Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 5:1-7.
“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children”
(Ephesians 5:1).
“But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let
it not be once named among you, as becometh saints” (Ephesians 5:3).
The beginning of Ephesians 5 continues a theme commenced in
Ephesians 4:1 when Paul beseeched believers to walk worthy of the “vocation”
wherewith they were called. He was exhorting the Ephesians believers to live as
genuine and sincere Christians, not as a phonies or hypocrites.
One of the key statements that stands out as expressing this core
thought is found in Ephesians 5:3 which speaks of believers conducting
themselves in their practical living “as becoming saints,” or, as is fitting or
right for saints. “Saints” means “holy ones,” not super-believers, but ordinary
men and women who have been made holy and set apart by Christ.
What things are we to pursue and what things are we to avoid
if we desire to live in such a way as is fitting for professed followers of the
Lord Jesus?
Paul begins, “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear
children.” The verb here for “to follow” in Greek is mimeo, which means
to mimic or to imitate.
Christ called men like Peter and Andrew, James and John to
leave their fishing nets and to follow him, to become his disciples and to
imitate him, to make him the model or template upon which they constructed
their life and behavior.
In 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul said, “Be ye followers of me, even
as I also am of Christ.” The word for “followers” here is a noun that comes
from the same root as the verb mimeo in Ephesians 5:1. So Paul was
saying, “Be ye imitators or mimics of me, as I imitate or mimic Christ.”
In Acts 11:26 Luke says the disciples of the risen Lord Jesus
were first called “Christians” at Antioch. “Christians” was meant as a term of
disparagement, but the followers of Christ took it as a badge of honor. They
were “imitators” of Christ, little “Christs.”
Let us each examine our own hearts and lives. Are we following
Christ? Are we living in such way “as becometh saints”? May the Lord himself
help us so to do.
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
