Be Like Me

Be Like Me
Part 1

John Plunkett
August 17, 2013

Some time ago, I received two e-mail letters from a Church of God minister. Although I don’t know him personally and I have never met him face to face, I have communicated with him a few times via e-mail and telephone. He seems like a very nice man.

In the first e-mail message that I received from him, he wrote these words, which jumped right out at me:

“Since you are a minister, you should have the same concerns as I do.”

In this particular instance, the context is not important; but what is important is the fact that this man expected my concerns to be the same as his just because we are both Church of God ministers.

Was he right? Is what he said true? Is it logical?

In effect, what this man was saying was "Be like me!"

Many of us can often tend to want everybody else to be like us. We might want everybody else to act like us, to think like us, to be interested in and to enjoy the same things that we do – sports, music, television, movies, books, food, home location, etc. We tend to get on best with people who have these things in common with ourselves.

But what is much more important is that many of us tend to want everyone else to believe exactly as we do; and, we want them to interpret the scriptures exactly as we do.

In another e-mail message from this same minister, here is the second statement of his that jumped right out at me, in the same regard. Quoting Matthew 4:4, he wrote:

"First and foremost... man is to live by every word of God; not his own personal opinion of what the Bible says."

On the first reading of this, it seems like what he said here makes good scriptural sense. None of us of course, want to disagree with the Word of God. We don’t want to disagree with the written Word of God -- the Bible -- and we certainly don’t want to disagree with the living Word of God -- Jesus Christ. Surely all of us want to strive to obey Jesus' words in Matthew 4:4. Of course we do! We want to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

However, on further examination of this statement, I believe that it is a bit of an oxymoron, because we all have our own personal opinions about what the Bible says. Yes, we do! Of course we do! So should we then live by someone else’s personal opinion of what the Bible says? If so, whose opinion? Should it be the opinion of the man who wrote those e-mail messages to me? Or that of the church group that he belongs to? Or CGI’s opinion? The United church of God’s opinion? Our local minister’s opinion? The opinion of our church group’s Statement of Beliefs? Or, going back some years, the Worldwide church of God’s opinion? Herbert W. Armstrong’s opinion?

With all due respect to his memory and his work, for many years, multiple thousands of brethren certainly did tend to live by Herbert W. Armstrong’s opinion of what the Bible says. Even when Herbert Armstrong said so often, "Don’t believe me; blow the dust of your own Bible and prove it there for yourselves." Even when the church brethren back then knew that Mr. Armstrong’s opinion on certain matters was in error, they continued to live by those things. This continues right on into the church today.

If you think about it, this way of doing things is probably what we might call "the easy way." Many members would likely seek an easier way by adopting their church group’s teachings without question. I am recommending that we go by the Bible.

Many ministers and members can tend to flip-flop in lock-step with the latest doctrinal paper on any given subject from the leadership of their particular church group. Even if the brethren do not understand it and even if the ministers don’t understand it, they say, "Our church teaches this or that" and they jump over to this or that without questioning or proving whether or not it is right.

But the logical bottom line in all of this is that, if we are not living by our own opinion of what God says, then we are probably living by the opinion of some other human being!

Does God Permit Any Individualism?

Does God permit Christians to have a preference, to or seek a certain level of autonomy of belief, preference and action? Or does such a desire for autonomy indicate an anti-unity viewpoint, which can be, therefore, looked upon as sin?

What does God’s Word say on this? Does God’s Word say that He wants all of His people to be like a set of yellow pencils?

We all know very well that God the Father and Jesus Christ deeply desire their people to have unity within the church. But, how far should we take this? Does God expect all of us to think exactly alike? Should we feel obliged to maintain unquestioning loyalty with certain one Church of God group, or its leaders with whom we might disagree on some important issues, both doctrinal and procedural?

It is obvious that these kinds of decisions require us to exercise a certain level of judgment. Righteous judgment is a good thing; and we all need to be exercising it (John 7:24).

Right in Our Own Eyes

So, in this regard then, should we or should we not be doing what is right in our own eyes? I realize that the automatic reply might often be "Of course not! God's Word says so."

Well yes, let’s see what God’s Word says about this because it does bring a quite a few scriptures immediately to our minds; so we will go through a couple of them.

Deuteronomy 12:8:
Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.

I don’t want you to think that I am preaching against what the Bible says here; but I want to show you, as we gradually go through this, what God’s Word says on this. This was a clear command from God, through Moses, as the Israelites prepared to go into the Promised Land. But what happened in the long term, as time went on? Did the Israelites obey this Command?

Judges 17:6:
In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

The man who wrote the book of Judges put kind of a negative slant on that phraseology.

Judges 21:25:
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

This was the negative result of the lack of a single, central, godly, leadership. If you think about it, that is somewhat similar to what the scattered church of God is experiencing right now. That period of the Judges was the era before Israel came to demand their first human king. What happened when there was a king in Israel -- and a relatively righteous king at that?

I Chronicles 13:
1: And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader.

Why didn’t David consult first with God via the prophet or the high priest?

2: And David said unto all the congregation of Israel {human leaders}, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of the LORD our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren everywhere, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us:
3: And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we enquired not at it in the days of Saul.

Note the order in which David said this: First: "If it seem good unto you." Second, "that it be of the LORD our God."

Sometimes we can tend to set our own rules for something that we dearly want to do. We might think, when we are planning something we desire: "It must be God’s will because He’s not stopping me from doing it." I have done this in the past, and have tried to give God the responsibility for what might perhaps be a dumb move that I was wanting.

4: And all the congregation said that they would do so: for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

Was it right in God’s eyes? No, it was right in the eyes of the people. The project seemed right to these human beings; but we all know, from Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 that “There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.” Was David’s plan right in God’s sight? Events seem to prove that the Eternal was not happy with being left out of the decision-making process:

5: So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjathjearim.
6: And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kirjathjearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God the LORD, that dwelleth between the cherubims, whose name is called on it.
7: And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drave the cart.

This was a major "No-no." God clearly instructed back in Exodus and Deuteronomy that the Ark must be carried on two poles by Levites; not on a bullock cart, even a new one:

Exodus 25:
14: And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.
15: The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.

Deuteronomy 10:8:
At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.

The Ark of the Covenant was to be borne (carried) on two poles. God was very strict on that.

Back to I Chronicles 13:

8: And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.

They were excited about this, and they thought that they were doing good.

9: And when they came unto the threshingfloor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled.
10: And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God.

So, without going into all of the details, we see again that "there is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." This man-devised project certainly did end in death for Uzza. I believe that, if David would have consulted the LORD on it first, He might have reminded them to ensure that the Ark was carried on the approved poles.

Let’s move on and read a few more scriptures about doing what is right in our own eyes:

Proverbs 12:15:
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.

By quoting this verse, I am certainly not implying that King David was a fool. He was not. King David was a human being and like all human beings, including you and me, he did occasionally have a lapse of common sense. David did some foolish things; but still we know that he was a man after God’s own heart and that he learned an important lesson from this event.

Proverbs 21:2:
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.

In the case of the transportation of the Ark of the Covenant, David did seek counsel. But he did not seek the LORD’s counsel first and foremost. He did not seek first what is right in the eyes of the One who can, and does, ponder the hearts of men. Let us learn this important lesson first of all. Let us go to God first with all of our important issues.

What's Right in God's Eyes

Now let’s look at a few more scriptures about doing what is right in God’s eyes. Let’s go back to Moses and Israel when they were on the brink of their entry into the Promised Land:

Deuteronomy 13:
18: When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.

Here we see that God equates all of His commandments with what is right in His eyes. We see this all of the way back in the writing of Deuteronomy, shortly before the Israelites entered into the Promised Land. Again, in the long term, did the Israelites obey this command, and did they do what was right in God’s eyes? Let's see.

Let’s fast forward now, to the kings of Israel. I want to hopscotch through the two books of Kings and look at a couple of verses to show you what the Israelites did, what the kings did, and what the results were. First, we look into the senior years of Israel’s third king, Solomon. Here the LORD is explaining the reasons for His upcoming punishment on the Israelites:

I Kings 11:33:
Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.

He is talking about Solomon who slipped into idolatry and influenced the Israelites to do so too. The LORD here compared Solomon negatively with his father, David. We read that, after the death of Uzza, David did learn his lesson and he consequently lived by that lesson. Yes, he still made some mistakes; but he strove to live by what was right in God's eyes. After David’s death, we know that his son Solomon started off well; but he slipped into idolatry and the Israelite people followed suit.

After Solomon died and because of the apostasy of the people, God split the Kingdom of Israel into two camps. He left the southern House of Judah under Solomon’s son, Rehoboam and He gave the northern House of Israel to Jeroboam who had been one of Solomon’s former servants. But neither Jeroboam nor Rehoboam led their people righteously. Let’s take a look at what happened in Jeroboam’s case. Again, God compared him to David:

I Kings 14:8:
And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes;

See how important this is. Meanwhile, down in the southern Kingdom of Judah:

1 Kings 15:
1: Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat reigned Abijam over Judah...
3: And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father...
5: Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

That was Abijam, Rehoboam’s wicked son and heir. Then he had a righteous son, Asa:

11: And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did David his father.

Then we come to Asa’s righteous son, Jehosaphat:

I Kings 22:43:
And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD...

Let’s go back over to the northern House of Israel, where we see King Jehu. He was a king that was only partially righteous; but still, God gave him some good credit for that:

II Kings 10:30:
And the LORD said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.

So we see by all of these verses how important it is for us to strive to find out what is right in the LORD’s eyes, and to do it.

Be Like Jesus

Now let's go into the New Testament and ask another question. Remember that our topic is “Be Like Me.” So the question is: Who should we be like?

The bottom line so far is that we must strive to do what is right in God’s eyes. We must strive to be like the LORD, the YHVH of the Old Testament, and the Jesus Christ of the New.

Let’s re-phrase the question: “Is there any human being who we should want to be like? Is there any human being who we should want to follow as our example?

The gospel accounts are replete with quotes of Jesus telling His people, especially in this case, His new disciples, to follow Him:

Matthew 4:
18: And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19: And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20: And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

We know from John 6:44 that God the Father affected their minds; He drew them and He called them and He let Jesus know that He was calling these two men. Jesus told them to follow Him because He had a more important work for them to do. And they did follow Him. He repeated this over and over again with the other ten disciples and He also repeated this same command to you, me and all of those that were to be drawn by God the Father:

Matthew 16:24:
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

We know that Jesus was called "the good Shepherd" and that His followers are His trusting sheep:

John 10:4:
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice...

He leads them. We are like sheep following Jesus Christ:

Verse 27: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

As Christian sheep, we must follow Jesus Christ. But does this mean that, just like those first disciples, we should all go and quit our jobs and travel throughout the nations preaching the gospel? People have done that. I am not sure how much real success they have had, but they have done it.

The history of the early church clearly shows that this is not necessary for every single Christian called to follow Jesus. We should strive to do our best to have a part in the preaching of the gospel in every way that we possibly can. We can support the ministry of Jesus Christ. In this day and age, God's church is so very scattered; and so when we are talking about supporting the ministry, we are talking about the ministries who by their teachings and actions, we deem to be the most scripturally accurate. They are naturally and logically the ones that will give our support to. In all of this, we must use our "little grey cells" together with God’s Holy Spirit that is within us. Some human judgment and thought needs to be put into this. We do have some choice in the matter.

Another question: Did Jesus expect that His disciples only had to follow Him during His human lifetime? The answer, of course, is no. Here is what He said to Peter after His resurrection and shortly before He was to ascend back to heaven again:

John 21:19:
This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me...

It was only a matter of days, and He was going to be going back to heaven, but He told Peter to follow Him. And again:

Verse 22: Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he {John} tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me.

It was evident that He was telling Peter to keep following Him from then on. This applied not just to Peter, and not just to the other disciples; but to all of the brethren from then on, including you and me:

Revelation 14:4:
These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Following the Lamb of God must be a way of life to you and me. If it is, He promises that one day we will be just like Him. He tells us so in one of the most astounding verses in the whole Bible:

I John 3:2:
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Now that is a promise to look forward to! So yes, we have to follow Jesus Christ and be like Him.

Be Like our Father

Who else should we follow? Who else should we want to be like?

Ephesians 5:1:
Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

Of course, if we are followers of Jesus who is our Elder Brother, and if then we are the brothers of Jesus Christ, we as children of God should also be followers of our Father. As we have seen already, to be a follower of Jesus is to be starting on the road to becoming like Him. In the same way to be a follower of God the Father, is to be starting on the road to becoming like God the Father. That seems like a very far off concept, but Jesus preached it Himself:

Matthew 5:48:
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

This is a command for us to emulate God the Father. You can’t get any more perfect than God the Father. This command must rank amongst the most difficult commands for us to keep in the whole of the Bible. But Jesus said that we must be working at it.

Be Like God's Servants

I think that you can see where we are to be getting our beliefs from, where we should be getting our actions from and where our way of life should be coming from, and who it should be coming from; we have seen that we should emulate God the Father and Jesus Christ (both the glorified Jesus and the human Jesus); but what about other human beings? Thinking again about the e-mail I mentioned at the beginning, I felt like that man was saying, “Be like me.” Are there any other human beings that we should want to be like? As I have, you have probably known people throughout your lifetime that you thought you would want to be like. Are there other human beings (than the human Jesus) that we really should want to be like, to follow and to emulate?

The apostle Paul said that the church brethren should desire to follow him.

I Corinthians 4:16:
Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.

Maybe you think that sounds a bit arrogant of Paul to say or write. The apostle Paul was a human being; so what if he did something wrong? He admitted that he was human and imperfect and that he sometimes did do wrong things. Should the brethren follow him in those wrong things? Of course they shouldn’t. He expands on that statement later in the same letter. Later on in that same letter, Paul tells them this:

I Corinthians 11:
1: Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

He modifies what he said back in chapter 4, and he repeats it to the Thessalonian congregation in slightly different terminology and in the past tense:

I Thessalonians 1:6:
And ye became followers of us (Paul and other church brethren) and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit:

So, the Christians in Thessalonica had become followers of the apostle Paul, the other brethren who were with him and, of course, of the Lord. Paul expected the brethren to follow and emulate him; but only to the extent that he followed and emulated Jesus Christ. Still, God inspired Paul and his fellow ministers and members to become living examples that Jesus provided for the guidance and teaching of the newer members:

Philippians 3:17:
Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example.

The apostle Paul and his fellow ministers and members were examples to these people.

II Thessalonians 3:
7: For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you...
9: Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.

Again, this is expanded to include their good examples. Obviously not their occasional bad ones!
What this is implying here is that we can all be good examples to one another. We can seek our good examples from our fellow brothers and sisters in the church:

I Thessalonians 2:14:
For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:

It is important to stress that Jesus Christ must be an integral part of our following of the churches.

Hebrews 6:12:
That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Again we are told that we can follow the good examples of one another - of our fellow heirs of the promises of God.

Hebrews 13:
7: Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.

"The end of their conversation" or "conduct." This is referring to the "end-product" or "end-result" of their conduct. What God is saying here through this author is that it is right and good for us to follow the examples of His apostles and prophets of yesteryear, and it is right and proper to follow the examples of His true ministers of today.

But again, he puts a rider or condition on this. And that condition is that we are to follow and emulate them only as long as their examples are good ones, and only as long as they are in Christ Jesus and that Jesus Christ is in them; only as long as they are preaching God’s Word faithfully and accurately; and only as long as they remain faithful to God and His Word.

Follow These Things

As well as following God the Father, Jesus Christ, the apostles, ministers and brethren, God also tells us that there are things that we should follow. Here are just a few examples of them. These will normally be preached by the people that He wants us to follow:

I Peter 3:13:
And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?

That one is a "no-brainer." We are to follow things that are good. If we follow the things that are good then God will give us His divine protection.

Romans 14:19:
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

Paul tells us here to follow the things by which we can edify one another, teach each other, build each up, and that we can help each other.

Sadly, some tend to concentrate on looking backwards into the past errors or misdeeds in the Church of God. They are forever dragging up past misdemeanors of leaders and fellow members in their former church organizations. Does this kind of thing edify the brethren? Of course it doesn’t. It can actually be very dangerous.

Have you ever driven a car by looking in the rear-view mirror? It doesn’t bear thinking about, does it? It would be ridiculous and totally dangerous. But on a spiritual basis, that is what we can be doing if all that we are ever doing is negatively looking back and complaining about what happened years ago. Not that we shouldn’t learn by those experiences, of course; we certainly should. The godly example and teaching of the apostle Paul was to constantly look and move forward.

He also said here that we should follow after the things that make for peace. Again, sadly some ministers and members tend to accentuate the negative by concentrating on the very opposite of peace. Some concentrate on wars and rumors of wars. Some engage in constant tirades against Muslims and other groups that they may not like. Some concentrate on the prophesied horrors of the end-times.

I am not denying that those prophecies will be fulfilled or that those problems exist in the world today. I am not saying that we should "preach smooth things" (Isaiah 30:8-13). I am not saying that we should bury our heads in the sand, and I am definitely not saying that “My Lord delays His coming” (Matthew 24:48).

But is this what Jesus wants His brothers and sisters to be concentrating on at this time? Is this what Jesus and His apostles concentrated on during their ministry? Were they constantly engaged in preaching a "bad-news gospel"? Actually, this is an oxymoron! You cannot have a gospel of bad news because the word "gospel" means “good news.”

Were Jesus and the apostles constantly preaching about this certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation (Hebrews 10:27)? Were they constantly harping on that? No. For the most part, Jesus and the apostles accentuated the positive. They preached the gospel -- the good news -- of the Kingdom of God. Even in the Old Testament, we find many positive forward-looking, inspiring and comforting scriptures. Here is one such a scripture. Isaiah was one of the more fiery prophets and yet he was inspired to write these words:

Isaiah 30:15:
For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

The word “returning” comes from the Hebrew word "shuwbah" which means retirement, or withdrawal. This is a wonderful verse.

Who Should We NOT be Like?

Finally, who should we not follow? Who should we not be like? Who should we not want to be like? Many of the answers to those questions should be quite obvious. It should go without saying that we should not follow the opinions or the examples of atheists, evolutionists, agnostics or obviously false preachers. With the latter group -- the false preachers -- we really have to be careful, because some of their teachings might be enticing or deceptively tricky. Some of these things are enticing today; but also were back in Jesus’ lifetime too:

Matthew 23:
1: Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
2: Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
3: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

The Pharisees were hypocrites (Matthew 23:14-29; Luke 11:44; 12:1). Jesus sternly warned His listeners against following their bad examples and their hypocrisy. Likewise for other false preachers and false prophets:

Luke 17:23:
And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.

Jesus is telling us again to be careful who we follow and who we emulate. We all need to take this advice from Jesus and to be very careful who we listen to and who we follow. We all really need to take this advice from God that He gives us through His true prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 8:20:
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

When we want to find out who to follow and who to listen to, we need to take this advice from God. I want to clarify this because it is not my job to pick on any specific church groups or ministers. We all must do that on our own. We have the responsibility to do those things ourselves. Knowing that by their fruits we shall know them, we must judge righteous judgment (Matthew 7:16-20; John 7:24; I Corinthians 5:12-13).

We must have common sense. We must compare what any minister says with what God’s Word says. The Berean brethren were noble and faithful church members. Through the apostle Paul, God commended them for checking to see if what the minister said was what God’s Word said. (Acts 17:10-12).

In closing the first part of this "Be Like Me" sermon, I'll repeat what Mr. Armstrong often used to say: “Don’t believe me! Blow the dust of your own Bible.” That's where we're going to find the truth.

JHP/pp/jhp