Children Of God

Last time, and this time, we’re looking at verses 1 through 7, Ephesians 5, verses 1 through 7. Let me read them to you as a setting for our message this evening. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.

For this ye know, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. Now, this is a tremendously potent passage, and it’s very important for us today, for the society in which we live, for the Church of Jesus Christ. We live in an age when fornication or sexual sin is rampant.

The Apostle Paul who said, it is commonly reported that there is fornication among you. To the Corinthians he said that. These things should not be so. You wouldn’t be adverse to call this society the sexy 70s. We are inundated, drowned, preoccupied, and our senses are dulled to the potency of the attack that comes against us. And it’s a tragic thing, because it affects the Church. I heard in the last week of a pastor, another in the long line of them, who was involved in sins of fornication. Not too long ago fornication was the sin of a pastor, not in what we would think as the normal way, but homosexuality.

Why is this happening? What causes this? Well, the Apostle Paul deals with it here, and I think we need to look very carefully at what he says. Now, last week we learned that one aspect of the worthy walk is to walk in love. Verse 2, see it there? Walk in love. And we saw that the key element to walking in love is to be a follower of God, a mimic of God, an incarnation of Jesus Christ, and so if we are to walk in love, we are to walk as Christ walked, and so if we are to walk in love, we are to imitate God, we are to mimic God.

He is the pattern, and the pattern is best expressed by God in his incarnation of Jesus Christ. And so if we are to walk in love, we are to walk as Christ walked, and that is exactly what 1 John 2, 8 says. If we say we abide in him, we ought so to walk even as he walked. We are to then walk in love, which imitates God. God is manifest in Christ, so we are to be like Christ. We are to love like he loved. Now, remember the last section of the book of Ephesians from 4 to 6 is a discussion of the worthy walk.

Chapter 4 verse 1 tells us to walk worthy, and part of walking worthy of our high calling, walking consistent with our high calling, is to walk in love. Now this love walk has four elements, and I gave you two of them last week. Let me quickly review them. First of all, and these are positive ones. First, there is the plea in verses 1 and 2. He pleads with us to walk in love, and the word walk means daily conduct, manner of life, process of living, lifestyle if you will. We are to be characterized by love, and the pattern is God.

We are to imitate God. The Psalmist said, I will be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. We are to be filled with all the fullness of God. Chapter 3 says, and so what Paul is saying is, and I want you to get this thought. We didn’t deal with this last week. I want to just throw it in today, since you are God’s beloved children. See it in verse 1. Since you are God’s dear children, imitate Him. Now listen. The basis for imitating is that we are His children. This is one of the richest, most joyful designations of Christians in all of the New Testament.

We are called the children of God. We are called the sons of God. In John 1.12 it tells us, as many as believed on Him, to them gave He the right to be called the children of God. In Ephesians chapter 1, it tells us that He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself. We are literally the children of God. We are the children of God, the offspring of God.

We have been begotten by an incorruptible seed. We are then, as His children, to bear His likeness, right? We are to bear His character, His characteristics. We are to manifest that which is true of Him. We are to adorn His very nature. Since we’ve been begotten of God as we learn in 1 Peter, since we are characterized by an incorruptible seed which lives and abides forever, since God has come to live in us and make us His children, we are then to live, manifesting His characteristics. So that’s the heart of it, people.

The reason we are to imitate God, says Paul, is because we are His children and we are to pattern our lives after our Father. In Galatians 3.26, I just add this, it says, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of children of God. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way.