Passage: Ephesians 5:1-2
There may no more beautiful description of what the Christian life should look like than our text for this morning’s sermon. Closely connected with last week’s passage, Paul now encourages the Ephesian church by painting a word picture of what he has been teaching them about putting off the old man and putting on the new. Specifically, his exhortation to imitate God is a reminder that the new man was “created after the likeness of God” (4:24) and that the gospel motivation for changing the way we relate to others flows out of an understanding of the forgiveness we have in Christ (4:32). Paul holds no false notions of love as the world would define it. Instead, he points us to the costly, self-sacrificial, forgiving love of Christ as the model for Christian love.