Well, tell me what do you think it means to be imitators of Paul as Paul is an imitator of Christ?
Why Paul was inspired to write this, I would think, would be self-evident.
If you do not understand the point of chapters 8,9,10, you will not understand 11:1 (which is the final verse of chapter 10).
The sentence was not dropped out of heaven, divorced from context and the meaning that context has.