LIVING THE “JESUS” WAY
My sister-in-law said something to me at our Christmas gathering that really irked me. She said I looked more and more like my dad all the time. My sister defended me saying just because I was bald didn’t mean that I looked like my dad. My dad was not a bad looking guy, and he was a pretty good person in his own way. I suppose I just want to look like me.
If I resemble someone, my hope is that there is an intentionality to my imitation. I choose to imitate those who represent the qualities I admire in a person. I adopt their mannerisms because I believe they are worth emulating. I aspire to be like those people insomuch as I am able to live out those talents and values in my life. In other words, I will never preach like Billy Graham, but I may be like Timothy Keller.
John Wayne had a habit of walking and standing in a certain way that reminded people of another cowboy actor. This was intentional. Wayne would hold his right elbow with his left hand. He was imitating an older cowboy actor named Harry Carey. He was quoted as saying, “Harry Carey taught me everything I know” as an actor. His success came through imitation.
My question to you this morning is very simple: Who do you want to be like? Who do you imitate?
The Sunday School answer is, of course, Jesus. But is it true? Do you strive to imitate Jesus in your mannerisms and speech as you live out each day? Chapters 1-3 in Ephesians taught us of the greatness of God and our identity in Christ, of the grace we have received, and of God’s love. In chapter 4, Paul turned to focus on how our lives are changed by this teaching. He emphasizes that there should be change.
Who we imitate has a dramatic effect on our lives. that’s why Paul asks us: who do you imitate? And he does want us to imitate Christ because it is the life God wants for you.
1. Follow God’s Example (5:1-2)
Prior to this exhortation, Paul told the Ephesian believers that they must no longer live as the Gentiles do – or how the world behaves – and to put off the old person and put on the new life in Christ. “How do we do that?” someone asks Paul. The apostle replies, “Follow God’s example,” or as the ESV puts it, “be imitators of God.”
There are three parts that build on each other to help us understand what Paul means when he says “Be imitators…”
· Our imitation of God is rooted in our experience of God’s love as his “dearly loved children.” An early church father named Clement of Alexandria said the wise man practices being God. Clement did not mean lording it over other people or acting like pagan gods that demanded worship. But couched in the truth of being God’s children, we imitate the love our Father shows us.
· We imitate God when we walk in the way of love. As if to emphasize the heart of our imitation, Paul repeats himself in this phrase “walk in the way of love.” What we see in God is a superabundance of grace, mercy, and love. We remember that well-known verse, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing,” (2:8). We were not deserving of God’s love, but he poured it out liberally on us, drenching us with the waters of his mercy. If we walk in the way of love, we will imitate our Father’s grace, mercy, and love by showing it to others.
· This love is most seen and experienced in the cross of Christ. In Jesus we see everything that is God. In Jesus we see the self-giving and sacrificial heart of who God is. The Greeks said that learning to speak publicly required three things: theory, imitation, and practice. Study the masters of public speaking and imitate their diction and mannerisms. In the same way, study Jesus, his way of speaking to people, his interactions with people.
2. Choose Holiness in an Unholy World (5:3-7)
With this foundation laid out for us, Paul targets what interferes with our imitation of God. What was true of first century Ephesus is quite true of 21st century Canada. He identifies two temptations that bear a strong influence on all of us: sexual sin and greed.
“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people…” (3). Paul goes on to say, “Don’t even joke about it.”
The caution is strong. Paul knows that if we dabble a little bit in the camp of sexual immorality or of greed, we will get sucked in. To even talk about it invites contemplation. The principle Paul is teaching demands zero tolerance. Recognize the temptation and instead of asking how far we can go; we don’t even start to go down that road of temptation. We have set the tolerance level to zero. Not even a hint.
With the explosion of smart phones and our dependence on the internet in the last two decades, we are exposed to these two temptations: sex and greed. An expert in raising children was asked at what age it was appropriate to get her child a cell phone. The expert replied, “When you are ready to expose your child to pornography.” Right there in your hand is the gateway to a dark world of porn. And if you are not seeking it out, it will seek you out. On social media, even through LinkedIn and other platforms, people are trying to catfish you. Sexual sin is a strong temptation in our culture. And we fool ourselves into thinking we are strong enough to handle it.
Greed is more subtle. As one pastor said, “I have had people tell me that they are struggling with sexual temptation. I have never yet had somebody come to me and say, “Pastor, I have a problem with greed.” And again, on your cell phone you are able to shop for anything at any time, in a meeting or in a church service. What drives us to online shopping? The impulse to have bigger and better things. There’s nothing wrong with having things or having money per se. The point Paul wants us to grasp is: Why am I not happy with what I already have? Why am I always wanting more? Will these new things really make me happy? We are supposed to find our happiness in God and not in things.
Now you may think we have slid from the beauty of grace that we cannot earn with works to a couple of works commandments with impossible standards. Do’s and don’ts. Religion without freedom. No, don’t think that. Paul has a reason for this zero-tolerance position on sexual sin and greed.
Paul writes, “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person – such a person is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God…” (5).
Idolatry is the key issue. Throughout the Bible, especially in the OT, idolatry was God’s main complaint against his people. Idolatry is taking a good thing and making it an ultimate thing. We take something good, even a gift given by God, and make it ultimate in your life. Sex is good, a gift given for marriage, but it becomes an idol when we take it out of its context and pursue it until it controls us. Rather than enjoying it as a gift of God, sex enslaves and controls us.
Money too is a gift from God, a blessing. But when we pursue it as the ultimate thing, that status it gives, the perceived happiness we think it gives, we become enslaved to it. We become driven to work and sacrifice relationships to gain more of it. Money is a gift from God but a terrible idol.
“Let no one deceive you with empty words…” People will try to downplay the dangers of these temptations. A little peek won’t hurt you; indulge yourself. Have you heard of the frog in the kettle? A frog is placed in a kettle of water and the heat is turned up at intervals so that the frog doesn’t know it is boiling to death. The frog thinks it’s in a hot tub. How much sexual immorality and greed is safe for our souls? Is there a level at which it becomes dangerous?
Again, the old illustration fits of the person driving a mountain road. Do you get as close to the edge as you possibly can? Or do you hug the mountainside?
For the sake of our relationship with God who has our best in mind, Paul says, “Not a hint.” The tolerance level must be zero.
3. Live as Children of Light (8-14)
How do you live this out? I could tell you to stop sinning. Don’t have sexual thoughts. Stop being greedy. How helpful is that? That’s like saying, “stop breathing.” We can’t seem to help ourselves. As they say, we are our own worst enemies.
But look at what Paul is not saying. He doesn’t say we should try not to sin. What does he say? “For you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light,” (8). Paul makes this very stark. He doesn’t say we used to live in darkness; he says we used to be darkness. But now God has changed us. We are now light; we don’t try to become light. God makes us children of light. Now we are asked to live out the implications of that change.
Light naturally exposes the darkness. It is simply a matter of bringing the light near to the object that needs enlightening. If you are reading in the dark, bring the lamp closer to your reading place. You are light. Paul tells us that we are to have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them. As Jesus engaged the sinners and tax collectors, eating and visiting with them, he brought light into their lives. You are light. We don’t shun the sinners, we come near to them so they can see the light. We don’t go on witch hunts to shame the sinners, we show them the fruit of light in our lives by how we live (goodness, righteousness, truth).
By imitating Jesus, grace, mercy, and love become our mannerisms and language. People will pick up on that as they get to know you. They will see the light in you. Often, I will hear Christians talk about how ungodly their workplaces are and how the conversation tends to be crass. It’s a hard climate to be a Christian. I worked in autobody paints for a summer and heard the foul conversations, the degrading talk about women – you could feel the darkness. It would make any Christian want to quit. But then, where would the light shine?
“…everything exposed by the light becomes visible and everything that is illuminated becomes a light,” (13). If everyone does the same thing, if we all conform to the lowest common denominator, crass becomes normal. When someone comes along and does something different, it forces everyone to stop and ask if “normal” means good. And they know right away, it doesn’t.
We shine the light of Christ without even saying a word by how we live. Talking about Jesus is good. But the talk should match the walk. Twice in this passage, Paul used the word “walk”: in v. 2 “walk in the way of love” and now in v. 8 “walk as children of light.”
To walk implies a journey. Step by step we walk in a certain direction. We do not reach our destination immediately but travel on facing potential detours, drifting from the path, even turning around and heading in the wrong way. What I’m saying is, change may take a lifetime. When battling against the temptations of sexual sin or greed, we will not find immediate victory (yes, we have victory in Christ) over them. The change will be incremental humanly speaking. You may at some point look back and see how far you’ve come. At the same time, you look ahead and humbly acknowledge that there is a ways to go in being a child of light. You are light. You are shining the light as you point your feet towards Christ. You are also working at allowing your light to shine.
Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven,” (Matt. 5:14-16).
Most heroes in our world fail to some degree, disappoint, or fall on their faces. Society elevates these heroes or celebrities to such a degree and stature that no one can live up to them. But then they themselves reveal their imperfections. An actor, an athlete, an influencer, a model of perfection – splat! The followers are disillusioned and look for the next icon/idol to follow, someone to imitate.
We were meant to follow only one person. To love him and to imitate him alone, because he will never fail you. Be imitators of God in Christ Jesus. He is the hero. He is worthy of imitation.
I want to close with the words of Phil Wickham’s song The Jesus Way. He expresses the imitation of Jesus so well in these lyrics:
If you curse me, then I will bless you
If you hurt me, I will forgive
And if you hate me, then I will love you
I choose the Jesus way
If you're helpless, I will defend you
And if you're burdened, I'll share the weight
And if you're hopeless, then let me show you
There's hope in the Jesus way
I follow Jesus
I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I'll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure
He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way
If you strike me, I will embrace you
And if you chain me, I'll sing His praise
And if you kill me, my home is heaven
For I choose the Jesus way
AMEN
