A city girl visited a farm one day and saw some farm animals out in the field. She asked the farmer: “Mister, why doesn’t that cow have any horns?” The farmer thought about that for a moment, and then he said “Well, cattle can do a powerful lot of damage with horns. Sometimes we keep ‘em trimmed down with a hacksaw. Other times we can fix up the young’uns by puttin’ a couple drops of acid where their horns would grow, and that stops ‘em cold. And then… there are some breeds of cattle that just never do grow horns.
“But ma’am, the reason that cow don’t have no horns… is because it’s a horse”
Now, that city girl was right about one thing – a cow ought to look like a cow. If an animal doesn’t look like a cow – well, it probably isn’t a cow.
(pause) So, the question for you today is: what do you look like? I once read that The name "Christian" is derived from the Greek word christianos, which means "little Christ." In other words – if you call yourself a Christian – you ought to look like Christ. You ought to act like Jesus. But, if you don’t look or act like Jesus, you might not belong to Him. SO… DO YOU LOOK LIKE JESUS?
This morning’s text talks to us about how we can look like Jesus. It tells us how we can become “little Christs.” And it says we can do that by imitating Jesus. Ephesians 5:1-2 says “be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” You see, we should walk in love. We should be known for our loving behavior, because we belong to a loving Savior.
ILLUS: I’ve been told that waitresses often hate to work on Sunday afternoons because that’s when churches let out and “church-goers” stop in. And many of those church goers can be the most difficult customers waitresses can have. They can be rude, demanding and harsh. And one of the things that makes that so difficult is that these waitresses KNOW those folks shouldn’t behave like that. These folks are supposed to be Christians, but that’s not how they are acting. They’re behavior is not reflecting how Christians were supposed to be raised!
You see. Christians should be raised to walk in love because that’s what Jesus did. Jesus walked in love.
What I find interesting about our text is that. Our passage doesn’t tell us how to treat people OUTSIDE of church (like waitresses, and store clerks and bad drivers on the road). It tells us how treat people INSIDE of Church. Ephesians 4:32 says “Be kind to ONE ANOTHER, tenderhearted, forgiving ONE ANOTHER, as God in Christ forgave you.” That ONE ANOTHER thing is really important, because that’s code for – fellow Christians. This is all about how we treat the people in church.
Now, the Ephesians Paul was writing to were relatively new Christians. These folks hadn’t been raised as Christians and so, they had no idea how to walk in love. They had to learn and practice this idea. And so Paul spelled it out for them – he wrote: “Let no corrupting (unwholesome) talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:29-32
ILLUS: Years ago, when this congregation was started, most of the folks here were bar hoppers. One the new believers was such a hard character that his friends at work laid odds about how long he’d do this Jesus thing. THEY KNEW THIS MAN. He’d been a rough man who used rough language and he had no idea how to “walk in love.” But once he was baptized into Christ, things began to turn around. He loved Jesus so much that he sought to walk in love like Christ did. He realized he shouldn’t use “unwholesome talk”; That he should say things that would lift up and encourage the people around him; He realized he had to get rid of bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander that had run his life in the past; And he realized he had to learn to be kind and tenderhearted, forgiving his family (and fellow Christians,) just like God - in Christ - forgave him.
This man TOOK HIS FAITH SERIOUSLY. He did his best to look like Jesus in how he treated others.
Now, to be honest, this isn’t as easy as it sounds. A little 6-year-old girl named Nikka summed it up this way: “If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.” And that strikes home, because Christians don’t always get along.
ILLUS: One of our brotherhood preachers told about a congregation he served that had had some fights in its long history. Not just disagreements but fights where church members actually come to blows. He read in the congregation’s history booklet about the time of the Civil War when members became so bitter with one another, it broke the church up. There was even an eyewitness account of a fist fight that took place right there on the church property. Now how did that happen? How did they end up in a fist fight at church? It happened because people started out just “thinking” harsh thoughts about each other, and eventually those harsh thoughts spilled into words and then fists. (Tom Claibourne, Restoration Herald. Sept. 07)
But now wait a minute, couldn’t I just THINK those thoughts. Or just share them with my family or a select circle of friends. That should be ok - right? Because I’m not directly insulting the person who upsets me? Can’t I do that?
Well (PAUSE) NO. Jesus said “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45
Ephesians describes what EVIL THINGS we store up in our hearts “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. (Ephesians 4:30-31) If you store up evil thoughts about someone else in your heart, it will eventually overflow from your heart to your mouth, and you’ll end up saying/doing things you’ll regret.
Now why would I regret saying something that I honestly feel? Because God is listening to my thoughts and my words. And, if I store up evil thoughts in my heart about others in the Church it makes God angry. Paul refers to is “griev(ing) the Holy Spirit.” And WHEN God gets to grieving about how Christians are treated, He promises that “He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you...” II Thessalonians 1:6-7
You see, the Christians around you are part of THE CHURCH, and the Church is the Bride of Christ. And how you treat others (who are the Bride of Christ) can either bring a blessing or a curse. Trust me, you’ll want the blessings… not the curse. Because God takes it personally in how you treat other Christians.
In I Corinthians Paul wrote to a church where folks mistreated each other on a regular basis. They insulted each other… and abused each other. They even had a regular Sunday pot-luck dinner… but they never shared with each other. One person would bring steak and potatoes, another would bring split pea soup - and no one shared anything with anyone else. And then they’d take communion. That was not a good idea. Paul told them that their bad behavior had had consequences. He wrote: “That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep (they’d died).” (1 Corinthians 11:30) Why had God punished THAT church? Because they’d misused and abused fellow Christians. NEVER A GOOD IDEA!
But when we treat His people right… God really appreciates it. Jesus said “if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these… because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” Matthew 10:42
In fact He said “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9
You see… God understands how hard it can be to be nice to each other, and so He rewards us when we protect and take care of each other. In fact, it’s so important for us to do that, that we’re given this command: “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3:13
When we do that… we show that we are truly Sons and Daughters of God. And when we do it right even the world takes notice. The idea that we would show love to those that we struggle to even like – impresses even the ungodly.
ILLUS: There was a famous preacher who used to teach in a secular university. And he said he would often ask the students there about what they knew about Jesus? And - could they recall anything that Jesus said? The preacher then noted that - by clear consensus, they would reply “Love your enemies.” More than any other teaching of Christ, this one stood out to the unbelievers. LOVE YOUR ENEMIES. That impressed them because that implied that Jesus might love them. And when they see US Christians love our enemies that’s an indication of how Jesus could love them.
CLOSE: Now, one more thing. Even when we became Christians we imitated Jesus. You see (to become a Christian) We had to DIE - just as Jesus had to DIE to reach out to his enemies. And so we should die to our right to be angry; die to our right to hurt others; and die to our right to speak our minds - when we’re upset.
And, of course, Jesus DIED for us; He was buried; And He rose from the dead to live forever. So, when we became Christians… we died (to our past); We were buried in a watery grave; And we rose from the dead past to live forever in heaven.
That’s what Romans 6:1-5 is all about - “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who DIED to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? WE WERE BURIED THEREFORE WITH HIM BY BAPTISM into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be UNITED WITH HIM IN A RESURRECTION like his.”
The reason we can love others that we struggle to like is because when we became Christians … we imitated Jesus by dying. Ephesians 5:2 says we should “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
So do you love Jesus more than you dislike the person you’re upset with! When you are able to say yes to that… then you’ve truly imitated Christ.
INVITATION
