Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. (Luke 21:28)

What are you? If I asked you that question right now, you might come up with many different answers. You might say, "I am a wife," or a husband, a mother or a father, a grandmother or grandfather. You might say, "I am someone's son," or daughter, or a brother or sister to so-and-so. In other words, you might define yourself in terms of your family relationships or other relationships which are important to you.

You might say, "I am Italian-American" or Irish or Nigerian. You might say, "I am black," or white, brown, yellow or red. I am a woman, a man, a girl or a boy. In other words, you might define yourself in terms of your race, sex or nationality.

If I asked you what you are this morning, you might say, "I am a butcher," a baker, a candlestick maker. I am a housewife. I am a computer operator. I am a teacher or a nurse. I am retired. A lot of people might answer this way since we live in a secular society which measures worth according to economic usefulness and profitability. In other words, you might define yourself in terms of the work you do or the work you used to do.

You might say, "I am a Republican," a Democrat or an Independent. You might say, "I am a conservative." If you are really courageous in this day and age, you might say, "I am a liberal," or a progressive. In other words, you might define yourself in terms of your politics or your moral beliefs.

Finally, and most importantly, you might define yourself in spiritual terms. You might say, "I am a Christian." But by voicing that one simple phrase, you have said a great deal. What are you? You are a Christian! What does that really mean?

Our text says that if you are a Christian, you do not live as other people do. You have put off the former nature which belongs to the way you used to live and you have taken on a new nature altogether. You are a child of God. You are continually "renewed in the spirit of your mind, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (4:23-24).

And that's just the beginning, because the Scriptures offer many other ways to understand who you are as a Christian. You are the elect of God, God's own people, a royal priesthood and ambassadors in this world for the Lord, Jesus Christ. You are His specially chosen ones. You belong to the Good Shepherd, the people of His flock, the sheep of His pasture. What are you as Christians? You are heirs to a tradition of faith. You are heirs to the faith of Abraham and Moses, Sarah and Ruth; Joshua, David, Daniel and Isaiah - heirs to the faith of John the Baptist, Martha, Mary and Paul. You have inherited the faith of Augustine and Luther, Bonhoeffer, Schweitzer, Day and King. In other words, you are part of a mighty cloud of many witnesses. As Christians, you are spiritual descendants of a tradition which reaches back to the distant past.

You are also children of a promise which stretches forward to the infinite horizon. You have every confidence that the fate of your soul and the fate of all the earth lies in God's hands. You cannot be shaken or dissuaded from your hope in the future because you believe that Christ will someday come back and that God will have the final Word in reality.

As a Christian, you are already a citizen of God's kingdom, working and praying for the day when God's will "is done on earth as it is in heaven." You hunger and thirst for righteousness. You are a spiritual soldier in the struggle for justice and peace. You offer yourself in service, even as Jesus was a servant, to the lonely and bereaved, the poor and the oppressed. Your life is a testament to the power of love, a monument to the enduring meaning of truth, compassion, mercy and faith.

And finally, as a Christian, you are someone who lives in the riches of the Spirit, not the riches of this world. You live by faith, believing that the greater things in life are those you cannot see. You are filled with a most amazing grace. You are redeemed and released from every vanity and fear, you are ever growing towards the Lord. In fact, as Jesus said, you are becoming perfect, as your God in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48).

I'll bet you didn't know you are all of those things, just by being a Christian! And I'll bet most of you (like me) are asking yourselves, "Who, me? How can I really be all of that? A new nature? An ambassador for Christ? Redeemed and renewed? Perfect, even as our God in heaven is perfect? How can I do that? How can I become all of those things I'm already supposed to be?"

How to become what you are. Like the man who said to Jesus, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24), so, too, can we say today, "Lord, we are Christian; how can we become Christian?"

People try to do it in many ways. Some try to get closer to God and become more Christian by buying things. It's as if they want to prove their piety by spending money on God. Instead of buying an ordinary Bible, they buy a $100 Bible with patent leather covers and 14-karat gold lettering on the carrying case. They go to the so-called "Christian" stores to buy everything from "Christian" war toys to "Christian" clothes and greeting cards. The more money they place on the altar of Christian commerce, the more they think they are demonstrating their devotion to God. Of course, this is not the way to become more Christian. As Peter told Simon, a man who wanted to buy his way to faith: you cannot "obtain the gift of God with money" (Acts 8:20). Even in this marketplace culture of ours (which thinks that everything is for sale), true faith in God and Jesus Christ is one thing which cannot be bought in any store for any price.

Some people try to become more Christian by lots of talk. They figure that if they talk about their faith whenever they can to whoever will listen - if they praise the Lord day and night and let everybody know how much they love the Lord and how much the Lord is doing for them - if they talk about their faith all the time like this, they figure that they are showing how close to God they really are.

But, of course, talk by itself is not the way to show your faith or become more Christian. In fact, Jesus tells us not to be like those people who "heap up empty phrases, [who] think that they will be heard for their many words" (Matthew 6:7). And 1 John says it just as plainly: "Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and in truth" (3:18).

Finally, some people try to become more Christian by gaining certain emotional experiences. They seek out a preacher whose sermons give them that "old time religion" feeling or make them feel good in some other way. They listen to sacred music or the latest gospel song until they feel the chills run-fling up and down their spine. In fact, if they don't get that feeling, they figure something is wrong. ("How was church today?" "Oh, the preacher wasn't quite right this morning. He didn't really have the spirit.")

Of course, feelings alone are not the way to become more Christian. One of the most essential, fundamental verses in all of the Bible - it is the core of the Old Testament law and is repeated by Jesus - is this: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 22:37). So, how do we become the Christians we already are? Certainly not by buying things, not by talking about it and not by Toyota's jingle of "Oh, what a feeling!" There is another way.

Look again at what our text is urging us to do. "Therefore," it says, "be imitators of God, as beloved children." More specifically, be imitators of Jesus Christ, who lived among us as a man in order to show us the way to God. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It is also the means God gives us to become more Christian. It makes perfect sense, because after all, how do children learn? By imitating what they see in their parents, their sisters and brothers and in other people. So, too, are we "beloved children" in the Spirit. No matter how old we are, we still learn and grow in faith by imitating God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I'm sure every parent has had the same experience I have had: you see so much of yourself in your children. The way they walk, their facial expressions, the way they talk, the phrases they use, sometimes it is startling to see what your children do and you realize that they got this way by imitating you! I get the same feeling when I watch a Little League baseball game. I watch the way they tug their caps, the way they throw the ball around the infield after an out, the way they rub dirt on their hands, even the way they spit ... they are trying to act like big leaguers! They are imitating the mannerisms of the big-time ballplayers they see on TV or at the ballpark. That's how kids learn - that's how all of us learn - by imitating what we see.

What happens when we imitate something and when we keep doing it over and over again? We become what we do; we become what we imitate.

You may remember an actor named Yul Brenner. He played many roles in his life, but he was most famous for the leading role in the stage production of The King and I. When he first started playing The King and I, he wore lots of makeup and altered his mannerisms to fit himself to the part. But as the years went by and he performed the role hundreds, even thousands of times, he stopped wearing makeup and changing things. Yul Brenner became the part he was playing! He was the king in The King and I. I suppose the next person who plays that role will have to look and act like Yul Brenner. As we do things over and over again, we can become what we imitate.

Of course this happens, not just in the life of the stage, but also in the life of the spirit. "Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us." (5:1-2). Imitate God as best you can. Keep playing your role in life like Christ, as you continue to become the Christian God has already made you to be.

What does this mean in practical terms, in terms of daily living? It's very simple. Be concerned for your neighbor and not just for yourself. Do not return evil for evil, but forgive those who hurt you. Be generous toward others, seeking to serve rather than be served. Do you store up riches on earth, but store up treasures in heaven. As you pass through this world, be sure to sow seeds of kindness and love, never rejoicing in the wrong, but always in the right.

Living each day in grace and gratitude, try to ask yourself in every situation, "What would Christ do here?" - then imitate Him as best you can. Be an ambassador for Christ, a representative of His Word and His Way. Be an instrument of His peace. Let people see Christ's light in you, "that they may give glory to their God who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).

What are you? What are we? We are Christians looking to imitate our Lord. We are Christians looking to become more fully what we already are. Amen

Pastoral Prayer

Precious Lord, we pray today for Your help as we live each day in the imitation of You. Fill us with Your patience, Your grace, Your compassion and Your truth. Make us always ready to be instruments of Your peace. Help us to conduct ourselves so that others may see You in the way we live - we who would be ambassadors of Christ in all we say and do. Lord, help us to walk daily in Your love, which has been perfectly revealed to us in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen