Imitate God, and Walk in Love

Ephesians 4:31-5:2 (New American Standard Bible)

³¹Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

³²Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Ephesians 5

¹Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;

²and 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.

Ephesians 4:31, 32—5:1, 2

Whole books have been written on these verses, or half of them at least. I'll attempt to keep your attention for a short time using all four verses.

32-4 baseball game

About 1990 I was coaching JV baseball and on this day nothing we did was ended up good. Every pitch our pitchers threw was either a ball or hit a long way into the outfield. After about four or five innings the opposing coach came over and respectfully asked if we wanted to halt the game. At that point the score was in the neighborhood of 24-2. I said , no we will finish the game. When I got back to the dugout the players asked what the other coach said. I told them he wondered if we wanted to stop the game. I said we were going to finish the game. The players wondered why, but continued to play. The final score that day was 32-4.

English teacher--Action verbs or call to action

Four Actions—Put Away, Forgiving, Be Imitators and Love

1--Put Away

Growing up my brother and I were to ones to take out the garbage. Maybe it’s a male thing, or the male child thing. I am still the G-man. Take out the garbage. Pick up after the dog. But Paul isn’t talking about taking out the garbage from the house. He is telling us to take out the garbage of our lives and minds.

What are those?—Bitterness, Wrath, Anger, Clamor, Slander, Malice

Seems pretty self explanatory, but why is it so hard? Because we want to hold onto the old life. Paul counters this with Ephesians 4:22—“that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit.”

We should Put Away the desire to follow the lies.

2--Forgiving

Forgiving is really too simple a description of this. Record story.

Forgiving as God in Christ has forgiven you. How has God forgiven you? We are given a clue in Matthew just after Jesus tells and shows how to pray with The Lord’s Prayer. Matt. 6:14—“For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”

The next verse starts out, “Therefore.” Paul doesn’t tell us to do something and leave us on our own. He gives us the plan. “Therefore” always is the lead-up to the plan that will be shown us. What are we shown?

3-- Be Imitators—Vs. 1 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,"

Imitate comes from the Greek root word “mime” which means to mimic or copy. Remember how we copied our parent’s actions? And how our children copied and mimicked us? Walking story. We are to imitate God as if we are His offspring, which we are if we confess in Jesus.

And what are we supposed to copy?

4--Love

Verse 2 “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.”

Here Paul tells us to love others as Christ loved us. How? By sacrificing ourselves to others. By giving of ourselves to others. How? By committing to others. By Loving others.

Paul is laying down here a principle that governs everything. The entire Christian life may be summed up as a life of putting away the bad, former life and imitating God as beloved children as we walk in love.

After the game, the whole game, the players asked me why we finished the game. “Someday you will face something harder than losing a baseball game, even a game with a lopsided score.”

How does God tell us to get through hard times?

By imitating Him and walking in love.

Nothing New Under the Sun

Ecclesiastes comes to mind when I think of last week and the week to come. I used to teach this in Senior English. It was in our laast book and may be in the new book. I am teaching senior again this fall and spring and I know there is some literature from the Bible. I hope this one is there. I haven't counted exactly, but I think I will be involved in a majority of these activities within these two weeks.

Ecc.3:1-8

¹There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven--
²A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
³A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
⁴A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
⁵A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
⁶A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
⁷A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
⁸A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.

There But For the Grace of God, Go I

A pastor stood up Sunday in the pulpit and looked out upon the congregation. He felt somewhat embarrassed about the threadbare suit he was wearing, but these were good people and the message he prepared and presented that Sunday was good and he thought one of his best in a while. He felt it an honor an pleasure to serve these people. Luke 10:25-37 never spoke to him like it did that morning.

The congregation looked at the pastor in the pulpit and wondered. Some had complained about the suit he wore. It wasn't repectable for a pastor to wear such a suit. He needed to buy a new suit that represented the position he held. Such a shame.

The pastor walked home this Sunday as he usually did after the service. He passed by the bar on Main, smiled and waved hello through the open door to the patrons. The men inside looked at the pastor, waved and said to themselves what a fine example this man is, but what a shame about his suit. He deserved a new suit.

A few Sundays went by and the pastor was once again walking by the bar on Main. He waved his usual wave but this time the patrons stopped him and handed him an envelope. No words were exchanged beyond a shy thank-you and on home he went.

As the Pastor climbed into the pulpit the following Sunday, the congregation looked up, and were pleasently surprised to see their pastor in a brand new suit. A suit befitting his position. A suit they could appreciate. A suit bought out of kindness.

"Finally," they thought, "A man we can be proud of standing in the pulpit."

Better the Second Time Around

We just wtched Taking Chance a second time. Thanks, Mike. I knowI sound like a shill for the film, but you should watch this film. It IS NOT about war. It IS about honoring others for their service.

For Sam

Watch these two short videos. One is a movie promo and the other a commercial. If you don't have any reaction, you might want to look up the word conscience in the dictionary. From the Latin "con"= with or along side, and "sci"= knowledge.

There But For the Grace of God, goes John Bradford

John Bradford was a prebendary (church official) in St. Paul's church in London. He was burned at the stake in 1555 and uttered the above words upon seeing a prisoner go to his execution. Bradford was a prisoner in the Tower of London at the time. We in the supposedly modern world have twisted those words into a common utterance, "There but for the grace of God, go I."

I speak these words some times and think of them many times. Lately even more than usual. I would admit that the usual motive for thinking these thoughts is when seeing or hearing of someone in more dire straights than we are at the moment. It is a gentle, or not so gentle, reminder that God at this moment given you a situation better than some other people. And we should appreciate this gift. This goes beyond the death of Jesus, and into the living for Christ realm.

Could there be another side to this phrase? What if at this given moment you, by God's grace, have been given some insight into life, or the grace to forgive another, that others have not? What if it is grace and wisdom not to act upon our personal desires, but the desire to put others ahead of us that leads us to these thoughts?

Or is it hubris to think such thoughts? Should we just look to God and pray for His wisdom?

Simply Honor

Maureen mentions a movie that we all should watch. It is a good movie, a great movie. It struck a chord so much I commented, and the comment turned into a rant, then into a long spiel, really it turned into a post. Go read it there.

We have created a society that doesn't honor many things. If we honor something, we tear it down in time. Think of the last few presidencies, including the current president. When we honor someone, we are saying they are better than we are in something. There is no shame in that. But when we have been told that we are good and equal in everything since we were young, it is hard to say someone is better. It is hard to honor someone else.

Even when they deserve it.


Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. 1 Peter 2:17

First Day of School, Revisited

If you want a picture of the first day, go here. We have a collection, as many families do, of the First Day of School. Our list of participants keeps dwindling as the children get older. Maybe we should go to Fresno for Brad's First Day, which may be his last if everything goes as planned. Unfortunately the children haven't acknowledged that learning is a lifetime pursuit.

The actual First Day went well. The Second was even okay. I'm not sure what to make of the new principal sending out a staff email congratulating us on "2 down, 178 to go." At least it made me do some math and realize that a normal student who goes to school 180 days of the year actually spends less than half, 365-180=185, of their days in school in a year. I then made the mistake of counting the actual days I worked on school work last year; including regular school, summer school, interviews, curriculum work but not Sundays grading papers; and came to the conclusion that my 228 days is as many as some administrators. Still rather work with most students before some adults.

My classes seem good. I have seniors again after a few years break. I enjoy seniors the most. It it pleasant to have them after two classes fo freshman. Kind of like back to the almost real world. The frosh this year are good so far. We'll see when the work really begins.

Much will happen this week and much this year. I am sure that the life I envision for now will change and maybe sooner than expected and ways that I can't imagine.

First Day of School 2009

Wow! Another year begins for this dinosaur. So many changes are happening that the campus has a new look and persona and a new vibe. And that doesn't include the remodeling that is finished after 2 plus years. Many teachers are happy they get to move into a permanent room instead of a portable or a temp room. I'm talking about the wise teachers that are no longer teaching. Their wisdom will be missed in these times. The meetings so far have shown that it will be a adventure this year.

Wilson begins his senior year and will quietly be a BMOC, even though he's not sure what that means. He has a little sister and a younger cousin to help guide and he will step up to those challanges.

Though, Annie won't want or need much help. She has already grown into a strong person of convictions. What those convictions are is another topic.

--New principal

--Remodeling done

--State money shortages

--New teachers

--New English Department

--Test scores up

--Kudos to the Math Department-They have been unfairly hammered for years

--New Schedule next year?

--Same Old Dinosaur

It will be a ride this year and I hope my spurs are on tight.