Imitate God, Walk in Love, Smell Like Jesus

Paul wraps up the put off, put on commands of Ephesians 4 with a bigger calling: “Be imitators of God as beloved children” and “walk in love.” The command is not just, be better, make good choices, get your act together. God is making his children new, so that new life should look like him. The new man is created in God’s likeness. Imitating God means living out what God is already doing through the gospel.

God’s image goes all the way back to Genesis. Sin has marred that image, but the gospel is making people new so they can actually image God in the world. Truth telling, giving, forgiveness, and kindness are more than a list of good behaviors. These practices show what it looks like to be a copycat of God.

The phrase “beloved children” puts the whole command inside a family relationship. God is not some big bully in the sky demanding better behavior. The Father calls Jesus his beloved Son, and that same word spreads throughout the New Testament to describe the brothers and sisters in Christ. The Father’s love gives obedience its setting and its motivation. Walking in love grows out of being loved.

Christ shows exactly what that walk looks like: he loved and gave himself. Biblical love is not just warm fuzzies. Love gives time, energy, money, and skills for somebody else’s good. The walking picture calls for actual mile markers: a borrowed car, a meal delivered, exhausted parents given a break. Self giving makes love visible.

Christ’s giving was an offering and a sacrifice, a sweet smelling aroma to God. The sacrifices stretching from Noah’s altar through the Old Testament find their true and greater fulfillment in Jesus. His sacrifice satisfies God’s wrath and brings favor. Christian generosity does not pay for anybody’s sins, but sacrificial love does offer something pleasing to God, just as the Philippians’ financial gift did.

Paul’s commands put that love into everyday clothes: truth instead of lying, giving instead of stealing, building words instead of rotten words, kindness and forgiveness instead of a hostile heart. Even right anger needs a short life rather than a permanent home. The Holy Spirit supplies help, not a bootstraps program of trying harder.

The closet clean out picture ends with clean clothes and a new aroma. The new man is not an outfit for staying alone in a room. God’s renewing work sends his children among people to imitate God, walk in love, and smell like Jesus.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Beloved children imitate from belonging. Paul places “beloved children” right beside the command to imitate God. The Father’s love is not a prize handed out after enough good behavior; it is the family setting in which obedience grows. Gospel shaped morality replaces the shame of “try harder” with the desire to resemble the Father who already loves his children. [48:56]
• 2. Love leaves mile markers of giving. Christ’s love takes the shape of giving himself for the good of others. The walking picture makes vague intentions give way to concrete evidence: time shared, money given, needs met. Those mile markers provide a searching test of whether love is shaping a life or merely describing a feeling. [52:59]
• 3. Christ’s sacrifice gives generosity its fragrance. Christ’s offering accomplishes what ordinary generosity never could: his sacrifice satisfies God’s wrath and brings favor. Paul’s description of the Philippians’ gift as a “fragrant offering” gives everyday generosity a remarkable dignity without making it another payment for sin. Sacrificial love pleases God because it reflects the Son, not because it adds anything to his finished sacrifice. [1:04:27]
• 4. Renewal replaces more than bad habits. God’s grace does more than stop a thief from stealing; it turns a taker into a giver. The same renewal replaces rotten speech with words that strengthen somebody else, and a hostile heart with kindness and forgiveness. The new man displays more than restraint: God’s own generous character begins to show up in ordinary relationships. [1:15:24]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [35:31] - Singing to the King
• [38:12] - Ephesians 5 Completes the Picture
• [39:09] - Becoming Copycats of God
• [43:49] - Imitating God as Beloved Children
• [49:18] - Walking in Love Like Jesus
• [51:27] - Mile Markers of Self Giving
• [56:12] - Christ’s Offering and Pleasing Aroma
• [1:04:27] - Generosity That Smells Like Jesus
• [1:07:53] - Putting Off the Old, Putting On the New
• [1:16:49] - Clean Clothes and a New Aroma

1. How does Paul’s description of the new self in Ephesians 4:24 connect with the call to imitate God in Ephesians 5:1–2? [40:07]
2. In Ephesians 4:32 and 5:1–2, how do God’s forgiveness and Christ’s love provide patterns for the way believers treat others? [50:48]
3. What examples of giving time, energy, money, or possessions show what self-giving love looks like in everyday life? [54:32]
4. What changes in speech, generosity, and relationships show the difference between the old life and the new life God is creating? [01:15:02]

1. Why does it matter that Paul places the command to imitate God within the relationship of a loving Father and his children? How might this change a believer’s motivation for obedience after a failure? [48:56]
2. How does Christ’s giving of himself challenge the idea that love is mainly a feeling? What difference would that make when helping someone is inconvenient? [52:26]
3. How can a Christian’s generosity please God without paying for sin or adding anything to Christ’s sacrifice? Why is that distinction important when someone feels a need to earn God’s approval? [01:06:13]
4. Why is becoming a giver a deeper change than simply stopping stealing? What does that reveal about the kind of renewal God is bringing about? [01:11:11]

1. When you fall back into an old habit, what do you tend to tell yourself about God and about yourself? How might remembering that you are his dearly loved child help you admit your sin and turn back to him? [01:09:15]
2. Looking back over the past month, what concrete examples of self-giving love can you see in your life? Where do you notice your time, energy, or money becoming mostly focused on yourself? [53:16]
3. Is there someone whose need you have noticed but have not known how to respond to? What is one manageable way you could offer your time, skills, possessions, or money for that person’s good this week? [55:25]
4. Think about a recent conversation at home, at work, or at church. Did your words strengthen someone or wear them down? What might a truthful, encouraging follow-up look like? [01:12:00]
5. Is there a hurt you keep replaying or a debt you keep holding over someone? Without sharing more than you are comfortable sharing, what might a next step toward kindness and forgiveness look like, with God’s help? [01:14:14]
6. Which change feels hardest right now: telling the truth, giving generously, speaking helpfully, or forgiving? What would depending on the Holy Spirit look like in one specific situation, and how could this group support you? [01:13:24]