Here this morning we are moving our message series from Sunday nights to Sunday morning. Because I believe that this mini-series is one that our entire church needs to grapple with and I am praying that this concept will grip your heart. That when God calls you and I to walk in love, to walk in light, to walk in wisdom and to walk as a family; to walk at work and to walk in the World…he is calling us to do something that in and of our own strength we are unable to do.
Here this morning we consider the fact that Walking in Love is As Easy As Walking On Water. That is the premise behind this series that will see us through February and into March. If you haven’t been following along with our Sunday night series we have seen that Paul is writing this letter to a people that have a special love for him. Paul spent over 3 years of his life teaching, healing and ministering to the people there. While he was there idolaters became God fearers, broken lives became whole; feuding families found peace. Paul’s ministry was effective and in the first 3 chapters of this letter Paul recounts for the Ephesians believers all that is there’s in Christ Jesus. He reminds them that they have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus and that forgiveness is there’s because of the cross. That they have been brought into the family of God, that they now have a new home, a new heart and a new hope; all because of Christ’s redeeming and unimaginable love. In Chapter 3 Paul prays a hinge prayer whereon all that he has said and will said rests; a prayer that at the heart of it begs God to intervene in the believers’ lives and allow them to comprehend the width, the length, the height and the depth of God’s love. Do you know that God love you here today? Some of you need to hear that because you are having a hard time feeling loved…God loves you friend. Some of you need to hear that because you are having a hard time loving the unloveable…you need to remember God loves YOU. And God loves ME. Oh, why would we be so blessed to receive God’s LOVE?
God’s love is costly, caring, committed, conspicuous, and consecrating. And here this morning we are going to consider God’s command on our life to WALK IN LOVE.
• …be imitators… the word is mimetai—we get the word MIME…and in many ways the idea is expressed that we aren’t to merely imitate in words, but in deeds as well.
• Our children often imitate our mannerisms and the way we do things becomes ingrained in them without us ever teaching them…
When Paul says “BE IMITATORS OF GOD” you and I have to realize this isn’t a call to action in order to gain acceptance; but rather, it is a call to action that flows out of our adoption.
In 2015 I was invited to write a spoken word for an event called Compassion. The premise behind Compassion was the fact that Compassion that doesn’t lead to action is merely an emotional reaction and ultimately a distraction.
In that poem I am reminded of these lines here in Ephesians 5…
The Gospel is a message of love that God clearly has spoken, to the needy, confused the scarred and abused, to any and all who are broken. And in his great love we were predestined to a most glorious adoption, in our new family silence and indifference are simply not an option. It’s not who our Father is and it wasn’t how we were raised; no in His unfathomable love we were resurrected and this love has the power to amaze. And not simply to amaze, but to turn entire worlds upside down, for the love hope and peace that others desperately seek, in Christ we’ve already found. And this great treasure is far too valuable for us to bury, but with hearts that are steady and feet that are ready we must be willing to carry, the good news of the gospel to the diseased, the dirty the dying and the dangerous, telling them the story of God’s unchanging love and how He has changed us.
When we are told to imitate God, we are in essence commanded to live holy lives; unstained and untattered by the world; we are to be different in how we walk this life; and in a simple phrase Paul sums up the call to imitate God when he says; “AND WALK IN LOVE.” If there is one command that sums up all commands it is this one here…WALK IN LOVE.
For we recognize that the 2 commandments that Jesus said were greater than all commandments were, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. And 2nd is like unto it, love your neighbor as yourself.
The only was that you are going to be able to walk in love is…if you yourself are loved. Be imitators of God, as dear or as beloved children.
And in verse 2 he reminds them of the love that they have received and that they are to resonate in their lives…
As Christ also has loved us, and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma…in the Old Testament the offerings that were burnt on the altar were aromas that were sweet/pleasing to God. When we smell the aroma of cooking flesh we think of food; when God smelled the aroma he thought of forgiveness and holiness.
And here this morning I want to suggest to you that you and I are called by God to offer ourselves as living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable act of worship. And here this morning I want to suggest to you that one of the more challenging adventures in parenting is getting your children to fall in love with one of the most important acts of their life; TAKING A SHOWER.
And here this morning I want us to consider the command to WALK IN LOVE… and I want to share 3 quick actions that I believe will help us move into action and obediently look to share Christ’s love…
WE NEED TO BATHE IN THE GRACE OF GOD OFTEN!!!
1. Bathe in the Grace of God often.
As parents one of the joyful lessons we are forced to teach our children is the importance of baths and showers.
Let the gospel be your daily soap…
• We must never stray far from the Gospel…that Jesus offered Himself up for as, a sacrifice, a sweet smelling aroma…he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him,
2 Corinthians 2:14-17 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. AND WHO IS SUFFICIENT FOR THESE thiNgS? For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.
We are the aroma of Christ…something should smell different from you and from the lost. And the smell that should permeate your life is the sweet smell of love. A love that is sacrificing. Love in our day and age has been hijacked and replaced with a weak form of hatred called “tolerance.” In the name of love we are told to accept people for who they are…but I want you to notice that the call to WALK IN LOVE is followed up by how Christ walked in love;
• He didn’t ignore your sin, he bore your sin.
• He didn’t trivialize sin, he triumphed over sin.
• Jesus didn’t overlook our sin, he overwhelmed our sin with the Gospel.
• He didn’t okay your sin, He paid His life for your sin.
Fornication—porneia-pornography, any sexual sin;
Sex outside of marriage; homosexuality; adultery; uncontrolled lust, pornography—we were created to be sexual beings and we need to be aware of Satan’s attack in this arena.
The LBGTQ agenda of today is an affront on the Gospel; to rid the world of Genders is something Genesis will not allow. I have been blessed by 5 boys; the Bible says they will be men, biology says they will be men; they will be men… oh may God have mercy on our nation that has fallen prey to Romans 1 type thinking. Paul says, let it not even be named among you.
If you are living an adulterous lifestyle and you are in church; you are either miserable or you are mistaken.
All uncleanness—any form of impurity; God says, be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect; be holy as your father in heaven is holy; the standard of what God has called you and I to live up to is the standard of Christ.
Covetousness—insatiable desire for more; never satisfied
IMITATE GOD…mime… Paul says in Philippians 3:17, brothers, join in following my example, and note those who so walk…walk as we walk…but before you walk…watch…the word for NOTE is the Greek word SKOPOS…it is where we get the word scope and it implies a careful observation of or studying of another…
So, in bathing in the grace of God often, not only must we make the Gospel our daily soap; constantly bombarding our heart with the truth of Christ’s love for us… we also need to
Let the giants be your daily scope… skopos
1-the old…those that have lived life and walked with Jesus
2-the odd…2 Corinthians 5:12-14
3-the dead…the hall of Faith
4-the LORD…Jesus Christ Himself
Let gratitude be your daily pope…as in potpourri
Psalm 116:17: “I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.”
• We sacrifice our complaints.
• We sacrifice our fears
• We sacrifice our wants
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. HEBREWS 13:15
2. Speak the grace of God to soften.
Paul doesn’t just say not to do things impure, he moves into their speech..
No foolish talking or coarse jesting… foolish talking isn’t a command against humor. There is nothing wrong with a good joke from time to time…case in point; who in here knows who the shortest person in the Bible is? Zacchaeus is the usual answer, but in order to see Zacchaeus you have to overlook KNEE-HIGH-MIAH; and still yet you short change the shortest man in the Bible, Job’s poor counseling friend, BILDAD the SHOE-HEIGHT.
Humor is not anti-God. But foolish talking is making light of that which God calls dark; trivialize that which God calls evil and sin.
One of the way the enemy makes sin palatable to our senses is to make it seem harmless and humorous. Such is not the case; we will see in a moment, sin, at its core, is a crouching tiger that seeks to devour our soul; our testimony and our joy.
If you want to be a person who imitates God; who walks in love; you are going to have to be a person who keeps a right guard on your mouth. The Bible says, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Which do you find yourself speaking more of…the sin of the world or the Savior of the world? Don’t bend your morals to blend in with your company…
One person well noted,
Loose tongues within the church are far more hindering to the gospel than loose morals outside the church.
3. Remember we are all headed for a coffin.
• He addresses their identity, not their activity.
He doesn’t say if you have ever struggled, he’s saying if that is who you are.
Assess your relational reality; rather than just your religious formality. Ask yourself if you are truly a child of His? If so, are you beginning to look more like your Savior each and every day.
Worldly sorrow leads you to tears; Godly sorrow leads to turning.
What is at stake in this command to walk in love and to walk in holiness…the short answer, everything. The long answer, your very eternity. Verse 6 Paul says, LISTEN, I KNOW THAT PEOPLE MIGHT TELL YOU IT IS NO BIG DEAL; DON’T LISTEN TO THEM. THE WRATH OF GOD IS REAL AND IT WILL BE POURED OUT ON THE SONS OF DISOBEDIENCE. IN ESSENCE HE DISTINGUISHES THE CHARACTER OF A SON OF GOD—ONE MARKED BY THE LOVE FOR HIS FATHER;
WITH THE CHARACTER OF A SON OF DISOBEDIENCE- ONE MARKED BY LUST OF THE FLESH.
