Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 06 Nov. 2011 and TSA AVM, 22 June 2025 By Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay (Chaplain, RCMP F Division)
This is the 2025 BC version, to view the 2011 Saskatchewan version, click here:
https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/11/ephesians-51-phil-48-2-tim-21617.html
Galatians
5:19-25: The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity
and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of
rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies,
and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will
not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ
Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we
live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
2 Timothy 2:14-16: Keep reminding them of these things. Warn
them before God against quarrelling about words; it is of no value, and only
ruins those who listen. Do your best to present yourself to God as one
approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles
the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will
become more and more ungodly.
Philippians
4:8-9: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is
right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything
is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned
or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God
of peace will be with you.
Ephesians
5:1: Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children…
The previous
2 weeks we have spoken about lists that Paul mentions in his epistles, his
letters. Last week we spoke about an athlete in training. The athlete is able
to eat, drink, so whatever they like but they may not win the race if they do.
{1}
The
week prior we talked about As You Were: The Tragedy at Valcartier where
cadets were given pretend brightly coloured grenades to assemble and dissemble but
accidently one live green grenade was with the others. This grenade then went
off causing death and destruction. We compared this to the items on the ‘bad
lists’ in the NT. As our bad actions can cause all kinds of problems for
ourselves and others. {2}
The
Message today is entitled ‘Imitators not Innovators’ and its theme runs through
the entire New Testament. In 2011, I was part of a group of people who were
being trained on Violence Threat Risk Assessment by J. Kevin Cameron; Kevin
Cameron is the fellow who led the crisis response team following the 1999
school shooting in Taber, Alberta. I was in this class along with many high
school teachers, other school personnel, the Fire Chief, City RCMP sergeant and
others. That same week, I was taking ICS 300. The Fire and the RCMP personnel and
others who were at the other course with me, were also in this class. Incident
Command System 300 is a course that teaches different groups how to interact in
an emergency disaster. The Salvation Army had assigned me some new
responsibilities in that area in the southern province so, even though I was
and am certified to teach this course, I thought it best build relationships
with other agencies and practice what I teach. It is important to practice and
think about what skills we will need to survive and thrive in an
emergency.
Philippians
4:8 records, “…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever
is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable…think about such things.”
This is important because we tend to imitate what we surround ourselves with. 2 Timothy 2:16-17a, “Avoid godless chatter,
because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their
teaching will spread like gangrene…” Kevin Cameron of the Canadian Centre
for Threat Assessment said that the vast majority of people are imitators
not innovators.[1] Ephesians 5:1 says, ‘Be imitators of God, therefore, as
dearly loved children’ (cf. Mt 5:44–45, 48; Lk 6:36; 1 Pe 2:21).[2]
Let me
share with you information about some of the things that the children in our
schools – even today almost 15 years later - are still imitating. There is a
1999 movie starring Brad Pitt called Fight Club. The premise is that people get
together and organize secret fighting matches between combatants. Did you know
that, among other things, from this movie that adults and youth across this
country and the USA started setting up their own real fight clubs? We watched YouTube
clips of kids, some young and some obviously not fighters, being egged on into
brutally beating each other in front of cell phones. We saw one clip of girls
surrounding another girl and even kicking her in the mouth when she was down.
The whole time people, instead of helping, people have their phone cameras on,
and they post these scenes on the Internet. As this goes on-line it becomes
even scarier because it can perpetuate the violence cycle even further and
faster because indeed most people don’t create; most are imitators not
innovators.
There
is even worse still. We saw one clip of two boys punching, kicking, and
fighting each other in the classroom, being videoed and the images put on-line.
At the end of this scene, you can see the students watching and involved: they
are quickly running away. What do you think happened? Why were the kids in the
classroom running away? The teacher came? No. The Vice Principal came – the
teacher… the teacher was already in the classroom… filming this event. The
teacher set up a fight between two of his students and put it on-line. This is
reminiscent of the two teachers who in this country thought that it would be
appropriate to partake in a lap-dance in front of the student body in a
Winnipeg school. These students and teachers were imitating what they have seen
on media, social media, entertainment, etc. and then they put this on the
Internet for others to imitate – the cycle of inappropriate behaviour and the
cycle of violence spreads quickly.[3] 2 Timothy 2:16-17a, “Avoid godless
chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
Their teaching will spread like gangrene…” (cf. Ro 1:20–32; 1 Cor 6:9–10; Gal
5:19–21); Philippians 4:8 records, “…whatever is true, whatever is noble,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
admirable…think about such things.” Ephesians 5:1 says, “Be imitators of God, therefore,
as dearly loved children”
Cameron
says, “Most people are imitators not innovators.” We are all susceptible to our
environment (cf. Ro 1:20–32; 1 Cor 6:9–10; Gal 5:19–21 & Mt 5:44–45, 48;
Luke 6:36; 1 Pet 2:21). Especially, one deemed an empty vessel: “A person who
is not connected to a healthy mature adult will search for people or things to
identify with. A person who feels empty will try to fill themselves up with
something [sic]. In VTRA [Violence Threat Risk Assessment] the question is,
‘What are they filling themselves up with?’”[4] I think most of us have gone
through times in our lives when we would fit the definition of an ‘empty
vessel’ – someone searching for something to fill ourselves up with (We used to
call this a ‘God-shaped void’) - what happens when we find something other than
God to fill the void in ourselves with? When searching for something for which
to fill ourselves, most people are imitators not innovators – so who and what
then are we imitating?[5]
Did
you know that most school shooters spend a great deal of time researching other
school shooters and how they do it before they commit their crimes? This
is how they try to fill the void. This is who they seek to imitate. The school
shooting in Taber, Alberta happened only weeks after the Columbine shootings in
the United States of America. The then largest spree of mass shootings in the
US happened after CNN reported on the 1992 Dawson College shooting in Montreal,
BQ. People who were near the edge, looking for something with which to fill
their painful emptiness, saw on the news what happened in Montreal, picked up
their own guns and imitated what they saw on CNN. Most of these empty vessel
shootings, by the way, were committed by men not boys; adults not children.
Most people – adults and children alike - are imitators not innovators;
Ephesians 5:1, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children”
Concentrating on, Philippians 4:8, “…whatever is true, whatever is noble,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
admirable…think about such things.”
We saw
a clip in our Threat Assessment course from the video game Grand Theft Auto
– I’m not sure which version. In this video game, the character you play not
only steals cars as the name suggests. The characters look realistic and one
can make his/her character have relations with a prostitute and then beat her
to death. Did you know that some parents have let their children as young as
six years old play this game? Parents have let their children’s friends play
this game when they come over to their house. One lady, who heard this
information at a course, volunteered that her husband plays this game with her
child. This is scary because most of us are imitators not innovators. We can
only imitate what we see and this is the kind of stuff our post-Christian North
American society is saying we should be able to fill our minds with. Is it any
wonder that North America has more mass murderers than the rest of the world
combined? 2 Timothy 2:16-17a, “Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge
in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like
gangrene…” Most people are imitators not innovators; therefore, Ephesians 5:1,
“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.”[6]
I
think sometimes we think that some of the things that we see on shows and in
movies and some of the things that we do on the Internet and in video games,
they can’t harm us. I think we can be tricked into thinking that they are
harmless. You have all heard, I’m sure that many people have watched the movies
we mentioned, many people have played the video games we mentioned who did not
turn into the murderers that I was studying that week. This is important: these
games, these TV shows, the Internet and even news programs – they don’t force
people to kill themselves and other people. What they do is push people who are
struggling to fill the empty vessel within themselves, over the edge. People
are imitators not innovators and the only things they can imitate are what they
see. Like we said off the top, most school shooters spend a lot of time
researching how their predecessors committed similar violent crimes. People are
imitators. What are we as a culture giving them to imitate and, we as
Christians, what are we imitating and what imitating are we modelling for our
other brothers and sisters? Before I quit drinking to be a soldier in The
Salvation Army, I can’t tell you the number of times that I was involved in
barroom ministry that by the end of the evening turned into more barroom than
ministry. Most people are imitators not innovators; therefore, Ephesians 5:1,
“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children”
Sometimes
too do we think that no one will see us if we are at home supposedly by
ourselves partaking in a little self-indulgence in some of these things that we
are talking about today? In the other course I took that same week, the ICS 300
course, we were reminded that nothing we say or do is ever private. Media can
zoom in on us from a great distance away these days and share what we say and
do with the whole world. The fire chief told us a story about how one
firefighter told another walking out of a fire that he thought they should have
used a different sized hose than the one they did. A TV camera picked this up
from a distance, read their lips, and then someone successfully sued the fire department
for using the wrong hose – which they didn’t, by the way. How much more are our
own actions viewed by God our father too? If CBC can pick you up from a mile
away how much better range does our Lord have? He can pick up even what is in
our thoughts and think of the pain you cause Him if you choose to fill yourself
with all of this stuff that is harmful to yourself and others. Most people are
imitators not innovators. Ephesians 5:1, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as
dearly loved children”
I have
two or three more quick stories to share with you today. We were told this one
story of an imitator in these school shootings. He walked into his favourite
teacher’s classroom, climbed up on a desk, and pointed the loaded gun at the
class with his finger on the trigger. At this point, instead of panicking,
instead of diving under desks or heading for the door, the teacher who was
standing beside the armed student, said, “Listen up class, I think John has
something he wants to tell us.” Listen up class; I think John has something he
wants to tell us. At this point the boy broke down and cried. Philippians 4:8:
“…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable…think about such things.” Ephesians
5:1 says, ‘Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children’
God
saved them. God is the only one who could save them and God is the only one who
can save us (cf. Ac 4:12, Phil 3:7-11). In the ICS 300 course we heard an audio
clip from a six-alarm fire in Toronto. At one point a firefighter is trapped on
a floor when his oxygen tank runs out. He has no air. He had no expectation of
survival. He calls for help. He collapses on the floor. For no apparent reason
the elevator, which has another firefighter in it, opens directly on that
floor. The firefighter in the elevator notices his colleague collapsed at his
feet and drags him into the elevator and away to safety. The official line is
that we don’t know how it happened that he was saved. The truth is, we all know
how he was saved. God saved him. God is the only one who could save them and
God is the only one who can save us. Ephesians 5:1 says, ‘Be imitators of God,
therefore, as dearly loved children’
I have
one more story about imitating our saviour. We, when I was an Officer at The
Salvation Army in Swift Current were developing a program to help people who
are sent to prison from our community to transition back into our community. I
had one friend who I sat in court with through his trial, visited in the cells,
kept in touch with when he was away in prison and made contact with immediately
after he was released. I kept in touch for a while afterwards. The Lord was and
I trust is still doing great things in his life. He doesn’t drink. He doesn’t
smoke. He has taken regular anger management courses – and he is actually
learning to hold his temper. He has a job. He has a place to stay. He is
starting to eat healthy. He is keeping active. He is going to a church. He
knows Jesus now. He was keeping in touch with me and he is keeping in touch others.
Last I heard from him, he is now and still part of a community of believers. He
is praying and he is being blessed. As He is spending time with God, God is
changing him from the inside out. Of the many people we worked with in the
years I was involved with this program his story was more the rule than the
exception and He was indeed, Philippians 4:8, concentrating on “…whatever is
true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is admirable…think about such things.” For we are all
primarily imitators not innovators and my friend is being an imitator of Christ
and as he is, God is indeed transforming his life. Ephesians 5:1 says, ‘Be imitators
of God, therefore, as dearly loved children’. And as we are, God will indeed
transform even our lives from the inside out as well.
Let us
pray.
---
{1} 1 Corinthians
9:24-26a, 10:1-33; Galatians 5:16, 22-25; Ephesians 4:31-5:2a; Philippians
2:3-4, 3:14: Stuck on Hamster Holiness. (https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2025/06/1-corinthians-924-26a-101-33-galatians.html)
{2} Galatians 5:15-21,
Ephesians 4:26-32, Philippians 2:14-16: Green Grenade. (https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2025/06/galatians-515-21-ephesians-426-32.html)
Gerry Fostaty, As You Were: The Tragedy
at Valcartier (Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane Editions, 2011).
[1] Kevin Cameron,
Violence Threat Assessment (VTRA) Level One Training Guide (Canadian Centre for
Threat Assessment and Trauma Response: 2011), 38.
[2] Cf. Francis
Foulkes, Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL :
InterVarsity Press, 1989 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 10), S. 144
[3] Donald Guthrie,
Pastoral Epistles: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL :
InterVarsity Press, 1990 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 14), S. 164:
"Whenever men waste time on trivialities they merit the same condemnation.
But the more serious aspect is the effect upon others, for this method of
futile argument only ruins those who listen."
[4] Kevin Cameron,
Violence Threat Assessment (VTRA) Level One Training Guide (Canadian Centre for
Threat Assessment and Trauma Response: 2011), 38.
[5] Cf. Ralph P.
Martin, Philippians: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL :
InterVarsity Press, 1987 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 11), S. 179
[6] A. Skevington Wood,
The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Ephesians/Exposition of
Ephesians/III. Practice: The Application to Christian Life (4:1-6:20)/C.
Christian Behavior Patterns (4:25-5:2), Book Version: 4.0.2: "Paul invites
his readers to imitate God. What follows elucidates his meaning. A child will
show himself to be a true child by wanting to grow up like his father. In the
same way, God's precious `children (tekna, those born from him) will be eager
to copy him, as he enables them. This was the teaching of Jesus himself."
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