This series has been about putting on the new man, that we are a new creation in Christ, and what is should look like. Our theme for this series works around these two thoughts.
Ephesians 4:22a and 24a (NKJV) that you put off, … the old man ... and that you put on the new man …
Last week, we considered that we should be walking in the love of God as God is love and as children of God we need to imitate our Father, but the sins of the old man keeps getting in the way.Today, we are looking at being in the light. Jesus said:
John 8:12 (NKJV) Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
As Christians, we are His light in the world and as such we become the light of the world.
Matthew 5:14–16 (NKJV) “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Are we the light we are suppose to be? Are we shining His light for others to see their way to Jesus?
Ephesians 5:8–14
In 1973, a Cambodian schoolteacher and his wife came to know Christ in an evangelistic campaign. God called Sin Soum and his wife to move into a large refugee settlement outside Phnom Penh where there was not one Christian. It was a hard decision, for it meant personal hardships. Shopping meant a half-day’s journey, and the nearest water was a 15-minute walk. Their first shelter was a tiny thatch hut they built themselves.
In a short while that little hut was overflowing with people coming to study the Bible. In six months, 30 people had believed. In two years, this couple—untrained in evangelistic techniques—was shepherding a congregation of over 1,000 people, almost all of whom were their spiritual children or grandchildren. Such is the power of the Holy Spirit working through the nonprofessional. [1]
And we worry about being a light to our neighbor or coworker? Our call to be light and to walk in light is an active , not passive activity. Going to our focal verses, we need to put it into context. Look at the last two verses from last week.
Ephesians 5:6–7 (NKJV) Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.
The world wants to lead you from the truth. The world wants you to desire and participate in the things they desire. They will use fancy words and flattery to move you to their side. Paul tells us to not partake in their sins. We are not to be what they are.
Ephesians 5:8 (NKJV) For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
Before our salvation, that is where we once were. We were not just in the dark, but Paul says we were darkness itself. And we were rescued from the realm of darkness.
1 Peter 2:9 (NKJV) But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
But now we are not just in the light, we have become the light. “but now you are light in the Lord.” We are light in the Lord. We are His children and we are to assume the nature of God and the very nature of God is Light.
1 John 1:5 (NKJV) This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
If God is light, and we are His children by the blood of Jesus, then we become light. And the command is: “Walk as children of light.” Are we walking in the light or in darkness, not our definitions of light and darkness, but how the Word of God defines it. There are those in the world who claim to be “enlightened,” but the Bible says they are in darkness, and they don’t know it. If we claim to know God and have fellowship with Him, yet our life is characterized by darkness, the Bible calls you a liar.
1 John 1:6 (NKJV) If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
What does walking in the light look like?
Ephesians 5:9 (NKJV) (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
Most other translations, using older and more reliable Greek manuscripts have "Light" instead of "Spirit." Light is more consistent with the text.
Ephesians 5:9 (NASB) (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
But nothing is lost in the translation, because the Spirit of God is God and is Light. Do we display the fruit of the Light, which is the fruit of the Spirit. Paul expounds on this in his letter to the Galatians:
Galatians 5:22–23 (NKJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
This is what walking in the light looks like. And like everything else, it is process. We must let those fruit of the light ripen into all fullness.
Ephesians 5:10 (NKJV) finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
As I have told you before, I have folks asking me how to know the will of God and how to know what is acceptable to Him? My answer is always a question: “Are you doing the will of God that you know now?” As we walk in the light we are training our minds to be sensitive to the things of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Knowing and doing the will of God is what pleases Him. Part of renewing our minds is having no part with the darkness of this world.
Ephesians 5:11 (NKJV) And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
Why are things done in darkness? But to hide it from the light.
John 3:20 (NKJV) For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
These things of the dark, which we once were, brings nothing but death.
Romans 6:21 (NKJV) What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
Now the fact is quite simply, even though the darkness hides evil doings, God see all. We tend to forget that:
Hebrews 4:13 (NKJV) And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
As light, we not only avoid fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness “but rather expose them.” we expose the things in the dark. And what are the unfruitfulness works of darkness? It is the opposite of verse 9, instead of goodness, righteousness, and truth, it is evil, wickedness, and falsehood.
As Christians, we are to hold one another accountable. We are to keep one another out from the unfruitful works of darkness. We expose the unfruitful works of the darkness for fellow believers:
Galatians 6:1 (NKJV) Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
But we must be careful, because we are still in the flesh, and old man begs for us to put him back on, we must exercise caution whether we get caught back up in it ourselves.
Ephesians 5:12 (NKJV) For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
We need to be careful how we discuss the sins of the darkness. I have heard testimonies of those once mired in sin, and I’m not sure if they were telling the depths of their depravity or if they were bragging. We do not need to go into all the details of sin. We know what they are.
Warren Wiersbe commented: I recall a friend in youth work who felt it necessary to read all that the teenagers were reading “in order to understand them better,” and it so polluted his mind that he himself fell into sin. It is not necessary for the believer to perform an autopsy on a rotting corpse to expose its rottenness. All he has to do is turn on the light! [2]
Ephesians 5:13 (NKJV) But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.
This verse is a little difficult to understand so this is one of those rare times I defer to another translation. Due to the different Greek manuscripts from which they are translated, the verse break is a little different. I want to examine this verse using the NIV, which may be easier to understand.
Ephesians 5:13–14a (NIV84) But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for it is light that makes everything visible.
We as light, we can more clearly see the evils in the darkness. It is the light of Jesus, through us, that makes these evils visible. We need to know that those in dark cannot see, they are blind.
2 Corinthians 4:3–4 (NKJV) But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
Unsaved people are blind. I do believe that unsaved people do not see the fallacies of the things they proposed and do. As I read the newspaper or the news on the web, I often say,
“I cannot believe I am the only who sees these fallacies!”
Jesus saw that from the cross. What did Jesus pray from the cross? “Father forgive them for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:34) Most people of the world (and not of God) truly do not know what they are doing.
Then there are those who have deliberately rebelled against God. These are those Paul tells us in Romans 1, that God has given over to a debased mind.
Romans 1:32 (NKJV) who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
But the world is blinded by the “god of this age” which is Satan. There are those who are unsaved who truly believe that homosexuality and transgenderism are normal and un-sinful. But that only illustrates the depths of their depravity. They cannot see it for they are in the dark. We see it because we are in the light and expose these evils to the light of scriptural truth. So Paul adds what was probably an early hymn, possibly a baptismal hymn:
Ephesians 5:14 (NKJV) Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”
This appears to be a paraphrase from Isaiah 60:1-2. Those who sleep, those in dark and those who are dead, spiritually, the call is for them to awake, get into the light that only Christ can give.
Coming into the light that Christ gives opens our eyes to the evils of the world, we can avoid the landmines that will catch so many others. This hymn is also for the Christian who has drifted or fallen asleep. They need to be awaken to come back to the light.
The invitation this morning is for those who are in the dark or have drifted from the light. We have been called into the light, and out of the darkness.
Putting off the old man of the darkness and putting on the new man of the light. We are called to trust Jesus. Is He calling you today?
[1] W. Stanley Mooneyham, “Getting More Hooks in the Water Is Not Enough,” Christianity Today (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, Volume 25, Number 16, September 18, 1981), 1192.
[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 46.
