Imitators Of God

Imitators of God

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”Eph. 5:1,2 NASB

“Be ye therefore merciful, as your father is also merciful.” Luke6:36

In order to imitate God, we must have an idea about what He is like. What is his nature , his personality ? How does He deal with people? God has sent his Word and his Spirit to reveal himself to us. “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

Jesus came to earth to reveal God to us. He said “I and my father are one” And “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father”. The Apostle John knew Jesus well and he said “God is Love”, and also “God is Light.” To See God in action, we need only to observe Jesus as he interacts with the people he encounters, as recorded in the gospels. He told his disciples that he came “not to destroy men's lives, but to save them”. Jesus told the fearful “do not be afraid”. He told the sinner “ your sins are forgiven you”. He told the sick and the handicapped “be healed”, and they were made whole. 

 

Jesus declared his purpose and defined his mission in the synagogue at Nazareth when he read from the book of Isaiah one sabbath day. “ And when he opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:17b-19 Listen also to His open invitation to us; “ Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest, Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matt. 11:28-30

With the enablement of His grace, through His indwelling spirit; we too can be liberators, as we point people to Jesus and allow Him to live through us. ( I speak to those who have been born again, and are new creations in Christ Jesus - otherwise you have nothing liberating to give.) Let us be like Jesus and offer people rest, not like modern day pharisees and lawyers who lay heavy burdens of debt and obligation upon peoples backs, and yet, hold themselves blameless and free.

Some have a distorted view of God; seeing Him as primarily a judge who is always angry at people, quick to chastise us and rub our faces in our mistakes, while occasionally giving us a pat on the head when we do well. These people are still living under the law, and tend to believe that our acceptance by God is based upon how well we follow his rules. When born again believers try to mix law and grace together, the results are often disastrous. Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the Law on our behalf, He brought us grace and truth; he came to save the world (all of us), not to condemn the world. The laws of the old testament were given to show us our need for God's forgiveness and mercy. “The law of the Lord is perfect” , but we are not. “The law is holy”, and we are not. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit,” Rom. 8:3,4 God the Father sent his son Jesus who took upon himself the punishment that we truly deserve. “For He has made him to be sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2Cor. 5:21 

 

We see from these scriptures that we are made righteous by the blood of Jesus; therefore it is not presumptuous for a born again Christian to declare himself or herself to be righteous, we are only agreeing with the word that God has declared over us. Those who truly trust God and believe his word know that his grace is the reason that we are so blessed and forgiven, it is not due to our worthiness or our efforts. If you believe that He has made you righteous, you will begin to act righteous, if you believe that you are still a sinner (despite the shedding of Jesus' blood), you are not resting in the finished work of Calvary, and you have only your own weak efforts to rely upon as you struggle to imitate Christ. Without the knowledge of God's grace and his mercy toward us, a person will continue to believe that sin is unavoidable; attempting to rationalize and redefine sin, until it becomes almost a virtue in the sinners twisted opinion. Meanwhile, the unrepentant sinner continues to suffer the effects of sin and to reap a harvest of trouble and shame. People will go through all kinds of mental gymnastics to Justify themselves and quiet their troubled consciences. It is much easier to admit your sin and go to Jesus for a new start as a redeemed and forgiven child of God. God's freely given grace will then empower you to become a better person, as he develops character in you through the fruits of his indwelling spirit. “ The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 6:23

The word grace means un-deserved favor, preferential treatment. Romans 3:24 says that we are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ” ; That being the case, we are called to extend grace and mercy to those around us, as imitators of Christ! Jesus never made light of sin, or overlooked the presence of sin: on the contrary, his perfection and the light of his holiness and truth, exposes sin; but he extends forgiveness to all who will receive it by faith, to those who accept Him as their redeemer and Lord.

Some may say they are 'saved by grace', but believe that their salvation can only maintained and retained by doing and saying the right things. A person who believes that salvation is perpetuated by works, will always feel a certain amount of condemnation and doubt, due to the fact that they never know if they have done enough to merit God's favor and keep their salvation. Due to this distorted and false doctrine that is taught in some circles, the misguided follower of Jesus is under the belief that any unconfessed sin, even sins of omission, can land the disobedient child of God a permanent spot in the pits of hell.

(As though God's forgiveness is conditional, and the Blood of Jesus only washes away certain sins!)

Those who see their god as angry and critical, tend to be angry and critical to others. The big board in our eye blocks our vision and distorts our view of things. We spend our time trying to remove specks from other people's eyes and showing them their faults, rather that showing them God's grace, and passing on his mercy and forgiveness. Spiritual pride will make us forget that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” Rom. 3:23

The Christian who mixes works and grace also likes to take credit for the good that he does, and forgets to give God the glory for His grace and providence. When we base our right standing with God on our works, we forsake the riches of his grace, and are left to struggle with life's problems and dilemmas with our own puny resources. When we don't find our rest in God, we tend to deny others rest. Our lack of peace results in a life of turmoil and uncertainty, and yet, we continue to try and help God by passing on bad advice to any who will listen.

The Apostle Paul said to 'cast our cares on him, because he cares for us.' Let us commit our way to our Heavenly Father, and walk in His light, trusting in his grace as we imitate Christ, and allow him to change us 'from glory to glory'. Give yourself a break, quit beating yourself up, and cut others some slack for a change! Imitate Christ as He lives through you in the person of his Holy Spirit, and let's love one another as Christ has loved us.

Chuck Loubert 12-21-08 ©2008 Charles J. Loubert