Imitating Love

Imitators of Love

Scripture: Matthew 24:10-12; Ephesians 4:31-5:2; First John 4:1-6

The title of my message this morning is “Imitators of Love” and the idea for this message came to me from a message my brother Barry delivered a couple of weeks ago at his Church. Barry’s message, titled “As He Is”, talked about how we should be like Christ. In that message he made a statement that struck me and got me to thinking. He said that since God is love if we changed the word “God” to “Love” in some verses in the Bible then it would really clarify what the verse is saying. As I continued reflecting on what he said, this message began developing in my spirit.

If you are not aware of it, based on what you are constantly seeing in the news or on your social media feeds, the Church today has an identity problem. Our identity problem started when we stopped imitating love as was foretold by Jesus in Matthew 24:12. In this verse Jesus told His disciples “And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold.” (Matthew 24:12) When you read the verses preceding this one, you find that what Jesus was saying was prophetic. He was talking about what would happen to most in the Church after His resurrection, which includes us today. He was explaining the signs of the last days and how Christians, His followers, would succumb to the trials and persecutions surrounding them from the “outside” and the apostasies and false prophets from the “inside”. By reason of these trials and persecutions from without, and the apostasies and false prophets from within, most of the Church’s love for Christ, His doctrine and for one another shall grow cold. In Matthew 24:10 Jesus plainly states that many Christians will be openly offended and desert the faith – they will walk away from Christianity and their salvation, while false prophets and teachers will lead Christians to hell and the lake of fire by continuing corrupting the Church with their false teachings (Matthew 24:11). This will lead to many becoming indifferent about Jesus and cause their love for Him, over time, to grow cold. And what is so sad, New Light, is that they won’t know that it is happening to them. These are the days in which we are living, where those who advocate Christianity from a pulpit of hate. Hate is not of God and if His Church is espousing hate, they have lost their identity! Turn with me to Ephesians chapter four.

Let’s begin reading at verse thirty-one and continue through verse two of chapter five. “(31) Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. (32) And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. (1) Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. (2) And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” (Ephesians 4:31-5:2) In verse thirty-one of chapter four Paul tells us to put away those things that are not of God: bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking and malice. For more clarity of what Paul was saying, I want to read this verse from the Amplified Bible. It reads, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence].” (Ephesians 4:31) You see how it describes clamor and malice. Clamor is the perpetual animosity, resentment, strife and fault-finding that some Christians have refused to put away – to take off as a piece of clothing and remove it. It’s a description of the person who is not yielding to the love that Jesus placed on the inside of them when they accepted Him as their Lord and Savior. The same applies to malice which is described as spitefulness, verbal abuse and malevolence (unkindness, wickedness, evil and nastiness.) Can you understand why Paul says that this behavior must be put away from us? It is not of God! Then he tells us what is of God; he tells us how we are to treat our brothers and sisters in Christ. He wrote in verse thirty-two, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” These are the descriptions of behaviors that are displayed in the person who has a relationship with God. The Amplified Bible reads this way, “Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

What I really want us to focus on this morning is verses one and two from chapter five. But before I do, I want to talk with you briefly about unforgiveness and how living with it can cause a Christian to forfeit their eternal life with Jesus. We see this clearly in Matthew 6:14-15. “(14) For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (15) But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” I also want you to see these verses from the Amplified Bible. It says “(14) For if you forgive people their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (15) But if you do not forgive others their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses.” I used the Amplified Bible so that we would see that when someone does us wrong on purpose, we must forgive them on purpose and mean it if we expect God to do the same for us. New Light, this is how we are to treat our brothers and sisters in Christ. If anyone under the sound of my voice, or who will read this message afterwards, is holding unforgiveness against someone because of what they have done to you, you need to forgive them. And you need to do it today because where you spend eternity is at stake.