Humans have two fundamental forces that seem to contradict and work against each other: we long to belong – to be loved and accepted; and we long to be unique. Pop singers from Bob Marley (“One Love”) to the Black Eyed Peas (“Union”) cry out for a humanity that reconciles these tensions in a manner that allows us to live in peace. With our diversity of ethnicity, culture, personality, education, generation – and the list could go on, how can we possibly expect to live in unity?
This Sunday Pastor Andrew is continuing our sermon series on “Imitation”, focusing upon the last part of Ephesians 4 and the first part of Ephesians 5. In chapter 5, verse 1, Paul states succinctly and rather bluntly “be imitators of God”. This verse hinges the practical exhortation we find on either side of the command. After laying some of our deepest Christian theology as the foundation in the first half of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul gets practical in the last half. In 4:1 he writes: “I therefore…urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
God asks us to walk in a manner worthy of His calling, and to be like Him. And this is no isolated command. Consider “Be ye holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45), and in the New Testament Peter writes “but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:15). Well, if you give any serious consideration to this you are bound to say “whoa, wait a minute, that sounds pretty tough”! It is, in fact, it is impossible outside of God.
Thankfully, we also have those first three chapters of Ephesians! This is why Paul writes, for instance, in 3:16 “according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.” Our walk is a high calling, in fact the highest – to walk in a manner which reflects the character and nature of God. Our walk is our daily life, our lifestyle. It is who you are and how you live. It is both what God has done in Christ for you and what you in response do in your humble walk before him. It is a walk of humility (4:1-3), the recognition that we need God; it is a walk of unity (4:4-16); it is a walk contrary to the world (4:17-32); and it is a walk of love (5:1-2).
Our God is a self-revealing God, the “I am that I am” God. It is our unique privilege as the Church to be called to also reveal God through imitation. What the world desires, God reveals. Our Trinitarian God is unity in diversity personified. As we “walk in a manner worthy of our calling” we also, in spite of our diversity, will model unity – a unity which can only be found in Christ. If you wish to study more on the potential witness of a yielded, humble church I highly commend John Stott’s Ephesians: Building a Community in Christ.
Much love,
~ Pastor Gary