Like Father, Like Son

Ephesians 5:1-2

¹Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. ²And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Paul has just finished giving a list of behaviors that we should follow. Now he is talking about imitating God. While some might see this as a bouncing between legalism and faith, this actually makes sense if you view Paul's list of behaviors as a vision of what being a Christian is all about. Here is what it looks like to imitate God, as His beloved children. And when we look at a picture of something, we know that we are only seeing in 2 dimensions what actually exists in 3 dimensions.

I have a 9 year old son. I love to joke around, and so does he. I like the Chicago Bears, and so does he (even though we live near Indy, and the Colts train in our town). The Colts are our second favorite team. At this age, he is not ashamed to imitate me, and I don't mind it either.

Is he a perfect imitation of me? No. Sometimes he carries things too far. Other times he just takes off on his own. But he loves me and I love him. I see that as a picture of our relationship with God. If we love Him, are in awe of Him, and want to be like Him, we will strive to imitate Him. Paul has spent some time trying to help those in the faith develop what that should look like. Then he goes into these verses to make sure we are not getting the wrong idea and trying to work our way to salvation.

He calls our redemption through Christ an offering, a sacrifice. It is not an obligation. God did not force Christ to suffer wrath for our sin. Our response, if an imitation of the original, should be the same: not forced obedience, but sincere imitation from the heart of a child who truly desires to be like his Father.

Jesus said it simpler, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice."

Batman and the Gospel

Ephesians 2:4-5

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved -

It feels like a Batman episode (I know, I am showing my age), when we left off yesterday we were in deep trouble labeled as "children of wrath." And not just anyone's wrath, God's wrath. It was a hopeless situation, as there is nothing we can do or anything we can give to get out of this mess. There is only one solution, and that is for God to free us. Now tell me, would the Riddler put Batman and Robin over a boiling pot of acid only to come back and free them himself? Of course not. Neither would the Penguin, Mr. Freeze, the Joker and so on.

But there is a differences between those guys and God. First, God did not put us in this situation, we did. We did it when we chose to sin. And second, those guys don't love their enemies, but God loves us. Third, those guys are not merciful, but God is full of mercy.

That is the beginning of the good news, who God is. It is what brings Him to do what He did, which is bring life to us even while we were dead in our trespasses. Holy forgiveness, Batman! And that is exactly what it is, a most holy forgiveness. A forgiveness that came at great price, which God paid in full through His Son Jesus. A forgiveness from a situation that we could never have escaped from on our own ability. A forgiveness, when understood, that should bring us to our knees.

Head over heels

Ephesians 1:19b-23

That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

God is all-powerful. So in a sense, it is strange to hear God using "mighty strength" and "exerting" Himself. Job Chapter 26 touches on some of the strength of God, and then concludes by saying "And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”

I like the words of the ESV, which translate it as the "immeasurable greatness of his power toward us." Now, instead of seeing God exerting Himself, I just stand back in awe as I witness His strength in raising Christ and placing Him as supreme over all things.

Christ is not just above, He is far above all things, past, present, and future. He is ruler in this age and the age to come. I love the idea that all things are under His feet (as in they can be stamped out when He sees fit), but He rules over the church with His head.

I need to keep His greatness before me. I need to see His glory and let that keep me focused, for I am far too easily swayed to sin. I also need to see His strength and justice, and remember that it is much better to be ruled over by His head than to be under His feet.

I am geting married!

Hosea 2:19-20 "And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD."

God is speaking those words, and He is speaking them to a whore. He is speaking them to Isreal. He is speaking them to me! Gomer was the wife Hosea took after God told him to "take a wife of whoredom." And she was a living parable of Israel. And I figured out a long time ago that Israel is just a living parable of me.

So those words are amazing. They are life-giving. They put the free in freedom.

I'll bet they would preach pretty good on a Sunday morning too.

Mercy through Death

One of God's first acts of grace was to bring death to the Garden of Eden.


Genesis 3:22 "And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." (NIV)


Adam and Eve had chosen to sin. This put a barrier up that not only affected their relationship with God, it caused them to feel shame and affected their relationship with one another. Imagine an eternity of this! So God made it so that they would not live forever.


Mercy through death. More specifically through the shedding of blood. Another of the acts of God's grace is found in Christ, the second Adam. Only this death restores what was destroyed by the first Adam's chioce.


I find that amazing.


God could have just given up. He could have turned his back on humanity. There is nothing we bring to the picture to merit his grace. And that is exactly what makes him worthy of worship and praise.