Recap: Imitation | The Book of Ephesians | 04/19/26

So,

I want to talk about something that I've

noticed amongst some Christians,

especially when they're trying to

discern what the right thing to do is.

And so, they're trying to figure out

something that's really important to

them. Maybe what college should you go

to? What major you should have? who you

should marry, where you should live,

where you go to church. And I've heard

some Christians tell me they went to the

Bible to look and the Bible was silent

about those specific things. And that

that's not surprising. It doesn't tell

me, well, which college should I go to,

San Jose State or Calpali? And well, let

me check Acts chapter 4 to talk about

Acts 4 · chapter mention

that. So, it seems silent. And and

sometimes I've even heard some

Christians say, well, if the Bible's

silent about it, then any of it is

permissible. that I think that's a very

dangerous game to play given that we

shouldn't expect that it would hit every

single possible opportunity or event

that we might face.

But there is this kind of concern that

we expect the Bible to give us some

moral guidance. And I see Christians who

when they come to it, they are sometimes

disappointed that it doesn't give them

the kind of guidance that they were

looking for. In fact, then they think

much of their life's choices this book

doesn't tell you. And that to me is sad

because I really do believe right 2

Timothy 3 16 that scripture offers us

correction, instruction, righteousness

training. And while Paul probably is

talking about the Old Testament, I think

we can easily infer that all of

scripture, every bit of it is good for

training that offers us moral guidance.

I think this entire book can guide us

and how we ought to live. And I think

part of the problem is that some

Christians think of the Bible more like

GPS.

So what does GPS do? You could be very

passive about it and then it'll say

first turn left, then go two miles, and

then turn right. And if that's how we

expect this, we're going to be sorely

disappointed. All right. Well, what

should I major in? Dentistry. And who

should I marry? Jane. And where should I

live? Iowa. And right, what church

should I go to? Go to the Presbyterian

church on Third Street. It doesn't do

that. I I think if we think of this like

GPS, we're going to be sorely

disappointed. Rather, and especially if

we see how people have used the Bible

throughout the church's 2,000 years, I

would say the more apt analogy is to

think of the Bible like a map or a

compass.

It doesn't tell me turn left, turn

right, marry this person, major, and

that. But when you are out in the woods

and you're fending for yourself and

you're lost, a map and a compass become

some of the most valuable gifts you'd

ever get. Because sometimes you might be

able to figure your way out. You can

like see the sun, but sometimes if

you're in the deep woods, hard to know

where north, south, east, or west um are

and hard to know where you are. But a

map will give you the structure or the

layout of the terrain. And the compass

will give you a direction, a guide. You

get your bearings. And once you figure

out where you are, you can use the map

and the compass to figure out where you

need to go. And I think that's what

scripture really is more like, a map and

a compass. This valuable guide that

gives us direction, that gives us the

terrain. because it's easy to believe

your eyes and not the map. So, uh when I

was a student leader many many years

ago, I once lost a student at a camping

trip because we went on a hike and she

just thought, well, things it seemed

intuitive to go left and I thought I'd

go here and I thought that way was north

and then she was lost and we had to

spend hours. We had to get park rangers.

Thankfully, within a couple of hours,

park rangers found the poor thing

covered in mud because she went some

direction that didn't turn out to be an

actual path. and then finally found the

streets and then the path uh the park

rangers found her. If you just go by

your own guide, you might think you'll

know where to go. And when we look by

your own observation, you might think

you can get away with it. In fact,

scripture reminds us, why does it feel

like the wicked prosper and the

righteous suffer? We look at the people

who are profiting and they're playing an

immoral game. I think, oo, if I play

that game, things will go well. But a

map will tell you if you go down that

way, you're headed to disaster. And

that's why a map is really crucial and a

compass will point you in the direction

that you need to go. Now, one more thing

to say then about this.

Where are you trying to get to? Where

where does the map tell us? And I think

sometimes people think of the Bible's

moral guidance focusing more on what to

do.

I think that the Bible is much more

concerned not with what to do but who

you are or or better who you are

becoming like.

This is not to say that the Bible

doesn't give us specific action guiding

direction. Sometimes it tells us

straight up this is what you're supposed

to do. So sometimes it does it is

concerned. My point is I don't think it

is centrally about what to do and it is

much more centrally about who you are

becoming like and I think the Bible

gives us a very straightforward direct

answer and that's the answer we all

learned when we were doing Sunday school

for those of us who went it is to become

like Jesus and Ephesians even tells us

that we are to gain get to the measure

of the stature of the fullness of

Christ. So much of Ephesians is about

becoming more and more like Christ. So

much of the Bible is about becoming more

and more like Christ. If we even look at

Ephesians, walk in love like Christ. Uh

husbands, how are you supposed to love

your wives according to Paul and

Ephesians? In the way that Christ loves

the church. And if you forgive, how are

you supposed to forgive? The way that

tax collectors and others do. What does

Ephesians tell us? Forgive as Christ

forgave you. So so much about the New

Testament is focused on who you are to

become like and that's Christ. And in

Ephesians, we get something very, very

unique. So if you have your Bibles, turn

to Ephesians chapter 5. You get

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

something that you really don't see

anywhere else in the New Testament. And

that's what I want to focus on this

morning.

So Ephesians chapter 5,

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

this is both our only passage and the

main point of this morning. Chapter 5:es

1 and 2.

A reading from the book of Ephesians.

Therefore, be imitators of God as

beloved children and walk in love as

Christ loved us and gave himself up for

us.

Be imitators of God. I'd like to spend

this morning trying to unpack that,

looking at Ephesians. So, here's the

plan. I want to talk about a tool that I

think is very typical for Christians to

use. And then I want to talk about this

other tool, this tool of imitation and

specifically imitating God. And then I

want to do the best that I can to try to

show you how to implement this tool in

your own life. So we're not doing a deep

dive in Ephesians. We've been doing that

until Easter. This is more just trying

to talk about this one tool that

Ephesians tells us. Starting next week,

we'll go back into our regular rhythm of

looking bit by bit at a particular Bible

p uh uh particular Bible book. I don't

think we shared. It's Ecclesiastes. So,

we're in for a ride starting next week.

We'll get the ESV journal. So, don't

worry. We'll have that ready for you to

go next week. But today, instead of

doing our normal rhythm of looking

deeply into a text, I want us to think

about imitation. So, first, let's talk

about this typical tool. What's the

typical tool that I think some

Christians use? And I'm just going to

call it the rules tool. The rules tool.

Okay. I feel like I'm at Blues Clues or

or Bluy or just some kind of kid show.

The rules tool. Okay. What's the rules

tool? I I only see this I've seen this a

lot and I typically see it from from I

think good meaning Christians and it's

only sort of shown up over the last

hundredish years. Here's the rule tools.

You you open up the Bible

and you try to find a principle. You're

like you read a passage, you read a

verse, you go, "What's the principle?"

And then you you figure out what the

principle is and then you apply it.

Okay? Uh if you grew up in the church,

you've been around Christians, have you

seen or heard anything like this? I'd be

actually kind of curious. Have you seen

people do things like this? Okay, like

some of you, you've heard someone say,

"I'm going to figure out the

principles." Or you might do a Bible

study with people and like I'm going to

figure out the principle and once I have

the principle figured out, I'm going to

apply it into every situation or this

particular situation. Okay, that is a

good and useful tool, but it has limited

application.

much of the Bible is such that it would

be hard to do this rules tool. So if if

you don't want to know what I'm talking

about, don't worry about it. It's it's

it's not a big deal. In fact, I think

it's by and large a good thing not to

make this your your your main tool. Even

though I think today it has become the

main tool of moral guidance. I think

when most people, let's say, who aren't

biblical scholars come to this and and

you grew up in the West, you're like a

21st century American, I think you your

default is to use the rules tool, even

though most Christians throughout

history wouldn't have used it. And

there's a kind of explanation why we in

21st century America sort of gravitate

to doing this. Uh the rules tool is okay

for some parts of the Bible. Here's

here's some problems with it. Here's the

first problem. Much of the Bible then

becomes morally irrelevant because it's

really hard to to find a principle. You

ever notice if somebody's going to do

this rules tool, look for principles,

you you have to kind like look at the

same parts of the Bible. Like maybe

exclusively the New Testament and some

parts of the Old Testament. And even

like much of the New Testament, it's

really hard to do. Much of the Gospels,

it's really hard to get a rule or a

principle. And so I think some people

who like the rules tool, you sometimes

overemphasize Paul to the neglect of

other passages of the Bible. That to me

is unfortunate for the starting

conviction I said. I think this entire

book, every single word is relevant to

moral guidance. And it would be a shame

if we had a tool that only emphasized

certain passages and not the whole

thing. So that that that's the sort of

first problem with the rules tool.

Here's the second problem with the rules

tool.

I think you might think, well, I need to

make all of the Bible relevant. So,

you'll try to come up with a principle

no matter what passage you read. The

problem is the principle will either be

the kind that it'll it will admit of

exceptions or it'll be so generic and so

abstract that it's unhelpful.

Right? Sometimes you might just get like

a rule. Hey, uh, obey God. That's the

principle. Okay, but while I'm like

suffering from terminal illness, what

what do I do? While I'm in the midst of

broken relationships, how does the rule

apply? And then you kind have to like

make stuff up. So it might be so

abstract or so general that the rule in

some ways becomes a little bit

unhelpful. Here's an example. Uh so I'm

very bad at basketball, but somebody

might say, well here here's the rule.

Make a basket.

Okay, I get it. I understand that like

that's what you're supposed to do on

offense, but I'm so bad at it that just

telling me the rule doesn't help out. Or

same thing with music. Um I was a

terrible teacher for beginners when I

was in my 20s and but some people would

ask me to give them guitar lessons. And

so I say, "Well, just just play without

mistakes." And they're like, "What?" Uh

what was worse is when they would ask me

how to do jazz improv. They're like,

"How do you do jazz improv?"

And I was I was a terrible music teacher

in my 20s and filled with arrogance. I

used to say, "Well, when you hear the

basis or the drummer do something cool,

match it."

This is a person who's like still

learning their scales like, "Uh,

now in one sense, the rules that I'm

giving, are they true?" Sure. But do

they help the novice figure out how to

get to that level? No. there's there's

long ways to go before that kind of rule

can become useful. So So my point is the

rule I don't want to belittle it. I

don't want to belittle people who use

it. There are definitely parts of the

Bible where it's it's perfectly good and

useful to use. It's just once you only

have a hammer, what's what's the slogan,

right? If you have a hammer, everything

looks to you like a nail. If that's your

only tool for moral guidance, then

you'll try to do this one thing with

every part. And I think it is incomplete

and unhelpful at times. All right.

What's the alternative tool? Well, it is

practicing imitation.

Imitation

primarily imitating Christ. But I want

to talk about imitation uh quite

generally. And here are the motivations

for looking at this tool. Here's just

two very quickly. One, do you ever

notice that much of the Bible is in

story form? After all, what did Pastor

Josh say last week? God's story is our

story. In fact, I think we're supposed

to read the book of Ephesians like a

story. I think Paul has a specific story

in mind and we're supposed to find

ourselves in God's story. And much of

the Old Testament and the rules approach

doesn't really follow doesn't really fit

well with stories or narratives, but

imitation does, as I'll show in a

moment. Uh the the second thing is I'm

just not going to go into it, but when I

preached on this a few years ago, my

main task was to try to show how this

theme of imitation is all over the New

Testament. So I don't want you to

believe me. I want you to go look. But I

I also made a handout the last time I

did this. Was anybody there or does

anybody remember that?

Like Josh. Okay, that's that's fine.

That's okay. I don't expect you to

remember. It's no big deal.

If if you want the handout, you can

email me and I'll send you the handout.

It just has a list of Bible passages,

New Testament passages, uh just a

select. I think there's way more than

the ones I put in there that just have

imitation. So, don't believe me. Go do

the homework yourself. But I want you to

see that the New Testament, and I would

argue the entire Bible is pervaded by

this theme of imitation. And and and

once you start looking for it, I bet

you'll start seeing it everywhere. Okay.

So, with that in mind, I want us to

first talk about what imitation is and

then I want us to see it as it might

work in the book of Ephesians. So, so

let me tell you how imitation works.

You're supposed to imitate an exemplar.

An exemplar. Now, if you've been around

me long enough, you might hear this

word, and I want I want us to start

getting familiar with this word

exemplar. Here's why. The word never

shows up in the Bible, but it can help

unlock bits of the Bible for us. It's

like the word trinity. Nowhere in the

Bible can you can you find the word

trinity. But once you have the concept

of the trinity, it unlocks the Bible for

you in such fresh helpful ways. And in

fact, I think it unlocks the entire

Bible for you, including the Old

Testament. Once you have the concept of

the trinity, I think once you have the

concept of an exemplar to a similar but

lesser degree, I think it helps unlock

much of the Bible. So what's an

exemplar?

Just a a brief easy definition. It's an

admirable model. An admirable model. Let

me explain what I mean by those words.

By a model, I don't mean, you know,

somebody who does a catwalk on the

runway. Uh, I I I mean it's something

that you want to copy

and it's supposed to be admirable and

and I'm I'm using that in a bit of a

technical sense. I mean somebody who

you're drawn to and you want to become

like. So it's not admiration in this

technical sense if you don't want to be

like them. So for example, Simone Biles.

I'm impressed by Simone Biles. Like

whoa, but nothing in me wants to do

those flips. I don't want to try any of

those moves. I I I will injure myself.

I'm just impressed, but nothing about

that makes me want to be like that. So,

I'm using admiration in this more

technical way of not only do you are you

sort of morally attracted to them, you

want to become like them. You know, pe

people convey this emotion a lot when

they read biographies of heroes and

saints, right? You people will tell me

this when they've read a biography of

like Martin Luther King Jr., right? uh

Teresa of Kolkata or Corey Tenboom,

right? You read these and like whoa uh

not only are you sort of drawn to the

beauty of their story, you kind of want

to become like them. That that's what I

mean by an admirable model. And I think

the Bible gives us examples of several

admirable models. Admirable models can

be other human beings too. After all,

Paul says what? Imitate me. Twice in 1

Corinthians he says imitate me. And then

another time he says, "Imitate me as I

imitate Christ." And even the apostles,

you you see it in first Peter, he says,

"We gave you an example, us disciples of

Jesus, a model for you to follow, an

example for you to follow." So

an admirable model, an exemplar is

somebody that you're drawn to and you

want to become like. And the primary

exemplar is Christ. I think in the Bible

the primary exemplar the sort of the

terminus the end of all imitation chains

it ends at Christ that is the ultimate

admirable model that we're all supposed

to follow. Now before I look at

Ephesians I just want to talk about the

process. I want you to understand the

steps of of doing this. So I'm going to

try to break it into three steps.

We could make it a little bit more fine

grained and a little bit more nuance but

I just want to make this as simple as I

can. Here are the three steps. Once

you've picked out your exemplar, so the

person that you think I want to become

like them. Step number one,

careful observation.

Observe their life in and out. There's

lots of different ways of observing. You

could physically observe them watching

lots of episodes of how they live their

life. Uh you could interview them. You

could read biographies. You could just

try to just hear other stories about

them from other kinds of people. But

careful observation.

Step number two, once you've been doing

some careful observation,

recognize or discern a pattern, a kind

of actional or behavioral pattern,

something that you just see them do

almost automatically, kind of like

without thinking. They just tend to do

this pattern over and over and over

again. That's step two. Step three,

implement that pattern into your own

life like a routine. Do it over and over

and over and over again like a routine

until it becomes a habit or what we

might call second nature. Are you

comfortable with that language? Second

nature. You do something over and over

and over again that you don't have to

think about it. This is very familiar in

sports and music. In sports, you can't

really be thinking about where your your

body is. You have to be focused. Right?

If you're thinking, well, okay, where

does my left foot go next as I'm

dribbling up to the to the basket? Then

where does my right foot? If you do

that, somebody's going to pick you off.

they're they're going to steal the ball

from you. Same thing with music. If

you're a drummer, you can't go, "Well,

what's my left hand doing?" If you're

focusing on your left hand and you

forget the rest of your appendages, it's

going to bow to ill for you. But if you

practice it over and over and over

again, you practice your shot. I mean,

you ever see Steph Curry just it looks

wild, but he's practiced it so many

times that it looks like he's not even

thinking about it. Or look at a concert

pianist who's playing Rock Manov, and

what are they doing? They're doing like

this. But if you ever try to play rock

manov, you recognize

thousands of hours had to be put in to

try to play even that one piece. Well,

so so that's what I mean. And this

language you can even find in the Bible

with the language of walk.

Walk. Are you familiar with that? I

think sometimes in Christian we use some

words and we just kind of put our own

meaning. So people like how's your walk

with Christ? You familiar with that kind

of language? When Paul uses the words in

the language of walk, I think he has

something more precise in mind. What he

has much more in mind as he says in

chapter 5:2, walk in love as Christ

loved us and forgave us. What he means

is a lifestyle.

When you think of a lifestyle, you don't

think of just something happening

oneoff, just a one-time thing. You think

of it as a recognizable pattern that

happens over and over and over again,

almost like second nature for Jesus. He

doesn't ever have to go, hm, I'm really

mad at this person, but I really got to

try to love them. Have you had that? I

have that every week, right? And I'm

sure some of you have that probably with

me, right? But we should become like

Jesus where we love so that it's second

nature. It's automatic. I don't have to

fight and wrestle. That's how you know

it's the difference between something

that is a habit or a character trait and

something that you're working towards.

Right? Two different people can engage

in a courageous action, but one of them

is courageous because it's coming like a

habit. It's coming from their character

and somebody else they had to try to

muster up the courage to deal with it.

So one is one is courage and one is not

even though they're doing the exact same

thing. So, I just want to point out as

you go through Ephesians, look out for

this language of walking and different

types of walk. And in fact, just to

point out in Ephesians, there's two

types of walks, two types of patterns

that Paul wants everyone who's reading

this letter to attend to. There's the

old selfwalk and the new self-walk.

Who's the audience? Gentile Christians.

What's the temptation? Go back to their

old gentile ways. the old selfwalk and

the new selfwalk.

When you start recognizing patterns, you

start seeing the character of a person.

And I I decided to do this exercise this

week. When we read Paul's letter in

Ephesians, sometimes we could think of

them as rules. Like chapter 4, 5, and 6,

we could see them as rules. Now, I I

firmly do believe that Paul wanted his

audience to do what he's saying here,

but I think Paul is playing chess when

the rest of us are playing checkers. Not

only does he want them to follow the

rules, he's giving them a model or a

picture or he's giving them a

discernable pattern to follow. And I

think the way he uses his language, he's

doing this on purpose. After all,

chapter 4 24, what does he say? put on

the new self created after the likeness

of God. Again, for us in English, we're

like, "Oh, put on that's no big deal."

That that that expression put on has

deep moral meaning in the ancient Roman

world, especially because of the

influence of Aristotle and the Stoics.

Put on means

take on a virtue, take on a character

trait, take on a character that you

don't have to think about, you just do

automatically. So that expression put on

is a very serious sort of moral language

that Paul has in mind that if we were

just reading this in English, we're

like, "Yeah, yeah, big deal. Put on."

No, he's saying, "Do this until it

becomes second nature to you." And then

what will those patterns look like? Here

are um the patterns I've noticed when

you look at chapter four and chapter 5

of the old self. So, so do this exercise

yourself. Do this homework at home. But

when you read chapter four and chapter

5, what are the patterns? Here's what I

noticed in chapters four and five for

the old self, the old walk.

Dishonesty,

unrighteous anger, sloth and greed,

envy, leery, and lustful language,

drunkenness. Those are the patterns that

keep showing up in this one way of life.

What about the new selfwalk? What are

the patterns that you notice? Paul

points them out here, chapters four and

five. Kind, being kind, being

soft-hearted, being disposed to forgive,

being wise, being creative, being

thankful, being humble.

Again, I think Paul is playing more than

just what are the rules I'm supposed to

follow. I think he's painting a picture

of a pattern of life that is supposed to

be admirable and attractive and then he

wants to show this will make it

applicable to every walk of life. Let me

just go again with sports and music for

a second. If you practice scales and

arpeggios all the time, that might look

irrelevant to performing in a concert,

but once you have the dexterity, what?

Then you can play rock monmanov. Same

thing with sports. You just got to shoot

over and over and over and over and over

and over again. Do do you know what

situation you'll see in a game? No. Do

you know who your defenders are or how

tall they're going to be or how they're

going to be coming up against you,

whether double teaming you or not? No.

But once you've practiced it over and

over again, you're ready for the

situation that comes against you. If you

practice music over and over again, you

don't know what the drummer is going to

do. you don't know what the bass is

going to do, but you're able to

improvise and play along with them

because you've practiced it and you've

developed the traits, the dispositions,

the habits. And that's what I think Paul

has in mind. And this is why he says

later in chapters four, five, and six. I

think he's showing what that looks like

in various relationships. What does this

look like in the husband wife

relationship in chapter 5? This is the

pattern. What's this relationship in the

parent child? This is what it looks

like. So, so hopefully you at least see

this uh imitation as careful

observation,

discerning a pattern and implementing

that pattern until it becomes a routine

that you practice over and over again

till you develop the character traits of

the model. You become like them. That's

how you become like them. Looking like

Jesus is not just performing externally

the outside actions. Looking like Jesus

is that you get radically transformed

from the inside in your internal

character traits. It's not enough, as

Jesus says in the sermon on the mount,

that you don't have an affair. It's more

important that you don't lust in your

heart. It's not enough that you don't

murder each other. You can't even have

hatred in your heart. So all of Jesus's

teaching, the New Testament's teaching,

I think, fits with this imitation of

being transformed

in your character, your dispositions,

your habits, your second natures that

flows from the outside. Okay,

hopefully you've been with me up up to

this. Let me now show you how I think

this is being done in a unique way in

the book of Ephesians,

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5. What does it say? Be

imitators of God.

I think that's supposed to strike people

as weird.

Most of the New Testament tells you to

imitate Paul or the apostles and most

essentially imitate Jesus. Imitate God.

Why? Well, I think Paul is trying to

remind them God is a sensual character

in the story that God is himself writing

and that is someone that we can admire

and whose internal life to a certain

extent we can imitate and copy to a

certain extent. And I think in Ephesians

Paul makes choices on purpose to convey

that. Do you ever notice that Ephesians

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 through3 is just very

different than the way that Paul talks

in other parts of his letters? And some

people think, oh, that means Ephesians

wasn't written by Paul. No, I think Paul

was trying to do something different for

his audience, namely this emphasis on

imitating God. So, I want to read you

some passages and just just hear them

and then start uh start doing the

three-fold process. Let's observe.

Let's come up with a pattern. And then

let's try to practice it in routine.

Now, this is going to be somewhat

superficial. I think the best way to do

this is if we were doing a Bible study

and then we spent an hour or two hours

just doing observation and then we spent

another hour or two hours trying to come

up with recognizable patterns and then

we spent a few months practicing those

patterns. I think that is the proper way

to teach this. So obviously with the

remaining time I don't we're not going

to do I mean we can if you want we can

spend the next two hours doing some

careful observation. I don't mind. Um,

but what I want to what I'll at least

try to do is demonstrate an example, a

very simplistic example with a hope that

you might try to practice this and I'm

happy in the future to try and practice

this with you. Okay, let me just read

you some passages from Ephesians that I

think Paul wants us to carefully

observe. So, so here, chapters 1 uh

through 2, three, and four. I'm just

going to pick out some random passages.

They're not random. I pre-seelelected

these but

blessed be the God and father of our

Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in

Christ with every spiritual blessing in

the heavenly places.

He predestined us for adoption to

himself to the praise of his glorious

grace with which he has blessed us in

the beloved.

Right? Notice also in um verse 17,

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the father of glory, may give you the

spirit of wisdom and of revelation in

the knowledge of him. Chapter 2:8,

for by grace you have been saved through

faith, and this is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God. uh chapter 4 11

and he God gave the apostles, the

prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds

and teachers to equip the saints for the

work of ministry, for building up the

body of Christ.

From that overly simplistic observation,

what's the discernable pattern? Here's

what I notice. God is a God of blessing

and gifts. He likes to give.

And notice the kind of gifts he's giving

here. Gifts for the equipping of the

body.

Qui gifts to help strengthen and to make

the church wiser.

Now I think we could go deeper if we

spent a couple more hours. We can we can

fine grain that particular pattern. But

now that we've done observation and

simplistic pattern finding, what kind of

routine could we develop from this to

become more like God? Well, can we bless

people by giving? And notice the giving

specific here. I think sometimes it's

easy to be generous in one way and not

in others. So it's like ah meal trains

which is really great and sign up for

Anna Windsor's uh meal train if you

haven't and if you want to bless them.

Those are great ways to go. But look at

the specific kind of gifts that God is

giving here as specified in Ephesians to

equip people. What if we gave in ways as

we strategize to equip people to grow,

to become mature? May maybe there's ways

of doing that here. Maybe there's ways

of doing that in other countries. But

focusing on that aspect of what God

wants to do. Not notice what that might

mean for some people. That might mean

giving in non-standard avenues like

giving to the arts. I'm just going to

pick on my brother Phil. I know that he

gives to the arts. you don't like being

uh in the spotlight and and he's too

humble, but I'm I'm going to I'm going

to do it anyway. He likes giving

He likes giving to the arts. Art is a

way of equipping people to train them

for beauty to adore God when we see God

face to face. What a great way to spend

our money to give as gifts for the

equipping of people. I know other people

who give so that seminaries can be

developed in places where nobody has a

higher education than a high school

degree. And so people are giving lots

and lots of monies in the in the that

kind of location. What if we started

doing this in a way where our strategy

with regards to our finances was with

regards to trying to equip people to

become more mature to the measure and to

the stature of the fullness of Christ.

So that that that's one overly

simplistic one. Let me give you another

example of how to do this. So let me

just read you again a couple of passages

um in verse 10 of chapter 1.

as a plan for the fullness of time to

unite all things in him in Christ,

things in heaven and things on earth.

Then jump to chapter 2, read verses 13-

16 and 19. But now in Christ Jesus, you

who once were far off have been brought

near by the blood of Christ. For he

himself is our peace, who has made us

both one, and has broken down in his

flesh the dividing wall of hostility by

abolishing the law of commandments

expressed in ordinances, that he might

create in himself one new man in place

of the two, so making peace, and might

reconcile us both to God in one body

through the cross, thereby killing the

hostility. And then verse 19. So then

you Gentiles are no longer strangers and

aliens, but you are fellow citizens with

the saints and members of the household

of God. If that's our observation,

chapter 1 and two, what's the pattern?

God is the great uniter.

He unites all things to himself, things

in heaven and things on earth. And what

at least if you are an Israelite, what

are the two dividing groups of human

beings?

Israel, everybody else. We forget that

the word gentile just means nations.

This is ethnicities. Everyone and then

us special people. And what does Christ

do and God do in Christ? The great

uniter of the two disperate groups into

one. If that's the pattern, what's the

kind of routine we can try to practice

over and over again till it becomes a

second nature? Are we disposed naturally

to be uniters? Groups that typically go

against each other, do they naturally

come together when we're around?

And I I think some people are better at

doing that. Are are we doing that? what

whatever people's religious backgrounds,

political backgrounds, economic

backgrounds, educational backgrounds,

are we the kinds of people becoming like

Christ and becoming like God who just

unites groups that typically would be

far apart from each other and we're

bringing them in because everybody needs

Christ. This is the one way to salvation

and reconciliation is the person of

Christ. Are we uniting or are we

excluding? Well, Paul gives us a picture

of God who is the great uniter. So, this

is an overly simplistic example of how

to do this. But hopefully you see all of

a sudden parts that you didn't think

were as morally relevant in Ephesians

do. You might have heard Pastor Josh and

I sometimes say, "Yeah, a lot of

scholars will say chapters 1 through 3

is like theology and chapter 4 through

six is like ethics." And in fact, I read

books where people say that, "Oh,

chapters 1 through 3 is theology.

Chapter 4 through six is ethics." And

one thing we've been trying to do in

this series is show that all of it is

theology 1 through six. And all of it is

ethics. Even the parts in the beginning

is not just like cool stuff about God.

It's showing the character of God and

God's actions in the world by which we

can start to discern patterns and then

practice them ourselves. Now, of course,

there are limitations. There are

limitations. You're not God and you

never will be. So there are some things

you can't do because you're just not

able. So you can't just go, "Well, today

I'm supposed to part the Red Sea, so

let's have at it, right? You're just not

going to be able to do it." And and

other things you can't do because it

would be wrong for you to do so. It

would be wrong for you to command

someone to sacrifice their child. Rules

might be different, say, for God. So the

point is there are limitations but

there's still enough about God as a

central character in scripture that we

can look at as a model and try to adopt

God's character traits, God's loving

character traits and merciful character

traits and compassionate character

traits and patient character traits and

generous character traits. And I think

scripture is giving us examples of how

to do this. Well, let me finish often

with how we can broaden this out. So,

I've been trying to show you in

Ephesians, if you want to practice this,

because then I think if you do, more of

the Bible becomes morally relevant.

Unlike I'd say with the rules approach,

here's what you need to do. You have to

read large chunks of scripture,

right? I think if you do a rules

approach, you can like look at one verse

and then just try to figure out a rule.

But if you're trying to understand and

observe someone's lifestyle, their

patterns of life, you need to read their

their narrative, their story. Well,

what's the story of God? It's the whole

Bible, folks. So, here you you've got to

read things from page one to the last

page, and then you can see the whole

story. It it'd be messed up if you're

reading a narrative and you stop

somewhere in the middle like, "Yeah,

this book stinks.

It's unresolved. We didn't finish it. I

I know for some people, especially when

we were going to the book of Joshua, you

might be disturbed like book of Joshua

and that's just Joshua. Wait till you

get to 2 Samuel like we are in our

community group. Even grosser and first

Kings even grosser. Ah, but you get to

the New Testament,

okay, things start making more sense.

You get to Revelation, oh, things make a

lot of sense because you have the whole

story. So you need to read the Bible in

in big chunks to see what God is like

and what God is doing. So I I I want to

take seriously seriously this idea of

observation.

Make time to read large chunks of the

Bible and very humbly say what is the

depiction of God like in that passage?

and and and maybe right away it's not

going to be morally relevant for you,

but this will help you in the steps. So,

step one, read large chunks. Um, I don't

want to spend too much time on this, but

because I did this last time I preached

on this, but I just since a lot of you

weren't here, you can do this with each

other.

Take an older Christian person,

someone that you might regard as a

spiritual parent. I I I wish we would

bring that language back. We talk about

each other as like brothers and sisters

in the Lord. If you if you look, Paul

talks about father and son, spiritual

fathership and and spiritual sunship

almost as often. Somebody who can be a

spiritual father or spiritual mother and

observe them carefully see how they live

their lives, discern recognizable

patterns and then practice them over and

over and over again. So I think we can

do this with each other. We should be

definitely doing it with God and the

central person we should be doing it is

with the person of Jesus. And so you

should be reading the gospels on a

regular basis. Uh one of my gifts I felt

that I received from the Lord during my

sabbatical was reading the gospels over

and over and over and over again. I just

kept going just usually I I'll either do

a study and I'll read them slowly. I

just thought I'm going to read it like a

narrative just over and over and over

again. and the impressions that I would

get is is is startling, different than

my normal studies. So, I want to

encourage you, try reading large chunks,

recognize discernable patterns, and then

put them into practice. And and and one

thing that stood out to me is just the

way in which Jesus is a servant,

serving, serving, serving, serving,

serving. It's so much different than a

rules approach when you're following and

copying somebody else. After all, Jesus

says, "A new commandment that I give to

you that you love one another." If he

stopped there, it wouldn't be new.

What's the new bit of it?

As I have loved you. The example that

Jesus gives is the new part of it. He's

doing something that's different from

what's been done before. And if you

observe it and f pattern your life after

it, you will be transformed into the

likeness of Christ. I want to finish

with this then.

Here's what this is not for those of you

daring to try this.

It's not a means to curry God's favor.

So imitating God isn't to say, "Hey, I

want God to pay attention to me." It's

not that. Here's another thing. It's

not. It's not the only tool. It's a

tool. I think the Bible gives us a

multiplicity of tools for moral,

spiritual, and character growth.

Imitation is just one tool out of many

tools. And we try to give you those

tools whenever we preach, whenever we

talk to you. Here's what I think this

is. I think imitation is a tool that has

been neglected too much in the church of

today. I think I see it a lot in church

history. I almost never hear it talked

about in anything that I read from today

or heard in like Bible studies or um in

sermons. And I I think it's just in part

sometimes we don't see certain things.

And I just want to point this out. I

think this is just one tool. Not the

it's not even the best tool. I think the

Bible gives us it's just a tool. But

like a compass or a map, tools can be

very very useful and helpful. And our

attitude should be gratitude.

I think some of you might feel like you

don't know what to do next.

Trying to decide where to live, who to

marry, what job to take, how to how to

what sort of like moral decisions to

make, what sort of political

inclinations to follow. And I think if

we follow the rules approach, it will be

helpful but limited. If we instead

change and think, well, if I become like

Christ, then whatever scenario comes

next, I will be able to act like Christ

and thereby do the right thing. We do

want to care about actions and doing the

right thing. But I think by shifting our

framework into more focusing on becoming

like Christ, we'll we'll be able to do

this. And that's why it's so common that

uh athletes and musicians do this.

athletes and musicians say, "I'm trying

to be like that person. I'm trying to

like copy the way that they make their

lines, the way that they A lot of

basketball players, I have friends who

are basketball players. They tell me

about footwork. I don't not playing

basketball. I never pay attention to

feet when I watch a game, but but real

ballers will pay attention to where feet

are, whether you're leaning forward or

leaning back and so forth. So, but then

once they have that embedded in their

bodies and habituated, they're ready for

whatever thing comes their way. If you

become more and more like Christ, then

when that challenge comes your way

because you you are diagnosed with a

terminal illness, when that challenge

comes your way because you are let go

from work, when that challenge comes

your way because you don't know who to

marry and you're struggling with

loneliness, that becoming like Christ,

you will be inclined to do what Christ

would do, which is always the right

thing to do. And so I'm hoping that you

use this tool that God has given to us

and that we be grateful for this tool

and we try to implement it along with

all of the other tools that God has

given to us. And I just want to conclude

with this.

Other people have noticed the value of

imitation.

Other religions have noticed the value

of imitation. Confucians talk a lot

about imitation. Secular psychologists

talk a lot about imitation. There's a

big difference for Christians. Really,

two big differences. One big difference

is who we're trying to imitate. We don't

have to stop at the level of our human

heroes. We don't have to stop at the

level of Corey Tenboom. We don't have to

stop at the level of Mother Teresa.

Our level that we that we have is Jesus

Christ himself, the perfect man. That's

one big difference. Here's the second

big difference. As you practice

imitation, you're not doing it by

yourself.

Even the process is different if you're

a Christian because you have the Holy

Spirit.

It is the Holy Spirit's transforming of

you into the likeness of Christ that

matters more than any of the other

things. I think sometimes we as

Christians, we can think, "Oh, am I

doing it exactly correct? Just do it."

Sometimes I I meet some people who don't

pray because they're so worried about

praying right. Oh, what if I I'm not

praying correctly? What if I just say,

"Father God," and you know too much,

who cares? Just pray. Just pray because

the spirit will pray for you with groans

too deep for words. So if you do

imitation incorrectly, that's okay.

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of

the good practice. Because the big

difference for us as Christians is that

when we follow the tools and use the

tools that God has given to us, we have

the Holy Spirit who is the primary agent

who makes us like Christ. So let us use

the tools and thank God that he has

given to them, given them to us and he's

given himself to us in Christ and in the

Holy Spirit to make us more like Christ.

Let's pray.