Walking in Love

Title - Walking in Love

can someone name a song with Love in the title

Q. When we talk about Love

what do you think about

What is the standard of what Love is ?

God is the standard

If you want to know what love is you need to look to God

last week we talked about glorifying God in the way we walk

today

we will get more specific

as we detail how it is that we are able to walk in love

Ephesians 5:1–2 NKJV

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

The chapter starts out with the fact that

we are to be immitators of God

imitators - mimētēs- means to copy ones words and behavior

thisis where we come to our first point about walking in Love

be an imitator of God

we are to copy Gods words and behavior

How are we to do this

Q. What is in my hands ----hold up Gods word

Psalm 119:11 NKJV

Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.

COpy Gods words in your memory

Story- being in the bathroom

talking to Pastor Tony

refrenced my food is to do your will.

He laughed and said yea!!!! John 6 , .

He has the word stored in His heart

He has copied His word

and in doing so is able to copy Gods actions...

The reason we know Gods character is because we have His word

AGAIN--- Q. What is the standard for good?

for Love?

for righteousness?

It is God

We know His standard because we have His Word…

Christ is our example in how to live

Q. can someone tell me a time that Jesus was a good example in how to live?

washing feet, dying for friends, healing, serving, putting others first

We want to strive to be like God in all that we do

one attribute that really does a good job of describing God

is his holiness

this means God is set apart

and it has the notion of purity and righteous....

in the perfect sense God is perfectly Good

1 Peter 1:15 NKJV

but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

this means we ought to imitate God in His holiness

we look to His laws and commands

and determine

that is how I ought to live

and then imitate Him in that

but be careful to understand the second part of that verse...

you must understand your position as a child of God in order to imitate Him...

Yow will never be able to be perfectly good for God.

but you are perfectly Good in His sight by what Christ has done for you....

understanding that you are a child of God by faith

is what will give you the strength to obey Him and love Him

Obedience always comes out of Love

and this theme ties into our next point

it covers another attribute of God that we must imitate

and that is His love

side bar---- study Gods attributes… aw tozier

in verse 2 we have the command

ephesians 5:2

Ephesians 5:2 NKJV

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

so we are to love like Christ

we are given Him as our example

Q. And how did He love ?

Sacrificially

Live Sacrificially

He gave himself to us as an offering and sacrafice to God

Christ is eternal

and He took on the form of man

He lived a perfect life

and then went to the cross

as a sinless sacrafice

and he took the wrath of God in your place…

He took your punishment

1 Peter 3:18 NKJV

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

Christ brought us close to God by eleminatiing our sin

on the cross

the Just made the unjust right with God

its like your in a courtroom

they charge you to pay 1 million dollars for your crime

and Jesus is your defense attorney and He pays your fine

He literally sacraficed His life for you

and when you believe this , you recieve forgivness

Q. do you believe this?

When you see that Christ lived sacraficially

we can go back to point one and imitate this

What does it mean to live sacraficially?

you put your own desires and well being behind the desire and well being of others ,,,

its simple--- put others first

Jesus Others You

You give yourself to others as

it says in verse 2 Jesus gave Himself for us

philippians 2:3

Philippians 2:3 ESV

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

We can walk in love when we put others first

and live sacrificially

When Christ gave Himself up on the cross

it was a sweet smelling arouma to God the father

this has the same picture of the old testemant sacrafices

the Israelites would sacrafice animals as offerings and burn inscense to God

these were pictures of the perfect sacrifice in God the Son ,,, Jesus

who became a sweet smelling arouma to God in heaven

Jesus life , sacrifice, and resurection is described as a sweet smelling fragrance to God

2 Corinthians 2:14–15 NKJV

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

We diffuse this sweet fragrance to God

When we serve Him

and live like Him in this world

It pleases God to imitate God and to live sacrificially

Love is putting God and others first

but the world will lie to you…

what does the world say… you need to love yourself

you will find more peace with yourself when you put yourself 3rd.

SO I commend you to give your self to God fully

and give yourself to others more fully

Ephesians 5:3–4 ESV

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

this section ends with practical application

to walking in Love

dont commit sexual sin

dont covet others -----wanting what you dont have

dont do wicked things

Here is the crude talking again....

lets stop using filthy words

Replace the selfish sinful behavior

with thanksgiving to God

paul is really writing to be obedient to the standard of Christian living

walk in obedience

now obedience is always about direction

not perfection

does your lifes pattern resemble sin

or holiness?

your going to break these commands at times

I have coveted this week and needed to repent

but this is not my lifes pattern

my lifes pattern is a desire to walk in obedience

now this is big

its not a suggestion

these are commands

lets look at the warning to living in a pattern of disobedience

Ephesians 5:5–7 NKJV

For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.

fornicator- sexual sin.... porn . masterbating, sex outside of marriage,

uncleaness— perversion

covetous- greedy, desires more of other peoples stuff

Idolater — worshiping other things — false Gods, money , sports,

God tells us that people who live like this

have no inheritance in the kingdom of God

Paul writes dont let anyone decieve you…

why, because its easy to be decieved

if the pattern of your life is disobedience

then the wrath of God is still on you

WHen you put your faith in Christ

and believe that He gave himself for your sin

it must lead to a changed life of obedience

to all the people who refuse to repent

we are to seperate from them

so we do not sin either

This is sobering because God is serious about obedience

But let me tell you He is worth it

when we walk in obedience it shows

that we are walking in Love

He loved you enough to die for you

we must love Him enough to listen and obey.....

this is how we walk in Love guys

We become imitators Of God

We live sacrificially

and we walk in obedience

now there is an overarching theme that envelops these three points

and its the gospel

If your here thinking

I am not walking in Love .....

remember that Jesus walked in love perfectly on your behalf

you dont need to do it perfectly

you just need to commit to loving Jesus and following Him

everytime that you fail in walking in love

has been forgiven when you gave your life to Christ

and as you grow more in Love with Him

He will give you strength to live like Him

and your lifes pattern will be that of obedience

If your struggling with sin

bring it to Christ and work through it with Him

lets pray