Nathan E. Lewis

Advent Season 2006 - Sermon Series by Nathan E. Lewis

First Sunday of Advent 2006
“The Beautiful Life of Imitation”
I Corinthians 10: 23- 11:1

B.B. Warfield, who taught at Princeton Seminary from 1887 to 1921 opens his address, “Imitating the Incarnation” with these words: “’Christ our Example.’ After ‘Christ our Redeemer,’ no words can more deeply stir the Christian heart than these…. In Him, in a word, we find the moral ideal historically realized, and we bow before it as sublime and yearn after it with all the assembled desires of our renewed souls.” Imitating Jesus Christ is a beautiful life. During this Advent season, as we consider once again the incarnation of the Son of God, I present to you “The Beautiful Life of Imitation.” In reflecting upon the life of Jesus Christ, I have chosen humility, love, and truth as aspects of his beautiful life for us to emulate. And so, my Advent Sermon titles are:
“The Beautiful Life of Imitation”
“The Beautiful Life of Humility”
“The Beautiful Life of Love”
“The Beautiful Life of Truth”
Paul writes to the Church at Corinth: “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.” Why don’t we cut out the middle- man?
Why not say, “Be imitators of Christ, period”? Is not the incarnation of the Son of God sufficient? Why can’t the Corinthian Christians look to the Son of God, who took on human flesh, becoming like us in every respect yet with out sin? Why can’t we directly imitate Christ? Why do we need an apostle between us? As B.B. Warfield noted, Paul does not elevate himself above us by commanding us to imitate him, but rather, he puts himself on equal ground with us for he says, “be imitators of me as I am of Christ.” Insofar as Paul imitated Christ, so we imitate him. The incarnation of the Son of God is inseparably connected to Christ’s union to his Church. Paul is united to Christ and so we look for Christ in him and seek to imitate him. As members of Christ’s Church we are united to Christ and so we look for Christ in each other and seek to imitate him. As an apostle, Paul had the authority to point out to us this union and to command us to live accordingly.
B.B. Warfield writes, “’Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ Jesus,’ is rather the whole burden of the ethical side of Paul’s teaching….The peculiarity of our present passage is only that it takes us back of Christ’s earthly life and bids us imitate Him in the great act of His incarnation itself. Not, of course, as if the implication were that we were equal with Christ and needed to stoop to such service as He performed.” As Warfield observed, the incarnation of Jesus is unique yet there is room for us to imitate the incarnation. It is not for us to perfectly fulfill the law, for this is beyond our capabilities. It is not for us to die to atone for the sins of the world. It is not for us to be the firstborn from the dead. Only the incarnate Christ Jesus occupies these unique roles in human history. Nevertheless, we may imitate the incarnate Christ.
In the preceding verses (10:31-33) Paul supplies us with some instruction toward the imitation of Christ. Firstly he writes, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” This is certainly how Jesus Christ lived – according to the will of his Father in heaven – willing to suffer so that he might enter into his Father’s glory. This first command of Paul moves us to imitate Christ in the smaller and mundane activities of life, in all areas of life. We do not arrive at this imitation by observing that Jesus liked figs and so we eat figs. We do not conclude that we should walk to work because Jesus walked everywhere. When deciding what we should eat, we do take into consideration God’s will revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures. Would God have us feast or fast? His will for us includes both. In each particular context, then, what would be the right choice? Should we drive the car to work or walk? Perhaps the distance of the commute leaves us no choice – we must drive the car. But if we work four blocks from home, what would bring the most glory to God? If we are imitating Jesus, then we would do the will of our heavenly Father. If we walk, we save gas and money, we are environmentally sound, we have a little time to exercise and to think. If we drive we can run those errands at lunchtime necessary to provide for the rest of the family in an efficient manner.
The details of our lives are connected to the glory of God! To imitate Christ, we seek to do the will of the Father in heaven. Secondly, Paul writes, “Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God.” Jesus offended plenty of people, prominent and religious people. Why can’t I offend a few? Paul’s command is a summary of his more detailed comments in (10: 25-29). The situational context is relational. As a guest in someone’s home, you should consider the conscience of your host before you push your own matters of conscience. You should do this even in the marketplace, with the meat merchant. In other words, personal matters of conscience are not as important as we make them. If we imitate Christ, we would do our best not to offend others on such matters, considering people in our lives to be more important than personal matters of conscience. In doing so, our liberty is not restricted but expanded. We do not have to prove our freedom by offending others.
Thirdly, Paul writes, “just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many.” How do we imitate Christ, who gave up his life for our sake? We put the interests of others before our own. In 1972 Ricky Nelson’s Garden Party captured conventional wisdom: “But it’s all right now, I learned my lesson well.
You see, ya can’t please everyone, so ya got to please yourself.” Paul commends to us the beautiful life of imitating Christ, who, “though he was rich, for our sakes, he became poor so that through his poverty we might become rich.” One of Paul’s criteria for imitating Christ is to consider how many people might benefit from our actions. The more people who benefit from us the better. John Chrysostom said, “Nothing arouses a great soul to the performance of good works so much as learning that in this it is likened to God.”
Fourthly, Paul places one benefit above all others and states that this one great benefit is his main purpose in imitating Christ. He writes, “so that they may be saved.” Seeking the advantage of others before our own advantage is part of imitating Christ. The one advantage that stands above all others we may offer to people is salvation from sin and death. How do we imitate Christ? He actually saved us by dying on the cross to atone for our sins and in his resurrection assuring us new and eternal life. How do we imitate Christ? By proclaiming that his death and resurrection produce great advantage for all who would put their faith in Christ. Such a high purpose drove Paul. What made him tick? Matters of personal conscience? No. What is the key to Paul’s imitation of Christ? His life calling to point people to Christ, the Savior.
Paul writes, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” This is a beautiful life. The imitation of Christ produces virtuous behavior. The imitation of Christ produces a purposeful life. The imitation of Christ allows us to see Christ Jesus in others. The imitation of Christ points to our union with Him, the incarnate Son of God.

The Beautiful Life of Humility
James 4:6-10

The beautiful life of imitating Christ includes humility. St. Augustine wrote, “Why art thou proud, O man? God for thee became low. Thou wouldst perhaps be ashamed to imitate a lowly man; then at least imitate the lowly God. The Son of God came in the character of man and was made low….He, since He was God, became man: do thou, O man, recognize that thou art man. Thy entire humility is to know thyself.”
Once we come to know ourselves, not only as the chief of God’s creation, but as fallen humanity, we may gratefully receive the words of the apostle James, “But God gives more grace.” Once we acknowledge our sin, we come running to God, bowing low before him, begging for his grace, reminding him that his apostle has said, “But God gives more grace.” Once we realize that we are not only sinful but we are also weak, we delight in hearing, “But God gives more grace.” The beautiful life of humility is one resting upon God who gives more grace. The humble person confesses that he/she needs a large and growing measure of divine grace.
James quotes one of the ancient proverbs, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” B.B. Warfield wrote, “If we would follow Christ, we must, every one of us, not in pride but in humility, yet not in lowness but in lowliness, not degrade ourselves but forget ourselves, and seek every man not his own things but those of others.”
James briefly outlines the beautiful life of humility. Firstly, he instructs us to submit to God. This is a voluntary act, an act of human volition. Certainly, no one would voluntarily submit to God or any person without the internal work of the Holy Spirit upon his mind and heart. The human will would never choose to bow low before another person, let alone the Creator, were it not renewed to holiness by the Spirit of Christ. Once the Holy Spirit has done his work in our lives, we are able to voluntarily exercise our wills in submission to God. The beautiful life of humility is a life of submission. We find ourselves having to submit to a good number of authorities and persons in life. But the life of imitating Christ in humility is one of submission to the Father in heaven.
Secondly, James teaches us to be humble by refusing to collaborate with the prince of pride, the devil. If we take offense with such a suggestion on his part, then we prove his point, exposing our diabolical pride. Lucifer, the magnificent angel, filled with pride, desired to be God himself. He rebelled against God’s authority and thus, fell from heaven. His kingdom is a spiritual one. It is a kingdom of darkness. It is the nerve center for rebellious pride, promoting proud behavior throughout the world. Those of us who desire to imitate the humility of Christ, must resist the devil, the prince of pride.
Jesus resisted the devil. Directly following his baptism, the Holy Spirit hurled Jesus into the wilderness where he fasted 40 days. The devil came to him, tempting him three times. At the heart and climax of his tempting, the devil, puffed up in pride sought to persuade the Prince of Peace, the Lord of all Creation, to worship him. Jesus resisted the devil speaking the very words of God in response to each temptation. In humility, Jesus refused to turn stones into bread. Humbly Jesus refused to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, commanding the angels to rescue him. In humility Jesus refused to bow before the devil, who vainly promised to give to Jesus all the kingdoms of this world.
James asserts that if we imitate Christ in resisting the devil, then the devil will leave us alone! This is good news. Our resistance is humility more than it is strength of will. We stand strong in Christ and humbly repeat the words of God in the face of the proud one. We do not have to personally encounter the devil to be tempted to follow in his pride. His program of pride is packaged, sold, and available worldwide. Resist him and he shall flee from you.
Thirdly, James teaches us that our humility is expressed in our seeking the presence of God. “Draw near to God.” Seek him first. It takes a good amount of humility to seek out the presence of God. The closer we come to him, the clearer we see and feel his holiness. The Holy Spirit works the Father’s will in us. Drawing near to God is our admission that we need him. The good news follows. As we express our great need of God, he does not disappoint us but he draws near to us! God drawing near to us is his sincere interest in us. He desires to live with us, to guide and direct us. He draws near and bends low because he loves to hear our praise of him. He desires to hear our cries for help and to answer us. He lavishes love and every good gift upon his children.
Fourthly, James teaches us that humility is expressed in our seeking purification, body and soul. Let us confess that we are in need of purification. It is humiliating to do so, but we must face the reality of our sinfulness. Our hands represent all of our actions. We must wash them, we must be done with the deeds of evil. Lady MacBeth washed her hands repeatedly yet vainly, as if she could remove the guilt of her treachery. Only the divine gift of repentance and our enacting that repentance is the process of cleansing our hands. Our minds, our hearts, that immaterial part of us we call the soul is also in need of purification. Our actions flow from our inner-self. It is our heart, our mind, our soul that is in need of a deep, ritual cleansing. We will not find such cleansing in a spa or in an exotic temple. We find such cleansing in the humble life of self-denial. B.B. Warfield writes, “Self-denial for its own sake concentrates our whole attention on self – self knowledge, self-control – and can therefore eventuate in nothing other than the very apothesis of selfishness. At best it succeeds only in subjecting the outer self to the inner self, or the lower self to the higher self; and only the more surely falls into the slough of self-seeking, that it partially conceals the selfishness of its goal by refining its ideal of self and excluding its grosser and more outward elements. Self-denial narrows and contracts the soul; murders within us all innocent desires, dries up all the springs of sympathy, and nurses and coddles our self-importance until we grow so great in our own esteem as to be careless of the trials and sufferings, the joys and aspirations, the strivings and failures and successes of our fellow-men. Self-denial, thus understood, will make us cold, hard, unsympathetic, - proud, arrogant, self-esteeming, - fanactical, overbearing, cruel. It may make Stoics – it cannot make Christians.” James commends the humble path of purification through repentance, the changing of our hearts and the turning around of our behavior.
Finally, James teaches us to express genuine sorrow for our falleness. Solomon wrote, “There is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” The time for weeping and mourning is the first step of our repentance as we turn from our sins with grief and hatred. The beautiful life of humility is not expressed in a wholesale denial of our being made in the image of God and a consistent expression of our wretchedness. The beautiful life of humility is balanced emotionally.
A humble person also knows how to identify with the problems, pains, and sorrows of others. The beautiful life of humility moves us to mourn alongside our sister, who has suffered tragedy. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Our Lord Jesus mourned the death of his dear friend, Lazarus. Jesus wept over the city Jerusalem as he foresaw her destruction. True humility allows us to show empathy to a person who describes his particular sufferings which we consider to be mild.
James concludes with the gospel perspective on the beautiful life of humility. He promises, “Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will exalt you.” The devil doesn’t get the gospel. The apostle Peter wrote of Jesus suffering first then entering his glory. This is the beautiful life of humility. The end is glorious. B.B. Warfield concludes his address, “Imitating the Incarnation” with these words, “The path of self-sacrifice is the path to glory.” “Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will exalt you.”

“The Beautiful Life of Love”
I John 4: 7-12

The Apostle John seeks to increase our assurance of faith by calling us to a life of consistency. We should love one another. Why? Because love comes from God. How inconsistent our lives! If we have been born of God and know God, would we not love others? If we do not love, how can we say that we know God? John illustrates how inconsistently we live our Christian lives. The introductory illustration calling us to consistency is based upon a simple and bold fact: “God is love.” B.B. Warfield in his address, “Imitating the Incarnation,” says, “Let us remember that it is a fundamental conception in the Christian idea of God that God is love.”
To speak of love as the essence of God, as if love were merely a concept or a feeling within the divine heart, is a bit strange. The biblical language of love inseparably connects the essence of divine love to the divine action of love. How is love expressed? Indeed there is not much of an idea or presentation in the Scriptures of love that is not expressed. John states, “God is love,” and quickly moves on to say, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us….” The love of God is revealed in divine action invading, flooding our world, bringing to us the beautiful life of love. B.B. Warfield’s complete quote is this: “Let us remember that it is a fundamental conception in the Christian idea of God that God is love; and that it is the fundamental dogma of the Christian religion that God so loved us that He gave Himself for us.”
This active love is the gospel of the Apostle John. God’s love is expressed as we live through Christ. In (9) John writes, “God sent his only Son into the world.” This language describes the uniqueness of the Son of God. Its purpose is to unite us to the Son and to his mission –“so that we might live through him.” Those of us who have put our faith in Christ Jesus are united to Christ Jesus body and soul in this world and in the world to come. “Nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” But John points to more than this blessed union. He says that the purpose is that we might live “through him.” This is missional language. The purpose of this love and union given to us is that we might live the beautiful life of love. We do so by following Jesus Christ, “who loved us and gave his life for us.” B.B. Warfield writes, “A life of self-sacrificing unselfishness is the most divinely beautiful life that a man can lead.”
As we practice God’s love self-sacrificially, it is easy for us to think that we have manufactured that love in the goodness of our own hearts. We may even believe that our love for God is our original expression springing from our souls. John writes in (10), “In 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.” God is the fount of love, even the love we return to him. God is not merely a reservoir of love, but he is the river of love, that current bringing to us divine compassion, mercy, and grace.
How did God specifically love us? John writes that this divine love has been expressed through God sending his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. John usually uses simple language but every once in awhile he uses a big word. What does he mean by the term, “propitiation?” He means that God’s justice has been satisfied by divine wrath poured out upon the crucified Jesus. For those of us who are united by faith to Jesus Christ, God’s wrath has been satisfied. What an expression of love!
And so we sing the American folk song:
“What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul, What wondrous love is this, O my soul.
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.”
John lovingly exhorts us to respond to such a wondrous love by loving one another. Finally, John writes in (11), “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” We see God through our love for one another. This is the beautiful life of love – making God visible to others through our words and acts of kindness and compassion. John does not believe that God needs our help to perfect his love. God’s love is infinite. When John writes, “God’s love is perfected in us,” he means that we see and experience God’s love all the more as it is presented to us through our love for one another. The more we love one another, the more we experience God’s love for us. This is the beautiful life of love.
Benjamin Franklin wrote, “He who falls in love with himself will have no rivals.” He also wrote, “If you would be loved, love and be loveable.” Soren Kiekegaard said, “Don’t forget to love yourself.” The Beatles sang:
“Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love,
There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done.
Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how
to play the game
It’s easy.
All you need is love….

Why do we usually speak of love in the primary context of “me, myself, and I?” The beautiful life of love begins with the discovery that God is the fount of love. It ends with us seeing God more clearly through the kindness of others. Victor Hugo wrote in Les Miserables, “To love another person is to see the face of God.” And so, we even see God more clearly as we love others. The beautiful life of love, then, is focused upon God. Let us then, place our life focus upon God and put our faith in Christ, the lover of our souls.

The Beautiful Life of Truth
John 17:1-17

In the beautiful life of imitation we love each other and God because he first loved us. B.B. Warfield notes that the loving God is also the God who is trustworthy. God is worthy of our trust precisely because he is truthful. In his address, “Imitating the Incarnation,” Warfield said, “We have and we must have an ethical God; a God whom we can love and a God in whom we can trust.” The beautiful life of truth springs from a God who is true.
Jesus, as he was praying to his heavenly Father, spoke of this beautiful life of truth. He said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” The eternal life given to us by Jesus is founded in the God who is true. We enter into this beautiful life of truth by knowing the only true God. How do we come to know that this God is true? He is the God who speaks and we are able to consider his words alongside his character and actions. God’s character, words and actions uphold each other and so, we discover a genuine and unique God. He is the real God. All other gods are false gods. They do not speak. Their characters are flawed, and their actions are jaded.
It is not that we are the measure of truth and so we are able to judge God by our own standard finding Him to be true. Rather, as we come to know the only true God, we discover him to be the author and the revelator of truth. We find him to be trustworthy.
We enter this beautiful life of truth by coming to know the only true God and Jesus Christ sent by God. The heavenly Father has sent his Son. From heaven he has spoken these words concerning Jesus Christ: “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins…. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means ‘God with us.’….This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased….This is my Son; listen to him.”
What has this Son said about himself? “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.” Have you come to know Jesus Christ? He has been sent into our world so that we might live the beautiful life of truth in union with him and his heavenly Father.
How is it that we might live this beautiful life of truth? Jesus prays to his heavenly Father, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” Our beautiful life of truth is the result of divine work. God sanctifies us through his truth. “Sanctify” means God making us holy. When we become united to Jesus by faith, we are immediately and legally justified, considered by God the Judge to be holy, to be the sanctified ones. This is the reason for the apostles referring to all Christians as saints.
Most often, the scriptures speak of the sanctifying work of God in our lives as a progressive work. The Holy Spirit graciously, over the course of time makes us holy in our thoughts, words, and behavior. Jesus prays asking the Father in heaven to “sanctify us through his truth.” This prayer is powerful and insightful. Jesus is praying for a genuine holy transformation. This transformation is as real as the God of Truth.
We make one another out to be holy by pretending that our flaws and sins are miniscule. We say, “Ol’ Fred has his moments and loses his temper, but you know, he really is a good person. Ya gotta love him.” It’s a good thing we do overlook each other’s flaws and faults or else we couldn’t live with each other. But God sanctifies us through his truth. In his omniscience God knows everything there is to know about us. Nothing is hidden from God. And so nothing is overlooked in his sanctifying of us. He performs upon us a total makeover.
God has also codified his truth in the form of law and helpful teaching with the purpose of making us holy. The Holy Spirit applies the revealed word of God to our hearts and to our obedience thus making us holy. The beautiful life of truth is one lived according to the word of God. The beautiful life of truth is the life controlled by the Holy Spirit. As we live this life we face our flaws and faults regularly repenting. We do not understate our condition or make light of our sin. But our greater focus is upon the pure and powerful truth of God in his written word, studying it to show ourselves approved, workmen never needing to be ashamed, rightly interpreting the scriptures. We cannot do this without the internal work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Jesus prays all of this in a nutshell: “Father, sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.”
Let us choose this beautiful life of truth. Each of us should identify the two or three sins and weaknesses most pronounced in us and go to the scriptures to learn what God has to say about them. The ethical commands of the Bible are not the difficult portions requiring much analysis, research, and interpretation. If I am an overbearing, controlling person, then I can find much in the Bible to correct my faults. If I am prone to laziness then a few proverbs will poke and prod me toward holy industry. If I gossip, then the Bible will clearly and sharply indict me. But I must not stop at Bible study. I must submit to the Holy Spirit’s application of the ethical commands I read. Thus it becomes a spiritual endeavor, one including much prayer, adequate accountability within the Church, and most often, a significant amount of time.
The beautiful life of truth is not only about ethics. It is not merely a life of improving moral behavior through abstinence. The beautiful life of truth is also about freedom. It is about a life of improving moral behavior mainly manifested through holy deeds of grace, mercy, love, and fruitfulness. The Spirit us Christ frees us from the sin that so easily entangles us and in this freedom we are truly good. More and more we become essentially good, virtuously good, verbally good and actively good. Our idea of beauty becomes good. Our enjoyments become holy. We become coinsurers of truth. Just as we would sip three different goblets of wine able to distinguish between the varietals, between the flavors on the front palate and the flavors on the back palate, we would be able to discern truth and savor truth. Just as a little wine is good for our health. Likewise, the more truth we can mentally digest and spiritually practice, the holier we shall be.
Too many Christians believe that the beautiful life of truth is a memory packed full of Bible verses and spiritual platitudes, and a tongue to babble them in every situation. But this is nothing more than the trite life of wasted words.
Wouldn’t it be convenient if we could take a little holy pill and enjoy the results of improved behavior? But like most of life, an arduous process over time is necessary. But the pain and suffering, not to mention the waiting upon God, is worth it. The apostle Peter writes this command from God, “Be holy as I am holy.” What seems to be an impossible command is actually a heartening reality for those who live the beautiful life of truth. The more we discover about the God of truth, the more we discover what we shall become. It is not that we shall become gods in the end of the sanctification process. But rather, as mere creatures, who share little resemblance to our Creator, we shall actually think his thoughts after him, speak his words as he would, and accomplish his good deeds in his world to his honor and glory. This is the beautiful life of truth.
Jesus has prayed that we would enter this life and he has laid down his life so that we might be free to live this beautiful life of truth. He has sent to us his Holy Spirit to work this life in us. The God of Truth has promised to cause us to persevere in a life governed by his truth. Let us choose this life and imitate the incarnation of Christ.