Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1725
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, June 10, 1883
“Be you therefore followers of God, as dear children.” Ephesians 5:1.
WE shall read the text as it should more properly be translated—“Be you therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.” Upon the word, “imitate,” our discourse will hinge. The division into chapters is often most unfortunate and, in this case, it causes a break in a passage which, in its sense, is one and indivisible. The Apostle had said, “Be you kind, one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven you. Be you therefore imitators of God, as dear children.” He has forgiven you, therefore imitate Him. It is a pity to have divided the argument from the conclusion.
Here, while your minds are fresh, let me remind you that this is Hospital Sunday. And let me add that my text is an argument, and a powerful one, for helping those houses of mercy. Your Lord would have you be kind, one to another, and tenderhearted—but how can we be kind and tenderhearted if the sick poor are not cared for? When all the machinery and all the medical skill are waiting to relieve the suffering poor, it is a crying shame that beds in hospitals should be unused because of lack of funds. Yet this is sadly the case and several of those grand institutions are running into debt. We may, ourselves, have no surgical skill, or nursing art, but we can each give of our substance to aid those whose lives are consecrated to the Christ-like work of healing.
We cannot be kind and tenderhearted unless we give according to our ability to such noble institutions as our hospitals. Preachers generally put the application at the end of a discourse, but on these warm days you are apt to grow tired and, therefore, I put the application at the beginning, that you may not give faintly and scantily when the sermon is over! All sorts of religionists are contributing to the common fund and we must not be lacking. When the box comes round, “be you imitators of God, as dear children,” in the largeness of your liberality and the freeness of your gifts! The Apostle urges us to give and forgive. If you are imitators of God, give, for He is always giving. Give, for if He were not to give, our lives would end! Give, for He gives unto all men liberally and upbraids not, and every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Be you imitators of God, the constant, generous Giver, who spared not His own Son! Thanks be to His name for that unspeakable Gift!
Then comes that which, to most men, is a harder task, but which to a Christian man is a delight—I mean to forgive. God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven us. He has blotted out our transgressions like a cloud and cast our sins into the depth of the sea, plunging them into oblivion! Therefore, let us forgive most freely all who have done us wrong, so that when we bow our knees, we may say without hypocrisy, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us.” Let giving and forgiving be two prominent features of our lives as Christians—giving to the needy and forgiving the guilty. Giving to such as ask of us and forgiving such as offend us. By these two things let us show that we walk in love as Christ also has loved us. He has given Himself for us and through His precious blood we are forgiven our iniquities. Let us, therefore, blend giving and forgiving into one God-like life, imitating our God. This is our Father’s Commandment—let it be our delight!
I. With this as a preface, let us now come closely to the text, and let us CONSIDER THE PRECEPT here laid down—“Be you imitators of God, as dear children.” I note upon this precept, first, that it calls us to practical duty. Many precepts of the Word of God are thought by men of the world to be unpractical, but even in those instances, they are in error, for the result and outcome of such precepts produce the practical holiness which all profess to desire. In this instance there can be no argument at the too spiritual, sentimental, or speculative character of the text—there can be no question as to the eminently practical character of the exhortation—“Be you imitators of God, as dear children,” for it points to action, continued action of the best kind.
“Be you imitators”—that is, do not only meditate upon God and think that you have done enough, but go on to copy what you study. Meditation is a happy, holy, profitable engagement. It will instruct you, strengthen you, comfort you, inspire your heart and make your soul steadfast. But you may not stop at meditation—you must go on to imitation of the Character of God! Let your spiritual life not only bud and blossom in devout thought, but let it bring forth fruit in holy action. Be not satisfied with feeding the soul by meditation, but rise up from the banquet and use the strength which you have gained! Sitting at the feet of Jesus must be succeeded by following in the footsteps of Jesus!