Ephesians: Becoming Who You Are | Part 7 | Becoming Imitators | Chris Voigt

Becoming Imitators

Ephesians: Becoming Who You Are
November 27, 2022

It has been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The idea behind this proverb has been around for centuries, but it was first popularized by English author Charles Caleb Colton who included it in a book of axioms and essays published in 1820. The word imitate means to follow or endeavor to follow as a model or example; to mimic or resemble.
 
I’m not much of an outdoorsy kind of guy. But let’s think about the sport of fly fishing for a minute. I do understand enough about it to know that the goal of the fisherman is to actually catch fish, not just whip his line back and forth on the river all day.  According to the ‘experts’ at Wikipedia, a successful fly imitates something that the fisherman’s target species preys on. All successful fly patterns must imitate something to attract the fish to strike. So, to return to our proverb, the fly has been sufficiently flattered, enough to convince the fish to bite!
 
I’m Chris Voigt, Lead Pastor at Dayspring Fellowship in Keizer, Oregon. We’ve spent the last several weeks studying our way through the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus in a series we’ve called Ephesians: Becoming Who You Are. In the first half of the book Paul tells us what it means to be a Christian; helping us to understand who we are in Christ. Now, as we work our way toward Paul’s conclusion, we’re unpacking what it looks like to live out our identity as a follower of Jesus.
 
I invite you to join us this Sunday as we learn what it means to become imitators of Christ; to live out our faith in such an attractive and authentic way that others will be drawn to the Jesus they see in us. Enough so that they might “take the bait” so to speak.