DON’T TALK IT, WALK IT

EPHESIANS 5:1

"Be an imitator of God."

Paul puts it flatly, bluntly, openly: “Be imitators of God.” That is a great declaration. The word for imitators is the Greek word that means “to mimic.” Have you ever seen somebody mime? They don’t say anything, do they? They express it and when they express it, it is so exaggerated that nobody misses what they are trying to say. Paul is saying this,

Don’t talk about His love, walk in His love, live it, express it. Don’t tell everybody you have it, show them that you have it. Do as God does. Mime. In other words, live it out before the world.

Mimics are those who follow the pattern or the example of God. If you want to put it simply, you can say it this way: “Be godlike.” That is the goal of Christianity. It is to produce men and women, boys and girls, who are godlike in the midst of an ungodlike world. That is what it is all about.

Reflect Him in your humanity. Be a godlike man. Be a godlike woman. From this we get our English word godly. After all, this word godly, which makes many of us cringe and feel uncomfortable, is simply a shortened form of the word godlike. It originally came from the word godlikeness. Godlikeness is godliness; godliness is godlikeness.

HOLD ON. HOLD THE FORT. STOP THE TRAIN. THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE SAYING. How in the world am I going to imitate God? Isn’t that impossible? The answer is yes and no. How’s that for decisiveness? Here it is - it is impossible in your own selfish nature, but not impossible when the nature of God is in you.

To be an imitator of God is not something you do for Him. It is something God has to do through you. Let me show you this. There are TWO things that are very critical that we need to understand in this text. First of all, in order to imitate God and His love, we have to be His child. The verse is very clear. He says in verse 1 again, "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children."

ANSWER THIS, “WHAT DO CHILDREN DO?” They bear the characteristics and the nature of their parents. Did you know that as a child of God you have His nature in you? His very nature comes into your life. His spirit unites with your spirit and my spirit; therefore, we have the potential now out of that nature to love as He loves.

In other words, we partake of the divine nature. His Spirit living in us gives us that brand new nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we are commanded to love on a supernatural level, we have the potential of doing it if we are His children and bear His nature.

The second thing not only must I be His child, but I must choose to obey His command. I want to share something with you, loving on this level is not a feeling. It is not something that is going to happen to you because you had your quiet time. It is not something that is going to happen to you because you sincerely want it to happen to you. It is something that is going to happen when you choose to love others around you. The very fact that this is an unconditional love ... means there are going to be people out there who aren’t going to deserve it and you are not going to want to love them. It is a command.

Are you living with somebody that is unlovable? If you possess the nature of God, you are commanded to love. You have to make your own personal choice to do it.