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.

Unity or Discord

 

“Now may the God, who gives endurance and who supplies encouragement, grant that you be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus,”

— Romans 15:5

 

My Interpretation of this verse after reading the Greek words is:

“Now May God, who gives you His strength to persevere and who inspires you, give each of you together the same mind, according to Christ Jesus, who made you one in mind (not discordant), with Him through the salvation He gave you.”

 

Notice that God gives His strength to persevere and His inspiration for how to be and live. 

 

Notice, also, Jesus gave the believers salvation and gave them the ability to be of the same mindset, not in opposition. 

 

What did Paul say the Roman Christians were to do? Choose to be of the same mind with other believers. Choose to seek and receive from God the strength to live in unity like Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Choose to live life as God divinely inspires. Choose to be united/harmonious with the other Christians.  Recognize the three main verbs—choose. 

 

Being in harmony with other people is a matter of your will. Will you choose to be like the Son, Father, and Spirit, to be unified? Will you accept and use the strength God offers His children? Will you choose to live your life as God inspires and guides you? 

 

Jesus chose to follow the will of the Godhead, of which He is a part. He gave up His human will of preservation of self. He chose to follow the divine will of offering Himself as the holy sacrifice needed to redeem people from their sins and the guilt of their sins. He gives believers the power over temptation with His strength.

 

Jesus chose to be united with God. Their love for humanity, though unlovely we are, led them to provide this sacrifice. Jesus willed for each of us to be united with God, to be in harmony with Him. 

 

Do you choose to be in harmony with God?

Will you choose to have the mind of Christ? 

Will you be united with God and other believers in mind and purpose?

 

Consider Philippians 2:5-11:

 

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. For this reason, also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name, which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 

Will you choose unity with God or discordant chaos of life and mind?

 

Romans 15:6 gives us the reason we should be in unity. It says, “so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify and praise and honor the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (AMP).

 

You have a choice to make today.

Proclaim Fellowship

 

“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”

— 1 John 1:3

 

John said he and the other disciples proclaimed, they declared openly to everyone. He testified. 

 

Unless a person has experienced something with at least one of his/her senses, it is not a testimony. It would be hearsay, which is when no personal senses are involved. John declared he had a personal testimony proving Jesus is who He said He was. 

 

Which of John’s senses witnessed Christ? John wrote of what he personally had seen with his own eyes and heard with his own ears. He probably could have testified based on touch, too. As the “beloved” disciple of Jesus, John probably hugged Jesus before His death and after His resurrection. 

 

John said he and the other disciples openly declared their testimony to whomever would listen about what they saw and heard from Jesus, the Son of God. Did the disciples proclaim to gather a following of disciples for themselves? Did they proclaim so they would receive offerings that would provide them with an income? Did these disciples of Jesus declare their testimony to become famous? No. John said they spent their lives proclaiming their testimony about what they’d seen Jesus do and how He lived and what they heard Jesus teach and preach. They proclaimed so that other people could have fellowship with them. 

 

What did John mean by having fellowship with them? “Fellowship” comes from the Greek word “koinonia”. Koinonia is the absolute bond of love and care among believers in Jesus that unites them with and for each other no matter the cost. This bond unites believers in fellowship with God and Jesus. Koinonia is absolute love for the benefit of the community corporately and individually, whether in joy or crisis or in excess or need.  Koinonia was very visibly seen in Acts 2:44-45 after Pentecost when many people believed in Jesus. Luke wrote it as follows:

 

“And all the believers were together and had all things in common; and they would sell their property and possessions and share them with all, to the extent that anyone had need.”

 

That is koinonia. Giving whatever you had to help others in need, doing whatever it takes to help. John and the other 11 disciples knew this sacrifice personally because of their fellowship with God and Christ and their witnessing of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension. These men did not only give up the right to income or a place to call home. In their decision to follow, believe in, and fellowship with Jesus, they absolutely gave up their right to their own selves. The disciples were persecuted. Many of them died in horrendous ways. John lived to an old age, but exiled from his people. Yet, he still had fellowship with God and Jesus.

 

Where do we stand in this? Do we openly declare our faith in Jesus? Do we give God the glory for the blessings we have received? Do our lives show a fellowship with God and Jesus by doing and giving whatever they request, even their blessings, for other people’s aid? Do we have an absolute bond of Christian love and care for our brothers and sisters in Christ so that what we have would be sold to help them in their need? This shows our absolute fellowship with God and Jesus. It is our living testimony of our faith in Christ and His work in us. This shows our fellowship with Him.

 

Do you have a testimony about your relationship with Jesus?

Do you openly tell it?

Do you have a koinonia fellowship with God and Jesus that causes a koinonia fellowship with and for other Christians?

 

Even to his old age in exile, John’s koinonia with Jesus led him to koinonia (fellowship) with other believers by testifying and teaching through something as simple as a letter. Do you have a heart like John, who had a heart for and like Jesus? That’s koinonia.