A Voyage of Imitation
Notes
Transcript
Up to this point in talking about the voyage of a disciple of Christ, we have had lots of instruction. Walk in good works. Walk in a manner worthy of your calling. But tonight I want to have a look at more than just instruction. We have for us in this passage of scripture more than instruction but an actual example to follow.
Read Ephesians 5:1-3
Tonight’s passage sits under one main point: The Christian is to walk in sacrificial love.
Paul begins this passage with a therefore, continuing this idea of walking. He calls the Christian to imitate or mimic God, just as children mimic their parents.
You might say, “well how do we know what to from God imitate God?” We can look at who God is and the attitude to imitate based on the bible. The first and primary place we should be looking for how God loves is in the New Testament at the life of Jesus. Remember that Jesus as He walked this earth was 100% God and 100% man. He was born to a woman and earthly mother. He was perfect, lived a sinless life even though He had flesh and blood just like you and me. We know that He had a hunger just like any other human being. We know that He felt physical pain just like you and me. We can read instances where we know that He had emotions. And we know that He felt pain based on what we read about the time that He hung on the cross. So, yes He was a man but there are many times where He claims to be God as well. When Paul writes that we should imitate God, Jesus should be the first place that we turn to find what exactly we should be imitating.
So what did Jesus do in a loving way that we should imitate.
As a boy, Mary and Joseph lost him because He was still in the temple. When they asked Him why did He get them so worried, His response was simple: “did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” We ought to desire to worship the Lord often. It should be a joy and an honor to worship with the people of God. Do you desire to worship with God’s people and make it a point to do it on a regular basis?
Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. Each time Satan came to Him with another temptation, He always responded with scripture. But in order to respond in the moment with scripture, He had to know it. Do you know God’s word well enough for it to come to mind when you’re faced with temptation?
Jesus was faced often with questions from people who doubted that He was the messiah. Each time he answered their question but He also did so with patience. When faced with questions about your faith, do you respond with grace and patience or do you get frustrated?
He raised people from the dead and healed people. Though we don’t have that ability, the reason that Jesus did these things was to show them that He was God in flesh and to reveal His power. And with that understanding, we are able to tell others about the miracles that He has done in our lives. Do you point to God as the cause of miracles in your life?
Jesus had a moment where He went and cleansed the temple. How is it that He could go in and begin flipping tables and chasing people away with a whip and claim to do it in love? The answer to this is the fact that He loved His heavenly Father and the temple so much that He was protecting what God has set aside. Do you do all that is in your power to protect the Lord’s reputation and defend what is true?
Finally, Jesus gave His life for us. This is the example that we should follow. We ought to be willing to give our lives for one another. Are you willing to do as John 15:13 says and
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
But we are not just imitating. We read that we should imitate God as beloved children. Here we should remember that God is our heavenly father because of the adoption mentioned in. Ephesians 1:5-6.
he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
We observe the nature of God and His actions based on them and then we do those things to the very best of our ability.
Illustration on children imitating their fathers.
How, then, are we to walk as we imitate God? Verse 2 goes on to explain that we are to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us.
If we break down the phrase, “Walk in Sacrificial Love”, each of the components is actually redundant to the Christian, yet this is a wonderful way of looking at living.
To walk is how we live every day and is explained by our habits. We don’t go out of our way to love, but rather we do it naturally, as we are going.
We walk in love. This means that everything that we do is coated in the love of God. It is clear to all of those around why it is that we are doing what we are doing.
Our life as a sacrifice means that we will be a giving and generous people, never expecting repayment or acknowledgment of doing the right thing. Paul exhorts the Christian in Romans 12:1 to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. This type of living is what pleases God and nothing short of it is acceptable.
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.
Finally, to love is to sacrifice one’s wants and desires and wellbeing for others. This is the example that has been set by Christ. And He walked in this way as we ought to as well.
There is a man who once loved the bible and desired deeply to reach people with the gospel. He preached in prisons, spoke at revivals, and carried the gospel everywhere He went. However, He learned of a group of villagers in Ecuador and His heart broke for them because they did not know God and were known as being savages and very violent. He and a group of friends began making contact with the villagers by speaking to them from a plain over a loudspeaker and dropping gifts to them. They felts comfortable after some time of doing this and they planned to go and visit the village. However, they were one day met by 10 of the village warriors and Jim Elliot and his friends were killed that day. Over the years, Jim’s wife, Elisabeth, and others befriended the villagers and shared with them the gospel and they were saved.
This is the sort of imitation of Jesus that we ought to consider when we give our lives to the Lord Have you committed yourself to Him or are you still riding the fence? Just doing enough to make you feel good about yourself but not actually take on any risk.
Is your voyage as a disciple of Jesus one that is marked by sacrifice? Or have you managed to remain safe and never give up anything for the sake of other people.
