Ephesians chapter 5 this morning Ephesians 5 verse 1 Be ye therefore
followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also
hath loved us and hath given himself for us, an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. But fornication and all
uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among
you as becometh saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking
or jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.
For this you know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous
man who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and of God. That no man deceive you with
vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God
upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers
with them, for you were sometimes darkness, but now ye are light
in the Lord. walk as children of light. Now this epistle to the church
at Ephesus, it deals with how God saves a sinner and why he
does it. We have to sometimes stop and
look back at the big picture, look at the whole epistle, the
whole letter, the whole word. the whole context of this. This
letter to the Ephesians began with that beautiful, beautiful language in chapter
one of how God saves a sinner. And why? It tells how that God
loved us and chose us in Christ and blessed us with every blessing
that God could come up with. You ever think about that? In Christ. It tells us of the
redemption with which Christ purchased us, caused us to be
holy and without blame before God in love. You remember the
language of chapter one. God predestinated us to be like
his son. And to that end, he chose us. To that end, he blessed us. To
that end, he redeemed us and adopted us, sent us the word
of his truth, caused us to trust him, sealed us with his Holy
Spirit of promise unto the day of ultimate redemption, all to
the praise of the glory of his grace. All of that will end with
us being exactly, eternally like Christ. But now, in the meantime,
in between when God first saved us. In between, and we can't talk
about eternity past, eternity future, because there's no such
thing. We use those terms to kind of help us understand. But
there's time and there's eternity. But God saved us in time in the
sense that he revealed To us all that he had done for he'd
already saved us. He just revealed it to us In
time he showed us his son. He preached to us through a man
the gospel of his dear son And we laid hold of his son by faith But in between that And when
we will ultimately be redeemed, which is dealt with in chapter
one also, we're going to be like him. He predestinated us to that
end, to be exactly like his son. But in between there, in between
when he first saved us and when he takes us home, we walk in
this world. Scripture says a lot about our
walk, doesn't it? We just read some of it. Walk as children
of light. We walk in this world, we go
to the grocery store, we go to work, we go to the coffee shop,
we go eat at Chewy's or the Olive Garden. And being new creatures in Christ
Jesus, we put on the new man, which is created by God in righteousness
and true holiness. We are followers of God. So even
when we are doing all these other things, everyday mundane things,
we're worshiping God in it. We're glorifying Him in it. We're
thanking Him in it all. God's blessed us with a lot of
things, hasn't He, in this life, during this walk. We've got a
lot of stuff. I watch you, and I think about
you, and I hear about you, and I worry about you, and I thank
God. Rejoice with you sometime. There's stuff that God's blessed
us with, and in some case, there are needs in that regard. And
then I think of relationships too, though, that God has blessed
us in. And in that also, there are needs,
aren't there? And let me remind you, the stuff's
not important. The relationships are. But I do worry with you and about
you, but I also rejoice with you in these things. We walk
through this world. We follow Him, and in doing all these things that
you wouldn't think, you know, that you could worship God doing, there's a real sense in which
we do, don't we? At Christmas time coming up,
I'm not going to worship a Christmas tree. People might accuse me
of that. I'm going to worship Him. I'm
going to think about Him coming into this wicked world with a
little baby in a manger. Or when I buy somebody a gift
that they're not expecting. I'm gonna think about God sending
his unspeakable gift in this world. And give it to me when
I didn't expect it. His blessed darling son. Worship him in all things in
this life. And we're exhorted here in our
text, be ye followers of God. We are followers of God as believers,
and what Paul is saying now, follow God. Believers are followers
of God. He said, my sheep hear my voice
and they follow me. But what Paul is saying here
is not just turn into a follower of God, he's saying follow God. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children. This is a very Very helpful word
in the original Greek here. The word for follower is imitator. Imitate God. Isn't that simple? Be like him. Do what he does. Think like he thinks. Talk like
he does. And this is all that we saw at
the end of chapter four that it's referring to, right? God
doesn't lie, does he? God, the scripture says, cannot
lie. So you know what Paul's saying here? Don't lie. Imitate
him in that. Isn't that what he said? Wherefore,
put away lying. Follow him. Imitate him. There's
no lying in him. There's no lying. No dishonesty. Speak every man the truth with
his neighbor. In other words, be like him. God is kind. So what does Paul say? Be kind. Tenderhearted, forgiving. There's
forgiveness with God that he may be feared. Forgive one another
as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. God loves his sheep. So what did our Lord say before
he left this world? Love one another as I've loved
you. Be like him as a child desires
to be like his father. You see that illustration here?
Be ye followers of God as dear children. Be ye therefore followers of
God. Be ye therefore. Why? What's that therefore, therefore?
Seeing that you're not what you were. And now what he's been
teaching you, you're not what you used to be. Seeing that's
true, be you therefore a follower of God. Seeing all that he's
done for you, has he not talked about that prior to this? Therefore
be you a follower of him, imitate him. Seeing that you are his
body, the church is his body, do what he would do, what he
does, what he has done. Seeing you are the fullness of
him that filleth all in all. Imitating seeing that you are
every one of you given grace according to the measure of the
gift of Christ Did he say that in the prior chapter? Seeing
that you're given grace by Christ and whatever measure he's pleased
to give it to you imitate him. Why do you think he gave you
that? I Seeing that you're no more strangers,
but are fellow citizens and are built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
cornerstone. Therefore imitating be there
for because of all that be what you are and what you are is an
imitator. I think about this for a minute.
Religious people talk about some of them. Talk about how we can,
in this flesh, as believers in this world, be sinless. That's
our goal, to be sinless in this life. I got news for you. If
that's your goal, you're going to be disappointed. Otherwise, God wouldn't say to
us, sin not, they say. He says, sin not. Go and sin
no more, so you must be able to not sin. Really? That's a
real good deduction, but it's not what God said. God said,
if we say we have no sin, we're a liar, and we make him a liar.
That's what he said. No, God is not saying that you
can be God. If you can be sinless, then you
can be God. Isn't that right? Didn't the Lord Jesus say to
that rich young ruler, there's none good but one. If you're
good, you're God. He didn't say be God. He said
be like God, be an imitator. There's a difference now. You're
an imitator of Him who is sinless. You're not sinless, but you imitate
Him who is sinless. Don't overstate what it is to
be an imitator, and don't understate it either. The Lord said, there
is none good but one, that's God. So we know that when we
do good works, it doesn't make us good in ourselves. It doesn't
make us intrinsically good. We're just imitating Him who
is good. There's a big difference, and
that's great and wonderful to imitate him. That's desirable. That is our goal in this life
is to imitate him, but don't make it something it's not. And
he said, be an imitator as dear children are. So let's think
about that for a minute. If I'm a master carpenter, if
I can build buildings like this and know exactly what to do and
in what steps to do it, And I build structures. I build fine furniture.
And I buy my little five-year-old son a set of little plastic tools.
You've seen those. And he's going to sit down there
with those plastic tools. He's got that little circular
saw, you know, that makes that little noise. And he's going
to put it up on the board. He's going to make those sawing
noises. And that's precious. There's
nothing more endearing to a father than to see a child wanting to
be like him. I wanna be like my daddy. I'm
gonna make a, I'm gonna build a house like my daddy. That's endearing and that's precious.
And one of these days he may be something. But now, you know
what he is now? He's cute. And I love him, but
I wouldn't recommend him if you need something built. You see
what I'm saying? He's imitating. That's all we're
doing with our so-called good works. We're trying to be like
our Heavenly Father, and that's good, that's desirable, that's
wonderful, that's a blessing from Him, but it's not really
worth anything. But to God, our Father, to whom
we are precious, it's worth something. It's just clear, isn't it? Be
imitators of Him like little children do with their father,
but understand something. God does not, cannot accept us
on the basis of being cute. Our good works are not our righteousness
before God. Although he's glorified in that
we bear fruit unto him, our righteousness is, has always been, and always
will be Christ alone. But don't understate what it
is to be an imitator of God either. Don't count it as nothing. Oh,
that's just good works. Wait a minute according to this
book if you're not an imitator of him. He's not your father You might want to read it now
if you think I'm overstating that it's just the truth And
look at what Paul wrote next be sure Look at what he said
back in our text and walk in love as Christ also hath loved
us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Be an imitator. That is, just
doing what we can do to be like him, which is very little, and
yet precious to him, not meritorious. We can't build anything. We're
just gonna make little noises and be cute, and that's precious
to him. It's not a righteousness. It's
not a house you can live in. Okay. But don't understate what
it is either. If you're his children, you're
going to follow him. But look at Paul where he wrote,
walk in love. Walk like him and do it for this
reason. Not because you're scared of
him. Not because he commands it, not
because of law. Be sure as you imitate God in
this walk that we walk, you do not do it to establish a righteousness
before God. Don't walk under the law. Walk
in love. As Christ also hath loved us. As you're walking along in this
life, in this world, imitating your father as a dear child of
his, Do it because you're loving. Isn't that why little children
do it? Why did my children want to be
like me when they did? Well, you know, you might say
that children don't really know anything about love. I'm not
so sure. I'm not so sure that it's us
that haven't forgotten what it is to love. You see what I'm
saying? When we were children, I think
we loved better. than we do now. Don't you? It was a lot less complicated.
Just flat love you. Why? I don't know how to love
you. Love is not complicated. God
said to one of the churches in Revelation, you've left your
first love. I think that's what's desirable,
the first love. Don't you? The first love, pure
and simple and good. He said, follow me like that,
as a dear little child who loves simply and completely, without
complication, without reservation, without qualification, just loves. Can we love him like that? And by the way, he said, look
at the next phrase in the verse. By the way, if you wanna know
what love is, herein is love. Not that we loved him, but that
he loved us. You see that there? You wanna
know what love is? Love like he loves. Love like he has loved. And like
he does love us. The Lord Jesus Christ, who gave the law, who is the
law, was made under the law, that he might redeem them that
were under the law. But he didn't obey the law because
he had to. Christ didn't obey the law because
he had to. He said, in my very food, is
to do the will of my Father. Follow Him like that. Don't imitate
the Lord because you're afraid you're going to go to hell if
you don't. Imitate Him because He's so precious to you that
you can't live without Him and you want to be like Him. You
see Him to be so glorious and lovely. Who wouldn't want to
be like Him? Who in the world wouldn't? The Lord Jesus Christ so loved
that he gave himself. And he said, greater love hath
no man than this. Then he loved like that, like
I did. He laid down his life for those
that he loves. The Apostle Paul was able, by
God's grace, to follow him in that, to imitate him in that
to some extent. And remember what imitation is
and what it's not. But Paul was able to say, honestly,
I believe, since God recorded it in his book, he said, I count
not my life, dear, I know myself, so that I might finish my course
with joy in the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus.
to testify the gospel of the grace of God. He said if I die
because of that, I die well. Now Paul dedicating his very
life unto the one who called him is just an imitation. It's just a cute imitation of
what Christ did for us. But what a blessing It is to
be called a son of God. And actually, by his grace, actually
love him like that. I love him like that. Do you
love me? Christ's redeeming love, as it
says in our text there, have given himself for us, given himself
There's that unspeakable gift. He gave himself for us. For us
for our benefit, for us in our stead, for us in that he was
accomplishing something for us that we couldn't accomplish.
Those two little words have a lot in them, don't they? For us. Christ redeeming love is our
example Certainly if you're going to imitate somebody They're your
example, aren't they? You have to have a standard to
go back. What are you going to do in imitation? Well, you got
to look to your example But more than that he's our motivation Let me show you this verse one
more time 2nd Corinthians 5 and Now think about this verse in
light of our text. This is as far as we're gonna
get this morning. We're just gonna say a couple more things
about this and we'll be through. First, 2 Corinthians 5, 14. For
the love of Christ constraineth us. It is his love that causes us
to be who we are, to do what we do, to say what we say, to
think how we think, as we see here, because we thus judge.
You see, we thus determine things. We thus decide. We thus choose. By faith, Moses chose, right? Not free will, but a will Constrained
by Christ. Does that sound free? No, that's free indeed, but not free
in the sense that men are talking about. I can just do what I want
to do. No, a truly free will does what God wants you to do,
not what you want to do. We don't know what it is to be
free. Before we know Him, We think
to be free is that we do what we plead. Nobody's free like
that. When you are free, you'll be
constrained by his love. That's freedom. That's true freedom. And the love of Christ constrains
us because we thus judge. It causes us to think the way
we do. And here's how we think. If he
won one man, Entered into the world by sin by man sinner in
the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men
But by one man grace and peace and life and hope Also enter
into the world Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ into this world And if one died for all All that he
died for, all of his people, all of his sheep. And then we
were all dead, that's why he died for us. Because we were
dead. And he died to give us life. And here's what we judge also.
We judge that he died for all, so that they which live by his
grace. We were dead and now we live. should not henceforth live under
themselves. I don't want a free will in the
sense that I just go out and do what my flesh wants to do. I don't want to live for myself,
do you? This is what being an imitator
of him, a child of his, a son of the father, a daughter of
the father is. It's because of his love. We love him and we
want to live for him. That's what it is. It's not complicated,
is it? Should not henceforth live unto
themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. That's why we live, because he
died and lives. And we live in him. We're raised
to newness of life. It's pictured in baptism. We're
raised to newness of life, and as we walk in this newness of
life, we don't walk for ourselves. We don't walk selfishly anymore.
We don't walk in the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh,
and the pride of life like we did by nature. The old man does,
and we still experience that. But not this new man, not this
one born of God, created in righteousness and true holiness. He imitates
the Father. unto him which died for them
and rose again. Let me just say one more time
in closing, don't overestimate what it is for us to imitate
God. And here's what I ultimately
mean by that. What I do or do not do has nothing to do with
my righteousness before God. Nothing, no matter how cute it
is. Christ alone is my righteousness
before God, and Christ himself is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. But don't underestimate either
what it is for us to be imitators of God. Turner Romans 8 14. Don't overestimate it now. Don't
get to thinking you can You can be sinless or do anything do
anything. That's not full of sin But don't underestimate it either
look at Romans 8 14 for as many as are led by the Spirit of God
There's our walk now through this world. We're led by his
spirit the fruit of which is love joy. Peace long-suffering
faith gentleness goodness led by the Spirit of God, they're
the sons of God. For ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear. That's our text now. Let me emphasize
that again. Walk in love, not in bondage,
not in fear, not I'm going to go to hell if I don't go to church
today. Not I'm going to go to hell if I don't please God. Walk
in love. We haven't received the spirit
of bondage again to fear the bondage of the law. I've got
to imitate God because I'm going to go to hell if I don't. No,
I just want to be like him because he's so wonderful and worthy
and good and right. Because we love him and because
of his love for us, because of what he did, his love constrains
me. I want to love like he loved
when he came down here and shed his precious blood for my sin.
That's what Paul said in our text. But we have received the
spirit of adoption of sons, children, chosen children. Adoption is, you're my child
because I want you to be. We're his children in the sense
of nature too, aren't we? Because we're partakers of his
divine nature. but also in the sense of adoption, which is just
wonderful, isn't it? He went down and picked us out. You've received the spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Father, Father. And the Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit that we are the children and if children, then heirs.
Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we
suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
together. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the children of God. May God give us grace to obey
this exhortation. His people are followers of him,
imitators. Now, let us, let's bring it home. Me and you, let's imitate him.
By his grace, I want to be like him, don't you? He's worthy of all of our faith and love
and devotion. Let's pray together.