Walking in Love, Part 2

The key element to walking in love is to be a follower of God, a mimic of God, an imitator of God. If as 1 John says, God is love, and you are to walk in love, then you are to be like God. We are to mimic God.

You probably know that many animals can blend into their surroundings and hide in plain sight. But have you ever considered that people in the church you attend might be talking like everyone else, using the same Bible as everyone else, attending the same Sunday school classes, blending into the surroundings, and yet have never trusted Christ? The Bible gives clear standards for what it means to be a Christian, and they go well beyond the externals that can be faked. John MacArthur examines those standards today on Grace to You, continuing his study called The Portrait of a New Life. And with a lesson now, here's John. Ephesians, chapter 5. We're looking at verses 1 through 7. Ephesians 5, verses 1 through 7.

Let me read them to you as a setting for our message. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not fitting but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no fornicator nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience.

Be not ye therefore partakers with them. Now this is a tremendously potent passage, and it's very important for us today. We live in an age when fornication or sexual sin is rampant.

We are inundated, drowned, preoccupied, and our senses are dulled to the potency of the attack that comes against us. It's a tragic thing because it affects the church. Well, the Apostle Paul deals with it here, and I think we need to look very carefully at what he says. One aspect of the worthy walk is to walk in love, verse 2.

See it there? Walk in love. And we saw that the key element to walking in love is to be a follower of God, a mimic of God, an imitator of God. If as 1 John says, God is love, and you are to walk in love, then you are to be like God, and so we are to imitate God. We are to mimic God.

He is the pattern, and the pattern is best expressed by God in His incarnation of Jesus Christ. And so if we are to walk in love, we are to walk as Christ walked, and that is exactly what 1 John 2 says. If we say we abide in Him, we ought so to walk even as He walked. We are to then walk in love, which imitates God.

God is manifest in Christ, so we are to be like Christ. We are to love like He loved. Now remember, the last section of the book of Ephesians from 4 to 6 is a discussion of the worthy walk. Chapter 4, verse 1 tells us to walk worthy, and part of walking worthy of our high calling, walking consistent with our high calling, is to walk in love. Now this love walk has four elements, and I gave you two of them.

Let me quickly review them. First of all, and these are positive ones, first there is the plea in verses 1 and 2. He pleads with us to walk in love, and the word walk means daily conduct, manner of life, process of living, lifestyle, if you will. We are to be characterized by love, and the pattern is God. We are to imitate God. The psalmist said, I will be satisfied when I awaken thy likeness. We are to be filled with all the fullness of God, chapter 3 says.

And so what Paul is saying is, now I want you to get this thought, we didn't deal with this, I want to just throw it in today. Since you are God's beloved children, see it in verse 1? Since you are God's dear children, imitate Him.

Now listen, the basis for imitating is that we are His children. This is one of the richest, most joyful designations of Christians in all of the New Testament. We are called the children of God. We are called the sons of God. In John 1 12, it tells us, as many as believed on Him, to them gave He the right to be called the children of God.

In Ephesians chapter 1, it tells us that He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him, in love having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. We are literally the children of God. We are the children of God, the offspring of God.

We have been begotten by an incorruptible seed. We are then as His children to bear His likeness, right? We are to bear His character, His characteristics. We are to manifest that which is true of Him. We are to adorn His very nature. Since we have been begotten of God, as we learn in 1 Peter, since we are characterized by an incorruptible seed which lives and abides forever, since God has come to live in us and make us His children, we are then to live manifesting His characteristics.

So that's the heart of it, people. The reason we are to imitate God, says Paul, is because we are His children and we are to pattern our lives after our Father. In Galatians 3.26, I just add this, it says, For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Now listen, when you put your faith in Christ Jesus, when you received Christ as Savior, at that point you became a child of God. You were born again, to put it in John 3 terminology. There was an incorruptible seed planted within you.

There was new life. And the manifestation of the life of God through you should be the most normal thing. It is abnormal for you not to imitate God.

You look at a child and the most normal thing for a child is to be like his parents. And so it is in the spiritual dominion. You have within you the indwelling life of God. In Galatians chapter 4 and verse 4, it says, When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. You are no more servants but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God. When you're saved, you became a son, you became a child. God's Spirit is in you and the life of God should manifest itself. And so because Paul says we are children of God, we are then to imitate our Father.

The most normal thing is to be like Him. Now, if God is love, then we are to imitate His love. If it is true that God is characterized by love as 1 John 4, 7 to 11 says, if it is true that God is characterized by love, then we too are to be characterized in the same manner. So we remember the plea, walk in love. Now, the second point we saw last time, and I want you to note this, is the pattern.

And I already mentioned it. The pattern is our Lord Jesus Christ. The end of verse 2. How is this to work? How is it to be manifest? What is our example?

As Christ has loved us and given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savior. Alright, we are to walk in love and the model we are to follow, the pattern we are to trace our lives on is Christ. I remember when I was a little kid and starting out in school, one of our teachers wanted to teach us how to draw. And so she passed out papers of pictures and the pictures were in great big bold ink. And then she passed out what she called tracing paper.

And all the little kids would take the paper and stick it on the bold page and the picture would come through and we'd take our little pencils and we would draw tracing. That's the very word pattern in the New Testament. That's the word for type or an example it's used as Paul says to Timothy, be an example to the believers. Be somebody the believers can trace their life on.

Well, that's exactly what he's saying here. Take Jesus Christ, the bold, the bold statement of Christ's life and put your life on top of it and trace your life out just as His is. He is the pattern. This is the heart of the passage. We are to love as He loved. Now, backing up to verse 32, I remind you last time that the characteristic, the major characteristic of God's love is that it is forgiving. You see it there in verse 32, forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Now, for to walk in love, that's the first characteristic I want you to note. It is a forgiving kind of love and we went into that last time, didn't we? God's love is a forgiving love.

Now, by the way, there's a footnote that you ought to see in verse 32. Forgiving one another even as God hath forgiven you. Now, if it just said that, if it just said forgiving one another as God hath forgiven you, we'd have a little problem because we'd say, now, God, you're a holy God.

You're an absolutely righteous God. And you hate sin. And you can't tolerate sin. And the Bible says you will punish sin. In fact, it says the wages of sin is what?

Death. Now, God, how can you just forgive like that? If it said forgive one another as God has forgiven you, we'd say, well, how can you just do that?

How can you just say, well, I know I don't like that stuff, but I'll forgive you. Well, what does that do to God's justice? Doesn't it violate His holy justice? No, because the little phrase is there, for Christ's sake, which means because of what Christ has done. In other words, that penalty which was ours was borne by Christ. And because of something Christ did, God is able to forgive.

And that's the whole point. When Christ, verse 2 now, when Christ gave Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God as a sweet-smelling Savior, He paid the price that God's justice demanded and freed God to forgive the sinner. But if it had not been for Christ, it would not have happened. God can love us and God can forgive us because Christ paid our penalty. That is the message of the 10th chapter of the book of Hebrews. Hebrews 10, 10, by which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. In other words, the only thing that sets us apart to God is that Christ bore our sin. Verse 12, this man, after he offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.

In other words, sitting down is the picture of rest. And when Christ one time made one sacrifice, it was so total and so complete that He never needed to do another thing. He sat down.

He was finished. And verse 14 sums it up, by that one offering, He perfected forever them that are sanctified. He bore in His body our sins.

He who knew no sin became sin for us. And so Christ did something that freed God to love us. And God's love, first of all, is forgiving.

Now secondly, I told you God's love is not only forgiving but it is unconditional. His love is not defined by the object in any sense. It is His nature that loves. It is His innateness that loves. It is God loving as God must love because He's God. And so His love is forgiving and unconditional. And the third thing is self-sacrificing. God's love is forgiving, unconditional and self-sacrificing. God so loved the world that He, what's the next word?

Gave. That's the key. It is self-sacrificing. Now listen, people. This is a very basic truth you must get. If we are to love like God loved, if we are to imitate God, then we must love people with a forgiveness that is without limits. We must love people unconditionally with no dependence upon their response. And we must love people sacrificially, that is with the giving of ourselves, not the seeking of something from them. Now, people, listen. When you live and walk in love, it doesn't mean you go around saying, well, I like that person and I like this person and you work on an emotional level.

No. It means that it is your nature to be forgiving without limits, loving without even necessary results, and self-sacrificing, seeking only to give and not to gain. So we said last time that Jesus loves us. When we sin, He forgives us. When we don't respond, He keeps loving us. And when all we want to do is take, He keeps giving.

That's the kind of love that is to characterize our lives. Unconditional, forgiving and self-sacrificing. I would be unfaithful to my own mind if I didn't have you look at John 13 for just a moment and then we'll close out those review points and go to the next. But in John 13, which I think is the most beautiful picture of the love of Christ apart from the cross anywhere in the Bible, John 13, I want you to see this unconditional, forgiving, self-sacrificing love in action.

Now, you remember the setting because I've taught it to you many times. But in John 13, the disciples are having an argument. And they're arguing about who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom. They're really concerned about who's going to rank high when Christ sets up His earthly kingdom. They want to get in on the gravy. They want to be big shots.

They want to be mucky mucks. And the Lord sees them in this big argument. And the real issue here is, of course, that Jesus is about to be crucified. And He's already told them this. He's already told them He has to die.

He's already given them the whole outline. But they are absolutely indifferent to what He's going to go through. They don't even care. They're not even concerned about it. They are absolutely selfish. They are absolutely sinful.

They are absolutely unresponsive. If there was any real love in their hearts, they would have been comforting and encouraging and sharing that love with Jesus Christ. If there was anything of self-sacrifice in their lives, they would have been washing His feet. They would have been at His hand saying, what can we do, Lord?

Because You're the one that's going to bear this. But instead, their selfishness was manifest. Their sinfulness was manifest.

Their self-centeredness was manifest as they argued about who would be the greatest in the kingdom instead of being concerned about Christ. And in that argument, nobody would wash anybody's feet. But it was accustomed to wash feet in those days before you had a meal. But none of them would do it because none of them wanted to take the role of a servant.

They were all fighting for the chief places. And so supper had begun. And after it had begun, Jesus took a basin.

It says in verse 4, he rising from supper, laid aside his garments, took a towel, girded himself, poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet. Now people listen to me. Now that's love in action. That is love that is forgiving. Here these guys were sinful. They were full of pride. They were full of self-centeredness. They were full of self-seeking. They were full of indifference to each other.

They were resenting each other because they felt that the other guy among the twelve might be seeking to get a higher rank than they were. There was a terrible sinful aura in that whole deal. And yet Jesus washes their feet. Jesus does a kind and tender and loving, sympathetic act.

That is unconditional, forgiving love. He didn't even ask a response out of them. They didn't even give him the right response. He didn't say, now if you guys will cool it and love me a little, I'll wash your feet. He washed their feet anyway because love does it.

It doesn't have to depend on the response. And finally, it is self-sacrifice. The Lord of glory washing the feet of these sinful, self-seeking men. You go over to verse 13. Jesus sums it up by saying this, ye call me a master and Lord and you say well, for I am. If I then your Lord and master have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. In other words, he said to them, you saw how I loved you, didn't you? You saw that I loved you by an act of love that was unconditional, that was totally forgiving, that was totally self-sacrificing and I expect you to do the same to each other. And later on in the chapter of verse 34, after an interlude with Judas, he picks up the same teaching and he says, a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know you are my disciples if ye have loved one for another. Now listen, notice in verse 34, you are to love as I have loved you and how had he just loved them? He had just loved them with forgiveness, with an unconditional love and a self-sacrificing love and that's the very thing he's asking for them to manifest. And he says to them, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If I love that way, then that's the way you are to love.

So that's the positive side. Now back to Ephesians. We're to walk in love.

What does that mean? We're to love like Christ loved. How did he love? Forgiving, unconditionally, self-sacrificing. That's the positive presentation. Now watch how fast he goes to the opposite.

Here comes the negative. And right away in verse 3, we see the perversion. The plea in verse 1 and the first part of verse 2, the pattern at the end of verse 2 and now the perversion. Whatever it is that God establishes, Satan will counterfeit. And here comes the perversion immediately in verses 3 and 4. And you see it there, fornication, sex sin.

And it's propagated by verse 6, the deceivers with their vain words who are nothing more than the object of God's wrath. Where God establishes true love, the world comes along and establishes the phony, the counterfeit. The world really, I'll be honest with you, the world wants to live in love.

There's no question about that. I mean, they want love bad. In fact, the only thing they want more than love is money. But apart from money, they want love. The world really goes after love. People agree it's the greatest experience to be in love. And of course, they base their concept of love on what it does for me.

It's a self-seeking thing. Their fantasy says that love is what I get. God says love is what you give. Listen to me, the world's love is conditional, very opposite of Christ's love. It's conditional.

It says, give me what I want, and I'll love you. It is unforgiving. Blow it too many times, and you're out of my life. That's it, and it's on to somebody else. That's the way it is. It is unforgiving. Secondly, it's conditional.

It's conditional. As long as you get the right responses, you hang in there. As soon as the responses aren't what you want, then you're gone. And thirdly, it is self-centered, not self-sacrificing. It is self-centered.

It feeds on its own need. It is the very thing opposite what God says characterizes us. Look at Matthew 18 for a moment. Matthew 18. Just to give you one illustration of how the Lord illustrated this worldly feeling.

Now here you can find that there's a contrast. Jesus presents His love which is totally forgiving, unconditional and self-sacrificing. And Peter comes to Him and says, well, Lord, I mean, this unconditional self-sacrificing, forgiving love, how far does it go?

I mean, shall I forgive my brother seven times? Jesus said unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened to a certain king who had take account of his servants, and when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him who owed him ten thousand talents. But for as much as he had nothing with which to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and children, and that he had, that is, all his possessions and payment be made. The servant therefore fell down, worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me and I'll pay thee all.

Which is ridiculous. He never could have paid back that sum, but it was a nice thought. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. Who do you think the Lord of the servant is here? It's God, isn't it? And this is the sinner.

And the sinner is coming and he even comes on a works basis. He's even going to say, I'll do it all. I'll grit my teeth and I'll pay back the whole ten thousand talents.

Ridiculous. Couldn't do it in his lifetime. In spite of his foolishness, God is generous enough to forgive him. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 denarii.

That's just about three months work. And he laid hands on him, took him by the throat and said, pay me what you owe. His fellow servant fell down on his feet and besought him, saying, have patience with me and I'll pay thee all. And he could pay it all. It wasn't that much. And he wouldn't let him, but he went and cast him into prison until he could pay the debt.

Pretty tough to do when you're in prison. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, came and told their Lord all that was done. And the Lord, after he had called him, said unto him, oh, you wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou besoughtest me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his Lord was angry and delivered him to the inquisitors till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also to you, if you from your hearts forgive not everyone, his brother, his trespasses. In other words, typical world's perspective, no forgiveness.

And the Lord came to him and said, you give evidence of not being a Christian. You're not in my family. You're not in my kingdom. There's no love in you.

The point is this, people, it's a simple point. The world is not forgiving. The world bases its responses on conditions. You pay up and I'll tolerate you. The world is self-seeking.

The Christian is the opposite. That's what we want you to see. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur. Thanks for being with us. Along with being the featured speaker here on Grace to You for over five decades now, John also serves as Chancellor of the Master's University and Seminary. Our current series is titled, The Portrait of a New Life. Now, we're still thinking about this notion of the believer's walk, and we recently received a letter from one of our listeners named Jamika, whose walk is looking different these days in a good way. And she says, Grace to You had a part in that. This is a really good letter, John. So let our listeners hear this story. Yeah, this is from Jamika down in Orlando, Florida.

She says, I'm a married woman with two children. Your ministry has blessed our family tremendously. During the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, I started listening to your sermons on almost a daily basis. Thank you for being blunt and preaching the gospel without fearing man's response. I almost fell prey to the delusion of social justice and the fight for racial equity.

I am a black woman, and I was raised to believe that God loves us all, but that white people were oppressors. I had not realized how much this affected my viewpoint. I repented, and I am forever grateful. I've been talking with my extended family and praying that they would repent of their sinful ways. Your ministry has also made a huge impact on my life as a wife and mother. I used to believe that I could have it all, because God would make my cup run over with blessings.

Like millions of blacks, my family and I attended a church that preached that God would give you good health, wealth, and supernatural increases. I took pride in dedicating my time to long hours at work, and now I see things from a completely different perspective. I'm realizing how much my role as a wife and mother has an impact on my family. Women today are in a race to build careers that are as successful as their husbands.

Meanwhile, our children are left to fend for themselves. I no longer see success as something based on how much money I make. I've taken a position that will give me more time to focus on serving my husband and my children. Thank you.

Thank you again. I pray that you would continue to preach God's Word and provide the wealth of resources that have an eternal impact." And she signs her name, Jamaica. That is a precious, precious letter, and that is a wonderful work of the Lord in her heart. And that's the kind of ministry that you make possible when you support grace to you.

Life-changing difference in the lives of people like Jamaica and her family. You can be confident that God will use His Word, use His truth for His glory and to transform lives that will not return void. It will accomplish His purpose. And the full impact of this ministry is never going to be known on this earth.

It's going to be in heaven that we begin to see all of it unfold, but you will rejoice in heaven with us when you see what God has done through grace to you. So thank you for your support. Thank you for partnering with us, especially as we head toward the end of the year. Yes, friend, thank you for helping us reach people like Jamaica, a clear example of how biblical truth can completely transform someone's desires, ambitions, and every aspect of a life. If you'd like to help minister to people like Jamaica, get in touch with us today. Our toll-free number here, 855-GRACE, or you can express your support at our website, gty.org. There you can also set up a convenient recurring donation, or you can mail your gift to Grace to You, Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. Thank you for helping make this far-reaching ministry possible.

Again, to partner with us, call us at 800-55-GRACE, or go to our website, gty.org. And while you're at the website, gty.org, make sure to download the Study Bible app if you haven't done it already. It gives you the full text of Scripture, it connects you to thousands of resources, including sermons, blog articles, and Q&As, to help you understand what you're reading. And for a reasonable price, you can add the MacArthur Study Bible Notes, which explains virtually every passage of Scripture. To download the Study Bible app, visit gty.org. That's our website. One more time, gty.org. Now for John MacArthur and the Grace to You staff, I'm Phil Johnson, encouraging you to make it a priority to be here tomorrow, when John will help you answer this question, What does it mean to love the right way, God's way? It's another half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time, on Grace to You.