The Five-Question Quiz
The Five-Question Quiz
Mar 13, 2022
Philippians 3: 17 - 4: 1
“Accept no imitations!” That’s the age-old cry of commercial hucksters, dating back to the days of patent-medicine wagons — and probably much earlier. There’s something about a successful product that inspires cheap knock-offs, as competitors rush to take advantage of someone else’s success.
In Philippians 3, Saint Paul’s advice is precisely the opposite. He actually wants his followers to imitate him, at least with respect to his faith.
There is an old Facebook quiz. Who do you most resemble in your living, in your thinking, and in your everyday life?
It’s just five questions. It will take you less than two minutes. And faster than you can say, “Cheesy Internet quiz with no scientific value whatsoever,” you’ll know which dead president shares your pessimism or which old-school comic-book superhero happens to have everything in common with you.
“Congratulations, you have anger issues like The Hulk.” “You’re prone to patriotic acts of heroism like Captain America.” This is clearly information that you can’t live without. Plus, through the power of social networking, you can share the results with everyone on the planet!
The popularity of these five-question quizzes on Web sites such as Facebook drew in the Christian crowd. We might see a quiz that allows you to discover which Bible character you most closely resemble. Although if you’re well versed in these things, you may have noticed that the answers are always positive. “You have a heart for worship like David!” No one, it seems, ever gets aligned with the likes of Saul or Judas, even though we’ve all known plenty of people who fit that mold.
Shouldn’t we find it a bit ironic that such things are so popular in a culture that upholds — even idolizes — the idea of individuality? In 21st-century America, ingenuity is the ideal. Write some book for business leaders about “breaking the mold” or being an “outlier,” and you’re bound to make millions. But conformity isn’t cool. Originality is everything, right? So why the popularity of such foolish fun on Facebook?
This may be a stretch, but perhaps our interest in such things reveals something inherent to our humanity; perhaps it gives us a clue as to how we’re wired to live. Individuality may be the cultural ideal, but if you take a tour through Scripture, you’ll see that it’s far from what God created us for. Yes, we Americans love to think of ourselves as unique individuals; we’re all precious snowflakes. However, Ecclesiastes tells us, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” (1:9, NIV).
According to God’s word, being truly unique isn’t even a possibility. Individuality is a myth. Rather, you and I are creatures of conformity; we are inherently imitators of the world around us. Imitation is how we learn to be human at every level. We learn to speak by imitating our parents. We learn to walk by watching our older siblings. Later in life we create our own “unique” identity by imitating our teenage friends in high school and following our particular clique in college. Finally, we set certain people in our profession on pedestals and mimic their movements. And, of course, whether we’ll admit to it or not, we imitate our spouses. Why do you think so many older, married couples look like twins?
Many of the things to which we conform are innocent, such as a Southern drawl or the way to hold a fork. But others have lasting ramifications. Our work ethic, our attitude toward spouse and kids, and even our church attendance are things we pick up from others. Even really nasty things such as some sinful habit or a heart of discontent and cruelty can be the byproduct of bad conformity to someone around us.
We are what we imitate. Each of us is a mosaic of influences resembling many people in our past and present. We conform to the image of others, and others, right now, are conforming to us.
We are called to imitate, not to innovate. This understanding brings great weight to the words of St. Paul in the book of Philippians, chapter 3. Here the apostle gives a loving but firm command. It’s one we’ve heard him offer time and again in his letters to the churches. (See 1 Corinthians 4:16; 11:1; Philippians 3:17; 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; and 2 Thessalonians 3:9.) St. Paul writes, “Brothers (and sisters), join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us” (Philippians 3:17, ESV).
St. Paul doesn’t ask us to be innovators, but imitators. Innovation in Christian confession and Christian life so easily leads to foolish and meaningless excesses and misdirection. St. Paul instead commends imitation as the way to go. St. Paul acknowledges that we are creatures of conformity. What St. Paul is telling the Philippians — what he’s telling us — is simply this: “You’re going to copy. You’re going to mimic someone’s steps and mirror someone’s movements when it comes to learning this Christian life. That’s how we roll as human beings. So if you’re going to imitate somebody, go ahead and imitate me. Follow me as I follow Jesus.”
In fact, Paul goes even further. He tells us that whenever we see a person upholding the gospel and exhibiting the Christ-focused style of faith and life that he modeled among the early church, we should keep our eyes locked on that person. Why? So that like a child absorbing every move of his or her mom, we might learn better how to live from that model. Imitation is key to the Christian life.
All of this begs a few questions. First, who are you imitating? From whom are you learning what it means to live as a follower of Jesus in this messed-up world? Is it your spouse, who always seems to be five steps ahead of you spiritually? Do you have a Christian friend whose faith feels more mature than yours? Are you soaking up the wisdom of fellow small-group members? Are you following the pattern of a faith-filled parent? Or, are you simply asking yourself at every turn, “What would former Pastor So-and-So do?”
Here’s the second question. Who is imitating you? If you have children, this one is easy to answer. But your sphere of influence extends beyond the home. Who in your life knows that you’re a Christian and, thereby, whose understanding of Christianity is influenced by your words, your actions, and your attitude? Who is learning from you? That’s a scary one to wrestle with, isn’t it?
The bottom line is that if there is no one for you to follow, then there is a void of influence in your life that must be filled. Likewise, if there’s something going on that leaves you feeling completely unworthy of having any kind of following, that’s an issue that needs to be addressed with some wise, Christian counsel.
Why is this so important? The Scriptures tell us that as we imitate the likes of St. Paul, as we learn from the faith and life of our baptized brothers and sisters around us, the end result isn’t a bunch of little Christian clones but a community of people who more or less resemble Jesus. In his ministry, in his walking and talking, in his healing and loving, and in his commandment-keeping, Jesus became our example. Jesus demonstrated for the world what it means to be fully human: to be right with God and completely in step with the rhythms and patterns of the Christian life in our created world.
Romans tells us that all those who are baptized into Jesus’ name are not only forgiven of sins, made right with the Father, and filled with the Spirit, but have also embarked on a lifelong journey of being “conformed to the image” of Jesus (Romans 8:29). That is, we will slowly but surely start acting like him, loving like him, and resembling him – that is, imitating him.
One of the primary ways this happens is through our imitating one another. By imitating one another in the faith and liffe, we begin to resemble and reflect the focus of our faith, Jesus, the Christ. For those who like big, theological words, another way to put it is that imitation is key to our sanctification.
Here’s what this looks like. Let’s say you’re a mom who takes Scripture’s commands seriously and aims for obedience to God’s word in everything you do at home or at work. Your daughter imitates you as she starts a family of her own. Together, you resemble — not duplicate — Jesus.
Or perhaps your best friend has all the talent in the world but at every turn gives the glory to God. You imitate him. Together, you resemble the humility of Christ.
Human beings are creatures of conformity; we are inherent imitators. The question is not if your life will resemble someone else’s but whose life yours will resemble. Knowing this, lets us embrace the instruction found in 3 John: “Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good” (v. 11, NIV).
As of now, there’s no quick, five-minute quiz that can tell us how well we’re doing in becoming like Jesus. (There is, however, one that can tell you with which young, Hollywood celebrity you have the most in common. That’s something we’re sure you’ve been dying to discover.) In the meantime, perhaps one way to gauge your godliness is simply to take a quick glance at what’s in front of you and a short look at things behind you. Whose footsteps are you following today? What’s coming from those who are walking in yours? Chances are, from time to time you’ll be convicted by what you see — or by what you don’t see.
But take heart. If you don’t like what’s in front of you or the things behind that resemble you, simply look to the prime example, Jesus, the Christ. He has graciously forgiven you already. Now go and do the same.
Walk the streets of any major metropolitan city and you’re bound to find some vendor selling imitation, knock-off versions of popular watches, purses and pretty much anything you can imagine. In our world, imitation is a bad word; it’s synonymous with faux, fake and less-than-genuine. But time and again, we hear the apostle Paul telling us that the key to experiencing real, authentic Christian life is by imitating Jesus.
This is just another example of the kingdom of God turning our world upside down. In God’s world, originality is “cheap” and imitation is the real thing.
One of a kind has no value. It is living in the image and as an imitation of Jesus that is priceless.
That is our way forward – for you and for me. As we imitate Jesus, we find a fantastic new life. As we imitate Jesus, we discover the fullness of humanity. As we imitate Jesus, we experience the love of God and the peace that passes understanding.
Learn more and more about Jesus and imitate him in your living day by day, and You will grow into the potential that God provided to you.
Amen.
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