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Love Worth Imitating (Ephesians 5:1-7)
52 Plays2 years ago
Love Worth Imitating (Ephesians 5:1-7)
Ephesians: Growing in Christ
Sunday Message recorded 12 March 2023
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
Welcome and Introduction
00:00:06
Speaker
Well, good morning. Thank you so much for being here today to worship the Lord with us. I've already been blessed just singing the songs of praise to the Lord. What a great day that God has created. Give him thanks. So excited to look into God's word now with you.
Study of Ephesians 4
00:00:24
Speaker
You know, we're going through the letter that was written to a church in a place called Ephesus.
00:00:29
Speaker
And so we've been going through the letter to the Ephesians. And so this spring break, we're right here at this section of Ephesians where we're being told from Ephesians chapter four, verse one, he urged us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling. Have you ever thought about what does God want my life to look like? How does he want me to live? Chapter four, we saw that he wants us to be walking in the direction of unity.
00:00:59
Speaker
Then we saw he wanted us to be walking in the direction of maturity, spiritual maturity. And then we saw he wanted us to walk in the direction of integrity. Josh gave a great message last Sunday on walking in the direction of the newness of how the Lord has made us brand new. And he highlighted several of those things that the Lord has changed in our lives.
Walking in Love: Ephesians 5
00:01:24
Speaker
And now as we go into chapter 5, where we're going to be this morning, we'll look at chapter 5 of Ephesians verses 1 through 7.
00:01:32
Speaker
And we're going to see He wants us to walk in the direction of love, of Christ-like love, God's love. And so He's going to tell us at the very beginning that we should be imitators, imitators of God. In verse 2, He's going to say to walk in love. That's how we're supposed to emulate or copy God is to walk in His type of love.
00:01:56
Speaker
just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. And so given the message, the title, love worth imitating, love worth imitating. You know, for many years, I've always enjoyed hearing one of the pastors that's in glory now, Dr. Adrian Rogers. He's one of my favorites. He always preached right through the scriptures.
00:02:19
Speaker
But the name of his program was Love Worth Funding. And if you never discovered God's love, I encourage you to listen today because you will discover it. But I also think that here we have love. God's love is not only worth discovering, it's worth living. It's worth imitating. It's worth applying. And so I want us to look at this passage together. Remember that when Jesus would invite someone to be his disciple, he used two words.
00:02:49
Speaker
follow me, follow me. And so what he means is follow me and imitate me, follow me and live like I'm living. It's not always easy because he said in Matthew 16, 24, that if we're going to follow him, it also requires us to deny self, to take up the cross and to follow him.
Imitation and Learning
00:03:12
Speaker
There's something about imitation and copying people that are around us that's just normal. Think about children, for example. I think it's natural for children to emulate their parents. And the toy companies, they know this. That's why they've designed toys that kids can act like their mom or their dad and so forth. They admire and they respect them. So they want to be like them.
00:03:38
Speaker
You know, imitation is effective because the best learning is caught by watching the life of someone else, not by listening with the ear, but by watching and saying, that's the way I want to do it.
00:03:54
Speaker
That's why we have, you know, in the medical profession, they have internships. You know, if you go into carpentry and electrician and so forth, then you have apprenticeships. And what you're doing is you're seeing how someone else does it, and then you're saying, that's the way I want to do it.
00:04:11
Speaker
I think, of course, the challenge for us, those of us with parents, and I'm so glad to see some of our college students back home and saw at least two. I saw Evan Vega up here, see Justice Hyde down there. There's probably lots more out there. We're so glad you're back home. Good to see you guys. But one thing that can happen in some circles today
00:04:32
Speaker
is that parents are not the only one that are influencing. There are other influencers. Some are on social media. Some are in movies. Some are from Nashville and they're making music and songs and so forth.
Youth Engagement and Media
00:04:48
Speaker
Some are on professional football teams and so forth. But I ran across a statistic that was taken last year by the Pew Research Center that said 67% of teens use TikTok, 67%.
00:05:02
Speaker
62% are on Instagram, 59% Snapchat, 23% on Twitter, and then 95% watch YouTube. And I'm thinking, is everything good that's out there? And I think all of us would know, no, it's not all good. That's when we have to be discerning. But one thing that was concerning me as I read the results of the survey, they were talking about out of those who said they
00:05:31
Speaker
They refer to YouTube or TikTok. 19% of the kids said, you know, I own it almost constantly whenever I have free time. 16% that are on TikTok said it's almost constant. I just can't seem to get away.
00:05:48
Speaker
And then others said, no, it's more like several times a day. It's not constant. So that was more like 41% for YouTube, 32% for TikTok. But my point is, there are a lot of people competing for our attention. There are a lot of people who would like to tell you, this is the way you need to live. So what we have to do is we have to say, who's telling me the truth?
00:06:10
Speaker
Which way should I walk? What is something that is real and substantive and what's nothing more than just, it's just a
Authentic Love vs. Artificial Love
00:06:18
Speaker
show. It's just virtual. And then if I find out one thing that this passage is going to tell us is we need to find out what kind of love are they promoting.
00:06:28
Speaker
Is it an authentic love, or is it more of an artificial love? That's not going to last. That's not real. So I would like to invite you to stand with me as we read through God's timeless word that's telling us the truth. And it's going to contrast authentic love and artificial love. So let's look at it together. I'll read through here, but you follow along in your copy of God's word. If you don't have a Bible, we have Bibles in the pews, or you can look on the screen.
00:06:56
Speaker
Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us a fragrant aroma and sacrifice to God.
00:07:12
Speaker
But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place. But instead, let there be thanksgiving,
00:07:36
Speaker
For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral, or impure, or who is covetous, that is an undollator,
00:07:46
Speaker
has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not become partakers with them." Let's just push the pause button there, and let's pray over that and ask God to speak to us through those verses. Oh, Lord, I thank you so much that your word is the truth.
00:08:13
Speaker
It's the truth. Lord, we're surrounded by people that are constantly spinning things and telling us lies, but I'm so glad that we can go back to the dependability and the reliability of Your Word.
00:08:27
Speaker
You inspired it. You're the one that had these things written down so we would know what's on your heart, what's your plan. And so, Lord, part of your plan is that we would follow the example that your son left to us. And so, Lord, today as we look at this passage, I guess the most simple way I could say it is, Lord, would you please teach me how to walk?
00:08:51
Speaker
Teach me how to walk in authentic love. Help me to walk away from artificial loves. I don't pray that just for myself, but I pray that for every one of us in this room. Help all of us who are gathered here today to hear your word. Help us to know how to walk with you as we go through life. In Jesus'
Spiritual Guidance and Growth
00:09:12
Speaker
name we pray. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated.
00:09:21
Speaker
You know, the way that a person walks is called their gate. It's G-A-I-T, their gate. Did you know that law enforcement, sometimes when they're looking at a videotape of someone who robbed a place, they watch if the person's turned away from the camera. They watch the way they walk. They watch their gate. And there's certain patterns of way that people walk.
00:09:46
Speaker
I found it also interesting that not only do they have gait analysis, they also have forensic podiatry. Podiatry is like the study of the foot, the ankle, the leg, and the sole of the foot and so forth. That's also used by law enforcement. Whenever they can't find out who did this, then they also look in the mud. And sometimes there's a shoe print. Sometimes they favor one foot over the other foot. And all these different things that they've learned to look at.
00:10:16
Speaker
But do you remember when your son, when your daughter, they couldn't walk? And what did you and your wife, what did you do to help them learn to walk? Didn't you hold them by their hand? And they would, they would, at first they couldn't do it. You would start to let go and they're like down, so you're going to hold on to them.
00:10:37
Speaker
But eventually, you taught them how to walk. That's what God is trying to do through these verses, Ephesians 5, verses 1 through 7. He's trying to teach us how to walk with Christ through daily life. As a matter of fact, own down. If you keep going past where we stopped in verse 7, you'll see that He's trying to teach us how to walk not only in love, but how to walk in the light.
00:11:02
Speaker
how to not only walk in love and in the light, but how to also walk in wisdom. And so you're gonna see that as we go through these verses together. This morning, like I said, we're gonna spend our time learning how to walk in love.
00:11:19
Speaker
But we're going to discover that there are several different types of walking. As a matter of fact, today I'm going to introduce you to two love gates. You've maybe heard of the five love languages by Gary Smalley. Well, these are the two love gates of Ephesians. So let's look at authentic love and artificial love. Of course, the authentic love is Christ, Christ-like love.
00:11:43
Speaker
But artificial love is carnal love. It's like a counterfeit type of love. So here's the first question.
00:11:52
Speaker
Are you walking in authentic love? I want you to look closely at verses 1 and 2. A few years ago, there was a campaign that said, true love waits, trying to get young people to wait for marriage before they get into the whole realm of sexual intimacy and so forth. I recommend that program. They're still writing books about it.
00:12:17
Speaker
But I want to say from this passage, not only does true love wait, but also true love walks. It should be walking around the streets of Columbus and wherever you work, wherever you go to school.
00:12:32
Speaker
So I want to give you four different things about walking in authentic love based on verses one and two. The first thing is, let's say you've never seen anybody that walks, that lives in authentic love. Well,
00:12:48
Speaker
Look into the scriptures and you'll see somebody. That's the source of authentic love. God the Father loves us so much that He gave His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, you see how verse 1 begins with that word, therefore?
00:13:05
Speaker
We have to go just before chapter five, verse one, to see what kind of love is he talking about. Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children.
00:13:24
Speaker
You see what He's trying to say? He's trying to say, love like God. Let God be the source. Of course, in our flesh, none of us have the opportunity. We don't have the resources in the flesh to live and to love like God. But He can give it to us whenever we say yes to Christ as our Lord and Savior.
00:13:44
Speaker
We then are born again and born into his family. That's why he goes on to say, as beloved children. In other words, God the Father is on your side. He can help you with this. He can help you to tap into a source of love that goes way beyond anything that you could ever discover by yourself inside the flesh.
00:14:06
Speaker
but also I noticed the standard of authentic love. The standard is mentioned in verse two, and walk in love as Christ loved us, as Christ loved us.
00:14:19
Speaker
You know, He is the standard. You could always point to someone else and say, well, I certainly love better than they do. But could you honestly point to Jesus and say, I've already got that down. There's nothing else I can learn about walking in love from Him. And I'm thinking, oh, Lord, I have so far to go. Remember in John 13, verses 1 through 16, how Jesus washed the feet of the disciples? Why did He do that?
00:14:48
Speaker
He did that for an example.
00:14:50
Speaker
He told him he was doing it as an example. And just a few verses down toward the end of that chapter in verses 34 and 35, he says, you know what? As I have loved you, so love one another. He's trying to give us this example of a humble type of love that humbles itself. No wonder in Philippians 2 verses 3 through 8, he says, have this mind among yourselves. And I think, what mind? The mind of Christ.
00:15:20
Speaker
Be in your attitudes and in your life. Live in love like Jesus. How did he love? Well, it was also a sacrificial love. If you look at verse two, it says, and walk in love as Christ loved us. And then what did he do? It says, and gave himself up, gave himself up for us. That means for you. Maybe you think and you assume nobody's ever sacrificed for me. I've always worked for everything.
00:15:50
Speaker
No, I think if you look closely at the cross of Jesus Christ, you would see that He didn't go there for His sins. He went there for your sins. He went there for my sins. He went there for our sins and for the sins of the whole world. You see, real love is not about self. Remember, Jesus left heaven.
00:16:11
Speaker
Perhaps the reason we don't find that motivating to us is because we don't know what it's like in heaven. If we only knew how comfortable, if we only knew the praise and the honor and the position, the authority that Jesus Christ had in heaven, then we would certainly appreciate that He gave it all up so He could come down here to this world so broken, so violent, so mean to Him.
00:16:37
Speaker
You know, real love makes sacrifices. If you want to know the difference between authentic love and artificial love, I would look at Jesus and I would say, you know what? I think that authentic love, it gives. Artificial love, it's always taking. It's always stealing. It's always wanting something more from us.
Living Like Jesus
00:16:58
Speaker
God's kind of love is always giving. I notice also the satisfaction that comes from authentic love.
00:17:05
Speaker
Who's satisfied whenever we live like Jesus? Who was satisfied with Jesus' sacrifice? Let me read it again, verse 2, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
00:17:24
Speaker
If you were to go back in the Old Testament, sometimes I almost am tempted to nod off when I'm reading some of those Old Testament passages. But really, the reason we nod off is we don't see Jesus there. But if we only knew all of those offerings that are at the first, say, five chapters of Leviticus, they're all pointing forward to Christ. For example, when there's this burn offering, it's talking about Christ's total devotion to the Lord.
00:17:52
Speaker
When the grain offering is mentioned in chapter 2, it's depicting Christ's complete perfection. In chapters 3 and 4, when it talks about the peace offering, it's referring in the future to when Christ would die and bring broken, rebellious man and a holy God together in reconciliation. Only the Son of God could have done that.
00:18:16
Speaker
But then when you see chapter 4 talking about the sin offering and chapter 5 talking about the trespass offering, you begin to wonder, wait a minute, how did those represent him? Remember when he died on the cross? At the first, remember in Matthew 27, 46, Jesus said, Father, why have you forsaken me?
00:18:40
Speaker
Did He really forsake Him? Whenever our sins were placed on Jesus on the cross, the Father and Jesus had always had uninterrupted fellowship and oneness. But at that moment, it says that Jesus became sin so that we could become righteous in Christ. So when our sins were placed upon Jesus, the Father could not look at His Son anymore. And so He was not pleased at that moment with His Son.
00:19:10
Speaker
But after his son was in the grave, the father thought, my son is perfect. My son laid down his life to redeem mankind. And so he raised Jesus from the dead three days later. And that was God's display of his approval, his gratitude for all that Jesus had done. But all of these things are referred to as a fragrant aroma.
00:19:39
Speaker
of Christ. And so whenever we live like Him, it's like the Father is pleased. The Father is honored whenever we say, because I'm your child, because Jesus died for me, because He gave up His life for me, because He died and pleased you, I want to live with that kind of love flowing through my life. Maybe you've heard this before, but a Greek army general came up to Alexander the Great.
00:20:10
Speaker
And he said, I'm sorry to bother you, Sire, but he said, there's a young man in your army and he's a coward. Whenever all the fighting starts, he runs away. He runs back. And so Alexander says, what's your name, son? And you won't believe it. The guy's name was Alexander. He said, Alexander, sir. And he looked down. Alexander the Great looked at him and he said, renounce your cowardice or renounce your name.
00:20:38
Speaker
If we're called by the name of Christ, if we're following Christ, then the Lord is saying, renounce your cowardice or renounce your name. You're supposed to live like my son. So I thought to myself, that's definitely authentic love that we're being introduced to as we go through verses one and two. And that's what we're supposed to live. We're supposed to live like that. He says, walk in love as Christ loved us. But let me ask you a second question.
00:21:08
Speaker
Are we still walking in the artificial loves, the artificial loves of this world? If you were to go back into chapter four and verse 17, you know, the Holy Spirit led the Apostle Paul to write that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do.
00:21:26
Speaker
So yes, all of us have a past. All of us made mistakes. But what he's saying is, are you still walking in that direction? Or have you turned, and you're doing an about-face, and now you're walking in the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ? You see, whatever God establishes, Satan is always going to try to counterfeit.
00:21:47
Speaker
So we have to be careful that we look through his counterfeit and we say, what's real? So I want to make sure you can understand how phony and how artificial the world's love is, the flesh's love is.
Warnings Against Artificial Love
00:22:03
Speaker
So I want us to look closely at verses three through seven in wrapping this message up. And I want to give you three things. One is the way artificial love looks.
00:22:15
Speaker
And the second one is the way artificial love speaks. How does artificial love talk? And then the last one is a reminder, the way artificial love, where it's headed, where is it going? It's headed in a certain direction. So I want us to close with those three things. The way artificial love looks
00:22:35
Speaker
In verse three, it's a tough thing to look at, but I want you to see it. I want you to know it so you can sense whenever you see it and you say, I don't want that. That's what I turned my back on. He says, it looks like this, sexual immorality, all impurity and covetousness. Those kinds of things must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. I got to looking at those three words
00:23:05
Speaker
In the Greek language in which the New Testament was originally written, the word immorality is the word porneia. Does that sound like anything you've ever heard of? Pornography? Pornography is a terrible problem that is plaguing not only the United States, but the churches in the United States.
00:23:24
Speaker
We have to say that's a direction God doesn't want in my life. It actually came from a word that was about prostitution. And then it was developed into fornication, homosexuality, and adultery. So all of those kinds of things, that's what God is calling immorality. It's not the direction He wants you to look. He wants you to know it when you see it and to turn away from it and to go the other direction.
00:23:52
Speaker
He also wants you to be able to recognize impurity. That Greek word is akatharsia. It meant something unclean, something filthy, something indecent. Covetousness, of course, was pleionexia. It meant to be greedy.
00:24:10
Speaker
It had this idea of someone that it's like insatiable. They're never satisfied. Lust never knows enough. And so the gratification of self is all there is. That's the terrible look if you look at what it's like when you walk with the world's counterfeit loves. But then we also should turn away from the way the world talks.
00:24:35
Speaker
because counterfeit love has a certain way of talking. Jesus said, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So that's why He wants us to be careful the words that we use. As a matter of fact, that was in Matthew 12, 34, but in verses 36 and 37, Matthew says, on the day of judgment, we will give account for every careless word that we speak.
00:25:00
Speaker
Can you imagine? We thought we could just express it and that's the end of it. It's not the end of it. It's like someday we'll be held accountable. So I looked at these three different kinds of words and I thought there's filthy words, foolish words, flippant words. When he says, let there be no, no filthiness,
00:25:23
Speaker
nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. That should characterize the man of God, the woman of God, not the indecent, shameful, profane curse words that some would choose to use in the world.
00:25:42
Speaker
Not us. Also, not the shameful way of talking that in the Greek it actually for foolish words, it's moralogia. It meant to speak like a moron. It means I'm so foolish when I use these words. Why did I say that? Flippant words that are dirty or crude, those kind of jokes.
00:26:04
Speaker
See, there was a theological heresy that was going around back then. It went to Ephesus. It went to Colossae. It was all different places. That's why in Colossians, in Ephesians, in 1 John, they had to write it. But here's what the heresy claimed. The heresy said, it doesn't matter what you do in the body, because anything you do in the body, it's not going to follow your soul. You can just let her rip and live any way you want to.
00:26:33
Speaker
But that's not true. And I wanna show you where God says it's not true. It's also not genuine love. So that's not the way He's called us to live. So yes, maybe artificial love, it looks like that. But also artificial, it sounds like that. But I just wanna remind you what He says in verses five through seven. Where's it all going? Where will this lost world be without Christ?
00:27:01
Speaker
Well, he tells us first the destiny of those who follow the counterfeit loves. He says, for you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral, or impure, or who is covetous, and that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
00:27:20
Speaker
So isn't that sobering and shocking that those without Christ, He's saying, you're not going to have an inheritance in heaven, no matter how many nice things people say at our funeral. If we have not bowed our heart to the Lord in repentance and faith and said, Lord, please cleanse me. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. Please cleanse me. And some say, well, that's just
00:27:45
Speaker
out of date. I know that when you bring up Genesis 19 and you say, don't forget what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah. Some people look at that, but it's a biblical objective record of the destiny of any people, any nation, any people group that embraces immoral lifestyles as normal.
00:28:06
Speaker
God poured out His wrath upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and upon the homosexuality, upon the rape, and all these different things. See, perverted love, it's not real, and God's gonna punish it.
00:28:21
Speaker
But what we are given in Christ is we're giving authentic love. And so what God's doing is He's trying to warn us there are eternal consequences when people keep walking in that direction. And I know that some may say, yeah, but that was Genesis. We're in the New Testament and we're under grace.
00:28:41
Speaker
Well, I just want to remind you of 1 Corinthians, chapter 6, verses 9 through 11. This is sort of just one example of many that I could give, but there's Galatians 5, 19 through 21. But let me just listen to this New Testament passage about how grace operates, OK? 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11.
00:29:05
Speaker
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
00:29:30
Speaker
But listen closely to what he says next in verse 11. And such were some of you, but you were washed past tense. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. So what I'm trying to say is yes, grace is so available.
00:29:54
Speaker
But if we've really been born again, we're not going to keep walking in that direction. There's going to be repentance in our lives where we turn away from those directions and walk in the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:30:08
Speaker
You know, Luke chapter 16 verses 19 to 31 contrast these two destinies. You know, one destiny is a rich man. The other destiny is a poor man named Lazarus. You should read that passage and say, do I really want to take a chance and go toward that destiny where that rich man went and found himself in hell, burning, and so forth?
00:30:34
Speaker
Well, I also want to point out in these verses, verse six says, be careful about the deception from those who would say, it's OK. Look, it's OK if you go with this kind of love. Don't worry. No, it says, let no one deceive you with empty words. So there are people trying to tell you it's OK. But here the Bible is telling us it's empty words. Don't listen. They're going to fool you. They're going to trick you. They're going to deceive you.
00:31:04
Speaker
What's the true word? Danger. Danger of choosing counterfeit loves. The danger, he says, let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not become partners with them.
00:31:24
Speaker
Wow, sometimes the leadership of this country, I believe they need to remember what happened to the leadership of Babylon. In Daniel chapter five, they were throwing a big party. It was a wild party. They had 1,000 people there. They had a lot of wine there. There were a lot of women there, and I'm sure immorality was there. But suddenly, in the middle of the party,
00:31:50
Speaker
On the wall, a hand starts writing. And they couldn't figure out, what does that say? But whenever they brought in Daniel, he looked at that and he said, what that says is, God's saying, you're going down. You've been weighed in the balances and found wanting. And so what he's saying is, it's over. And do you know, that night, Belshazzar, who was the king, that night, Babylon, who was number one in the world, you know what? That night.
00:32:18
Speaker
He died. That night, the whole place fell. That night, the Medes and the Persians took over what they had fought so hard to obtain. Why? They were so fascinated with artificial loves. That's what happened.
00:32:35
Speaker
You may recall, I've told you before, that back in 2014, in January the 9th, NASA posted this incredible portrait. It was a photo, a real photo of something that took place in space. And so a star had exploded. They called it a pulsar wind nebula.
00:32:56
Speaker
And whenever they looked at it, they couldn't believe it. They backed up from the telescopes and they said, maybe there is a God. Did you see that? And when that star exploded, you know what it looked like? It looked like a hand reaching out, just like that. I've got a picture of it on my phone. I can show you later. But it looked just like a hand. But you can go to January the 9th in 2014 and look up NASA in the hand of God and you'll see it.
Metaphors and Observations
00:33:22
Speaker
But it's like stretched out. And they said, the hand of God is reaching out to bless us. But you know, they didn't wait long enough. Because a little later, a guy said, I didn't stop looking. You better take a look at this. After the star exploded, it retracted. And then they said it became a fist. And they were like, wait a minute. God's hand's not open to us. God's hand is in a shape of a fist toward us.
00:33:48
Speaker
And so what we have to decide is which one do we want? Do we want God's hand of blessing or do we want God's wrath? Have we rather take God's discipline and judgment? They're both real. So we have to say, God, help me. You know, I want to wrap the message up by a reminder. Maybe nothing else is really connected with you, but I pray that this will. Why should you choose to walk like Jesus?
00:34:15
Speaker
because of those that are walking around you, those that are living around you. They're at your school, they're at your work, they're in your neighborhood, they're in your extended family, and they're watching you. But here's the other thing you may not realize. They also may be following you. They may be following you. Your life, more than my life, they probably don't even know who I am.
00:34:38
Speaker
But they know who you are, and they're watching you. And so here's the thing, where am I leading them? If they're going to follow me, where am I leading them? The Apostle Paul could say, I urge you then be imitators of me. I understand humility. We should all be humble, right?
00:34:58
Speaker
But could you say, follow me in being humble before God, be imitators of me as I am of Christ? Could you say to those that are watching you, hey, if you're going to follow me, make sure you know I'm only trying to follow the Lord.
00:35:13
Speaker
Are they seeing the right examples? Philippians 3, 17 says, brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. In other words, this church is filled with people that are good examples, trying to follow Christ.
Community and Discipleship
00:35:31
Speaker
Perfect examples? No way, including me.
00:35:34
Speaker
But we're trying. Will you walk with us? Will you walk with us in the direction of Christ's love? Paul said in Philippians 4 and 9, what you've learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. I read an interesting article on discipling.
00:35:53
Speaker
And what it said is sometimes we're focused on the teacher type of disciple making so that we're thinking, okay, I don't have the words. Other times we're focused on the mentor type of disciple making where we're thinking, well, I don't have a lot of wisdom. I'm not much older than this person or that person. Sometimes we're focused on the coach paradigm and we're thinking, well, I can't have them work out. I can't encourage them and so forth.
00:36:22
Speaker
But here's something that this article said all of us can do. How did Jesus train the 12 that were with him? It's the guide to be a guide to say, follow me as I'm walking. Let's walk together. You help me, I'll help you. You encourage me, I'll encourage you. Let's walk together. That's what a church family is all about. John 3 16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave.
Invitation to Embrace Christ's Love
00:36:52
Speaker
his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. So knowing that, I want you to ask this question. What has the movie star done for me? What have the talented musicians done for me? What have the wealthy celebrities done for me? What have the professional athletes done for me? What have the popular influencers out there
00:37:21
Speaker
Have they really loved you? God has given the best that he had, his son. So take a step back and ask yourself honestly, which one of these loves is really worth imitating?
00:37:37
Speaker
I don't know about you, but for me, His love blows me away for the rest of my life till my final breath. I'm going to try to follow Him, and I'm going to try to be full of His kind of love that's redemptive and gracious, but it's also pure and holy.
00:37:53
Speaker
and it's gonna bless people and help people and inspire people. Walk with me in the direction of Christ's love. I want us to extend an invitation in case there's someone here who doesn't know Christ. We're gonna talk about turn your eyes upon Jesus so that's what the invitation will be about. Let's all stand together. Let me invite the musicians to go ahead and come to the front and let me just ask you
00:38:18
Speaker
Are you following the wrong kind of love? Don't follow those artificial counterfeit loves. They're phony. They're not real. Follow Christ. It's real. He stepped down into real life, and He suffered, and He bled, and He died, and the Father raised Him from the dead. He can help people. He's helped many in this church, and He will help you. Let's go to the Father in prayer. Lord, we just want to extend an invitation in Your name.
00:38:48
Speaker
In the name of Christ, Lord, the invitation is to follow you, just like you would say, follow me. Well, that's our invitation. Who wants to follow him? And so, Lord, I pray for those, especially today, who do not yet have a personal relationship with you. All this time, they thought it was about religion. All this time, they thought they had to be a certain level of goodness, and they knew they fell so short.
00:39:19
Speaker
But all this time, your hand was reaching out to them in love.
00:39:24
Speaker
and saying to them, I gave my son to down the cross for you. What more can I give? And so Lord, help us to take that hand and to say, I want to follow Christ. I want to be like Christ. I want to apply the truths that I see in scripture. I want to live with an authentic love, not an artificial love. So Lord, bless this time of invitation as we respond to you. May every eye be turned upon Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen.
00:39:59
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.