They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. I don’t know how true that is. Perhaps it is. Sometimes I don’t want somebody to imitate me. Sometimes when the kids do it, it starts to get a little overwhelming. But the idea is that when we try to copy the work, the attitudes, or the character of someone else, we are in essence giving our approval for what we see in that person.
What we acknowledged last week as we began this passage is that all of us are going to be imitators of somebody, whether that is a good thing or not. We live in a sin-cursed world, surrounded by sinful people who do sinful things as part of a sinful culture. So most of the time we are naturally going to imitate the things that are not good for us or good for anyone else. Maybe I’m just speaking for myself this morning, but I find in me a tendency to imitate the things I should not be imitating. I have a tendency to think the wrong way, to speak the wrong way, and to act the wrong way.
Why? Because I am wired to be an imitator. I was created to bear an image. Not just anyone’s image, but the image of my Father, which is in heaven. I was created to bear His image in the world, to make His image known, and to help other people see the glory of the God who created me. But I am a sinner. It is in my nature not to imitate Him, but to imitate what I see around me in the world.
Last week I presented the first and most important question, and I want to put it before you again.
Who are you going to imitate?
You may say, “Justin, I’m an original. I’m my own person.” In America we have really championed that value. You can be an individual. You can be unique. You can be who you want to be. But I’m telling you this morning, it’s a lie. Whether you like it or not, and whether you realize it or not, you are naturally going to imitate other people. So the question is not will you imitate someone. The question is who you are going to imitate. Will you imitate the One who made you and who paid for you with His blood? Or will you imitate what you see around you in the world? I hope you will choose the right answer, which is to imitate your Creator.
But from there we have to answer another important question: how do I do that? It is not enough for me to tell you to be an imitator of God. That is what Paul says here when he writes, “Be ye therefore followers.” Bring that into modern English and it is “be an imitator of God.” Be like my son, who puts on my coat and my shoes and walks around talking in a deep voice like Daddy. Be an imitator of God. What does it look like to imitate God the way a little child imitates his father? Paul lays that out for us in the passage that follows.
First: Walk in Love
Last week we only got to one point. I really felt like the Lord was slowing me down and wanting me to focus on that one issue: loving as our Father loves. Paul says, “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children,” and notice he doesn’t jump into a list of do’s and don’ts. What does he say?
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Ephesians 5:2
Last week we slowed down and dealt with the reality that we are loved by a wonderful Savior. He loved us with such a great love that, while we were yet sinners, He died for us and gave Himself for us. He sacrificed for people who did not deserve to be sacrificed for. Paul is saying that if we are going to imitate God, we have to start there. You can do all the good deeds in the world, but if love is not your motivating factor, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 that we are like a tinkling cymbal. Our words and our actions are empty. They amount to nothing if we do not have love. So again I want to challenge you this morning to embrace the love of Jesus Christ. If we are going to fulfill this calling to be imitators of God, we have to start by loving the way Christ loves.
Second: Walk in Purity
From there, Paul begins to show us some activities and attitudes that we are to reject. If we are going to imitate God, we first have to walk in love. But the second way we imitate God is to walk in purity.
Here is the foundation of Christian living: it is to love like Christ. It is to put others before yourself. It is to sacrifice your own pleasure, your own satisfaction, and your own success so that others might experience blessing and joy and grace and mercy through the God who has loved you. We are called to walk in love. The opposite of that is to live for yourself, for your own pleasure and your own satisfaction. Paul says these things are very common in the society we live in, but they are not to be the norm for God’s church. We are not only to walk in love. We are to walk in purity.
But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
Ephesians 5:3–4
Paul is laying out a list of things we commonly see in the world that are to have no part in the life we live as believers. If you are going to imitate God, you walk in love, and you do not walk after the filthiness of this world. You walk in purity. Why? Because God is pure. God is holy. That is why we sang that song this morning: Holy, Holy, Holy. He is perfectly pure and perfectly holy, and He is not stained and sinful the way this world is stained and sinful. Let me help you understand the implications of what Paul is saying.
Fornication
He starts with fornication. It is amazing to me how frequently the New Testament deals with sexual sin, and I think there is a reason for that. We all acknowledge that I can’t go out and murder somebody and get away with it. If I go out and steal things, there is a consequence for that, and it is too great for me to pay. I may get something out of it for the moment. I can steal, I can beat somebody up, I can kill somebody, and I will not get very far. We reason it out and say the price is too much. Besides, it would make me look like a bad person. So I am going to avoid it, because even secular society says it is not cool with that.
But when it comes to these types of sins, we find that they are not only accepted in most societies. They are actually encouraged. I don’t have to tell you this. Our society has been so sexualized that you cannot get away from it. You can’t watch a commercial on TV without seeing sex put right in front of you. You can’t read books, watch movies, or listen to music without it. You can’t go to Walmart without it. Why? Because as humans we have reasoned that the pleasure and benefit of engaging in this sin is worth the price we might have to pay to enjoy it. So as societies we have pretty much just accepted that this is the way it is. This is cool. We’re okay with this.
Paul says that is not the God we serve. He says fornication, and that comes from the Greek word porneia. Does that sound familiar? It is the root from which we get the word pornography. It is the word we find throughout the New Testament for fornication, and it is not just referring to two unmarried people having intercourse. It refers to any type of sin of a sexual nature.
Why is Paul dealing with this? Because, just like the United States, the Roman Empire was taken with sexuality. In Ephesus, where Paul is writing, they were very much followers of the cult of Artemis. Part of the worship of Artemis involved what we would call today orgies. They would have these big parties, get drunk, and sleep with whoever. This was how they worshiped and practiced their religion. Sexuality in the Roman Empire was not only acceptable. It was part of how they worshiped their gods, and it was normal in the life of the Christians in that day. Paul says that may be normal in the society you live in, but it is not normal in the kingdom of God. God created sex as a wonderful gift, to be enjoyed the way God says to enjoy it.
Uncleanness
Then he goes on and says “all uncleanness.” When we find that word in the New Testament, most of the time it is referring to an internal position of the heart. It is not always the case, but most of the time. It is a love for things that are sinful and unclean. So he is talking first about the outward activity, fornication, and then about the inward activity. Because, folks, you can refrain from the outward acts and still have an inward heart that has a love and a passion and an appreciation for that uncleanness. That is what makes sexual sin so pervasive. You can do it behind closed doors and nobody will ever know. But there is Someone who knows. Paul says the outward act is to be avoided, and the inward heart is not to be named among you.
Covetousness
Then he says “covetousness.” What does that mean? It is someone who cannot be satisfied no matter how much they get. Folks, does that describe the country we live in today? We cannot get enough of it. There is never enough. We are never satisfied with the amount of sin we take in. You can enjoy it now, and two days later you want more.
Fornication, uncleanness, covetousness. Paul says these types of actions and attitudes are not to be so much as named among you “as becometh saints.” In other words, that behavior, that lifestyle, that love and passion and activity is not the action and attitude of a child of God. It doesn’t become saints. It is not becoming of us to think and act that way.
Not Even a Joke
Then he goes on, and this is even harder. I feel like this is where the rubber might start to meet the road this morning. He says, “Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting.” He takes it even further. We are not supposed to engage in that lifestyle. We are not supposed to desire that lifestyle. We are not supposed to want more of it. And he says we are not even supposed to joke about it. Jesting refers to crude joking, which is “not convenient.” That is the King James word for not beneficial. It is not helpful.
What is he talking about? To bring it into a modern context, he is talking about locker room conversation. He is talking about what our society would call “boys being boys,” and girls too. God created something to be beautiful and pure and lovely, to be enjoyed between two married people. To take a jovial approach to it, to make light of it and throw jokes around about it, Paul says that is not us. We are not to make light of something God made to be beautiful. We are called to preserve purity, to preserve what is holy, and to preserve what God has made to be good.
Rather than engaging in the locker room conversation, and rather than loving the filthiness of the world and embracing it and taking it in and being a part of it, he says we are rather to give thanks. We are to fill our minds, our hearts, our actions, and our attitudes with gratitude to God for what He has given us and allowed us to enjoy and experience.
Folks, I believe Paul went straight for the sexual sins because that was what was pervasive in their culture. I know it is pervasive in ours because you see it everywhere you go. If we are honest this morning, because we are all human beings, we have probably battled it in our own way somewhere along the way. But I truly believe what Paul is presenting here is not just a specific type of sin. He is saying we are not to embrace the wickedness that the world normalizes and encourages. If we are going to walk like our God, if we are going to be imitators of our God, we cannot embrace what the world says is okay but God has said is not okay.
Why Purity Matters
He gives us a great reason for this in verse five.
For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Ephesians 5:5
“For this ye know.” He is not telling you new information, but you need to be reminded of it this morning. “Whoremonger” is just the King James word for somebody who lives that type of sexualized lifestyle. The covetous man is the one who can never be satisfied in his fleshly desires, and Paul says he is an idolater. Those who live to gratify their flesh are no different from someone worshiping idols, because they are worshiping the idol of their flesh. And notice he doesn’t say they have little inheritance. He says they have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
This is not teaching salvation by works. He is not saying that what you do or don’t do is what determines where you spend eternity. What he is saying is that if we are born again, we are to walk like our Father. And when you see someone whose lifestyle is patterned not after the Father but after the world, that is a pretty good indication that the Father is not their Father.
Let No Man Deceive You
Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
Ephesians 5:6–7
“Vain words” are empty lies. There are people all over this world, and even in the church, who will tell you it is not that big of a deal. “We’re under grace. It’s okay to slip up every once in a while.” Paul says, let it not be once named among you. If we were to take the Colossians version of this, he is saying to take those things that are sinful, those things that are worldly, and crucify them. Put them to death. Don’t stick them in a closet and deal with it later. Pull it out, make it clear, and then kill it.
Why? Because these are the things that bring damnation and destruction upon those who are not under the blood of Jesus Christ. Here is the question Paul is really asking. Why would we, as believers, live a lifestyle that other people are going to suffer condemnation for? Why would I enjoy something that somebody else is going to go to hell for one day? That is a convicting question. “Be not ye therefore partakers with them.” They are the children of disobedience. They imitate the disobedience that has defined their lives. We are not the children of disobedience. We are the children of God, and therefore we are to walk like God. God does not have an ounce of impurity in Him. He is pure. He is holy. He is perfect.
Folks, I am telling you this morning that even as believers, we have normalized certain sins. We have made excuses for sinful behavior. It may be some type of sexual sin. It may be bitterness that we excuse. “Well, do you know what they did? Do you know what they said? Do you know what I went through?” We allow that bitterness to stay in our hearts, and then we make excuses for why it is there. We normalize the lies we tell because it is for everyone’s good. What we are actually doing is imitating the wrong father. We are imitating the prince of the power of the air, the father of darkness, and not the God who saved us by His blood. Paul is reminding us this morning that the very things we make excuses for will be the destruction of the people who do not repent of them and fall upon the blood and the grace of Jesus Christ. So why would I take pleasure in the thing that will bring destruction? It is a challenging question.
But in honestly dealing with these things, we can find a peace we will never have as long as we are making excuses for the sinfulness we choose to enjoy. There is peace to be found when we forsake the wickedness of this world and cling to the righteousness of Jesus Christ. There is clarity and joy and blessing in life when we walk the path God has called and created us to walk.
How many of you need peace this morning? How many of you need that satisfaction of your soul? Could it be that you cannot sing “It Is Well with My Soul” because you have allowed a cancer to stay in your life? Instead of mortifying it, instead of putting it to death, instead of saying, “I will no longer walk in that old way, but I will walk in the purity of my Father,” it is creating turmoil in your heart.
It may very well be that this morning, as you sit under the sound of my voice, you have never truly experienced the blessing of being born again through Jesus Christ. Maybe the reason there is turmoil in your soul is that you are still carrying the full weight of your condemnation upon yourself.
The Answer Is the Cross
So what is the answer to all of this? I can tell by how quiet it is in this room that you are feeling the weight of Paul’s call. The answer is in verse two. We have already been given it: “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.” That is not only the example for us to follow. It is the answer for the sinfulness we find in ourselves time and time again.
The answer when you feel the burden of sin. The answer when you cannot seem to shake that temptation. The answer when your mouth opens up and the words come out and you wish you could suck them back in, but they are already gone, and you carry that guilt with you the rest of the day. What is the answer when you fall flat on your face and fall back into sin once again and say, “I know this is not how my God would have me live, but I can’t seem to help myself”?
The answer is Jesus Christ.
It is the same thing that saved us in the first place. When temptation makes its way into your life, and when failure finds you once again, run back to the cross of Jesus Christ. He was the sacrifice for our sins. He paid the penalty for our sins. Folks, we did deserve to pay the price for the sins we have committed. But He paid it.
That is why He is a sacrifice. In the Old Testament, when they committed sins against God and broke the covenant, they had to slay a lamb. That lamb would die and shed its blood, and they would take it to God as an offering. For a time, God would be appeased in His wrath. But thanks be unto God that two thousand years ago Jesus Christ came and shed His perfect blood. It was not a sacrifice that must be given again. It was a one-time sacrifice, once for all. He died for every sin you will ever commit. When you sin and fall short, and you come back to that place where you know you are not living according to the way of God, you can come back to the cross and say, “God, I am pleading the blood of Jesus Christ. Would you forgive me? Would you cleanse me? And by Your Spirit, would You put these things to death? Would You help me to once again walk in the way of purity?” He will hear that prayer, and He will forgive your sins.
Folks, some of you need that assurance this morning, and I am here to give it to you. Not because I have any authority, but because His Word has said it.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
If you cry out to God, He will forgive you. He will make your sins right. He will set you free from the burdens of sin. He will give you a new life and a new heart and a new way of living. You do not have to continue to carry the guilt. You do not have to walk around with your head hanging low. Folks, you may not be able to beat it. But thanks be unto God, He can. If you will come to Him, and if you will fall at the foot of the cross, He will forgive your sins past, present, and future, and you can be right with God.
We are called to be imitators. And I am so glad the blood of Christ makes that possible.
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