WALKING AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT
Study Text: Ephesians 5: 8 - 14
Introduction:
- The theme of light and darkness is prominent throughout the Bible. Darkness symbolizes Satan’s evil domain and the sinful deeds of those who do not obey God.
- It also represents the spiritual ignorance of those whose sin has blinded their eyes from the light of God’s truth (Ephesians 4:18; 2 Corinthians 4:4).
- Light pictures the knowledge of the truth that comes when God shines into our lives. (2 Corinthians 4:6). Light also pictures the holiness of God, who dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16).
- We live in a hard, dark world, a world that is dominated and driven by sin. In the midst of that darkness and depravity, God has redeemed a people. He has redeemed a people that He expects to be different. He has redeemed a people He has empowered to be different.
- So as believers, we are called to walk in the light, just as He Himself is in the light (1 John 1:7), living with every area of our lives exposed to God.
- We shall be discussing the topic under three subheadings:
1. Our Glorious Change: From Darkness To Light
2. Our Golden Conduct: The Fruit Of The Spirit
3. Our Gracious Command: Walk As Children Of Light
1. Our Glorious Change: From Darkness To Light
a. Our Initial Situation: Darkness
- We “were sometimes darkness.” This means that we were lost and in the darkness of sin and depravity.
- We were blinded by the god of this world, 2 Corinthians 4:4.
- We lived like every other lost person, and we enjoyed it, Ephesians 2:1-3.
- We were enslaved to sin. We knew nothing else. We wanted nothing else. We were lost in the dark and headed to Hell. We lived like the lost people we were.
b. Our New Situation: Light
- We “are light in the Lord.” When the Lord saved us, He delivered us from darkness. Colossians 1:13
- When the Lord delivered us from darkness, He set us free from the power of sin. He has changed and made us children of the light.
- Since we have been changed, we are to walk in the light and no longer in the darkness that once characterized us. Romans 13:12-14
- Our lives once manifested the works of the world, the flesh and the devil. Sin was a way of life for us. Darkness was where we lived, and what we loved.
- By the power of grace, the Lord has touched us, saved us, delivered us and changed us. He has brought us out of darkness into His marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9.
- Since that is true, we are to “walk as children of light.” How do we do that? We do that by avoiding sinful thinking and sinful living. We do it by surrendering our all to the Spirit of God, Who will produce within us the “peaceable fruit of righteousness.”
- We have been changed, and we should live different lives. If we are truly saved, and if we have been truly changed, then holiness should be a way of life for us. 2 Corinthians 5:17
2. Our Golden Conduct: The Fruit Of The Spirit
- If we are truly saved, and walking in the light, it will be clear from the life we live. Paul says the “fruit of the Spirit” is seen in three ways:
a. It is seen in Goodness
- It speaks of godliness in the motives, thoughts and actions. This has to do with our treatment of others.
- When we practice “goodness,” we are walking in love to those around us. We are being God-like toward them, as we treat them like God treats us.
b. It is seen in Righteousness
- This word refers to our standing before the Lord. When He saved us, God declared us righteous. He took away all our guilt, imputed the righteousness of Christ to us, and made us holy in His sight.
- Righteousness is seen in our lives when we live out the reality of who we are, and what we have been made in Christ Jesus.
- It speaks of a godliness that makes a life as being different and as belonging to the Lord, when compared with the life that is not connected with God.
c. It is seen in Truth
- This word has to do with honesty, reliability, and trustworthiness. When this quality is seen in the life of a believer, it distinguishes him from the hypocritical, deceptive and false ways of the world.
- “Goodness” deals with our relationship with others.
- “Righteousness” deals with our relationship with God.
- “Truth” deals with the personal integrity of our own lives.
- These three characteristics are called “fruit.” Fruit is the unfolding of life. None of these things, taken to their perfect fulfillment, are things you will find in the lives of unbelievers.
- They are the “fruit”, the proof, of the presence of the life of the Lord in us. When we know Him, we will be like Him.
- These three characteristics: goodness, righteousness and truth, are only possible through the work of the Spirit in the life of a redeemed believer.
3. Our Gracious Command: Walk As Children Of Light
- Those who know the Lord should not be a partaker of those things that are evil, even by association. We are to avoid all things that are evil. We are to avoid even the appearance of evil, 1 Thessalonians 5:22.
- We have to be in the world, If we are not in the world, we cannot witness to the lost. However, we must be careful that we do not allow ourselves to get trapped by the ways of the world. We are to be a separate, holy people to the glory of the Lord. Romans 12: 1 - 2
- We are to guard our hearts, our minds and our bodies. Sin is all around us, but so is the help of the Spirit of God, 1 John 4:4. If we trust Him, He will help us to live lives that are holy and pleasing to Him.
- Our responsibility to abstain from sin goes farther than simply not doing sinful things. Here, we are commanded to “reprove them.”
- This means that we are to “expose” evil for what it is. When we are silent about sin, we are guilty of encouraging it. When we ignore sin, we are guilty of promoting it.
- We must tell others what the Bible says is right and what it says is wrong. Sometimes our intolerance of sin will be direct, as we deal face to face with those who are involved in sinful activities.
- At other times, our reproof of wickedness will be indirect. That is, we do the opposite of what the world around us does, and God uses that to rebuke them for their error.
- They are selfish, but we are giving. They curse, we bless. They live for self, we live for God and for others. They lie, we speak the truth. Simply living for the Lord is a powerful testimony in the face of evil.
- We handle sin by taking every action and exposing it to the light of the Word of God. We are to hold it up to the Bible, and if the Bible is against it, we are to be against it too. If the Bible is for it, we are to be for it. The Word of God alone is to be the standard for our lives.
- Light makes things “manifest,” or “easy to see.” When we walk in the light, it makes the evil of the world around us easy to see.
- The children of God should walk so holy, so clean, and so close to God that we stand out as beacons of light in a dark world. Matthew 5:14–16.
Conclusion:
- Walk as a child of light, maintaining proper separation from the world and proper contact with the world. As you do, your godly life and words will expose the deeds of darkness. Some will awake from the dead and Christ will shine on them, as He has on you.
- The world needs the light we have to show them. It is the Lord’s will that His children be light in a dark world. It is the power of His light within us that will highlight the differences between us and the lost world around us.
- If you are lost, you can be saved. The Lord will change your life, delver you from, darkness and fill you with His light.
