In Senior High you really imitate each other. What becomes trendy for one eventually becomes trendy for everyone else? When I was in H.S. the thing to do was to role up your jeans at the bottom, there was even a certain fold you had to follow, and everybody did it. Everybody’s hair was feathered in one form or another, guys and girls. Even as adults we still get a kick out of trying to imitate celebrities.
We tune into SNL and laugh as actors imitate Sean Connery and Keannu Reeves on Jeopardy, Bill Clinton in a McDonalds, and Al Gore andGeorge W Bush eating at a Chi Chi’s. That’s funny stuff and we all laugh.
They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery and I’m inclined to believe that’s true.
I think that’s why Ephesians 5 starts out with a very simple statement “Be imitators of God.”
There are so many things we can imitate.
We can imitate pop culture.
We can imitate our parents (and should if they set a good example).
We can imitate the leaders of the country.
It should be the goal of every Christian to have their life look as much like God as possible.
The goal is to imitate God, and the next 14 verses of chapter 5 outline exactly what it means to be an imitator of God.
Ephesians 5:1-14
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. 3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person--such a man is an idolater--has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."
Here Paul keeps up with his idea of our “walk.” We are to keep on the move.
John 1:14 “The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
The same word for tabernacles, Christ came to continue to move among us.
Verse 1 is one of the most startling verses in the Bible. William Barclay says this is “the highest standard in the world.”
Martyn Lloyd Jones “Paul’s supreme argument…the highest level of all in doctrine and in practice…the ultimate ideal.”
This is a breathtaking idea but it is very biblical idea. This is the most explicit text but the bible assumes that God’s people will take their character from Him.
Leviticus 19 is very striking as the Israelites are called to be Holy because God is Holy. I do it and I expect it from you. At least 14 times a command is followed by “I am the Lord.” That shows us that our ethics is determined by God’s Character. In Matthew 5:43-48 Jesus commands us to love our enemies so that we can be perfect like God is perfect.
Paul admonishes his readers to follow his example as he follows Christ (I Corinthians 4:16; 11:1; I Thessalonians 1:6; II Thessalonians 3:7, 9).
Why is this so breathtaking? Because of the Nature of God (James Boice). It is because of the attributes of God that we can never share.
God is self-existent- God has no origins and is accountable to no one. We are accountable to people (Parents, boss).
God is also Self-sufficient- God depends on no one. We need oxygen, food, clothing, homes.
God is Eternal- God has always existed and will always exist. There was a point for us where we did not exist.
God is Omnipotent- he is all-powerful. We will never be.
God is Omnipresent- God is everywhere at once. We will never possess this ability.
God is Omniscient- He knows all things. We will never stop learning.
There is also Majesty and Holiness.
However, there are attributes of God that we can imitate. Justice, wisdom, wrath, faithfulness, goodness, love, and compassion (et al.)
Paul says we are to “imitate God.” We do this because we are dearly loved Children. And we have the life of God within us to enable us to do the imitating.
Just as physical Genes should lead a child in the direction of a parent’s chief characteristics so should a Christian’s spiritual genes lead in the direction of the moral character of God.
These words continue to point us to our adoption and that we live in a family with one another. You take the characteristics of the family to which you belong. Since Paul’s readers belong to the family of God and as his children we receive love we should be like him and show love.
The imitation of God’s love is changed to the imitation of Christ and his love in Verse 2. Here the incarnation (God coming as a man named Jesus) is lived out. As Christians we are to imitate the love of Christ. That love is shaped by Christ giving of himself on the cross. This is an important verse because it focuses on Christ giving Himself.
Christ went to the cross voluntarily on our behalf. Ernst Kasemann “Christ death covers two ideas: in our place and for our benefit.”
Christ death is presented here as an example for our lives, but it is not just an example but it was a sacrifice that is to be imitated. Also Christ death was a substitution. Christ went in our place.
So there is the basis of the ethic that follows:
We keep pure by imitating God.
The primary way we imitate God is by living a life of love.
The best example of that, according to Ephesians 5:2, was Jesus’ sacrifice for us.
Words are cheap and actions speak louder than words so Jesus didn’t just stay in heaven and say that he loved us. He actually did something about it. He came from heaven to earth and he gave up his life so that we wouldn’t have to.
God loved you so much that he had to do something about his love.
You see, the type of love that God demonstrated is not flowery love talk, it’s really not that poetic, but it is roll up the sleeves let’s do something about it.
That’s why the most famous love chapter in the Bible says, “Love is patient, Love is kind, It does not envy. It does not boast.” Love is, love does not…those are action words.
“For God so loved the world…. that he gave his one and only son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
God so loved the world that he did something about it.
Billy Graham tells the story of a little boy who was frightened by the thunder and lightening during a terrible storm and he called out one night and said, “Daddy, come here I’m scared.” And the father said, “Son, don’t be scared, God loves you. He will take care of you.”
“I know God loves me,” the boy replied, “but right now I want somebody who will put their arms around me and hold me tight.”
When the storms of life come on like a hurricane, and they will, I think that’s the kind of role we should play in the world. You know, people don’t always need a sermon on the love of God, sometimes they just need a friend that will hold them tight.
That is why these words of Paul is so important to the Church.
Do you want to be an imitator of God?
To be like God means that love translates into action. So, who do you know that needs love today? Maybe, it’s the alcoholic family member that can’t seem to get a grip on life. Maybe, it’s the co-worker that was just fired from the company. Could it be the son or daughter going through a rebellious stage? Could it be the stranger on the street, the homeless man at the shelter, the pregnant teenager at the home, the kid addicted to drugs at the local jail?
Compassion is not enough, Jesus taught us that. If he had looked at us and said, “I feel bad for your condition you can have my sympathy”. If he said that we wouldn’t be sitting here right now. No, compassion is not enough. Compassion must translate into action the same way it did for Christ.
Check out verse 2: He loved us and he gave himself up for us. Give of yourself this week by looking for ways to help others and offer them true love. Have you ever had a situation in which you could tell somebody was about to hurt you and there was nothing you could about it?
It usually starts with, “Hey_____ I really appreciate you as a person, you’re really nice and have a good sense of humor….”
And you can tell that there’s a but coming.
But, I can’t stand to be in the same room as you.
But, you’re breath smells really bad.
But, you really give me the creeps.
That’s almost what Paul does here.
He starts out with the central message of the gospel, that is that God loves you. No matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done you can always come back to God, and He will forgive you and take you back.
That truth is why he sacrificed himself. He then says that infamous word…. but.
God loves you, but that doesn’t mean we live the way we want to live.
God did sacrifice for us but that doesn’t mean we don’t sacrifice for him.
I love to talk about the love and the grace of God.
But the Bible does have some specific things to say about our behavior.
And actually what the Bible says about behavior is actually motivated by God’s love. This Bible passage says that if you want to be an imitator of God then your behavior should really speak to that. He then lists a couple of things that Paul wants to emphasis to stay away from.
To Stay pure…
There should not even be a hint of sexual immorality in the life of a Christian (verse 3).
It seems that Paul is concerned with two things: one is prevention. If you don’t get too close to the edge, you’ll not fall over the cliff. The second is testimony. The world needs to know that Christians are distinctive. So don’t go to places were it is assumed everyone who goes there is immoral. Don’t dress like a pagan, advertising for something you are not selling. If you do these things you can lose your influence. You lose your distinctiveness. “Don’t let immorality or any impurity even be named among you.”
Gene Simmons (a member of the band of Kiss) claims to have slept with over 4600 women since becoming a rock star. He knows because he took a Polaroid picture of each woman the next morning. According to Simmons each day is to be lived to the fullest extent possible—looking for the greatest of personal pleasure.
We here stories like that, and I think we can all agree that’s immoral, but what is the Bible’s definition of immorality.
Sexual immorality is defined as sexual activity outside of God’s intended purpose and happens a lot in our culture. We hear stories about priests, marital affairs, teenage pregnancy and all sorts of other issues.
But don’t deceive yourself it was bad during Bible times too.
It was assumed that every man had a mistress on the side and every woman had another man on the side. Paul says, since this is so rampant do not even let there be a hint of it in your life.
Why would Paul say this?
Didn’t he realize that people would be reading this in the 21st century?
I mean this is pretty old school. It would be easier if Paul had said, “don’t engage in sexual immorality because you might get a disease.” “Don’t do it because you might become pregnant or get someone pregnant.”
The reason he gives is much more simple than that, Paul says don’t do it because it’s improper for God’s holy people. Translation: Holiness means that we’ve been set apart from God, so there are 3 reasons our holiness makes it improper.
God has a very high opinion of you; after all he died for you. You belong to him and when we engage in activity outside of his parameters it affects our relationship with him.
A popular teaching back then was that what you did with your body had no affect on your spirit. We know that’s not true, our actions do affect our spiritual growth as human beings for good or for bad.
Sin destroys our spiritual growth. As person belonging to God that means you have been set apart for a unique purpose, and that purpose is a whole lot different than Gene Simmons purpose.
God has a great and wonderful plan for your life, and when we seek after personal pleasure we can’t experience all that God has in store for us.
When we live as though our purpose is the attainment of pleasure, it cheapens God’s purpose and plan for our life.
It is our desire to be like God as much as possible.
So, it makes no sense to do something God has warned us about.
So, if our desire is to be like him we should stay away from it.
Christ Sacrifice should motivate us. You make whatever sacrifice is necessary to be faithful to him. I hear people say “You know I don’t think God expects me to be faithful or to be pure, because my spouse doesn’t understand me. Or I’m single or divorced and it is wild and you don’t understand.
When you are tempted to saying something like that remember the Cross. If Jesus had only done what was pleasurable, or felt good, He would have never gone to the Cross. He prayed take this cup from me. He bore in His body all that pain and suffering and humiliation on our behalf. And he said, “If you are going to follow me, be willing to take up your cross and deny yourself.”
There have been Christians who have gone to jail, had their bodies ripped apart by wild beast in the arena and lit on fire. There are Christian in other countries today being persecuted. Is it really to much sacrifice to say “NO” so some temporary pleasure?
Hebrews 12:4 says, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”
Secondly, Paul says to stay away from foolish talk or coarse joking (verse 4). I agree with a preacher, Fred Craddock who said, “When preaching it’s a lot easier to hold the camera than it is to be in the picture.”
Here’s what the passage says, think about all the wonderful things we can talk about as Christians.
We can talk about God’s amazing work in our lives.
We can talk about the blessings he continues to shower down.
We can pray without ceasing.
We can share our faith stories.
We can witness and testify to the greatness of God.
Sometimes, we cash those words in to talk foolishly, or coarsely, or obscenely.
You may not agree with his politics but Rush Limbaugh is right about one thing, “Words are powerful. Words mean things.” The Bible way of saying it is this, “Out of the overflow of his heart a man speaks.”
Our speech is an indicator about what’s going on inside our hearts.
Examine your speech; it may be trying to alert you to a heart problem.
I know that when I’m not where I need to be spiritually I tend to be more sarcastic, more cutting.
Pastor Challenges Church to Live Complaint-Free
The Rev. Will Bowen challenged his Kansas City, Mo., Christ Church Unity congregation to go 21 days straight without complaining. He then added more "shalt nots": sarcasm and gossip, reported McClatchy Newspapers.
The simple rules involved wearing a purple elastic wristband given to each congregation member. If you complain, you have to switch the band to the other wrist and start over — all based on an honor system.
Ushers initially handed out 230 wristbands and since then 300 more have been given to friends, family and co-workers of congregation members. "The point of this is to change," said Bowen, who had read it takes 21 days to form a new habit. Now, more than two months later, only one person — Bowen — has met the challenge. But, some other bracelet wearers say they’ve become slower to speak or less easy to anger.
Eighteen-year-old Michael Martin said: "I was switching my bracelet 10 times a day, then seven times a day, and then it got less and less, and then I made it a whole day without complaining." Martin’s mother said, "Immediately we realized that our conversations centered around sarcasm and criticizing others as well as our own members."
Focus on the Family Newsletter Via Mike Luke.
So, here’s a good test.
Do you feel excited and energized about God? Is your heart filled with thanksgiving? Do you feel an attitude of praise and worship welling up inside you? Talk about it, share it with others, and let’s choose our words wisely. Before we move on to some positive stuff Paul offers one last warning that I think we need to talk about.
Verse 5 says, “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”
When you first read that verse it appears that we’re all destined for hell because every one of us in this room at some point has struggled with immorality, impurity, or greed.
So you wonder:
“God, I had that affair ten years ago” or
“God I cheated on my taxes that one time”.
Is this talking about me, am I cut off?
The answer is no.
The key word in that verse is idolater and the simple definition is to seek after something instead of God.
So, let me describe this person to you.
This person is a person that has a driving passion for things that are immoral, impure or greedy more than they have a driving passion for God.
You see the two are not compatible; you cannot have a driving passion for God and a driving passion for things that are immoral, impure, or greedy.
Here’s another way the Bible says it, “No one can serve two masters.”
You say:
“Matthew, I’m in an impure sexual relationship, is that talking about me?”
“Matt, I’ve told some pretty obscene jokes, is that talking about me?””
“I can’t answer that for you.
I can tell you three things.
You know where your heart is—you know what your passion is. You know whether it’s for God or something else.
I can tell you that if you have concern about what I’ve said, there’s probably something there you need help with. Get involved in a relationship that will help you get through your problem. Take our Spiritual challenge and begin to grow in areas of your life. Have an accountability partner.
If I am talking about you, Jesus wants to and can forgive you. You just have to come to him and say I want things to be different. Get in touch with a leader at the church and we will help you with that.
Finally, Paul doesn’t just tell us what not to do; he actually gives some things that we can do. He talks about the difference between the light and the dark. Dark being the place before we knew God and light being the place after. In other words, people that are in the light don’t live like the darkness. Check out verses 8-10.
I think verse 10 encompasses all we’ve been talking about this morning.
“Find out what pleases the Lord.” The heart of a devoted follower of Christ says, “My desire is to find out what pleases the Lord and then to follow through on that action.”
That is the key to imitation.
If you wanted to imitate me you’d probably want to find out some of the things that make me happy (this is a test).
Things like chocolate pie, Georgia Bulldogs, music, the Godfather Trilogy.
It wouldn’t be a good imitation if:
Peanuts, The Florida Gators, Croquet, any movie with Jim Carrey.
That’s just not me.
It’s the exact same way with God.
You want to imitate God?
There are certain things that please him and certain things that make him unhappy. Paul even supplies us with a list of things that pleases the Lord.
All goodness
Righteousness
And truth.
Live a life of love.
Keep away from sin.
Find out what pleases him and do it.
IF we took a poll of the room the all of us would have to admit we have not lived up to the moral code the Lord expects of us. But the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
WE can become white as snow but only through Jesus Christ.
Martin Luther told about having an unusual dream. He said he looked out the window and here came Jesus down the path to his cottage. HE looked around and saw his house in complete disarray, he was embarrassed to have Jesus come into his home.
Jesus began knocking and no matter how hard Martin tried his house would not look clean. Finally he opened the door and in his dream he turned and all of a sudden his house was in perfect order.
People say I will get my life straighted out and then I will go to church or become a Christian or get serious about spiritual growth. That is not how it works. We can’t straighten up on our own. We come to Jesus and He cleanses us. He makes us whiter than snow.
