This post is a follow-up message from Pastor Ben's sermon entitled "The Great Imitation". [Watch video]

The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:1, “Be imitators of God as beloved children.” We saw Sunday that beloved children will imitate their fathers naturally and willingly. God is our Father, but also our God. We follow Him, emulate Him, because we worship Him.

What is the power of worship? Psalm 115 tells us how powerful it is to worship the right God:

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
But to Your name give glory
Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.
2 Why should the nations say,
3 But our God is in the heavens;
He does whatever He pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of man’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they cannot speak;
They have eyes, but they cannot see;
6 They have ears, but they cannot hear;
They have noses, but they cannot smell;
7 They have hands, but they cannot feel;
They have feet, but they cannot walk;
They cannot make a sound with their throat.
8 Those who make them will become like them,
Everyone who trusts in them.

We become like what or whom we worship. The idols spoken of here were false gods made with human hands. They were images which had eyes, ears, mouths, noses, hands and feet, but were totally impotent and unable to do anything. As Jeremiah said, “Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, and they cannot speak; They must be carried, because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good” (Jeremiah 10:5). (The harm done is in worshiping them!)

But what kind of god is that? Psalm 115:8 is most telling, “Those who make them will become like them, everyone who trusts in them.” We become like what or whom we worship.

Immediately some of you will say, “But I don’t have any idols in my life that I worship.” No? What then is an idol? John Piper once said of an idol, “It is the thing loved or the person loved more than God, wanted more than God, desired more than God, treasured more than God, enjoyed more than God.” Think about it. Are there people, things or activities which have either replaced, or always held your affections and attention more than God? It is an idol you worship.

If technology, money, job, food, drink, a hobby or another person has replaced God as our greatest love and attention, then we will become just like what or whom we worship. And like those idols of Psalms and Jeremiah, we will become totally ineffective for Christ and eternity. But If, as beloved children, we are seeking to be imitators of God by worshiping Him, then we will become like Him. And being like Him is godliness, which is “profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” Worship and imitate your True God and Father.