“Your Look A Like”
Ephesians 1:3-14
July 16, 2006
Rev. John A.
Fleming
I still remember the day that Sarah Franklin, a friend to my family, and a member of my home church came to our house for dinner. Sarah is the kind of person for whom the dining room is the appropriate place for the meal instead of the kitchen table. So we were all sitting in the dining room, sharing a meal together. I am not all together sure about this, but I am almost positive that we were at the point in the meal between the main course and the time when dessert and coffee would be served. I was sitting across from Sarah, next to my sister, when Sarah looked up at me. She had a strange look in her eye. She asked me, “Has anyone ever told you that you look like Paul Newman?” I was a teenager at the time. Paul Newman wasn’t all that popular to my generation, but I did know who he was. I think I should tell you that when Sarah asked me about my resemblance to Mr. Newman, she was ninety-two or three years old. Her eyesight wasn’t what it once was. And wine had been served to those at the dinner table who were of age. So her failing eyes and the wine may have contributed to her seeing Paul Newman in me. I will tell you this, every time after that, when I saw Sarah anywhere, she would say, “I still think you look like Paul Newman!”
I wonder if such a thing has happened to you. Has someone that you have known, or perhaps even a stranger out on the street come up to you, and with a strange look in their eyes, and asked, “Has anyone ever told you that you look like Julia Roberts?” Or, “Has anyone ever told you that you look like Brad Pitt?” How would you respond to such a question? Well most people might say something like, “Well, no. Get outta here. I don’t really look like him, do I? Really? Well, yeah, I guess that I can see it now that you mention it.”
One of my favorite movies is simply named Dave. It is the story of Dave Kovic, a guy who by day works in an employment agency and in his spare time, impersonates a president. He is the spitting image of President Bill Mitchell. Since the resemblance is so great, two White House officials ask Dave to stand in for the President at an important gala. Dave does well and so when the President has a massive stroke, Dave is asked to stand in again. And for a time runs the country in unconventional way.
Is there someone out there, perhaps a celebrity, that you look like? Believe it or not, there is a website that allows you to download a picture of yourself into their data bank. The computer analyzes your picture, noticing your facial features, and then pops out an image of a celebrity that you look the most like. It is really amazing. I have visited that web site.
What I also think is amazing is
that there is not a web site that will match up your behavior to one of the
stars. So unless you’ve punched out an
employee at Burger King or come back from
In the end, I guess, it doesn’t really matter what celebrity you look like. What really matters is what is on the inside. What is inside of us is put there by God himself and God hopes we will use all of our gifts. Let me ask you this, “Who could we compare ourselves in a spiritual look a like contest? Would you life resemble that of Billy Graham or perhaps Mother Teresa? No? Maybe your life would resemble someone whose spiritual life was higher than that. Could your life resemble the life of Jesus the Christ?
Our scripture lesson for this
morning, taken from the beginning verses of Paul’s letter to the church at
Some weeks it is easier to preach than others. Some times the scriptures seem to preach themselves. Take the story of the calming of the sea for instance. That one wasn’t so hard. We all have storms in our lives. Take the healing of the woman with the issue or blood or the Jewish leader whose daughter was at the point of death. That is a story about healing and healing is something that we all need. Even last week’s lesson, the one about Jesus being rejected in his own hometown. Who of us has not experienced rejection in one way or another. So I read the words of the first chapter of Ephesians in several different translations. None of them seemed to help. By Wednesday night, I was frantic! What in the world am I going to say to your children, Lord? That was my question. It doesn’t help, I guess that our lesson is one big run-on sentence that continues for eleven verses. The sentence is an English teacher’s nightmare!
Preaching on this text, one minister suggested that Paul was swept away with exhilaration and elation. Paul seems to be overwhelmed at all of the things that God has done for him. He was so excited about these things and he wanted the Ephesians to know about it.
Even as he sits in his prison cell,
Paul cannot help but to be excited about what God has done in his life and he
wants the church at
To begin all of that, Paul uses extravagant language to describe an extravagant God. He says that God has blessed us. He says that God has lavished on us the riches of his grace. If that is not enough, Paul says that God has given us His Holy Spirit as a guarantee of an even greater inheritance that is waiting for us. So I guess you could say that today’s text is a picture of what God himself wants his followers to resemble. In short, we are to be a people whose lives reflect God.
So who are we supposed to be? First, says Paul, we are a blessed people. Not long ago, before my foot injury, I was at Children’s Hospital visiting someone from another town, as a favor to a preacher friend of mine. I was waiting for one of the elevators with three or four other people. All of them had badges indicating that their children or their grand children were in the hospital. All of them looked down, in more ways than one. Suddenly, coming down a hallway was a young man dressed in scrubs. Obviously he worked at the hospital. Obviously he loved his job. His energy was almost electric. One of the people waiting for the elevator greeted him and asked, “How’re you doing?” He answered, “Man, I am blessed! I am so blessed to be a part of this place!” It made me want to fill out a job application!
Paul wants the Ephesians to know
that we are a blessed people. Even from
his jail cell, Paul wanted the Christians in
Another thing that Paul wants us to know is that we have been given God’s grace. We don’t need to be a people who spend all of our time undoing the things that we’ve done wrong.
We are blessed and being blessed means that there is a blesser, one who blesses us. James reminds us in his letter, “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” When we are seen as blessed people, others recognize where the blessing comes from. You can see it in us.
Another spiritual recognition point for all of us is that God intends for us to be a holy people. As Paul puts it, we are to be people who are, “...blameless before him in our love.”
We are supposed to be set apart in the way that we live and the things that we do.
A young lady was soaking up the sun on the beach one day when a little boy in his swimming suit, carrying a towel came up to her and asked, “Are you a Christian? She looked up at him. She was startled by his question. She replied, “Yes I am.” Then he asked, “Do you go to church every Sunday?” Again her answer was, “Yes. I go to church every Sunday. I hardly ever miss worship services.” Then he asked, “Do you read your Bible and pray every day?” She answered, “Well, most days. I’ve got a pretty good track record on that one.” At last the boy sighed and said (with obvious relief), “Oh that’s great! Well, since you’re a Christian, will you hold this dollar bill while I go swimming?” That is a cute story. Our lives are supposed to reflect our values. Does your life do that?
We are supposed to be a holy people, set apart by our lifestyle. Seen as different. Pure. Upstanding. Good. God wants to use all that we are. God won’t settle even when we are willing to. God designed us and knows what is best for us. God knows what will satisfy us and what won’t. God knows what will hurt us and what won’t. One of my favorite Max Lucado quotes goes something like this, “God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to let you stay that way.” We reflect a God who has holy standards for his beloved children, but we’re also not perfect.
You see, we reflect grace, not perfection. God is a God who loves and not one who burdens. So the question is how can we lavish grace on others? How can we give it to our families? How can we offer it to our friends? How can we give grace to our neighbors and those we work with?
If you’ve got Jennifer Aniston’s hair or Tom Cruise’s smile, that’s fine, but how far will that really get you. You are blessed. You are holy. You give grace to others. If that is what you look like, then you are looking good. Really good. Let us pray.