Sermon Tone Analysis

Northside Church

Eph #6

6/26/22

Jamey Mills

Good morning NS.

So good to be with you all this morning, my name is Jamey Mills, I am the lead pastor here at Northside…

As we shift into the sermon today… I thought we could kick it off with Matt and Jamey’s top 5 worst trends of all time… Slide for each.

Try to not get ahead of M and J here.

There are some things in history that have sort of “caught on” that I will never understand…

Matt # 5

Jamey # 5

Every other till #1

Jamey’s

5. fanny pack

4. Bomb boxes…

3. Big hair/power mullet…

2. Mompers… male rompers… did your mirror break… who told you this was okay?

fanny packs

That is a pretty light hearted view… there are somethings in history that I look at

But this is actually a real thing… and it happens and it happens with important things too…

Where people will jump onto something without really paying attention to what it is or what it stands for… or even what the outcome might be… It can be easy to get caught up within a moment… or even a train of thought or into the current of something that in some ways can “blind” us from certain realities…

And the church isn’t immune to that… Movements or people… that sort of come in and gather support or a following… When the truth is, it really doesn’t look or sound like Jesus at all… or maybe sometimes it kinda does… but has things just under the surface that are toxic.

And to some degree, I think that's what the bible means when it refers to people as sheep.

It really isn’t aimed at this cute, soft, wooly, fluffy compliment… think more… massive pile up.

(NLT)

6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.

We have left God’s paths to follow our own.

Yet the LORD laid on him

the sins of us all.

And to some degree, that mentality is some of what I think Paul is addressing in Eph 5… that as Christians we can’t get carried away by culture or misguided people… or even at stuff/people within the church…

And I think that's part of what Paul is addressing here…

Let's check it out…

(NLT)

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.

He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

Last week we talked about the importance of the role our mind plays in our relationship with God… Paul gave us three things that help us down that line.

Step out of our old nature, our old way of thinking

Renew our minds and our attitudes

Step into our new nature… this new way of thinking…

And the idea is… that really leaning into those things play a large role in becoming imitators of God…

Imitating Him in EVERYTHING we do…

And it's an interesting question…

What does it mean or look like to imitate God?

For me this thought was really helpful…

If I were to tell you to imitate…

MJ, what would you do?

Michael Scott?

Ron Swanson?

Elvis?

Lajon Brames?

Forrest Gump?

But what about Polly Esther… that is a real person… I’ve never met her, I know nothing about her… other than she sounds itchy… I think it’s important you hear that I said ITCHY…

And my point is… it’s impossible to imitate something or someone without knowing them… what they are like and what they’re all about.

The word imitate is where we get our word for mimic… it means to copy the behaviors and characteristics of another… and to do that, you have to know them.

You have to know what they’re like… their attributes… their characteristics…

Imitating God involves knowing God.

Several things can help us with that…

His spirit, good teaching, good conversation, experience…

Maybe the best resource that God has given us down that line is the Word… which is God’s self revelation to humanity… to you.

These fairly new Ephesian believers were living in an incredibly secular and idol driven society… and Paul continues… over and over to point them back to God’s truth, His word… All of those other things… will line up with what God says in His Word.

If you want to know who God is and what He’s about… what it means and looks to imitate God in ALL that we do… that's where we go…

One of the questions I almost always ask when I spend time in the Word is this… What is it that I learn about God in what I read today?

And I think you’d be shocked… at just how much you learn.

If you dig into the word… what you’ll find is imitating God… imitating His character involves things like…

What kinds of things are involved with imitating the character of God?

Love, forgiveness, kind, patient, just, honest, holy, righteous, gracious, meek

Paul says imitate God… because you are His dear Children…

Even in the way we speak…

In Eph 1:5 it told us that God chose you and adopted you into His family… seeing God the right way… leaning into Him the right way… spending time with him often…

Leads to this place of more and more mirroring His heart, priorities… As those who carry his name, God expects us to get to know, experience, and imitate His character.

And it will change your life… It will change your heart, the way you see God, the way you do relationships… your attitude.

Paul uses one example… to live a life filled with sacrificial love… that patiently and graciously fights for God’s best for people… Christ is the ultimate example…

(NLT)

10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

We know love… because we know God…

We know what real love is… sacrificial… based on what’s honestly best under God… instead of what’s easy…

And several authors connect this verse… with forgiveness… and getting to this place where we are well aware of our need for forgiveness… is one of the ways we grow to understand, experience and become grateful for the love of God over us.

It brings with it humility and the right position for us to begin to more and more imitate the character of God.

3 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you.

Such sins have no place among God’s people.

4 Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you.

Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God.

For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

6 Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him.

7 Don’t participate in the things these people do.

8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord.

So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.

(seek His wisdom) 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.

12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.

13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible.

This is why it is said,

“Awake, O sleeper,

rise up from the dead,

and Christ will give you light.”

At this point in EPH… Paul just keeps sort of hammering this idea home… again… in the face this highly idol driven… lust filled… secular culture… Paul is telling them it's supposed to be different…

Stepping out of darkness… and now “living as people of light”...

The language in this passage refers to darkness as a condition that no longer exists…

And that’s just sorta odd.

This idea of light and dark… is all over in scripture.

Thanksgiving… I’m done with the dark…