Authentic Christians Will Imitate God

“Authentic Christians Will Imitate God”

(Sunday Morning April 3rd, 2011)

Passage: Ephesians 5:1-14

O.S. As Far Back as the 1970’s, Some Research Was Done by a Dr. Andrew Meltsop
of Oxford University and a Dr Keith Moore at the University of Washington
That Proved That Our Ability as Human Beings to Imitate Others is Innate

-> Their Initial Research Was Done With Six Infants Twelve to Seventeen Days Old,
and They Observed That These Infants Were Already Trying to Imitate the Facial
Expressions of Adults Who Were Interacting With Them by: Pursing Their Lips,
Smiling, Opening Their Mouths and Opening and Closing Their Hands

-> By Observation and Video Tape, It Was Determined That These Infants
Were Imitating These Four Gestures and Facial Expressions

-> They Repeated Their Research With Infants Just 60 Minutes Old, and They Felt
That They Had Evidence That Indicated That Even Infants Just One Hour Old
Were Already Able to Imitate Those Who Were Immediately in Front of Them

-> It Was Also Determined That Toddlers in the Earliest Part of Their Second
Year are Able to Invent Elaborations and Delay Imitation

-> And by the End of Their Second Year, That They are Able to Make Up Activities
Like Feeding Invisible Food to Teddy Bears or Dolls

-> This Simply Affirms the Fact That God Created All of Us With a Natural Ability
to Imitate Others

-> And in a Spiritual Sense, We are Commanded to do This at Different Levels

Ex. The Apostle Paul, for Example, Commanded Those Christians in Corinth
Who Struggled so Much With Carnality to Imitate Him; in 1 Corinthians 11:1,
Paul Said This to Them; He Said,

“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ”

-> Of Course, There is Nothing at All Wrong, in Fact, It is Beneficial for All of Us
to Have a Spiritual Mentor, Someone Who is More Mature in the Faith Who
We Can Learn From and Imitate

-> And Any of the Apostles Would Have Been an Excellent Choice

Ex. Even Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Imitated His Heavenly Father

-> God the Son Imitated God the Father, and That is Why He Said This
in John 5:19; He Said,

“…’Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it
is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these
things the Son also does in like manner”

-> Later in John 14:8, Phillip Asked Jesus to Show Him the Father, and Jesus
Answered Him by Saying

“…He who has seen Me has seen the Father;…”

-> That Does Not Mean That the Father Became Jesus When He Came to This
Earth as Some Pentacostals Believe

-> It Means That One of Jesus’ Purposes While He Was on This Earth
Was to Imitate the Father’s Character as a Human Being so That We
Could Learn How to do the Same by Observing Him

-> And So, When Paul Tells Us to be Imitators of God, “Memetai” in the Greek
From Which We Get the Word “Mimic” or “Mime”, This is What He Means

-> We are Being Commanded to Reflect the Character of Christ, to Respond
to God and to Others as He Did, and to do the Kinds of Things That Jesus
Did While He Was on This Earth

-> That is Such a Lofty Command, by the Way, That We Cannot do It in Our
Own Strength
-> Only Those of Us Who are Regenerated, Only Those of Us Who Have the Power
of the Holy Spirit Residing Within Us are Even Capable of Doing This

-> And This is Why Paul Tells Us, in Essence, That Our Ability to Imitate God
is Also an Evidence of the Authenticity of Our Faith

______
T.S. That’s What I Believe This Passage of Scripture is All About
-> And So, With This in Mind, I Have Divided It Into Two Parts

______

I. …By Walking in Love

-> Now, This Word “Walk” Simply Refers to Our Daily Life or Our Lifestyle,
and It is Central to Paul’s Teaching in the Book of Ephesians

-> Back in Ephesians 4:1, for Example, Paul Encourages All of Us to …

“…walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called”

-> And in This Chapter, We are Encouraged to Walk in Love, to Walk in the Light
and to Walk in Wisdom

-> So, He Begins Here With a Command

1) The Command
-> We are Commanded Here to Have a Lifestyle That is Characterized by the Highest
Form of Love “Agape” Love

-> And We are Being Told to Love Others in the Same Way That Jesus Loved Us

Q.n = How do We Love as Jesus Loved?

Ans = Three Ways

-> For You See, That Word “Therefore” Ties Verse 1 of This Chapter to the Previous
Chapter; and in Verse 32 of Chapter 4, We Find These Words; It Says

“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ
also has forgiven you”

a. Be Compassionate
-> It Literally Says “Keep on Becoming Ever More Kind Towards One Another”

-> This Same Word is Used Seven Times in the New Testament; and in All But One
of Those, It is Used With God as the Subject

-> In Luke 6:35, for Example, Jesus Said,
“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return;
and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He
Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men”

St = One of the More Interesting Uses of This Word is Found in Matthew 11:30
Which is Where Jesus Said,

"For My yoke is easy and My burden is light”

-> That Word Translated as “Easy” is This Same Word; and in That Context,
It Meant That His Yoke Was “Not Abrasive” or “Uncomfortable”

-> Someone Who is Kind is Not “Abrasive;” They do Not Make Others Feel
“Uncomfortable”

-> On the Contrary, They are Concerned About the Wants and Needs
of Others

-> This Needs to Begin in Our Thought Life, Because There is No Way for Us to be
Kind in Word and Deed Unless, First of All, We are Kind in Our Thoughts

-> And for Some of Us, This Would Require a Radical Kind of Spiritual Surgery
That Cuts Away Those Attitudes of Unkindness That Characterize Our Mental
Life so That Our Words and Deeds Could Become Imitations of God in His
Kindness

b. Be Sympathetic
-> This Word That is Translated as “Tender-Hearted” in Ephesians 4:32 Was Used
by That Ancient Physician Hypocrates to Reflect a Healthy Heart

-> And the Implication Was That We Have a Healthy EKG Spiritually Speaking
if We are “Tender-Hearted”

-> It Refers to a Sweet Sensitivity That Should Render Each of Us Incapable
of Hurting One Another

-> Many Years Ago, There Was a Television Show Called Marcus Welby M.D.,
Just Knowing That Dates Me, But I Thought of It Because This Doctor
Was Always Depicted as One Who Truly Cared for His Patients
-> This What This Word Means

-> And We are Told in Luke 1:78 That One of the Father’s Motives for Sending
His Son Into This World Was His “Tender Heartedness” or “Tender Mercies”
-> God’s Heart Was Moved With Sympathy Towards Us in Our Lost Condition;

and Consequently, He Sent His Son Into This World

c. Be Forgiving
-> This is the Most Challenging of the Three, But We Have a Great Incentive for It
-> Because the Bible Says That We are Never More Like God Than When
We Forgive Others
-> And the Greatest Expression of His Love Involved Him Sending His Only
Begotten Son Into This World to Die on the Cross for Our Sins so That
He Would be Able to Offer Us His Grace and Forgiveness
-> And Jesus Didn’t Die for Us Because We Were His Friends, He Died for Us
Even Though We Were His Enemies
-> In Romans 5:8, Paul Said,

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us”
-> Even as They Were Driving Those Nails Through Jesus’ Hands, Jesus
Was Saying, What, “Father forgive them” (Luke 23:34)

-> That, We are Told Here, Was a Sacrifice That Was Acceptable to God;
It Became a “Sweet Aroma” to Him
-> And the Same is True About Us When We Forgive Others

-> In Fact, I Could Not Help But Think About How Jesus Reacted When He Saw
Stephen Doing What He Did, Forgiving Others, Even as They Were Taking His Life

-> Before He Died, We are Told in Acts 7:56 That Stephen Said,
“….’Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing
at the right hand of God’”

-> That is the Only Time in Scripture When Jesus is Depicted as Standing
at the Right Hand of God (Elaborate = Standing Ovation)
-> I Think That Sometimes the Hardest Thing for Us to do as Christians
is to Forgive Our Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Because We Expect
to be Mistreated by Those in the World But Not by Them
-> And Yet, We Have a Great Incentive for Doing so, Don’t We? (Elaborate)

2) The Counterfeit

-> In Verses 3-7, We Have Such an Abrupt Shift That It Doesn’t Really Seem to Fit
-> But I Can Assure You That It Does

-> Because, You See, Satan is a Great Counterfeiter

-> And What This Represents is Satan’s Corrupted Substitute for God’s Love

-> God’s Love, for Example, Sacrifices Itself; But Satan’s Lust Sacrifices Others

-> God’s Love Purifies, But Satan’s Lust Degrades

-> God’s Love Satisfies, But Satan’s Lust Leaves a Gnawing Emptiness
Q.n = Why Does This Passage That Presents God’s Love so Beautifully Include
These Things?
Ans = Because These are What We Might Call “Love Busters”

-> Just as Oil and Water Don’t Mix, You Cannot Mix God’s Form of Love
With Satan’s Counterfeit Form of Love and Benefit From It

a. Satan’s Lust

vs 3 (Read)
-> I Really Believe That These Words Were Intended to be Grouped Together
-> The Word “Immorality” is the Greek Word “Porneia” From Which We Get
“Pornography,” and It Refers to Anything That is Sexually Inappropriate
-> The Word “Impurity” Means “Filthy” or “Rotten”; Martha Used It in John 11
to Refer Her Brother Lazarus’ Decaying Body
-> This is How God Feels About Sex Outside the Boundaries of a Covenant
Marriage Relationship; It is Filthy in His Sight
-> And Then, He Adds the Word “Covetousness” or “Greed” to Refer
to the Motive That Drives It

-> For You See, Satan’s Counterfeit Involves “Getting What You Want” “Getting
It for Yourself” and “Satisfying Your Own Needs” (Exactly the Opposite)

St = Now, Knowing a Little Bit About the Ancient City of Ephesus Can Help Us
to Understand Why Paul Placed These Words in This Passage

-> Because Ephesus Was a Very Immoral Port City, They Worshipped the Multi-
breasted Goddess Diana There, and Ritual Prostitution Was a Way of Life

-> And That Makes This Passage, Listen to Me Now, That Makes This Passage
Extremely Relevant for All of Us Who Live in the U.S. in 2011

-> It’s Relevant for All of Us, Because We Have Experienced What We Refer
to as “The Sexual Revolution” in This Country

-> And Now, We Have Over 5.5 Million Couples Living Together Outside of Marriage

-> And Now, We Have Professing Christians Living Together Outside of Marriage,
and They Don’t Even See a Disconnect

-> And Their Justification for It Goes Something Like This, They Say,
“Well, if You Live Together for a Number of Months or Years, It’s Sort of Like
Test Driving a Car, You Can Find Out Whether Its Going to Work Well”

Q.n = Have You Ever Heard Something Like That Before?

-> Well Listen, They Had Their Rationalizations Back Then Too;
and in 1 Corinthians 6:13 Paul Mentioned One of Them; He Said,
“Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away
with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord,
and the Lord is for the body” (Elaborate)

-> Well, Let Me Tell You Something Friends, the Statistics are in, and Cohabitating
Hasn’t Been Proven to be Successful in Any Way

-> According to a Columbia University Study That Was Conducted in 1985,
40% to 50% of Those Who Live Together Will Never Get Married

-> That Means, of Course, That a Lot of Women are Being Used for the Kind
of “Greediness” Paul Describes Here to Satisfy Someone Else’s Lust

-> And According to a Study Done at the University of Michigan, These Couples
That do Eventually Choose to Get Married Have an 80% Higher Divorce Rate
Than Those Who Did Not Live Together Before They Got Married

b. Satan’s Language

vs 4 (Read)

-> The Word for “Filthiness” Refers to “Disgraceful Speech” Not Something That
Should be a Part of Our Private, Much Less, Public Discussion (Ex. Church)

-> The Next Word “Morologia” Literally “Moronic Words” “Stupid Talk”
Low Class Obscenities or “Gutter Talk”

-> And Then, the Phrase “Coarse Jesting” Refers to the Kind of Inuendos That
are Common on Late Night Talk Shows
-> This is the Ability to Turn Almost Any Conversation Towards That Which
is Sexually Immoral

-> Kent Hughes, in His Commentary on Ephesians Made a Great Point in This
Regard; He Said,
“Humor that flirts with the boundaries of what is proper can easily degenerate”

Q.n = Isn’t That the Truth?

-> Someone Says Something That is Just Slightly Off-Color and Humorous, Maybe
Even in Good Taste by Today’s Standards, But Someone Else Usually Trumps It

-> And Before Long, You Discover That You Have All Gone Down a Road That
You Never Should Have Started Down to Begin With (Can I Get a Witness?)
-> One Thing We Can Take Note of About the Scriptures is That Things of a Sexual
Nature are Usually Marked With an Economy of Words

-> In Genesis 29:17, We are Told, for Example, That “…Rachel was beautiful
of form and face” – We Can Use Our Imagination – Enough Said – Right?
-> And in 2 Samuel 11:4, We Read, “David sent messengers and took her
(Bathsheba), and when she came to him, he lay with her;…” Enough Said
-> Hollywood Could Learn a Thing or Two About Discretion From the Bible

-> And Look at Verse 5-6, if You Really Want to See How Relevant This Passage
of Scripture is (Elaborate = We Have Preachers Today Endorsing Sexual Sin)

II. …By Walking in the Light

1) A Description

-> In Verse 8, the Apostle Paul Describes Us as Being Light

-> I Mentioned This Just This Past Wednesday Night We I Was Preaching a Message
Based on Matthew 5:13-16

-> In Matthew 5:14, Jesus Said to His Disciples and Us
“You are the light of the world…”

-> Literally, in the Greek, “You and You Alone are the Light of the World”

-> If the World Doesn’t Have Us, It Doesn’t Have Any Source of Spiritual Light,
or More Accurately, It Doesn’t Have Anyone Who Reflects the Light

-> And One of These Days, the Bible Says That God is Going to Take Us Out
of the World, We are Going to be Raptured

-> And Then, Quite Frankly, All Hell is Going to Break Loose, Because There
Will be Nothing to Restrain It

-> In 1 Peter 2:9, the Apostle Peter Said,

“But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION,
A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies
of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”

-> Now, I Believe It is Important for Us to State This Clearly, Because It Seems
That We Have Many Churches in Our World Today Where People are Trying
to Somehow Blend the Light With the Darkness

-> We Have a Theology of Toleration in Our World Today That Basically Says That
You Can be a Christian and be No Different From Those Who are Around You

-> But That Won’t Work

-> Because You and I Either Represent the Light or We Represent the Darkness

-> We are One or the Other

2) A Direction

-> Paul Tells Us to “Walk as children of the Light”

Q.n = What Does That Mean?

vs 9 (Read)

a. That Reflects Goodness

-> This Has to do With Our Relationships With Other People, and It Means That
We Will Begin to Pursue What is Good for Ourselves and for Others

-> In 1 Thessalonians 5:15, the Apostle Paul Said,

“See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that
which is good for one another and for all people”

-> Often Times When I See That Word “Good” in the Bible, I Think of That
Parable We Refer to as “The Parable of the Good Samaritan” in Luke 10:30-37

-> But I Think We Should All be Reminded of the Fact That Jesus Didn’t Call
Him That, Jesus Just Called Him “A Certain Samaritan”

-> He Just Did What Any Decent and Godly Man Should Have Done to Help
Another Human Being in Need
-> And Now, We Have Placed Him on a Higher Pedestal
-> That’s Wrong, and This is Why
-> That’s Wrong, Because Those Kinds of Acts of Kindness and Goodness Ought
to be Common Among All of Us Who Know Jesus Christ as Our Savior
-> For You See, Every Authentic Christian Should be One Who is Pursuing
What is Good for Others and for Himself

Ex. I Came Across a Story This Week Involving a Police Officer in Lakewood,
Colorado, Who Was Bitten by a Rattlesnake
-> He Laid in a Ditch Waving as 50 or More Cars Passed Him by; Then,
Finally, Someone Stopped and Rendered Aid (World We Live In)