“Therefore,
be imitators of God, as dearly loved children.” (Ephesians 5:1 HCSB)
The
Christian is in Christ and Christ is in the Christian. There is a bond so indissoluble that God
views the believer as He views His Son—all that Jesus is has now been made
available to us. This is our
position.
Knowing our
position, ought to lead to a higher standard of living. Behaving as Jesus would in this world is not
a result of our attempt in our flesh to imitate Him, but Jesus being Jesus in
us by His Spirit.
Apart from
Him, we cannot, but apart from us, He will not.
We are not programmed robots, nor puppets on strings—we have a will, but
when that will is submitted to the Lord, then we are imitating Jesus whose
every act was directed by a desire to obey His Father.
This is
reflected in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, where he tells us our heavenly
position in Christ, providing the ground for our holy performance. What is that position? Where are you?
Physically,
I am in Candler, North Carolina
There are three ways, Paul speaks of our position:
sitting, walking and standing.
In Christ, we are sitting down. Jesus has risen from the dead and into glory. “He demonstrated this [power] in the Messiah by
raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens — far above
every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in
this age but also in the one to come. And He put
everything under His feet and appointed Him as head over
everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of the One who
fills all things in every way.” (1:20-23)
Being seated with Christ means we are in a position of authority,
security and victory, “Together with Christ Jesus He also raised us up and
seated us in the heavens, so that in the coming ages He might
display the immeasurable riches of His grace through [His] kindness to us in
Christ Jesus.” This has profound
implications for our daily life.
In Christ, we are sitting down—and more—IN CHRIST WE ARE
STEPPING OUT. Paul speaks of the
believer’s walk in numerous places in our text.
Our walk with Christ is our intimate relationship and abiding
fellowship. The child of God is on a
journey from here to eternity. He or she
is going places with God. There is
direction—a life of sure purpose and steady progress.
Our position before meeting Christ was of the world, like the
Devil and in the flesh. That was our old
walk, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you
previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to
the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in
the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our
fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh
and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others
were also.” (2:1-3)
Now, in Christ, we have a new walk—a direction God has
designed us for and directs us in, “For we are His creation, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we
should walk in them.” (2:10) Our performance is to be brought in alignment with
our position, “Therefore I, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to
walk worthy of the calling you have received” (4:1)
This isn’t an easy path—the road is steep, narrow, all uphill
and our old path is so well-worn it is easy to fall back into, and thus Paul
warns, “You
should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their thoughts.” (4:17) We
are walking into the face of a stiff wind that is set against us. The pressure of our peers pulls at us,
seeking to bring us down. By the grace
of God, we are to constantly be setting aside sinful works and stepping out in
a sanctified way (4:20-32).
Walking in step with Christ means we “walk in love”
(5:2a). Since God is love, we love Him
because He first loved us, “the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for
us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.” (5:2b)
That love is exclusive and means no idolatry (5:5) We love God with all our being. Such love is extended and means no immorality
(5:3-5). Love and lust are polar
opposites—love is about giving and lust is about getting. I will not covet my neighbor’s wife, if I
love my neighbor as commanded.
Walking in step with Christ also means we walk in
“light” (5:8). Our fellowship is not
with darkness, but with the Light of the World, Jesus Christ (5:7-13). Walking in the light means I am walking
according the light of God’s Word—His wisdom for me—and in the power of God’s
Spirit (5:15-18)—His work in me. This
enlightenment and empowerment sets a new direction that will bring a new
delight at the church (5:19-21), a new dynamic in the home (5:22-6:4) and a new
dimension on the job (6:5-9).
But, there is a final description of our position. IN CHRIST, WE ARE STANDING UP. “This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so
that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything,
to take your stand.” (Eph.6:13)
We would be hopelessly overpowered by the Devil
should we dare to stand in our strength, but instead we can stand in the
strength of the Lord (6:10). We have
armor to wear, “Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist,
righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. In every situation take the
shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word.” (6:14-17)
Wearing this armor simply means that we have put on Christ for He is the
Truth, Christ is our righteousness, He is our Peace, and we are shielded by
faith in Him as our Savior and we trust Him as the Word made flesh. Standing for Him means we are standing our
ground in Him.
Did you see that there is no armor for the back? That is because we are to face the foe not
flee the fight. Never turn your back to
Satan. You cannot outrun “flaming
arrows.” But, if you stand your ground,
you have a shield that always extinguishes those spiritually lethal weapons.
This warfare is fought out on spiritual ground. Remember, we are in the heavens in terms of
our position. In that spiritual
dimension, there is Satanic opposition, “Put on the full armor of God so that
you can stand against the tactics of the Devil. For our battle
is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the world powers of this darkness,
against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavens.” (6:11-12)
We
can only stand for Christ in strength if we kneel before Christ in supplication,
“Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert in this with all perseverance and intercession
for all the saints. Pray also for me, that the message may be given
to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough in
Him to speak as I should.” (6:18-20) The
arena of spiritual warfare is the place of prayer. Prayer puts the enemy to flight and frees
those imprisoned by dark powers so they may come to the light of Gospel
truth. This time spent with God clothes
the praying saint in power, and emboldens the Christian soldier to march
against evil, confident of victory.
There are fellow soldiers who stand with us and
encourage us to stand. Paul, the old
General, recalls some of those who distinguished themselves in the conflict:
“Tychicus, our dearly
loved brother and faithful servant in the Lord,
will tell you all the news about me so that you may be informed. I am sending him to you for this very reason, to let you know
how we are and to encourage your hearts.” (6:21-22)
Where are you?
If we are where God wants us to be, we are sitting down, stepping out
and standing up! Believe it, and then
behave like it.
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