A twelve-year-old Taiwanese boy was visiting an art exhibit in 2015 when he accidentally tripped at a museum. Thankfully he was ok because he broke his fall by reaching out to support himself on a 350-year-old painting valued at $1.5 million. Insurance paid for the restoration, and I am sure he received some counsel on being careful! But the boy isn’t alone.
In 2006, a 42-year-old man tripped over his shoelace in Cambridge, England, and shattered 3 Chinese vases valued at over $130,000. And there’s the time that Steve Wynn accidentally put his elbow through a $155 million Picasso painting. Fortunately, Wynn was a billionaire, and he later bought the painting. Oh my! This makes me think I will never go into an art museum again!
Of all the items that could be damaged, Chinese vases and Picasso paintings are the least of our worries. They are not even close to the most valuable items near us.
Open your Bibles open to Ephesians 5 with me as we continue our study of Ephesians – The Spirit-Filled Life.
Ephesians’ Big Picture
Ephesians 1-3 tells us about how Christ saved us – our position in Christ. The first few chapters details how you enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 4-6 tells us how we are to live now we are saved – our practice in Christ. Let’s zoom into the details of this priceless book, starting in verse 6:
Today’s Scripture
“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 become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:6-14).
1. What’s Your Spiritual DEFCON Status?
“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14)
1.1 Spiritual DEFCON Status
Paul wants you to set your spiritual DEFCON meter up a notch. DEFCON stands for America’s defense readiness condition and the alert status of our nation’s armed forces. DEFCON 5 is the lowest state of readiness, where DEFCON 1 is the highest state of readiness. DEFCON 5 is a time of peace, where DEFCON 1 is a time where nuclear war is impending. Paul says that too many Christians are in DEFCON 5 and on cruise control. He wants us to wake up. And Paul wants you to be in a state of spiritual readiness.
Raise your spiritual readiness. Don’t amble through the museum of life with an ice cream cone, unaware that you fall and possibly destroy something valuable. Raise your spiritual readiness.
1.2 Who’s He Speaking to?
Now, keep in mind that’s he’s not talking to those who have yet to embrace Christ. He’s not speaking to those who have NOT experienced the forgiveness of their sins but those who are born again. “for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).
He is speaking to those who were blind, but now they see. He is speaking to those who were lost but now are found. And he is certainly speaking to those who were darkness but now are in the light. So if you call yourself a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is for you. When I read this, I need to say to myself, “This is for me.” Say that with me, “This is for me.” So when he says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14), he’s not speaking to those in bars and honkytonks.
He’s speaking to the church. The church needs to wake up, and believers need to wake up.
1.3 We Can Easily be Deceived
He’s afraid you may be deceived: “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:6).
It’s so easy to be deceived. Years ago, I was parking in a Dallas pay parking lot. It was one of those places where you stick your money in the slot as the parking lot was unattended. But this guy appears out of nowhere and takes the money, and I leave. Later on, I realized what had happened. He wasn’t with the parking lot at all – he appeared out of nowhere. I was snookered and deceived out of $20, and I felt like a fool. I’m embarrassed to say that we can all be deceived. And Paul gets this, so he’s alerting us to raise our spiritual DEFCON level. Be on the “lookout” for people who want spiritual deceive you.
“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:6).
The Bible doesn’t want you to embrace the behavior of the darkness after you claim to have discovered the light. We see people all around us doing things that are evil, and nothing bad happens to them. No lightning bolts come down from Heaven to zap them. God doesn’t take His fists to pulverize those who do wrong rather than right. It seems like we can cut a few corners in business, and dishonesty and greed get us ahead. We can sleep with whoever we want, and God turns the other way. “The wicked man is so arrogant he always thinks, ‘God won’t hold me accountable; he doesn’t care’” (Psalm 10:4).
So we who have embraced the light are tempted to live like those in the darkness. So we are tempted to switch teams and join them. Or we are tempted to think we can play both sides against the middle. We act one way on the occasional Sunday and act how we want all through the week.
Here the word of the Lord: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).
God is a God of order. Let me say that again: God is a God of order. God works according to fixed principles, and His principles are just as fixed in the spiritual world as they are in the natural world.
1.4 The Law of Gravity
For example, there are certain fixed principles in the natural world. One of the laws of the natural world is the law of gravity. The law of gravity is what is keeping you on your seat and off the ceiling right now. It’s the law of gravity that just simply holds you down. Now that’s just a fixed law in the universe. You don’t break the law of gravity; it will break you. You may step off a 10-story building. You won’t break the law; you’ll only demonstrate that law. You won’t break it, but it will break you. Now there are certain laws in the physical universe; and, there are certain fixed laws in the spiritual universe, and they are just as fixed. You know there are lots of folks who sow their wild oats six days a week, and then they come to church on Sunday and pray for crop failure.
Isn’t that right? I mean, they have the idea that, somehow, they’re just going to break the law of the harvest. But you can’t do it. You see people going in the opposite direction as God’s people, and you think, “Nothing’s wrong with that. They seem to be happy and successful. I want some of that.” Don’t be deceived by these empty words. Dear friend, every kick has a kickback. The Bible calls for the church to Wake Up! Raise your spiritual readiness.
1. What’s Your Spiritual DEFCON Status?
2. Watch Your Partnerships
The Bible instructs you on the next step: “Therefore do not become partners with them…” (Ephesians 5:7). The Bible warns believers about going into partnership with people who practice evil.
2.1 Who’s “them”?
The “them” refers back to people who do the six evil vices in verses 3 and 4: “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
The Bible says to have no partnership with people who do these evil things. What kind of people am I to avoid? People who are sexually immoral, impure, greedy for people and things. Avoid partnering with people who speak trash, talk foolish, and joke crudely. The Bible says we don’t partner with them. Separate from them. “Why?” we ask.
2.2 Positive
There is both a negative and positive reason. There has to be a negative and a positive to your Christian faith. Like the car battery, there is a negative and a positive to the Christian faith. There has to be a saying no as well as a saying yes, or you don’t have a real, genuine Christian faith. Here’s the positive to the Christian faith – you’ve been adopted: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2).
Keep this sticky note on the front of your mind: you’re an adopted child of God. It’s grace that accepts you and makes you His child. You don’t imitate the Father to become His child. Instead, you imitate the Father because you ARE His child. That’s the positive – many of you are adopted children of God. Have no partnership with evil because you are a child of God. God loves his children and cares for them.
2.3 Negative
Here’s the negative reason you’re to avoid a partnership: “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (Ephesians 5:11).
The Bible says we are not to engage in the works of darkness, but we are to expose the works of darkness. Light exposes. Whenever you turn on the light, whatever was hidden can now be seen if it’s now in the area where the light is located. Light exposes.
“For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible…” (Ephesians 5:12-13).
Wake up! Raise from your spiritual and moral slumber! Have no partnership with people doing dishonest business. Now, the Bible doesn’t want you walking through this world saying, “Thou shall not do this and thou shall not do that!” Here are some words that may help you at a time like this: “That’s not right.” Here are some more helpful words: “I’m sorry, I cannot do this, and neither should you.”
The Holy Spirit is with you, my dear Christian friends. And the Holy Spirit will withdraw His blessing if He is pleased by the situation He sees. And He can be grieved by the partnerships you try to put Him in (Ephesians 4:30). There are some partnerships you need to leave because the Spirit of God has already pulled away from. If we resist the Holy Spirit, then He will remove His blessing from our lives, from our church, and from our families.
I was a sophomore at the University of Kentucky, along with some good Christian friends of mine. We stepped into a dorm room for a moment where one of the most explicit pornographic videos was playing. I could see it out of the corner of my eye, as did about four of five guys. The conversation continued, but that’s when my friend Travis said something to the effect, “Either that gets turned off or I out of here.” I am so glad he said that. But where was my moral courage? Why didn’t I speak up?
Look for the exit sign when evil is present and get out of there.
2.4 What the Bible Doesn’t Say
Notice your Bible does NOT say, “Have no partnership with wicked people and have no interaction with people who are not converted.” If this is what your Bible said, then we must need to totally leave this world. Remember Jesus calls you to be the light of the world. Jesus tells us to be the salt of the earth. These two analogies speak to our need to influence this world. But you don’t totally leave the world. You cannot totally extricate yourself from every ounce of evil. Neither do you bathe in it or saturate yourself with it—no need to entertain yourself with evil.
Paul wrote to another church who took his words too far: “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world” (1 Corinthians 5:9-10). Paul didn’t want believers to build a monastery, but he wanted us to shield ourselves from people who called themselves believers but practiced sexual immorality.
Again, you are the salt of the earth, and salt is not meant to be kept in the box. Instead, salt was rubbed into meat before electricity and refrigeration to keep the meat from ruining. We don’t need you in a monastery shut up away from this world. Jesus was praying to His Father when He said these important words: I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). Our Savior does not pray that you should be taken out of the world but that you should be preserved from the evil of it.
“for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true)…” (Ephesians 5:8-9).
2.5 Are You Really a Child of God
Haven’t you turned from darkness to light? Are you not a new creature in Christ Jesus? Hasn’t the Holy Spirit entered into your life? Or is all this just a lie?
Are you not born again by the cross of Jesus Christ? Aren’t you among those who will resurrect with Christ on high and accompany the armies of Heaven behind the One who sash says, “Faithful and true”? If you have been made alive by Christ’s blood, then how can you live around dead people doing dead things? Is all this a farce and a fraud? Can you be a joint heir with Jesus Christ and sit alongside the sexually immoral, the impure and sing the songs of beer-drinking honky-tonks that the world finds amusing? You are an heir of glory, yet you sit entertaining yourself with Hell’s Box Office night after night?
How can you who has inheritance with the prophets, the apostles, and the martyrs sit comfortably in dens of iniquity? If your Christianity is real, then you must not become a partner with those who practice evil.
If you cannot say, “Amen,” then at least say, “ouch!”
2.6 Conclusion
A Lion met a Tiger
As they drank beside the pool.
Said the Tiger to the Lion,
“Why do you roar like a fool?”
“That’s not foolish,” said the Lion,
With a twinkle in his eyes,
“They call me the king of all beasts because I advertise.”
A Rabbit heard them talking,
And ran home like a streak.
He thought he’d try the Lion’s trick,
But his roar was just a squeak.
A fox then heard the Rabbit who he had dinner in the woods.
What’s the moral to the story?
So when you advertise, my friends,
Be sure you’ve got the goods!
—Author unknown
Now there are a lot of Christians who are advertising, but they have more in the showcase than they have in the warehouse. God has called you to be light up the darkness.
