December 1, 2019 CALLED TO IMITATE
1 Corinthians 11:1 “Do as I do, for I am doing as Christ did.”
Ephesians 5:1-2 “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.”
1 John 2:6 “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the manner as He walked.”
Today, among many believers, there seems to be a prevailing belief that even though we are saved, we are still subject to the power of sin in some area of our lives. We think that by telling others that we struggle with certain sins we gain a platform to speak into their lives and will be ‘relating’ to them. After all, no one wants to be considered a ‘holy Joe’ or come across as better than others, right? To clarify, believers can certainly sin, no one is without sin, but sin is choice, because the power of sin has been broken and we are not in bondage to sin. If we are walking by the Spirit, we will not sin; when we make the choice to walk by the flesh, we sin; we will not sin as long as we walk by the Spirit. It would be helpful for us to acknowledge that when and if we sin, we do so because we were living according to the flesh at the time of the sin. Somehow, we have come to a point where we think we can at the same time walk in the Spirit and also sin. With all of that said, let us get to today’s subject. Many would be offended if someone told us to ‘do as they do because they were doing as Christ did’ and we would likely label them as being arrogant. Yet, that should be the testimony of all believers. We also may have difficulty believing that we can actually be imitators of God. But that is the whole idea-that is the purpose of the scriptures and the Holy Spirit’s work in us; we have been, and we are being transformed into His image. We could never imitate God or live without sin by our own strength, but only by the power of Spirit of God. If we obey the ‘one another’ commands of scripture, we are imitating Christ; when we cheerfully give, we are imitating Christ, etc. The over-arching call to imitate Christ is that of walking in love and giving ourselves to bless God and to bless others. Christ is our example; He first loved us when we were unlovely, and He gave Himself for us. When we love out of the love that He pours into our hearts, we will find ourselves imitating Him. Let us grab hold of the truth that we can be imitators of Christ and that we do not have to live under the bondage of any sin. Do not misunderstand; I am not talking about sinless perfection. The point is that we can choose to walk by the Spirit and not be defeated by sin. If we sin, the Holy Spirit will convict us, and then we confess it and turn from it and walk according to the Spirit. Let us remember-we can imitate Christ and we can walk in love-as a way of life.
Romans 6:1a-2, 6b, 12 “Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” “we are no longer slaves to sin.” “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust.”
Blessings,
Buddy
December 1, 2019 CALLED TO IMITATE
1 Corinthians 11:1 “Do as I do, for I am doing as Christ did.”
Ephesians 5:1-2 “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.”
1 John 2:6 “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the manner as He walked.”
Today, among many believers, there seems to be a prevailing belief that even though we are saved, we are still subject to the power of sin in some area of our lives. We think that by telling others that we struggle with certain sins we gain a platform to speak into their lives and will be ‘relating’ to them. After all, no one wants to be considered a ‘holy Joe’ or come across as better than others, right? To clarify, believers can certainly sin, no one is without sin, but sin is choice, because the power of sin has been broken and we are not in bondage to sin. If we are walking by the Spirit, we will not sin; when we make the choice to walk by the flesh, we sin; we will not sin as long as we walk by the Spirit. It would be helpful for us to acknowledge that when and if we sin, we do so because we were living according to the flesh at the time of the sin. Somehow, we have come to a point where we think we can at the same time walk in the Spirit and also sin. With all of that said, let us get to today’s subject. Many would be offended if someone told us to ‘do as they do because they were doing as Christ did’ and we would likely label them as being arrogant. Yet, that should be the testimony of all believers. We also may have difficulty believing that we can actually be imitators of God. But that is the whole idea-that is the purpose of the scriptures and the Holy Spirit’s work in us; we have been, and we are being transformed into His image. We could never imitate God or live without sin by our own strength, but only by the power of Spirit of God. If we obey the ‘one another’ commands of scripture, we are imitating Christ; when we cheerfully give, we are imitating Christ, etc. The over-arching call to imitate Christ is that of walking in love and giving ourselves to bless God and to bless others. Christ is our example; He first loved us when we were unlovely, and He gave Himself for us. When we love out of the love that He pours into our hearts, we will find ourselves imitating Him. Let us grab hold of the truth that we can be imitators of Christ and that we do not have to live under the bondage of any sin. Do not misunderstand; I am not talking about sinless perfection. The point is that we can choose to walk by the Spirit and not be defeated by sin. If we sin, the Holy Spirit will convict us, and then we confess it and turn from it and walk according to the Spirit. Let us remember-we can imitate Christ and we can walk in love-as a way of life.
Romans 6:1a-2, 6b, 12 “Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” “we are no longer slaves to sin.” “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust.”
Blessings,
Buddy
RSS Feed