Paul has just told all of Jesus followers to work on their God imitation (Eph 5:1). One of the key ways to impersonate someone is to mimic their walk. Some folks are so good at impressions that they don’t even need to talk. They just walk. The apostle lets us know that walking like Jesus is a key to imitating Him. “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (v2). Walking like Jesus means loving like Jesus. His love is SO much more than a warm, fuzzy feeling for others. It’s love with legs. It’s love in action. It’s love that does.
It’s love on the move.
If we’re going to imitate God, the apostle tells us to “walk in love, as Christ loved us” (v2). He uses one of his favorite verbs: peripateo. It literally means “to walk” (-pateo) “around” (peri-) or move about. Matt describes how Jesus walked around (Gr. peripateo) the shores of the Sea of Galilee (Mt 4:18). It’s also a way to describe how to live and behave. The term hints at a how you consistently conduct your life. Walking like Jesus and imitating Him as one of His followers shouldn’t be a rare occurrence. There’s a consistency. That doesn’t mean you won’t stumble as you walk. That doesn’t mean you won’t walk faster or slower at certain times. That doesn’t mean that you might not walk in the wrong direction occasionally. But there’s a consistency over the course of our lives of moving about like Jesus.
As I said before, this word is one of Paul’s faves. Here in this letter, he’s talked about how we were the original Walking Dead, stumbling and bumbling around in our own sin, before God pumped life into our veins (Eph 2:1). Once Jesus brought us to life, we must stop staggering around like unbelievers (Eph 4:17) and get moving or “walk (Gr. peripateo),” doing the stuff God has set the table for us to do (Eph 2:10). We’re to “walk (Gr. peripateo) in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Eph 4:1). We’re to “walk (Gr. peripateo)” around shining Jesus’ light (Eph 5:8). We’re to be smart about how we go through life, “walk (Gr. peripateo), not as unwise but as wise” (Eph 5:15).
It’s love on the move.
That’s what it means to walk around like Jesus. Remember, the Son of God didn’t sit still. He was consistently on the move. The Second Member of the Trinity left the palatial comforts of heaven to come to this sinful sewer and clean up what we trashed with our sin. He moved. He came. And once He hit the scene, He didn’t stop moving. He was always on the move. That’s because Christ “came to seek and to save the lost” (Lk 19:10). You don’t seek by sitting around. You don’t save from the Barcalounger. You get moving. To imitate Jesus is to get on your feet and start walking.
It’s love on the move.
Jesus’ motivation for His mission is His descending, one-way love for us. Three times in these two verses, Paul wants to get it through our thick little skulls just how much God loves us. We’re His “beloved children” (Eph 5:1). We’re to “walk in love as Christ loved us” (v2). While one (“beloved”) is an adjective, another is a noun (“love”) and the last one is a verb (“loved”), they are all variations of agape. In general terms, they describe a sincere love, an interest or appreciation for something or someone. It’s not a passive, let-the-game-come-to-you kind of love. This is self-sacrificial love in action. That’s why some translations use the term “charity.” Agape does. Agape moves. Agape has legs.
It’s love on the move.
Let’s make sure we know what love is NOT. Again, it’s not a fluttery feeling of affection in our stomach. That’s not to say there’s not an emotional component to it. But we don’t love God so that He’ll love us. There’s absolutely nothing we can muster up that makes us good enough to be loved. As a matter of fact, Paul says exactly the opposite in a letter to his buddies in Rome. “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). Not when we got our act together and loved God up in an extra special way. Nope. “While we were still sinners.” While we were still rebels. While we were the most unlovable. That’s when He loved you. That’s when He loved me. And He loved us by doing something. Jesus came and died on a cross for our sins. That’s love with legs. That’s love in action.
It’s love on the move.
But love on the move doesn’t just stop when it comes my way. The night before He expressed that love on a bloody Roman cross, Jesus told His boys that He had something new for them to do. “Love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:34-35). The new part of the command is a self-sacrificial love in action. He’s telling us that our love for each other must not be a transactional, I’ll-do-for-you-if-you’ll-do-for-me love. It’s love with no strings attached. It’s love in action. It’s love with legs.
It’s love on the move.
Jesus’ best friend can’t write enough about His Savior’s love and its implications on our lives. The Apostle John is a non-stop fire hose when it comes to God’s love. “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” (1Jn 4:10). And it doesn’t stop there. We let the love flow because Jesus drenched us in His love first (1Jn 4:19). “By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1Jn 3:16). If I REALLY love Jesus, I can’t help but love others (1Jn 4:21). Johnny wrote even more about this love in his Gospel (Jn 15:12-13, 17). Jesus loves us. And the best way we can express our love and gratitude in return is by loving others.
Meanwhile back in Ephesians, Paul writes that Jesus expressed His love for us by being “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (v2). The apostle is pointing back to the various sacrifices Yahweh commanded to Moses in Leviticus. As the priest would burn the offering, the smoke would rise and be “a pleasing aroma to the LORD” (Lev 4:31). Rather than be bored with the book of Leviticus, we should be in awe of it. This complicated list of rules and laws points to Jesus, the Ultimate Sacrifice for Sin. Christ is the Hero of the entire Bible. Jesus said so Himself (Jn 5:39; Lk 24:27). Scripture is the story of love in action. Love with legs.
It’s love on the move.
Interestingly, the Apostle Paul uses this same phrase, “a fragrant offering,” over in Philippians. Here he’s talking about something these folks back in Macedonia have done for him. The Philippians were expressing their love in action by sending Paul money and practical help while he was sitting in a Roman slammer. Their love in action floated up to the heavenly throne room like a beautiful perfume to the Lord.
That’s love on the move.
So what do you think? Agree? Disagree? Would love to hear from you. Post a comment below.
So what do you think? Agree? Disagree? Would love to hear from you. Post a comment below.
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