Sermons
“Imitating Our Spiritual Family”
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I'd like to turn and follow along in your Bibles, the reading this evening comes to us from the book of 1 John chapter 4.
First John chapter 4.
We'll be reading verses 103 through 21.
Uh, I'll be reading from the English Standard version and that's what appears on the screen behind me.
First John chapter 4, verse 7 beginning, beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us that God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
And this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
No one has ever seen God.
If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide in Him and He and us because He has given us of His spirit.
And we have seen and testified that the Father has sent his Son to be the savior of the world.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.
God is love.
And whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
By this is love perfected with us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
We love because he first loved us.
If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar.
For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
And this commandment we have from him whoever loves God must also love his brother.
A few months ago, I noticed that when I spoke to someone, I called them chief.
It surprised me a little bit because I hadn't really thought about that particular phrase.
Other than when I spoke to some of the warrant officers that I work with in the government.
And it reminded me, where did I pick that up from?
I picked that up from a person named Darryl Black that used to attend with many of us at Gooch Lane.
He called everyone chief.
Similarly, I've become very interested in weather.
Not just the normal forecast from the local weathermen and the current weather, but those long range forecasts like the GFS and the European models.
Why is that?
Well, I spend a good bit of time with Mike Ison, who is a weather nut if you didn't know that.
And it's influenced me to be more interested in.
We routinely send text messages at 5:30 in the morning saying, did you happen to see a specific frame on a certain run of the GFS?
That's crazy.
I think that was actual text I got the other day.
Gina used to say that she knew what I was gonna look like at 60 and 80 because of my resemblance to my father and grandfather.
I found out that I don't just look like them, but I have similar mannerisms and behaviors that they had.
There's a family trait that goes, that's a family behavior with all the Davis men.
My father had it.
My brother Walker, if you know him, has it.
I have it.
Patrick and Peyton have it.
It's called the Dava Pi, and it's just this real long.
But it's something that I picked up from my father, and I'm sure my brother did, and my kids picked up from me.
And on top of that, I realized just how much I act like my father when I had my knee replacement surgery last year.
The first day going to physical therapy and I'm walking along on that walker and I feel, I feel so old.
And I can see myself acting like my father cause I remember when he had his knee replacements.
And how he would walk around with his walker and I said, oh my, I'm, I'm, I'm too much like my father.
So what's the point of these examples?
motivational speaker named Jim Rome once said, you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.
His statement indicates that the 5 people you're closest to are the biggest influencers on your life, character, and mindset.
Now, while many have discredited his statement to say that it's much more than 253 people, and I would say, I would agree with that, there are some significant truths to what he was saying.
We are influenced by those we spend our time with.
We often imitate those who we are around frequently.
Remember when you were a child?
You tended to behave and act like those you're around, maybe at school, the group of friends you had, did you not act like them?
Did you not seem to do the same thing, say the same things?
We are imitating the behaviors of others.
Confucius said, if I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher.
I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.
This evening, I want to talk about imitating the character of our family.
No, not my physical family.
I don't want to talk to you about imitating my brother or my father.
I want to talk to you about imitating our spiritual family.
While the list of traits that we could discuss tonight that we need to imitate are extensive, I've selected only 6 items to talk about because I don't want to be here till midnight.
And they're gonna come from 3 different individuals or groups, so it's only 2 per group.
John in his 3rd in his 3rd epistle says in verse 11, beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good.
Whoever does good is from God, whoever does evil has not seen God.
This passage indicates that we are That those who are doing good are imitating God.
The first person we want to talk about in terms of imitating is God.
As Ephesians chapter 5 verse 1 says, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children.
So what do we need to imitate God?
What traits do we need to imitate from God?
Well, the first one has to be love.
Do you have the love that heavenly Father has?
In the Old Testament, God's love is referenced as being steadfast love in the ESV, loving kindness in the new American standard, and kindness in the new King James Version.
This word, and I'll butcher the pronunciation cause I can't speak Hebrew, isheed is defined in Strong's lexicon as a rich and multifaceted term that encompasses the ideas of love, kindness, and loyalty.
It's often used to describe the covenantal love and faithfulness God has towards his people as was included in the, in the covenant with Israel in Exodus chapter 20.
Starting in verse 103, after he's talked about having no other gods before him, he says, you shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers or the children to the 3rd and 4th generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
This idea of steadfast love is used well over 100 times in the Old Testament in reference to God.
We see examples of the steadfast love to men like Joseph in Genesis 39:21, where it says because of his faithfulness, even when he sold in slavery and falsely accused by Potiphar's wife and put into prison, God continued in his steadfast love for Joseph.
Solomon talked about the same love that God showed to David in 1 Kings chapter 3 verse 6.
Where it says, Solomon said, you have shown great and steadfast love to your servant, David, my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, and righteousness, and an uprightness of heart towards you, and you've kept him for this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.
The Psalms also reference God's love in multiple places.
Psalms 107 is a Psalm written to express and demonstrate the steadfast love of God.
In verses 203, 1521, and 31, the writer repeats, Let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man, after giving examples in the previous verses of his love.
Psalm 136 is another Psalm that clearly describes how God demonstrated his love for people in general and for the Israelites as, as they left Egypt and journeyed to Cana.
We said each of the lines of that Psalm, each verse ends with, for his steadfast love endures forever.
In the New Testament, we see evidence of God's continued love and maybe the most well-known passage in the Bible, John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
That idea that God that Jesus says there Nicodemus in chapter 3 verse 16 is further expanded in uh in John's uh first epistle, starting in verse chap in chapter 4 that Tyler read for us earlier.
I'd like to pull out some points from that to talk about God's love.
In verse 10, it says, and this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his sons to be the propitiation for our sins.
In verse 63, beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Verse 12, if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.
And verses 18 and 19 tell us that we are to love because God loved us and because God is love.
Do we imitate the type of love that God has?
Do we have that kind of love for our brethren, for those around us?
Because if we don't, then John says that we do not know God and we cannot love God.
Next, do you imitate God's mercy?
7 of the passages in the Old Testament that talk about God's steadfast love also mentioned that God is merciful.
Exos 346 and others use the same language repeatedly about God's, about God, and what it says about him in in Exos chapter 34, it's when God is, is making the new tablets for Moses after they have been the first ones have been destroyed.
It says, the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
God's mercy is connected to his love, especially his love for his people that he made a covenant with.
In Deuterony chapter 4 verse 31, it says, for the Lord your God is a merciful God, He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with the fathers that he swore to them.
God repeatedly demonstrated this mercy in the, for the Israelites in the period of the judges.
The judges, the people would fall away, there would be some oppression, they would cry out to God and what would God do?
He would respond and he would be merciful to them in relent of his punishment.
This is the same type of mercy that Alex Vorrax spoke about last month when he was talking about disciplining children.
God has mercy on his children.
A few weeks ago, Alan preached about King Manasseh, who's generally considered a wicked king.
God sent Assyria to capture Manasseh and bring him to Babylon.
But while there, Manasseh realized his errors and he prayed and he repented, and God showed him mercy.
Manasseh's father, Hezekiah was also shown God's mercy.
Hezekiah was told by Isaiah and 2 Kings 113 that he would not recover from his illness.
But yet, Hezekiah fell down, prayed to God, and wept bitterly such that before Isaiah could even leave the courtyard, he went back to tell Hezekiah that he would live an additional 15 years.
God even shows mercy on some of the worst of the worst there are in the world.
Nineveh was shown mercy by God.
In Jonah chapter 1 verse 2, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh because their evil has come up before him.
If you go back and look at the artifacts about Nineveh and some of their cruelty, it's, they depicted it, all these cruel and terrible things, cutting off people's ears, nose, arms, other things, doing all kinds of cruel and, and terrible torture and punishment.
And Jonah would have known about these things, and so he didn't want to go.
But then after a prayer, after he'd been swallowed by the great fish, he went and preached.
And the people responded.
The people of Nineveh repented, including the king who removed his robe and covered himself in sackcloth and ashes, and sat in ashes.
In Jonah 3:10, we see God's mercy displayed for the wicked people, where it says, when God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of that, of the disaster that he said would, he would do to them, and he did not do it.
James 3:17 tells us that God is full of mercy.
But he has a limit.
When Paul preached the Athenians at the Areopagus, he said that in Acts 17:30 to 123, the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all his people everywhere to repent. Why?
He wants to show them mercy.
God wants all men to be saved.
And he was willing to show mercy.
In Luke chapter 6 verse 36, Jesus says, be merciful even as your Father is merciful.
Do you have mercy like your heavenly Father?
Do you Have mercy for those people who wronged you.
Who maybe say evil things about you, who are willing to cut you off on the road, better be careful, Gina might step, might, might punch me for that one.
Because I tend to get upset about people's driving.
But are you merciful about those things?
Do you have mercy like God does?
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:1, That the Corinthians were to imitate him as he imitates Christ.
So what things can we imitate from Christ?
The first thing I'd like to talk about is compassion.
Do you imitate the compassion of Christ?
Let's talk about some examples of Christ compassion.
In Mark chapter 6 verse 34, it says, when he went ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.
Matthew 14 and 14.
Again, when he had gone ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
And in Luke chapter 133, we have the, the widow from name.
And starting in verse 11, it said, soon afterward, he went to a town called Nane and his disciples, and a great crowd went with him.
As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, the man who had died was being carried.
The only son of his mother, and she was a widow and considerable crowd from the town was with her.
And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said, do not weep.
Then he came up and touched the bar, and the bearer stood still, and he said, Young man, I say to you rise, and the dead man sat up and began to speak.
Jesus gave him to his mother.
Jesus had compassion for those who needed guidance and healing.
Luke chapter 19 verse 10 says that the Son of man came to seek and save the lost.
Do we have the same type of compassion that Christ had on those around us in the world?
While we cannot physically heal the ailments of those we see, we can help to heal the soul and provide guidance to heaven.
We can reach out to those people who need God.
We can have compassion on them.
Do you have the compassion to help others to know Christ and save their soul?
We also need to imitate Jesus's stand for the truth.
Jesus was willing and ready to defend God's laws and commands to rebuke the error introduced by the so-called religious leaders.
Just after Jesus performed the first recorded miracle we have in John chapter 2, he went up to Jerusalem for the Passover and found those at the temple engaged in actions that were wrong.
In verse 14, it said of chapter 2, it says in the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting there, and he made a whip of cords.
He drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and oxen, oxen, and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.
He said to those who sold the pigeons, take these things away, do not make my father's house a house of trades.
During the last week of Jesus' life, He once again came and clean cleansed the temple in Mark 11.
So when they came to Jerusalem, he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and seats of those who sold pigeons, and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.
He was teaching and saying to them, it is, is it not written?
My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a den of robbers.
The temple had been changed from a place of worship to a place of business and most likely, based on what we read there in Mark 11, a place where Jews were defrauding other Jews.
Jesus was willing to stand up for what is right and just.
He was also very bold in his condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23.
In that passage, he calls them hypocrites because of the changes they made to God's covenant and laws.
He stood up directly to these people who are considered to be the religious leaders.
Let's read from Matthew chapter 73 verses 25 to 28.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and the plate that the outside also may be clean.
What would you use scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like the whitewashed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.
So you're outwardly, so you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you're full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
She also was capable of dealing with, with standing up for the truth in some less forceful ways.
In John chapter 8, the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman to him who had been called in adultery when he was at the Mount of Olives.
Picking up in verse 210 of chapter 220, the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst.
They said to teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
Now, in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
What, so what do you say?
They, this they said to test him that they may have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.
And once more he bent down and rode on the ground.
But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
In this case, Jesus chose to use some tact.
To show the scribes and Pharisees their era as they realized they were all sinners.
We see that Jesus can be direct and forceful with his stand for the truth, but he also could be patient and subtle.
Jesus shows us not every confrontation over the truth needs to be aggressive.
And that we should consider the situation on how to root out evil.
Christ was not motivated, motivated by pride.
He wasn't there to show himself doing all these things, but rather the fact that he had love for the truth and his compassion for sinners.
We need to remember that our reason for standing up for the truth is love.
Paul said in Ephesians chapter 26 verse 211, rather speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him, who is the head into Christ.
Are we willing to stand up for the truth like Christ did?
Do we need to work on improving our commitments to stand for what's truthful?
The last group is a little more collective group, and that's our brethren.
Now, this next one I've, I've pulled off an Alan here.
I've sandwiched two things together into one, much like Alan does in, in a lot of his questions in Bible class where he puts multiple questions into one and, and then thinks he's shortening the number of questions.
But I'm sandwiched together generosity and service because I think they go together.
Do you imitate your brethren in their generosity and service?
I'd like to share some examples that I've witnessed myself of our brethren here at Kelly Spring Road and their generosity and service.
One Sunday at lunch, a brother got up from our table and went to a waitress.
And he talked to him for a minute.
And then came back and sat down.
And I said, what, what was that about?
It wasn't our waitress, it was another waitress.
He said, well, I saw these state troopers over here and I decided to pay for their lunch.
No fanfare, no self-congratulations, just generosity.
Another time, Gina and I were meeting a young couple for lunch.
When I saw them come out of a different restaurant, and I thought, that's really strange.
Why, I thought we were going to eat lunch together.
Why are you coming from this other restaurant?
And so I asked, what's, what was that about?
They told me that someone had come up to him in the parking lot and either said they were hungry or ask for some money for food.
And they said, I'll tell you what, which, which restaurant would you like something from?
I'll go and buy it for you.
Again, generosity.
I've also seen how this congregation serves.
Every time that we have a new baby born or somebody has some significant surgery, the next thing you know, there's a meal list that goes out.
And it is a near fight figuratively, not literally, to get on that meal list to be able to serve.
Your brethren. Impressive.
For those who would stay overnight at the hospital or just show up at the hospital when a brother or sister is having surgery.
That's service.
These aren't the only examples.
of generosity and service, but they do help us see what we should be imitating from our brethren.
The Hebrew writer helps us to understand the need for generosity and service in chapter 212, where he says in verse 213, do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby, some have entertained angels unaware.
Remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them and those who are mistreated since you are also in the body.
Naturally, our thoughts, when we read this verse, go back to Genesis 143 and 214, and Abraham and Lot.
We won't take the time to read those stories, but we see in both of these their generosity and service.
Abraham saw the three men coming.
And rushes to see them, to offer them water to wash their feet, a place to sit down in the shade to be refreshed.
Butchers a calf, has Sarah prepare bread and brings milk to drink.
In chapter 211, the two angels come to see.
Lot, and he provides them not only a place to stay, water to wash their feet, but also a feast and unleavened bread to eat.
Our brethren often display similar, similar generosity and service, and we need to be imitating them.
Paul reinforces the need to be generous and serve one another in Romans chapter 216 verses 10 through 13.
He says, love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor.
I love that phrase, outdo one another in showing honor.
And we'll come back to it in a moment.
But I think that's, it's very important there.
Do not be slothful and zeal, be fervent in spirits, serve the Lord, rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer, continue to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
That outdo one another and showing honor is really not about anything about what I'm gonna get out of that.
It's not gonna build anything.
I'm not gonna get rich on it.
It's not about, hey, everybody look at me.
Instead, I think Galatians chapter 6, verse 9 and 10 help us to understand why we're doing this.
Paul says, and let us not grow weary of doing good for in due season, we will reap if we do not give up.
So then as, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially for those who are in the household of faith.
I believe that generosity and service are not just a choice, but I think they're a requirement.
In the latter part of Matthew chapter 25, there is a scene of final judgment where Jesus will separate the people, one from another, like sheep and goats by the shepherd.
The sheep are told to come and inherit the kingdom because of their generosity and service towards Jesus.
Picking up in verse 113, then the righteous will say, will answer him saying, Lord, when do we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink?
And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you?
And when do we see you sick or in prison and visit you?
And the king will say to them, truly, I said, as you did it to one of these, the least of my brothers, you did it to me.
It's interesting because when we go and look at the goats and they're not gonna get the same reward, why was it?
Because you didn't do these things.
I think we have a requirement there to be in service and be generous to our brethren.
And to others.
Are you imitating the generosity and service of your brethren?
While generosity and service will not save us alone, it is something we're called to do and failure to do so may have eternal negative results.
The Last thing I'd like to talk about with our brethren.
I are you prepared like your brethren?
For instance, To prepare your Bible class lesson, like many of your brethren do before class.
Do you read the material, make some notes, answer the questions, do some research so that you can be productive in class.
While we have lots of good Bible students in this congregation, sometimes I've been in classes here where only one person is answering the questions because no one else will.
Does that indicate that people are not prepared?
Possibly. But how can you contribute to a class or growing knowledge if you haven't, at least prepared the material to be discussed?
Are you prepared like your brethren in attendance?
And worship I used to have a problem where I would be just in time.
Too often and sometimes late.
But do you come to services on time and ready to worship like me and your brethren do?
Do you prepare to be at services on time?
Do you set aside just enough time to get to services it's at the time we start and rush to get out as soon as it's over?
Do you repeatedly run late to services?
It's a matter of preparation and your brethren do that.
We have several people who will arrive 15 minutes or more before services start.
Why is that?
I believe it's part of being prepared to be at service and here to worship.
Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25 says, not neglecting to meet together is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Can you really encourage one another when you're late to services?
Maybe you need to change your routine.
Get up earlier on Sunday morning, go to bed earlier Saturday night, get a shower the night before, lay out your clothes the night before.
Whatever it takes, you will provide more encouragement when you are on time.
I know many people believe that in the saying that early is on time and on time is late.
I have worked with plenty of people that are professional meeting attenders.
These are the people who, well, I've got a meeting at 10 o'clock, so they start heading that way 20 minutes beforehand and they'll go and sit in the room that the meeting's gonna be in and they wait.
They're just there.
I, on the other hand, at work tend to be, let me get in as many things as I can before I have to go to the meeting cause I'm not gonna get this work done later.
But in the case of being prepared in attendance, I think the same's right.
If you show up right on time, then you have to find a seat, settle the kids, look around to see who's there, and then you rush into worship.
We started I can't even remember how long ago we did based on something Alan talked about in a class.
We put a two-minute timer up there for a reason.
To get people ready to worship.
Well, if you're still walking in at that last minute to get here, are you able to be prepared like your brethren to worship?
By arriving a few minutes earlier, you have the time to get situated, you get the time to be ready, and maybe you also have time to talk to some folks and encourage them.
Finally, are you prepared like your brethren to go to heaven?
Hebrews 6:11 and 12 says, and we desire each of you to show the same earnestness, to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
The writer says we need to imitate those who inherit the promises.
Those are the ones who have a full assurance of hope until the end and are faithful and patient.
Do we see these traits in our brethren?
Do we imitate those things?
We need to be prepared like they are to go to heaven.
Back in Hebrew, back in chapter 13 of Hebrews in verse 7, it says, remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God.
Consider the outcome of the, of their way of life and imitate their faith.
Why are we to imitate our leader's faith?
Because they are seeking the city that is to come as, is mentioned in verse 14 and back in in chapter 11 verse 16, the better country, the heavenly one.
So are you prepared to go to heaven?
Have you been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, as Cornelius and the many other examples were in the book of Acts.
Are you living as a Christian should?
Are you showing the love, the mercy, the generosity, and compassion as our spiritual family does?
Are you standing for the truth, not only With others, but within your own life.
Whatever you need, whatever your need is tonight regarding being prepared to go to heaven, please come forward as we stand and sing.
- 2025.02.23P-WhoAmI.mp3 (11.10 MB)
