Exhortation to Self-Sacrificial Love (5:1-2)

Introduction:

As we continue on in the exhortation section of Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, we began last week to unravel some of the particulars of how that looks in Paul’s Exhortation to an Edifying Lifestyle from Ephesians 4:25-32. This morning we will uncover the underlying truth that marks our walk in every situation as God redeemed children, in Paul’s Exhortation to Self-Sacrificial Love, from Ephesians 5:1-2.

Text: Ephesians 5:1-2

Ephesians 5:1–2 ESV

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Main Idea: Since we are God’s children, and he is our father, there must be some family resemblance that shows itself in everything we do.

These two verses are the catalyst for the following commands in the remainder of the epistle. Without these as the context, the rest of the commands are empty, moralizing, and wishful thinking. In other words, Paul’s discussion of love serves also as an introduction to further instructions on holy living (vv. 3–20).

I. Imitators of God (1)

(1) Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

Therefore (oun [conjunction]) - consequently, since we are called from 4:32 to...

Ephesians 4:32 ESV

32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Since we have already been introduced to the standard for our forgiveness of one another, as Christ has forgiven us, we are now commanded to carry that out in the broadest sense of all of our lives by the call to...

be (ginomai [pre, pas or mid, imp] - come into a new state of being) imitators (mimetes [noun] - a person who copies the words and behavior of another) of God - we are commanded to continually bring ourselves into position to mimic God.

We have prepare for such a command by doing what we learned last week:

(4:22) to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,

(4:25) Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

Again and again Jesus and the apostles emphasized that believers should strive to be imitators of God.

But how can we imitate him whom we cannot even fathom? Imitating God begins with a proper perspective of who we are in relation to who God is. Let’s listen to those in scripture who had this proper perspective; we begin with Zophar, one of Job’s friends:

Job 11:7–8 ESV

7 “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? 8 It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

Isaiah 6:1–5 ESV

1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Luke 5:4–8 ESV

4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

Revelation 1:12–17 ESV

12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,

So in order to imitate God, we must have a proper perspective of ourselves in relation to God. It is only in that same spirit of awe and humble reverence that we can properly study this glorious theme of “the imitation of God.” It is only then that the Lord will lay his right hand upon us and say, “Fear not!” Obedience to the command to imitate him is, after all, possible for the following reasons:

we are created as his image - therefore we are persons like him who have emotion, intellect, and will.

his enabling Spirit dwells within us; and,

by his regenerating and transforming grace we have become imitators...

as (hos [conjunction] - like unto) beloved (agapetos [adjective] - cherished with the love of God which is given exclusively to his children) children (teknon [noun] - son or daughter of any age):

To be sure, we cannot imitate God by creating a universe and caring for it day by day, or by devising a method of satisfying the demands of justice and of mercy in saving men from the pit into which they have cast themselves, or by raising the dead, or by creating a new heaven and earth.

But…by adding that those addressed should do so as children, the idea is greatly strengthened, as if to say, “Are not children great imitators, and are not you God’s children?” Moreover, the modifier “beloved” adds even more weight to this admonition, for, other things being equal, it is exactly the child who is the object of love that will be the most eager imitator of those who love him.

So what is it in our own finite way that we can do to imitate our Father? It is clearly defined for us next:

II. Walk In Love (2)

(2) And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

And (kai [conjunction]) - this conjunction binds together the idea of imitating God with the greatest of all examples of how to do that.

walk (paripateo [pre, act, imp] - word used 7x in Ephesians alone; to live or behave in a specific manner) in love (agape [noun]) - that is, let love be the very tenor of your life. Let it characterize all your thoughts, words, and deeds. But, not just anything which men may wish to dignify with the name “love” should be the pattern for our thought and conduct, but, this love can only find its source in God and is defined by God:

as (kathos [conjunction] - in comparison to) Christ loved us - which shows us very distinctly that this love is to be pattered after Christ’s own purposeful, self-sacrificing love; and more specifically Paul added:

and gave (paradidomai [aor, act, ind] - to deliver or hand over) himself up for (hyper [conjunction] - on behalf of) us:

In his great love Christ gave himself up, surrendering himself willingly, to his enemies, and thus to his Father. This surrender is genuine and was not forced upon him:

John 10:11 ESV

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 10:15 ESV

15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

It is this spirit of giving oneself sacrificially and voluntarily which believers are urged to imitate…there is no consideration of, “what’s in it for me”...

The voluntary self-sacrifice of Christ during the entire period of his humiliation and especially on the cross is here called:

a fragrant (osme [noun] - an identifiable odor) offering (prospora [noun] - something presented or given) and sacrifice (thysia [noun] - presented for acceptance) to God. - both offerings and sacrifices were clearly defined by God in order to be accepted.

It was an offering, for he willingly brought it (Isaiah 53:10“10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”).

It was a sacrifice, and as such could well remind one of the fumes rising from the altar when the burnt-offering was consumed whole, symbolizing entire surrender to God and atonement for sin.

Thus, as to his human nature Christ was indeed consumed by the wrath of God in the sense that “the weight of our sins and of the wrath of God pressed out of him the bloody sweat in the garden” and caused him to suffer “the deepest reproach and anguish of hell, in body and soul, on the tree of the cross, when he cried out with a loud voice: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.” Thus he had accomplished his task and had fulfilled the prophecies,

Hebrews 10:5–7 ESV

5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”

fragrant - Literally, “an odor of a sweet smell.” This is the result of God receiving the sacrifice, it becomes perfume to his nostrils.

Genesis 8:21 ESV

21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.

2 Corinthians 2:15 ESV

15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,

The meaning is that this offering and sacrifice was — and is in our case, when we imitate the spirit in which Christ presented it — well-pleasing to God. Every deed done out of love and gratitude to God,

Unique among all the fragrances that God has accepted, is Christ’s self-sacrifice. This is what God’s children are to imitate so that every day and every hour in the hearts and lives of his followers, we are a fragrant odor.

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

So What?

Do we take seriously the reality of who we are?

We are Sons of God, called out from the world as holy. There truly needs to be some identifying mark that shows the world that we are like our heavenly father.

Acts 4:13 ESV

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

Do we understand that to imitate God is to walk in love?

When we refuse to engage in a life style and behaviour that is loving, we refuse to imitate God.

There is to be no, “what’s in it for me” attitude in those who are truly walking in love!