Examine Your Allegiance

When we do not imitate God and do not manifest His characteristics, we prove by our actions that we do not belong to God but to the devil. Our lips may say we are children of God, but our actions prove otherwise.

Ephesians 5:1-6 - 1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Have you ever noticed that the Gospel writers dedicated significant time to the last week of Jesus’ life on earth, which led to the cross? It started with people welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem with palm branches symbolic of triumph, peace, and eternal life. Matthew 21:4 tells us that it was the fulfillment of an old prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 about the Messianic eternal King, which reads, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Why a donkey? Riding a horse signified war-waging warrior kings who came to conquer with violence, but riding a donkey meant a King was coming in peace and humility. Matthew 21:9 tells us a large crowd was shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” a declaration of the Kingship of Jesus.

The problem is that many who pledged allegiance to Jesus on Palm Sunday as they shouted “Hosanna!” meaning “Save us” within a few days cried “Crucify Him!” They needed to know that His Kingdom was not of this world. That’s what Jesus said before Pilate “My Kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36).

Ephesians 5:1-6 does not recount the events of Palm Sunday, but it calls us to examine our allegiance to Jesus. Our allegiance is not just a one-time declaration but a continuous choice that we make to inherit the kingdom of Christ and God.

The big idea is that if you want to enter His Kingdom, examine your allegiance to Jesus daily and continuously choose Him over worldly desires and pursuits by cultivating a genuine and lasting allegiance to Jesus by following God’s command for imitation, His condition for motivation, and His caution for exaltation.

His Command for Imitation (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Ephesians 5:1 says, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”  Notice three aspects of this command: the nature, need, and necessity of the command to ensure our allegiance to Jesus to inherit the Kingdom of Christ and God.

The Nature of the Command

Yes, Paul is the human author of Ephesians, but don’t forget that this is the Word of God. So, the command to imitate God in verse 1 is a divine command. The uniqueness of this command is that the Greek word for imitator here, from mimetes, means mimicking someone. It is the idea of discipleship. It is used numerous times in the New Testament to follow an example of a human, but this is the only time that we are commanded to imitate God Himself. So, it is not a command to live like born-again humans but to live the way God lives.

The Need for the Command

Why does God need to command believers to imitate Him and live like Him? It goes back to God’s original intentions before the world was created. Genesis 1:27 teaches that we were created in the image of God. He made us to imitate Him. However, when sin entered humanity, we lost most of the image of God. Through Paul, God is calling the church, a community of born-again believers made new in Christ, back to their original purpose to imitate God. God wants Christians to mimic Him. He wants to be our ultimate mentor and model to follow.

The Necessity of the Command

The verse says, “be imitators of God, as beloved children.” Everyone is a creation of God but not everyone is His child. Only those whom God elected and predestined in His Son Jesus before the foundation of the earth to be His adopted children can imitate God as His beloved children.

As our parent, the pattern God gives us is in the incarnation of His Son, Jesus. Since God is Spirit, He gave His Son so that we may follow His example. Jesus said that no one has seen the Father except Him and if you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father.

Therefore, Ephesians 5:2 says, “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” This is a reference to Leviticus 1-3 regarding fragrance offerings and sacrifices to God. The connection here is Christ's character, devotion, and obedience to God to the point of death, and death on the cross was most pleasing to God because He loves us.

The proof of God’s love toward us and Christ's love for God and us was in Christ’s selfless sacrificial act of substitutionary atonement in which He paid the price that we could not pay for our sins and died the death that we deserved for our sins. It was done to secure our salvation and to restore us to the Father. So, love is the key to imitating God to inherit His Kingdom.

In John 13:35, Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, [it is the idea of imitators] if you have love for one another.”

Application

Mimic God and His love by following the pattern God gave us in the incarnation of His Son, Jesus, and His selfless sacrificial love for His Father and who the Father loved, namely us. That is the command we must follow to ensure our allegiance to Jesus to inherit His Kingdom.

His Condition for Motivation (Ephesians 5:3-5)

Imitating God also means pursuing holiness. In Leviticus 11:44 God said, “Be holy for I am holy.” Ephesians 5:3-5 describes God’s condition to motivate us to pursue that holiness. Verses 3-4 reads, “3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.”

The Greek word for sexual immorality, porneia, includes all kinds of sexual activities in the absence of self-control. The only solution is in selfless, sacrificial love which is found within a Christian marriage covenant between a man and a woman with Christ being the center of it. Everything else is a false demonic man-made concession in the name of selfish love.

We cannot pledge allegiance to the kingship of Christ and defile our bodies at the same time. Ephesians 5 says that there should not be even mention of filthy behaviors because that can provoke thoughts that can lead to sinful action.

Don’t think of it, don’t see it, read it, or joke about it because Ephesians 5:5 says, “For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” This is written to the church, supposedly Christians. God’s condition to be a part of the Kingdom of God is to end these kinds of behaviors that belong to the world or else be sure you will not inherit the kingdom of Christ and God. That is the strongest motivation for imitating God for holiness.

In the first century, there was this awful teaching known as Gnosticism that crept into the church. They said that spirit is good, but matter is evil. They said the physical body is not important— it is the soul that we should be concerned about. That nonsense gave room to immorality and sexual perversion among Christians. Our culture is doing the same. Today we live in a world where the pervasive idea of love grants permission to indulge in all sorts of sexually immoral behaviors. Many churches say that is love and God is love, so how could it be sin?

Application

If we want to enter the kingdom of God, we need to show in our actions what we believe in our hearts. If we have zero impact on the world and yet we say that we are Christians, that negates our confession of faith. Therefore, God’s condition to motivate us to imitate God is to pursue holiness or forget about inheriting the Kingdom of God.

His Caution for Exaltation (Ephesians 5:6)

Ephesians 5:6 reads, “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” This verse warns against being swayed by superficial or deceptive ideas. God’s caution to us is to not be deceived by empty words for anyone including oneself because if we practice all the things mentioned in verses 3-5, we will not inherit God’s kingdom but rather we will face God’s wrath. Therefore, the exaltation for those who pledge allegiance to Jesus to inherit Hid Kingdom is to imitate God just as Christ imitated God and offered Himself up as a living sacrifice a sweet smelling to God.

I was talking to a believer who stated the nature of his sin that he struggles with the most and then he began to talk about God's grace and how he is thankful for it. I interjected the brother and told him he needed to stop permitting himself to continue to live in sin. God’s Word teaches that we cannot just say empty words and not follow through. Don’t listen to yourself or someone else who may try to comfort you by validating your sinful behavior.

Application

Don’t abuse grace. Don’t try to justify your sins. Rather seek help.  Seek spiritual mentors, and professional counselors, and take intentional and active steps to break habits of sin. We cannot pledge allegiance to Jesus and Satan at the same time.

As we close, I want you to imagine the pain Christ went through when many of the people who on Palm Sunday shouted “Hosanna! (Save us!)” and within a few days shouted, “Crucify Him!” Now imagine the pain Christ goes through when we who once said, “Save us, Jesus,” turned and said, “Crucify Him.”

We crucify Him when we pledge allegiance to Jesus but live for the world, when we do not imitate God and His love as demonstrated by His Son Jesus but rather imitate the world and worldly, self-centered love, when we give ourselves over to worldly pleasure and cling to selfish desires rather than selfless sacrificial love for Jesus.

So please take God’s command for imitation, condition for motivation, and caution for exaltation in Ephesians 5:1-6 seriously or else we will not inherit the kingdom of Christ and God.

Appeal

Examine your allegiance to King Jesus by examining your behavior. Repent from behaviors that are contrary to God’s holiness. Pledge allegiance to the Kingship of Jesus by embracing Jesus fully even if it leads to suffering and sacrifice. The basis for imitating God is that we are His beloved children but when we do not imitate Him and do not manifest His characteristics rather our characteristics match the character of the devil then we prove by our actions that we do not belong to God but the devil. Our lips may say we are children of God, but our actions prove otherwise.

Study Questions

1. What is “therefore” in Ephesians 5:1 there for?

2. What does the command, “be imitators of God,” mean in Ephesians 5:1? In what way we can be imitators of God?

3. What does “walking in love” mean in Ephesians 5:2? What is the connection between Ephesians 5:1 and 5:2?

4. How is Christ “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” in Ephesians 5:2?

5. On what grounds can one have “no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God?” Does it mean that Christians who are sexually immoral, impure, and covetous will not enter into heaven?

Deeper Study Questions

1. Give a practical example from your life where you are actively trying to imitate God.

2. What does “empty words” mean in Ephesians 5:6? In what way you are protecting yourself from being deceived with empty words?

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