Sunday Praise & Worship 10:00
Christian Education - 10:00 - Casual Dress - Loving Childcare
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These 10 verses sketch out two words of advice to Christ-followers and one word of encouragement. They are a fitting culmination to our Advent/Christmas focus on evangelism and outreach and serve as both a retrospective on the past year, 2007 and the dawning of 2008. We have now completed focusing on three practices that define and shape the People of the Way: Prayer, Community, and Evangelism. In the coming months, we will explore six other practices in our unique way of life as we follow God. Perhaps all nine of them, and many others that could bear fruit in our life together, could be summed up in the opening of this passage: "Imitate God" (in the New Living Translation). That's a tall order. But not the first time we have come across its invitation in scripture. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus invites us to "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect: (Matthew 5:48). Luke adds another meaning to this challenge: "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36). Remember that Paul was a scripture scholar, steeped in the teachings of the Hebrew Bible. The book of Leviticus contains several passages that may have inspired or provided a Biblical foundation for this teaching. Typical of them is the injunction: "Be holy, because I am holy" (Leviticus 11:45 and 19:2). Other passages in Leviticus expand this invitation. Leviticus 20:7-8 and 21:8 and 15 promise the children of Israel that the Lord is the one who makes them holy. Leviticus 20:26 explains that Israel's holiness results from God's having set them apart from the nations to be God's own. Now read the rest of Ephesians 5:1. We are to follow God's example not to gain God's favor but because God has favored and chosen us - as dearly loved children. The opening of Ephesians resounds with the celebration of God's having chosen us (see 1:4, 5, 11 and 2:10), a theological foundation repeated in Romans 8:29-30, Colossians 3:12, and 1 Thessalonians 1:4. Why imitate God's holiness, perfection and mercy - the love of Jesus Christ that led him to the cross (see John 13:34-35)? Jesus says in John that our love will show the world that we are disciples of Jesus. Our salvation - the new life we life in Christ, shows the world "the incomparable riches of God's grace" (Ephesians 2:7). We imitate God in order to show God to the world. God has chosen and called us - set us apart (the root meaning of holiness) - in order to show the world how to love and live. Since we are God-defined people, anything that does not reveal God’s love and grace has no place in our lives. The second word of advice from Paul is to purify our lives and our words. We live into this purity by following our true desire for God alone. The false desires of our sinful nature lead us into slavery and worship of the creation—and not of the God who created us to be like God. Here is a consistent refrain in Paul’s letters (Eph. 4:19-24, Gal. 4:8-9 and 5:13-26, Romans 8:5-10).In Ephesians 5, Paul calls it idolatry and greed. The antidote for this blindness is thanksgiving (Eph. 5:4). Paul’s final word of encouragement reminds us that we are no longer darkness but that we ourselves are light in the Lord (Eph. 5:8). How we live, being made new in the attitude of our minds (Eph. 4:23), and created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:24), brings light not only to ourselves but to the world. Follow God’s example, then. Live as children of the Light (John 8:12). Questions for Reflection
For Next Week: We begin a new series on Scripture. Please read Philippians 1:20-27 (key verse is 27). If prayer, community, and evangelism constitute the Work of the community of faith, how do scripture, sacrifice, and multiplication (giving) demonstrate the Unity or Togetherness of the Christian Church in our world?
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