Key Meditation
Follow me as I follow Christ1 is Paul’s reworking of take up your cross and follow me.2
Christ, Paul & Us Crucified
Understanding Paul's 'Follow Me' in Light of Jesus
Where Did Both Jesus and Paul Go, and How Did They Get There?
Paul’s admonition to follow me as I follow Christ is an ever present stumbling block for those who have machinations of being the greatest in the Kingdom of God. Paul brought nothing but worldly trouble upon himself by following Christ into death. His message was Christ and Him crucified3 and the continuation of that message was an invitation to take up our crosses and follow Paul in the same footsteps that led Jesus to His death. Paul inserts himself as the physical representation of what it means to follow Jesus in life to our deaths—to forsake everything that came before as nothing4 and work to preserve nothing but the message of Christ and Him crucified.
We get confused when Jesus talks about building his Church against which the gates of Hell will not prevail5 and we think that He means a physically present, right now church with physical outcomes meaning that when someone like Paul is put to death that is not Christ building His church but a win for the other side. In The Kingdom and House of God6 we briefly touched on the transcendent nature of the people of God who have received mercy. We said that we are not a people confined by space or time—the whole people of God from the first to the last are the whole people of God. Even if every believer on the planet were to be wiped out in an instant—the people of God are unharmed. The ebb and flow of the current manifestation of the people of God who have received mercy as we exist today and in the many forms we take is largely meaningless in regards to God building His Church.
This does not mean, of course, that we ignore what is going on in the world according to the flesh, indeed it means that we follow Christ into obedience to God even unto death all the more fervently because we no longer concern ourselves with preserving what we have built in the flesh. This is one of the reasons why the world ought to hate us, because we are not concerned with preaching anything but Christ and Him crucified. Not many can say that they truly believe this—and for those who do, they can honestly say follow me as I follow Christ.
Suggested Questions to Answer in the Comments
What have you thought in the past that Paul meant by “follow me,” and why do you think we thought it was anything other than following Jesus as we pick up our cross and follow Him in obedience even unto death? Believing a lie so simple can convince us that death is not necessary in order to follow Christ—reassert your obedience to God today—to preach the obedience of Christ and to live it.
What are the areas in your life that you are preaching to preserve, and are they consistent with the Word. How can we go about un-attaching ourselves from these self-preservation identities in the flesh?
1 Corinthians 11:1
Matthew 16:24-26
1 Corinthians 2:2
Philippians 3:8
Matthew 16:18
Good point.
Also, I love your new logo!