WHO DO YOU LOOK LIKE?
A GOD-LIKE COMMUNITY
Ephesians 4.24-5.2
S: Community
C: A God-Like Community
Th: Building Up in Love; Doing Our Work
Pr: WE ARE CALLED TO CHRISTLIKENESS.
?: What? What does that look like?
KW: Characteristics
TS: We will find in our study of Ephesians five characteristics that show what Christlikeness looks like to the world.
Type: Propositional
The ____ characteristic is…
I. TRUTH (25)
II. JUSTICE (26-27)
III. INTEGRITY (28)
IV. EDIFICATION (29-30)
V. KINDNESS (31-32)
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Live out the truth that is possible (put on the new self).
• Love is the key; it encompasses all the characteristics.
Version: ESV
RMBC 01 October 06 AM
INTRODUCTION:
“Building Up in Love; Doing Our Work” has been our discipleship emphasis theme this year.
And during this theme, we have been asking…
1. What kind of community do we want to be?
We have been studying through Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus asking this question.
Paul starts out by describing the work God has done in them, which in turn, describes the work God is doing in us.
First…
2. We know that we are a called community.
We have been called out of the darkness, according to the goodness of God, and been given every spiritual blessing.
As a result, we have been called to be together, this very day, in this very place, to be one of many of His local communities that are to make a kingdom impact.
We can do this, because…
3. We have become a transformed community.
In our second study, we saw that God has changed us.
We have brought into the kingdom, not because of what we have done, but because of what God has done for us.
We have entered in by His grace, not our works, and as a result, we have been changed.
We are now different than we were before.
Now Paul shifts gears and describes this difference.
In chapter three, we discovered that…
4. We are to be a praying community.
While there is much to talk about when it comes to prayer, we did note that Paul prayed differently than we usually do.
We often pray about personal and physical needs.
Paul’s prayer is bigger.
Paul prayed that this community of believers in Ephesus would understand how great God’s love for them was – how long, how wide, how high and how deep.
God wants us, as a community, to know His strength and His love, and praying for that is encouraged, because God loves to answer that kind of prayer.
Last week, John Fischer spoke and reminded us that…
5. We are to be a community that is diligent in living out the unity we have been given.
John did a great job in connecting with our themes.
We have been given unity.
This means we are to live it.
That is our responsibility.
We are to set aside what we want, and discover what God wants for our community.
TRANSITION:
So, let me ask this question…
1. Are you an imitator (5.1)?
This is where our Scripture text takes us today, for it says…
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
ILL Imitation: ’Cause I’m a Woman
When school started, a mom was trying to give her first-grade daughter a little more responsibility than she had in kindergarten. She gave her these instructions: “I’m going to get into the shower now. Because you’re in 1st grade, I expect you to be able to pick out your outfit and get dressed by yourself. I’d like you to be dressed by the time I get out of the shower." When the mom finished, her daughter was still sitting there not yet dressed.
“Breanne,” the mom said, “I thought you were going to be more grown up now that you’re in 1st grade!”
“But Mom, I am acting like a grown up woman.”
“How is that?”
“I have nothing to wear!”
Becky Tibbs, Petersburg, Ill
Well, that is the very point that Paul makes here, children imitate their parents.
So…
2. Just as children imitate their parents, we are to live out God’s example to us.
This is why the title of today’s message is, “Who Do You Look Like?”
We are to imitate our heavenly Father.
In other words…
3. WE ARE CALLED TO CHRISTLIKENESS.
We are called to be like Jesus.
But this does not just happen.
It requires intention on our part.
It means that I am going to use a word that I have been repeating over and over.
As we come to our text today, it means that…
4. We are to be morally deliberate.
I was reading an article from Christianity Today this week that spoke about how the church has become morally sloppy.
It was a strong indictment about us – that we are not being careful when it comes to our moral life – that we allow ourselves to be lazy, angry, disrespectful, proud, greedy and gluttonous.
And as a result, the difference between us and the world is not as distinct as it should be.
As believers, we must recognize that our faith is more than an event, an experience, or a set of beliefs.
“It is a way of life characterized by moral seriousness and the quest of holiness.” (Gushee)
So what does Christlikeness look like?
Well…
5. We will find in our study of Ephesians five characteristics that show what Christlikeness looks like to the world.
Again, this is not beyond us
6. We can be Christlike because we have been changed (4.22-24).
Here how we can live the change…
… (to) put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and (to) be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and (to) put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
ILL Old/New
Remember when you were a kid and you had those old pair of sneakers that you really loved. But your mom kept saying it’s time for a new pair and get rid of those ratty things. They were comfortable though. You had traveled many a mile together and they fit wonderfully.
But you give in, and you try on the new sneakers. And they feel so good, you can hardly believe that you were so attached to those old sneakers. They feel so comfortable that you wear them out of the store.
This is what Paul is speaking about.
We are to strip off the old filthy clothes of what he calls the old man.
We are to give up what is old.
And it is to our benefit, because there is an internal process of disintegration going on.
Before Christ, what is inside of us is polluted and rotten.
So we turn the page, and continually, perpetually become renovated in mind and spirit.
There is a new way of thinking.
There is a new way of life.
We now follow God, who is the author and pattern of a changed life.
We now love what is right and possess an aversion to sin.
Let’s now consider the characteristics that Paul describes that will enable us to be a God-like community.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first characteristic is TRUTH (25).
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
We are to communicate the truth in speech and life.
When we are not truthful, it is a gross hindrance to the community.
Instead of living the unity we have been given, we end up with disunity, disorder, and trouble.
An absence of truth destroys trust.
Too often, we treat truth like silly putty – stretching it, changing it around, and putting a new face on it.
It ends up not being truth, right?
The lack of truth comes in many forms.
One is exaggeration, which is adding falsehood to the truth.
Another is shading the truth, which is just telling the parts you wish to divulge for your own advantage.
An additional way, I believe, is anonymous notes which is hiding the truth because the person writing the note refuses to sign their name, refuses conversation, and in the end, refuses the community.
I think it lacks courage.
I am glad to say, that I don’t get them very often, but please note that I don’t pay attention to them.
So, if you write me a note that says “Fool” on it, I will come the next Sunday and say someone sent me a signed note, but forgot to say what they wanted to say to me.
Look, we are not always going to agree.
That is part of being a community.
But the beauty of community is that there is a refreshing openness and acceptance, even when we don’t agree.
Our relationships are characterized by a compassionate honesty.
II. The second characteristic is JUSTICE (26-27).
Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.
1. It is right to burn against injustice.
When we speak of anger, the text reveals here that there is such a thing as righteous indignation.
The word for anger describes an emotion that is deep-seated, determined, and settled.
Indeed, we should be angry with evil.
We should abhor injustice, immorality, and ungodliness.
The trouble is…is that we tolerate what we should be angry at and we get angry at what we should tolerate.
This is a part of our moral sloppiness.
Jesus, of course, did this perfectly.
His emotion was always under perfect control.
2. Rarely, though, are we able to handle anger properly.
It easily degenerates and simmers into something worse.
We have to be so careful with anger, because almost effortlessly, it becomes perverted and bitter.
Anger can become so self-serving and so self-righteous.
When we are not careful, it is an opportunity for the devil to foster a spirit of pride and hatred.
When that happens, we seek to act on our anger in ungodly ways, maneuvering ourselves toward vindication.
But vindication is clearly God’s responsibility.
Revenge is always best left to Him.
III. The third characteristic is INTEGRITY (28).
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
ILL Stealing
Late one night a mugger wearing a ski mask jumped into the path of a well-dressed man and stuck a gun in his ribs. "Give me your money," he demanded.
Indignant, the affluent man replied, "You can’t do this — I’m a U.S. Congressman!”
"In that case," replied the robber, "give me my money!"
We are to live and work honestly.
The text here condemns every kind of stealing.
Every kind of misappropriation and pilfering is wrong.
Like pocketing the extra change that is mistakenly given you…
Like reneging on a debt…
Like not paying a fair wage…
We are not to take what is not ours.
It is that simple.
Instead, as believers, we are to be know for hard work, giving our best, and doing our duty.
And, when that meets with success, and we are blessed with plenty, we are to do something useful with what we have been blessed with.
Many of you did this very thing with helping with the Katrina ministry.
Some went – giving of their time, sweat and money.
Others of you supported financially and with prayer.
This was a literal fulfilling of the biblical mandate of sharing with those that are in need.
We need to continue to do this type of a thing as a community.
IV. The fourth characteristic is EDIFICATION (29-30).
Let no corrupting 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.
1. We are to be wholesome in our speech.
The word here that is translated as unwholesome of corrupted speaks of that which is rotten and decaying.
There are words that can come out of our mouths that just hurt the community.
It is another example of moral sloppiness.
We are to put away gossip and slander.
We are to put away profanity, vulgarity, and off-color humor.
We are not to be careless in what we say.
Instead, we should be deliberate in building others up with what we say.
We are to be edifying.
We are to be constructive, encouraging, and uplifting.
We are to offer what is appropriate and fitting to every situation which we encounter.
Even more…
2. We are to be communicators of grace.
In other words, when people see us coming, they should smile.
You know why?
Because whenever we talk to them, we are a blessing to them.
We offer words of grace.
We offer words of love.
We offer words of compassion.
Paul makes a startling statement at this point.
When we don’t get this right…
When we don’t offer words of grace…
…it is a sorrow to God.
God literally weeps.
V. The fifth characteristic is KINDNESS (31-32).
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.
ILL Anger
In the spring of 1894, the Baltimore Orioles came to Boston to play a routine baseball game. But what happened that day was anything but routine. The Orioles’ John McGraw got into a fight with the Boston third baseman. Within minutes all the players from both teams had joined in the brawl.
The warfare quickly spread to the grandstands. Among the fans the conflict went from bad to worse. Someone set fire to the stands and the entire ballpark burned to the ground. Not only that, but the fire spread to 107 other Boston buildings as well.
Our Daily Bread, August 13, 1992
How dangerous is anger!
This is why…
1. We need to get rid of that which ruins our relationships.
Paul returns to the anger issue and how we must remove and get rid of every shade of anger that comes our way.
We are to remove bitterness which is a smoldering resentment.
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to nurse a grudge?
You become obsessed about it.
We are also to get rid of rage or wrath.
This describes the outbursts of anger.
Uncontrolled passion and frustration are to be left behind.
The word anger is then repeated.
Again, this is that deep-seated emotion that most often turns into a self-righteous pride.
Next comes the word clamor.
This describes a loud self-assertion.
It can be observed in a public outburst, where a person says, “I have my rights!”
The next word is slander, which is also the word for blasphemy.
It is the idea of speaking evil against someone.
The final word Paul uses is malice, which is an all-encompassing word speaking of bad feeling.
All of these things break fellowship.
They are a destroyer of relationships and testimony.
ILL Anger: After Church
There he stood, in the midst of the Golden Corral restaurant, with Thousand Island dressing dripping from his hair, over his glasses, down his face, all over his jacket, pants, and shoes. And I’m not talking about a little bit of Thousand Island dressing, I’m talking about 2 gallons of it!
What had happened was that a waitress carrying a 2-gallon container of Thousand Island dressing for the salad bar had paused for just a second while coming through the swinging doors of the kitchen, and the doors had caught her and knocked her forward, launching 2 gallons of dressing all over this guy.
Well, he went ballistic! He started shouting and cursing at her. “You’re so stupid! I can’t believe you could do such a stupid, stupid thing. This is a brand new suit and it cost me $300. ”His wife chimed in, “Yeah, you’ve ruined my husband’s $300 suit, and it’s the first time he’s had a chance to wear it.” He screamed, “I want to see the manager!”
Thoroughly shaken, she went to get the manager, and the manager came out. Now picture this –here’s a guy with 2 gallons of Thousand Island dressing dripping from him, and the manager asks, “Is there a problem?”
The guy replies, “Is there a problem? She’s ruined my $300 suit. It’s brand new, and I want a new suit!” The manager says, “We’ll be glad to get your suit cleaned. Accidents do happen, and we’re really sorry about this.”
“No! No!” he said. “I don’t want my suit cleaned. I want a brand new suit, and I demand a check for $300 right here and now.” Well, to avoid a bigger scene, the manager goes back into his office, writes out a check for $300 and brings it to him. And justice is served.
Tragically, this true story happened at noon on a Sunday. Now, why would someone be wearing a brand new suit on Sunday? Do you suppose he had been to church? Do you suppose that he had just heard a sermon on “Love your neighbor as yourself,” or “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” or “Go the second mile”?
Melvin Newland -- SermonCentral
You see…
2. We are to be compassionate forgivers.
We are to be known for kindness, even when bad stuff happens to us.
When faced with a situation like above, it means that we are going to have to be deliberate, even when we are embarrassed and we don’t feel like being kind.
And we must learn to forgive, because we have been forgiven.
God is so gracious to us.
We must be deliberate on extending that grace and kindness to others, even when it is not deserved.
Because, you see, that is the very point about grace.
It is not deserved.
APPLICATION:
Therefore 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.
We are most Christlike when we walk in love.
We know that love is the key.
We have heard this over and over.
Love is the key because it encompasses all the characteristics that we have just studied.
When we live love, then we truly are being Christlike.
ILL Love: Father Expresses Love to Alcoholic Son
In his book, Searching for God Knows What, Donald Miller shares a story of how he helped a friend whose alcoholism was destroying his life:
Last year, I pulled a friend out of his closet … His marriage was falling apart because of his inability to stop drinking. This man is a kind and brilliant human being, touched with many gifts from God, but addicted to alcohol, and being taken down in the fight. He was suicidal, we thought, and the kids had been sent away. We sat together on his back deck and talked for hours, deep into the night. I didn’t think he was going to make it. I worried about him as I boarded my flight back to Portland, and he checked himself into rehab.
Two months later he picked me up from the same airport, having gone several weeks without a drink. As he told me the story of the beginnings of his painful recovery process, he said a single incident was giving him the strength to continue. His father had flown in to attend a recovery meeting with him, and in the meeting my friend had to confess all his issues and weaknesses. When he finished, his father stood up to address the group of addicts. He looked at his son and said, "I have never loved my son as much as I do at this moment. I love him. I want all of you to know I love him." My friend said at that moment, for the first time in his life, he was able to believe God loved him, too. He believed if God, his father, and his wife all loved him, he could fight the addiction, and he believed he might make it.
Citation: Donald Miller, "Searching for God Knows What" (Thomas Nelson, 2004), p. 130-131
It is my prayer that our community would be known for that kind of love – the kind of love that is so profound, so unusual – that it causes people to believe.
For Further Study: Psalm 69.9; Proverbs 15.23; Romans 12.17-21; Colossians 4.6; Hebrews 12.15; James 3.6-8
COMMUNION:
(9) Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. (10) Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. (11) Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. (12) Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (13) Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
(14) Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (15) Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. (16) Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
(17) Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. (18) If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (19) Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. (20) On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
(21) Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
NIV
Let’s take a few moments now of silent prayer and ask the Lord to reveal to us any moral sloppiness.
And if the Lord reveals something or many things to you, confess it, and repent.
Have the conviction, determination – the deliberateness to go the opposite direction.
(Prayer)
Those of us that know Jesus are invited to share in the elements of the table.
You do not have to be a member of this church to partake, but we do ask that you have a relationship with Jesus.
If you do not know Jesus, that is, you have not received Him as your Savior and Lord, you do not trust Him with your life, that is, you have not been changed by the message, just let the elements pass by.
Please wait until the time comes when you do have that personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
We practice “communion” because we are to remember the death of the Lord Jesus.
We take the bread to remind us that it was by the body of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died in our place.
He became our substitute.
Being led in prayer by ____, let us take a moment and thank Him for being our sacrifice.
(Prayer)
The apostle Paul writes, "The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
We take the cup to remind us that it was by the blood of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died for our sins.
He became our sacrifice.
It is here we rejoice in the forgiveness we have received.
____ will now come and lead us in prayer.
Again, the apostle Paul writes, "In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
1 Cor 15:57-58
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
BENEDICTION:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
RESOURCES:
SermonCentral:
McGraw, Guy Choices of a Redeemed Life
Article:
Gushee, David P. “Our Missing Moral Compass” Christianity Today, November 2005, p. 88
Books:
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary. 12 vols, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 11. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1978.
Foulkes, Francis. The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians. 20 vols. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, ed. R. V. G. Tasker, vol. 10. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978.
MacArthur, John, Jr. Ephesians. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary. Chicago: Moody Press, 1986.
