FROM THE DAWGHOUSE…
From Sunday Sermon to Monday DAWG
Sunday sermons ought to be like an arrow that sticks in our heart and is not easy to get out by Monday, but…
Very often a Sunday sermon’s lifespan ends at 12:45 pm … or before.
My friend Joe Creech preached a sermon last Sunday where the arrow went deep, and Monday it was still bearing fruit…i.e. I was still thinking about it. So I made it the focus of my DAWG.
Here was the text:
Ephesians 5:1-5
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”
Read that over a couple of times.
The first thing Joe said about this text is:
Imitation of God is not Impersonation of God.
That was helpful. In other words, when we become Christians, we don’t become gods. We become born-again sons with a new lease on life! We’re forgiven, declared not guilty for our sins, and clothed with the righteousness of Christ! While our position has changed before God, we still sin and have many areas in which to grow. We never will become gods, so it’s foolish to become self-righteous and arrogant as the Pharisees were, who thought they had reached perfection. We’re to imitate God’s character but never act like we’ve arrived at perfection. See what Paul says about that in Philippians 3:12-14.
The second thought that hit me is this:
Imitation of God is not becoming Impeccably perfect in this life.
I’ll not become sinless in this life but I will sin less in this life … the more I am close to Jesus daily and the more His Spirit teaches and controls me through His Word! I John 3:2 tells me that “when we see Him, we will be like Him….”
What guides this new life in Christ as Paul says is “walking in love.” Jesus is the perfect example of walking in love. A great way to evaluate what we intend on doing or what we are doing is to ask ourselves the question: “Is this walking in love?”
Now to walk in love first requires that you let Jesus love you again, so that’s why Paul uses Jesus’ work to motivate us:
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Christians are never just moralists … i.e. doing good because it’s God’s Law or our duty. We want to be good because Christ has loved us perfectly on the cross and our life has never been the same! We don’t live well to get our place but because of His grace!
All of this launched me well into Monday…
Imitate God yes, but don’t try to impersonate God or think you’ll become perfect in this life.
But let God’s deep love motivate you to walk in love … which works out into soooooooo many areas of life…
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”
Well, here’s an idea: Let your Sunday sermon launch you into your weekly DAWG. Take a message you have heard, and work on it, mull it over, chew on it … learn it more deeply than you did on Sunday, and … well, who knows, maybe truth will stick at a deeper level!
You take it to heart!
Pete Alwinson
