Walk as Children of Light (Eph 5:8-14)

Walk as Children of Light: Eph. 5:8-14 Pray & Intro: We believe God’s word is the torch that illuminates who God is for us. (We are instructed to pay attention to it “as to a lamp shining in a dark place” (2 Pet 1:19) If you want to know the truth about God and about you, where do you look? (Well, you search your heart… blah.) (God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all [1 Jn 1:5]. Jesus is the light of the world making God known to us [John 8:12]. And God’s word is the living vehicle that the Holy Spirit uses to communicate God to us through the truth that is in Jesus. [Ps 119:105 & Heb 4:12] The measuring stick is God, not what you feel about yourself.) Today we’re doing a Bible study of the text. [unvarnished version] If I talk about it like this every time, you might get bored or complacent, and you might wonder why you need me to study and preach. But honestly, this is essentially what I’m doing EVERY time. We call it expositional teaching. What does the Bible say and mean? Why does it matter to how I relate to God? And that’s how you should study the Bible. – So, we’re going through Eph. 5:8-14 together to figure out what Paul’s getting at to the people he wrote to and then to apply it to our lives here and now. Read Passage to Explain & Apply: Follow Paul’s argument, and Apply the truth to your life. (You can do this at the end, or part by part as you go back through [b/c you certainly wouldn’t try to understand and apply a biblical text in just one reading]. I’m going to do it as we go along b/c I’ve studied through it and don’t want to lose the force of each part before applying it.) I. What is Paul saying in the context of what he has been saying? A. After giving a negative motivation (God’s wrath against sin) for not living like we used to but instead living consistently with a new life in Christ, he now gives a positive motivation for the same (being children of light). 1. Don’t become partners with them (v.7), FOR 2. You were darkness, now you are light – not just being IN darkness and now IN light (as he says elsewhere, as do other authors – Col. 1:12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share I the inheritance of the saints in light. – 1 Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.)  but that you ARE light—this is total transformation. 3. IN THE LORD - apart from him we are darkness, we remain in darkness, under the power of darkness, ultimately to be punished in “outer darkness” 4. Are you darkness or are you light? Are you spiritually dead or do you have Christ’s life? (2:5) – This is not the popular Christianity of our day. Jesus is someone you just add to your life. No, according to Paul, Jesus is life. Instead of adding Jesus, you abandon your life to gain his. (Deffinbaugh) “Those who are saved by faith in Christ are not merely improved, they are radically transformed. […] This change in our condition should be accompanied by a corresponding change in our conduct.” B. To walk as children of light means to live consistently with a transformed life. 1. Paul is beating the same drum. If by grace through faith you have been given spiritual life by the righteousness of Christ, walk accordingly. 2. Paul employs darkness and light here to symbolically represent what is unholy and what is holy. (what is not of God and what IS) a. Darkness represents evil. – In people, darkness plays out as willful ignorance of and disobedience to God, resulting in immoral living that is inconsistent with God’s perfect character. (separated from light) b. Light represents the goodness and truth found in God. – In God’s people, it is having the life of Christ that comes from true knowledge of him (1:18) and characterized by conduct consistent with God’s holiness. 3. He calls pure living the “fruit of light.” (what is good, right, true) – Basically, Paul is removing our excuses for looking like the world. a. Goodness is active moral excellence from the heart. Righteousness is obedient living that is consistent with the standards given by God. Truth as a quality is honesty and integrity that honors God. b. The proof is in the fruit. [decorative fruit trees… one of my mini-me’s arrayed as a beautiful feminine creature says, “what a waste”] – Paul prays that the Philippian believers will be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Phil. 1:9-11) c. Do you see the pursuit of holy living as the fruit of having Christ’s light? C. To walk as children of light we try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. – Because we remain btwn the already saved but not yet glorified, we have to understand the Christian life as not perfection but direction. (We know we are really his as our desires and behaviors continue to increasingly match his character and will for our lives.) 1. Discern: Put to the test, examine (in the light) what is the right course of action. – Phil. 1:10 expresses Paul’s prayer for knowledge and discernment for his hearers (and applied to us) to approve what is excellent in order to be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Rom. 12:2 instructs us not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by renewing our minds, that by testing we may discern God’s will, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 2. [And here to discern what is] Pleasing to the Lord – again, Col. 1:9-10  One of the chief things that changes about us is that we desire to please Him instead of ourselves. II. What’s Paul’s main point so far? – [This is my way of saying it.] The children of God, by definition, radiate the truth of their transformation by the fruit of Christ’s light.  We do this be not participating in impurity and instead drawing attention to Jesus by our godly living. A. Don’t participate – The two ways of living are irrevocably at odds. They cannot coexist. (Darkness is the absence of light. The presence of light dispels darkness.) – Do you see these two ways of living as irrevocably at odds? You can’t worship God and yourself or other stuff at the same time. – If you try, you aren’t worshipping God. B. Instead, expose (bring to light) the fruitless deeds of darkness for what they are. Light has a way of exposing what darkness tends to conceal. – In other words, living a godly lifestyle shows evil to be evil. 1. Which is indeed despicably shameful stuff sometimes. Paul avoids going into too much detail himself and makes a helpful point at the same time. Believers certainly ought not to participate in the deplorable immorality that is even shameful to talk about openly. 2. But instead to expose evil by righteous living is indeed a good thing, even for those trying to hide it. Why? B/c seeing God for who he is will mean seeing sin for what it is will mean seeing my condition rightly and reaching out to God to transform me and give me the righteousness of Christ. – The purity of the church does not hamper gospel proclamation; it is essential to it. 3. On the other hand, the emphasis here is righteous living and not on telling people about how they are wrong. (3 Christian graces emphasized are about lifestyle: good, right, and true) a. Some of us are valiant defenders of the truth but have all the grace of a giraffe on ice skates. – Fruit of the Spirit is Gal. 5:22-23 b. So what we need is pure living and also pure sharing of Christ’s life.  You need to be “attractive” in your spirit and obedience to God (the attractiveness of Jesus in me). The gospel needs to remain straightforward. 4. V 13 reinforces that by living right sin is exposed for what it is, and the first part of v. 14 explains again that the illuminating power of Christ is transformational. – The quote, probably from Isaiah 60:1 and other passages in Isaiah together [some think it might have been an early hymn based on texts from Isaiah], both reminds and invites. (It reminds those made light what has taken place, and it invites anyone who is darkness to allow Christ to transform them into light.) C. Do you see that you can make it your life’s aim to live for God and to shine his light to those in darkness without being a monk and without compromising and without being personally abrasive? [When asked to participate in sin or why you don’t, you might answer…] I choose not to behave that way. [Why?] It dishonors my Savior. [How? Or why does that matter?] Jesus has rescued me from the bondage and consequence of that kind of living, which the Bible calls sin. [If the door is still open…] I do the wrong thing still more than I want to, but now I have the privilege of seeking to be like God because I have an actual relationship with him through faith in Jesus. It’s sinful living that demonstrates being separated from God, and I want no part in that, because what I want is intimacy with God. And I have found that everything is more pleasurable when I participate in them within the boundaries God has designed for being pleasing to Him. My prayer is that the change in my life gives proof to the saving power of God. He can do the same for you. A suggested application method for when you study scripture… Base your application on the gospel: • [God] What do I learn about the character of God? • [Man & Sin] Is there sin addressed, or lies contradicted, or a warning made that I also need to measure against my life (my thinking, affections, and actions)? • [Person and Work of Jesus] How does the work of Jesus on my behalf and his example shape the way I understand and respond to the truth proclaimed in this passage? • [Faith Response] In what specific ways do I plan to adjust my attitudes and behaviors in faith to God?