The Imitation of Christ :: Ephesians 5:1-9

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Therefore, become imitators of God (v 1).

5.

It was Charles Caleb Colton who popularized the saying “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” The only problem is, by itself, that isn’t always true. Sometimes by imitating others we mock them. And there’s nothing sincere about mockery. Maybe that’s what led Oscar Wilde to improve upon the proverb some fifty years later, writing “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” I can get behind that, especially in the light of our epistle reading today from Ephesians 5 that urges us to become imitators of God. 

You can’t mock God by imitating him. God is holy and good. How can you mock him by imitating righteousness and goodness? In him, there is no darkness (1 Jn 1:5). How can you mock him by walking in the light and allowing your light to shine (Mt 5:16)? God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. How can you mock him by forgiving each other? 

When God calls on us to become imitators of him, he’s calling on us to be holy, and he’s asking us to be more than good. He’s asking us to be different than the world around us. “Holy” means to be set apart ... to be reserved for a special purpose. Just as God is one-of-a-kind, we are called to walk in the light as he is in the light. This is the overarching point of our reading today from Saint Paul’s epistle to the church at Ephesus. 

4. 

Generally speaking, passages such as this are a challenge for us Lutherans. We bristle at being told what to do. To become an imitator, we have to do something .... we have to work at something. That makes it sound like our text is all law and no gospel. It details how Christians should act, and it assumes, therefore, that believers ... that is, those who have faith in Christ, the word who became flesh ... that they can therefore imitate God. 

But this text is more like Paul’s response to the question of the jailer of Philippi, who asked, What must I actually try to do in order to be saved (Acts 16:30). Paul’s answer: Have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved (v. 31). .... Or as Jesus said in our Gospel reading: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it (Lk 11:28). 

Note, Paul doesn’t say that you can do anything to be saved. He knows it’s God who creates a clean heart in us (Ps 51:10). It’s God who pours out his Holy Spirit upon you in baptism to save you. It’s God who enables you to hear. And it’s God who comes to you during the Lord’s supper, feeding you his food for the soul to nourish and strengthen the new man that arose in baptism (LC V 23) so that we can begin hallowing God’s name and letting his kingdom come. 

It’s God, therefore, who enables you to become imitators of God. And this is good news. He puts your faith to work through Christ, who lives and moves and has his being in you. He does this to fulfill the new covenant he established within us. His covenant to us and for us strengthens our faith in him so we can become imitators of God (v 1). 

3.

We can’t do all that God can do, but we can imitate him as beloved children do that with their beloved father. They follow Christ’s example loving God and one another.  

Now the way that Christ loved you was not just with a warm feeling in his heart ... although he did have those, too. He frequently saw the people in his midst, felt sorry for them, and had compassion for them ... that is, he was moved to do something for them. He quickly identified those who were hurting. But more importantly, we need to remember what Jesus did ... the way that Jesus loved you. He loved you in this way: He gave himself up for you (v 2).

It’s interesting to note that the word we translate as “gave himself up” is also the word for “betray.” Just as Judas betrayed Christ, Jesus betrayed Himself for us. Jesus handed himself over to pagans, turning against His own self-interest on our behalf. Jesus surrendered Himself into the hands of those who would kill him for you. Jesus allowed himself to be beaten for you. And he held his tongue while doing it. Jesus took your place on the cross for you, suffering for you, dying for you. That is the nature of his love. 

Paul describes this betrayal as “an offering and a sacrifice.” The two words are very similar in the Greek ... not like homonyms, which sound the same ... but like synonyms, very similar in their meaning. The dictionaries of Greek words give almost the same definition for the words. The distinction, though, is that the first word points to the act of making the offering or sacrifice, and the second word points more directly to the thing sacrificed ... an atoning sacrifice. 

We sing about this wonder in the Lord’s supper hymn, Draw Near and Take the Body of the Lord. Christ is “Himself the Victim and Himself the Priest.” His love doesn’t consist primarily in the affection that He feels toward us. His love is self-sacrificial. His love is the work of reconciliation. His love sets you into a right relationship with God. His love is the work of forgiveness. It points us to the cross and the bitter passion which surrounds it. His love purchased your salvation with blood, and your resurrection to eternal life. Your sins are forgiven!

2. 

As we begin to understand the magnitude of God’s love for us, we can begin to understand why we should become imitators of God. We begin walking as children of light (v 9). 

The imitation may not require you to suffer as Christ did. But it will require you to betray yourself into holy living ... to imitate God. Do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints; nor filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather the giving of thanks.

Immorality here is sexual in nature. At is root, the word is used for prostitution. So don’t even look at pornography, which encourages the prostitution of women and men alike. Don’t even allow it to be named among you. It debases the mind, leading to uncleanness and greed, all of which is idolatry of yourself. We shouldn’t even talk about these things. It certainly isn’t a way to become an imitator of God. 

More than that, brothers and sisters in Christ, listen to the Holy Spirit in this regard, and repent of your empty words, your foolish talk, and your coarse joking, too ... because on account of these the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience (v 6). 

Then believe the greatness of the Gospel. 

Too often we settle for mediocrity, telling ourselves we don’t need the fullness of Gospel. Too often we don’t imitate our Lord Jesus, who urges us to return to our baptism, confess our sins, and receive his forgiveness through the means of grace ... which was purchased by Christ betraying Himself into torment and death on our behalf. Too often we don't seek reconciliation. 

Therefore become imitators of God, forgiving just as Christ forgave.

1.

You can do this. You once not only lived in darkness ... but as Paul says, you were darkness, which is why our Lord led us to the font of baptism. We are not baptized because we are worthy and holy. Nor do we go to confession because we are pure and without sin. On the contrary, we go to confession because we are poor, miserable people. We go exactly because we are unworthy. 

But now ... on account of baptism, you are light in the Lord (v 9). Therefore, become imitators of God. Now you are holy ... not in and of yourself, but through Christ, and by His grace. Now he enables you to hear absolution ... that your sins are forgiven. And he enables you to see the light, to walk as children of light, to imitate God. Therefore imitate him. 

Living in the light of the Gospel will naturally lead you to return to the Divine Service. Here all the saints and angels join us in this service ... God’s service to you. Here, all the saints in light come to worship the Light of the World with you, as he delivers the tangible gift of his body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of sins. These means of grace  nourish and strengthen your faith in Christ, enabling us all to become imitators of Christ, doing what he began doing for you on the night he was betrayed. 

THROUGH THE LOVE OF CHRIST, AND CONFIDENT OF HIS SACRIFICE FOR US, WE CAN BECOME IMITATORS OF GOD

For the fruit of the Spirit of light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth (v 9). 

So thank the Lord and sing his praise ... in Jesus’ name.

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