Eph. 5:1-20
Imitation is called the sincerest form of flattery!
But we sometimes need to be careful who we are imitating!
A new missionary recruit went to Venezuela for the first time. He was struggling with the language and didn’t understand a whole lot of what was going on. Intending to visit one of the local churches, he got lost, but he eventually got back on track and found the place. Having arrived late, the church was already packed. The only pew left was the one on the front row.
So as not to make a fool of himself, he decided to pick someone out of the crowd to imitate. He chose to follow the man sitting next to him on the front pew. As they sang, the man clapped his hands, so the missionary recruit clapped too. When the man stood up to pray, the missionary recruit stood up too. When the man sat down, he sat down.
When the man held the cup and bread for the Lord’s Supper, he held the cup and bread. During the preaching, the recruit didn’t understand a thing. He just sat there and tried to look just like that man in the front pew. Then he perceived that the preacher was giving announcements. People clapped, so he looked to see if the man was clapping. He was, and so the recruit clapped too.
Then the preacher said some words that he didn’t understand and he saw the man next to him stand up. So he stood up too. Suddenly a hush fell over the entire congregation. A few people gasped. He looked around and saw that nobody else was standing. So he sat down.
After the service ended, the preacher stood at the door shaking the hands of those who were leaving. When the missionary recruit stretched out his hand to greet the preacher, the preacher said, in English, "I take it you don’t speak Spanish."
The missionary recruit replied, "No, I don’t. It’s that obvious?"
"Well, yes," said the preacher. "I announced that the Acosta family had a newborn baby boy, and would the proud father please stand up."
Today we see that Paul continues on contrasting the life of an unbeliever over against a Christ follower. The point is there should be a difference! We are not to mimic those who are far from God, but rather, we should imitate God.
How is that possible? How can we be like God? –
Like a child who imitates mom or dad. Watching them as they work and live. Copying their mannerisms, getting into dress up grown up clothes. (Now granted this is before they become teenagers and begin to think their parents don’t know anything and don’t know what they are talking about!)
Sometimes I think we act more like teenagers in our relationship to God than we do young children. Jesus said let the little children come unto me because to such belongs the kingdom of God. (Matt. 19:14)
Here Paul says, like little children, be imitators of God. But how?
Are we to perform miracles? Cast out demons? Heal the sick? Bring the rain? Move mountains?
How do we imitate God? Well, fortunately He tells us some ways to do that in our text!
First, let’s look at what we are not to do as those who are striving to be imitators of Christ.
I. We Shouldn’t Be Practicing Fruitless Deeds Of Darkness. (Vss. 3-14)
A. We must control our impulses and lusts. (vs. 3)
1. This speaks of our lust for sexuality.
2. It also speaks of our lust for wealth
3. It speaks of our lust for things that are shameful. (vs. 12)
4. We live in a culture that is moved by impulses and deeds.
a) All our media is saturated with efforts to persuade us in one direction or another by using sex appeal or wealth.
b) We live in a pornographically saturated society and we are not to allow ourselves to be a part of it!
B. We must control our tongue. (vss. 4; Matthew 12:33-37)
1. We noted last week that the most crucial part of you and I demonstrating to a watching world that we are followers of Jesus is in how we use our tongues!
2. The Bible here says that our speech should be markedly different than those who use foul language. – filthy language, cursing, degrading talk
3. Foolish talk - morologia - used only here in the NT –
a) Derived from the Greek word, Moros which means stupid or dull.
b) It is where we get the word moron in our English.
c) It is stupid talk – talk only fitting for someone who is mentally deficient.
4. We should even refrain from course language. – This refers to talk that is more pointed and determined.
a) It is the taking of every conversation and turning it toward sexual innuendo and downgrading others.
b) It is the talk of a late night talk show host where their humor is often times on the edge and often over the edge.
5. Instead we should be people who use our speech to show thankfulness for God’s blessings upon our lives.
a) We are to demonstrate attitudes of thankfulness through the words we speak.
b) These words are a direct and clear signal of what is going on in our hearts.
c) Our words reflect a heart that is vile and degraded or a heart that is filled with the joy of knowing the presence of God day by day.
d) People can tell based on our use of words.
6. Jesus made this abundantly clear in Matthew 12:
Matthew 12:33-37 (NIV)
33 "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
7. Our words are key in you and I imitating Christ Jesus!
8. We know that this is often times difficult for us because there are so many temptations to speak falsely or to say things about others that aren’t true.
ILL. I love the humorous story I heard about the temptations to sin. Years ago, the story goes, a San Diego bank hired a private investigator to track down a bank robber and retrieve stolen funds. The search led to Mexico. The investigator crossed the border and then, realizing he would need a Spanish interpreter, opened up the telephone book and hired the first interpreter listed in the Yellow Pages.
After many days, he finally captured the bandit and, through the interpreter, asked him, "Where did you hide the money?" In Spanish, the thief replied, "What money? I have no idea what you’re talking about."
With that, the investigator drew his pistol, pointed it at the suspect, and said to the interpreter, "Tell him that if he doesn’t tell me where the money is, I will shoot him where he stands."
Upon receiving this message, the bank robber said to the interpreter, "Señor, I have hidden the money in a coffee can, under the fourth floorboard, in the second-floor men’s room of the Palacio Hotel on Via Del Rio in La Paz."
"What did he say?" the investigator asked the interpreter.
"Señor," said the interpreter as he thought for a moment, "he says he is prepared to die like a man!"
9. We can laugh but we seriously know the constant tug of temptation to revert back to our old ways.
a) We know how easy it is to find ourselves speaking words that shouldn’t be coming out of a Christian’s mouth.
b) We know how easy it is to be tempted to say foolish things, even coarse joking that goes “over the line”.
Trans: Another way people demonstrate that they are not imitators of God is seen in verse 3:
C. The consequences of such behavior is God’s Wrath. (vss. 5-14)
1. Such a person who lives and behaves this way is an idolater.
2. What is an idolater?
3. Unfortunately we too easily become idolaters by allowing our love to focus on things that are not God.
a) If we would be honest with ourselves, we all struggle with idols.
b) Let me ask myself, "What do I most love?" "What do I most think about?
c) In what channel do I usually find my thoughts flow when unrestrained?" for thoughts flow to the idol as water to the lowest spot in a field.
4. If, then, the thoughts flow continually to work, the business, the investment, to the husband, wife, or child; to that which feeds lust or pride, worldliness or covetousness, self-conceit or self-admiration—that is the idol which, as a magnet, attracts the thoughts of the mind towards it.
5. An idolater is anyone who looks in places and things other than God for fulfillment and pleasure.
6. Such a person has no inheritance in the kingdom of God!
a) In other words, they are not Christ-followers.
b) The things mentioned here and in verses 7-13 make it clear that such behavior is the opposite of what it means to be an imitator of God.
7. Don’t let anyone confuse you or mislead you into thinking you can do these things and get away with it. (vs. 6)
8. God’s Wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Don’t partner up with them!
Trans: So we see clearly what one who is not imitating God looks like. The truth is that we should live as those who are in the light and not the darkness. Light equals – “out in the open for all to see”
Darkness equals that which is done in secret because it is shameful. The Bible tells us to have nothing to do with these fruitless deeds of darkness.
But now let’s use the rest of our time to focus on what an imitator of God looks like.
II. We Imitate God As We Live Spirit Filled Lives. (Vss. 15-20)
A. We imitate God as we love others sacrificially. (vss. 1&2)
1. Live a life of love.
a) Love is complex, it is hard to nail down.
b) What we do know about love is that the real thing is all consuming.
c) Love is a focus one has and it is usually understood whether it is admitted or not.
2. There is an old Latin proverb, that "love and a cough are two things impossible to be concealed;"
3. The love we are to demonstrate is to be similar to the self-sacrificing love of our Lord and Savior.
a) Who gave his life for our salvation!
b) He loved the world so much, He died in our place, to pay our penalty.
c) He was our substitute on the cross, He who had no sin died for you and me who are covered in sin!
4. So the love we are to imitate is a self-sacrificing love where we put others before ourselves.
5. In 1John 4:10-12 it says: This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
6. We show God and flatter Him with our love for others.
a) We should be known for being loving!
b) People meet us for the first time and as they walk away they think, “wow, that person is the nicest, kindest person I ever have met.”
c) Our neighbors, our co-workers, our family members, the people we talk to on the phone. They should finish interacting with us and think, “wow, what a kind, compassionate, loving person!”
ILL. This past week I was at a picnic with families from the basket ball program at Northern High School. A new family….
7. Do you imitate GOD as you live life showing love?
Trans: So one way we imitate God is by our love. Jesus told us, “all people will know you are my disciples, my followers, by your demonstrating love to one another. A second way our text shows us we are good imitators’ is:
B. We Imitate God as we expose those things that offend Him. (Vss. 11 & 13; Psalms 139:11-12; Jeremiah 23:24; Gal. 6:1)
1. Verse 11 tells us to shed light on those things that are trying to remain hidden.
2. God is an expert on recognizing what is attempting to be hidden and revealing it.
Psalms 139:11-12 (NIV)
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
Jeremiah 23:24 (NIV)
24 Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.
3. Like God, as imitators of Him, we are to be a people who are willing to see sin as sin and call it what it is.
a) In other words we are not to ignore those things that are an affront to God.
b) No place for political correctness.
c) When we see a brother or sister in Christ involved in activities that are not honoring to God we are to gently rebuke them.
Galatians 6:1 (NIV)
1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
C. We imitate God as we are consistently vigilant about imitating Him. (vss. 15&17; John 5:19)
1. We need to watch how we live and be wise about our words and our actions.
2. We reflect God by making the most of all the opportunities He gives us to live for Him.
a) This comes as we are observant to the opportunities he gives us.
b) This means having our eyes open and all our senses alert to what God is doing around us.
c) Jesus lived His life this way as He said as much in John 5:19.
John 5:19 (NIV)
19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
3. We imitate God as we watch what he does and then wisely do the same things!
a) We must do so daily, hourly even.
b) This is our calling, our purpose.
c) It is the will of God.
4. Verse 17 says we are to be wise as we understand what the Lord’s will is for us.
a) Anything short of this is foolishness.
b) We know God’s will as we read the Scriptures and pray and speak with other believers who have the Spirit of God in them.
Trans: The fourth way we imitate God is:
D. We imitate God as we constantly choose to be filled with the Holy Spirit. (vs. 18; Gal. 5:22-23; John 3:34)
1. Paul draws a comparison between being drunk on wine and being filled with the Holy Spirit.
a) The comparison is found in the concept of what is controlling our life.
b) When intoxicated with alcohol we are under it’s influence. We talk different, we walk different, we make choices differently
c) The alcohol directs and impacts our very being!
2. When filled with the Holy Spirit we are to allow the Holy Spirit to direct our words and actions.
a) He wants to guide us and point us in the way we should go.
b) We must allow the Holy Spirit to direct us and impact our life!
3. The results of alcohol are visible, so in the same way the Holy Spirit should be visible to the world, we should be “drunk” with the Spirit.
4. The verb here to be filled is in a Greek tense that is continual.
a) We are to continually be working at being filled.
b) Why? Because we leak!
c) As we sin and are disobedient we lessen our dependence upon God and the Holy Spirit’s impact on our life.
d) Last Sunday in 4:30 we saw that our very words can grieve the Holy Spirit!
5. We must continually confess our sins and pray and ask God to refill us once again.
a) This ongoing process is needed for us to be filled and bringing glory to God who we are called to imitate.
b) When is the last time you asked God to fill you with the Holy Spirit?
6. Please know that when we ask Jesus into our lives as our Lord and Savior we don’t receive bits and pieces of the Holy Spirit.
John 3:34 (NIV)
34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.
a) He is the third person in the Holy Trinity and not some disembodied force.
b) And we receive Him fully and totally into our lives when we become Christians.
c) The issue is we don’t always fully yield to His work in us and through us.
7. We must yield ourselves to the HS to be filled!
ILL. Glove illustration
8. We know whether or not we or anyone else is truly filled as they imitate God in their lives by demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit. (Gal. 5:22-23)
Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
E. We imitate God as we worship Him. (vs. 19& 20)
1. These last two verses really speak about being people who reflect and imitate God as we worship Him.
2. Our worship helps us imitate God.
a) As people see our love for Jesus they see God in us.
b) Our reciting Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs all bring Glory to God and demonstrate His stamp on us.
3. Throughout the Bible we read of people worshipping God by singing songs and hymns of praise.
a) The last thing Jesus did with His disciples before heading out to the Garden of Gethsemane was sing a hymn together.
b) Paul and Silas sang hymns of praise to God while in prison.
4. We should worship God as we continually give thanks for all He has done!
5. We are to offer ourselves constantly as a fragrant offering!
Romans 12:1 (NIV)
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
Conclusion:
Are you imitating God?
Pastor Mark Thompson of Faribault, Minnesota, suffered terrible knife wounds from an assailant in his home, in October 1988. One of the many consequences of his difficult recovery was being forced to miss watching his son Chris run in the state cross-country championship meet. Pastor Thompson commissioned his brother Merv to go in his stead.
According to the account in the St. Paul Pioneer Press & Dispatch, Mark told his brother, "I can’t be there to see Chris run. So I want you there at the beginning of the race. Holler a lot. ... Then at the end, I want you to really cheer loudly. And I want you to make your voice sound like mine."
Merv heeded the advice, and Chris ran a strong race, finishing second. Merv, also a pastor, discerned the theological truth in the story. "That’s what Jesus wants us to do." he said. "Make your voice sound like mine."
