And if you'd like, open up in your copy of the scriptures to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 4, we'll begin reading that paragraph beginning at verse 25. Ephesians 4, verse 25, and then our focus is verse 1 and 2 of chapter 5, but I'll read on down through, I think it's verse, I'll take us just to verse 5. Alright, Ephesians 4 and verse 25. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. 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. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among the saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral and impure or who is covetous that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. What we find in this paragraph that leads into Ephesians 5 and verse 1 is that our ethic, the way that we live, in the language of one of my commentator friends, the way that we live is to be reflective and relational. Reflective in the sense that how we live reflects on how God lives. God acts in a certain way and we are expected to act in that same way. But then as well, our ethic, the way that we live, is to be relational. how we live. is to be relational as God lives. God shows his grace and draws sinners into a relationship with him and in a similar way the people of God are to be mindful of what God does in healing relationships and drawing them into a transforming and united perspective. you have perhaps heard me say, the devil deceives, divides, and destroys. But it is the work of gospel truth to transform us and to unite us. Well, notice if you have your handout sheet before you, Roman numeral one, the connection. the connection of the imitating and the walking. And I'm not talking so much of the connection of these two. but these two together, how they fit in with that which has gone before, and how they fit with that which comes after. It is this couplet of imitating and walking, how do they fit into the larger context. First, and very quickly, notice with me A, the Pauline division of the text. What we have in Ephesians 4 through 6 is a more hortatory, a more practical section of this letter to the Ephesians. And so we find that nearly all of the references to the term walk are found here in Ephesians 4 and 5. So, 4.1, walk worthy of your calling. 4.17, no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind. And then our text, Ephesians 5 and verse 2, walk in love as Christ also has loved us. Ephesians 5 and verse 8, walk as children of the light, and then verse 15, see that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time. So there we recognize we're in a more practical section, how we walk. based upon those doctrines that have been laid out in the earlier chapters. But then come with me, secondly, B, to see the relationship with the previous verses. Ephesians 5 and verse 1 obviously begins with a therefore. And so what he is saying now is building on the earlier message of Ephesians 4. And particularly if we just look back to the very end of chapter 4, just as God in Christ forgave you, just as God has graced you, by forgiving you the debt of your sins, therefore, now I'm going to talk to you about your imitating God the Father and walking in love like the Son. So the imitating of God in 5.1 is very plainly related to that of God forgiving us in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been told in Ephesians 4 and verse 31, get rid of all these negatives, the bitterness, the wrath, the anger, and the clamor, but instead be kind, be gracious, be marked by goodwill, just as the Father is marked by goodwill. Then thirdly, C, the relationship with the following verses. Well, notice with me in verse 1 and 2 that we consider this evening, we have these positive commands. the positive commands for imitating God and walking in love. We can read those and we can say, oh that's good, that's all positive and beneficial. But I want you to notice that immediately following we have in verse 3 and 4 the negative commands forbidding immorality, impurity, and greediness. And then we have further, just this requirement of the changed life. Notice if we've got the positive, if we've got Ephesians 4 and verse 32, that God has forgiven you and following on that forgiveness, there is to be this imitation of God and this walking in love. Very soon we get into the negative, the putting to death the deeds of the body, these sins that are to be avoided. But let's come this evening and focus Roman numeral two on the imitating, the imitating of God, particularly the imitating of God the Father. And here we're looking at verse one, therefore be imitators of God as dear children. We have A, the nature of the imitation. What is an imitator? Well, the imitator can mean one who copies another, an actor who impersonates another, or even a counterfeit that is closely patterned after the original. But the predominant way that imitation is used in the New Testament is that of us patterning ourselves after some good role model. We have it in 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 16 where Paul says, imitate me. And then we have in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 1, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. And so it happens over and over again in the first and second epistle to the Thessalonians. So patterning your life After a good example, that's what the nature of the imitation is. Secondly, be the object of the imitation. The object of the imitation. Therefore, be imitators of God, as your children. Normally the emphasis, if we went through all of those passages that speak about having this good pattern before you, we would find that the pattern is normally someone like the Apostle Paul, or it is the Lord Jesus Christ, Or it is the churches of Judea that the Thessalonians are following after, that they are imitating. But this is the only time where there was an emphasis on imitating God the Father. Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. So how is it that we can imitate the Father? We cannot imitate the Father in any work of creation. However, we can be like the Father in his character, and that's the emphasis. And what Paul is picking up here in Ephesians 5 and verse 1 is something as old as the hills. It goes all the way back to Leviticus 19.1. I'll read two verses from Leviticus. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel, and say to them, You shall be holy For I, the Lord your God, am holy." So God is to be imitated, not in those characteristics of God that cannot be shared, but there are those characteristics of his love and his holiness where we may imitate him. Listen to the Lord Jesus, Matthew 5 and verse 43. You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. It's a tall order. But then he goes on to give the motivation that you may be sons of your father in heaven. For he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. How does God live? God lives as a God of grace. who has goodwill to sinners, and therefore that is something that we can imitate in God. In fact, it's a theme, isn't it, that's regularly taken up. First John 4 and verse 11, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Jesus taught in John 13, 34 that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another. So our passage is asking us this evening Who are you going to follow in life? Who is going to be the pattern that is out in front of you? Is it simply going to be those who are around you in the world? Is it going to be the flesh and the devil and that which just comes naturally to us? The challenge, the command, is that we be imitators of God the Father and to do so as dear children. Is it really that bad for us to try and be like God? Many in the world would think that it is, but to be holy and principled like God is a good thing. to be faithful in your commitments like God is, is a good thing. To be gracious and kind and loving like God the Father, it is a good thing. And we need to be aware that if we want to go the way of the world, then God warns us. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. I want to cut my own path. I don't want to recognize that God lives. I do not want to pattern my life after God. That's something of the spirit of Nebuchadnezzar, isn't it? where he says, is this not great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty? And he's no more commending himself than the message comes out of heaven, now's the time. Give him the mind of a cow and give him the taste buds of a cow. and let him be like a cow for these seven periods of time, but it is enough to humble him. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, all of whose works are truth and his ways justice, and those who walk in pride he is able to put down. Nebuchadnezzar says, I know it very well that he is able to put pride down. No one is above the law of God. No one is outside of the call of God to image bearers that they should be like him. And it is the business of God to humble the pride of men. And the next time we, even as believers, find ourselves in a humbling and difficult situation, may God help us to see it's the business of God to humble the pride of men. The nature of the imitation, the object, it is to imitate God. And now thirdly, see the manner of imitation the latter part of verse 1, therefore be imitators of God as dear children. In classical literature, this particular term, beloved child, it oftentimes referred to an only child. That child received all of the affection of the parents. And it seems that Paul may even be borrowing that concept to speak of a beloved child. And this is a term that is used, not of child, but of beloved son by God, speaking of the Lord Jesus. And it speaks of that special affection God has for his own, but it also speaks of this reflective quality of our ethic. We are to be in a certain way because God has done something. God has brought us into his family. God has held his nose, closing off the stink of our sin and saved us. God brings us to himself and now whether in the new birth or in adoption, he says, you are my dear child. And so if we think of ourselves as a group of children born into God's family, adopted into God's family, and we come as a church to a crossroads and we say, which way am I going to go? Am I going to follow my Heavenly Father? Well, here is the call. As a child of God, we are to imitate our Heavenly Father. And isn't this a call for us to come back to what Adam was there in the garden, Adam who in Luke 3 is spoken of as the son of God, this one made in the image of God, and it is our business to be increasingly conformed to the God who has made us that we would be a good reflection of what God is like. And how does that come about? Well, it certainly comes about in the good will. If we think of Ephesians 4 and verse 32, that instead of being mean spirited to others, and we've got all of these words that speak of our loud and angry interaction with those around us, putting all that stuff aside, that we are to be kind we are to be tenderhearted, we are to be forgiving each other, that we have something of grace bubbling up within us. He or she may not deserve my kindness and my love. but it is my privilege and it is my responsibility to manifest something of the family likeness by showing goodwill. And as I do that, I am to recognize just as God in Christ, also has forgiven you. God has plugged his nose and done the best thing for you, and there may be situations where you and I will have to plug our nose for a moment and do the right thing, for someone who has offended us. One is written concerning this paragraph 425 through 5.1. Living in love sums up these verses. Love is the sphere in which the believer lives. The standard by which the Christian love is shaped and energized is the self-giving love of the Father forgiving us through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. But another way that we imitate God our Father is by telling the truth. We glance back to the paragraph, verse 25. Truth is what we are to be engaged in. It is part of our ethic that we do this because it is, as we speak the truth, we are reflecting God. As we speak the truth, we are developing relationships. Again, one is written. One of the ways that we lie is by exaggeration. We want the story to sound a little better. our performance to be a little more admired, or the other person to look a little more ridiculous. But by exaggeration, we distort reality. God does not need exaggeration. People do respond to overstatement, but such language is ego-driven and detrimental to both our witness and our spiritual health. And if we think of telling the truth, not as something that is simply right to do, but it is our ethic that is reflective. And after all, as Paul wrote to Titus, God, who cannot lie, promised long ago. That's what God is like. He cannot lie. He always tells the truth. And then back to our commentator on these verses. Lying is destructive both to self and to relations with others. The only place anyone can live meaningfully is with the truth. Truth is not an option in this life. A free society cannot exist without truth. And then later on, truth encompasses the totality of life, including our own relation with God. If God is real and has sent Christ, then living in truth requires living in relation with God and speaking the truth, including the communication of reality of life with Christ. And then again, truth is particularly important for building community. Communities are based on mutual reliance that people can be trusted for support. Once that trust is lost, it is difficult to recover. In speaking truth to our neighbor, we are saying, you can rely on me. Our relationship will not mislead you or cause you harm. I will help you and my word will correspond to my acts. Healthy community cannot exist without truth. So you see this principle where we began. Our ethic, our way of living, is reflective of who God is. He is the God of truth, and it is also relational. We are interested in building community as the sons and daughters of God. So we've seen Roman numeral one, the connection. We've seen Roman numeral two, the imitating of God, and now we come Thirdly, to look at the walking, the walking in love like the Son, the walking in love like Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And first of all, A, the essential responsibility of walking in love. See it there, now in verse 2, and walk in love. There it is, plain. This is what we have to do as believers. Walk in agape. Walk in agape love. As Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God. So these are parallel statements. Verse one, be imitators of God. They're referring to God the Father because it is as dear children that we relate to God the Father. But the parallel is found in verse 2, and walk in love as Christ also has loved us. But let's notice the practical message here of walking. The old way of our walking was Ephesians 2 and verse 2, in which you once walked according to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air. Wherever the world wanted to take you, that's where you went. Wherever the devil, the prince of the air, wanted to take you, if he reached out for the rope that leads to the ring in your nose, and he says, slave Henry, come this direction, that's where you went. That's what walking was in the old life. But now it is in the new way, Ephesians 2 and verse 10, that we should walk in the good works that Jesus Christ has made for us, that we would walk in unity, Ephesians 4 and verse 1, that we would walk in holiness and not in Gentile darkness and Gentile vices. And now chapter 5 and verse 2, make it your habit to walk in love, to walk in agape love. And now, as we're looking at this essential responsibility, we see not only that practical message of the walking, but this lofty character of biblical love. We meet again with our friend, agape love. desiring and doing the very best for another person in the name of Christ. Or, as another has written, agape is a principled self-giving for another, coupled with appropriate affections worked by the Holy Spirit. but I'm not convinced that I need to move away from my simpler desiring and doing. The second definition, it's coupled with appropriate affections worked by the Holy Spirit. Yes, but that's right there with desiring and doing. I see the need, I'm going to do the right thing, but I'm not going to do the right thing without my heart being in it. I am desiring to do the very best for this other person. We find this exemplified of course by God, for God so loved the world that stinking mass of human cesspool, God plugs his nose and he gives his son. Or as the Lord Jesus, as I have loved you, you also love one another. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. Love is not just a feeling, but it is a principled act. It is a principled love, but it is not just the doing. Well, God says I got to do this, and so I'm going to do this and be kind to you, and I'm going to chalk up my little branny point, but I can't wait to get away from you. No, agape is desiring and doing the very best for another person in the name of Jesus Christ. So there's A, the essential responsibility of walking in love. But now secondly, B, as we move on in our verse, notice the exalted pattern, the exalted pattern for walking in love. We're called to this high pattern by just looking at the term agape. walk in love, walk in agape love. But here we have a pattern laid out for us and walk in love as Christ also has loved us. Is there any question as to what it means to walk in love? Well, look at Jesus. as Christ also loved us. And I'm going to say three things here regarding this second part of verse two. The first is this, the stated reality of Christ's love and walk in love as Christ also loved us. before it's been the love of God that has been emphasized in Ephesians. Ephesians 2.4, there we are in our death to transgressions and sins, but God, but God who is rich in mercy because of his great love. with which he has loved us. So God has a love for the unlovely and so Jesus has a love for the unlovely. Jesus has a love that makes him willing to take on true humanity, to live a perfect life, to go to the shameful death of the cross, to have the crown of thorns, to have the spittle of some puny little rebel man on him as he goes to the cross in our behalf. Jesus has this special love for his own, having loved his own who are in the world, he loved them to the end. So the stated reality of Christ's love out of the latter part of verse 2. But now the substitutionary emphasis of Christ's love. as Christ also loved us and given himself for us. Jesus has a wonderful saving love for his own. He gave himself for us. If words are cheap, we do not have merely words from the Lord Jesus, I love you, but we have his acts that back up his love. The text goes on to prove that Jesus loves us and has given himself for us, and we know how he gave himself. It was that double humiliation coming from heaven, humbling himself to become a man, and then humbling himself further to go to the shameful death on a Roman cross. Talk is cheap, but this is not merely talk. When someone may tell us that this is what they are like and all of their words sound good, but it's altogether right to look for the proof of what they really are. Do their words agree with their acts? And here it is in Jesus. He's loved us and he has given himself for us. His is an initiating love. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep. I lay down my life that I may take it again." Well, the stated reality of Christ's love, the substitutionary emphasis, and then come with me thirdly to see under the latter part of verse 2, the sacrificial reality of Christ's love. And I think there's something really wonderful in this section of verse 2. Notice it with me. And walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, and now these words, the sacrificial reality. He gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. What verbal pictures are used? Well, one is the offering and the other is that of a sacrifice. But both of these words are used to point to all of the Old Testament sacrifices that prefigured the Lord Jesus Christ in his living as a perfect man and going to the cross in our behalf. But why? Why in this situation does Paul go into the sacrifice motif? He's talking about example. He's talking about self-denial. And if we simply say that Jesus loved us and he gave himself as an example and therefore you need to be like him. But I want you to notice this wonderful thing. Paul cannot use the example of Jesus' death without giving to us the more important purpose of Jesus' death. Yes, it is true that Jesus is a wonderful example in giving himself for us, but you know, there are some who try to tell us that Jesus was a wonderful man. He was a wonderful human. and he had a fine moral example, and it is good for you and I to pattern our lives after the human Jesus. But Ephesians 5 and verse 2 will not go along with that. He is the divine Son of God. They say his death was not an actual propitiation and appeasement of the Father's wrath. They say his death was not sacrificial and substitutionary in nature, it was merely a very nice thing for Jesus to do. But even in a context where Jesus is saying, where Paul is saying, look at Jesus as an example of how you need to walk in love, he's going to go ahead and explain. And oh, by the way, his example of love is one in which he was an offering for sin, a sacrifice for sin. and even brings in the picture of a burnt offering, and the smoke of the burnt offering is going up to heaven. Sacrifice cannot be pulled out of the picture. And aren't we delighted to see this emphasis from the Apostle Paul. To whom were these sacrifices offered? To God. God the Father who is angry with the wicked every day. God the Father who is offended at the rebellion of puny man. Jesus intervenes and he offers himself to the Father. Let me read just a few verses from Hebrews 9 about the significance of this sacrifice, of this offering. Hebrews 9 and verse 11, but Christ came as high priest of the good things to come with a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood. he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh. If there was any good to the Old Testament sacrifices, then they rendered you ceremonially pure to come in and to be a part of the temple sacrifice and the temple worship. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And before we leave this analogy, we've got to look at the last phrase here. Offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. How did God regard the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus? Well, it was a sweet-smelling aroma. I'm not surprised to find that in Leviticus, chapter 1, Leviticus is all about sacrifices. In Leviticus 1, we're only nine verses in where I can read this to you. And the priest shall burn all on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. And just a few verses later, verse 13, the burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. Not many of you are farmers. Have you ever smelled the stench of burning flesh? I still remember. I could take you to the place in one of our lots where it was customary that all the dead branches would be gathered together and I could take you to the spot and say, I remember the stench of a burning cow. Dead, of course. We didn't always take care of dead animals that way, but it was enough that I have that disgusting smell still in my nose. It's repulsive. And there is No way that I can believe you can take a little bit of that wonderful incense of the Old Testament and you sprinkle that around the burning body of an animal and it's going to wonderfully change that into a fragrant aroma. Well, if it's not the smell itself of the burning flesh What is it that makes it to be a sweet smelling aroma to God? The point is that the Father is pleased with and has accepted the loving sacrifice of Jesus as offered in our behalf. I've gone ahead and violated every direction given to me and my counsel to myself. Be brief. Don't get carried away. Don't let your voice go up high. The point is, it's not the smell of the ascending smoke, nor the smell of the brutal death of Jesus. The point is that the Father is pleased with and has accepted the loving sacrifice of Jesus offered in our behalf. Do you have this same appreciation as the Apostle Paul for the death of the Lord Jesus? where if you're thinking about it and think, well, it's a wonderful example of self-denial, giving himself on behalf of others. Oh, but yeah, we can't stop there. We gotta talk about how he gave himself for us, in your place, in my place. But that's not enough. We need to, even if we're talking about the example of Jesus, we need to go ahead and talk about how his death was sacrificial. that it was the appeasement of wrath, and the father smelled that aroma of his son's sacrifice, and he smiled. He was pleased. Well, as we come to the table of remembrance this night, it is important for us to see that our manner of life is both reflective and relational. The way we live is reflective of the way God lives. What the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have done for us is to be reflected in our behavior. So we are to be imitators of God the Father. God has been kind in making us to be his beloved children. He has not backhanded us into eternal perdition, but he has sent his Son, and he has graced us with the forgiveness of the debt of our sins. And we are to see what he has done, and that is to influence our own behavior. We are to be reflective. When we think of how God the Son demonstrates a self-denying agape love. We're to see that, we are to be moved by that, and the way that we walk in love is to be reflective of what the Lord Jesus has done. And to some degree, when we think of God the Holy Spirit who seals us, Ephesians 1, 15, We are to take care that as we consider what he has done in coming as the Holy Spirit and dwelling in us, that we do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Right there in the end of Ephesians 4. So we are to appreciate what God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit do for us and our lives. are to reflect that. So as we partake of the elements this evening, perhaps part of this special message is, Lord, I am committing myself to live in a way that is reflective of you, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I want to live a life that is reflective of you making me your child, of you loving me, Lord Jesus, in giving yourself. But then as well as we come to the table of remembrance, the way that we live is to be relational. And isn't it true? that the table of remembrance is not for an isolated individual over there or an isolated individual there. First Corinthians 11 and what is about verse 17, 18, when you come together as the ecclesia, when you come together as the church, when you come together as the citizenry of God's kingdom, The devil is into deceiving, dividing, and destroying relationships. And the gospel of grace is interested in bringing the truth that forgives us, the truth that transforms us, and the truth that as we are forgiven and transformed brings us into little assemblies, local expressions of the church of Jesus Christ. We gather around the table. And we share together in the worship. We share in the hymns. We share in the prayers. We share in the cup. We share in the loaf. And we are to do so as those who are rightly related to one another. And if we are not rightly related to one another, then that needs to be addressed. we as a group are to reflect the unity of that one loaf. First Corinthians 10 verse 17, since there is one bread, we who are the many are one body for we all partake of the one bread. So you see how we can begin and come through to the end and say that the way that we walk as Christians is to be reflective, reflective of our God. And as well, the way that we live is to be relational. God does not save you to become a Christian hermit, but God saves you so that you will then seek out men and women, boys and girls that are joined to faith and joined in commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we'll hear simply that message, let your ethic, let the way that you live be reflective and to be relational. We're hearing the message here, verse one and two. Be imitators. of God as to your children, and walk in love as Christ loved, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us. Oh, but just, we can't talk about this example without going on, and it's wonderful for us as we come to the table of remembrance. Yeah, He gave Himself for us as an offering, as a sacrifice that deals with sin, and that normally putrid smell of an animal's flesh being burned is pleasant. It's a fragrant aroma to God because He gave Himself to take away all of our sin. Let's pray. Father, we do find it heartwarming to see how the Apostle Paul, so rich in his theological understanding and so warm in his affection for you, can urge us to be reflective and relational. and we pray our God that this message would come home to our hearts with spiritual power even as we partake of the elements together. Let us look back on the way that we've lived and mourn and even in these minutes acknowledge it to you and grant as well that as we look to the future that we will determine all the more that we would imitate the character of you, our Father, and that we will walk in love, Lord Jesus, as you have loved us. We thank you, Lord, for what this table of remembrance means to us, this periodic time of self-examination, this periodic time where we come, and by putting the elements to our lips, we pledge that we will walk in the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray that you, O Spirit of God, would come and would make this table of remembrance to be a great means of grace to us for the week to come. and the months to come as well. We ask it in Christ's powerful name. Amen.