicians or painters or writers, were actually imitating the world around them. To imitate was to proclaim the worth of the physical world, and to imitate well was the very measurement of skill.

The word for imitation in classical Greek, mimeomai, is where we get the word, mimesis. Did you know that the writers of the Bible use this word? Twice, Paul warns the Thessalonians to imitate not just his own behavior, but also the behavior of Silas and Timothy (2 Thes. 3.7, 9). Paul is chiefly speaking about imitating a work ethic, but the writer of Hebrews encourages Christians to evaluate the “way of life” of their leaders and to imitate what they see (Heb. 13.7).

In October of last year, I asked for prayer for our pastors along these lines, that you would pray their lives would be worthy of imitating. Our pastors know John’s warning about the danger of imitating “whoever does evil” (3 John 11). We need the operation of grace in our hearts and minds so the work of our hands bring glory to Jesus, giving His children worthy examples of good. Thank you for those prayers.

These past few months have left an impression on me of another kind of imitation, the kind of imitation that happens among our staff. Paul tells the Philippians, “join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.” (Phil. 3.17) There is an imitation that happens…together. Paul attaches the prefix for together (syn) to mimeomai. Brothers and sisters are fellow-imitators! We have the glorious opportunity to participate in the life and work of the church, watching how our brothers and sisters walk before the Lord, and imitating them. What a precious testimony of God’s care for believers.

What I have come to appreciate at CPC is that I have an opportunity for fellow-imitation alongside other employees. That may sound strange, but while one benefit of teamwork is the combined effort of diverse skills, another benefit is the multiple opportunities to imitate colleagues as God has gifted them. It may be that I am unable to perform a particular ministry as well as another member of our staff. It may be that an area of my Christian walk will always be inferior to another’s strength. However, there is such a delight in imitating that which is good in another believer’s life! Jesus has structured His church in such a way that rather than groveling over our weakness, rather than consigning ourselves to sluggish inactivity, we can cheer the sanctification of others, finding them worthy of imitation. We can then imitate, becoming a church full of imitators of what God calls, “good.”

~Pastor Jones