The inside cover read, “What
you believe in your heart will define who you become. God wants you to become
like Jesus. This is who God created you to be. It is the most truthful and powerful
way to live.”
While
Ephesians 5:1 in the King James Bible reads, “Be ye
therefore followers of God, as dear children,” every new translation, including
the NKJV, changes the verse to, “Be ye imitators of God.”
“They
take the word ‘follower’ and change it to ‘imitator,’ ” explains Preacher Richard Jordan. “By
the way, the reason they do that is the word translated is the Greek noun ‘mimetes.’
We get the word mime out of the verb
form.
“The
word ‘mimetes’ in the dictionary means an imitator, copier, follower,
impersonator, actor, impostor, counterfeiter. It does means follower, so it’s
perfectly right to translate it follower
but some of those other words don’t sound exactly like what you’d want it to
be.
“In
the Greek language the nouns get their meaning from the verbs and mime means to
‘act a part, to mimic gestures and actions, to take or follow as an example.’
Mimic means to be as close to the original as possible. You remember the mime
Marcel Marceau. He said for a mime to, ‘Let your actions speak in place of your
words.’
“What
do you think of when you hear that word imitate?
You don’t think about the real thing. Just by hearing it, the obvious immediate
implication and meaning carries the direct implication of something that is not
real, that’s a sham, bogus, counterfeit, not genuine.
“To
follow carries the idea of submission
to a leader or to your boss: ‘I’ve got someone whose will and instructions I’m
obeying.’
*****
“You
know the history of the word sincere?
It comes from the Latin and means ‘without wax.’ The origin stems from a time
when fine China was sold and if it had a crack in it, you could fill it with
wax and paint over it so no one could tell. Now, if you held it up to a bright
light you’d see the imperfection in it and so the marketers would stamp it,
‘Without Wax,’ meaning it’s the genuine article, undiminished. That’s who were
to be as Believers.
“Do
you really want to be an imitator of God? Come to Genesis 3:5 and see what
Satan said as he attacked Eve: [5] For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your
eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
“Do
you see the underlying fundamental temptation for Adam and Eve? Satan’s saying,
‘Look, you see all those angels out there? You can be as gods. You can be
independent of God because you can be in the same status as Him, knowing good
and evil.’
“What
happens is this plays right in to the very essence of the satanic policy of
evil of worshipping the creature more than the Creator. What’s the essence of
sin? Isaiah 53:6 is the greatest definition of sin: [6] All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every
one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
“The
thinking of, ‘I’m going to be independent of God and do it my way,’ is the
essence of the middle letter of the word sin
and the word pride. That was the
issue in Genesis 3 and it’s the issue in Ephesians 5, frankly.
*****
“Listen,
a Believer is not to imitate God. We do not imitate Christ; we participate in
Christ’s life. We’re not impersonators; we have Him. We have His life. We are
containers and conduits for the life of Christ. We are the real thing. You got
to get that.
“We’re
followers of God as dear children. You follow God as who you really are. You’re
not trying to mimic something, or act out something so that you can be that—you
already are!
“II
Corinthians 4:11 says, [11] For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus'
sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
“What
does Galatians 2:20 say? [20] I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
“Don’t
settle for something that tells you aren’t who you really are. As soon as you
put yourself as an imitator, now you’ve got to perform. You’ve got to watch
what’s going on and go do it.
“The
imitation is, ‘It’s OUT there and I’m
trying to be like it.’ Following is, ‘It’s IN here and it’s just coming out.’ That’s the difference between religion and
life in Christ Jesus; law and grace. That’s the reality of walking as dear
children.
“To
use a music analogy, it’s like there’s some song in me playing, and what you
see when I’m tapping my feet is just the outward manifestation of all that jazz
going on inside. If you can get that you can understand why followers trump
imitators. It’s a life inside of me.
*****
“Living
out of your identity is critical to your life, especially your Christian life.
It won’t operate any other way.
“The
most tragic thing about all this transgender stuff is that there’s really no
such thing as transgender. You’re
either XX or XY. That’s called genetics. God created male and female. That’s physiology,
that’s science, that’s reality. The notion that you are something other than
your biology is a cultural construct that is really an assault on God. That’s
what it’s all about.
“Getting
your identity out of something other than reality, other than who God made you,
the problem with buying into that is that it’s really a kind of personal
suicide. It literally is the end of your existence and the way that God
designed you, and you completely cut yourself off from reality and from normal
kind of relationships.
“It’s
the end of your identity and your ability to connect and be a part of society
and have a future and belong. That’s why they want to create a new culture and
a new society. It’s a kind of extreme isolation; nothing could be more extreme
than to say, ‘I’m not who I am.’
“Ultimately,
you become an imperceptible entity; you literally have disconnected from
yourself and from existence and you’re not who you are. You’re some fantasy
person in your own mind. You are an imitation person.
“When
it comes to LGBT issues, I know good and well there’s some of you that struggle
with some of that. I’ve been pastoring for five decades; I’ve sat with people
over every one of those issues. I know there’s a struggle that takes place deep
down inside, but can I tell you the answer is to say, ‘Who I am in Christ is what’s
real.’ He’s really always going to be the issue because He’s the one. ‘As
Christ loved us and gave himself for us.’ He’s always the answer.
*****
"Paul
writes in Ephesians 5:2, [2] And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath
given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
“Preachers
use so many different definitions of love that you don’t know what love is, so
Paul defines it in that verse.
“Love
is the opposite of self-indulgence. That’s what sin is. That’s why Paul says in
verse 4, ‘Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking,
nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.’
“The
thing that will stop the motions of sin is not the law, not you trying to perform
a certain way to get God’s blessings, but simply giving thanks to God for who
He has already made you in His Son. ‘Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.’
“As
you rejoice in who you are in Christ, the other stuff . . . listen, the Christian
life is not about stopping sin. Calvary does that. The Christian life is
putting on display the new life you have in Christ.”
(new
article tomorrow)
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