Well, the sermon for this morning's service is from the book of Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 1 and 2. This is where we come in our study of this letter of Paul to the Ephesians. It reads in this way, The Apostle Paul says, 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. Let's pray together. Father, I come before You today in the name of Your Son, Lord, and we ask You to help us with this text, just thinking there of that imagery of going through the wilderness to the ultimate promised land, the new heaven and the new earth, and how they lived by manna, and how you conquered in the wilderness Satan saying, shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." And seeing this text, Lord, we must conclude that in these two verses, there are words that have proceeded out of Your mouth. and they are holy, and they are inspired from your breath. They are profitable for equipping us, for training us, correcting us, encouraging us, strengthening us for every single good work that you've given us to do. And so, Lord, we can conclude no other thing but that we need these two verses or else they would not be here. And so, knowing that you've written them to us, knowing that they are meant to produce something in us, faith and obedience of some kind, we pray you would help us as we study them. Help us to believe them. Help us to believe what they give us to believe. Help us to obey what they give us to obey. We pray it in your name. Amen. Benjamin Franklin was, of course, one of the founding fathers of our nation. And so we know some things about him that he put his hand to the Declaration of Independence, be one of them. He put his hand to many other writings that were important. I could think of one other being the broken snake unite or die, that he disseminated amongst colonies, and many other things he did. But history has also revealed to us that one of the methods he employed to become a prolific writer, a good writer, is the art of imitation. That he was very fond of a collection of writings called The Spectator, produced between 1711 and 1712 in England, a collection of 555 essays on various topics, all things moral and profitable for society, and they were very well written in their style. and Franklin enjoyed taking these and taking an essay, a piece out of the spectator and he would read it several times until he felt like he got the writing in his mind and then he would outline it He would put little words, memory words that would bring to his mind this section and that section and that section of it. And then he would part with the paper and just have the outline and he would seek to reproduce it in his own words, adding things here and there, but basically producing the same thing. And he hoped through that, to become a great writer himself and maybe even fancied, he said, that he would add a little something to the betterment of the original paper. And so part of the explanation of him knowing how to write the unite or die metaphor of the snake or even putting his hand to the Declaration of Independence was that he employed this practice, this art. He engaged in the art of imitation. And Ephesians 5 verses 1 and 2 are a call for the Christian to engage in the art of imitation. That's what it is. But not merely in the Christian's writing life, but in all of life. They are a calling to view the entire Christian life and every facet of it as a work of imitation. And you can see that in verse 1. He says, be imitators. So there it is. And when one begins to study these two verses, there are immediately at least four, you may find others, but there are at least four striking things about it right out of the gate. And so there'll be four points that we will occupy ourselves with in this first sermon on these two verses. So what are the four striking things that you notice about this calling to live a life of imitation? Well, first striking thing you notice about this, number one for today's sermon, I would say is the sameness of it. The sameness of it. When he says, be imitators, the Greek term behind this English word is mimetos, and you can only pronounce it for the sake of saying you can hear another English word that we have derived from this, the word mimic. Mimic. And so it is a calling to be a mimic, to mimic others. An imitator is one who is translated mostly follower. An imitator is one who follows others or another, one who copies another, one who takes their cues. from another. So what Paul is essentially saying, and this is in the imperative mood, it's a command, it's a calling to us, an act of obedience, is to be a follower, be a copier, be a mimic, be an imitator. But then you notice it's in the plural. It's not be an imitator, but be imitators. Be someone who is following and copying and mimicking what a group is doing. So you see the idea of the sameness of it. Now we have something in our culture that I thought of when it comes to weddings. Weddings are always times of celebration and dancing and feasting of some sort. But it seems like we've grown up in a generation, at least over the last 20, 30 years, where something has become somewhat of a classic, because it seems to find itself in every wedding, in the dance of this wedding. And if you didn't have this in yours, it's okay. It just seems to me that you see it a lot. And this is what they call the cha-cha slide. So some have seen it, most have seen it. And you're familiar with this. Slide to the right. Slide to the left. I won't give any more of it. But you've seen this. And so you have this picture in your mind of a group of individuals all acting like a flock of birds or something in sync with one another. They are mimicking one another. They are following one another. You see them maybe look to the side sometimes to be sure that they are in sync. Now I say this is striking and it ought to hit you as striking because just think how this command must cross the will and the ideas of our individualistic culture in which we're submerged. We're not taught or oppressed or encouraged or pushed towards being a follower in our culture. But no, we're taught to not look like everyone else. I mean, the idea is about the most distasteful and unpalatable thing you could call a person in our time to do is to be a follower. No, I don't want, I need followers. I don't want to be a follower. I want to have followers, right? I want to be as it said on the New Pinocchio as he offered to Him an influencer. I need people following me, influenced by me, mimicking me. No, the last thing I want to do is be a follower. I want to be different. I want to be original. And so this is the culture we're in. It's hard in this culture. to be a follower. What does the Apostle Paul say to us about that hardness and that difficulty? Romans 12 verse 2, do not be conformed to this world. but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. The idea is the culture comes at you like a waffle iron to put you into its mold to tell you the thing to pursue in life is a following and to be an influencer and to be original and to redefine introversion and so that you're always unique and different. You're an introvert among introverts among introverts among introverts. So that you are entirely original and different and unique and have such unique ideas, you may as well not even be human. You're so unlike all other humans. in this quest for uniqueness that the culture presses us into that mold. And Paul says, resist that mold and be renewed in your mind with verses like Ephesians 5 verses 1 to 2 and realize that that's not the will of God. Realize what the will of God is. Realize what is actually good and acceptable and perfect is to pursue being a follower. To have as your aim to be an imitator. So, we should ask ourselves, are there ways I'm doing what everyone else in Christianity is doing. What really is happening when you come to church on Sunday? Well, it's like we're in the cha-cha, the spiritual cha-cha slide, and slide to Sunday. Right? You're doing that. Slide to the prayer meeting. Slide to the Lord's Supper. slide to the baptism service. These are all things that are expected and commanded and exhorted upon all Christians. And so, if we're having our mind renewed that, hey, I'm supposed to look like Casey and Jeremy Poe and Mr. Ford. Of course I'm supposed to look different. But there's some things that are supposed to be the same. Where did Jude put it? He said, when I was writing to you about our common salvation, there are some things we should have in common. So we should be a group. So ask yourself, what am I doing? Does my Christian life look like a cha-cha slide, or does it look more like a solo performance? Paul says, be an imitator. Be imitators. Be mimicking the group. So, that's the first thing I'll say that's striking to me about this calling. The sameness of it. The second is the seriousness of it. Notice he says, therefore, be imitators. This therefore is included. Which is somehow a conclusion and connected to what went before. So we have to remind ourselves and renewing our mind here, what is it that went before? Because Paul is not just saying be imitator, but therefore be an imitator. In conclusion to all that went before, be an imitator. So where have we been? Well, if you turn back to chapter 4, You may remember that ever since verses 7 to 10 of chapter 4, we've seen that one of our responses to the theme of this book, which is the gospel, and another way of saying it is God is reunifying all things in Christ. Everything that Adam blew apart and divided, he is reuniting back together in Christ, in heaven, and on earth, and that several responses are forthcoming from that, one of which, in verses 7 and 10 of chapter 4, is to push it out into the world. To push this unity out into the world. And in verses 11 to 16 of that chapter, we saw that the first way to do that, if you're going to do that, means to be growing within the body. And then you notice the so of verse 17, which is the section we just left, verse 17 to 32, which is if you're going to be growing, then there needs to be this changing, where you are becoming more and more on the outside, Who God really created you to be, recreated you to be on the inside when He saved you. You're to be, remember, putting on clothing, you're an outward life that other people see that actually matches who you are on the inside. That a Christian can, like Peter, gather around the fire and at times look like everyone else, but he wasn't one of them. And so the calling on the Christian is to become what you are, not become something on your own that would be different than what you currently are. But again, notice the renewing of the mind in verse 23, that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that you realize what God has done to you in saving you, and that is to recreate you, and that you put on this new man in your outward acts. So, if there's going to be pushing out into the world, then there needs to be growing within the church, and if there's going to be growing within the church, there needs to be changing in each individual. And so now he says, therefore, the imitators of God, meaning if there's going to be that, then there needs to be imitating. Which is to say, here in verse 1 of chapter 5, with this, therefore, Paul is saying that you could sum up, a way of saying it, you could sum up everything he has called us to, to this point, is to be an imitator. To imitate God. is what He's been telling us to do by growing within the church, is what He's been telling us to do by changing into who you are. Remember the recreating, He recreated you in righteousness and holiness of the truth. We are created, verse 10 of chapter 2, His workmanship created in Him. for these good works. So, this is an all-embracing calling that brings to pass. In other words, if we're ever going to push the unity out into your home, or out into your community, or out into any relationship, it is going to be by imitating Him. Reminds me of this scene on that Paul movie that came out years ago. I still enjoy watching these movies even if they get some things wrong. And there's this one scene where they're filling in where Luke comes to Paul in the prison and Luke is exasperated by the persecution and he's being swept up in this urging to fight physically. And so he begins to talk to Paul about that. And Paul says, no, love is the only way. And he begins to quote 1 Corinthians 13, a love that is patient, a love that seeks not its own, a love that keeps not a record of wrongs, that believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, is not jealous, never fails. In other words, he's saying there's only one way to do it. So that's what I'm getting at by the seriousness of it. This link of this, therefore, means this is an all-embracing command about everything that He's calling us to do in our life section of this letter after the doctrine, that if there's ever going to be light, in my home, and there's ever going to be light in yours, and there's ever going to be light in whatever that relationship is that is strained that you're involved in right now, it's going to come by you engaging in imitation. Imitating is what needs to happen. And it is the only way that it can happen. So I say the second striking thing you note is the seriousness of it. The third is, and we touched on it there, I would say is the superlativeness of it. Notice he says, be imitators of God. By superlative, I mean on a scale of possibilities, of aims, and ideal that you could aim at and try to be in life, Paul takes you to the top of the scale. when he says, be an imitator of God. Think of an older brother, maybe in a family, and you have an older brother, and he's just better at everything. He's just all the time. He's the best sports guy. And he makes the A's in class. And you just live under that. There's some laughter going on over here. Somebody was that or something. But you live under, you know what it's like. You see it. We have families. And maybe you're that guy or you're the other brother. But you just live under this cloud. of never being good enough, I could never do, and imagine feeling like that, and your parents come to you, and they actually exhort you, I just wish you could be more like your older brother. I mean, think how terrible that would be. And you already feel like you can't measure up. How can I be like my older brother? And you may say, well, Jeffrey, if we're going to imitate, can I pick someone out in this church? I mean, y'all are Christians and I count y'all as in faith, but y'all are doable. Let me imitate one of y'all. Y'all are doable. And maybe I'll get If I want to have a long shot, I'll get a biography on Elizabeth Elliot or something. Now, man, man, that's aiming high there. Can do Elizabeth. Or even Paul. Paul, the Apostle Paul. I mean, he's still a man. It still seems doable. What would you think of somebody? if they said their aim in life was to imitate Shakespeare? Their aim in life was to throw a football exactly like Drew Brees or Tom Brady. You'd feel sorry for that fellow. Like, oh man, you've read too many self-help books. You do need to lower your aim some. or pick any man that is so good at something, an ambition like that, we could see someone aim at being just like Tom Brady, or write plays just like Shakespeare. And it doesn't cause us to marvel, to think, when we switch over, and to say, your aim is to imitate God? It's shocking that you would imitate Brady, but it's not shocking. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says this in his sermon on this text, these words, this is the highest calling and the most sublime thing you could ever do with your life, is to imitate God. He says there's nothing higher. you could ever achieve. There's no higher accomplishment you could ever achieve. And the greatest compliment that could ever be given to you is that you are godly. This is going for the Mount Everest. To imitate God, to imitate Paul would be a high mountain, or Elizabeth Elliot, like I said, it would be doable, but to imitate God, that is the highest. And so I say the third striking thing to you, When you look at this verse and this calling, it's not only the sameness of it and how it crosses the will of our culture to be like other people, or the seriousness of it to say, well, this is not a take it or leave it thing. I mean, this is a sine qua non, without which I don't live the Christian life. Without which there's no light in my home or hope in any of my relationships. So there's a seriousness element. to sort of make matters more rank and damp, he says, oh, and also imitate God. But then, thankfully, there's the fourth striking thing about it, which sweetens the whole thing and pours sunshine all over it, really, where there was rain. And so number four, I would say, what you notice is the sweetness of it. Paul doesn't just say, be imitators. And he doesn't just say, therefore be imitators. He doesn't just say, therefore be imitators of God. He adds, as beloved children. So this phrase is telling us how to do it. I want you to think about this for a moment. thought, I need to add this. He added it for a reason. It occupied his thoughts for a moment in time that this is the manner or the way we are to engage in doing it. And this is the sweet part of this sermon. If you've endured the Tootsie Roll Pop to this far, this is the center. Point four. We are to do it in a way, Paul says, that a child would imitate their father. And what does that mean? It means we are to do it from a position of acceptance, not for a position of acceptance. We are not called here to imitate God in order to prove anything. We're not asking for any heroes, says Paul. We already have one. There's only one Savior. There's only one hero. That's not how we're being called to imitate here. We're not going out for a position. We're not performing and looking over our shoulder to find out, are we accepted? Did we get in? Did we get approved? If you imitate as a child, a child is already in the family. So to imitate as a child is to imitate from a position of security and acceptance and fixity even, that nothing can change this. I am a child. Even if I become a prodigal, The moment I come back, there is the fatted calf and the music. Why? Because I am a child. This reality is the ground and the basis of all the obedience in the Christian life. Remember, we saw this in chapter 1, verses 4 and 5 already. Paul, speaking of the blessings that we have in being Christians and being in Christ, says in verse 4, just as He delineates them and denotes them, He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before Him. So it's true, as true could be, that God means for us to be holy. And He chose us so that we would be holy and blameless. But notice He says next, in love He predestined us to adoption as sons. Holiness It seems to me, especially in Reformed circles, where people start focusing on the ordo salutis, or the order of salvation, you say, well here comes, like the children are learning, here's the calling, and here's the justification, and then here's the sanctification, and here's the glorification, and the whole thing is viewed as very mechanicalistically, as though you're just looking at the development of this organic flower or something, here are the phases, like you're just doing anatomy and physiology or something. But one aspect of Christian salvation always is either missed, or if it's in there, the book is very thin. The chapter is very thin. There's a little patronizing touch given to it, but it's the core of the whole thing. That in between justification and sanctification is adoption. Which means God is not just a judge who sits on the bench and declares you righteous. and then takes off his black robe and he goes his way and you go your way. But he takes off the black robe after justifying you, walks down from the bench and receives you as his child and y'all go home together. Remember the man that came back, David's son, into the city, and he was alright with the king, but he never saw the king's face. And he said, what good is it to be in Jerusalem and never see the king's face? What good is it if God just justifies you and declares you righteous and you live on Neptune the rest of your life? Like, okay, well, you're not guilty, but there's more to this than that. You are adopted. And notice it doesn't say fostered. You're not in here, and we're going to watch your performance for a while, and we'll see how you do, and decide, no, no, that's not how the holiness works. You're in. You're my child, he says. You are fully and finally done Adopted, you're in the family, and from that position of security, now you begin to learn what? Holiness is viewed as simply being in a family, and every family has their little sayings, and their little funnies, and their little memories, and the way they do things. There's a culture in that family. There's a way they do Christmas, and a way they do birthdays, and a way they do days, period. And you know what I'm talking about. And that is how Paul views holiness. You're in this family, and now you now take on the likeness of this family. But the whole reason to pursue the likeness is that you're in the family. And so, for Paul to say here, as beloved children imitate him, he's saying, as a member of the family, your holiness is not just taking on a moral code. But it's an imitation of a person, a father, and a relationship, and brothers and sisters. It is peopled code, not just a list. And so, the logic is, because you're in the family, therefore take on the family likeness in ways. Start talking like the family, acting like the family. But how do we end up viewing it? We hear imitation. Maybe it even hit you, and maybe even Satan hit you with it. You remember, he's there to snatch the Word, and he can say, it is written, it is written. Hey, you better imitate God, because Christians imitate God. You've not been imitating God too well lately, I notice. Or maybe your conscience has reminded you. You've not been imitating God too well, have you? And so we begin to fall under accusation, and we view the imitation like Johnny on scene two, where he's with Mr. Klaus here, this guy, this choreographer, and he's just constantly being, I don't see your tippy toes, Johnny. And he's sweating and working out, and that's how Christianity can become. trying to pray so that I don't get caught out on that, and trying to read so that I don't get caught out on that, and trying to attend church so that I don't get caught on that, so that hopefully I can relax eventually, and everybody's like, you know, we received Debbie. Josh is alright, he's in. But that's not it. That's not it. Now you may say, but Jeffrey, I get that. That's not it. I see that. Sweating, fearful, trying, lest you be kicked out if you fail and fall. And it's because we're to do it as children. But I didn't have a good father. I didn't have a good daddy. So when you point out and Paul points out we're to do it as children, like I was a child. And it wasn't a good environment. So me acting like a child doesn't translate. But He doesn't just say as children. Again, man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word. Live on the word beloved. We are to do it, He says, as beloved children. So let me say this, what does the word beloved mean? It means to have an object of affection. And here it would mean that God the Father has set His heart upon you in fixed love from all eternity. And it will never change. and obey from that perspective, which means any act of obedience and any trying to imitate anything that does not start there is pagan obedience. Listen to that. If when you obey, It is out of rank fear. and terror, and horror, and sweat. And I've got to get that. If it is not from, I am the fixed object of God the Father's love from all eternity and it will never change. And because they went to Paul Washer one time when he became popular, you know this? And some guys flew to him to have a meeting. And he really played this well. They came in their suits and everything and they flew in and he just put on his t-shirt and jeans and boots and he drove down to the meeting with his arm hanging out his pickup truck. And he gets to the meeting and they thought he was the most unspiritual man ever. No soup, no time. What are you doing? And they wanted to talk to him about having a radio show ministry. And they were trying to offer Paul Washer this radio ministry. You could do this and that and the other. And if you know Paul Washer, you're like, why did they think this was a good idea? But they did. And when they got through, you think that he slammed them? No, he toyed with them. He got through and he said, well, if I did all that, where would I find time to go fishing? And they really thought he must be the most unspiritual guy. And he said to them, he said, I can see the way you two are looking at me. And he said, I lived a greater part of my Christian life in the jungles of Peru as a missionary, wearing myself to death so that God would be proud of me and that He would love me. And he said, not anymore. He said, if God wants me to do a radio ministry, I'll go do a radio ministry. If He wants me to go do something, I will go do something, but only because He loves me so much. And he said, I don't have to move a quarter of an inch to the right or to the left or forward or backward to be more loved by God. Now Paul is saying to you, it was prayed in the prayer meeting that we would, someone prayed that we would listen to this sermon, not as it's coming from men, that we would hear these words as though they were the very voice of God. So put it away from you forever, that you are ever to obey anything out of this book, except from this perspective. And when you do, it is wrong and God is not pleased with it. And you need to renew your mind and get back to this place. What would it look like? To give you an image, I thought for a father to have a fixed heart of affection on a child, it just came to my mind, Justin's profile picture with Elliot. Have you all seen that? She's a lot smaller than she is now, but he's just holding her and he's just smiling at her. He's just doting over her, delighting in her. Now, I want you to think about that. Justin's a man and he's a father. He's an image of God. He's a reflection of the true Father. And Paul is saying that is the position from which you are to get up and obey. as a beloved child, the object of fatherly heartfelt love. And what would it look like? I will never forget what it looks like years ago. There is a guy in our church named Trevor who came over to my house one time and back before I discovered coffee shops to go study at, he gave me this idea of putting these, he said when he would work from home he would put these earplugs in his ear, which I thought was good, because now I have an excuse for not hearing what anyone is saying to me. But I remember, so for a few years there, I would lay out everything, would get home from UPS, and I would start studying for maybe Wednesday sermon, or whether it be Sundays, and have all the books and coffee, and put my earplugs in, and man, I couldn't hear anything. And I would just study away. And we had just discovered the Chronicles of Narnia there around that time in the line in which the wardrobe came out and there was the sign, you know, no disturbing the professor. And so I played with the kids and hung that up on the door. And so one Saturday or whatever I was coming in from out on the mowing or something and I got home. And I walked to the bedroom and the door was shut and it had a little note on there, no disturbing the professor. So I walk in and I look to the right and there was Annabelle with earplugs in her ears and she had my eyeglasses on and she was studying with the books out and writing something. But therein lies the point. Ask me what was she writing and how good she was writing it. I have no idea. I wasn't even looking at it like that. I was looking at it as a father who loves his child. And I simply delighted in her imitating me. And that was it. I was not even looking at what she was writing, unless it was somehow expressing love to me, and how good she was doing at it. That's how we're to imitate our Heavenly Father, Paul says. Do it not for a position of acceptance, do it from a position of acceptance, and do it simply because He delights in you. Oh, how we need to clean out so much filthy, rotten, pagan obedience from our Christian life. And if it's not right, go back into the gospel until your mind is renewed right, and then go obey. Well, there's plenty more to say, but for now, I guess this is enough. This is enough to fill my heart with truth today. Is it yours? So what have we seen today in this first sermon on this text about imitation? Well, we've seen that Ephesians 5 verses 1 to 2 is a calling to every Christian to the art of imitation. And there are four striking things about it at first that we've noted. The sameness of it, now that crosses the will of our culture. The seriousness of it and how this is not a take it or leave it or we may do this or not. It will really severely injure our Christian life if we don't do it. And then we've seen the superlativeness of it, which makes you think, how could I ever do that? But then we've seen the sweetness of it. That we're not to obey and imitate God as though we're striving to keep the law for righteousness and become a son. but we're to imitate Him as beloved children. Well, even though we'll go on to finish it next time, and there's much more to say, at least for today, let us say this much, in light of what we have heard, to be doers of it, Pick out something, I would say to you, take away is pick out something you know that is true about God the Father. Something that He does. That you would say, this is something God does to people. And you go do that today, this week. At least one. Maybe you have more than one. But today, with the people you interact with, be godly toward them. And concretely so. Don't just generalize it. Think of something specific that God does toward people. And you do that today. Why? Because I said it? No. Because the Apostle Paul and the Holy Spirit who inspired him said, be imitators of God. Amen.