How to Live as an Imitator of God

We’re continuing with our annual series entitled Building on Our Heritage this morning

Our message this morning is entitled, How to Live as Imitators of God, based out of Ephesians 5:1-2 (please turn there – 1172)

*recap last week – 15-21 (Live Wisely)

Next week, Pastor Viars will cover 3-14 (*///)

But this week, we’ll be at the beginning of the chapter—a portion that gives context to everything that follows

Please follow along as I read our passage…

Text

Ephesians 5:1-2 – Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; ² and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

From the passage, we see Two characteristics necessary to live life as an imitator of God

The first of these is quite simple: we’re call to…

Message

I. Imitate God

We get this plainly stated from the outset of the passage:

Ephesians 5:1 – Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children…

It’s important to begin with the “Therefore…”

This word is functioning like the hitch on a train car, connecting what follows with what has preceded

And what happens if you forget to connect the hitch on a train car with those connected to the engine?

You don’t get very far…

This ties back to the series we wrapped up two weeks ago, covering Communication that Unifies

But in particular, this seems to tie back to verse 24 from the previous chapter:

Ephesians 4:24 – …put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

This passage is followed by at least four examples of what it looks like to put off the “rear view mirror you,” and put on the likeness of God

THEREFORE, imitation necessarily involves the very practical process of NOT doing/saying/thinking the things that displease Christ, while INCREASINGLY doing/saying/thinking the things that DO please Him

But imitation is more that simple action—I think most of us know that

So: what is imitation?

An obvious, yet important item to highlight is that imitation would imply distinction

What do we mean by that?

Simply put, if you’re imitating something, it shows that you are not the thing, itself

Why doesn’t a dog need to imitate being a dog?

Because it IS a dog!

It’s important to point this out: God’s word is not calling us to “BE GOD,” but rather “imitate God…”

Why do you suppose that is?

Because you are not God…

I need everyone to repeat this with me: “I am not God…”

Yes, it’s true that if I have submitted to follow Jesus as Lord and I trust in Him for His saving work on the Cross, then His righteousness has been attributed to my metaphorical account (Rom 4)

It’s even true that Christ lives in me (Gal 2)

But that doesn’t make me Christ, Himself

Rather, it shows the utter dependance I have on Him

Jesus said it best in John 15…

John 15:5 – I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

So, imitation is the effort of becoming like another

And our passage places it in a helpful context…

A. Like a child imitates their father

Remember that our passage called us to “be imitators of God, as beloved children…”

It’s fun to observe shared tendencies between children and their parents—like when a daughter walks the same way has her mama, or a son laughs like his dad

How much effort does this imitation usually take on the part of a child?

It’s effortless…

But why?

Certainly genetics plays a part (and for the Christian, refer back to our previous points about being “in Christ”)

But there is more than nature feeding into the equation: there is also the matter of nurture—the child is around his or her parents a bunch, leading them to act in similar ways

I’m not going to do this, but how do you think you’d respond if I asked everyone to stand up right now, and give me their best impression of Bert Lahr?

Why wouldn’t you be able to do that?

Because, if you’re like me, you have no idea who that is….

But what if I told you he’s an actor [Bert Lahr 1 photo]

That’d be a bit more helpful, but still not enough to imitate

How about more info: he was in the 1939 film, “The Wizard of Oz”

That narrows it down, but I’m not sure that’s enough just yet

But if I told you he played the Cowardly Lion [Bert Lahr 2 photo], I think most folks would be able to crank out a half-decent impression

But, unless you happen to be die-hard Bert Lahr fan, you’d only be able to provide me with an impression of him in that particular character

What are we getting at with this point…

In order to imitate, you need to know

And the more you know, the more you’re able to imitate

We see this in Scripture as well

Those who place their faith in Christ—what are they called? (“Christians”)

Where did that come from?

One account is found in Acts 11…

*the gospel explodes in Antioch after Stephen’s martyrdom—especially among the Gentiles

Acts 11:25-26 – And [Barnabas] left for Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

The term obviously is derived from the word “Christ,” but it’s combined with another Greek word “ianous” that means “identified by, or belonging to”

Thus, a Christian is one who can easily be identified as belonging to Jesus, particularly through their imitation of Him

Commenting on this passage, John Polhill says…

“The term [‘Christian’] only occurs in two other places in the New Testament (Acts 26:28; 1 Pet 4:16). In all three instances it is a term used by outsiders to designate Christians. Evidently the term was not originally used by Christians of themselves. They preferred terms like ‘believers, disciples, brothers.’” – John B. Polhill, Acts (NAC), 273.

*explain (believed to be derogatory)

The first point I’m trying to make is this: is “Christian” a title anyone would give you, based on your imitation?

To provide an absurd illustration, if you went around convincingly imitating Bert Lahr’s character, the Cowardly Lion, people would probably make that connection at some point, wouldn’t they?

…you may also be institutionalized

But if you never ran around on all fours, or barked at passing dogs, or sang with extreme vibrato, or jumped through stained glass windows, or dressed as a lion – and yet you STILL claimed to be the Cowardly Lion…

…you might be less crazy, but you’d certainly be a liar…

So the question is: would you claim to be a Christian, or are you called a Christian?

“…what is it else to be a disciple of Christ but to be a Christian? But when they began plainly to be called that which they were, the use of the name served greatly to set forth the glory of Christ, because by this means they referred all their religion unto Christ alone. This was, therefore, a most excellent worship for the city of Antioch, that Christ brought forth his name thence like a standard, whereby it might be made known to all the world that there was some people whose captain was Christ, and which did glory in his name.” – John Calvin, Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles, 472.

The second point here is simple: when we imitate Christ, we bring glory to the Father

Isn’t the opposite true as well?

*example of student who lost 6 figures in HS to “Christians”…

But when Christians act like Christ, God gets the glory

And what is the motivation for imitation that our text provides?

We are to imitate God…

B. Like you are His beloved child

There was an important word used in verse 1 – we are to “be imitators of God, as beloved children…”

We aren’t just kids trying to imitate our dad—we’re deeply loved children who can’t help but be like our Father

Not only does He love us, but He’s the most lovely Being that has ever been or will ever be…

Imitation that stems from begrudged duty will always produce a plastic performance

For an example of this, look no further than the middle schooler who auditioned for the lead role in the school play but received only a minor part!

On the night of the performance, with an air of spite, he blandly recites his lines, shuffles to his positions, and reluctantly carries out his role

He might be doing everything the script outlines, but in missing the most essential element, he’s forsaken his character and done the production a grave injustice

That’s what imitation without love is for the Christian

Our love for Jesus must be the motivation for imitation

Once again, Jesus said it best—during the Last Supper, He declares…

John 14:15 – If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

Notice, He didn’t say “if you keep My commandment, you will love Me”

Nor did He say, “if you keep My commandments, I will love you…”

He already loves those who are His—and the sign of those who love Him will be imitation: becoming like the One who didn’t commit a single offense against the Father

I mentioned earlier that in order to imitate¸ you need to know…

Do you know Jesus?

*gospel plug

For those of us who do know and love Jesus—let’s look like Him more and more, while…

II. Walk in Love

Verse two provides the imperative, followed by the highest example

Ephesians 5:2 – …and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

Last week, Pastor Aaron brought up the repeated theme of “walking” that’s seen throughout this letter

It’s a good reminder that each of us is walking somewhere, and that none of us are spiritually stationary

Here, we’re called to “walk in love”

What exactly does that mean, though…

Fortunately, we’re not left to figure it out on our own—we have been provided with an example to… IMITATE!

Walking in love looks like living like Jesus

Simple!

And we see the rationale restated: we are able to do this because…

A. Because He first loved us

It’s interesting how personal this portion of the verse is, in the original language

Most of the verbs and nouns that are directed towards the men and women of the church in Ephesus are in the plural form throughout this letter

It’s hard to see in the English because unless you’re looking at a Kentucky translation, the plural form of “you all” is simply rendered “you”

But how do they indicate the 2^nd person plural in Kentucky? (y’all)

We even see it in the imperatives in our passage: Y’ALL imitate God | Y’ALL walk in love

But here, in verse 2, when the Holy Spirit says, “just as Christ also loved you…”

…there’s a break in the 2^nd person plural language, and it shifts to 2^nd person singular

This should jump out to us! It’s like in preaching – I’m speaking to “y’all” – but imagine I take a moment to single you out…

*so-and-so* - God loves you… (X2)

That’s what’s happening here

Christian brother or sister – Jesus loves YOU

How do you know? For the Bible tells me so!!

But more specifically…

B. Because He sacrificed for us

Let me know if you see a common tie in these passages…

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

1 John 3:16 – We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Romans 5:8 – But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

John 15:13 – Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

Did you catch the correlation?

It’s the same one we see in our passage as well…

[Picture of Diagram]

*explain

We see the declaration of love, exemplified through the act of sacrifice

Here’s a hard truth: there is no love without sacrifice

The imitation of Christ will always look like this kind of love

Which brings up another interesting point—we’re called to walk in love; that much is hardly disputed

But who are we loving?

God? Others?

The clear answer is “yes” – both God and others

But the implication, in light of the context of our passage, is this: our love should look like sacrificing for GOD and sacrificing for OTHERS, just as Jesus gave Himself up in love

What does loving sacrifice for God look like?

(*time | talents | treasure)

What does loving sacrifice for others look like?

(*time | talents | treasure)

In order to imitate God, we must walk in sacrificial love towards Him and others

What does this produce? It ought to produce…

C. Because He is a fragrant aroma

In our passage, Jesus is described as “an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma…”

This would conjure up images of the OT sacrificial system… (*describe)

Jesus satisfied the purpose behind the entire OT sacrificial system…

Hebrews 10:11-12 – Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God…

Jesus accomplished this by becoming the sacrifice

And the “aroma” of His offering was infinitely sweeter to God than all the sizzling steak, mutton, and incense that had preceded Him, combined

So—in imitating Christ, do we need to die on a cross??

Romans 12:1-2 – Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

In other words—imitate Christ!!

Our offering is not one of dying for Him (unless He would call you to that)—but living like Him

This involves our lives carrying the savor of Christ to those around us…

2 Corinthians 2:14-16a – But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.

This leads to the awkward question… what do you smell like??

What “sacrifice” are you placing on the metaphorical alter of life?

To the degree you resemble Jesus, it’s a wonderful aroma to God – regardless of how you may “smell” to others

The implication of this passage is that, to those who are perishing (i.e., non-Christians), you are an aroma from death to death

I was on a run the other day… (*continue—smelled something dead (busted-up turtle))

Nothing dead smells good

When we try to smell good for those who are perishing (the world), we take on the aroma of death (remember the “rear view mirror you”)

And when we do that, we cease to imitate Christ, and our aroma before God changes

He starts to smell what I detected on my run

But He loves His children enough to convict us of our sin and make Christ more attractive to us than our sin—whatever variety of scented death it may be

Conclusion

So brothers and sisters:

Imitate God!

Grow in your knowledge of Him so that you can increase in your imitation of Him—like an understudy to a master actor

Let your love for Jesus drive your imitation of Him, lest you fall into the fallacy of hypocrisy

In other words, I hope people label you as a “Christian”

And Walk in love!

God loves you – He sacrificed Himself on your behalf so that you could be the aroma of life to Him

And my prayer for each one of us is that our imitation of Christ would lead to the same result that Peter and John saw in Acts 4…

Acts 4:13 – Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.