What the World Needs Now

 

He that saith Christ abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as Christ walked. (1 St. John 2:6)

 

 

          Ah, the political season. Aren’t you happy we’re in the middle of election time?

          Probably not. Regardless of your affiliation, you likely have grown weary of the half-truths, the accusations, the rancor, the pork-barrel spending. Turn on your television, though, and that’s all you – or anyone – will see these days: bitterness, slander and selfishness.

          All the more reason for you to be an imitator – not of this world, but of your Heavenly Father.

 

          As we examine this morning’s passage for emphasis, Ephesians 4:25-5:1, you and I will see St. Paul exhorts us to imitate our Father in Heaven as we live out the implications of being born again in Christ. Specifically, Paul says we’re to imitate our Father in four ways: by promoting the truth, by practicing kindness, by working diligently and by building up those around us.

          You can’t help but resemble your earthly father in some way, or ways – even if you never got to know him.

          If you’re a child of God by adoption in His Son, Jesus, you must resemble your Father in Heaven more and more every day. This is what the world needs now.

 

          The backbone of our passage is found in 5:1. There, the apostle calls on you and me to be imitators of our Father in Heaven, as His dearly beloved children.

          Humans are conceived in sin; Scripture is clear on our fallen nature. Being conceived in sin means you are not by birth a child of God, with any stake to His Fatherly blessing and an eternal inheritance. But if you believe in Christ, His true Son, as your Redeemer, then the Father legally adopts you into His family and bestows on you all the privileges of being His child (such as correction, protection, forgiveness, provision and hope).

          A child, however, must resemble his or her father to some extent. It would be ludicrous for me to claim Ken Rolison as my natural-born father yet look and act nothing like him! So must you and I, who claim to be children of our Father in Heaven, bear the image of our Father as we live in righteousness and holiness before Him.

          Plenty of societies champion the virtues Paul mentions in this passage: truthfulness, industry, kindness and purity. No society apart from the church of our Lord Jesus, though, can provide motivation and strength for living out such virtues. Only as Jesus lives in you and brings you into the family of the living God may you resemble the living God, your Father, in daily life.

 

          If you are a child of the Father, then you must imitate Him, Paul teaches plainly in this passage. You’ll note that as Paul lists the four specific areas in which we’re to imitate our Father, he issues his commands in the present tense. This means that holy living – the daily effort of “putting off” the old man of sin and “putting on” the new man in Christ – is to be a non-stop, continual practice for you and me as Christians.

          You’ll also notice that the living-out of the new life in Christ is very much a horizontal affair. To be sure, you are to live your life to the glory and before the face of the God who created and redeemed you in Jesus; but each of these Christian virtues involves the people around you. Being a Christian has both a corporate as well as a personal dimension!

 

          The first way in which you’re to imitate your Father is by championing the truth.

          Paul says we’re to put off lying to one another and to speak the truth with our neighbor. (Your neighbor, of course, is anyone with whom you have contact; but here Paul writes of the Body of Christ and thus narrows his focus to the church). Jesus, you’ll remember, said he was the Way, the Truth and the Life. St. John later would write in his first epistle that God is light, which means no darkness – or falsehood – is in Him. In fact, our Lord is the Source and Standard of all truth. To claim to be His child, then, and to be a member of His family requires that you and I be truth-tellers and truth-promoters.

          If one part of your body begins to work against the others, the whole body suffers. Imagine your right hand quit working, or your immune system attacked you: you’d encounter great difficulties in daily living. In the same way, you and I cannot work against one another by lying. For the sake of each other and of the Body of Christ, we must deal honestly together.

          Truth-telling doesn’t require you to be rude. You don’t have to tromp up to Earline and tell her how putrid her casserole tasted.

          But truth-telling in the church means you deal faithfully, in business or in church life, with those people sitting around you right now. It means that if you have taken a vow to support the ministry of the church, which every one of you members has taken, that you keep that vow. It means if you have promised to love, honor and cherish your spouse, that you do so.

          One magazine I read regularly has a “truth-check” section in which the author evaluates candidates’ claims.

          Because you have been saved by God’s truth in Christ and adopted into the family of the God of truth, you should never need a “truth checker” in this church or in your life.

 

          The second way in which you and I are to imitate our Father is by practicing kindness to one another.

          The ultimate example of God’s kindness to you and me, as Paul highlights in this passage, is the Cross of Christ. If you ever doubted the Lord’s mercy to you, look at Calvary. Jesus, who merited glory, went to Hell for you, who merited God’s wrath.

          This is God’s character as He revealed Himself to Israel, especially in Exodus 34. He delivered His people from slavery in Egypt; He continually forgave a stiff-necked people. His anger with Israel, and with you and me (the spiritual Israel), does not last.

          You and I, therefore, must be a kind people of mercy. It’s not that we don’t become righteously angry – remember, our Lord himself became angry with the moneychangers in the temple! It’s that in our anger, we must not sin by becoming spiteful, bitter or vindictive. Paul quotes Psalm 4:4 as he exhorts us to settle the matter with the offending party before sundown, so the devil doesn’t have the opportunity to entice you and me to bitterness and divisiveness. If someone offends you, go to that offending brother or sister with humility and with a loving desire to see the restoration of your relationship. Do it quickly, as Jesus himself told you.

          Bitterness, wrath, anger, clamoring, evil speaking and malice are to be removed totally from you, Paul exhorts. Instead, you are to have deep-felt mercies toward the believers around you.

          Only Jesus has the right to send someone to Hell. That believer beside you? The true Judge decided and acted on his decision not to send that believer to Hell. You and I have the right to be righteously angry when someone sins against God and us – but we have no right to condemn that person. Jesus didn’t.

          And he doesn’t condemn you, either.

 

          Third, you are to imitate your Father by working as He works.

          Our God is a creative God who works, and who gives us every good and perfect gift without changing. The Sovereign Lord created everything, all very good; He upholds all things by His power; and He redeemed His elect by the work of His Son. Our God works, and works well!

          Likewise, Paul writes, you and I are not to steal anymore but to work to fatigue, doing good work. In fact, we’re to labor so that we’ll have something to give to a brother in need. (Talk about turning selfishness on its head!) Similarly, the apostle exhorted the Thessalonians to work, because the person who chooses not to work (but physically is able) should not eat. God works and gives; He is not slothful and selfish. So must you and I labor that we might have something to give the needy.

          You might never have been arrested for theft. But have you slacked off at work, stealing from your boss? Have you wasted company time when you could have been doing good? Have you always taken and never given?

          Work that you may give – that you may manifest on earth the character of your Father in Heaven.

 

          The fourth way in which you are to mimic your Father is by building up those around you with your words.

          Our God is a communicative God. Whether it’s His revelation of Himself in creation or in His Son or in His Word, God has spoken to you and me perfectly and authoritatively. This is one of His greatest gifts to us, the church.

          Sometimes His Word convicts you. Other times it comforts you in Christ. It always enlightens you to His truth and to what is right, eternal and good.

          In the same way, your words are to build up those around you – to “minister grace,” or to be pleasing and helpful, to others. Your words are to reflect the truth and grace of God in Christ. No wonder, then, that Paul says we’re not to utter corrupt, putrid words that only destroy. Instead, we’re to speak the truth in love: whether a word of challenge to a sinner or a word of compassion to a struggling saint.

          The words you hear every day tend to be crude, mean and untruthful. Do your words reflect the God who has spoken so beneficially in His Word?

 

          When you and I fail to bear our Father’s resemblance on earth, Paul says we grieve His Holy Spirit – just as Isaiah said the children of Israel did by their repeated sins against the Lord. You literally have been sealed as Christ’s by the Spirit who dwells in you, and He is preserving you until the Day when Jesus returns and frees you from all sin and curse. To think, speak and live in a corrupt, selfish manner is to grieve the Spirit of God, who loves you dearly as His child.

         

At this moment in history, you have an unparalleled opportunity. No, I’m not speaking of the election per se; I’m speaking of your daily life in light of the circus that is this election.

          All that your friends, family and coworkers hear is rancor: lies, half-truths, spiteful words. All they see is selfish spending and corporate greed and unforgiving attitudes. And that is because they don’t see God’s character, and His compassion in Christ.

          Don’t grieve the Spirit who lives in you. Instead, take part in His work of putting off and putting on.

          And show those around you something of the One they truly need to know.