A Faithful Church
Part 9 - Imitating God
Ephesians 5:1-2
Ephesians 5:1 stands as the centerpiece of the second half of Ephesians.
First half - a beautiful explanation of the gospel.
Second half - how we live in response.
There are two words that summarize Ephesians 4, 5, & 6, and the central activity of the Christian Life:
• Pursue Sanctification
It’s both a command and a description of living as a follower of Jesus.
The passage begins:
Be Imitators of God
a startling command.
there is no higher standard
no more lofty goal that could be pursued
We CAN do it because we are His dearly loved children. And that’s what children do - they imitate their parents
The primary way we imitate God is laid out in the next verse
Walk in Love
…as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us
The entire Christian life is contained within this:
• imitating God
• as He is revealed in Jesus Christ
To know Jesus is to know His forgiveness
To imitate God and Jesus means first and foremost - to be forgiving.
Nothing highlights a heart of stone more than a lack of forgiveness.
Set in your now that you will forgive, it won’t be instant in every situation, but it must be a foregone conclusion.
Jesus Christ paid the penalty for sin on the cross, so how can we hold any sin against any person?
This is one way the gospel changes us and catalyzes godly living.
One final detail:
Jesus’ offering was called:
a fragrant offering and sacrifice
This is a beautiful insight into the gospel
To be an imitator of God you must also be an imitator of Jesus Christ. Your life should also be a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
This happens in two ways:
1. You bring something - an offering
there must be tangible personal investment
2. There is Sacrifice - dying
It’s tempting to talk about the Christian life in terms of the benefits:
life will be better
have true meaning & fulfillment
there’s certainly truth to that
beware though - the prosperity gospel….
If you would be like Jesus,
you must offer yourself like Jesus did
there must be sacrifice - like Jesus did
Martin Luther said: if we are to truly imitate Christ, then we must also suffer for others in some way
A full-on pursuit of Jesus will hurt.
There will be pain.
You will be tempted. You’ll struggle, You’ll suffer. It will be hard. No pain probably means no sacrifice.
BUT - remembering our identity in Christ, that we are God’s children gives me the strength to endure.
Suffering, difficulty, and pain should be a reminder of Christ’s sacrifice for us.
Ultimately the Christian life is not about pleasing myself or being satisfied and fulfilled
It’s about pleasing God
And in that - we also point others to His majesty and beauty and grace and mercy and forgiveness and kindness…..
that leads to repentance
2 Corinthians 2:14-16 – But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.
May your life be a living sacrifice to God!
Pastor Rob
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