1 Thessalonians 1.5b-6

There is a famous quote, that states “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

This saying, which has survived for over 200 years, refers to the idea that we will copy and try to replicate the choices and work of another that we find admirable.

We all have someone, or several someones, that we look up to.

Who is your role model?

Who in your life do you look at and think, “Someday, I hope to be just like them!”

AskMen.com, the largest men’s lifestyle website in the world, surveyed over 2,000 men and asked them: 

“Who do you consider your role model?” 

The survey results were broken down into four major categories:

• 8 percent of men said they look to actors or entertainers as their role model.

• 24 percent of men try to emulate athletes.

• 31 percent of men said “I’m my own role model.” (what a weird, egotistical, and stupid statement!)

• Lastly, 35 percent of men admitted to looking to entrepreneurs as role models.

According to AskMen.com, the men that aren’t absolutely blinded by ego and pride, admire men like Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg, who are known for “breaking the mold,” along with other men described as those “who see the risks and take them anyway, achieving success on their own individual terms.”

In this morning’s Biblical text, returning to our series through the New Testament book of 1 Thessalonians, we hear that the professing Christians in 1st Century (AD) Thessalonica have willingly chosen Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy—the men that first shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them—and most importantly, they have chosen the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to be their role models.

Continuing on in 1 Thessalonians, 1:5b-6 says:

[5]…You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. [6] And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, (ESV)

As a reminder, the Biblical book of 1 Thessalonians is a letter written by 3 of the first-ever Christian leaders to some of the first-ever Christian men and women gathered in the Greek city of Thessalonica.  This letter was written and sent in the mid-1st Century shortly following Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension back to Heaven.

This morning’s portion of the letter comes from the opening section in which the leaders are encouraging the local church with a list a of things that they are thankful for.

In the two verses we just heard from, the Christian leaders—Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy—are thankful for two specific things.

First, they are thankful that the Thessalonian Christians are imitating them personally.

Second, they are thankful that the Thessalonian Christians are imitating Jesus.

An important question that arises out of this Biblical text is, “As a Christian, is it ever appropriate to imitate another human being?”  

In our text, the authors are thanking God and encouraging the Thessalonians for imitating them.

This seems counterintuitive to our Christian life because we know from various Biblical passages that we should love as Jesus Christ first loved us and we should serve others unconditionally as Jesus Christ first served us unconditionally.  We are exhorted throughout Scripture to walk in a manner worthy of Christ.

However, at various places throughout the Bible, we are told that it is OK to imitate other human beings.  But, the caveat is that it is appropriate to imitate other human beings only as far as they are first imitating Jesus Christ.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy were men worthy of imitating because their testimonies showed that their lives were miraculously turned upside down and inside out.  These men started out as self-serving and self-exalting deniers of the grace of God in Jesus Christ.  After coming face-to-face with the grace and love of God, they ended up as men who lived with the heart and mind of Jesus overflowing with grace and love for those around them.

In a book that I recently read about loving others just like Jesus first loved us, the author speaks about Paul’s transformed Christian life and says,

“One of the reasons why [the Apostle] Paul prioritized relationships is because he saw other people through the lens of Christ. Jesus—God come down—had every right to claim authority. He had every right to be unknowable. He had every right to keep his distance. God does not have to share his space with messy, sinful, ridiculously unwise human beings. Yet he did. That is exactly what Jesus chose to do throughout his earthly ministry.”

Paul, being changed by God’s love for Him, which drove God to die on the cross to forgive his Sin in the person of Jesus Christ, could not help but pattern his life after the sacrificial love of Jesus so that others could also experience the rest and peace that come from being personally cared for and watched over by God the Father in Heaven.

So, to reiterate, it is appropriate to imitate other human beings only as far as they are first imitating Jesus Christ.

Now, as Christians, as those who find ourselves believing in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we have the daily calling to be like Jesus by imitating his thought patterns, his speech patterns, and his patterns of action.

The Apostle Paul tells the Christians gathered in the city of Ephesus that because God, in Jesus Christ, has forgiven them, they are to be…

[1] …imitators of God, as beloved children. [2] And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5.1-2, ESV)

When we hear exhortations like this, exhortations to love others as Christ first loved us, it is easy to mentally assent to the idea.  However, when the day begins and people begin to not act as we want them to act, it can be hard to live up to this essential part of the Christian life.

The good news for you is that you are not left alone to find the strength to be all of the things that Jesus Christ is—loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled.  The good news for you is that through faith in Jesus Christ, God takes up permanent residence in your heart and mind to help you become more like Jesus day-after-day.

In this world, on this earth, Jesus imitated the heavenly and eternal characteristics of God the Father for you!

Jesus was able to act, speak, and think like God the Father because He is 100% God and 100% man at the same time.

Jesus, the Christ, thought as God thinks.  

One of the questions in Luther’s Catechism asks, “What are God’s thoughts about you?”  And, the is God’s thoughts about me are thoughts of love and blessing.”  In and through Jesus, God considers you precious and desires nothing more than to shower you with love and blessing every single day.

Jesus, the Messiah, spoke as God speaks.

Every word out of Jesus’ mouth was a word out of God the Father’s mouth.  Imitating God’s words to perfection, Jesus constantly spoke of repentance and faith.  Jesus’ words lovingly lead you to the mirror to examine how far you have fallen short of God’s standards for life and love so that you can be honest about your need for help, ask God for that help, and be strengthened to put your trust in Jesus who is the only one who can help you by making all things right for you when you stand before God’s throne.  Then, and only then, will you find the rest and peace that every one of our souls is constantly searching for.

And, Jesus, the Savior, acted as God alone acts.  

From birth, to death, to resurrection, to ascension, to eternal life, Jesus did that Jesus did to secure forgiveness of sin, reconciliation with God the Father, and a joyful and peaceful eternal existence for you in God’s Kingdom.

In response to Jesus’ rescuing you through His life, death, and resurrection, you are called to BE like Jesus.

You are not called to LOOK like Jesus.  

There is a growing request in Utah for models who look like Jesus. That’s because for an increasing number of people in the state, a picture isn’t complete without Him. Jesus lookalikes are being hired for family portraits and wedding announcements. Jesus lookalikes are showing up to walk with a newly engaged couple through a field, play with young children in the Salt Flats, and cram in with the family for the annual Christmas card.

Bob Sagers was walking around an indie music festival in Salt Lake City when a friendly stranger approached and asked for his number. “Has anyone ever told you that you have a Jesus look to you?” Sagers, a 25-year-old who works as a cheesemonger at a grocery store made the joke that it wasn’t a pickup line—the man’s wife was an artist looking for religious models. Being 6-foot-5 with dirty-blonde, shoulder-length hair and a beard that gives off Irish and Scandinavian vibes, Sagers added, “I make for a pretty tall Jesus.”

And so it was that Sagers began a side hustle as a savior. Since being recruited about four years ago, Sagers has posed as Jesus nearly a dozen times. Others have done so far more often, charging about $100 to $200 an hour to pose with children, families, and couples at various locations in the Beehive state.

For the newly sought-after models, the job can be freighted with meaning and responsibility. Lookalikes find that people expect them to embody Jesus in more ways than the hair and beard. Some models said they feel like a celebrity when they don the robe—and get treated like one too. (One felt compelled to remind an onlooker he wasn’t the real Jesus.)

You are not called to LOOK like Jesus.  

You are called to BE like Jesus.

Let me explain what this means.

It’s easy to look like Jesus outwardly.  

You can look like Jesus by going to the church building and sitting in a pew while spiritual songs are sung, while people are confirmed, while sermons are preached, and while the Lord’s Supper is served.

You can look like Jesus by putting money in the offering box.

You can look like Jesus by donating goods to the food pantry.

You can look like Jesus by baptizing your babies.

You can look like Jesus by showing up at funerals and weeping with those who weep.

You can look like Jesus by celebrating with those who a celebrating.

You can look like Jesus by helping the poor.

The ways you can look like Jesus are never-ending.

But, looking like Jesus outwardly doses’t mean that you are like Jesus internally.

Matthew 7:21–23 gives us this warning:

[21] “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ [23] And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (ESV)

If we look like Jesus in our actions but don’t have the heart of Jesus through faith and trust in Him for salvation, Jesus will say to us on our last day, “I do not know you.”

Doing some of the “right things” doesn’t make you right in God’s eyes.

Only believing the right things makes you right in God’s eyes.

And, what is the right thing to believe?

Jesus tells us what the right thing to believe is, in a verse that one of our confirmands shared last week as her favorite verse, 

[1] “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. [2] In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. [4] And you know the way to where I am going.” [5] Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” [6] Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [7] If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:1–7, ESV)

Nothing you do and no one around you can connect you to God expect Jesus Christ alone.  Without faith in Him, you will never see God face-to-face.  

Being saved from Sin by a Savior who died on a cross to rescue you from being eternally separated from God, your Creator, gives you a life that is freighted with purpose, meaning, and responsibility.  

In the words of Uncle Ben in Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

There is only one person that you can place in the category of “role model” that will make sure, without a single doubt, that you achieve the goal of being pure and holy as God is pure and holy.  His name is Jesus Christ.  He is the God-in-the-flesh.  He is Emmanuel, God with you!

Jesus doesn’t just show you how to live a Godly life, Jesus lives the Godly life for you and with you.

I leave you with two Bible verses this morning.

Colossians 3:2 encourages you to, 

[2] Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (ESV)

And, 1 John 4:10–11, 18-19 describes what is it to imitate Jesus.

[10] In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. [11] Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

[18] There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. [19] We love because he first loved us. (ESV)

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

June 14, 2026