Is Your Pastor Worth Following? | 1 Corinthians 11:1

Welcome to The Daily, where we study the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, every day.

Our shout-out today goes to Joshua Wiley from Memphis, TN. Thanks for your partnership in Project23. We cannot do this without donors like you.

Our text today is 1 Corinthians 11:1.

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. — 1 Corinthians 11:1

Paul opens one of the most challenging chapters in the letter with a single, clarifying line.

Before he talks about authority, order, or worship, he establishes the pattern.

Imitation.

The word Paul uses here is the Greek mimētēs—the root of our English word "mimic". It means to model your life after another by observable pattern, not by abstract admiration.

Paul does not say, “Mimic me because I’m in charge.” He says, “Mimic me as I follow Christ.” In other words, mimētēs me. This assumes visible proximity to both Paul and Christ.

Paul is not claiming perfection. He is claiming alignment.

As long as my life reflects Christ, you can safely follow. The moment it doesn’t, you shouldn’t.

That describes spiritual leadership.

Biblical authority is not control. It is a visible submission to Jesus—and that distinction matters because not every teacher who speaks for God actually follows God.

Paul’s standard quietly exposes both faithful teachers and false teachers. Faithful teachers can be observed. Their lives reinforce their words. What they proclaim publicly is supported by how they live privately. They mimic it.

False teachers, on the other hand, demand loyalty without accountability. They ask to be admired rather than imitated. Their churches point to their authority, their gifting, or their platform—but rarely to how they mimic Christ.

In a culture suspicious of authority, the first verse of Chapter 11 reframes the conversation that has been taking place. Scripture never calls believers to reject authority, but to practice discernment. Paul here invites it.

Followers are commanded to mimic leaders only insofar as those leaders imitate Christ. That places a weighty responsibility on pastors and teachers (like myself)—and a necessary responsibility on the church.

God’s order for the church, and worship (the topic of this chapter), is not meant to oppress and silence people. It is meant to shape them. It was never meant to elevate leaders, but to point everyone to Christ.

The people of the church do not invent their own patterns. It receives them from the ultimate authority who designed the church and died for the church. And those patterns are trustworthy because Jesus is.

The church is about Jesus. And we are all called to mimic the one we worship, Jesus!

Every form of leadership, every act of submission, every structure in the church stands or falls on this question:

Does it look like Jesus?

If it does, it can be followed.

If it doesn’t, it should be challenged.

And most importantly, when you leave worship, your life should move away from mimicking the world and be reshaped—visibly and decisively—to mimic Jesus.

DO THIS:

Evaluate the leaders and teachers you learn from most. Ask whether their lives are watchable—whether their private conduct reinforces their public teaching—and whether following them would actually lead you closer to Christ.

ASK THIS:

1. Whose life am I currently mimicking through teaching, influence, or example?
2. Where might admiration be replacing imitation?
3. How can I grow in discernment so that I follow Christ first—and leaders only insofar as they follow him?

PRAY THIS:

Lord Jesus, sharpen my discernment. Guard me from blind loyalty and from cynical distrust. Help me follow faithful leaders with wisdom and courage, and shape my own life so that it points clearly to you. Amen.

PLAY THIS:

“Yet Not I but Through Christ in Me”