Why Church #8 Who Do You Look Like? Series

Communion: The Deep surrounding love of God

~ Intro: On a wall near the main entrance to the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, is a

portrait with the following inscription: "James Butler Bonham--no picture of him exists. This portrait is of his nephew, Major James Bonham, deceased, who greatly resembled his uncle. It is placed here by the family that people may know the appearance of the man who died for freedom." No literal portrait of Jesus exists either. But the likeness of the Son who makes us free can be seen in the lives of His true followers.

Turn with me to our text for today Ephesians 5:1…

1. We need to look like God in living love.(vrs 1-7)

• The word imitate, literally means to mimic or copy.

- If you’re going to imitate anybody, mimic & copy Jesus!

- We are to imitate His sacrificial love.

• To do this we can’t be tainted in any way.

- Remember God is completely pure and holy.

• As we do this don’t let others distract you.

- With all the different upbringings, personalities, faults & failures among the world & us… there are challenges to love.

- Of course we’ll disagree, and see things differently with others but we can disagree and still love…

Living godly love can only be done if we live out our 2nd point…

2. We need to look like God in living light.(vrs 8-14)

• Living like this is an all or nothing endeavor to please God.

- Once again it’s not something we do but what we are.

- We are to let goodness, righteousness, & truth shine through us.

- Overhead illustration.

- A little boy was sitting at church one day and looked up and saw these beautiful stained glass windows. He asked his daddy, “What are all those colored windows up there? Who are all those people?” His dad said, “Son, that’s St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. John, and over there is St. Peter.” Oh…

About 3 weeks later he was in a Sunday school class and the teacher said, “Can anyone in class tell me what a saint is?”

And he raised his hand and said, “It’s somebody that the light shines through.”

- And that’s who we are to be this week. You’re either a pane or somebody that the lights shines through! Who do you look like?

• This comes through avoiding anything that displeases God.

- My sitting by a camp fire and having boot soles melt

• We need to move beyond avoiding these acts to exposing them.

- The motive is to help others become holy and help them in living light.

So have you had a change of heart…

3. We need to look like God in living large.(vrs 15-21)

• To live large is to make the most of every situation.

- In what way are we to make the most of it?

- Not for ourselves but for others.

- It means that we take inventory of our lives…

- Keep our eyes wide open, looking around, and discerning the times.

- Take a hard look at your life this morning… be truthful…

~ Deal with the things that are not right with God.

~ If we can’t be honest with ourselves then there’s darkness & deceit.

~ Let’s walk uprightly with Jesus.

• To love large we must understand God’s will for us.

- This can only be done if we are full of His Spirit.

- Being filled leads to a beautiful picture of the church.

• To love large we must encourage and lift up one another.

- No backbiting, no bickering, no gossiping, no brawling…

- Just a bunch of ordinary people saved by grace speaking to one another the Words of God…

~ Singing with one another, making melody in our hearts.

~ Giving thanks always for all things.

- Submitting to one another in respect for God.

~ This literally means: To arrange under or to obey.

~ The military would use this word to refer to the arranging and ordering of troops…

~ It is also used to describe the voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, and assuming responsibility.

~ Is this how we live with each other (not treat because anyone can fake it for a while)

~ Conclusion: So who do you look like?

• Today you may be here and realized for the first time that God wants to change your heart and affect your daily life.

- Accepting what He did and starting a relationship with Him isn’t hard...

~ It’s as simple as the A, B, C’s…