Imitating My Father
Matt 5:48, Philippians 2:3-5, John 13:1-5; Luke 6:36; Peter 1:16
Today I want to talk to you about Imitating God.
Ever since we were kids, we have always tried to be someone else. Someone we could look up to, someone greater, more powerful, and invisible.
Before we step in to the Scripture, I want to tell you another true story about a baseball player that throughout his career all he wanted to do was to be like his dad.
How many of you like baseball? Ever heard of Cal Ripken Jr.? He played baseball for the Baltimore Orioles in Maryland.
On September 1995, Cal Ripken Jr. broke the baseball record that many believed would never be broken: Lou Gehrig’s record of playing over 2100 consecutive games.
Ripken gives much of the credit for his success to the example and teaching of his father. Throughout his life, Cal Ripken all he wanted to do in his life was to imitate his dad and make him proud.
During the 1996 season Cal Ripken Jr. was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame. During his acceptance speech, Cal Ripken recalls an emotional moment in his book “The only way I know”:
He says in his book:
It was difficult. I wasn’t certain I could say what I wanted about my father and what he means to me. So I told a little story about my two children, Rachel six years old and Ryan three years old.
They’d been fighting for weeks, and I explained how one day I heard Rachel arguing with Ryan saying, “You’re just trying to be like Daddy.”
After a few moments of listening to the arguing, I asked Rachel, “What’s wrong with trying to be like Dad?
When Cal Ripken Jr. finished telling his story, he looked at his father and said, “That’s what I’ve always tried to do.”
So here we see a baseball player trying to be like his dad and now his child, Ryan was trying to be like him.
From a Christian perspective, what could be more right than to try to be like our heavenly Father? What are the benefits of imitating our heavenly Father? What do we gain? The answer is in the book of Proverbs. To summarize the writing from King Solomon, to imitate God only brings true and lasting greatness to our lives.
So how do we even begin to imitate our heavenly Father? When the word “Father” comes to mind, what do you picture in your head? What do you see our heavenly Father being like? How can we imitate Him?
Please understand that imitating God does not mean we walk around in white linens, grow facial hair, and walk around with lightning bolts in our hands.
First, I want you to know that we can never be like our heavenly Father; He is literally one of a kind. He is Lord of lords, and King of kings.
Imitating God means that we should treat and love others the same way He treats us and loves us.
So today, I want to discuss four points that can help us to begin to imitate our heavenly Father:
1. We are to imitate our Father by being perfect in love- Matt 5:48
V43 You have heard people say, “Love your neighbors and hate your enemies.” V44 But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you. V45 Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people. And he sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong. V46 If you love only those people who love you, will God reward you for this? V47 If you greet only your friends, what’s so great about this? Don’t even believers do that? V48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Christ calls us to be perfect in relationships that not only surround us, such as the relationships of our friends and families, but also with our enemies.
This story takes place shortly after Christ is tested in the wilderness by the devil, and shortly after He begins to preach. He begins speaking to His disciples about “love” and what it means to love your friends, family, and your enemies.
Christ had his friends whom He loved, but He also had His enemies that wanted to kill Him. But He loved them all the same. Even Judas, who betrayed Him.
The “perfection” that Christ talks about in the end of this story deals with us loving our enemies and praying for anyone who abuses us or turns their backs on us.
The reason why this behavior needs perfection is because it takes a “special kind of character” in our soul to love those that do not love us back.
This perfection that we are to imitate allows us to treat all people the same and see all people as a “good” creation of God Himself.
V44 – V45 says that when we love our enemies and pray for them after they mistreat us, we are acting like God.
God makes no differences with people that love Him or not. He lets the sun shine on those that love Him and those that don’t.
I want you to take time when you are alone, while calling out to God, to help you love those that have done you wrong. You cannot do this on your own because of our sinful nature. You need God’s help to get you past those relationships that have caused you hurt.
2. We are to imitate our Father by being servants to others – Philippians 2:3-5, John 13:1-5
Philippians 2:3-5
V3 Don't be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves. V4 Care about them as much as you care about yourselves V5 and think the same way that Christ Jesus thought.
How does being proud keep us from serving others? This behavior builds a wall in our hearts and hardens our ability to live as God demands.
Before we move further, think about what “being proud” is all about and what are the side effects it has on our lives.
When we become prideful we begin to rejects authority and we believe that we are better than others.
Pride motivates emotional sins, such as: fear, worry, anxiety, hatred, anger, violence, murder, and guilt.
Pride grows in bitterness, vindictiveness, revenge, gossip, slander, and judging.
All these negative things keep us from humbling to others and serving the way Christ did. We are to care for people just as much as we care about ourselves.
Ever heard the saying “I would you my shirt of my back”, that means that you would be willing to go to the extremes to ensure that others have what they need, that they are taken care of.
Are you willing to serve others by giving up your shirt of your back?
In fact, this is what Jesus did in John chapter 13. He humbled his position as King of heaven and earth to ensure that the disciple’s feet were washed.
John 13:1-5
This is the scene of the Last Supper with Jesus and His disciples:
V1 It was before Passover, and Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and to return to the Father. He had always loved his followers in this world, and he loved them to the very end.
V2 Even before the evening meal started, the devil had made Judas decide to betray Jesus.
V3 Jesus knew he had come from God and would go back to God. He also knew that the Father had given him complete power. V4 So during the meal Jesus got up, removed his outer garment, and wrapped a towel around his waist. V5 He put some water into a large bowl. Then he began washing his disciples' feet and drying them with the towel he was wearing.
Washing people’s feet in those days was the lowest position any person could hold. Back then, the shoes of the disciples were sandals, and in a sandy environment, the feet were the dirtiest part of the body.
So why did Jesus wash the disciples feet?
Jesus did this to show humility and that even He was not beneath serving others. We are to take care of one another in any manner possible. Jesus could easily have said “I am God; I don’t have to wash anyone’s feet. They should be washing my feet”. But He didn’t. He humbled Himself and did not let pride interfere with serving others.
3. We are to imitate our Father by being merciful – Luke 6:36
We are also called to have mercy on others. Look at the Gospel of Luke.
V36 Have pity (mercy) on others, just as your Father has pity (mercy) on you.
In what manners has Christ shown mercy to us?
He showed mercy on us by taking the walk to the crucifixion. A walk that you and I should have taken instead of Him. His mercies extend from creation, to the cross, and His everlasting dominion.
I’ll tell you how God showed mercy on me:
I was a terrible sinner. God forgave me of all the awful things I did and blessed me with many people who love me as well as His perfect love for me.
Today, I am new, happy, and free from the tangled mess the devil made of my life. God did it just because He loved me even though I hated myself.
He did this because He had mercy on me and he can do the same if you humble yourself before God and ask Him to forgive you of your sins.
4. We are to imitate our Father by being holy - Peter 1:16
V16 For it is written: “Be holy because I am holy”.
Is God holy? Of course He is, but in what sense?
God is Holy because that is his nature. This sounds hard to understand but think about it for a minute.
If you were going to imitate the standard of holiness, you would want someone who was perfectly-holy.
In simple terms, think of basketball for a minute, would you want me to set the standards on dunking or Michael Jordan?
Well, the same is with Christ. He is only “standard of Holy” that we should follow because He is the only person to be Holy. No one else is.
But this does not mean we shouldn’t try. It’s our destiny to do our best and be holy.
God states in Leviticus 19:3 that he is holy. If He wasn't, then He would not be worthy of our praise and worship.
This is what God wants from us in life. He wants us to live a holy life, a life worthy of praise.
This is the question and purpose for our lives. Do you ever wonder why we are here and what the meaning of your life is? To live a holy life. To live for God.
We live a holy life by taking the Word of God and hanging it around our necks and writing His Word in our hearts (Proverbs 3:3). This means that we build our character in a Godly way so that others can see what’s inside our hearts.
In closing, we shouldn’t just imitate God in privacy. We should do it also in the open so that other can benefit from His goodness through us.
We can try to imitate our earthly fathers, and there is nothing wrong with that; however, know that your dad will let you down. They will because they are human and have faults.
Our heavenly Father, who is truly worth imitating, will never forsake us. Jesus asked His Heavenly Father prior to the crucifixion to “let this cup pass from me”. This cup was the absence of the Fathers presence. That’s why Jesus went through that dark time. Our heavenly Father departed Christ so He would never depart from us.
Christ suffering at the cross became His main testimony. So let your suffering in your life be your testimony to others. Be a witness of the glory of God for the world to see.
We are to let others see Christ in the things we do on a daily basis. We are to show perfect love not only to our friends and families, but also to our enemies.
We are also to serve others in unthinkable ways, even to the lowest means possible. Christ lowered His standards, so what keeps us from doing the same? Would you wash your neighbor’s feet? How low would you go to serve others?
We are also called to show mercy and love on all, friends and enemies. Mercy and love are written in the right hand of God. Mercy and love are normal characters of who God is, just like smiling is normal for us.
We are also to be holy because God is holy. It is impossible for God not to be holy. His holiness is louder than thunder and brighter than lighting. His holiness is literally out of this world.
It should be our goal and desires to imitate God to the best of our abilities. If you have had a hard time imitating God in the past, I stand here today to let you know that it is not too late.
But you can’t imitate God on your own. You need the Holy Spirit, you need a rebirth in Christ. He desires and wants you to accept Him, not just as Lord of your life, but also as a Savior.
The apostle Paul writes in Corinthians “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.”
