To the Imitators in Afton
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· 8 viewsImitate the Father and the Son in Love, Light, and Wisdom.
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ME: I’ve Been Watching You
ME: I’ve Been Watching You
When I was in high school, country singer Rodney Atkins had this song I loved called “I’ve Been Watching You.”
It tells this story of a father and his son.
It starts with the son riding in the car with his dad eating his happy meal.
When the dad has to slam on the brakes the happy meal goes everywhere.
The son then says a four-letter word that started with ‘S.’
And the now concerned dad says, where did you learn to talk like that?
The chorus sings;
“I’ve been watching you, Dad.
Ain’t that cool?
I’m your buckaroo, I wanna be like you.
And eat all my food, and grow as tall as you are.
We got cowboy boots and camo pants, yeah, we’re just alike, hey ain’t we dad?
I wanna do everything you do, so I have been watching you.”
When they got home,
The dad went outside and prayed to God a simple prayer,
“Lord, please help me help my stupid self.”
That night, when he went to tuck his son into bed.
His son got down on his knees, closed his eyes, folded his hands, and prayed to God like he was talking to a friend.
So the dad asked him where he learned to pray like that?
The chorus sings again;
“I’ve been watching you, Dad.
Ain’t that cool?
I’m your buckaroo, I wanna be like you.
And eat all my food, and grow as tall as you are.
We like fixing things and holding mama’s hand, yeah, we’re just alike, hey ain’t we dad?
I wanna do everything you do, so I have been watching you.”
The song is about this son watching his dad because he wants to imitate his father.
You know the saying, like father, like son.
The song is an example of a loving father.
I feel fortunate because I grew up with a father who worked really hard.
I always had this desire to imitate his work ethic.
Tragically, many children grow up without a father
Some have absent fathers and others abusive fathers.
So this idea of wanting to imitate one’s father may not resonate with everyone.
That being said, it is nonetheless true that every believer has God as Father.
Therefore, every believer must desire to imitate their Heavenly Father.
He is a Father worth imitating.
This has been put on marvelous display throughout Ephesians.
Look at some of these descriptions:
Eph 1:3;17; 3:14-15; 4:6;
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
This morning we are in Ephesians 5:1-17,
Addressed to the Imitators in Afton.
Elsewhere in Scripture, Paul says to imitate him as he imitates the Father.
This morning’s passage is a call to directly imitate the Father.
The reality is, it is not possible to directly imitate the Father in everything.
We are not able to create the universe as God has,
We cannot know all things, as God does.
But we have been made in His image.
We can imitate His character in some ways as His image bearers.
As we saw last week in Ephesians 4:24;
and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
This morning’s passage is pretty weighty.
Paul pulls no punches in these verses.
Laying out a series of commands and prohibitions that we need in order to be imitators of the Father.
Imitating the Love of the Father and the Son in vs. 1-2.
Imitating the Light of the Father in vs. 3-14.
And imitating the Wisdom of the Father in vs. 15-17.
WE: Imitate the Love of the Father and the Son
WE: Imitate the Love of the Father and the Son
Before the call to put on the new you in Eph. 4:24,
Came the command to put off the old self.
This command to take off an identity as if it were a uniform.
and to put on a new identity.
This new uniform is created after God’s likeness.
It is an identity of truth and righteousness.
Similar to the command in Col. 3:12;
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
We concluded last week with a series of practical applications of what this new identity looks like.
Our passage this morning is filled with commands.
Beginning by continuing the applications from the end of chapter 4.
It starts in Ephesians 5:1-2 with the instruction to imitate the love of the Father and the Son;
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Our passage begins with this command to imitate God.
Last week, Paul commanded us to know Christ,
To not grieve the Spirit,
Now we are commanded to imitate the Father.
To seem like God in the way we walk and live.
This command serves as a summary of Eph. 4:25-32.
Remember how last week’s passage ended?
Forgive as God in Christ forgave.
That command entails the notion of this week’s passage,
To imitate the Father.
Why are we to imitate God?
Because we are His beloved children.
So, as a child is greatly loved by his or her father, he or she seeks to be like him.
Paul seems to picture this as believers taking on the character qualities of God.
Specifically here, the character of His love.
Commanding us to imitate His love, to put on the love of Christ.
We do not create this love out of our own power.
This love takes shape as we grow in our knowledge of Christ.
Why?
Because, as Colossians says, He is the image of the invisible God.
It is in Christ where all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
But is also through Christ, that we are adopted.
Look back at how Paul started this letter in Ephesians 1:5;
he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
The Father has adopted us.
Through Christ, we have become beloved children of God!
The application of Eph. 1:5 is Eph. 5:1.
These two verses are inextricably linked.
It is truly amazing, the Father loves us as His children.
Now as His children, we imitate the Father’s love through compassion and mercy.
In Luke 6:36 Jesus called us to be merciful as the Father is merciful.
You see, it is assurance of our place as God’s beloved children that enables us to fulfill the call of vs. 2.
Which is to walk in love as Christ loved us.
This love is a self-sacrificial love.
This command to walk in self-sacrificial love is an expansion of the first command to imitate God.
Being an imitator of God is to walk in love.
Imitating the love of the Father and the love of the Son.
Christ gave Himself up for us, dying in our place as a fragrant offering,
An acceptable sacrifice to God.
The ultimate acceptable sacrifice, really.
The most pleasing fragrant aroma.
Christ gave Himself up for us our passage says, but He was an offering to God.
This is the pattern of love we are to imitate.
Though we do not sacrifice fragrant offerings to God,
Horizontally, we imitate the love of the Father and the Son
Living in a way that is fragrant, caring for others, living with sincerity, being generous.
All for the glory of God.
This language alludes to the sacrificial system in Ex 29:18;
and burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord.
God also speaks of this fragrant offering to the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 20:41;
As a pleasing aroma I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered. And I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations.
Jesus became the fragrant offering, the pleasing aroma.
The cross takes center stage in vs. 2.
Because the cross is God’s most prominent display of love.
To understand the love of the Father, we must look to Christ.
His death on the cross paid the price for all the wrong things you have ever done,
And will ever do.
If you believe in Christ, trust in Him as Lord of your life,
And confess that with your mouth.
You will be adopted as God’s beloved child, accepted by God on behalf of Christ.
This is the love we are to imitate.
This is Christian love and we are to walk in it.
We love as Christ loves us because Christ loves us.*
The love of God is the mark and the motivation.*
It is a good mark, obviously,
Yet, we all fail at it.
It is impossible for non-Christians to grasp this concept of sacrificial love.
Even as Christians, though, we still do not do it perfectly.
This is why we need not only the example of Jesus, but the love and forgiveness of Jesus.
If not for the cross of Christ, our failure to hit the mark would lead us into despair.
Once we come to know the love of the Son, it empowers us to imitate the love of the Son.
The example of Christ is the ultimate pattern of love.
It is so much more than sentimentality,
It is more than having feelings for someone.
It is an action.
1 John 3:18 says we must love with truth and action.
Romans 5:8 says that the cross is a demonstration of God’s love toward us in action.
Therefore, our imitation of the love of the Father and the Son includes actions.
Actions like forgiving one another, material giving to others, spreading the Gospel, being patient with one another, even with those who annoy you, and aiding those in need.
Meditating on Christ’s love will grow our ability to imitate this love.
Just as Paul says in Gal 2:19-20;
For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
A great example of this love is the missionary Amy Carmichael.
She was a missionary to India caring for ill-treated children.
She founded the Dohnavur Fellowship, a refuge to over a thousand children.
In 1951 she died in India at the age of 83.
After her death, the children she cared for put a birdbath over her grave with the inscription, “Amma,” which means “mother.”
She would often say, “One can give without loving but one cannot love without giving.”
Another believer she influenced said that “Her life was the most fragrant, the most joyfully sacrificial, that I ever new.”
As we imitate the Love of the Father and of the Son,
May our lives be a pleasing aroma to God.
GOD: Imitate the Light of the Father
GOD: Imitate the Light of the Father
But, not only are we to imitate the love of the Father and the Son.
We are to also imitate the light of Father.
Because there is darkness in this world seeking to obstruct the light of the Father.
Look with me at the instruction to imitate the light of the Father in Eph 5:3-14;
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. 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. 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 become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Paul begins his discussion in this section with a list of vices in vs. 3-6.
Vices that echo the works of the old self we looked at last week in Eph. 4:19.
Here, the vices are sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness.
These are not proper for God’s people.
As we saw back in Eph 1:4,
Saints have been chosen by God out of this dark world to be holy and blameless.
Te be restored to God’s image.
Sexual immorality was a problem in the earlier church,
And it is a problem still today.
But it is improper!
Paul is prohibiting the presence of these vices.
It should not even be heard of among believers.
He takes it a step further in Col. 3:5;
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Instead, sadly, there are many examples of sexual immorality happening within our churches and among Christians.
Paul continues with his prohibitions.
As believers, we should not trivialize the sexual relationship with filthy, obscene, and foolish talk,
The word for foolish talk in vs. 4 is synonymous with the speech of a drunk man.
We also should not make crude jokes about sexual relationships.
Nor should we covet it, making an idol out of it.
That same type of covetousness Paul talked about back in Eph 4:19.
It is a never ending thirst for more and more and more.
These things are out of place for believers.
Instead, as saints, we accept God’s gifts with thanksgiving.
Including the sexual relationship.
But we accept this gift in a proper way, a restorative way.
Proverbs 5:18-19 gives thanks for the sexual relationship in a proper way.
Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.
Believers are to understand this means the sexual relationship is enjoyed between a man and a woman in the context of the covenant union of marriage.
Hebrews 13:4 explains;
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Paul seems to emphasize this in vs. 3-5 because the world seeks to darken the light of the Father especially regarding the sexual relationship.
With lies that it is prude to be Christian.
Or Christianity means the sexual relationship cannot be enjoyed.
This is a flat out lie.
I cannot remember where I heard this quote,
But I once read someone said sex is like Drano.
It must be used following the creators instructions.
Otherwise it becomes unsafe and poisonous.
So, what starts to happen in the world is the instructions for sex get smudged by darkness.
It starts with saying sex is not limited to a husband and wife.
It can be enjoyed between two people as long as they love each other.
Then sex becomes something that is not as big of a deal as some people make it out to be.
Sex is fun and enjoyable, nothing more.
There are so many ways to have casual sex safely, so just go ahead.
In fact, since everyone is going to have sex anyway,
Society needs to just find ways to facilitate how to have sex safely.
So go ahead, have sex with whoever you want as long as they are willing.
And if you cannot find anyone, you can just go ahead and have sex with yourself.
Because really, sex is just about your pleasure anyway.
Very quickly we see the sexual relationship is no longer seen under the light of the Father.
It is shrouded in dark deception by the world.
Completely unrecognizable from the Creators design for it.
Now sex has become poisonous.
The Bible lumps this type of sexual activity on the same level of prostitution.
As vs. 5 shows, the sexually immoral, the impure, the covetous idolater will not receive the blessing of the kingdom of Christ and God.
They are not ruled by God.
This is a significant example Paul uses to show how darkness deceives.
So, in vs. 6, Paul prohibits in a more general sense, “Let no one deceive you.”
Vs. 1 started with a reminder that believers are God’s beloved children.
Now at the end of vs. 6, those who do not believe,
Are the ones who have been deceived by those deceptive messages I had mentioned.
Those dark, empty words that obstruct the light of the Father.
Making them sons of disobedience.
What happens to these sons of disobedience?
They receive the wrath of God.
The love and light of God comes upon His children.*
The wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.*
So, Paul gives Christians a warning in vs. 7-13.
He begins with yet another prohibition,
Do not become partners with the sons of disobedience.
Older translations say “do not associate with them.”
Many Christians have taken this command and used it as justification to build bigger walls.
To isolate from the world, from lost people, because I am not suppose to associate with them.
But this would be a wrong and inappropriate response to to this command.
Because isolating from a lost world would contradict other parts of the Bible.
This is why it is important we understand Scripture in it’s entirety,
We use Scripture to interpret Scripture.
Which is also why some of the more modern translations use the phrase “do not become their partners.”
It better communicates what Paul is telling us than “do not associate” does.
Because this is one of the parts of the Bible where we get the idea of being in the world and not of the world.
You see, it is true, sons of disobedience receive God’s wrath.
So, we do not participate with sons of disobedience in there foolish ways of living.
Instead, live as God’s beloved children.
As recipients of God’s promises as Paul said back in Eph 3:6.
I remember one Sunday School teacher I had during college would say,
If you are helping someone out of a ditch, you don’t drive your truck down in the ditch to pull them out.
Otherwise you have two people stuck in the ditch.
What he was saying was,
If you know someone who is actively living as a son of disobedience.
Do not join them in their darkness, thinking you could use that common ground as a means to reach them.
That would be living in darkness.
Darkness is a symbol in the NT of the future judgments upon the coming of the Lord.
Throughout the Bible, it communicates misery, ignorance, adversity, and death.
Darkness often is used in contrast against the joy of light.
And the works of darkness here in Eph 5 are impure actions.
It intentionally communicates negative connotations.
At one time, you lived in that same darkness,
You lived in chaos and evil and mischievousness.
But now, as vs. 8 says, you walk as a child of light!
You remember the darkness of your past,
Back in Ch. 2, that is exactly what Paul called you to do.
But presently, you walk as a child of light.
You live righteously.
You do not live in evil again,
That is what it means to partner with the sons of disobedience.
You are now a follower of Jesus.
This is also more than simply abstaining from certain sins or other forms of darkness.
Look what Paul says in Col. 1:13;
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
This deliverance from the domain of darkness means you were in the ditch.
You were out driving around in the darkness of this world, with no headlights.
Unsurprisingly, it resulted with you driving into the ditch.
So, Jesus left His heavenly home,
To drive out into the dark and pull you out of the ditch.
And to let you use His truck, that has headlights.
So, that you can continue to drive in this dark world, but now He has given you the light to see.
Beyond that, the language of deliverance in this Colossians passage,
Intentionally calls to mind the deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt.
Living outside of the light of the Father is to be living helplessly,
As a slave to the domain of darkness.
Deceived by the enemy’s rule of wickedness.
But Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins,
To deliver us from the present evil age!
We have been rescued by Christ, The Light of the World
And now we who believe in Christ
Are brought under His dominion and protection and light.
The light of this Gospel message shines into a world of people blinded by darkness.
Just as the headlights of the truck that is coming to pull you out of the ditch,
Shine light into the darkness.
Paul also explains this in 2 Cor. 4:4-6;
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The god of this world is the enemy.
He seeks to darken the minds of people to the point of blindness.
Obstructing the light of the Gospel of Christ.
But you do not partner with the dark world,
Jesus has shone into your hearts.
Therefore, you shine as a light in the dark world.
Again, Paul explains this in Phil 2:15 and 1 Thess. 5:5;
that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.
Through the Light of the World, sons of disobedience have been adopted to become beloved sons of God, making them the light of the world.*
Therefore, we imitate the Light of the Father.
The fruit of this is goodness, righteousness, and truth.
A more detailed explanation of this fruit is the well known passage Gal 5:22-23;
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
It means believers try to discern what is pleasing to God.
It means fruitless works of darkness are prohibited for believers.
Instead, believers are commanded to expose the fruitless works of darkness.
It is shameful to even mention these fruitless works that are being done in secret, vs. 12 says.
As we imitate the Light of the Father, we will expose these dark shameful works.
What exactly does it look like for believers to expose these dark, shameful works?
Well, on the most surface level,
Many believers have probably experienced their unsaved friends or coworkers who might cuss around them,
Then they apologize because they do not want to offend you.
You as a light, do not partake in fruitless works of darkness.
So, when you are around, an unsaved person experiences a sense of shame for these unfruitful works they do when there is no light around.
This is a very shallow example, but hopefully it is one you can relate to.
The type of unfruitful work can go much deeper,
Can be something much more secretive.
Imitating the light of the Father is not convicting them of their sin with your judgment.
It can simply be their own experience of shame as a result of your light revealing their sin to them.
This is not only okay, this is good.
In fact, it is great!
The Holy Spirit inside you is shining you brightly because you are imitating the light of the Father.
You are walking as a child of light.
And God uses your light to convict people of their darkness.
Some of whom, Paul is saying, will be drawn to repentance as a result!
Your presence alone, Paul says, may be enough to expose the sins of a non-believer, that could potentially bring them to repentance.
Making it that much more tragic if you take “do not partner with them” as a command to avoid and isolate from the unsaved.
Let this truth be a passage that motivates you to imitate the light of the Father.
God can use that alone to bring others to salvation.
But do not neglect the need to admonish as well.
Exposing some of the more secretive fruitless works may require you to admonish the person.
Lovingly but sternly help them to understand their fruitless works are wrong.
Do not mince words, do not judge or attack the person.
Convince them of the fruitlessness of their works.
Then, as Paul alludes to Isaiah 60:1, we can call the dead to be spiritually alert,
And change into life by receiving the light of Christ,
As the sun or the moon or the stars shine upon them.
Singing;
“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
YOU: Imitate the Wisdom of the Father
YOU: Imitate the Wisdom of the Father
As you imitate the love and light of God, you also must Imitate the Wisdom of the Father, as we see in Eph. 5:15-17;
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
These verses really explain what it means to pay attention to how you live.
Paul continues from our last section with warnings.
Commanding you to look carefully at how you walk.
To walk carefully, is to not walk foolishly, it is to walk in wisdom.
It is to imitate the Wisdom of the Father.
Meaning the way you live your life should be mindful, deliberate.
This imitation is put on display for unsaved people to see as well.
Wake up! Paul is saying, and imitate the wisdom of the Father.
Make the most of your time and understand God’s will.
He follows this solemn warning with instructions against foolishness
And toward understanding what the Lord’s will is
Essentially instructing you to imitate the wisdom of the Father.
Proverbs we understand as the wisdom literature,
Filled with simple, direct, instructive sayings for walking in wisdom.
Proverbs also has a lot to say about the recklessness of fools.
A fool will flaunt his foolishness, will partner with fools, and will despise wisdom.
The wise man is the exact opposite.
The wise man understands the value of wisdom and to pursue it diligently.
But how do you gain wisdom?
Proverbs 13:20 says;
Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
James 1:5 says;
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
And Col 2:3 explains;
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
So you gain wisdom by walking with those who are wise, by asking God, and by knowing Christ.
This is the first focus Paul gives in Imitating the Wisdom of the Father.
He goes on to show that you imitate the wisdom of the Father by redeeming the time you have been given.
Paul uses the same phrase in Col 4:5, commanding us to utilize our time by walking in wisdom toward outsiders.
The motivation behind this utilization of time comes from the OT understanding of the days being evil.
As the prophet Amos says in Amos 5:13;
Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.
If time is not being invested for good, than it is evil.
Similar to the last section, the days we are living in are filled with darkness.
As long as we have breath, imitate the wisdom of the Father.
Shine brightly while time is available.
So, what is the big deal about making the most of the time?
Well, what was true for the church in Ephesus then is true for the church in Afton today.
We are in the last days.
Christ’s return is near.
Therefore, how we live matters.
So, what are the things that tend to make you feel like you have wasted time?
As you figure that out, prioritize everything else over that.
As a believer, you do not want to waste your life.
That is what Paul means when he says make the most of your time.
WE: Imitate the Love, Light, and Wisdom of God.
WE: Imitate the Love, Light, and Wisdom of God.
Lastly, in vs. 17, Paul says to understand what the Lord’s will is.
This is essentially a summary statement of this morning’s passage.
The world is wicked, dark, and evil.
But the will of God is characterized by love, light, and wisdom.
Our goal is to imitate these things.
Imitate the Love, Light, and Wisdom of God.
God’s will is not just about major decisions in life like where do I live, what do I do for a job, or who should I marry?
Paul is referring to God’s will for us to understand Him and His Word.
The desire for us to be able to imitate His wisdom,
As well as imitating His love and His light.
Therefore, as believers, we need to understand what God has called us to pursue
And what He has called us to avoid.
We must pattern our lives after the example of Christ.
Be reminded that we are new creations.
Because of the cross, He rescues us who fail at imitating the Love, Light, and Wisdom of God perfectly.
He rescues us who have committed shameful, dark, and foolish deeds.
And now, He has given us His Spirit.
We have what we need to be imitators of the Love of God, the Light of God, and the Wisdom of God.
Praise God for giving us Jesus as the perfect Imitator.
Please join me in prayer.