{"id":43,"date":"2018-11-06T16:20:47","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T00:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/migrate.bettersermons.org\/?p=43"},"modified":"2020-06-01T11:41:33","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T18:41:33","slug":"be-imitators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/be-imitators\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Imitators"},"content":{"rendered":"
Be Imitators<\/span><\/div>\n

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Key Passage<\/strong>:\u00a0Ephesians 5 <\/p>\n

Key Thought<\/strong>: We as Christians are invited to imitate God in all that we do and say\u2014especially in facing the challenge of forgiving those we do not particularly love.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Illustration:\u00a0<\/strong>How many of you have gone to the painstaking difficulty of learning a foreign language as an adult? It involves:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u2022<\/td>\nVocabulary drills<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022<\/td>\nMemorizing grammar rules<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022<\/td>\nMaking flash cards or creating PowerPoint files to practice expressions<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022<\/td>\nDialogue simulations<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Missionaries going overseas for an evangelistic series will sometimes laboriously translate verses into a foreign language, one word at a time, hoping not to make a fatal linguistic mistake which shreds the gospel!<\/p>\n

Imitation Brings Success:<\/strong>\u00a0We often learn to do the hard things of life\u00a0by imitating<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u2022<\/td>\nBy listening to someone else\u2019s Spanish and then repeating.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022<\/td>\nBy seeing someone else use a calculus formula on the blackboard with the power rule and the chain rule and then \u201cgoing thou and doing likewise.\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022<\/td>\nBy watching a golf DVD and trying to copy the smooth swing and sand trap suggestions of a PGA pro.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022<\/td>\nBy attending a marriage seminar and taking notes when the lecturer says, \u201cHere are six things I\u2019ve found are great at adding romance to a stale relationship.\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Ephesians 5:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0The Word of God ups the ante because God invites us to practice the art of imitation in the highest language-study course of all time.\u00a0Verse 1:\u00a0\u201cBe ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>In the New International Version:\u00a0\u201cBe IMITATORS of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Context:\u00a0<\/strong>Chapter four, which leads into this passage, contains the mandate that we should forgive.\u00a0Forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you<\/em>\u00a0is how Paul puts it. In the\u00a0Tyndale<\/em>\u00a0commentary, Francis Foulkes gives this Greek tutorial (without PowerPoint): \u201cIn this matter of forgiving, the calling of Christians is to be followers of God (KJV). In fact\u00a0mim\u00e7tai<\/em>\u00a0is more than followers. It is \u2018imitators,\u2019 a word used a number of times in the New Testament. . . . Those who by grace are made\u00a0children<\/em>\u00a0of God are by constant perseverance, and imitation of the divine copy, to become more like the heavenly Father.\u201d<\/p>\n

Same Footsteps:\u00a0<\/strong>I Peter 2:21 has this same idea; we\u2019re invited to \u201cfollow in the footsteps of Jesus,\u201d suffering as He suffered, \u201cbecause He\u2019s our example,\u201d Peter writes.\u00a0 Of course, Peter was willing to be crucified just as his beloved Master was.<\/p>\n

Copying Mom and Dad:\u00a0<\/strong>In\u00a0The Message<\/em>\u00a0paraphrase version by Eugene Peterson, Eph. 5:1 reads: \u201cWatch what God does, and then YOU do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Kids learn from watching their parents perform, beginning with \u201cplaying house.\u201d Fifty years ago parents held onto to the seat of a two-wheeled bicycle, after taking off the training wheels, and said to the child: \u201cNow remember how I showed you. Keep pedaling. Keep the handle bars straight. Don\u2019t run into the neighbors\u2019 houses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today good parents are probably saying to the child, \u201cNow I showed you how to log on. Then you type in \u2018Yahoo.com\u2019 for a search engine and click on that icon over there. See? Just like Daddy!\u201d<\/p>\n

In reading, you spell it out: \u201cThere\u2019s a \u2018B.\u2019 \u2018B\u2019\u2014 then \u2018AT.\u2019\u00a0\u2018Buh – AT.\u00a0 BAT!\u00a0 Cat. Hat. Fat<\/em>.\u201d And your child imitates. He learns to read. He learns to tie his shoelaces. He learns to talk to Jesus at bedtime and give his offering at church because that\u2019s what Mommy and Daddy do.<\/p>\n

Hard Imitation:<\/strong>\u00a0But forgiving our enemies is harder than riding a bike or even learning correct Spanish grammar. We know God forgives. But that doesn\u2019t mean that WE want to! In that case, we have to simply look at the facts. God is a forgiver. His kingdom is built on forgiveness. There is stability and peace and joy only because there IS forgiveness. What havoc there would be, what hopelessness for the universe, if God refused to forgive. And when we look at those stubborn realities, we slowly begin to understand that imitating our heavenly Father in forgiving is the only way we too can have stability and peace and joy.<\/p>\n

SDA Bible Commentary:<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u201cThe apostle has been urging that the example of God be followed, particularly in the spirit of forgiveness. God is the pattern, the ideal to which we strive to attain, in this case with special reference to the spirit of forgiveness. Surely the earnest believer, by God\u2019s own grace, can learn to forgive even as God forgave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Motivated By God-Given Love:<\/strong>\u00a0All through Ephesians we\u2019re reminded that love\u2014God\u2019s for us and ours for others\u2014is the motivation we have to do this hard thing, to do like Christ in plunging into the deep end of the swimming pool of forgiveness. \u201cThe knowledge that God loves us is the first source of the ability to imitate Him.\u00a0The realization of His Fatherhood encourages us to love one another.\u00a0Those who sincerely call God their Father must inevitably regard other human beings as brothers and sisters\u201d (SDA Commentary<\/em>).<\/p>\n

We tend to imitate people whom we know love us\u2014and people whom we admire.\u00a0It\u2019s always been that way, right down to the Brad Pitt and Hannah Montana T shirts and backpack decals kids buy. When we see our loving Father as a forgiver, slowly but surely we\u2019re going to say: \u201cI can see now that this is the only way.\u00a0Because Dad does it this way, and I want to be like Him.\u201d<\/p>\n

But I Don\u2019t Feel Like It!<\/strong>\u00a0Once we get that question settled, then imitating departs entirely from the realm of \u201cI don\u2019t want to.\u00a0I don\u2019t feel like it.\u201d\u00a0Most of the time we will NOT feel like forgiving or like copying Christ in lifestyle and attitude.\u00a0So what?\u00a0When did feelings ever have anything to do with anything, especially in determining how a Christian ought to act?<\/p>\n

Mere Christianity<\/em>\u00a0by C. S. Lewis:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cThe rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you \u2018love\u2019 (or want to forgive!) your neighbor. ACT as if you did [love and forgive him.] As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets.\u00a0When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.\u201d A page later, the writer adds: \u201c[People] are told they ought to love (and imitate) God. They cannot find any such feelings in themselves.\u00a0What are they to do?\u00a0The answer is the same as before.\u00a0ACT as if you did.\u00a0Do not sit trying to manufacture feelings.\u00a0Ask yourself, \u2018If I were sure that I loved God, what would I do?\u2019 When you have found the answer, go and do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conclusion:\u00a0<\/strong>Frankly, this is both easy . . . and hard. Inviting . . . and impossible.\u00a0\u201cImitate God.\u201d We don\u2019t do it because it\u2019s easy or natural or instinctive. It probably is none of those things, although it can grow to be gloriously all of them. After a while, you can ride a bike and translate a sermon in Spanish and love doing it.\u00a0But until the joy comes along, you just keep doing it because in your heart you know you\u2019re copying from the right source, from a loving and perfect Original.
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Submitted by David B. Smith. Better Sermons \u00a9 2005-2009. Click here for\u00a0<\/span>usage guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Be Imitators Key Passage:\u00a0Ephesians 5  Key Thought: We as Christians are invited to imitate God in all that we do and say\u2014especially in facing the challenge of forgiving those we …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions\/44"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}