HOW TO BE A ROLE MODEL
Ephesians 5:1-21
By Lay Pastor Stephanus F.Y. Songan
Johor, Sunday, October 28, 2018
Shalom,
When it comes to being role models, our perfect role model on earth is the Lord Jesus Christ. Unlike in the fashion world, to be a role model is quite challenging. The catwalk mannequins are well-selected models professionally trained in a particular modeling school. What kind of model does the Lord expect us to be? Ephesians 5:1-2 write, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”
The Lord Jesus has set an example in regard to His love for us and sacrifice as a sweet-smelling aroma to God.
How to be role models in line with the Lord’s standard?
We must first do it among ourselves (in the church).
The Letter to the Ephesians points out how to be a new man in the church (in Ephesus) before they reach out to outsiders. The following verses explain it. “Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another” (Ephesians 4:25). Instead, “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19). Therefore, being a role model / imitating God should start from the smallest circle – a family, a marriage, a household. Then it develops in the church and eventually proceeds to the society. Our ‘inner beauty’ should shine out.
The Lord expects us to be imitators of God. In the Indonesian language, ‘’imitation’ means ‘copy,’ not real. It is clear that we are not the real ones, but the imitation of Jesus. We simply follow Him, imitating Him until we become closely similar to God. Yet, we are not God. Only God is the real one. We are just His imitators.
Let’s have a look at this illustration: When seeing a beautiful piece of sparkling jewelry, we can’t wait to wear it. In fact, it is a fake. How much more would we wish to wear it if it were a genuine one. In the same way, we are imitators of Jesus. Let people around us see Jesus in our lives as we follow in His footsteps. No matter how holy our lives may be in other poeple’s eyes, we are only His imitators. All glory is to God. We must never steal His glory. Nor should people’s praises turn our heads. If we live a good, holy married life, for example, we must always remember that this is only possible because of Him instead of our greatness. All glory should go back to Him as the creator of marriage.
1 Peter 2:21-23 is a reminder for us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. He has set an example of suffering without revenge. He surrendered it all to His Father, the just Judge. The example we can take from Him is how to live in love and stay ready to sacrifice. Without love, pride will rule over us.
We are to imitate God, live in love and stay ready to sacrifice. Besides, we are reminded of the fact that we once lived in darkness but now live in the light of God (Ephesians 5:8). What does it mean? It means a significant transformation/repentance – from darkness to light. Once we were dead in trespasses and sins. Then we put off our old man along with the misleading desires (Ephesians 2:1,22) to be made alive together with Christ and to be the children of light.
Living in Christ means living a new life. However, we are reminded of our pasts to keep us modest and away from our old lifestyles. For that reason, we must clearly understand the difference between the old (dark) and the new (light) lives.
The application is: Living in the light, we become role models regarding love and sincere sacrifice void of pride. Do not draw or turn back to your old lifestyle as this displeases the Lord.
What might cause some Christians to turn back to the old ways?
- Lack of spiritual growth. Despite years of following the Lord, they dislike solid food (God’s Word) but desire milk (Hebrews 5:12-14).
- Lack of endurance. They cannot bear suffering (Hebrews 10:36-39).
Beware! When one turns back to his old life, his life will be much worse than before. It’s like a dog returning to his own vomit and a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire (2 Peter 2:20-22).
We have these labels: (Children of) light and holy (people). As an illustration: The label on a product shows the ingredients of the product. For example, 2% alcohol means that drink contains 2% of alcohol.
As role models, we bear the label of children of light and holy people. Spotting this label, people know that we live a holy life and do not walk in darkness. If we live a holy life and walk in the light, we do not practice fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking and coarse jesting (Ephesians 5:3-4) that anyone can poin out to us. We are holy because of the blood of Christ (Hebrews 13:12). Also, we are children of light for we believe in Jesus, the light itself (John 12:36). Application: We must guard and keep our words, actions and behaviors in holiness and light. We must shy away from lies and maintain integrity as well as honesty. As a matter of fact, we have many clever and even ingenious people but only few of them are honest. The truth is that both secular and spiritual worlds need honest people, rather than intelligent but dishonest people. For example, when an honest businessman goes bankrupt, he will soon bounce back since he can apply for a bank loan. Aside from that, his friends will help him out because they rely on his honesty. By contrast, no one trusts a businessman double-crossing people here and there.
Ephesians 5:10 says,”Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.” If we speak in honesty or in light, later people will see our fruits of goodness, righteousness, and truth in our life (Ephesians 5:9).
Don’t forget that we bear a holy-and-light label whenever it is and wherever and we are.
We have a strong sense of purpose to manage our time, to know His will and to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:15-21)
What are our daily lifestyles like?
- Have we been redeeming our time (making the most of our time, making the time of every opportunity) because these days are evil? How do we, as holy people and children of light redeem our time? A businessman uses his time to make as much money as possible. Everyone has 24 hours a day. How much time do we spend sleeping, working or studying, reading the Bible, praying, etc.? Let's chart our daily activities in detail to find out how we redeem the time that God gives us!
Why must we redeem our time? Because these days are evil. So, we must make use of our time to fight the wickedness in this world with our good deeds. Let’s benefit from our time to glorify the Lord and fight against the evil. Let’s not stay idle wasting our time on the desires of the flesh. We must unveil / expose the works of darkness and let the Word of God shine on them. We used to waste too much time when we lived in the darkness. Now it is time for us to redeem and use our time by doing good deeds and practicing righteousness and truth.
- How do we understand God’s will? By reading the Bible and meditating on it. To know and put God’s will into practice, we must refer to the Bible.
However, how can we understand God’s will if we are too lazy to go to church, read and meditate on the Bible? Let’s intensify our fellowship with other children of God to build our faith and understand His will more deeply.
The less we go to church, the less we understand God’s will. As a result, our light slowly becomes dim and our holiness gradually fades out. We are no longer sensitive to what the Holy Spirit says. We no longer follow His guidance and may end up with something fatal. A case example: The devil filled the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira in such a way that they lied to the Holy Spirit. Their action cost them their death (Ephesians 5:1-10).
- The Holy Spirit must fill and control our hearts. Let’s spare no room for evil thoughts because the devil can quickly sneak in and overpower our hearts. Rather, let our hearts be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we will speak in psalms and sing to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19). We can communicate with each other through songs and praises – teaching, admonishing one another and singing praises to the Lord (Colossians 3:16). In fact, while singing, we can strengthen each another.
Do we live in the light and holiness? If so, our actions show goodness, righteousness and truth. Besides, we know how to redeem our time to glorify the Lord and understand His will. On top of that, the Holy Spirit guides our lives so that we give thanks and sing praises every day. Amen.