“Be imitators of God” (Ephesians 5:1).

Those words are startling, upsetting, impossible. It is “the ultimate ideal.”

“Be imitators of God.” There can be no higher standard than that. The apostle Paul boldly tells us if we are to be like God we must imitate Him.

How is it possible for us depraved sinners to possibly imitate the sovereign LORD of the universe?

Once we get over the initial shock we realize that as children we are to imitate our parents. We should behave like them assuming they are godly role models.

Since we were born into God’s family as His legitimate children when we repented and placed our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior, we therefore should be an imitation of God (John 1:12-13).

Let it be clearly stated that “imitating God” has nothing to do with trying to merit eternal life. It has to do with our sanctification. We are to grow in godliness. The supreme example of this idea of imitating God is in the life of Jesus Christ.

mimetai

How do we “imitate” our Father? We know that the apostle is not telling us to try to imitate God’s sovereignty. He alone is and ever will be self-existent and self-efficient. That is absolutely beyond our means. He alone is eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, etc. Those are non-communicable attributes of God. He alone is God.

We are “to be imitators of God, as beloved children” (Eph. 5:1). Not childish attitudes and behavior, but as His children.

Ephesians 5:2 explains how the believer is to imitate God. We are to “walk in love.”

Jesus sacrificed His life for us. As the Good Shepherd He gave His life for the sheep (John 10:11, 15). Jesus “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God, and our Father” (Galatians 1:4).

God took our sin seriously and He dealt with it fully in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. On the basis of that death God chose to forgive you and me (1 John 4:10; Rom. 5:8; Gal. 2:20; John 15:13; 3:16).

Christ “gave Himself up” for you and me. He surrendered Himself to death by execution for our crimes against God. He died in our stead, i.e. in our place. That is how great His love is for us.

Christians can imitate God by loving others, even to the point of death if necessary (1 John 3:16).

“We are to walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma” (Ephesians 5:2). 

“Walk in love” is a constant ordering your behavior within the sphere of love. The child of God is to order his behavior within the sphere of this divine, supernatural love produced in his heart by the Holy Spirit. After a while it becomes a good habit, and we be become more and more like our heavenly Father.

Let’s be careful to note the context of the admonition. A couple of verses earlier he wrote, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (4:30). How do you grieve Him? The next verse says by bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice (v. 31). Let’s put it away from us because it causes pain, grief, and distress to the Holy Spirit of God.

We can please Him by being “kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you . . .” (4:32-5:2).

How do you please Him, rather than causing Him grief? Act the way He acts; behave the way your Father in heaven behaves; “be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore, be imitators of God . . .”

How did our heavenly Father treat us? He dealt with us in kindness, compassion, forgiving. Praise God that He has not dealt with us with what we deserved. In grace He has chosen to love us and forgive us of every sin. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us of all our sins. That is love. That is how God treats us.

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children . . .” Act like the Father. Love like the Father. Forgive like the Father. Be kind to one another like the Father. “Just as God in Christ has forgiven you.” “Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us.”

To be very honest there are days when I don’t have to look very far over my shoulders to give you the answer.  The Apostle Paul suggests a most violent opposition:  tribulations, distress, persecutions, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, death, principalities, etc.

The devil himself, Satan, is a powerful enemy of every Christian. He is “a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). At times, like in the Garden of Eden, he calls God a liar, and at other times he is like an angel of light with beautiful wisdom. He would even deceive the elect if he were permitted.

However, “There is no one on par with God,” writes A. T. Robertson. Satan and his hosts of demons can never ultimately triumph over the believer in Jesus Christ. God has given us spiritual armor and He expects us to use it in our spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-17). 

John Calvin correctly said, “There is no power under heaven or above it which can resist the armor of God.”

“If God is for us” does not suggest doubt. Since it is true “God is for us” we do not have to be concerned about all other opposition.

Since God is for us who can be against us? The world, the flesh and the devil are always plotting and scheming, but God has demonstrated that He is always for us. Since He is for us, nothing can possibly defeat His eternal purposes for our lives.

The Sovereign Creator God is for His redeemed children. He has proved His love for the sinner by sending His very best, His only begotten Son, to die for us on the cross.

Since God is for us, we can rest assured all things work together for our good.

for us, and ultimately not

It makes all the difference in a good day or a bad day when we realize that God is for us all the time. “There is no one on par with God.” No one. Since He is always for us, who can be against us?

Moreover, since He is for the believer who has been purchased by the blood of His Son, He always provides His very best for His children.

In Jeremiah 29:11, God told Jeremiah, “‘For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope'” (Jeremiah 29:11, The NET Bible)

Does God want anything less for the person He has chosen to be conformed to the image of His Son? The Psalmist declares, “Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count” (Psalm 40:5, NASB 1995). Again in Psalm 139:17, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” (Psalm 139:17, NASB 1995).

The emphasis of the last paragraph of Romans eight is the perseverance of the saints or security of the believer in Christ. “What shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:35). The whole point Paul is stressing is we are secure in the love of God in Christ Jesus.

“What then shall we say of these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” (v. 31). We can answer with the words of the Psalmist again, “The Lord is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6, NASB 1995).

What is the worst thing that men can do to me? The world says, “Kill me.” Even that would only usher me into the very presence of the Father in heaven (Acts 7:56-60). To live is Christ and die is far better yet. The apostle Paul said, “We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8, NASB 1995).

As for my lovely wife and daughters His favor alone is sufficient for every sorrow. His strong arms protect against the dark storms in life’s violent seas (Ps. 23:4; Ps. 56:11).

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” Who can stand against the LORD God? Nobody. Nothing. The LORD God reigns!

The LORD God will protect His investment. Next to His only begotten Son, we are the most precious possessions He has because we were purchased with His own blood.

Let us come boldly, yet humbly, declaring “defiantly, triumphantly, challenging any creature in heaven or earth or hell to answer” or deny the truth. But there is no answer for this and several others questions posed by Paul in this paragraph, for nobody and nothing can harm the redeemed people of God.

How many times have you herd the excuse, “But I am afraid I can’t live the Christian life”?

The badge of the true disciple of Jesus Christ is obedient faith.

Jesus told His disciples, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15).

He has commanded us to go and make disciples of every nation. And when we are obedient He gives us the power to obey His command (Acts 1:8).

He gives us Himself, and in the giving of Himself He gives us all that we need to obey Him.

The power we know we need to accomplish His will can be ours if we obey His Word. As we yield ourselves to Him He will fulfill His will in and through us. He does not ask us to do anything that He does not enable us to do.

The indwelling Holy Spirit is in us an all-prevailing source of power to obey His commands. He abides in us and we in Him. Our greatest needs are fully met in Christ and all that He provides for His people. He gives us the vitality, energy, and spiritual power to do everything God asks of us.

We are by the divine power of the Spirit of God set free to serve Him, and obey Him.

A true Christian knows the power of obedience. Christian liberty is not a license to sin it up. There is freedom in the liberating good news of Jesus Christ. But it is not a freedom to give ourselves to licentious pleasures of the flesh. It is a new freedom to serve God in righteousness (Rom. 6:12ff). He gives us the freedom to love Him with all our heart. “If we love Him we will obey Him.”

We get our freedom through surrender to Christ. We get the power to obey by obeying. We have been set free to do the will of God.

Have you ever tried to witness to an unbeliever without being in fellowship with the Holy Spirit? Our words are like dead lives fall on frozen ground during the winter. But when the Holy Spirit quickens the heart and we are in fellowship with Him they penetrate the heart of unbelief and He uses them to accomplish His purpose.

What blessed joy when He gives us power to declare the Word of God with power. We are told that He can be grieved by our unyieldedness, but we can also bring joy to Him as we yield ourselves to His control.

Jesus gave to His disciples through the gift of His Spirit the power to speak and be witnesses to His death and resurrection. The power of the Holy Spirit is the power to think God’s thoughts after Him, to speak His words to all men.

Jesus commands us to go and preach His good news. When we do He gives us His enabling power. “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31).

Are you spiritually anemic? Have you gone to Him in humility, confessing your sins, turning from them and making yourself available to Him to do anything He wants to do in and through you?

When He has us ready spiritually He will use us. The Holy Spirit indwells us, giving us the power to obey God. All that He asks is total obedience. The Holy Spirit is within us, and by His power we can do His bidding. We will receive His power to obey. He even gives us faith to trust Him.

Will you make yourself available to Him to do anything that pleases Him in and through you? It may scare you to death. But that is all that He asks. Don’t think up a bunch of excuses. Just say, “Here am I, send me, Lord.” And then step out trusting Him for His enabling, anointing and power. The moment you act upon what you know to be God’s will, God answers that prayer, and He empowers you to do what you cannot do in yourself. The Holy Spirit gives us the desire, ability, and power to do the will of God.

If you love Him, you will obey Him.

Love solves our obedience problem.

In the context of a discussion on trials in life the apostle James tells believers to ask God for wisdom to understand and use them for God’s glory.

Divine wisdom gives us the spiritual ability to view trials form God’s perspective. But not only does He help us to understand our suffering, He enables us to apply the wisdom to our trials.

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).

James tells us trials come from many sources. Sometimes we bring trials on ourselves by making foolish decisions and pursuing selfish objectives.

They come when we are persecuted for the cause of Christ. Satan is the one behind these trials because God has invaded his territory. He cannot take away our salvation, but he can sure eat away at our joy and fellowship in the Lord.

We live in a fallen world that has been severely affected by the results of Adam’s disobedience. Therefore, hardships in this world cannot be prevented and will be with us until the day of its redemption when Christ comes.

We also need to be sensitive to the fact that God allows each trial that we encounter. He sends trials so that we will learn to trust Him.

God uses trials so He can get our attention and teach us through those experiences. His wisdom helps us to discern not only His will, but also how we respond to these pressures in life. What does God want you to learn in this process of dealing with this trial? What is the good that can come out of this evil intent in persecution or misunderstanding?

God tests us in order to demonstrate our faithfulness and strength. He wants to show us how strong we are when we depend upon Him. The testing of our faith produces likeness of Christ.

“In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Testing proves Christian character. It tests our commitment and endurance to live for Christ. People are impacted with the Gospel when they see us following Christ faithfully, regardless of the chances, changes and circumstances in our lives.

The question of commitment comes when we face trials, hardships, and persecutions with confidence in Christ and obey Him when we do not understand why it is happening to us.

God uses trials to strip away the superficial spirituality in our lives. They reveal the secret inner attitudes of our lives and make us aware of secret sins, unclarified values and selfish motives.

God uses trials to demonstrate to us His sustaining grace and power during our most difficult experiences in life.

Christ lives His life in and through us to demonstrate to the watching world what authentic Christianity is really like. The pressures of trials conform us to the likeness of Christ by producing His likeness within us.

God uses our trials to minister to others who are going through similar experiences. God “comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:4).

Through trials we are better equipped to share what we have learned.

As we make ourselves available to Him He lives in and through us giving us wisdom, grace and power.

“The believer is a new man, a new creation, but he is a new man not yet made perfect,” observes John Murray.

The born again believer still has to deal with indwelling sin. He still sins even though he is growing in Christ likeness and is the subject of the progressive sanctification of the Holy Spirit.

The believer is being transfigured into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18).

The emphasis the apostle Paul makes in Romans 6:14, 17, 18-20 is there has been a radical change in the believer’s relationship to sin. It is true that the believer still sins, but he is no longer a slave to sin. Sin no longer reigns as in the condition of the old man, the unregenerate person. Romans 7:14-25 teaches us that sin still remains in the believer’s mind, affections, and will. Slavery to sin is broken. But as Romans 6:6, Ephesians 4:20-24, and Colossians 3:9-10 brings out the struggle in the heart of the very believer.

Herman Bavink said, “The spiritual struggle which the believers must conduct is between the flesh and the spirit, between the old and the new man, between the sin which continues to dwell in the believers and the spiritual principle of life which has been planted in their hearts.”

If the old nature has been “crucified” and “laid aside,” how can one say the believer still has an old nature?

Christ’s death took the form of a Roman crucifixion. The apostle Paul says the believer is “crucified with Christ” and is “dead” as a result of this action just as Christ after His crucifixion. Just as Christ was definitely dead so is the believer in his vital union with Christ is dead to sin. “For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God” (Romans 6:10 NET).

But the finality of death is not the only thing Paul stresses about our relationship with Christ. Drawing on the symbolism of baptism by immersion in water Paul says, “Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4 NET). It is not a physical death and burial in regard to the believer, but forensic and positional. Paul has in mind our new position in a vital union with Christ. This is an act of God. We have a new relationship with Him. We have been placed in a new unchanging position. This is the way we exist in God’s sight. We are no figment in His imagination. This is the greatest of spiritual realities.

Believers are to “consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” because this is the great reality of our spiritual lives (6:10).

This status or position before God has vital significance and power in our daily life. We draw power and resources from this unchanging position.

Paul is describing the whole man and the change in our relationship. We have a new position. The contrast Paul is bringing out in these passages is not a change in our nature, but a change in relationship. Our old man is the old unregenerate self. The new person is the new regenerate self.

Because of this spiritual regeneration brought about by the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we are new creatures in Christ. As a result we have a new relationship with Christ and a new position before God the Father.

It is the believer’s responsibility to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in obeying the Word of God and overcoming temptation.

The true believer knows he needs Christ everyday. He knows he must guard and keep his heart everyday until he sees Christ is glory. When he sins he flees to Christ, His advocate. God had begun a new work in the believer, but that work is not yet perfect.

The Christian lives in both Romans chapters seven and eight. The Christian life is an increasing dynamic repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Everyday we increasingly depend upon the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ to cover all our sins. We love Him more and more everyday.

Our sense of repentance deepens as we discover more sins that need to be put to death. Like the apostle Paul, we cry out daily in our mourning, “I am carnal.” But daily we also rejoice in the great truth, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We die to sin daily, and we live to righteousness daily. By the inner working of the Holy Spirit, we “put to death the deeds of the body that we might live.” This is daily responsibility. Daily the inner man or “self” is being renewed day by day.

Romans 7:14-8:4 is the inner battle against remaining sin and imperfect obedience to God’s Word. It is the work of the Holy Spirit leading the believer into deeper repentance, increased holiness, and a greater dependence upon the finished work of Jesus Christ.

There will be a day when repentance will be no more, but that day has not arrived. Until that day arrives, we need to deepen our repentance and increase our faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul makes it very clear, if we are saved, we are “in Christ.” If we are “in Christ,” He is in us and His life within us will inevitably turn us from sin to a life of righteousness.

God loved us and Jesus died for us so that we might be holy. “God saved us that we who believed on Christ, once lost in sin, might live a holy life.” This new union of the believer with Christ produces holiness.

There is no higher privilege in life than to bear the name of Jesus Christ and be known as a Christian. Therefore, because of this new relationship with Him we must strive constantly to live a holy life. We are sons and daughters of the King of the universe. God the Father claims us as His children because of the atoning death of Jesus Christ. There is no status greater than this on earth. How then do we dare act like the children of the devil? We are now “members of God’s household” (Ephesians 2:19).

Our new status as believers in Jesus Christ brings new privileges, rights and responsibilities to our lives.

These new privilege as children of God produces a likeness of Christ in our daily life.

We now have access to God. We are “no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (v. 19).

Just think about it! We who were dead in trespasses and sins have now “gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand” (Romans 5:2). We can now come to God in prayer anytime, any place, in any and all circumstances.

We have this immediate access guaranteed because of God’s saving grace. We are His children and we can go into His presence continually without any human mediator. “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5-6a). He is our middleman, our go between, because He alone is qualified to be that person. He brings peace, fellowship, and salvation to the sinner. The perfect God, and the perfect man is the only mediator we need. He alone gives us this perfect access to God. What a privilege is ours!

“Lo I am with you always” (Matt. 28:20). He is with us constantly, even when we are unaware of His presence. It is my prayer that I am in such fellowship and communion with Christ that He can break in upon my conscious awareness any moment, any hour, every day. “I am with you always.” What a marvelous provision!

The apostle Paul wrote, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). Jesus promised, “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14).

Because of His saving grace He has brought us into this new relationship with Him and He has provided for all our needs. He has not promised to provide all we want. Because He has promised to provide for our true needs, we can concentrate on serving other people.

The LORD God has an unlimited supply of riches in His grace at His disposal, and He is willing to give out of that supply to His children. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. . . .And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:13, 19).

Not only is He able, but He is also omnipotent and all wise. I can also trust Him not to give that which will harm me. As the Good Shepherd, Jesus is our constant Protector.

He is also constantly at work deep within our hearts to make us all that He wants us to be. He wants to produce His likeness in us so that He can use us to accomplish His eternal purposes in this world. The apostle Paul admonishes us, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Let us make ourselves available to Him so that He may make us holy and blameless in full measure. When lost people see Jesus Christ in us, and the way we live they will be attracted to Him and listen to the eternal message of His saving grace.

This privilege of being in Christ will never cease. His love for us, demonstrated at the cross will never fade. We are assured that His love will last for all eternity. Is your awareness of His love now greater than ever before?

Free, but not cheap!

Your salvation is a gift freely given and received from God, but it is not cheap. It is the most expensive gift you will ever receive.

God comes and offers us free salvation. But He does not change His standard. He remains a righteous and holy God.

How could it be possible that Jesus Christ could die as a substitute for my penalty as a sinner? It is because He is the infinite God, not a sinful man, that He could die for an infinite number of sinners. Because He is God He could pay the eternal punishment for all of our sins.

Second Corinthians 5:21 tells us it was not enough that He should only die and pay the penalty of our sins, but that His perfect righteousness would be counted in God’s eyes as our righteousness. All of the pure righteousness of Jesus Christ is now available through Him to the believing sinner.

Based upon the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, God can now come and offer the great invitation to all sinners to come and join Him in heaven.

How do I know that this is absolute truth? Look at the empty tomb! Christ is alive! The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the proof that God is eternally satisfied with the sacrifice of His Son on the cross.

Now you and I can take the righteousness of God and go boldly or trembling to the scales of justice and put it over against all the perfection God has demanded and that He must demand. The balance is immediately made. The Christian believer stands before God justified. God can never have anything against you and me forever.

You are justified when you trust in that perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, rather than in your own self-righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). You will never be justified in the eyes of God if you cling to your own good works.

We can sing with great profound theology: “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.” We are justified by faith alone, through grace alone, in Jesus Christ alone.

However, we are not justified by a faith that is alone. Therefore, if you really go to that cross, believing in the saving work of Christ, you will be abounding in the works of the Lord.

If our salvation is received as a free gift someone had to pay for it. Since you and I did not, who did?

The apostle Paul tells us that Jesus Christ redeemed us, not with perishable things like silver and gold, but “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:19).

Our salvation is an expensive gift which we do not deserve and cannot merit! We were “redeemed” meaning to release, to purchase a release by a ransom, to deliver by the payment of a price. Our spiritual freedom was purchased with the great payment of the blood of Jesus Christ. Thus, the grace that saves us is not cheap.

The great American preacher H.A. Ironside was one day down on his hands and knees playing with his young son. He started to pretend he was a bear, and growled loudly at the little boy. His son became afraid, and went running up to his dad and said, “You’re not a bear; you’re my papa!”

Many times in our lives, the very things we fear are acts of God Himself. These are things that perhaps God has brought into our lives so that we can run to Him… to find our strength in Him, relish His love, and experience His awesome grace.

When the disciples of Jesus thought their boat was about to capsize on the Sea of Galilee during the storm, they looked out and they thought they saw a ghost. Needless to say, they had many reasons to be afraid. But what they saw was Jesus… God in the midst of the storm!

“I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (Philippians 3:12, NIV).

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

What about our present sins? Hebrews 12:1b-2a says that we should strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up and that we should run with endurance the race God has set before us.

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Friend don’t tell God you have a big sin problem, tell the sin problem that you have a big God. Think about life, think about Jesus, and keep your eyes on Him.