Driving out the Darkness
Text: Ephesians 5:7-14
By: Ken McKinley
(Read Text)
When I was a little boy, in grade school I remember taking a field trip to The Alabaster Caverns. Well when we moved back into this area I was excited about taking Leslie and Gabriel to Alabaster Caverns. They didn’t change much in those 25 years, and even the tour is still pretty much the same. The one thing that seems to be held in common by all cave tour guides is that at some point during the tour they turn the lights out and allow the group to experience absolute darkness for a few seconds.
Darkness is something that is almost foreign in today’s world. We live in a world where street lamps light up the night sky, even in a small town. Even when we lived in the country we had a light that would illuminate our yard. And when the power goes out, almost every household has its extra flashlights lying around somewhere… in the junk drawer, or whatever you might call it. So it’s hard for us to imagine what it might have been like even 2 or 3 hundred years ago, let alone 2000 years ago.
But the Bible talks a lot about light, and how it drives away darkness. In the very 1st book of the Bible we read that creation began with darkness covering the face of the deep, and it was God’s creative Word that brought light into the darkness. In John’s Gospel he wrote that through the Word all things were made and “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shone in the darkness, but the darkness did not understand it.” Of course John was using that metaphor to describe sin and salvation, and in our text this morning we see that light is also being used to describe a change that takes place in our lives.
Now if you remember; when we started our study of Ephesians I told you all that the first few chapters tell us who we are in Christ, and then the last three chapters are applying that truth to the every day circumstances and situations of our lives. So keep that in mind as we study this passage this morning.
You notice that Paul starts this passage by saying you were once in darkness but NOW you are light in the Lord. Back in chapter 2:1 Paul said we were dead in our sins and in chapter 4:17 he said that our thinking was futile, our understanding was darkened. In context Paul isn’t saying that we were just IN the darkness, but that we WERE the darkness. Some people don’t like to hear that. It’s ok if we say that we were “sick” or that we were “weak” or even that we were off target. All of those things don’t offend people as much, because if they are sick then it’s possible they can get well, and if they were weak then it’s possible that they might be able to strengthen themselves, and if they are off target then it’s possible that they might correct their aim. But when we start telling people that they were DEAD, people start feeling uncomfortable. And when we start telling people that the reason that they sin is because that’s all they can do without Christ, you might even get some people a little angry with you.
But the Bible teaches that our starting point is a lot more desperate than we could ever imagine. It is a fatal mistake to tell yourself that without Jesus Christ you aren’t really all that bad. It’s fatal for two reasons: First if we really aren’t all that bad, then maybe with a little adjustment here and an adjustment there we tell ourselves that we are then good enough.
And if we really aren’t all that bad, then we downplay God’s grace and do not look to Christ for everything we need.
See Paul says, “YOU were once darkness, but now you are light IN THE LORD!” And it’s only in the Lord. He tells us our past condition so that we can see our present condition more clearly. And I want you to notice something else here – there is no gradual transformation here. He says we WERE and now WE ARE. In other words, the light switch is either flipped on or it’s flipped off. Turn with me to 2nd Cor. 4:6 (read).
Moving from darkness to light is not about trying your best. You are light because you are in Christ, or you are darkness because you are still in your sins. It’s pretty cut and dried. But Paul goes on in verse 8 and says, “Because you are now light in the Lord, walk as children of light.”
Ok Kenny, but just how do I do that?
Well we have to go on to verses 9 and 10 (read). In these verses Paul mentions the fruit of the Spirit. Now I’ve seen some fruity people that claimed to be Christians, but that’s not what Paul is talking about here. He mentions ‘goodness,’ righteousness,’ and ‘truth.’
Goodness is the same term that Paul mentions in Galatians 5:22 when he lists the fruit of the Spirit, and what goodness describes is a type of generosity, a willingness to help others, even if you have to get your hands dirty to do it. It’s a selflessness that is evident and obvious. The word “righteousness” has to do with integrity. Righteousness has been imputed in the believer. This has to do with living in an upright, moral, and decent way that is obvious to everyone. It doesn’t mean you won’t slip up now and then, it means that you don’t call evil good and good evil, it means that your yes is yes and your no is no, it means that you are a person who stands for truth and justices. And truth is the next fruit that Paul mentions. We’ve talked about this already, when we went over chapter 4, and so for a quick re-cap this means that we are people who tell the truth in love.
The light of Christ in our lives transforms us, it drives the darkness away, and it’s not only obvious in the way we live our lives, it also transforms our minds so that we have sort of an inherent knowledge of what it means to please God. In vs. 10 Paul says, “Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.” This goes along with what Paul writes in the book of Romans chapter 12:2 (Read). This finding out is a proving, or a testing. When we have a belt test in our martial arts class it is a proving of what they’ve learned. So this light that transforms us is the light with proves us or tests us… it exposes the flaws and weak points, and lets us know what we need to work on, and what we’ve accomplished.
How do we renew our minds? How do we find out what is acceptable to the Lord? What does God use as His proving grounds? His word. It was God’s Word that brought light in the beginning, it was God’s Word made flesh, His only begotten Son Jesus Christ our Lord that brought light to us, and we are light only in the Lord. It is God’s Word which continues to transform us by the renewing of our minds. We are to test and prove what is right and acceptable to God by the Word, not some heart felt emotion, not by some warm fuzzies, its God’s Word.
It’s this light that drives the darkness away. Look at verse 11 and 12… this is important. I’ve counseled many people who were not living like they should. I’ve spoken with people who’ve found themselves in various situations where they were living in sin, even people who have made a profession of faith in the Lord. And I always tell them, that one of the most important things they can do is get as far away from whatever it is that is pulling them into sin. Whether its people, whether it’s a lifestyle, whether its TV, whatever it is, if its dragging you down. I know a person who has made a profession of faith, but they got into the party life, they got into doing things that they knew were hurting them and their family, but… that lifestyle seemed fun. Sin seems fun for a season, but the end thereof is death.
How do we know if something is fruitful or fruitless? Well go back to verse 9, is it good, righteous and true? Paul says we are not to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but instead we are to EXPOSE them. That doesn’t mean that we set out to condemn every sinner who seems worse than we are. What Paul is saying here is what Jesus said in Matthew 5: We are the salt of the earth, we are light, and this light is supposed to shine before all men, so that they might see our good works and then glorify our Father in heaven.
We don’t change our culture by voting for Christian politicians, by giving enormous sums of money to Christian groups who pledge to fight against the ACLU. We change our culture by letting our light sine. We change our culture by fulfilling the Great Commission. Christians have bought into the lie that we have to fight the world on the worlds terms, that IS NOT what the Bible teaches. The disciples turned the world upside down by preaching the Gospel, not by legislation and litigation.
We change the world by giving it a wake up call – look at verse 14 (read).
It’s a call to reflect the Gospel. If Christ’s work of regeneration has transformed your life, then there should be a change in the way you live it. Because as His light shines, we take on the properties of that light ourselves.
I remember singing that song, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna’ let it shine…” But I heard Chuck Swindoll say that we sing that song incorrectly, he said we should sing it like this, “This great light of God’s, I’m gonna’ let it reflect off my bod…”
You see we are light, but only in the Lord. But if we are light why isn’t it shining? Have we worked so hard at covering our light? Are we ashamed that the Gospel is shining in our heart?
If we are light, we should act as light, bringing goodness, righteousness, and truth and driving out the darkness. In our homes, in our community, in our county, our state and in our world.
CLOSING AND INVITATION
