True Love should be Imitated

A few years ago, we started sending mission teams to a place in Africa called Lesotho.

It was then that I started hearing about this workout called rucking.

It’s simple—you put weight on your back and you walk. That’s it. No shortcuts, no tricks. Just step after step after step.

But here’s what makes rucking different: It’s not about how fast you go… it’s about how consistent you are.

You don’t win a ruck by sprinting the first mile and collapsing on the second. You don’t succeed by taking the weight off when it gets uncomfortable.

You finish by putting one foot in front of the other, over and over again—steady, faithful, consistent.

And the longer the journey, the more consistency matters.

Because eventually:

Your shoulders start to ache

Your legs get heavy

The excitement fades

And all that’s left is the decision: Will I keep walking?

That’s where growth happens. Not in bursts of intensity—but in daily consistency.

Transition to Scripture

When the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 5, he uses that same language—not of sprinting, not of striving, but of walking.

Not a moment… but a lifestyle. Not occasional effort… but daily consistency.

Paul is saying: The Christian life isn’t a quick burst of passion—it’s a long obedience in the same direction.

It’s a ruck.

And in this passage, he shows us how we’re supposed to walk on this long journey of faith.

Sermon Movement

So if we’re going to walk this road well… if we’re going to stay consistent over the long haul…

Paul gives us three clear Characteristics of a born again Christian:

– when it’s costly Walk in Love 

– when it exposes Walk in Light 

– when it requires intentionality Walk in Wisdom 

Let’s make our way to Ephesians 5, as we read vs. 1-2.

Here we’ll consider the first of the three Characteristics. That the Christian will:

Walk in Love

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.

I remember as a boy, watching my dad shave his beard. To me this was the pinnacle of being a man.

I would even find myself imitating him when he wasn’t around. I may have even got a pretty bad cut one time, because i didn’t know what i was doing.

I did this because when I saw my dad, I saw safety, security, I saw someone who would give anything to protect me and to provide for me.

I realize that this is not everyone’s experience.

Some of you have experienced things that cause all of your alarms to go off when you hear God called your Father.

I heard someone once say, there are a lot of Father’s out there, but not as many daddy’s.

We’ll sometimes hear the word “Abba” in the Bible. That’s for those “daddy” moments.

When we feel the warmth, the safety, the love, the encouragement of God.

It’s in those moments when we see that God never wanted us to compare Him with the Father figures that we’ve had, but that He is the Daddy that all other’s should be striving to be.

It’s in His love for us, that we see how Love really works.

The Power of Love

Love is powerful, and the sad thing is we don’t often bring this up unless it’s in a RomCom or talking about a romantic relationship.

But know that it was the Power of God’s love that made a way for you to be saved.

It was the Power of Jesus’ Love that caused Him to remain silent when Pilate tried to give Him a way out of His own execution. Because Jesus knew that He had to give His life for ours to be saved.

The world around us tries to minimize the Power of Love. Why? because the Enemy knows it’s power. He’s seen what love can do, and he wants nothing to do with it.

A big issue is that there are a lot of false “versions” of love, so how do we know if love is real?

Let’s look at:

The Pattern of Love

Throughout the Bible, we see a few constants when it comes to real Love.

All Real Love is rooted in a commitment to God.

All Real Love is sacrificial.

Look at:

1 John 3:18 ESV

18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV

9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Romans 5:8 ESV

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Here we see the Pattern

Let’s not just talk about our Faith, Let’s Walk out our Faith

Let’s give up the stuff we’re chasing, in order to help rescue the Souls who are dying!

and Let’s give up our lives to be a vessel for the Good new of Jesus Christ!

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians Love like the Son (5:2)

Love is not just sentimentalism. It is not merely feeling sorry for someone. It involves sacrifice and action.

The Pattern of Love is Self-Sacrifice for the good of others.

There is no greater good than a life lived with and for Jesus!

But Love is not just about us, Love is pleasing to God. Here we see:

The Perfume of Love

Let’s rewind a little bit:

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians Love like the Son (5:2)

In the Old Testament, sacrifices were placed on an altar. A “pleasing aroma” was an Old Testament description of God’s acceptance of a sacrifice given from a sincere and wholehearted worshiper (

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians Love like the Son (5:2)

Notice Christ gave Himself up for us, but it was an offering to God. This is the pattern of love for us. While we cannot love like Christ in an atoning sense, we can love in this “horizontal-vertical sense.” Let there be a holy fragrance of love in your life as you care for others practically, sincerely, and generously for the glory of God.

Famous Theologian A.W. Tozer said it this way:

"There are rare Christians whose very presence incites others to be better Christians. I want to be that rare Christian"

As we walk in the Love of Jesus, Let’s show people that God’s Love is Powerful, that it can overcome your troubles! That’s God’s Love is Sacrificial, that it should change your heart! and That God’s Love is sweet, the aroma of Christ’s love draws people toward Him! because there’s nothing else like it!

The second Characteristic of a Born again Christian is that in response to Jesus’ Love and Sacrifice we:

Walk in Light

Let’s hop back into the text in vs. 3.

Ephesians 5:3–6 ESV

3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

It’s hard to see if you’re not looking, but in these verses Paul is talking about a battle.

The battle between little g god’s, and the one true God!

The sins mentioned describe a dark life: we see sexual immorality, impurity, greed, corrupt speech. These sins grow out of a heart that has replaced the real God with little g gods.

So if we are to make a difference in this battle, we start when we:

Exalt God, Not gods

The god of Sexual Immorality and impurity

The greek word for sexual Immorality is “pornei”.

This is the root word for Pornography, but has a much broader meaning.

It covers any sexual sin that we can imagine.

Here we must fight the temtpation to “rename sin”. You’ll here people label sinful context as “for mature audience” or say “viewer discretion is advised”.

These types of statements lead us to believe that there will be a time when this sin is no longer a sin.

Here me when I say this:

Sex is a beautiful thing, created by God as something that is both meant for Joy and for the continuation of our world.

However, it was designed to be enjoyed within a Biblical Marriage between one man and one woman for a lifetime.

Anything outside of this is Sexual Sin, and is displeasing to God.

Many of you are fighting this battle, right now.

Whether Pornography, Sex Outside of Marriage, Sexual Identity Confusion

We want to be a church that seeks not to condemn you, but to restore you.

That restoration begins with Acknowledgment that this is in fact sinful, Repentance, which means to ask forgiveness and to leave the sin behind, and finding people who can love you by holding you accountable in staying away from that sin.

This is a difficult little g god to break away from, but our God available and can handle it! I promise.

then we see the:

god of Greed

we don’t talk about greed a lot, because we live in a culture that tells us that excess is good.

We even try to create definitions for this word that allow us to look at other people as greedy, while justifying our selfish desires as, “being driven”. but when all use the same definition, we see that maybe we can all grow in this area.

Here is the definition: Greed is the insatiable desire for more.

Greed is really about our hearts wanting something more than God.

And the enemy will offer us “more”, but the problem is that none of that more get’s us any closer to God. Thus it’s completely useless.

Be weary of the little g god of Greed.

Paul mentions one more little g god in vs. 4. Here we see:

the god of Corrupt Speech

Let’s go back and look at vs. 4

Ephesians 5:4 ESV

4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

Let me start by saying that I love to laugh. I love to joke around with friends and family.

However, there is a point where joking turns from innocent to sinful.

We are called to walk in the light in every part of our lives. That includes in the Locker room, in the rehearsal space, in between class, at work, in group messages, while hanging out on the weekend, in Arab or out of town.

I often see groups of people scatter when I walk up, later to find out that they didn’t want me to hear what they were talking about.

But they shouldn’t be worried about what I think, but what God thinks. And He heard the whole conversation.

Whether sex, greed, corrupt speech, or an endless list of other things.

When you are saved by the Spirit of God, your default way of life goes from Darkness to light.

God transforms us in a way that changes the way we think about the world, and we want to:

Exhibit the Fruit of Life

and we Display the light by not joining those in Darkness

look at vs. 7-8

Ephesians 5:7–8 ESV

7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

God calls us to Display the Light by living out your identity. Which used to be made up of all of those things, but not anymore!

Our Identity has been changed from Hopeless, defeated, and searching to Joyful, Victorious, and secure.

and so we Display the light by doing all that is good, right, and true.

We also Display the light by pleasing the Lord

We no longer live in the Darkness, our goal is to:

Expose the Darkness

for what it is.

Let’s jump forward to vs. 11

Ephesians 5:11–12 ESV

11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.

God calls us to use the light we’ve been given to:

expose the sin of unbelievers

knowing that the Light can save unbelievers from the darkness that they refuse to see in their lives.

vs. 13-14 says:

Ephesians 5:13–14 ESV

13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

There are people across this community, and in this very room who are sleepwalking through their lives. Living in the dark, waiting for someone to show them the light.

God calls us to Walk in the Light. For us, and for those around us.

The final Characteristic of a born again Christian, is that they will:

Walk in Wisdom

Ephesians 5:15–17 ESV

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

We’ve been told to Walk in Love, to Walk in Light. Both of these give us practical steps to take. This characteristic defines how we go about those things.

God wants our Walk with Him to be something that outsiders see and want, in Hopes that they may accept the life changing power of the Gospel.

Many have the knowledge, but only God’s people have access to Wisdom.

Wisdom forces us to change our pace. Godly wisdom slows down our plans, and shows us God’s plan.

We seek Godly council from Godly people

We look around at the world, and see the desperate need that our world has for Hope. Hope that can only come from Jesus.

So we make the most of our time

and most importantly, as vs. 17 says, we lay aside foolishness, and seek to understand the will of God, and place it above our own.

Recap

Closing

“Remember that ruck…

At the beginning, it’s exciting. You’ve got energy, adrenaline… you feel strong.

But somewhere along the way… it changes.

Your shoulders start to ache. Your legs get heavy. The excitement fades.

And you’re left with a decision: Am I going to keep walking… or not?

And that’s the moment where it counts.

Not at the start… but in the steps you take when it gets hard.

And that’s exactly what Paul is calling us to in Ephesians 5.

This Christian life—it’s not a sprint. It’s not a moment. It’s a walk.

So when it gets heavy… we walk in love—even when it costs us.

When things get exposed… we walk in the light—even when it’s uncomfortable.

When life gets busy and confusing… we walk in wisdom—even when it slows us down.

Because the goal isn’t to start strong…

It’s to stay faithful.

Step after step. Day after day. Moment by moment.

And here’s the good news:

You’re not carrying that weight alone.

The same Jesus who loved you… The same Jesus who gave Himself for you… The same Jesus who called you…

He walks with you.

He strengthens you.

And when you feel like you can’t take another step— He carries you.

So don’t quit.

Don’t take the weight off.

Don’t settle for a moment when God has called you to a walk.

This week…

Take a step.

Love someone when it costs you. Bring something into the light. Slow down and choose wisdom.

Just take the next step.

Because faith isn’t proven in the start…

It’s proven in the “walk.”