*Biomimicry *is the term that describes designs inspired by or learned from nature. It turns out that a lot of the problems that we face in our designs and constructions are already answered in the natural world around us. For example, velcro was developed by Swiss engineer George de Mestral in 1941 after he studied the little hooks on burrs. Shark skin has a kind of scale on it that helps them swim better and inhibits bacterial growth. The design has been incorporated into swim suits, which are officially banned at the Olympics, and into medical devices. Even those horrible mosquitoes have have taught researchers how they might make a better hypodermic needle. In the world of architecture, biomimicry is everywhere. Buildings inspired by nature are more beautiful and often more efficient than buildings that are simply big rectangles.**
As Christians, we have a special appreciation for biomimicry. We believe what God’s word says about where all this came from in the first place. It was designed and created by our all-powerful, all-knowing God. Of course we would expect to see great wisdom and brilliant design all over in nature. We would expect that human beings have much to learn from the Master Designer. It defies logic to claim that these things happened on their own and that the intelligent design of human beings is less intelligent than no design at all.
But even more than that, considering and appreciating biomimicry as Christians might remind us of something even greater. If all of nature comes from God, then mimicking nature means mimicking God. And if mimicking God in the external things of this life is valuable, then how much more valuable is it that in our spiritual life we be imitators of God?
In chapter four of his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul contrasts the life of those who don’t know God with the life of those who do. He doesn’t do this with a Pharisaical haughtiness; “Lord, I thank you that I’m not like those people.” But rather, he does it to warn and encourage the Ephesian Christians and us. A self-destructive life bound in sin is not far from any of us. That’s our nature. It’s what we’re born into. It’s what Satan tempts us with every day. “Why live this Christian life when it would be so much easier to give it all up and live for yourself?”
Thanks be to God then that our understanding has been enlightened by the Gospel and that we have a new life in Christ. We can see how destructive sin is both to the people around us and to ourselves.
In a way, you might say then that this problem seems like it should be solved. Just don’t do all that stuff. You have the Ten Commandments. You know what’s right and what’s wrong. You know that you’re always going to regret it when you sin. So why are you still sinning? Cut it out!
It seems like it should be solved, but because of my sinful nature sin just keeps creeping back in, just like how if I go too long without cleaning out my refrigerator something in there is going to start growing mold. So Paul encourages us to stay alert and clean it out. He says,
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Get rid of every kind of bitterness, rage, anger, quarreling, and slander, along with every kind of malice. 32Instead, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has forgiven us.
Even those little sins, like bitterness and quarreling, are not so little. They can’t be ignored. Paul’s warning here is that we don’t become complacent and lazy about any sin, no matter how small it seems.
This is what grieves the Holy Spirit. In Mark 3:29 Jesus says that there is one sin that will never be forgiven, and that’s the sin against the Holy Spirit. There’s been a lot of debate over the years about what exactly that is, but it isn’t really all that complicated. The sin against the Holy Spirit is rejecting the Holy Spirit, together with his work of bringing faith and repentance. The reason that it will never be forgiven is that the sin is rejecting the forgiveness of sins.
This is the reason that we don’t teach mortal and venial sins in the same way that the Roman Catholic church does. It isn’t that there are two separate lists of sins which differ in their character or quality, some serious mortal sins, others less serious, venial sins. Instead, it has to do with the heart. Paul’s warning here shows that even a small sin can be a mortal sin. Something like bitterness, if it leads us away from repentance and causes us to reject the Holy Spirit, that’s going to end with us in hell.
So do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Get rid of every sin. Martin Luther wrote in his Small Catechism about confession, saying, “What sins should we confess? Before God we should plead guilty of all sins, even those we are not aware of, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer. But before the pastor we should confess only those sins which we know and feel in our hearts.”
Speaking of the Lord’s Prayer, that’s where Paul goes with this too. Instead of holding to sin, he says we should be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has forgiven us. Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Our forgiveness and his forgiveness go hand-in-hand. The only reason we are able to forgive is because of how he forgives us.
There’s a problem here, though, isn’t there? I pray, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” but I don’t always do a good job of forgiving. I don’t want God to forgive me the way I forgive others. And I try to get rid of bitterness, rage, anger, quarreling, and slander, but just like cleaning up a house with children as soon as I think I’m finished I turn around and the mess is all right back. Can I be confident that I’m not grieving the Holy Spirit? With this life?
But in these verses we find our Triune God’s comfort and encouragement. Just as we’re warned about grieving the Holy Spirit, the answer is right there, as if God is saying, “Are you troubled by this, by how deadly even your small sins are? They are indeed deadly, but you don’t need to be afraid. Instead, find the answer, find your assurance, in me. With the Holy Spirit you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
What is this? How were you sealed with the Holy Spirit? In your baptism! Paul made mention of that earlier in this chapter: There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Peter preached in Acts 2 “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” And in his first epistle Peter wrote that baptism saves you with the guarantee of a good conscience before God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So this is God’s sure promise to you. When you are in doubt over your sins, when you are wondering if you have grieved the Holy Spirit, when you have been feeble in your forgiveness, look to your baptism. That’s where God has made his promise to you.
And then, holding to your baptism, be an imitator of God. Paul writes
Therefore, be imitators of God as his dearly loved children. 2And walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Mimicking nature can solve some of our earthly problems. You don’t even have to be a Christian to understand that. You don’t have to know where the design of a whale’s fin or a bird’s wing came from to study it and learn from it. But nature isn’t going to teach you the answers to life’s spiritual problems and the right way to live your life. We can only learn those things by imitating the one who saves us from sin and every spiritual problem, from God.
This isn’t something that can be accomplished by the law, by ranting and raving with threats and harsh punishments. It’s accomplished in us by his love.
To imitate God is an amazing idea. He’s so far above us, perfect and holy and righteous. Dwelling in unapproachable light. And yet in Christ our God has come to us, and revealed himself to us, and declared us his own dear children. Where once we were bound in sin with only Satan and his lies to be our role model, now we know our God. We’ve seen his cross. We were baptized into his death and resurrection. We’re free—free from death’s cold grasp, free to walk in love, imitating our Savior’s love for us.
You can imitate God. You know him, as he’s revealed himself to you in his Word, and especially in the person of his Son. You have the right motivation, not the demands of the law but the joy of the gospel. You have the answer for every time you fail. Christ’s forgiveness, won at the cross and delivered to you by Word and Sacrament. You understand the value of every feeble good work done like a child trying to copy his father. Your works are precious in God’s sight, good not for their own sake, but for the sake of Christ.
So be an imitator of God. Imitating God means learning his love. Learn to know it from his word. Learn to trust it by holding to his promise of the forgiveness of sins. Learn to imitate it by putting it into practice in your life.
You could call biomimicry a form of imitating God, indirectly, as we learn to benefit from God’s great wisdom in this life. But you, dearly loved child of God, imitate him by walking in his love. Amen.
— Pastor Seth Georgson