Ephesians: Walking Right (2)
Notes
Transcript
Walking in Love
Eph. 5:1-2
Intro:
In 1878, William Gladstone presented himself before Parliament to announce the death of Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Alice of Britain, the Grand Duchess of Hesse. In making the announcement, Gladstone told a touching story.
The Duchess had seven children, six of them came down with diphtheria during an epidemic in England. Her youngest child, Marie had a painful death in spite of her mother’s tender care. The Duchess concealed the sad news from the other children to protect them from shock and more pain. Later, she had to reveal it to her son Ernest who was very devoted to his little sister. Ernest was overcome with grief and broke down in tears. In an affectionate attempt to console and comfort her grieving son, she clasped him in her arms and kissed him, ignoring the doctor’s warning.
Alice was very weak from heavy work and severe strain and she easily caught the infection. Within a week after the kiss of love, the Duchess fell severely ill and she breathed her last in the morning of December 14, 1878.
What that mother did was a picture of true love. She loved her child, and she willingly sacrificed herself to comfort her child.
That mother’s love is an illustration of the awesome love of God for us. It is also a picture of the kind of love we are to have for others.
From the very first words, Paul calls us to do the impossible.
We are called to be a follower i.e imitator of God.
We are to walk in His love.
We are to love like He loves.
It sounds like an impossible task.
How can, I, a sinful, wretched, filthy sinner ever be like Him or even love like Him?
I cant, but if I allow Him to live through me, I can. You can. All born again believers can.
So, God as called us to walk like Him in Love.
How are we to do this?
Well, Paul tells us right here in our text.
I. The Person to Imitate
I. The Person to Imitate
The word “therefore” again calls our attention backward to the last verses of chapter 4.
We are reminded that the saints of God have been saved by the grace of God, and because they have been saved they are are to be different in the way they walk, the way they talk, and the way they think. They are to be different in every area of life.
The “old man” of sin, is to be “put off,” Eph. 4:22.
The “new man,” created in righteousness, is to be “put on,” Eph. 4:24.
Because we are new creatures in Christ we are to live as new creatures in our daily lives, 1 John 2:6
He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
Having challenged us to bring our speech, our anger, our work ethic, our bitterness, and revenge under the control of God, and having challenged us to be forgiving, kind and compassion toward one another, in the closing verses of chapter 4,
Eph. 5:1 poses the greatest challenge of all.
Let’s examine this Challenge for a moment
A. The Challenge With Imitating
A. The Challenge With Imitating
—“Be ye followers of God.”—
The word “followers” means to “mimic” to be an “imitator.”
The command here is for the people of God to imitate God. We are to learn all we can about God, and we are to mimic His characteristics.
I look at this command, and I see some real problems.
We can never imitate God in all ways.
We can never truly imitate God in His essential essence.
• God is perfect; we are flawed.
• God is omnipotent; we are weak.
• God is omniscient; we are fools.
• God is omnipresent; we are would lose our head if it was not attached
• God is wholly good; we are wholly evil.
• God is Spirit; we are flesh.
• God is eternal; we are temporal.
• God is heavenly; we are earthly.
• God is infinitely holy; we are completely wicked.
We are to learn all we can about the Lord from His Word and we are to put into practice everything we know about Him.
We are to do the things we see Him doing, and we are to avoid the things He avoids.
We are to be like God in every respect.
In essence, God is here commanding us to do something that is impossible within our selves.
Left to ourselves, we could never be imitators of God.
It takes the Spirit of God
as Paul pointed out in the previous chapter.
Paul knows how frail and vile we are so he tells his readers that they are to follow God has a child.
B. The Conflict with Imitating
B. The Conflict with Imitating
—We are told to imitate God, but we are told to do so as “dear children.”
Not just children, dear children. ‘beloved’
It is natural for children to imitate their parents.
Children often have their parent’s nature, their behavior, and their actions.
You can be around a child and you can see their parents in the way they walk, the way they talk, and in the things they do.
Sometimes thats good and sometimes not so good
a child, most of the time, when their little, will try and be like mom or dad, but when they get to be teen agers, they think mom and dad are old and not cool.
But beloved children, those that know they are loved by their parents, want to be like their parents.
They want to grow up to raise their children like they were raised
They want to show the same kind of love that their parents showed them.
so, While this is true in our earthly families, it is even more true in our heavenly families.
Like beloved children, who are ever near the parent, learning, observing, and growing, we are brought near to our Heavenly Father so that we might learn His ways and become more like Him.
The conflict is, we are too set in our ways. Not wanting to change, and so the fight begins.
We need to come to the place that we realize that we are children of the most high God and He wants us to walk like Him , talk like Him, live like Him.
You say, “preacher that is nice and I agree, but how?
Glad you asked
To be conformed to the image of Christ is to become holy like God is holy.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
• That is God’s plan for each one of His redeemed children.
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
• Ultimately, that is how we will become.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
We are unable to imitate God through our own power.
While we can’t be holy on our own, as redeemed children of God, we have been empowered to live like, act like, and talk like our Heavenly Father.
He has empowered us and enabled us to live holy lives for His glory.
He has given us His Spirit to do this very thing
We are not mere slaves following in the footsteps of a demanding master.
We are the sons and daughters of God. Redeemed by His grace.
Adopted into His family.
Partakers of His very nature,
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
We are the temples of God, indwell by His Spirit, and made able to walk in imitation of our Father.
• He is holy; we are to be holy.
• He is loving; we are to be loving.
• He forgives; we are to be forgiving.
• He is truthful; we are to be truthful.
• He is patient; we are to be patient.
• He is kind; we are to be kind.
• He is compassionate; we are to be compassionate.
• Everything God is; we are to be.
Where do we learn these things?
We learn them from His Word.
We learn them from observing Him.
We learn them by watching Him work in the lives of others.
We learn these things from simply walking with Him.
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; And what doth the Lord require of thee, But to do justly, and to love mercy, And to walk humbly with thy God?
So, walk with Him. Learn from Him. Be like Him.
I. The Person to Imitate
II. The Precept to Initiate
II. The Precept to Initiate
We have just been told to be an “imitator” of God. Now, we are told to imitate His “love.”
After all God is love, 1 John 4:8b
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
That is, His very nature.
Everything He does, He does out of love.
The overriding characteristic of God’s Person
is His love.
As His people we have experienced that love.
Since He is love, and since He has placed His love within us,
Rom. 5:5
And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
we are to walk in love as well.
The word “walk” means “to regulate one’s life.”
Our very lives are to be controlled, to be driven, to be defined by love.
The word “love” translates the word “agape.” We are all familiar with that word.
It is the word that is used to speak of God’s love for mankind.
It speaks of a love that is “unconditional, undeserved, unending, and self-sacrificing.”
It is not just mere fondness.
It is not just the kind of love that one would find in a normal family setting.
It is certainly not the love the world knows,
It is a love that sets itself toward the underserving.
It is a love that cannot be bought or turned away.
It is a love that is powerful, eternal, redemptive, and undeserved.
It is a love that has no counterpart in the universe.
and Yet, it is a love that we are commanded to imitate.
That is a very tall order!
But God expects us to do it.
God’s expectation of His people, is laid out in Matt. 22:37–40.
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Let’s take a look at that important text.
—We are told to love Him with all our “heart … soul … and mind.”
This simply means, We are to love Him with our whole person.
Our love for Him should be all-consuming and complete
It should be a love based on the knowledge of Who God is.
It should be a willful love, in which we are determined to love Him no matter what.
Every act, every thought, every attitude, everything, is to be a response of our love for Him.
If we love God,
that love will demonstrate itself in every area of our lives.
We are to love God supremely
and so
• We are to love others as self
—We love ourselves, don’t we?
We do everything we can to meet our own needs.
When we are hungry, we eat.
When we are thirsty, we drink.
When we are sick, we go to the doctor.
When we want something, we find a way to get it.
We take care of self.
In the same manner, we are commanded to actively seek the good of others.
We are called upon to be the embodiment of the love of God in our interactions with others.
We are to seek the best for others, in all things, and at all times.
Our love for others is to imitate the same kind of love God has for us
I. The Person To Imitate
II. The Precept To Initiate
III. The Provision to Illustrate
III. The Provision to Illustrate
To illustrate what genuine love looks like, Paul calls upon the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
The greatest expression of love the world has ever witnessed was the love that sent Jesus to the cross to die for us.
The Lord’s love for us was not just a deep affection.
It was not an emotional attachment.
He did not give Himself for us because we deserved anything from Him.
He did what He did simply because He set His sovereign, unconditional, gracious love on us.
His love for us caused Jesus to leave Heaven above to come to this world to live and die for us,
Phil. 2:5–8
He is called an “offering.”
His life was poured out on the cross that we might have life in Him.
• His love for us caused Him to bear our sins on the cross,
Isa. 53:4–6; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 2:24.
He is called a “sacrifice.”
Because, like a sacrifice, He was slaughtered for our sins.
His love caused Him to suffer unspeakable cruelty for us, Isa. 52:14.
• His love for the Father caused Him to “give Himself” as “a sacrifice to God.”
Yes, Jesus loves us, but He loves His Father far more.
When Jesus died, He died for us, but He died primarily for the glory of the Father.
We benefit from the Son’s love for the Father.
God’s love for Christ, and for us,
caused the Father to accept the offering and sacrifice of the Son on the cross, as a “sweet smelling savor.”
God was pleased
when the love of Christ sacrificed itself to redeem lost sinners for the glory of God.
If you want to know what love looks like,
go the Calvary and behold the Lamb of God dying for sinners, Rom. 5:8.
Verse 2 says Christ, “… hath given Himself for us …”
He did that because He loved us.
We are to manifest that same kind of selfless, self-sacrificing love toward others.
Literally, we are to “give ourselves” out of love for God and others.
The call here is for the people of God to imitate their Father and their Savior by practicing unconditional, sacrificial love.
You know why missionaries can go to a country half way around the world?
Because they love like Christ loved
When we practice His kind of love; it is a statement of our faith.
When we practice that kind of love; it is a sacrifice that pleases Him!
We are never more like the Father than we we love like He loves; forgive like He forgives; walk like He walked; and think like He thinks.
We need to remember this:
Genuine love is always measured by what it gives, not by what it gains.
Conclusion
Conclusion
So, How do we know that we are walking in love?
The Bible is clear:
• “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” John 14:15.
• “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him,” John 14:21.
When I love Him, I will be like Him.
When I am like Him, I will love like He Him.
We are challenged to be so surrendered to the Father that we become like Him.
When we imitate the Father,
we will love like He loves,
and that kind of love has the power to change your life, your home, your church, your city, your nation and your world.
• That kind of love advertises the Father like nothing else can.
• That kind of love is unstoppable as it assails the hearts of lost sinners.
• That kind of love is essential in maintaining human relationships.
• That kind of love is necessary if we are to live holy lives.
• That kind of love is priceless in our world.
• That kind of love is available to all who will “imitate” the Father.
That kind of love is available to His beloved children
Are you His child?
• If you are, strive to be like Him. Learn to live like HIm. Learn to love like Him.
Walk in Love!!!
• If you aren’t, come to Jesus so that He can change your life and so that you can experience His wonderful love. And you to can live out your days walking in Love