THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY (7 OF 9)
by Craig Smith
Scripture: Ephesians 5:1-16
This content is part of a series.
The Sincerest Form of Flattery (7 of 9)
Series: Identity Theft
Craig Smith
Ephesians 5:1-16
Big Idea: Jesus calls us to love others to him.
introduction
Before we start, there are a couple of things I want to draw your attention to
First, we are doing baptisms today...
Second, on March 5, we're making a change to one of our service times...
Third, just a little heads up...and men especially, it's important that you not looked shocked by what I'm about to say, so everybody just kind of lock your face into a neutral expression, ok? All right, here it is: Tuesday is Valentine's Day. ?
Here's the thing about Valentine's Day: it's the ''love'' day, right? But what's interesting is that our culture has some pretty messed up ideas about love. I think part of the problem comes from the fact that we don't have enough words. You may have heard me say it before, but here's the thing: we can say ''I love my wife'' and ''I love Doritos''. It's the same word! Listen, any word that can be used to describe how I feel about my spouse and my snacks is an insufficient word.
And that's not good, because you don't have to have spent much time in church to know that ''love'' is at the very heart of the Christian faith. In fact, the passage we're looking at today kind of centers around the command to ''walk in love''. But what does that mean?
Main Body
Positive Imitation
Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Literally, this says ''become imitators of God, as beloved children.'' We're not just to follow in the same general direction, we're to follow in his footsteps, seeking to match him stride for stride to the best of our ability. Maybe the most important part of this is that we're to follow God, or work towards being imitators of God, ''as dearly loved children''. He's telling us that we are to lo ...
Series: Identity Theft
Craig Smith
Ephesians 5:1-16
Big Idea: Jesus calls us to love others to him.
introduction
Before we start, there are a couple of things I want to draw your attention to
First, we are doing baptisms today...
Second, on March 5, we're making a change to one of our service times...
Third, just a little heads up...and men especially, it's important that you not looked shocked by what I'm about to say, so everybody just kind of lock your face into a neutral expression, ok? All right, here it is: Tuesday is Valentine's Day. ?
Here's the thing about Valentine's Day: it's the ''love'' day, right? But what's interesting is that our culture has some pretty messed up ideas about love. I think part of the problem comes from the fact that we don't have enough words. You may have heard me say it before, but here's the thing: we can say ''I love my wife'' and ''I love Doritos''. It's the same word! Listen, any word that can be used to describe how I feel about my spouse and my snacks is an insufficient word.
And that's not good, because you don't have to have spent much time in church to know that ''love'' is at the very heart of the Christian faith. In fact, the passage we're looking at today kind of centers around the command to ''walk in love''. But what does that mean?
Main Body
Positive Imitation
Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Literally, this says ''become imitators of God, as beloved children.'' We're not just to follow in the same general direction, we're to follow in his footsteps, seeking to match him stride for stride to the best of our ability. Maybe the most important part of this is that we're to follow God, or work towards being imitators of God, ''as dearly loved children''. He's telling us that we are to lo ...
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