Imitators not Imitations

 

Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Ephesians 5:1-2, NASB)

Before we jump into the two verses above, we must understand the first word we read in verse one, the word, therefore. Some Bible translations put this word after the word imitators. This verse’s word placement does not matter. The important part is that Paul wrote it, and we need to understand what Paul intended with this conditional word. Therefore implies that an action or statement will result in something happening. This tool is a literary technique used to help a person consider what the speaker states next when considering his previous statements.

To help us understand what Paul wrote in Ephesians 5, let us grasp what he wrote before chapter five. Chapter four told the Ephesian believers and later believers, there must be unity in the body of believers, the body of Christ. Verse one said believers must walk in a manner worthy of their calling by Christ. What is this manner? The manner of Christ is one of humility, gentleness, and patience (4:2-3). This manner includes bearing with each other and being eager to keep the unity. Paul reminded the Ephesians they are one body and spirit made so by having the same Lord, faith, baptism, God, and Father (4:4-6). He reached the heart of the matter. Paul said God’s grace gives gifts to Christians through the Holy Spirit (4:7). These gifts equip saints for ministry, building up the body of Christ (4:13). This enables all believers to reach the pinnacle of the unity of the faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ and to become a mature believer to the full measure of the stature of Christ (4:7-13). For the rest of chapter four, Paul said by growing toward maturity and unity among the body of Christ, each believer will speak truth and be kind, which shows itself in tenderheartedness and forgiveness toward others of the body (4:25 & 32).

Paul wrote, because of this unity and growing maturity of Christlikeness, believers can, therefore, be imitators of God (5:1). He wrote the word, therefore, to show the result of maturing and being united. Every believer should and will resemble their Father God. The tender image Paul gives is of a loved child’s relationship to his or her father. People can relate to this image of a loving father. For those who cannot for whatever reason, the love of a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, neighbor, or church member can understand. For others, the relationship of the heavenly Father to him or her is very close because of His protection and provision before he or she became a Christian. Whoever was in your life and deeply touched your heart, consider that relationship like the relationship of the Father to His beloved child.

To extend this comparison, what does a child aspire to become as they mature? Often, he or she will want to imitate the person with whom their heart intensely connects. My mother was a nurse. As a child, my first aspiration was to become a nurse. Why? Because my mom was very loving, caring, and compassionate. This image portrays part of what Paul tried to explain with his analogy. A child desires to imitate their Father. The Father (or the analogized parent, grandparent, etc.) takes great pleasure and honor in the child looking up to Him. He desires for His child to become ever more like Him each day. The Father wants His children to mature into Christlikeness.

What does it mean to be imitators of God? Paul began explaining it in chapter four. He said He wants His children to reach full maturity in likeness to Christ so that they have unity among their brothers and sisters and are kind (tenderhearted and forgiving) and speak truth (the truth of God, not the world’s idea of truth). Paul continued this thought in chapter five. He said imitators of God walk in love (5:2). Paul did not mean phileo love, a brotherly love a person has for his or her close friendships. He wrote saying imitators of God will walk in agape love. Agape is the love shown to people by God. This love is sacrificial love, beyond mere feeling. Sacrificial love intentionally chooses (wills) to act. Agape love shows a preference for the other person over oneself, no matter what the cost. Most parents willingly would risk their lives to save their child’s life. They prefer the life of their child over their own. This love is about what Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:2. God’s children are those who mature and become imitators of Him. This means they will live out this preferential love toward their other brothers and sisters in the faith. These believers prefer to help one another grow, survive, and receive forgiveness. They make the choice to ensure the unity of the body of Christ, regardless of the personal cost to themselves.

That sacrificial love made Jesus' offering of Himself in our place a fragrant aroma to God. What parent, when seeing his or her child do a kind and selfless act, does not beam with pride and love for his or her child? God beams with pride at His children when they become imitators of Him in this way, when they love as Jesus Christ loved them.

The Holy Spirit, by God’s grace, gives each believer gifts to equip himself or herself to mature in Christ and to aid in bringing unity as God designed for His body. This unity builds the faith of other believers, speaks truth in love, and is kind—tenderhearted and forgiving. This unity in the body causes each believer to be imitators of God. Each believer will desire to be so close to God that they reflect the presence and love of Christ, allowing others to see God. Those imitators of God are true. They are not an inferior imitation; one the world says is sufficient. The believers who radiate the presence and sacrifice of Christ are imitators of God, not imitations, like faux leather. These believers desire to be closer to God. They crave it. Believers want everyone to know about God and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. They care that the truth gets out and all experience life-changing and eternal forgiveness. These Christians are tenderhearted and dedicated to spreading the message of Jesus and His salvation. God's children, imitators of Him, aspire to be nearer to and resemble Abba, the one who never gave up on them and offered forgiveness. Their goal is to be like Jesus, regardless of sacrifices. That is agape love. Agape love is a love that prefers to benefit others instead of oneself.

“Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

Will you live out what Jesus Christ put in you—the new person—by His Spirit when you believed in Him? Agape love requires action. It prefers other people over oneself. Consider what Jesus would do?

Be imitators of God, not imitations.

Devoted Love

 

“Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I, the LORD, have created it!” (Isaiah 45:8 [ESV]) 

    Almost everyone has stood dominoes in a row on their ends on a flat surface or has seen this done. When any domino falls over, others fall as a reaction of the first fall. People call this phenomenon the domino effect. An action causes a reaction. Our lives are like that. At times, we choose not to follow what God told us. After disobeying, we find the result is not bad, so it becomes easier to go against God’s will more. Before we realize it, we walk so far away from Him that we cannot hear His voice and we find ourselves in trouble. What God said through Isaiah speaks about this. 

    Isaiah 45:8 records several commands from heaven. In it, He commands the heavens to shower from above, tells the clouds to rain down righteousness, tells the earth to open so salvation and righteousness may bear fruit, and tells the earth to cause them to spout. The last section of this verse declares who commanded these actions, the LORD God. 

    Notice the Creator commands different parts of creation to act. From the highest part of creation, the heavens, God commands showers, continual flows of righteousness and salvation, to fall. Descending to the next level, He commands the clouds to rain down righteousness. Finally, God commands creation at humanity’s level to bear fruit and cause it to spout. What does God mean by each of these commands? 

    The first command declares that righteousness and salvation come from the heavens. In biblical understanding, the heavens denote the place God lives. The “showers” spoken of by God are flowing waters. Throughout the Bible, the writers mention a river flowing from the fountain, from God’s mercy seat. He is the source of true salvation, righteousness, grace, and mercy for all people. This means God’s showers from the heavens continually flow from Him with mercy and grace to give salvation and righteousness. 

    The second command God gives is for the clouds to rain down righteousness. Again, only God gives righteousness and salvation. Righteousness is God making a person right, cleansed from sin and made holy. Righteousness is part of God’s character. He is righteous; He never sins. God is holy. A person’s being made righteous by God occurs when he or she professes faith in Jesus as the Son of God and confesses his/her sins for salvation. The salvation by God of a person gives righteousness from God to that person. God alone provides salvation and makes believers righteous. Until a person professes faith in Jesus, the flowing river of God’s grace and mercy does not affect him or her. God does not have to give righteousness and salvation, but He chose to provide for it when He created all creation. He knew people would sin because He gave them freewill to decide what they will do in each situation. This means, before God made a verbal covenant with humanity in the Old Testament, an implied covenant by God to people existed. He planned to provide salvation from sins, guilt from sins, and the judgment of eternal death away from Him for each person. 

    With God’s third command, He orders the earth to open so salvation and righteousness will bear fruit. God addresses the last level of creation, earth. When “earth” appears in this verse, He means people. Once a person professes faith in Jesus, God gives salvation. Salvation is His restoration of each believer to sinlessness in His eyes, a cleansed, righteous relationship with God by Jesus’ death. “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” Paul said in Ephesians 2:8 [ESV]. Once a person receives God’s grace (undeserved forgiveness at the expense of holy God) through faith, a relationship with God occurs. This relationship, like any relationship, requires communing with Him in devoted love. Staying in communion with God requires a person to be open to God and grow to know Him better. This explains the analogy God commands that “the earth opening to salvation and righteousness.” A believer devotedly loving God shown by drawing near to Him each day causes growth in his or her relationship with God. 

    The last command God gives through Isaiah is for the earth to cause salvation and righteousness to sprout. God’s fourth command expresses the causal effect of command three for command four. This means open to God and His gifts and you will have a relationship with and spiritual growth from Him. Without a growing relationship with God, spiritual growth, fruit, will not occur. Sanctification becomes stagnant. In this instance, the domino remains standing, but not strengthened in its foundation for stabilization. Spiritual growth may seem the obvious effect from salvation. Yet, some believers reach the end of the honeymoon phase and their find life trouble-free. They begin not relying on God every day and not communing with Him. This causes the stagnation of a believer’s spiritual growth. When times are troublesome, almost every believer seeks God. He or she desires Him and seeks Him through prayer and Bible study. God spoke to this human tendency of not communing with God daily in the fourth command of this verse. He told His children to let their salvation and righteousness “sprout”. Let it grow by devotedly loving God. Devoted love for Him results in believers setting aside time to be with Him each day through prayer, Bible reading and studying, fellowshiping with other believers, and private and congregational worship. Communing with God nurtures and matures the believer to be more like Christ, who is wholly righteous. The result of this maturation of the believer is the bearing of fruit that come from salvation and righteousness. This fruit then leads to obedience to God requiring action and/or thought. Each person will only understand what thought or action God desires by relating to Him through a continual relationship with Him. 

    Stay connected to the Vine. Being connected to the Vina is devotedly loving and communing with God. Once a grape leaves the vine, it withers and dies. Remaining connected to the vine allows the grape to receive nourishment and grow. John said this in John 15:1-2 when wrote, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit [ESV].” Only God’s righteousness causes growth. Attempts by people to manufacture righteousness fail. God is the author of salvation and causes its growth when a person professes faith in Jesus and stays in a continual relationship with Him. 

    The believer becomes more like Christ and becomes more sanctified when he or she stays in a devoted relationship with God. This shows salvation is for now and for eternity. A growing relationship with God produces a greater faith and sanctification. The growth of righteousness shows by fruits of the Spirit growing in the believer. Paul listed some fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23–love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. God will perfect the believer’s sanctification when he or she dies on earth and arrives in heaven. Salvation is for now, tomorrow, and eternity. God did not intend for it solely to be for eternity. God, through Isaiah, commands the “earth” (people) to “open” (command three) and commune with Him. This means God desires for each believer’s salvation and righteousness to grow (command four). 

    Isaiah 45:22 reiterates verse eight with another command. God commands in this verse, “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” A person cannot save him or herself. Sinfulness cannot beget purity like a mule cannot beget a horse. Do not look elsewhere for salvation and a possible way to be righteous. Turn toward God and look to Him. Keep on looking at Him and don’t look elsewhere. When a person takes his or her eyes off God, the dominoes begin falling. Later, after many dominoes have fallen, that person who looked away will recall his or her life while clinging to the Vine. He or she will realize how and when he or she disconnected from God. When we are at that point, we must pray, repent, and return to God. He will restore righteousness to each person who calls on Him. In 1 John 1:9, John wrote, “If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

    Being saved by God is a continuous action. God saves a believer at a point in time. That person, like all believers, is being saved from death, temptation, sin, and guilt each day. One day God will complete in heaven that believer’s sanctification, purification that leads to holiness. Repenting, which leads to confession, means doing a 180 degree turn to look at God. The believer turns and keeps turning toward God and He continues to sanctify him or her each day as he or she repents and confesses his or her sins. Each day, the believer must look and keep on looking at God. Commune and keep on communing with God. Jesus spoke in His Sermon on the Mount about God wanting a relationship with each person by telling people to seek, knock, and ask in Matthew 7:7-8. He said, 

“Ask (and keep on asking), and it will be given to you. Seek (and keep on seeking), and you will find. Knock (and keep on knocking), and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” [ESV]

     Cling to the Vine. Take in the righteousness God rains down on you. Let the salvation God gives burrow into the ground of your heart, mind, and spirit so that righteousness and the fruits of the Spirit grow. A believer can allow sprouting and growing by staying connected to God, the giver of the fruit. 

    The Lord created everything that exists, including you. He gives righteousness and salvation to you when you believe in Jesus Christ and confess your sins. You only need to cling to the Vine by devotedly loving and obeying God (Jeremiah 2:2). Don’t let the dominoes in life cause a domino effect in your life. Don’t let things in your life lead you away from God. Stay connected to God. Grow in sanctification and righteousness. 

Choosing to Love

In John 14:15, Jesus said to His disciples, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Before this verse, the disciples questioned Jesus about how to get to where He was going. Jesus explained if they knew Him, then they knew the Father and His love. He also said, the works He does, the disciples would do, too, because He goes to the Father. Next, Jesus instructed them to pray to the Father in His name asking for anything. He said He would do it-answer their prayers.

Notice, keeping Christ’s commandments comes after Jesus told them the Father loves them, He is going to the Father, the disciples would do works like Him, and they could pray asking the Father for help. Each of these assumes a personal, impacting relationship with Jesus. Without Jesus, they would not know the Father. Without Him, they would not know the works to do. Without Jesus, their prayers would have no intercessor. From this, Jesus next spoke verse fifteen.

With verse fifteen, Jesus made a profound statement for which the disciples possibly had not connected all the dots. He spoke a conditional statement with a command. Jesus said, “If you love Me.” Jesus never demanded love, obedience, or people to follow Him. Love should never have to resort to these, for these are not love. Demanded loved is involuntary slavery. Jesus never required the disciples love Him. Love of Jesus is willful; it is voluntary. Each person chooses to love or not love Jesus. It is not a requirement for living on earth. What kind of love, then, did Jesus speak about in this verse? This love is agape love. The love of Christ by any person is a preferring of Him over all others, including one’s self. This kind of love is a choosing to embrace Him and what He stands for in our hearts and our lives. Each person who chooses to love Jesus and live in this kind of relationship with Him prefers to do what Jesus wants and loves. This kind of love prefers the other person over one’s self. It is a putting of self after loving the other, a doing what the other wants instead of what you want. This love is self-sacrificial, voluntary, and submissive.

When we consider this kind of love beside the other part of this conditional command, we understand better what Jesus said to the disciples. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” If you love me self-sacrificially like I love you, you will choose to follow and do what I prefer, which is, in a nutshell, love the Lord with all your being and love your neighbor as yourself. What Jesus said was more than that. His commandments to the disciples involved that love, but it went further. He told them to go to their Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth, make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything He commanded them. Basically, Jesus told them to do what they saw Him do-love God, love people, and obey the Father by living in His power and with His direction. “Keeping” as Jesus told the disciples is guarding, preserving, and doing His commandments. “Keep” involved hearing the command, then deciding it worthy enough to make one’s own so you act upon it. “Keeping” is hearing, accepting, and acting upon.

“Loving” and “keeping” are choices for something that requires understanding with our minds, and accepting in our hearts and minds, which then results in actions because of, in line with, and in the power and direction of God. “Keeping” comes out of “love” for Christ and the Father. Loving Christ and keeping His commandments first changes our hearts, then changes our lives.

By loving and keeping God’s commandments, we become more like Christ, see the Father’s face/presence more because we are closer to Him in relationship, and the people around us experience God in our actions and words. Our “keeping” shows our love of God. Our love of God shows itself to people around us. When we truly love God, the “keeping” is inconsequential; it becomes an automatic result of our love for God, so of course we will obey Him. Our deep, devoted connection with God means we will do His will…period. There is no waffling on this; our love for Him overwhelms us so we cannot not do His will. Our will becomes His will and we must act upon it. It is who and Whose we have become. God’s will becomes our will when we live as one with Christ. In doing God’s will, we fulfill God’s plan for our lives and affect other people’s lives, so they see and hear about God and have a choice to love and follow Him, too.

Verse fifteen speaks of the preference to live with God, to choose to live with Him in His power and direction, and to choose to do His will, knowing His will is perfect and leads to others seeing, knowing, and loving Him. First, we must decide for ourselves, do we love Jesus? Do we have such a deep, devoted relationship with Him that obeying His commandments is second nature to us? How will people hear about God and His grace unless we have a deep, impactful relationship with Him? Paul stated it this way in Romans 10:14-15a,

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ How will they preach unless they are sent? [NASB]

Lord, please help me love You so deeply and profoundly that You impact the lives of people around me with Your love and presence. Teach me to love You completely and make my words and actions come from obedience to You and Your commands. Use my life to help people know You and choose to be in a relationship with You. Amen.

Be ready

Be Ready

2 Timothy 4:1-5 

¹I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His coming and His kingdom: ²herald and preach the Word! Keep your sense of urgency, stand by, be at hand and ready, whether the opportunity seems to be favorable or unfavorable. Whether it is convenient or inconvenient, whether it is welcome or unwelcome, you, as preacher of the Word, are to show people in what way their lives are wrong. You are to convince them, rebuking, correcting, warning, urging, and encouraging them, being unflagging, inexhaustible in patience, and teaching. ³For the time is coming when people will not tolerate sound and wholesome instruction, but, having ears itching for something pleasing and gratifying, they will gather to themselves one teacher after another to a considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold, ⁴and will turn aside from hearing the truth and wander off into myths and man-made fictions. ⁵As for you, be calm, cool, and steady, accept and suffer unflinchingly every hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fully perform all the duties of your ministry. [AMP]

Paul was at the end of his earthly ministry when this He wrote this. He wrote to Timothy to encourage him. Paul told him to be steadfast in the faith. More than that, he exhorted him always to be ready to minister in the name of Christ, whether by acts of service and mercy, or the harder side, by rebuking, correcting, and warning others.    

Be always ready to preach Christ and Him crucified is what Paul taught Timothy and what he teaches us. Do not think today is your day off. Today may be the time when Jesus puts a person in your path who needs ministering services. If you mentally unplug from the ministry, you choose not to be an instrument of His service on the day that person most needed the kind touch, encouraging word, or the teaching of Christ. Be prepared in everyday; “keep your sense of urgency.”

Always walk with God in mind so you do not walk right by God's purpose for your day. When the time comes, be it a good time or not, lookout for the person whom God brings into your path. Be the shining light for God to this loved child. You never know when he or she may become closed to the love of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do not delay in telling them about God’s love for them because it is your “day off.” “Speak in season and out of season.” (1 Tim. 4:2 [KJV])