Title: The Big “Do”
(A long, long time ago, I recall watching a Bill and Gloria Gaither special on television… and thinking, “Wow! Those women have big hair!” The Big “Do” has nothing to do with big hair.)
Text: Ephesians 4:25-5:2
Thesis: When we imitate God we live a life filled with love toward others.
Introduction
I see the Oreo people rolled out a new Oreo cookie in July. It is the New Oreo Thin… the Oreo you love, now thinner, a more grown-up option.
The National Biscuit Company rolled out the first batch of Oreos on March 6, 1912. Over a hundred years later we are still twisting them, dunking them and loving them. Oreos have a 71% cookie to 29% cream ratio. They are sold in more than 100 countries and more than 450 billion Oreo cookies have been sold since 1912. The Oreo people figured out how to do Oreos right for the long haul.
Our text today speaks to how to be Christians the right way…
I. Living instead of…
Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Ephesians 4:23
Living “instead of” means to live other than or to do otherwise.For example you might say, “Instead of going to Starbucks, I’ll make coffee at home, yell my name out incorrectly, and then light a $5 bill on fire.”
Our text says throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life… instead, let the spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy. 4:22-24
The wrong way to be a Christian is to live a godless life.
A. Live no longer as the Gentiles do, 4:17-19
Live no longer as Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame… Ephesians 4:17-19
If this were written to us today it would read like this, “Live no more as Americans do…” This was written to people who were “ethnically” Gentiles, instructing them to no longer live as Gentiles “ethically.” This is not about our changing our ethnicity and who we are, it is about changing our ethics and how we live.
The word to us is not that we no longer live as Americans, it is that we no longer live like Americans
Instead of living out of a life separated from God that is characterized by meaningless pursuits, a lack of spiritual understanding, ignorance of the truth and a petrified mind and heart…
B. Live like God, 4:24
Put on your new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy. Ephesians 4:24
In her book, Acedia & Me, Kathleen Norris writes, “I have become like the child I once knew who emerged one morning from a noisy, chaotic Sunday School classroom to inform the adults who had overheard the commotion and had come to see what was going on, ‘We’re being bad and we don’t know how to stop.’” (Kathleen Norris, Acedia & Me, Riverhead Hardcover, 2008, p. 16)
A few weeks ago the Washington Post reported on an incident that occurred in Marcy’s Diner in Portland, Maine. A couple had come into the diner and sat at the counter with their 21 month old toddler. The toddler immediately began to cry… not a tiny little infant cry but the cry of a really unhappy toddler.
For 40 minutes she carried on at which point the owner of the diner, who was working the counter snapped. From behind the counter she slammed her hands down, looked right at the toddler, pointed at her and shouted, ‘This needs to stop!’” (Darlene Cunha, A kid cries in a restaurant. The owner yells at her. The Washington Post, July 21, 2015)
Here is the point. At some point we realize we are not who we should be or want to be. We are critical, mean-spirited, judgmental, racist, angry, hypocritical, out of control, impatient, we want porn, we are miserly and greedy, we are deceitful, we gossip, we create turmoil and generate unhappiness around us, we are abusive… and on it goes.
At some point we slam our hands down on the counter and pointing to ourselves we say, “This needs to stop!”
How do we go about stopping the old ways and putting on our new way or nature?
II. Practice being like God, Ephesians 4:25-32
Put on your new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy. Ephesians 4:24
There is an interesting comment, almost an aside, in our text today. It is made in reference to controlling our anger. The essence of the comment is this, “Do not give the devil a foothold in your life…” Ephesians 4:27
This week we were shocked to see what 1 million gallons of contaminated mine water looks like when it flows down the Animas River. EPA workers inadvertently triggered the spill while attempting to remove a backfill from a mine portal which resulted in the plug blowing out and releasing the polluted mine water. (Jesse Paul and Bruce Finley, The Denver Post, Animas River Fouled by 1 Million Gallons of Contaminated Mine Water, 8/6/15)
Sometimes we think the secret to living a Christ-like life is to keep whatever is in us all bottled up and under control. If we can keep the plug from blowing out we can prevent a spilling of the sludge we have bottled up in our lives.
My sense is that while there is some truth to suppressing our urges and impulses this text is not about keeping stuff in… it is about keeping stuff out.
I think that not giving a foothold to the devil is a transferable concept. Whenever we have a lapse in our thoughts, words and deeds, we have left a foothold for the devil and for continuing in sin. In other words when we have a lapse in practicing our faith, we leave a way for the devil and those things that are contrary to the character of the Christ-like person to get in.
We understand that a foothold is a place to put your foot in when you are climbing… a foothold gives you a way to take the next step. While a foothold is typically thought of as a good thing it is not necessarily so. A foothold is also a situation in which someone has obtained the power of influence needed to get what is wanted. It is a way into our lives whereby Satan and sin may gain power and influence. Like the proverbial door-to-door salesman who gets his foot in the door… so it goes when we give a way for Satan or other influences to intrude into our lives.
This piece of out text is a remarkable in that it gives us a clear idea of those things that are negative and need to be kept out of our lives and those things positive that are to come from our lives.
Note the list of do’s instead of don’ts:
A. Tell the truth, Ephesians 4:25 (Stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth.)
B. Control your Anger, Ephesians 4:26-27 (Don’t lose you temper and keep short accounts.)
C. Work, Ephesians 4:28 (Stop stealing and start work and be generous.)
D. Discipline your speech, Ephesians 4:29 (Don’t let foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be helpful and encouraging.)
E. Live right, Ephesians 4:30 (Do not live in such a way as to grieve the Holy Spirit. Remember you are a child of God.)
F. Be kind and forgiving, Ephesians 4:31-32 (Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words and slander as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tender-hearted, forgiving one another just as God through Christ has forgiven you.)
In 2008 Malcolm Gladwell published his best-selling book, Outliers. In his research about successful people he discovered that two key factors are key to success: Potential and Practice.
In his book he cites the 10,000 Hour-Rule. The 10,000 Hour-Rule is simply this: It takes 10,000 hours of practice to become really good at something. A high school garage band in Liverpool, England played 8 hours a night, 7 days a week, 1,200 times before they became The Beatles. Mozart composed for 20 years before he wrote his greatest work. Bobby Fischer played chess for 10 years before he became a Chess Master. Jesus’ disciples followed Jesus around getting practical experience for 3 years before they became the men whom God used to introduce Jesus to the world.
It takes a lot of stopping and starting to learn to think and speak and act like a Christ-like person. It takes a lot of being aware of the negatives in our lives in order to practice instead of. It takes a lot of catching yourself in half-truths or gossip or bigotry or unkind words to become totally transparent, totally wholesome in our conversations, totally unbiased in our judgments and totally kind and forgiving.
Practice turning the negative in your life into positives.
What then is the result of working on our character?
III. Mirror God
Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do because you are his dear children. Ephesians 5:1-2
In ancient Greece oratory students were instructed in theory, imitation and practice. Having mastered theory they were to study master orators, imitate them and practice speaking just like they spoke.
When we imitate God we, mirror god-likeness. In imitating Jesus, we mirror Christ-likeness. And when we do that there are two results:
A. Live a life of sacrificial love, 5:2a (Live a life filled with love or overflowing with love following the example of Jesus…)
B. Please God, 5:2b (A pleasing aroma or sweet smelling sacrifice to God… BACON!)
Following the death of Leonard Nimoy quite a lot has been written about his Spock character on the Star Trek series. They say that Leonard Nimoy, as a method actor, lived as Spock. The New York Times quoted him saying, “To this day, I sense Vulcan speech patterns, Vulcan social attitudes and even Vulcan patterns of logic and emotional suppression in behavior. Given the choice,” he said, “if I had to be someone else, I would be Spock.”
Leonard Nimoy became Spock through a long process of imitation… and as we imitate Jesus, thinking what Jesus would think, saying what Jesus would say, acting as Jesus would act and loving as Jesus loves, we will see the same change in our lives.
And when we live out Christ-like love it looks like this: Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice and rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. I Corinthians 13:4-7
When our lives do not reflect I Corinthians 13:4-7… it isn’t love!
Conclusion
The author Kathleen Norris had an experience when she joined a Presbyterian church on a bitterly cold January day. She wondered if she was making a serious mistake, since she still felt like an outsider to the church and wondered if she always would. And yet, she knew that somehow, in ways she did not yet understand, that making this commitment was something that she needed to do.
Before the service, she and the other new members gathered with some of the elders. One elder was a man that she had never liked much, he always seemed ill-tempered.
The minister had asked this elder to greet the new members, and standing awkwardly before the small group he cleared his throat and mumbled, “I’d like to welcome you to the body of Christ.”
Kathleen Norris reports that the minister’s mouth dropped open, as did hers. Neither of them had ever heard words remotely like this come from the elder’s mouth. “Like distant thunder, the words made me more alert,” writes Norris. “My own small mind had just been jolted, and the world seemed larger, opened in a new way.” The elder’s words — those few, simple words of welcome — had power. They were the truth of God, reflecting off an ill-tempered elder.
“Be imitators of God,” says Paul. This means to copy God’s grace and love and hospitality, even if we haven’t come close to divine perfection ourselves. When the elder said, “I’d like to welcome you to the body of Christ,” he was being an imitator of God, even though he was still an unpleasant person himself. He reflected God’s love, and it changed Kathleen Norris’ life.
Our text speaks to the tension between negative characteristics vs. positive characteristics and in the end we are given one Big “Do” imperative: Imitate God in everything you do.
