“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” Unique, original work is rare these days, but imitation is everywhere. Look at the clothes we’re wearing. We tell ourselves, “This is just my style that I’ve chosen on my own.” Now I don’t know who has influenced your attire for today. I don’t even know who has most influenced mine…but I’m willing to bet almost zero of us came up with our style on our own. Look at businesses. A few original expressions, but so much of it is copying someone else’s basic idea. And then when it comes to technology, there’s a reason Intellectual Property attorneys are so busy – it’s just so easy to imitate what someone else has already created. And don’t get me started on what AI has made possible in the imitation game.

Imitation is kind of lame when you directly copy what someone else has done and you call it your own thing. We sometimes need to be told, “Go find an original idea instead of trying to be like everyone else.” But when I see someone trying to create their own version of Christianity and try to be original in some way, I think they’re missing the point. When it comes to being a disciple of Jesus, imitation is the point.

Jesus taught so much and did so much. So where do we begin or how do we do it all? And is there anything Jesus pointed to as the most important thing we should imitate from His life. During Jesus’s life, the Pharisees (religious leaders and teachers) had over 600 laws. One day an expert in the law asked Jesus, “Which is the greatest commandment?” Jesus could have simply responded by saying, “They’re all important.” Or Jesus could have chosen to do what He often did – refuse to answer the question. Instead, however, Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…And love your neighbor as yourself.

John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

If imitation is the point of discipleship and if love matters most, how can we become people who love like Jesus?

John 13:1-5 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

John 13:12-17 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

One of the first things that stands out to me about Jesus in this scene is that he refuses self-obsession, even in the most challenging season of his human life. He knew his hour had come. He knew Judas was going to betray him. He knew all the disciples were going to desert him. And it’s in that very environment that He chooses to love and serve them to the very end.

How did Jesus keep loving and serving, when it would have been so easy to turn inward? (v.3) “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.” Jesus knew His identity. He knew what He had with God the Father.

You will never genuinely love people as long as you need them to tell you who you are.

In our vision for discipleship to Jesus, we’re aiming to be formed by Him – not by everyone else’s opinions of us. Jesus loved people deeply, but Scripture also teaches us that He did not entrust Himself to them.

Jesus loved them to the end. Jesus was a finisher and he was always casting a vision for discipleship that emphasized going the distance or what Eugene Peterson titled his book on discipleship “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction”.

Jesus washes the feet of his disciples and then he asks them a probing question that I believe He also wants to ask us:

“Do you understand what I have done for you?” – Jesus

If we bypass what Jesus has done for us, we’ll miss everything He intends for our discipleship journey. We cannot give what we haven’t received. Before we go and give to others, we must take in what Jesus has done for us and who Jesus is to us.

In verse 13, Jesus claims two specific titles that are both crucial for us becoming fully devoted followers of Him.

John 13:13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.

Jesus affirms that He is indeed who they say He is – Teacher and Lord. We want to keep both of these titles for Jesus before us as we follow Him. Here’s our vision as a church:

The vision of Epic Church is to see an increasing number of people in San Francisco orient their entire lives around Jesus.

We orient our entire lives around Jesus because He is Lord. He is the Center. He is the only one worthy of our whole lives. But He has also given us a way to live; the “how to” of orienting our entire lives around His way of life. This is where He comes in as the Teacher.

“But sadly, very few people – including many Christians – take Jesus seriously as a spiritual teacher…An increasing number of Christians don’t agree with him on crucial matters of human flourishing. They would rather trust a politician, celebrity, or pastor gone rogue than Jesus the teacher and the disciples who studied directly under him.” -John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way

In verse 15 Jesus says, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” He has given us a pattern that He wants us to follow. He’s given us a way of living that He’s urging us to imitate.

“To trust the real person of Jesus is to have confidence in him in every dimension of our real life, to believe that he is right about and adequate to everything…Where we spontaneously look for “information” on how to live shows how we truly feel and who we really have confidence in.” -Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy

So who are you seeking to imitate with your life? Who’s cues are you taking when it comes to what is true, who you should become, and what you should do with your life.

There are three overarching areas Jesus wants to lead us in: what we know, who we become, and what we do.

John 13:17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Now you know…blessing comes in doing them.

Matthew 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

Hear his words AND put them into practice.

I started the message by saying that imitation is the point when it comes to following Jesus. And it’s true. But in God’s infinite creativity, He has made all of us so unique. So yes, let’s all follow our Lord and Teacher. Let’s imitate His way of life. As a church, we unify around Jesus. And yet we express it in so many unique and diverse ways. We get to bring our personalities, our cultural backgrounds, our genders, our temperaments, our experiences, our particular season of life, our spiritual gifts and our vocational callings.

“Have you ever noticed how the world wants to squeeze us all into the same mold? It is the world’s perspective that wants to clone us so that we will all use the same toothpaste, mouthwash, hair spray and deodorant; wear the same clothes; eat the same food; drive the same cars; and generally fulfill Madison Avenue’s image of success. It is only in Christ that we find our individuality. We become compassionate persons in an infinite variety of models. We love and serve like Jesus in unique ways.” -Robert Mulholland, Invitation to a Journey

Here's a common question for all of us that has uniquely different answers for each of us:

What is Jesus personally calling you to do?

After his resurrection, Jesus told Peter was he had for Peter’s future. Peter looks over at John and goes, “What about him?” And Jesus is like, “Don’t worry about what I have for John; take care of what I have for you to do.” And that’s what He’s saying to you and me today. Don’t compare yourself to everyone else. Follow me where I want to lead you, not where I want to lead anyone else.

Response:

-Is Jesus your Lord? Do you understand what He has done for you?

-If Jesus is your Lord, are you also letting Him be your Teacher?

-In what areas of your life do you think you have a better way than the way of Jesus? Why might you trust yourself or someone else more than you trust Jesus?