Walking in Love, Part 1

If your life isn't characterized by love, you don't know God.

If you don't love your brother, the love of God doesn't dwell in you. And so the Apostle Paul is saying, walk in love. And if there's no love in your life, or if it's the counterfeit stuff that the world is offering, you're not in the kingdom, no matter what you think.

As one comedian once put it, if love is the answer, could you rephrase the question? Well, the concept of love means different things to different people, and of course, the love the world talks about bears little resemblance to the love Scripture calls us to. So how does the Bible define love, the love Christians should have and should demonstrate?

What should it look like at home, at the office, in your neighborhood, and at church? Find out today on Grace to You as John MacArthur continues his study called The Portrait of a New Life, showing you how, in the Christian life, love gets radically redefined. And here's John now with today's lesson. In Ephesians chapter 5, verses 1 through 7, we have one of the most wonderful and helpful passages in all of the book of Ephesians. It touches on the very heart of the Christian life, the subject of love, and you'll note in verse 2 the little phrase, walk in love. Nothing could be a more beautiful or direct definition of how we are to live as Christians in terms of behavior than that. Now obviously, this is a practical passage.

Just as a brief overview, let me say this. If you are a fornicator or an unclean person or a covetous person, you have no inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ. And it seems to me that no matter what passage we come to, it seems to be the heart of it. And in verse 6 again, there are some people who want to deceive. There are people who want to deceive by selling a counterfeit kind of love, and the world's counterfeit love involves fornication and adultery and covetousness and uncleanness and all of that stuff.

But we are not to buy the counterfeit. If we're true Christians, our lives will be not characterized by the counterfeit but real love. In fact, you know, it haunts me all the time, even in my own life, that in 1 John chapter 4, John said this, God is love, and he that loves knows God. And if you don't love, you don't know God, no matter what you claim. If your life isn't characterized by love, you don't know God. If you don't love your brother, the love of God doesn't dwell in you. And so the Apostle Paul is saying the same thing we've been learning.

He's saying it in this sense. Walk in love, and if there's no love in your life, or if it's the counterfeit stuff that the world is offering, you're not in the kingdom, no matter what you think. Now let me go to this passage and look with me at verse 1. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children.

Now I want to pull that phrase out, followers of God. The Greek word is mimiti, from which we get mimic. Be mimics of God.

And a mimic is not someone who picks up general patterns but someone who copies specific characteristics. Be imitators. Be mimics of God.

Now, beloved, let me say this to you. The whole of the Christian life could be summed up in that one statement. Be mimics of God.

That's it. Reproducing you everything that is true of God. It all began that way, didn't it, in Matthew chapter 5, verse 48, when our Lord said, Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. That is essentially what Peter was saying in 1 Peter 1, 15 and 16. And in that wonderful passage Peter says this, But as he who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of life, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Peter said, You be like God. The Apostle Paul said, You be followers of me as I am of God. The Apostle Paul said, Gaze into the glory of the Lord and allow the Spirit of God to change you into His image. The ultimate goal of the Christian life in 1 John is in chapter 3, that one day we should be like Him, for we should see Him as He is. In other words, the whole of the Christian life is summed up in this be imitators of God.

Be like God. If you're fumbling around trying to get a handle on what God wants out of you, it's that. Which means that the more you know God, the more you know what you're to be.

And so what is the primary pursuit then of any believer? To know whom? God. No wonder Paul said that I may know Him. If we are to be like God, we must know what God is like. If we are to know what God is like, we've got to study God's character. And so as we study the Bible, we see unfolded God's character. By the way, the whole Bible is the revelation of God.

It's God's self-disclosure. Now this isn't just a New Testament principle. Be ye holy for I am holy comes out of the Pentateuch, Leviticus 11.45.

That was the way it was from the very start. God says, you're My people and I'm your God and this is where it all begins. Be ye holy as I am holy. Leviticus 11.45. It all started there and it's the same all the way through. You say, well, that's easy for you to say, be imitators of God, tough to do.

Sure it is. And you can't do it in your own strength. You can't just grit your teeth and grunt and muster up all your courage and be like God. And that's, you see, what Jesus was saying in the Sermon on the Mount. You know how you start to be like God? You start by realizing you can't be like God. You start with a broken and a contrite spirit. You start mourning over your sin. You start in meekness.

You start with such an overwhelming sense of sinfulness that you hunger and you thirst for righteousness. And so there's a fabulous paradox here. On the one hand, you are to be like God. On the other hand, you are to know you can't be like God. See?

And that's just the point. When you know you are to be like God and you know you can't be like God, then you know there's got to be some other power to make that possible. And that's the beauty of chapter 3 of Ephesians in verse 17, or verse 16, where he prays that God would grant us to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. In other words, I am a vile, evil sinner. I can't be like God. God says I must be like Him. If I can't be but I must be, then somebody's got to get inside of me and do what I can't do. You see?

And who is that? The Holy Spirit who strengthens us with might in the inner man. And you know what the result of it is? The result is at the end of verse 19. And it says this, In order that, henna, purpose clause, in order that or with the result that or to the effect that, you would be filled with all the fullness of God. Listen, Paul is saying here you can be like God. You can be filled with the fullness of God. You can be every wit in terms of God as far as his qualities are concerned.

But you can't do it on your own. You must be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. It is the Spirit's work.

So there's the resolution to the paradox. Oh God, oh God, I'm broken over my sin. I mourn over my sin.

My sin is ever before me, said David. And in meekness I hunger and thirst for that which I must have but cannot have. And it is in the midst of that brokenness that you depend upon the work of Christ and the ministry of the Spirit to do what you can't do but must do.

That's the heart of it all, see. So he says you'd be a mimic of God. But realize that that's God's work, not yours. And therein lies your dependence on the Spirit of God. And by the way, beloved, if you're really a Christian, the Spirit is at work in you, moving to make this a reality, moving to make you like Christ, moving to conform you to God.

Now, you might even take that little thought in 5.1 and you could kind of spread it both directions. In chapter 4, verse 1, this whole section of Ephesians, the whole second section, which is the practical section, the first is the doctrinal, this whole practical thing began, either for the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation to which you're called. The walk concept is the whole deal in the last three chapters. You're to walk, that's daily life. This is your lifestyle. This is your doctrine in chapters 1 to 3. This is doctrine, now here's practice.

This is who you are, this is how you live. This is what God has done, this is what you do. Walk worthy. And what is that worthy walk involved?

Well, it involves a lot of things. It involves a walk in humility, verses 1 through 3, chapter 4. It involves a walk in unity, verses 4 through 16, chapter 4. It involves a different walk, chapter 4, verses 17 to 32.

Different, not like the world. Look at verse 17. You walk not as other Gentiles walk. So it is a humble walk, it is a unity walk, it is a different walk. And now in chapter 5, it is a love walk. And then in verse 8, it is a light walk. And then in verse 15, it is a wisdom walk. And then in verse 18, it is a spirit walk. And then in chapter 6, verse 10, it is a warfare walk. In other words, he's simply delineating different elements of the walk. But at the heart of it all, I just love this, right at the heart of it all is this beautiful phrase, be imitators of God.

That just brings it all down. If God humbled Himself in Christ, you be humble. If God in His Trinity is one, then you be one. If God is different, set apart from this evil world, then you be different. If God is love, then you be love. If God is light, then you be light. If God is wise, then you be wise. If God is guided and directed by supernatural spiritual principles, then you be. If God is the victor over Satan, then you be the victor over Satan. You be like Him.

That's it. Do you ever stop to think about everything you have in Christ? It's incredible. It's incredible what Christ has given us. First three chapters, let me remind you. They tell us these things. We have a new standing before God, a new life, a new righteousness, a new father, a new inheritance, a new citizenship, a new master, a new freedom, a new victory, a new security, a new peace, a new unity, a new fellowship, a new joy, a new spirit, a new power, a new ability, a new calling, a new purpose, and a new love.

That's a lot of new stuff. And that's all ours in Christ. And you can't help but see this concept of love woven through the first three chapters. It's in chapter 1, in love having predestinated us. It's in chapter 2, why did He show us mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us? It's in chapter 3, to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. See, woven through the whole deal, our whole position is predicated on God's love. And if this is true, He says in chapter 5, you better walk in love.

This ought to be characteristic. In fact, other places in the Bible tell us love is the key to everything, right? And now abide with faith, hope, love, and the greatest of these is what? Love.

Love is the greatest. So, we are to walk in love. Now, I want to show you four points out of these seven verses. Four points, the plea, the pattern, the perversion, and the punishment. We see here a plea, a pattern, a perversion, and a punishment, and then a final warning.

So we say the first two points are positive and the second two points are negative. Verses 1 and 2, very positive. Verses 3 to 6, very negative. Verse 7, a warning. The plea, first of all, verses 1 and 2a, be therefore children, or rather followers of God, mimics of God, as dear children, and walk in love.

Stop right there. There's the plea. The plea is for us to live a love life.

The plea is simple. Look at verse 1 now. It's a command. Be imitators of God. It's not a suggestion. It's a command. And sure, you have to start from the point of sinfulness. And sure, you have to start from the fact that you can't do it. But that doesn't change the command.

You got to be what you can't be. That's where the Spirit of God comes in. But you notice the therefore? What is the therefore there for? To take you backwards. Now watch what it's going to show you. Verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and public yelling and private whispering be put away from you along with all malice.

Now let me tell you something, people. Those are the opposite of love. You see, all of those things preclude the fact that there's no love.

When you're bitter toward somebody and you have a grudge against them and you are angry and there's two different words used there, whether it's an outside blast and display of anger or an internal smoldering anger or whether it's clamor where you slander somebody publicly or where you whisper behind their back, whatever kind of malice it is, that's the opposite of what he's talking about. On the other hand, those things shouldn't be there. What should be there is verse 32. Kindness, be kind to one another, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness. Those are characteristics of love.

Love is kind, love is tender, and most of all, love is what? Forgiving. It is forgiving. And you see, it is a lack of forgiveness that makes bitterness. It is an inability to forgive that makes wrath and anger. It is an inability to forgive that makes you slander people and whisper behind their back and hold malice against them. It's because you don't forgive them that you hold those bitternesses and those grudges. And the reason you don't forgive them, folks, frankly, is that you don't what?

You don't love them. So what he's saying here is put away all of the anti-love stuff. Don't let that characteristic be manifest. Don't have characteristics of an unloving heart, but have characteristics of a loving heart. He doesn't mention love in verse 32. He mentions kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness. And just to be sure you don't miss where that comes from, he says, therefore, in order to be kind, in order to be tenderhearted, and in order to be forgiving, you must imitate God in this regard.

You must walk in what? Love. Because it is love that is kind. It is love that is tenderhearted. It is love that is forgiving. It is non-love that is bitter, angry, wrathful, clamorous, vicious, and malicious.

So it's a therefore that takes you right back. The central thought is forgiveness, people. And let me take that and kind of force it into your mind a little bit.

Listen to me. Measure your love today, would you? There are a lot of ways we could talk about it, but let's deal with the text as it appears. Measure your love today by the thought of forgiveness, will you? Because I really believe, now hang on to this, I really believe that as far as we're concerned, the greatest measuring rod of love in your life is forgiveness.

Okay? I mean, that's the way God even presents his love. You see, we could say, oh, God so loved the world that he made pretty flowers. God so loved the world that he made beautiful ladies, handsome men. God so loved the world that he made delicious food. God so loved the world that he said nice words. God so loved the world that he made trees and mountains. Well, that's nice, but it's not something missing.

God so loved the world that he took a whole bunch of dirty, rotten, vile, God-hating sinners and died on the cross to bear their sins so that he could bring them into his eternal heaven and fellowship with them forever. That's something. That's better than trees and flowers and pretty ladies.

That's better than anything. You see, what I'm saying is this, love is best measured in its ability to forgive. See, that's the thing.

You see, here's what he says. It is God's ability to forgive that tells us his love. Even when we were dead in trespasses and sin, God made us alive together with Christ.

And why? Because of his great mercy based on his great love with which he loved us. The most magnanimous act that love can ever do is forgive the greatest evil. Measure your love. Ask yourself, do you love? Children of God love. If you don't love, 1 John 4 says you're not of God. You say, well, how do I know if I don't love?

Just ask yourself a question. Do you have any bitterness against somebody for something they did to you? Do you get angry with people? Does it smolder inside? Do you speak maliciously behind their back?

Do you verbally assault them clamorously? See, those are the characteristics of non-love. That's the old life. And you've got to put the old life away, right? That's gone.

That's gone. Look at the end of verse 32. We are to forgive. And here's the key to this whole passage, and it's used twice.

Once in verse 32 and once in chapter 5, verse 2. We are to forgive as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. You know, no matter what anybody does to me, this is interesting, no matter what anybody does to me in the family of believers, in the community of believers, no matter how they hurt me or harm me or slander me or crush me or bruise me or wound me or offend me or whatever it is, Christ has already paid the penalty for that sin.

Did you get that? You say, well, only what they did to me are I'm going to make them suffer her? What else?

You better think twice. Christ already suffered for what they did to you. What more do you want?

Well, that's a revolutionary thought. What are you asking out of God? Jesus bore in His own body our sins. If somebody sins against me and somebody violates me and somebody offends me and my reaction in the human flesh would be to be angry and bitter and wrathful and malicious and slanderous and I stop and think, but wait a minute, I don't want anything out of them. After all, Jesus already bore that sin in His own body on the tree. Jesus already spilled His blood for that sin. What am I going to ask?

What do I want? What more could there be? So next time you think you ought to have vengeful attitude, next time you want to lash back at somebody, next time you want to say an unkind word, you want to be bitter towards somebody, next time you want to slander somebody or whisper behind their back or retaliate or seek vengeance to somebody, remember that the very sin that they used against you, the very thing they did to you, Jesus already bore in His own body on the cross and that sin is paid for and you don't have to add any more to the suffering and the consequence that that sin should bring. It's all been taken by Christ on the cross.

It's already a dealt with thing. And so we are to forgive, verse 32 says, even as God for Christ's sake is forgiven. You know what God says? You know, you and I offend God a lot. I offend God a lot and so do you. And God doesn't say, MacArthur, I've taken as much as I can take out of you. That is the last time. Take that.

No, you know what God says? MacArthur, what can I do to you? My son, he already bore the blows. There's nothing left to do. It's over. God for Christ's sake forgives you. You, for Christ's sake, forgive each other. And the measure of your love is the extent of your ability to forgive. It's a fantastic truth. You say, well, you just can't go on forgiving forever.

The guy does it every day. Yeah, well, you can't go on forgiving forever. 1 John 2, 12, my little children, he has forgiven you all your trespasses for his name's sake. Colossians 2, he's forgiven all your sins.

It's fantastic. Ephesians 1, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. If we are the ones confessing our sins, then we are the ones being forgiven and constantly cleansed. 1 John 1, 9, just constantly cleansed. And God looks down at me and he says, you keep sinning, but I can't do a thing to you because Jesus already took the punishment. And then he says to us, now that's the way I want you to walk. I want you to walk in that same kind of love that never holds bitterness, never holds a grudge, never holds anything against anybody because you know that that thing has already been dealt with by Jesus Christ.

What more could you want? And if blessed God, holy God, righteous God can forgive that person and take that sin and put it on his dear son, who are you to demand blood out of somebody? That's what happens on this side of the cross, folks. Now, let me develop another thought. The fact is this, and we can split this concept into two parts. The depth of your love is indicated by how much you forgive.

Look at your life. How much do you forgive? Proverbs 10, 12 says this, love covers all sins. Love covers all sins. In other words, total love is total forgiveness. Peter put it this way, 1 Peter 4, 8, you are to have stretched love, fervent love.

Ectone speaks of a muscle stretched to its limits. You are to love to the very limits, for love covers a what? Multitude of sins.

How big is your multitude? Well, however broad your love is, that's how big the multitude is. God knows if you love, you're going to have to let people off the hook. God knows if you love, you're going to have to forgive. God knows love has to deal with sin, but love does by covering it.

It means just throwing a blanket over it, removing it, putting it out of sight. So first of all, the depth of your love is indicated by how much you forgive. Now, think about it. You hold a grudge against somebody in your house. It isn't their problem, it's your problem. Your inability to forgive belies your love. And I say to you, if this is characteristic of your life, you're not a Christian, because if you don't have love, you're not God's child.

Think about it. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur. Thanks for being with us. John is our featured speaker here each day, and he's also chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary.

He calls our current study the Portrait of a New Life. So, John, your theme today is about forgiveness and how a willingness to forgive others is one of the necessary and most telling fruits of faith in Christ. So talk for a moment about the other side of that. As you've gone through counseling situations with people over the years, what is the human fallout when we don't practice forgiveness in our day-to-day relationships?

I don't want to oversimplify life, but I will just say this. Every breach of a relationship ultimately comes because of someone's inability to forgive or unwillingness to forgive, because if you forgive, the animosity is over. If you genuinely forgive, the hostility is over. The barrier is taken down so that, you know, whether you're talking about a friendship that's broken, whether you're talking about an alienation from a child, or whether you're talking about a marriage and divorce, or any other relationship within the framework of the church where conflict comes and goes frequently, ultimately no relationship can survive unless there is forgiveness, because we aren't perfect.

We're not going to do everything exactly the way we should do it. There are going to be times when we need to ask for forgiveness, and there are going to be plenty of times when we need to give it, and we need to give it even when it isn't asked for, because not everybody knows they've offended us, and we don't have to wait for them to ask before we're willingly forgiving them. So I think forgiveness in the end is what sustains every single relationship.

So I want to give you a good help along this line, and it's this. I wrote a book called The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness, and I mean that title with all my heart and soul. Forgiveness sets you free. Forgiveness is powerful. Some people think forgiveness is weakness.

Forgiveness is power, for sure. So you can explore in this book the issue of God's forgiveness and what the Bible says about forgiveness. There are chapters on things like how to handle forgiving repeat offenders, or what if there's a reason to believe a person's repentance is not genuine, or do I forgive someone who doesn't ask to be forgiven? How about forgiving myself?

All these kinds of questions that are at the core of your ability to live a meaningful life and enjoy it. They're all dealt with in the book The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness, available from Grace to You. The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness. It's a book that will help you not only better understand God's forgiveness for you, but you'll also see how forgiveness can strengthen your marriage, improve your relationships with your children, even help unify your church. Order your copy today.

The price is $13 and shipping is free. To order, call 800-55-GRACE or visit our website, gty.org. The title again, The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness. Get a copy when you call toll-free 800-55-GRACE or visit gty.org. There are also a number of sermons on forgiveness available for free at our website. Just log on to gty.org and search our sermon archive. It has 3,500 total messages from 52 years of John's pastoral ministry. You'll also find daily devotionals, the Grace to You television program, and much more. All of it free at gty.org. And to keep up to date with what's ahead on our radio and television broadcasts, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and check out our YouTube channel as well. Now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace to You staff, I'm Phil Johnson inviting you back for John's study, The Portrait of a New Life, when he looks at how Christ loved others and how you can love as Christ did. Join us, won't you, for another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on tomorrow's Grace to You.