Film pics. Characters & Actors Yoda & Gollum. Real-life vs computer generated (CGI) or animatronics. It’s often really hard to tell the difference between the two. Which are real and which are not? There is make-up, wigs, masks, etc for real actors, and the computer generated characters are so life-like you rarely notice the difference, especially when engrossed in the film. They move and talk like real actors, but they’re not, they are imitations of life.

Church can be like that. Look around this school hall. Who’s a Christian and who’s not? In reality we could all appear to be Christians. I mean, we’re all in church aren’t we? We all stand up and sit down as directed. Most of us, if not all, sing the songs. We all bow our heads and close our eyes when we are praying. We all say and do the right things over coffee before and after. So were all Christians, right?

Well maybe, maybe not, but it’s the right answer to the wrong question. It’s not whether I look like a Christian and play the part on a Sunday - No, the mark of a true Christian is a transformed and transforming life; a definite change in thinking, attitude and behaviour.

In other words, we follow God’s example v2. In these 7 verses, Paul describes to the church at Ephesus, and to us, 3 characteristics of someone following God’s example.

1. Living a Life of Love v2
This is written in the present tense and Paul is encouraging his readers to make unconditional, selfless love a habitual part of their everyday life.

In other words he is saying, that we are to look out for the best interest of others in everything we do, that our lives should be marked by unselfishness on a continual basis

Love - this is not simply a sentiment or a feeling - the love talked about here, actually, is in spite of sentiment or warm fuzzy feeling being absent. It is commitment, self-sacrifice and putting others first regardless of how you feel about the other person.

We are commanded to love our friends and enemies. Feelings have nothing to do with it.

This is grace. Giving people what they don’t deserve. If people are mean to us, then they deserve to at least be ignored, or maybe gossiped about, or maybe sabotage their careers, or spread lies about them. Right? No, the gospel says we should do the opposite. To be grace is to show this kind of love to everyone. Not just the friend sat next to you this morning, but to the next door neighbours you’ve fallen out with, the person at work who make your life a misery, etc.

This is a love which shows itself practically: Giving lifts, phone calls, hospitality, having people over for lunch / dinner, attending home group to support the person who has prepared it rather than watching football, litter picking, De-icing neighbours drives and paths

And Paul reminds us that we have the perfect example of what living a life of love looks like. All be have to do is look at Jesus. He showed this kind of love and He did it ultimately by sacrificing Himself for us, giving up His own life so that we could live.

And this expression of love was a "fragrant offering". In other words it was pleasing to God, His Father. Volunteers - 2 smells perfume & fish sauce.

We need to be clear that we can never earn or deserve our salvation and there is nothing we could do to cause God to love us any more or less than He already does - but it is possible to either disappoint or please Him. We live can either be a sweet aroma that pleases Him or a foul odour that grieves Him. Here, we are encouraged to follow God’s example and live a life of love. And by doing so, we will please our Father.

2. Living a Life of Thanksgiving v4
Our tongue should for thanksgiving, for good. We should encourage and build others up, not engage in foolish talk. It is so easy to go along with the gossip - especially, as we have seen, about those who have done us wrong. But, Paul tells us, they are out of place. Elsewhere in the Bible the tongue is referred to as a small ‘bit’ that controls a powerful horse, or a small rudder directing a huge boat.

Gossip is so damaging and so easy. No least because of the easy lies we tell ourselves to excuse it - because as we all know, Christians don’t gossip, they 'share'. "I thought you ought to know, out of love and concern, you understand!" "You wouldn’t believe... but I’m only telling you so you can pray about them." We convince ourselves it’s okay with because it’s not that bad or we are doing out of "concern, no really, I didn’t mean any harm."

We need to watch our tongues as I suspect it’s the thing we all struggle with the most. Being a Christian affects every part of our life.

3. Living a Life of Worship v5
What do I mean by that? Well I mean we should always be full of song. We should have Christian CDs in our homes and cars, whenever we have a spare moment we should be singing a hymn out loud or in our head. That way we have a smile and a spring in our step - two things all Christians should have. Right?

Wrong. Worship is about our commitment to God and putting Him first. It is sometimes easier to explain something in terms of opposites. And the opposite of WORSHIP is IDOLATRY. Excellent. So what is idolatry? Well, idolatry is anything that takes God’s rightful place of NUMBER 1 in our lives. It is the opposite of having God first, it is false worship. If you read the Old Testament, you will read of all sorts of idols - loads of different animals made out of all sorts of materials. But they don’t have anything on us and the variety of idols we have. Our ability to put things before God is almost unlimited! It could be money, material possessions, status, sport, family, children, holidays.

There was a guy who was working loads of overtime. A colleague asked him why. 'There’s this 42 inch plasma TV I’m saving us for. Top of the range. It’s amazing.' A few months later, the same guy was working even more overtime. The same colleague asked him why. 'Well', he said, 'I got the 42 inch plasma TV home and set it up and turned it on and the first thing I was an advert for a brand new 58 inch plasma TV! So I’m saving up for that.'

Funny story, but it’s idolatry.

Just like gossip, it is so easy to trick yourself. Last year as we were expecting our first baby, we started thinking about a bigger house. But we couldn’t afford one. Some of you will know I give advice on CV and interview skills and I got to thinking about setting up an CV internet business that I could do at the weekend and nights. The idea of the extra cash to buy a new house for my new family was very appealing. But what about Sundays? What about home group? What about preparation time for Bible Talks? It’s greed and idolatry that drives those thoughts. You will have your own temptations, but we need to keep going back to God and the Bible.

What does God think about idolatry? Verse 5

If you are to follow God’s example and live a life of love, He needs to be number 1.

4. Living THE Life
The message of Paul here is really clear. He is saying to us, 'Listen, if you are a Christian you have a new nature, if you are following God’s example, your life will be different. You will do not do these things.

And if any one tells you different, they are deceiving you v6. You see, the Bible says that every person is a rebel. Our relationship with God is wrong. It’s sad, but comforting that there isn’t anyone in this room who is better than anyone else.

But instead of God punishing us, He punished His Son, Jesus Christ on the cross. And if you believe that you are a rebel and that Jesus died for you, then it’s as if you were never accused of being a rebel in the first place.

God gives us what we don’t deserve. Grace.

But whilst the Bible tells us that there is nothing we can do to earn favour with God - it is free - it does have a cost. Because a Christian not only BELIEVES, but BEHAVES.

And our mission statement for SDCC is: "To equip God’s people to be grace in the community to the glory of God." This is what it is "to be grace". This is what we should be being equipped to do. This is the life of love that will change the world just as Ghandi said. "If all Christians acted like Christ, the whole world would be Christian."

1. Am I a true Christian or am I just pretending?
2. Is there anything in my life that I've put above God and what am I going to do about it?
3. What practical thing am I going to do this week to put God first in my life and follow his example by living a life of love, thanksgiving and worship?

Vision and Values