WEBVTT 00:00:01.840 --> 00:00:04.480 Ephesians 5 verses 1 and 2. 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:18.559 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 a sacrifice to God. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:29.920 When I was a senior in high school, I got a job at the local newspaper, the Albuquerque Tribune, which does not exist anymore. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:36.320 And I fancied myself on the leading edge of investigative journalism. 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:43.759 All 18 years old of me, saw myself with my press credential, which had my picture on it and everything, got me into basketball games for free. 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:45.039 It was great. 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:57.759 And I saw myself as like going to city council meetings and exposing government corruption and being the reporter who could finally, you know, nail these corrupt politicians in the hallway of City Hall and going to crime scenes and getting the bottom of things. 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:00.479 That's how I conceived of myself in my mind. 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:11.040 And yet I found out that my first assignment would be at the sports desk and I would be writing down scores as coaches called them in from high school sporting events. 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:13.280 But at least I would get to write sports stories. 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:13.920 That's great. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:14.719 That'll be fun. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:15.359 No. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:20.480 In fact, the first two weeks I learned would be spent in what they called the layout room. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:21.680 They didn't lay out their newspaper. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:22.799 This is the olden days, by the way. 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:24.480 They didn't lay out their newspaper on the computer. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:37.760 They laid it out on a lightboard, and you would print out the reporters, would print out their stories, and I would have to take an X Acto knife and cut out their stories and lay it on the lightboard to get it to look like the paper was supposed to look before it went to the press. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:42.959 That was my first job at the newspaper, and I was mad about it. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:45.599 This is not what I signed up for. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:50.799 And my interview was all questions about investigative techniques and what makes a good lead, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:54.560 There was not a single question about an X-Acto knife anywhere. 00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:57.519 And yet that would be my tool. 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:14.080 And when I did grumble and complain about it, people that uh oversaw me, which was everybody at the newspaper, informed me that before I could know what to write, and before I could learn what to write and how to craft a good story, I first had to understand the framework in which it would appear. 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:19.759 I had to understand how the paper looked and how it communicated before I could know what content to put inside of it. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:22.719 And I think of that illustration as we get into Ephesians 5. 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:36.960 Because as we get later on in Ephesians 5, we're kind of getting to the quote unquote good stuff in Ephesians, the practical living, because, you know, something I've heard a lot over the past 17 years going through Ephesians has been when do we get to the practical stuff? 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:48.560 You know, because Ephesians is about practical living, how to have a good marriage, how to be a godly husband, how to be a godly wife, how to be an obedient child or a servant or how to put off sexual immorality or change your foolish speech. 00:02:48.719 --> 00:03:03.919 All of those things and how to put on, you know, how to speak better and put on righteousness and work harder, and you know, it's got a lot of practical applications to it, so much so that people even say the first half of Ephesians is theological and the second half, four, five, and six is practical. 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:08.879 But then you get to chapter four, and okay, where'd the practical stuff go? 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:10.319 This is still more theology. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:11.520 I was duped. 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:16.240 Then you get in chapter five, and you're like, finally the good stuff, finally the practical stuff. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:19.439 But it starts back where the book started again. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:21.919 Back with theology, back with the cross. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:24.800 Be imitators of God as beloved children. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:30.080 Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:38.560 And it's reiterating to us one more time this basic principle that before you know how to live, you have to set your eyes on the cross one more time. 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:40.319 Over and over and over again. 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:42.319 You have to set your eyes on the cross. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:49.120 You have to look at God as displayed in the cross in order to understand how to lead the Christian life. 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:57.360 It does no good to teach you how to write a story if you don't know what it's supposed to look like, what the framework is supposed to look like. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:07.120 It does no good to teach you how to be a godly husband or a godly wife if you don't understand the glory and the majesty and the holiness of God as displayed in the cross of Christ. 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:08.000 It was A. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:08.240 W. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:14.319 Tozer who said, quote, we tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:22.720 There's a law at work in our soul that draws us and gravitates towards us, gravitates us towards the image of what we conceive God to be like. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:26.639 We are programmed to look like our own image of God. 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:28.879 This is why people are idol makers. 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:34.800 People want to make idols to reflect what is important to them, and then they worship that as if it were God. 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:37.839 What you think God is like, you gradually become. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:40.800 That's a principle at work in the human heart. 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:42.959 It's on full display in the Old Testament. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:45.439 You remember the Phoenicians who were fishermen. 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:46.720 They dominated the sea. 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:50.079 Their God was Dagon, a god who looked like a fish. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:53.600 And it is hard to distinguish between cause and effect there. 00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:59.040 Did they become fishermen because they worshiped the fish god, or did they invent the fish god because they were fishermen? 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:01.839 Listen, I've seen fishermen do crazier things. 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:09.839 People become what they worship, and they craft what they worship into how they see themselves. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:27.279 I heard this morning of a story of a bishop, a female bishop, who referred to God in gender-neutral pronouns, or referred to God as she while she was doing a baptism, and I heard that story, and I thought, man, that is that is the case in point. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:31.519 If you are gender confused yourself, you're gonna make God gender confused. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:37.759 I sarcastically thought in my mind, you know, why won't she r use God's preferred pronouns when addressing him? 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:43.680 I don't know if that logic really works all the way down, but it is there. 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:54.480 But the bigger point is you craft an image, you craft an image of what you are. 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:57.920 You want God to be like you. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:05.519 People who live for success end up making a God who only cares about success. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:13.839 You know, the idea that you make a uh uh confused and perverted God because you're confused and perverted, it's not confined to the confused and perverted people. 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:17.839 That attribute is well in play in American culture. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:31.199 You know, you live for the success of yourself at work or to have a happy family and the joy and the happiness of your family, and lo and behold, you invent a God who is concerned above everything else about your success and happiness in your family. 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:33.120 Oh, what are the odds? 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:38.480 The God that I think exists happens to care about the exact same things I passionately care about. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:40.000 Who knew? 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:44.959 That's the American God of health, wealth, and prosperity. 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:50.560 People who live for politics often just adapt the God of Washington and Jefferson. 00:06:52.079 --> 00:07:10.959 And they think, well, I mean, I don't know if they would think it or articulate that way, but I have heard articulated to me by people this idea that, you know, to get back to the kind of God that our founding fathers worshiped, which has a way of localizing the infinite and eternal deity just in one time and place 240 some years ago. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:14.560 It's a strange approach to understanding God. 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:18.480 It's seen most clearly in idols, though, isn't it? 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:21.040 This is why our hearts are idol worshippers. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:22.319 They they craft the idols. 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:26.319 The idolatry in many societies in the world is just so on display. 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:33.600 You know, you will physically make a God with your hands, put it on your mantle, and then say that that made you. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:40.079 And it's logically incomprehensible, but it is sown into our hearts. 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:42.639 And now listen to this next part carefully. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:49.040 The fact that we become like our image of God, that's not bad. 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:51.920 In fact, Paul is counting on it. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:59.199 His logic here in Ephesians 5 is built on the idea that God made you to want to be like him. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:03.360 You have this image of God and you were drawn towards it. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:08.879 Now, for those who don't know the God of the Bible, they're drawn towards worshiping idols, they're drawn towards worshiping themselves. 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:16.000 But for those who do know the God of the Bible, there's this gravitational pull in our hearts that wants to conform us to his image. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:18.399 Because if you remember, we were made in his image. 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:24.560 Without the knowledge of God, we are like the mirror wandering around, but we can't find the person whose image is on us. 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:25.839 We're lost. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:31.600 We are made in God's image, but sin separates us from God, and we have no basis for which to understand him. 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:35.039 And yet, through the gospel, we're drawn back towards faith in God. 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:43.279 We have eyes to see the truth of him, we have eyes to read and behold his majesty in the word, and so we desire to be conformed to his image. 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:49.360 You can't reach out to others in Ephesians 5, which is coming, until you first reach up to God through the cross. 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:55.919 You can't reach into yourself to change your own life and sanctify your own life until you first reach up to God through the cross. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:05.039 And so, as I give you an outline this morning, two practical mandates for life in light of the cross, that's what we find in Ephesians 5, verses 1 and 2. 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:14.799 Just two very practical mandates, two imperatives, two things you're commanded to do, and they're both taking place in the light of the cross. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:22.000 The cross illuminates how you're supposed to live your life, and in light of the cross, two basic imperatives that Paul gives you. 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:23.519 First, you're to imitate God. 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:25.440 This is how chapter 5 begins. 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:27.279 Therefore, be imitators of God. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:30.240 Therefore, it's connecting you obviously to chapter 4. 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:33.759 In chapter 4, Paul is talking about removing the old man, putting on the new. 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:39.120 Your old man, which you were a Gentile, you were conforming your desires to the lusts of the world. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:43.279 You uh your life, your old self was belonging to the former manner of life. 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:48.240 It was corrupt, it's sinful desires, lust, pride, arrogance, greed, envy. 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:50.799 He lists them all down in verse 31 of chapter 4. 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:54.000 You are grieving the Holy Spirit, you are living for yourself. 00:09:54.159 --> 00:10:00.399 Now you take that off, and you now put on the new man through conversion. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:04.159 You put on the new self after the likeness, chapter 4, verse 24. 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:09.600 You put on the new self after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:12.480 So you're putting on your new self is in the likeness of God. 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:15.039 Your new self looks like God. 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:17.120 You're robed in it. 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:18.720 And that's an ontological reality. 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:19.360 It's a fact. 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:27.360 When you come to faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells in you, your sin was removed and nailed to the cross of Christ, Christ's righteousness is given to you. 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:30.000 You now have the righteousness of God. 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:31.360 You possess it. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:33.759 You're robed in the new man. 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:36.879 And now Paul is saying, so act like it. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:39.440 Act like the clothes you're wearing. 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:41.039 Live it out. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:45.360 Therefore, be imitators of God. 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:49.200 The Greek word for imitate here, it's the word for mimic. 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:54.320 And in Greek, like in English, it has a negative connotation to it, usually. 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:55.759 Just like it would in English. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:11:02.240 You know, think about where where you might hear the word imitate or mimic if you're parent multiple children. 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:07.840 You might have a familiar complaint of, you know, my little brother is imitating me. 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:10.000 He's mocking me, he's copying everything I do. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:12.480 Now, that's not meant in terms of flattery, is it? 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:16.720 No child ever tattles on their brother or sister for imitating them as like it's a good thing. 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:19.600 Like, oh, it's so cute, they want to be just like me. 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:22.240 It's so cute, they want to be just like me. 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:25.200 You know, so of course, what does a parent do? 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:27.360 Steps in, stop copying your brother. 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:29.200 Stop copying your brother. 00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:30.799 Wait, now you're copying me. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:31.840 Now you're copying me. 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:40.320 Stop it! Stop it! I was pre-trib until a few minutes ago, but the tribulation is coming right now. 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:46.240 It doesn't normally have a positive association with it. 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:48.799 Sometimes in the New Testament, it's a word used for counterfeit, even. 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:52.480 There's a counterfeit faith or counterfeit gospel. 00:11:53.679 --> 00:12:00.799 In the Old Testament, as far as I know, those who followed God weren't called to imitate God. 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:03.360 The language in the Old Testament is not that of imitation. 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:05.120 Language in the Old Testament is that of following. 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:09.120 Of course, the Israelites are supposed to be holy as God is holy. 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:12.960 But the language in the Old Testament is that of following God. 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:16.879 In other words, Moses stood out from the Israelites because he followed God. 00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:18.720 And he followed God in a very literal way. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:22.960 There's the light and the smoke and the fire, and he followed God. 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:26.639 As God moved his presence through the wilderness, Moses followed. 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:32.559 Joshua, at the beginning of Joshua, is said to be set apart from the Israelites because he followed the Lord's command. 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:35.600 The angel told him where to go, and Joshua followed. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:39.679 Saul did not follow and had the kingdom removed from him. 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:41.279 Saul wouldn't wait. 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:44.240 He was supposed to literally wait and he wouldn't do it. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:49.600 He went out on his own, and Samuel said, The kingdom's taken from you because you wouldn't follow the Lord. 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:56.559 David, meanwhile, is set as king because he had a heart that was after God's heart, even that language, after God's heart. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:12:58.000 David is following God. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:07.120 Now, sometimes in the Old Testament, it looked like physically following where God led, such as the case with Moses or Abraham, even Joshua. 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:11.840 But sometimes, more often, it looks like making a heart that is obedient to the words of God. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:14.240 You're following his moral commands in the scripture. 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:21.440 But you understand the Old Testament, you couldn't imitate God because in the Jewish mind, Ephesians 5, verse 1 is blasphemy. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:22.879 Be imitators of God. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:25.759 In the Jewish mind, God is separate and distinct and apart. 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:26.799 He's not a person. 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:28.799 You cannot imitate him. 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:32.960 It's blasphemous to even say that you could do so. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:43.279 And so in the Old Testament, you followed God, but his laws, as you obeyed his laws, they didn't bring you into conformity to his image. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:48.080 As you followed the laws in the Torah, they revealed to you how separated you were. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:50.080 The law exposed your sin. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:51.600 It didn't sanctify you. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:54.159 It exposed you, it condemned you. 00:13:55.759 --> 00:14:00.399 It had the power to reveal your sin. 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:03.919 Now, of course, there were believers who were sanctified. 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:06.720 There were believers who were applying the scripture to their life. 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:12.480 As you read Psalm 119, for example, over and over again, it lays out the path you should live and you you you walk in it. 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:19.360 But you're again, even that language in the Old Testament, that when you are being holy, when you're growing in holiness, you're it's the language of following a path. 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:22.559 And the New Testament's also going to use that language. 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:25.039 An example in the next verse is going to be the language of walking. 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:29.200 But before you get to the language of walking, in chapter 5, verse 1, it's the language of imitation. 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:32.000 The New Testament takes this word and gives it a positive spin. 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:38.480 Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1, be imitators of me as I imitate Christ. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:40.720 Paul is imitating Christ. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:43.200 And so how does this shift from the Old Testament to the New Testament? 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:44.960 The Old Testament you follow, but you can't imitate. 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:46.639 The New Testament you do imitate. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:47.679 What's the change? 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:50.240 And that's the most easy Sunday school answer ever. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:51.840 The change is Jesus. 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:59.840 You can't imitate God in the Old Testament because you haven't seen God, and the Word is designed to convict you and show your separation from Him. 00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:07.039 And then Jesus comes incarnate, the glory of God in human flesh, who lives out the Word perfectly. 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:10.720 So the law of God doesn't expose Jesus' deficiencies. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:13.279 The law of God doesn't condemn Jesus as a sinner. 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:21.120 Rather, the law of God validates Jesus as the Savior because he alone can keep it, and he keeps it perfectly and fulfills it exactly. 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:25.200 And so the law of God identifies him as holiness incarnate. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:28.000 And now you've seen him lead his life. 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:30.320 Now you can copy him. 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:33.120 So what does holiness look like lived out? 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:34.159 You look at Jesus. 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:36.080 What does the word of God look like lived out? 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:39.200 You look at Jesus and you imitate it. 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:42.879 You can follow him, you imitate Christ. 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:45.360 So in the Old Testament, there's this gap. 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:47.200 Then the word reveals this gap. 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:52.720 There is God who is incomprehensible and exalted in glory and cannot be seen or comprehended. 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:56.480 And the word that God gives you convicts you of your sin and shows you the gulf. 00:15:56.559 --> 00:16:03.919 And then in the New Testament, Jesus Christ comes and lives through that word, the perfect life, and then can bridge that gap in his own person. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:06.799 You then can imitate God. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:23.759 This is what Paul means in Romans 5, verse 10, that we've been reconciled to God through Christ, that Jesus' perfect obedience restores us to God so that we can follow him, we can imitate him by following Christ. 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:35.600 I've heard some people argue that, you know, sanctification, it's not about obeying the Bible more, it's about looking like Jesus more. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:36.639 Or flipping around. 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:40.480 Sanctification is like not about looking like Jesus more, it's about obeying the Bible more. 00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:49.600 Both are equally preposterous because Jesus' perfections are seen in how He completely fulfills the Scriptures. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:57.039 So you can't divide and say sanctification is looking like Jesus, but it's not about obeying the word because Jesus obeyed the word. 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:01.200 Sanctification is complete then in Christ. 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:03.600 You look at him and you see the perfect model. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:11.279 Tellos the perfections of God, the maturity of God, the perfections of God in the person of Jesus Christ. 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:14.079 We know what God looks like because we can look at Jesus. 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:16.960 We know what the Bible lived out looks like because we can look at Jesus. 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:19.599 We know what holiness looks like because we can look at Jesus. 00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:21.839 So we have something to conform ourselves to. 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:26.480 And so you conform yourselves to it as the image. 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:27.839 He's the image. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:50.160 He commands us to love your enemies, do good, lend to those who have need, and expect nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will become children of your Father in heaven. 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:52.480 You will become sons of the Most High. 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:54.079 So what does he mean? 00:17:54.160 --> 00:18:04.799 If you ethically do good, you lend to those who have need, you love your enemies, you'll become sons of the most high. 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:08.000 Like, how do you become the son of someone? 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:16.720 Well you He doesn't mean like biologically, if you do a paternity test or DNA test after you lead a good enough life, oh I guess your father is God. 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:32.960 He doesn't mean generically like every human being has God as their father because you know we all come from Adam and Eve, and God made Adam and Eve, and he doesn't mean that way because it's it's connected to doing good, lending, serving, loving your enemies. 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:35.279 It's connected to those things. 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:42.880 And I think the answer here is that you can tell who somebody's related to often by how they look. 00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:51.759 And I may have mentioned this last week in one of the services, I don't remember which one, but my my dad was here recently, and I my dad looks like what I'm gonna look like in 20 years. 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:52.480 There's no getting around it. 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:58.319 And I remember when Deera first met my dad, she later looked at me and said, Well, I've got no excuse now, I know where this is going. 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:04.240 Yeah, look like my dad. 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:08.160 And this is true even in children who are adopted. 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:10.240 I mean, I I have seen this in children who are adopted. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:12.079 They take on the mannerisms of their parents. 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:15.359 Their parents aren't their biological parents, but their parents who are raising them. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:17.519 And the children start to take on their mannerisms. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:19.440 They use the expressions their parents use. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:22.319 They'll stand or lean like their parents stand or lean. 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:24.160 They care about the things their parents care about. 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:28.319 They take on their parents' sense of humor and and the way they look. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:30.079 It's not DNA that's doing that. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:33.359 I mean, they're looking like their parents who are raising them. 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:37.119 You say, like, I know whose parents you are, and they're like, oh no, I'm adopted. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:38.559 Well, that's not helping. 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:42.880 You still are looking and acting like your parents. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:44.880 You can see it. 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:48.319 And that's what Jesus is saying in Luke chapter 6. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:55.839 When you start to live that kind of life, you're taking on the appearance of your father in heaven. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:58.720 And people can see the family resemblance. 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:02.640 And that's where Paul goes in Ephesians 5, verse 1, by the way. 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:03.920 He says, Be imitators of God. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:06.000 Notice the phrase, as beloved children. 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:11.279 You start to live this way because you are the child of God. 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:17.359 This phrase, beloved children, it is a Greek idiom that is often used for an only child. 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:22.319 You know, in English, beloved children has like almost a dismissive feel to it, like, oh beloved children. 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:24.079 We don't really think about what those words mean. 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:33.759 But in the in the time period of Christ, this is a phrase, it was an idiom that was usually reserved for an only child who had everything they needed in life. 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:38.559 They were fully content, they were fully happy, they had no need for worry or despair. 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:48.640 It was usually a wealthy child, and specifically a wealthy child without siblings, because a wealthy child with siblings might have a rival to his inheritance, might have other things that would threaten him. 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:57.200 But this word, this phrase, describes a child who is alone with his parents and entirely secure in his parents' love and affection. 00:20:57.440 --> 00:21:07.680 He's not worried about his next meal, he's not worried about where he's gonna sleep, he's not worried about what's gonna happen in the world or in his life, because all he needs is provided by the love his parents have for him. 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:10.160 It's all seen in him. 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:16.319 Now, Paul takes that phrase and uses it for believers here. 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:22.640 That you're supposed to imitate God because you that is you in your relationship to God. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:24.640 You are God's beloved child. 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:25.680 You're not an only child. 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:39.039 He's got lots of children, but you are fully content and rested in his love with no despair, no worry, because of how secure you are in your father's affection. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:42.000 That's what Paul is meaning here. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:48.240 If you are fully content in the love that your father has for you, your heavenly father, then you will imitate him. 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:52.960 You'll start to live like him just as children grow into their parents. 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:56.079 That's the first mandate is that you imitate God. 00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:58.240 The second mandate is that you walk in love. 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:01.519 This is verse two walk in love as Christ loved us. 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:04.880 You're supposed to walk in love. 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:07.039 This is the third walk command in Ephesians, by the way. 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:08.960 The third time you're commanded to walk in a certain way. 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:14.559 Ephesians 4, verse 1, you're supposed to walk in unity and walk in the manner of worthy of the calling which you've been called. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:16.160 And he goes on to describe that as unity. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:21.279 Ephesians 4, verse 17, walk in holiness, put off the old man, put on the new. 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:26.960 You recognize that because of your conversion, you're united to other brothers and sisters in the faith. 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:45.839 It's talking about a reality that once you have your faith in Christ, you are united to other brothers and sisters who likewise the Holy Spirit dwells in them as well. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:47.599 So walk like that. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:50.640 And then the last part of Ephesians 4, walk in holiness. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:52.400 Put off the way you used to live. 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:57.599 Again, the language in verse 31 bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander. 00:22:57.759 --> 00:22:59.359 Get rid of those things. 00:22:59.599 --> 00:23:01.519 Stop speaking in an arrogant way. 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:04.240 Stop speaking like slandering other people. 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:08.720 Stop speaking with all this wrath and anger and jealousy and strife. 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:11.759 That's the way the Gentiles walk. 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:14.079 You walk differently in holiness. 00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:16.960 And then you get the third command here in verse 2. 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:18.880 Walk in love. 00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:22.880 A very circular kind of question here. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:23.680 Walk in love. 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:25.200 What does that mean to walk in love? 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:26.480 Who defines what love is? 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:31.039 You've heard it said, you know, if you loved me, you would love the things that I love. 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:33.920 Well, that's not really loving you then, is it? 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:35.599 That's loving the things that you love. 00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:44.000 And if you understand how the human heart makes God into an image of what you love yourself, you're basically asking people to love your idols when you ask them to love you as you are. 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:46.240 That's not a biblical concept of love. 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:55.440 The first time we find this word love in Ephesians is back in chapter 1, verse 4, where in love the Father predestined us for adoption as sons. 00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:57.039 It's the same kind of structure there. 00:23:57.279 --> 00:23:59.680 In love, the Father predestined us. 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:10.160 And if you remember from back when we were in Ephesians 1, many, many moons ago, when God predestines you, he does not do so based on anything inside of you. 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:16.640 So he doesn't size you up and say, ah, I look at Jesse and there's some things I like about him, I choose him. 00:24:17.599 --> 00:24:21.440 No, he chooses because he loves. 00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:23.519 And he loves because he chooses. 00:24:23.680 --> 00:24:26.559 They're together, they're the two sides of the same coin. 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:30.640 God puts his love on people who do not deserve it. 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:32.160 God set his love on you. 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:33.200 Well, you were still a sinner. 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:42.640 God set his love on you before you were even born, but he set his love on you also in light of all of the sin you would do in your life before you knew Christ. 00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:45.359 That's what it means in love he predestined you. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:58.319 So your love for other believers cannot be conditioned on or predicated on anything in them apart from being believers. 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:05.119 You're not called to just love believers that love you back, or just love believers that you like or you get along with. 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:06.559 I mean, that's how the Gentiles love. 00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:09.440 The Gentiles are friends of those that are friends back to them. 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:11.119 They love those that love them back. 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:13.279 They invite people to dinner who will invite them back. 00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:16.559 That's the way the Gentiles work, not the way Christians operate. 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:22.480 Because our concept of love is not tied to the worth or the value of the person whom you love. 00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:28.079 The only thing that gives believers their worth and value, by the way, is the love of the Father that's also set on them. 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:32.480 So we love each other because God first loved us. 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:34.000 That's looking back to the beginning of the book. 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:37.759 You love others because of how God loved you by predestining you in Christ. 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:40.160 Remember, we saw this lesson with Moses last week. 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:43.519 Man, Moses loved the Israelites, and they hated him. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:49.519 The Israelites rejected Moses 40 years before he was even their leader, leading them out of Egypt. 00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:52.640 They already rejected him, and things didn't get better for him once he started leading them. 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:54.799 And remember, God says, that's it, I'm taking them all out. 00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:57.519 I'm gonna get rid of this whole nation, Moses, and you know I'll start over. 00:25:57.599 --> 00:25:59.759 And Moses said, Well, you'll have to take me down too. 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:02.079 I'm not gonna let you kill them and not me. 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:05.759 And that was Moses' love for the Israelites. 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:08.160 Even though they rejected him, he still loved them. 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:11.119 And that in many ways is a model for us to walk in love. 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:14.880 But Paul here in verse 2 is not looking all the way back to predestination. 00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:17.200 He is looking backwards, but not even that far. 00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:19.039 He's looking back to the love of Christ. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:21.599 Walk in love as Christ loved us. 00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:27.039 He's tethering the way we're supposed to love to the way Christ loved us. 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:29.599 Well, same question. 00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:31.200 How did Christ love us? 00:26:31.359 --> 00:26:33.119 Well, he answers it in the rest of the verse. 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:35.200 He gave himself up for us. 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:36.960 He gave himself up. 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:38.720 So Paul's back to the cross again. 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:42.880 It seems like in Ephesians you can't go two or three verses without him getting back to the cross. 00:26:43.039 --> 00:26:47.119 Before he can get to how you're supposed to live your life, he wants you to go back to the cross. 00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:48.720 You're supposed to walk in love. 00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:49.839 What does love look like? 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:50.960 It looks like the cross. 00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:52.240 You're supposed to imitate God. 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:53.039 What does that look like? 00:26:53.119 --> 00:26:54.480 It looks like the cross. 00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:59.759 You're supposed to comprehend and perceive the cross and live in light of that. 00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:06.559 One of my favorite quotes from a commentator is actually a quote from a commentary in 1 Corinthians by a guy named David Pryor. 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:09.279 He writes, We never move on from the cross. 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:12.799 We only move into a more profound understanding of the cross. 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:14.559 And that's where Paul goes here. 00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:22.079 Before you can really understand what it's like to practically walk in love, you have to go back to the cross and understand it more clearly. 00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:26.319 And he begins by saying, Christ gave himself up for us. 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:28.880 It's a very unusual turn of phrase. 00:27:29.119 --> 00:27:30.240 Gave himself? 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:33.440 You never use that expression. 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:34.960 Do you ever give yourself? 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:37.519 You might give somebody with a time. 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:42.079 You might give somebody your car keys or your car. 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:43.119 You might give somebody a book. 00:27:43.200 --> 00:27:45.119 I'm thinking things I lend all the time. 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:48.720 My car, my books, they go out. 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:51.200 You can lend somebody money. 00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:56.720 You could give somebody your phone number or your email address. 00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:00.480 But you can't give yourself to somebody. 00:28:01.119 --> 00:28:02.480 Except maybe in marriage. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:09.599 You might say to your wife, or wife might say to her husband, I give myself to you, and then it's reciprocal and it's a giving that lasts your whole life. 00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:12.160 But that's not what is happening here. 00:28:12.319 --> 00:28:13.839 Jesus is not reciprocal here. 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:23.519 Jesus is giving himself to God for us before we've given anything back or even pledged to. 00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:25.200 We're lost in our sin when he does this. 00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:28.160 He gives him whole self up for us. 00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:32.240 Think of Mark 10, verse 33, where Jesus begins in the Gospel of Mark. 00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:33.920 He begins his walk towards Jerusalem. 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:38.000 He sets his face towards Jerusalem, and he says the Son of Man is going to go to Jerusalem. 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:40.480 He's going to be delivered up to the high priest. 00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:45.039 He's going to be beaten and he's going to be condemned and he's going to be killed by the Gentiles. 00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:47.519 And remember, the disciples are losing their mind. 00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:48.480 They're like, don't do that. 00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:51.279