Hearing the Music of the Gospel

¹ Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. ² And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Ephesians 5:1-2

In Ephesians chapter 5 we are introduced to the theme of imitation, which Paul brings up in six of his own letters to the New Testament churches and a total of 8 times in the New Testament. As we consider the command to be imitators of God we are meant to be reflective, asking ourselves “Who do I imitate? Is it always God or is it someone else?” and “How would I evaluate my desire to imitate God in the circumstances of life?” Reflection on this theme is right and good, but before we get to those reflective questions, I believe we should ask, with a heart of wonder and amazement, “How can it be that I should be an imitator of God?” To be called and exhorted to be an imitator of God is the most purposeful, redemptive, and glorifying goal for anyone’s life. Does your heart agree with this? Does being called an imitator of God bring about wonder, amazement, joy, and worship?

While thinking about this command I have been reflecting on two temptations we face in our pursuit of imitating God: faking it and forgetting it.

First, we fake our imitation because we have not done so from the place of being beloved children of God. In his article, “Hearing the Music of the Gospel”, Dr. Keith Johnson, in setting forth a pattern for Christ-centered Bible Study, uses the metaphor of listening to music as a model for responding to God’s Word. In this article he paints the scene: imagine seeing a man with headphones listening to some music. But not just any music, the music of Journey (okay this is me taking over here, not Keith), and like any epic Journey song, their music makes you want to move. This guy is tapping his feet to the tune, drumming his hands to the rhythm, and moving his body like a rock star from the seventies. It’s an awesome and amusing sight to see. Now another man enters the scene, no music in his ears, but because of the talent of our dancing man, he is intrigued. Our observer thinks our dancer is having so much fun, that he begins to imitate his movements. By watching the dancer, he learns how to tap his feet to the beat, how to drum his hands to the rhythm, and how to move his body in the same way. Although our second man is likely not having as much fun and will probably grow tired of imitation without any music of his own, to an onlooker these two men would externally look the same. However, we know there is a crucial difference: one is not hearing the music. In this spiritual parallel the music is the music of the gospel. Those whose eyes God opens to the beauty of being made alive in Christ, no longer spiritual dead, are now children of God. Two men, one hears the music, the other follows the dance steps.

Let us not be tempted to fake our imitation, but to instead hear the beautiful news ‘that Christ gave himself up for us’ (Ephesians 5:2) as a fragrant offering to God. The temptation to fake our imitation comes from thinking that the Christian life is just about mimicking the dance steps while never truly hearing the music. To the unbeliever I would ask, “Do you hear the music of the gospel? Do you believe it?” The Christian life is a series of dance steps that naturally flow from hearing the music of the gospel. And we can summarize those dance steps like this: imitate God.  

Second, we can also forget our imitation. We do this when we both forget who we are and forget that our new identity gives us the amazing opportunity to imitate God’s perfect, righteous holiness. Thinking about imitation, Paul reminds the Ephesians they are to imitate while rooted in their identity as beloved children. This beautiful picture is of children living the way their Father has showed them. Children naturally follow the example their parents have set for them: in the hobbies they are interested in, in the way families communicate, and in the things they care about most. As imperfect parents, we also know that sometimes children imitate our bad habits.  I have had some sobering moments as a father when I see my own children imitating me and think “Do I sound as harsh as they do in correction?”

Thankfully, as Christians, we get to imitate the holiness of our God as His beloved children.  First off, we are brought into God’s family. Our adoption is the foundation of our imitation and from that foundation we are given the amazing privilege to imitate God’s holiness. Our lives are supposed to look different! And the prime example of this different type of living is love. This love finds its greatest example in the God-pleasing sacrificial love of Christ.

Therefore, resisting the temptation to either fake or forget our imitation, we look instead to Jesus. Jesus, who was fully God and fully man, who prepared his own body for us to be a fragrant offering, the perfect sacrifice, is the only one who could make this sacrifice to God. He did so in order that we would be adopted into God’s family as His children. As children of God, love well, love sacrificially, and let us all be imitators of God together. There could be no higher calling for life.