In his sermon titled 'What Love is This?', Carl Provost explores the scriptural call for believers to be imitators of God, specifically focusing on Ephesians chapter 5. He explains that while God's incommunicable attributes, such as omniscience and omnipresence, cannot be replicated by humans, His communicable attributes like love, goodness, and mercy can and should be imitated. Provost draws parallels between the natural tendency of children to mimic their parents and the spiritual call to mimic God, emphasizing trust and reliance on God similar to that of a child with a parent. He discusses the importance of knowing Christ to understand God, as Jesus exemplifies God's attributes. The sermon also highlights the command to walk in love, as Christ loved us, and the significance of love in fulfilling God's commandments. Provost delves into the atoning work of Christ, portraying it as the basis for God's love, and illustrates how Jesus' life and sacrifice serve as the ultimate model for godly love. Additionally, he underscores that the love demonstrated by believers is evidence of God's spirit dwelling within them, urging the congregation to love one another, including their enemies, as a testament to being children of God.

Please turn with me in your copy of God's Word to Ephesians chapter 5. 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 Savior. Heavenly Father, we come before you. Father, as you've given us your Word, and your Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path. And Father, we recognize that we stand here today because of Christ Jesus.

We pray that Your Holy Spirit would open our hearts and teach our hearts Your Word. We pray in Your Son Christ Jesus' name, Amen. We come to the passage today and we look at this concept and this command of imitating God. The concept of imitating, in fact, the King James said here, be followers of God. But the concept is To mimic.

And we can think of children, especially small children, as you see that son trying to imitate his father. The daughter trying to imitate her mother. In good homes, good loving homes, it's just natural for the children to desire to be like their parents and to imitate them. In fact, most of what they learn at the early age is from imitating us and what they see us doing. And in fact, at times we'll see them imitating things we don't want them to imitate, but that's the nature of children.

They imitate those whom they look towards and trust. As we grow older, oftentimes we find others to imitate. Maybe a spiritual father or maybe a mentor, someone in the faith, and we imitate them. As we come to the text today, it says, and it's actually a command, that we are to imitate God. Now, it's easy to think about children imitating their father or their mother, but to think about imitating God, He is holy, He is other, He is omniscient, omnipresent, but we are commanded to be imitators.

In thinking about how we are like God and how we are not like God, theologians have developed lists, and I'm not going to go through them extensively, but one's called the Incommunicable Attributes of God, and one's called the Communicable Attributes of God. Basically, the Incommunicable Attributes, that He's infinite, eternal, unchangeable, all of the omnies, is this understanding that there are aspects about God that we cannot be. It's what makes Him God. But there's also the communicable attributes. Goodness, justice, love, mercy, truthfulness, wisdom, and many other communicable attributes.

And we recognize that if there's anything good in us, it comes from God. And those are the attributes that we can imitate. That we can imitate. So how do we be imitators of God? As we look at the text today, we're going to look at it as imitate God as children, walk in love as Christ, and what love is this?

We come into our text today, verse 1 of chapter 5, it says, Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children. Or be therefore imitators of God as dear children. I think the way we understand that and the way I'm leading to this is that term as dear children. See, we recognize that in children. And so therefore, it helps us to understand how we are to be imitators of God.

Think of a child. They're trusting. They're believing in what their parents tell them. And in fact, they're oftentimes suspect of anyone else. A stranger comes around and a small child will oftentimes pull close to his parent, Wrap their arm around his leg and hold tight.

There's safety there, for they trust their parents. Also think of the first time you take one of your children to the doctor. And you have to explain to your child that you trust the doctor, therefore they must trust the doctor. They're really having a hard time with this. They trust you, but they don't really trust this man who's the doctor.

And you're trying to explain that this is good for them. And oftentimes you have to tell them that what's fixing to happen to them is going to hurt, but that it's good for them and that they just have to trust you. And so we see this in children. They have a trust in us. And we are told to be imitators of our Father in heaven, of God, as children.

See, we were adopted into the family of God through the redeeming work of Christ. We are told that we have been adopted through Christ Jesus with Him being the firstborn, by which we can cry out, Abba, Father. The word Abba is like our word daddy. It's saying that if we are in Christ Jesus, that our Heavenly Father is our daddy. And just as we can pull in tight and wrap our arm around the leg of our Father when we're a small child, it's saying that we can have that same level of trust and protection from our Heavenly Father.

And so we are told to be imitators of our Heavenly Father as children. We are also instructed to pray, Our Father who art in heaven. So how do we know the Father? How do we know those communicable attributes? How do we come to know who He is and what pleases Him?

In John chapter 14, 8-10, it said, Philip said unto the Lord, Show us the Father, and it suffices us. And Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me? Philip, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me?

The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the works." See, Jesus is teaching there that in order for us to truly know the Father, we have to know Christ. And if we know Christ, then we know the Father. We also see this concept of following Christ as being how we follow the Father. Imitating Christ being how we imitate the Father.

In the words of Paul when he says, Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. See, Paul was teaching that I am a follower of Christ. And that my desire, because I am an imitator of Christ Jesus, is you can be imitators of me. And that's that concept of those spiritual fathers, or those who are strong in the faith that have brought us along. And it's saying that we, as imitators of God the Father, by imitators of Christ Jesus, we also bear witness to those around us and to our children.

And so if we want to have godly children, we have to be imitators of God. It's that understanding, it's command to be imitators of God. See, Christ came as an example for us. Not just as an example, we'll talk about that later, but He came as an example. He came and did what we couldn't do for ourselves.

And he came as a child and he grew in stature and he sinned not. And he was anointed and he preached the gospel. He lived a life and we have the gospel records and we can see who Jesus is. A number of years ago there was these bracelets that were popular, WWJD, what would Jesus do? And of course the reformed community sort of made fun of those.

And it was because of the likeness and the lack of reverence oftentimes for Jesus. But the concept really isn't that far off. It probably should be WDJD, what did Jesus do? Because we have a record of what he did. And one way we can know the Father and imitate the Father is by knowing Jesus.

Because Jesus reveals the Father to us. As we looked at this letter of Ephesians, most of the second half of chapter four, was about putting off the flesh, putting off our old self, and putting on Christ. And there was a whole list of things that we put on. And these are those attributes that reflect God the Father. In essence, we are putting on, when we put on Christ, we are putting on God.

In chapter 4, he changes his analogy. He goes from this concept of putting off and putting on to our walk. And in fact, we'll see in the first part of chapter five and the coming weeks that he talks about walking in love, walking in the light and walking in wisdom. But the greatest of these is the first one we deal with here today. Walking in love.

This is also a command. It's the ultimate example of what we are commanded to walk in. Walk in love. In verse 2 he says, And walk in love as Christ also have loved us. See, we walk in love because Christ first loved us.

In John 13, 34 to 35, it says, A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, If you have love one to another. There's Jesus speaking to his disciples and he's saying, In order to imitate me, I have loved you, therefore you should love one another. So we imitate God by loving one another. More extensively in John chapter 15 verses 9 through 17 Verse 9-17 says, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.

There's Christ imitating the Father. Continue ye in my love. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it to you. These things I command you, that ye love one another." And there we see this whole concept of Him coming to display the love of the Father to His people.

And that we are called and commanded to display the love of the Father to people. See, we are told to love our brethren. Romans 12, 10 says, Be kindly, affectionate one to another with brotherly love and honor, preferring one another. Now most of us find that one easier, but not always so. We are to love our enemies.

It says, but I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, for he maketh his Son to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust, that you may be children of your Father." Loving our enemies is another way that we imitate God the Father. The way that we show that we are children of God. We also see that love fulfills the law. In Romans 13, 8-10 it says, Oh no man anything but to love one another. For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

For this thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. And if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying namely that thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself love worketh no ill to his neighbor therefore love is the fulfilling of the law see the understanding there is if we love like God loves, we will keep the commandments. We won't hate our brother. So what did Jesus do? What was the example He left for us?

We are told that He came and that He loved the publican and the sinner. He loved the Samaritan woman at the well, who when questioned about her husband, was told, you have five husbands and the man you're currently with is not your husband. He loved the woman called an adultery. When there were no accusers left, He said, go and sin no more. He loved the prostitute who washed His feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

So what was the basis of this love? The Pharisees said, surely this man is not a prophet if he doesn't know the nature of this woman. And in explaining this to the Pharisee, Jesus said, he told him a parable about a man who had forgiven two debtors, one a very small debt and one a very large debt. And he said, now which of these people will love the man more? And the Pharisee said, I assume the man who was forgiven more.

And the concept that Jesus was teaching there was the one who has been forgiven much loves much." See, the Pharisee didn't offer him any water for his feet. It was considered common hospitality there to have a servant come and wash the feet of someone who came into your home. But this woman comes in and pours her tears out upon the feet of Jesus and wipes them with her hair and anoints his head with oil because she recognized that it was Him who had forgiven her sins. What love is this? What is the basis for this love?

We see in the remainder of this verse in chapter, in verse 2 of chapter 5 of Ephesians. And hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor." See in this we see the basis for this kind of love? How is it that the unlovely can be loved? How is it that this prostitute can approach the Son of God and pour her tears out upon His feet. It's because of the atoning work of Christ.

And in this we see that He came as a prophet and a priest and a king. See, when we look at the system that's given to us in the Old Testament, we are told that it is types and shadows that point forward to Christ. And we see many different sacrifices in the Old Testament. And all of them in one way or another point to what Christ is going to accomplish. Because what Christ did on the cross was so comprehensive that it embodied every aspect that we're taught in the sacrificial system in the Old Testament.

For they all foreshadowed Christ. See, Christ came as a prophet. We see that He was anointed by the Holy Spirit for the beginning of His ministry. For He was baptized by John, and the Holy Spirit came down upon Him. He came in the flesh in order to set captives free.

He stood in the temple. In Luke 4, 18-21, His words say, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all of them were in the synagogue, were fastened upon him, and he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." He declared His role as a prophet.

Quoting Isaiah 61 there. Let's see, He came as a priest also. He came in the flesh to atone for our sins. For we were all sinners, dead in our trespasses. There were none righteous, no not one.

But yet, just as Adam and Eve were found hiding in the garden. They had attempted to fasten together leaves to make clothes for themselves, but they were not adequate. And we are told that God clothed them in the skins of animals. And so we see that first sacrifice that must take place. Something must die because of sin.

And that was to help them to understand the severity of sin. And that they needed a Savior now. And the promise that was given to them was that there would be a seed that would come through Eve that would bruise the head of Satan. And we're told throughout the Old Testament that that promised seed was coming. And those that trusted in the seed and had faith in the seed were those that were saved in the Old Testament as they looked forward to Christ.

We're told that Abraham was saved by his faith. Paul clearly shows that that seed that he believed in was Christ Jesus. We are given concepts of this concept that Adam brought all humanity into sin in the fall, but that Christ is the second Adam. And He comes to bring those whom are His to cover and atone for their sins. We see this illustrated most clearly probably on the day of atonement.

In Leviticus where it talks about bringing the two goats. And they would cast lots and one of them was devoted to God and one of them was devoted as the scapegoat. And the priest would lay his hand upon the head of the goat and place the sins upon the goat. And the one that was for God was to be sacrificed. It must die for the sins of the people.

But the scapegoat, the sins will be placed upon the head of the scapegoat and it was sent out of the camp. And there what God was teaching them was there is penalty for sin but when those sins have been atoned for they are taking away outside of the camp no more to be seen this concept of expiation is also tied in with the concept of propitiation. And so we understand what Christ accomplished for us, that when he went to the cross, he died for our sins and they are taken away. We are no longer held accountable for them. The price has been paid once and for all.

In 1st John, our love and how we live with each other is clearly tied to the cross. It says, Beloved, 1 John 4, 7 to 13, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. It is this, in this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us His Spirit." What that is clearly teaching there is because your sins have been atoned for, because Jesus Christ was the propitiation for your sins.

And you can now stand before our Holy God. The fact that you love one another is clear evidence that He is in you and that you are in Him. It says no one has seen the Father. And so we know God, we are imitators of God by our faith in Christ Jesus. By trusting in that seed that was promised.

And we, on the benefit of being on this side of the cross, can now clearly see Jesus. And we clearly have His gospel and His word that's given to us that helps us to see Jesus and to be imitators of God. In Hebrews chapter 10, we read about how Christ was the fulfillment of this sacrificial system. It says, For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of the sins every year. And that's speaking to them having to continually bring their sacrifice. That they never made atonement. They were received by God but it was only the faith and that promised seed that truly made atonement for their sins. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

Wherefore when he cometh into the world he sayeth, sacrifice and offerings thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and offerings for sin, thou wouldest not, neither hast thou pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God, he taketh away the first, that he may establish the second, by which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Every priest standeth daily ministering and offering, often times the same sacrifice which can never take away sins. But this man, Christ Jesus, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. See, Christ Jesus came, and as We see in Ephesians, He offered Himself. He freely and willingly went to the cross. And He offered Himself.

And He was that priest who went into the temple, the Holy of Holies. And he was the offering and the sacrifice. And he died on the cross. And His blood was sprinkled on the Holy of Holies to make atonement for our sin. And it said it was once and for all, and He sat down.

He sat down at the right hand of God the Father. And we're also told in Ephesians that it was a sweet savor. We're told in the Old Testament that when they would burn offerings, like the whole burnt offering, and the smoke would go up to God, and it said that it was the sweetness in His nostrils. Now we know that God does not have nostrils, but that's language to help us to understand that it was pleasing to God. And it's saying that the sacrifice of Christ in Jesus, that once and for all sacrifice, was a sweet savor.

It was pleasing to God the Father. God was pleased to pour out His wrath upon the Son for us. But we see that he came as king. He was seated at the right hand of God until his enemies are made his footstool. We are to be imitators of God and we are to walk in love as Christ Jesus continues to reign at the right hand of God the Father.

That We display Christ Jesus to the world by the way that we love one another, by the way that we live in this world. By being imitators of God, we show forth the Gospel by the way that we live. And we are to be about being imitators of God until his enemies are made his footstool. God is advancing the kingdom of Christ through the ministry of His people in this world. And we advance that kingdom by being those who keep the commandments.

And when we find ourselves struggling to love one another, when we find ourselves struggling to love our enemies, When we find ourselves struggling to love our enemies, when we find ourselves struggling to love the unlovely, let us not forget that we were the unlovely. Let us not forget that we have been forgiven much, so therefore we should love one another. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you, and we thank you that you have given us your word and that you have commanded us to be imitators of God and to walk in love. And I pray that you would strengthen us and encourage us and help us to love our brothers in Christ, to love our enemies, to love those who persecute us, and that we would truly be unified as children of God with Christ Jesus as the head by the love that we have for one another.

We pray in Christ Jesus' name, Amen.