Be Imitators of God - Live a Life of Love - part 1

It might have caught your attention that we were singing a song about fishing. You might not know where that comes from. Brother Keith is not confessing that he fished all night and caught nothing, literally. He's referencing, that song is referencing John chapter 21. That's one of my favorite chapters. Throughout the years I have preached and taught many times through that chapter. It's been quite a while and every time Brother Keith sings that song, I think about that chapter and what's taught there. So I would encourage you to go study that chapter and look at how those men went fishing all night and what that means spiritually.

It's a great lesson and lessons there. I love that song. I love that chapter. I appreciate that worship. Well, if you would take your Bible and turn back to Ephesians chapter 5, I did say that we'll be primarily in verses 1-2. We did read verses 1-7 earlier. All of that goes together. We'll finish that up next week. Now I will reference some other scriptures. You can write those other scriptures down and at the end of the message, I'm going to ask you to turn to Philippians chapter 4 verse 18. I want us to finish up on that verse. It's really the highlight of really wrapping up what we're going to look at this morning.

Now as we get started here in chapter 5, right away here in verse 1, I want us to see that Paul is giving us a new command. He was giving these Ephesian believers a new command and really anyone and every believer who would read this book. And this is a very positive command and this is a much needed command for all of us today. Now actually we have seen Paul go from one command after another since he started the practical section of the book. Now starting here in this new section, Paul actually gives two more commands. Now one is on the positive side and one is on the negative side.

We see the positive side here in verse 1 chapter 5 and we see the negative command starting in verse 4. Really it picks up in verse 3. Now with this negative command, notice that Paul is introducing some new subjects and he is also revisiting some subjects that he has spoken of. We see in the verses sexual immorality. Starting in verse 3 we see impurity, we see covetousness and filthiness and foolish talk and of course joking. We will get to those verses next week. But I think it is easy for us to see those subjects, some that we have touched on and some that we haven't.

And Paul was calling these believers to put these things out of their lives. He was calling these believers not to allow these things in their lives. But we will see these things, these verses were far more than just a list of don'ts, you know the do not commands, the don'ts, the negatives. It was far more than that. Paul certainly was calling them to put these things out of their lives. He certainly was calling them not to permit these things to come into their lives. But he puts these things in a context that would have motivated them to obey the commands.

He puts these negative commands, these do nots, within a setting that should have and would have moved them to really want to do these things. Now that's the main point of the message this morning, this motivation. Now let me ask you a question or two to show you how the negative commands put in a particular context can and should motivate us to want to do these things. I want to speak to married folks for just a minute. Me and ladies. Husbands, wives. You should not commit adultery. You should not look at pornography. Husbands, you shouldn't even look at and lust after another woman.

And then wives, you should not covet another woman's husband. You both should not covet another lust after another or commit adultery with another. The scripture clearly commands it. I've already touched on two of the commandments, the seventh commandment and the tenth commandment as well as certain parts of the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5 starting in verse 27. Now why? Those are not commandments, right? Negative. What should be our motivation to obey these not commands that I've given you? It's because you should see these things within the context of your love for your spouse.

You should be motivated not to do these things because these negative commands are within a marriage that you love and you cherish. And then preeminently, ultimately, you should also be motivated because you love God. Now, I want to speak for a minute to teenagers and children. You should obey your parents. You should do the things that are expected of you. Take out the trash, clean up your room, wash some clothes, wash dishes, yard work, whatever they call you to do and assign you to do. And also, children and teenagers, you should not do the things that your parents tell you not to do. Those negatives. Do not do these things.

But why should you do those things? What should be your motivation? It's because you should see these things in the context of your love for your parents. You should do the things they call you to do and you should not do the things that they call you not to do all because you are motivated by your love for your parents, by your love for your family, by your love for your home. And all of these things are a gift from God to you. And ultimately, you should be motivated to obey these things. Why? Because you love God. Well, that is what we have here in this new section. It's the same with those examples. Paul gives some do not commands.

I said earlier, we're going to get to those. But he puts them in a certain setting that should have motivated them to want to obey those negative commands. And their great motivation is found in the setting or the context which is seen in the positive command starting in verse 1. Simply verses 1 and 2, they are the motivation. These things should be the motivation for us to obey all of these things. And again, this is the main point of the message. So I want us to read verses 1 and 2 and then I will show you how we'll break these verses down, seeking to apply them to our lives. Paul says, "Therefore," it's a transition.

He says, "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 a sacrifice to God." Now let me show you how we're going to cover these verses. I'm going to make three observations here, covering this positive command, talking about this great positive motivation. And I want us to get all that we can get here and then we're going to take this into the remaining verses next week. So you see how we're going to approach these things. We're going to look at the high calling, then we're going to look at the great example, and then we're going to look at the sweet aroma.

Call out of verse 1 and verse 2. So let's start off with number 1. Paul gives us what I call the high calling. Look at verse 1, "In the beginning of verse 2, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love." Now here Paul is transitioning into some new teaching, but he is not disconnecting from what he has taught in chapter 4. Actually this is what Paul was doing here. He had just called these Ephesian Christians to no longer live or walk in their daily lives as the Gentiles, that would be the pagans.

And from verses 17 to 32, he had called them to put off those vices from their past life and he called them to put on certain virtues that were compatible to the new life that they had in Christ. Well, right along with living a life that exuded all of these new life virtues, Paul then calls them to a high calling. And notice what the high calling is. It's obvious. He calls them to be imitators of God. The King James says followers of God, and we really need to see what Paul was aiming at here. Now this term be imitators speaks of mimicking someone. It speaks of copying someone.

It speaks of following someone so as to be like them, so as to act like them. And here it is plain to see that Paul was calling these Ephesians and all who would read this letter, he is calling them and us to imitate God. He is calling them and us to follow after God so as to be like God. Now if we take this idea of imitating someone else and we look at it all throughout the New Testament, we are going to be surprised at what we see here. In 1 Corinthians 11.1, Paul called on the Corinthians, the church there Corinth, to imitate him as he imitated Christ. You might say, "Isn't that a little arrogant?" No it's not.

Paul called the Corinthians there to imitate him as he imitated Christ. But then in 1 Corinthians 4 verse 16 he called them to simply imitate him. Then in 2 Thessalonians 3.7 and 3.9 Paul called those believers to imitate him and to imitate his companions. And then in 1 Thessalonians 2.14 Paul called the Thessalonica church to imitate other churches. We also see this type of call and this type of language in other places in the Scriptures. We see a call for believers to imitate other believers in Hebrews 6.12 and Hebrews 13.7 and also in the little book of 3 John verse 11. Now what is my point here?

Paul, other New Testament writers and God because it was God who inspired all that is within his word, Paul and other New Testament writers, they saw and they understood the value of imitating or following after certain examples. They understood that it was one thing to tell someone how to live but it was much different to show them from example. It was so much different to call them to follow after that example. Here Paul was specifically calling these believers to not only put on certain virtues for their new life in Christ but he was calling them to the imitators of God.

He was calling them to the high calling, to the high calling of following after God and following after God and mimicking what they saw in God. Well that brings me to a question. What does that look like? If we are to be imitators of God, what does that look like? Now before Paul shows us what this looks like in a very, very specific way, he moves to why and how. This is what I call the why and how. Why they should be imitating and how they should be imitating. First the why. The text says it was because they were God's children. Look back at verse 1.

"Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children." You see Paul was reminding them that they were indeed children of God. They had been brought to faith in Christ and God saw them as His children. They had been predestined for adoption in chapter 1 verse 5. They were members of God's household we saw in chapter 2 verse 19. They were a part of the family of God on earth and we saw that in chapter 3 verses 14 to 15. So simply they were children of God and Paul was calling them to live as a people who saw God as their father and they saw themselves as God's children.

He was calling them to see their relationship to God and their position in that relationship. They were His children and beloved children and He was their father. And then second how, how in love, look at the beginning of verse 2, "and walk in love." Here Paul was calling them to see that this was all to be done in love. Again we see this word walk. We've seen this before. Paul uses this word walk often. This walk here, it speaks of everyday living. It speaks of daily life. And he was calling them to see that they were to live out these things in their everyday life in love.

Simply they were loved children of God and Paul was calling them to live this high-culture calling of being imitators of God in love. So in summary, Paul was calling these Ephesian believers to what I call the high calling of imitating God in their daily lives, not just on Sundays. As loved children of God, he was calling them to live out this high calling and the high calling was imitating God, following after God, mimicking God all in love. Now before I move on to our great example in Christ, I want us to see how being imitators of God should apply to us in a broad sense. I want to apply this high calling, this imitating in a broad way.

First of all, we should imitate God. The text says it. It's plain. We should follow after God and imitate what we see in God. Well, how do we do that? What does that look like? How do we know what we should imitate and mimic? We find it in God's Word. We find it in God's Word. And see, this is where sometimes we can miss the point and the point is more simplistic than you know. What we need to see is this. We should study God's Word and pray over God's Word and meditate over God's Word and even memorize God's Word.

Oh, if we need to be on our knees, if we need to rise up early in the morning or stay up late at night, we should be people of the book. We should study God's Word. We should read God's Word. We should meditate over God's Word. And when we struggle over God's Word, we should pray over God's Word all with God because we have a personal relationship with God. He is our Father and we are His beloved children. Now look folks, we can't imitate a God we don't see. We can't mimic a God we do not hear. We can't follow after and imitate a God we don't know. And we see God and we hear God and we know God where? From His Word.

It's far more simplistic than we know. We miss the point. And I want to ask you what would happen in your life if you committed to spend one hour with God, not listening to a sermon, not doing a Bible study, oh not even reading one of the Puritans, not even streaming a conference. What would happen in your life if it was just you and your Bible? And you did that every day. What would happen if you turned off the television? Teenagers, what would happen if you took your telephone and put it off to the side? What would happen if you decided to get in God's Word on a consistent basis every single day? I'm going to tell you what would happen.

You would see God, you would hear God, and you would know God from His Word. And if you don't know God, it won't happen because it's the power and the work of the Spirit that takes His Word and allows us to see God, hear God, and know God from His Word. Then we should also imitate other strong Christians in the life of the church. Now where do we find strong Christians? How do we find strong Christians in the church to imitate? I'll tell you one of the first places to look at small groups. In the life of our church we are committed to small group ministry, and oh that's where we get together and we get to know one another.

We can talk and we can share. And you should be intimately involved in small groups and you should be looking for one or two believers that you can attach yourself so as to imitate them as they imitate Christ. I think back to my early years, my Christian journey, I think back to two individuals that I attacked myself to. One particular individual greatly influenced me into the ministry and taught me many, many things and I sought to attach myself to him. And I did attach myself to him. I looked up to him as a more mature believer and I allowed him to influence me and pour into my life.

But I think back to other individuals as I've grown and gone into the ministry that I have connected to and they have connected to me and they have looked up to me and I saw my great responsibility to pour into them and they literally imitated me and the things they saw in me as I imitated Christ. But then also I want to speak specifically to members of Grace Life Church of Brookhaven. Listen, if you've been saved for 10, 12, let's just say 15 years or more. See it takes time to make a mature believer. Do not miss that.

You can come to faith in Christ and know the Bible and know your theology and know all of the church lingo and what you should do in church but that doesn't translate into maturity. It takes time. So if you've been saved for 10, 12, 15 years you should be a Christian worthy of imitation. If you're not a Christian worthy of imitation, oh there are some things that are deeply wrong with your Christian journey. I think about our small group ministry. All of our leaders, if you're a leader you should be one worthy of imitating.

Those in your group should look to you and watch you and know that they can imitate you because they see you imitating Christ. And then as a leader you should take the steps to mentor one or two, pour into them, embrace them, pull them into your life and yes imitate Christ before them encouraging them to imitate you. And then in the life of our small group ministry as it grows we should look up and see two or three over here, one or two over there.

You know we might call them accountability relationships but we should see the work of God in them, one or two, two or three where some younger Christians are imitating and following older Christians. So I want us to see our higher calling. You see the calling? See why I call it a high calling? Oh it's a high calling. We should imitate God as we see Him and hear Him and know Him in His Word. We should imitate other strong believers as they imitate God. Now look, Grace Life folks, you can't do this at a distance. Your favorite conference pastor can't do that for you. They can't meet you for breakfast.

They can't look at you and say what's wrong with you. They can't look at you and keep you accountable. They can't come into your home. We should imitate other strong believers as they imitate God. We should imitate God and then we should mentor those who imitate us as we imitate God. And look church, this is our high calling. What does the text say? Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love. And then number two, Paul gives what I call the great example. We see this, the second part of verse two, this is what I call the great example. Now here Paul gives us the great example.

And you might say, "Pastor, that's obvious, Jesus." Right there in the text. He is the great example. But even more, I want us to see He's given us more here. Paul actually points out two specifics about Christ's example that serve as a pattern for this high calling. Now notice two specifics. We see Christ and His love. Look back at verse two. Walk in love as Christ loved us. Here Paul says that Christ loved and He loved who? Us. That would be believers. Paul was saying that Christ's love wasn't in the abstract. It wasn't just some concept. His love was purposeful and it was for a particular people. Paul uses this word us.

This would be believers, not just those Ephesian believers, but this was for Paul. This would be all believers. But then second, we see Christ's sacrifice. Go back to the verse and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. Here Paul shows how Christ loved us or how Christ loved believers. And that was by giving Himself up for us. Here Paul is speaking of the cross and his substitutionary death on the cross for us. And look at how Christ loved and this sacrifice all comes together. Christ loved us by giving Himself up on the cross for us. And this sacrificial giving of Himself was and is the greatest example of love.

There is no other example greater. Let me say that again. This sacrificial giving of Himself was and is the greatest example of love and there is no other example greater. The Apostle Paul reiterates this fact. He says in 1 John chapter 4 verse 10, "In this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." And notice what John is saying here. This is love that God first loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation. That would be the substitute for our sin. We see this supreme example all throughout the New Testament.

Romans 5-6, Paul says that Christ loved sinful man and that He died for the ungodly. And later on in chapter 5 of Romans verse 8, Paul says that God shows or demonstrates His love for us that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. So in summary, look at what Paul is saying here by giving us this example for the high calling. He was saying that the great example is Christ and His love and not just any love, but this ultimate love of giving Himself up, up on the cross. And look at how this great example is out before us as our example to imitate. We as God's redeemed people now, blood-bought, born-again people.

We are not to love as we see the world around us loving. The world loves only pretty people. The world only loves handsome people. The world only loves famous people. The world only loves powerful people. The world only loves influential people. The world loves people who can do something for them. But here Paul is calling us to love other people as God loved and loves us. He loved us and He gave Himself up for us. So we are to be like Jesus. We are to mimic Jesus. We are to follow His example and we are to give ourselves up for others as well. We are to love and to give up ourselves to others, even those who can do nothing for us.

We are to love and we are to give up ourselves even to those that the world says are insignificant. What a question here. Who are we to love in this way? More specifically, everything that I've shared in application has been more general. First and foremost, we are to love other believers this way. Brothers and sisters this way. The church this way. Paul helps us see this in Galatians 6.10.

Paul says in Galatians 6.10, "So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially, especially, especially to those who are of the household of faith." Jesus tells us the same thing in John 13.34 as He was teaching His disciples and He taught them the very same thing. He said this, "A new commandment I give you that you love one another just as I have loved you." It almost sounds like Jesus is reading what Paul said in Ephesians. Well He inspired Paul to write it. And what does He say?

"A new commandment I give you that you love one another just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." So for you, for me, for us, we are to love one another as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. We are to give up ourselves for one another. Look around the room. Look around the room. We are to love each other this way. The ones behind you, the ones who are in front of you, those brothers and sisters who are not here this morning, but they are a part of our church. Look around the room. That's how specific and personal it is.

John 13.34, Galatians 6.10, and Ephesians 5.1-2 apply to us right here as we look around the room. But then second, this applies to others outside of the church, the world, the lost. Galatians 6.10 says, "As we have the opportunity, we are to do good to all men." So for all of us, we are to love those who we come in contact with as we have the opportunity. See Galatians 6.10 helps those who think they have to do good to everybody to the best of their ability. You only have a certain amount of ability. So we see in that verse that those who we come in contact with, we are to love them this way as we have an opportunity, as God enables us to.

How? As Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, we are to give up ourselves to other people. And think about your own life. Think about who you come in contact with in your life that are not believers, your neighbors, your coworkers, your family, the lady and the man that you see at Walmart or at the grocery store. Oh, the people you come in contact with, you, as you have an opportunity, are to give yourself up for them and to them. Now you know why I didn't just call this the example. This is our great example.

We should imitate and follow and mimic after this love giving up ourselves for the brothers and sisters, especially the church and then all those that He allows us to and enables us to. And then next, number three, Paul gives us the sweet aroma. This is what I call the sweet aroma at the end of verse two. Look back at the verses.

Paul says, "Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love." And here's our example, our great example, "As Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us." And here's our sweet aroma, "A fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Now here Paul is using some language that was used from the Jewish sacrificial system. This word fragrant and this word offering, it was Jewish sacrificial language. The King James says, "Sweet smelling savor." And for us to even get a glimpse of what Paul was saying here, we must see what was happening in these Jewish sacrifices, a few of them.

In the first five chapters of the book of Leviticus, we see the five offerings that God commanded the Jews to make. Now the first three were the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the peace offering. And we need to see how these things speak of Christ and picture Christ. First the burnt offering. It spoke of Christ's complete devotion to God in surrendering His life to obey and please His Father. And then second, the meal offering. It spoke of Christ in His perfection. And then third, the peace offering. It spoke of Christ in His making peace between God and man, between man and God.

And get this, all of these offerings here spoke of what was pleasing to God in His sight. These particular offerings here spoke of what pleased God. In Leviticus chapter 1, chapter 2, and chapter 3, it tells us repeatedly that these offerings were a pleasing aroma to the Lord. You can see it in chapter 1 verse 9, chapter 1 verse 13, verse 17, chapter 2 verse 2, 9 and 12, chapter 3 verse 5 and 16. But notice the other two offerings. I said there were five in the first five chapters of Leviticus. The sin offering and the trespass offering.

See the text says they were repulsive to God because these offerings spoke of Christ and His bearing the sin of men and mankind. They described God turning His back on His son when God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. This is when Jesus cried out from the cross declaring that God had actually forsaken Him. Now notice, notice how all of this fits together. When Christ was on the cross bearing sin as the sin bearer, God could not look on Him or even be pleased with Him. But when Christ was raised from the dead, His sacrifice that made Him to become sin on the cross, it became the sacrifice that did indeed conquer sin.

The very sin that put Christ to death was itself put to death. And that very sacrifice which was made by Christ in love, it was a sweet smelling aroma to God. So look what Paul was saying here. Christ loved us and He gave Himself up for us by dying in our place on the cross, the just for the unjust. He who knew no sin became sin for us and that very sacrifice was a sweet and pleasing aroma to God. Now an important question. Might sound like a sarcastic one. How does that relate to our high calling? How does that relate to our following after Jesus and mimicking His example?

Oh, it has a lot to do with that high calling and that high great example. We must see that when we are truly imitators of God, when we imitate God and mimic Christ as beloved children giving ourselves up for others, we are indeed a sweet aroma to God and a sweet aroma to others. We need to hear that again. When we imitate God, when we mimic Christ as God's beloved children giving up ourselves for others, we are indeed a sweet smelling aroma to God and to other people. Here's why I'd like you to turn to Philippians 4 verse 18. I really want you to put your eyes on this verse.

Before we read the verse, I want to tell you the context of Philippians. The Philippian church was a small church, a poor church. In many ways it could have been seen as an insignificant church. It didn't have the standing of maybe the Ephesian church or even the Corinthian church. Some of you know this, some of you do not. They were the number one supporter of Paul and his ministry. As a matter of fact, they funded most all, if not all of his second missionary journey. Well, the Philippian letter, the context of the letter goes like this.

After Paul had been separated from the Philippians for some 10 years, Paul was in a Roman imprisonment and they heard of Paul and him being in a Roman imprisonment and they were deeply concerned. They thought his ministry was over. They were afraid for Paul. And what did they do? They sent one of their best men a Paparditis and they sent a Paparditis to minister to him. They sent a monetary gift to Paul. And notice what Paul says here, writing to the Philippians, "I have received full payment and more.

I am well supplied having received from a Paparditis the gifts you sent." And look at this language, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice, acceptable and pleasing to God. Now who and what was a sweet smelling offering to Paul and to God here? A Paparditis. His service to God, his service to Paul, his sacrifice, his service to God in this circumstance and his sacrifice and service to Paul. He gave himself up to God. He gave himself up to Paul and he gave himself up to the Word. And look for a Paparditis, it came at great cost, it came at great sacrifice and great risk. He almost died.

And giving himself up like this, giving himself up to Paul and to God and to Word, it was a sweet smelling aroma to God and to Paul. Now at this point I have some questions that I want us to ask and I want you to think back to your experience in the life of the church throughout the years. Now no name calling. I want you to just think about this. First, has someone ever mistreated you in the church? Has someone ever been mean to you? Bitter to you? Oh, has someone ever been ugly to you and mistreated to you? Mistreated you? Has someone ever been really unchristian to you? Now I'm not talking about a one time event. That was their pattern.

That was who they were. That was how they treated you. Has that ever happened to you? Well, I'm going to tell you something that you already know. It stinks. You see? It stinks. But, the other side of the coin, has someone ever loved you in the church? Has there ever been one that served you, asking nothing in return? Has there ever been one that loved you and even sacrificed for you unconditionally? Oh, even when no one else saw it, oh that was their pattern. They loved you. They sacrificed for you. They gave themselves up to you asking nothing in return. It's sweet, isn't it? Isn't it beautiful? You see?

And the lesson to command for us is this. We as Grace Life Church of Brookhaven, we must be a sweet smelling aroma to others. First in the church. First to those who sit behind you. First to those who are in small group with you. Listen, we must be a sweet aroma to those in the church. And let me tell you something. If you can be a sweet aroma to other Christians outside of the church and you cannot do it in the church, there's something wrong. It's fake. You can't fake it in the church. And the lesson for us is this.

We must be a sweet smelling aroma day in and day out for all of the years to come to the brothers and sisters who are in the life of this church and all that God would bring and then also all of those that we come in contact with. So we see our high calling. See how high it is? We see our great example. See how great it is? And then we see our sweet smelling aroma. Now as we close, notice something. I've not gotten to the negative command starting in verse 3. We just don't have the time. We'll get there. But I wanted us to stay in this positive command. I wanted us to get the context of this command.

I wanted us to get the motivation for us as we get into the negative, you see? But look at what God is calling us to. He is calling us to be imitators of God. Notice living a life of love. That's the title of the message. Comes right out of the text. Be imitators of God. Live a life of love today. Do it today. Start the work today. Do it tomorrow. Do it Tuesday. Do it when you're busy at work. When everything's hard at home. Do it when no one is looking. Cultivate this kind of life today and tomorrow. Oh, commit your life to this kind of a life this week and then the next month to come. This must be how we live. Being imitators of God.

Living a life of love. So let's pray and let's commit these things to the Lord expecting that this work will going on in our lives.