Imitators Of God

Imitators of God

Eph 5:1-2 KJV

I was reading about some of the dangers that face our young people simply because they imitate what they see. (How many times have we heard the disclaimer – Don’t try this yourself)

The article told about the Reebok company pulling an ad which showed an athlete jumping over an oncoming car, because some teenagers in Kentucky were trying to do the computer-generated stunt for real. One of them broke his leg and ankle trying to perform the daredevil stunt.

Other problems have arisen from teen imitators of stunts performed on an MTV show. The stuntman there tried, among other things, lying on a barbecue in a fire-resistant suit hung with steaks. A 13-year-old in Connecticut suffered second-degree burns when he tried to imitate the trick.

If you need something to imitate, than why not God.

Eph 5:1-2 KJV

5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.

The word "followers" in Eph 5:1 is the word (mimeetai´), which we translate "followers"

It is also where we get the English word; mimic

To mimic God in a proper sense means assuming ones ways, thoughts, and nature

To mimic God in a proper sense means we imitate him

Eph 5:1-2 NIV

5:1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Illustration: We all can think of impersonators we have see on T.V.

Some are very good and entertaining to us, however as lifelike and close as the impersonator is; true imitation is more than learning to talk like the one you’re imitating.

To imitate God means to be like him. As far back as Leviticus 11:45 God said, "Be holy, for I am holy."

Jesus gave us the starting point for imitating God in the Sermon on the Mount.

We need to mourn over our sin with a broken and contrite spirit.

When we are overwhelmed by our sinfulness, we will hunger and thirst for righteousness.

It comes with a heart filled with love

It comes when we are filled with God’s Holy Spirit

The result of imitating God means we

1. Imitate him as children do their beloved parents

Illustration Children who love their parents dress like them. What Child hasn’t walked in their parents shoes, or wore jewelry

2. Imitate him in all your actions, words, spirit, and inclinations;

3. Imitate all his moral perfections, and acquire the mind that was in Jesus.

4. To imitate our Father is a part of Paul’s exhortation to "walk in purity."

God is love (1 John 4:8); therefore, "walk in love" (Eph 5:1-2).

God is light (1 John 1:5); therefore, walk as children of light (Eph 5:3-14).

God is truth (1 John 5:6); therefore, walk in wisdom (Eph 5:15-17).

There are two methods of imitation

One is making a person our model

The first does the exact deeds, lives in the same way, dresses in the same colors’, without regard to the differing circumstances; and this always leads to error.

Such as; Legalism, Restoration movement dress, KJV only, etc

Our focus needs to be on the character of God!

We need to love Him, not rules and regulations! It’s not that we don’t love His Word, we do, but we love the author more than the words.

ILL.- One writer said, “One of the major struggles of religion at that time was legalism. The problem with legalism is that the focus is on following laws instead of imitating God. They had taken the 10 commandments and the first 5 books of the Bible and came up with over 600 rules and regulations that they determined had to be followed in order to please God. The thing that made it even more confusing, other than having over 600 laws to follow, was the religious teachers couldn’t even determine which of the laws were the most important to follow.”

We have fallen into the same trap today. Many people look at the church and God as being solely concerned with keeping rules and certain regulations.

And when this happens the rules and regulations become the focal point of our faith instead of God Himself.

The other way is to be filled with Jesus spirit, to have the same character, and thus do what our example would have done in our circumstances.

Almost nothing is said of what things Christ did as a boy, or how He lived, in case we make Him only a model. But we are shown His spirit of obedience, and goodness, and growth that we may take Him for our example.