Making Light of Sin
Ephesians 5:2-14
Introduction
A man and his wife were shopping at a mall and a pretty young woman. The man’s eyes followed her. Without looking up from the item she was examining, his wife asked, "Was it worth the trouble you’re in?"
This little joke makes us laugh in part because of the wife’s reaction. We know the trouble he is in. And perhaps many of us men can identify with the wandering eye. It is harmless enough: just a quick glance. Or a lingering gaze.
I remember a non-trad in college. For those of you who don’t know what “non-trad” is: A really old guy (or woman) who goes to college. Someone who is like, 34. Well, it was old to ME back then! Anyway, this non-trad would joke about his wandering eye, saying,
“it’s okay to look at the merchandise as long as you don’t touch.” And then he laughed. He was making light of his sin.
When I was in highschool, a girl in speech class gave a humorous account of her drunken escapade the previous weekend, which culminated in her “puking her guts out” of the driver’s side door. Ha Ha, what a laugh. She was making light of her sin.
Maybe you have heard or told jokes or real life stories that make light of sin.
As we head into the Christmas season, I am here to tell you today that the BIBLE wants us to make light of sin.
Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look.
Ephesians 5:3-14
5 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them.
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
“Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
ADVENT
This is the first Sunday of Advent, a tradition of Christians all around the globe. There are several ways to celebrate it. (In Germany—wreath with 4 candles (hope, joy, love, etc), Angie and homeschoolers have a 30 day advent activity with ornaments that go with a daily reading.)
The theme advent is often to prepare for the Second Coming while commemorating the First Coming of Christ at Christmas. (Wikipedia)
While this not your typical Christmas theme, were we go heavy on the manger scene, complete with furry animals, a cute baby, and doting parents, it is about Christ, and why he came to the world. He was to be the light of the world.
Our text is full of light. Christ is the Light. We are children of light. Light needs to expose sin. So, it is a good little Christmas sermon as it deals directly with why Jesus came as Light of the world.
Plus, I got this nice Powerpoint set with a candle, so we are putting it all together today!
Back to our text: How are we to make Light of Sin?
Big Idea: We Make Light of Sin by Exposing it to the Light of Christ
Sin has no place in God’s children. He is holy.
Christ exposes the darkness of sin and transforms us to be “light” ourselves.
So, the Bible doesn’t really teach us to treat sin lightly, to “make light of sin.” But in a very real way, what was once sin and darkness can be love and light, all by being exposed to the Light.
When We Expose Sin to the Light of Christ,
1. We See Sin for What it Is (unfruitful, destructive)
Things can get pretty messed up in our heads and hearts. Dallas Willard tells of a pilot who was practicing high--speed maneuvers in a jet fighter. She turned the controls for what she thought was a steep ascent--and flew straight into the ground. She was unaware that she had been flying upside down.
(Divine Conspiracy)
Which way is up.
Sin can do that to us.
Without much direction from parents
after a few years of independence (even if you grew up “Christian”)
or whatever reason,
Sin can dull our minds, obscure our hearts, and get us to thinking we are “flying right side up” when we are really upside down. Crash and Burn
I noticed something about today’s text brought out by the proximity of two concepts: “love” in v. 2, and “sexual immorality” in v. 3. The meanings of both get confused in our minds today. In part because both do often have a relationship. Sexual activity can be an expression of love.
But often today it is a replacement for love.
We are flying upside down.
It is often divorced from its God-intended beautiful expression of love within the relationship of man and wife. Sex can be a wonderful. It is intended to give and bring pleasure to two people who have given themselves to each other for life.
Now, often, it is a passionate act that is given a million and one reasons why it can happen ANYWHERE but in a monogamous, married relationship. It often becomes an act driven by selfish desire.
the progression of the three words in v. 3: progression from an extreme over acts to the inward motivation of selfish desires
(use the info below as you have time this was dictionary info I just cut and pasted for my memory, but did not edit in print form)
(πορνεία, to engage in sexual immorality of any kind, often with the implication of prostitution—‘to engage in illicit sex, to commit fornication, sexual immorality, fornication, prostitution, adultery, homosexuality as sexual immorality (Louw Nida, BAGD, EDNT)
ἀκαθαρσία, literally worthless material, waste; of graves decayed flesh, causing ceremonial uncleanness, defilement, f
iguratively, moral uncleanness, impurity, opposite ἁγιασμός (holy living); of sexual vice immorality, indecency, sexual impurity (ANLEX)
as it says in Romans: ‘God has given them over to do the immoral things their hearts desire’ Ro 1.24
25.22 πλεονεξίαa, ας f: a strong desire to acquire more and more material possessions or to possess more things than other people have, all irrespective of need—‘greed, avarice, covetousness.’ καὶ τὴν πλεονεξίαν ἥτις ἐστὶν εἰδωλολατρία ‘and greed, which is idolatry’ Col 3.5; καρδίαν γεγυμνασμένην πλεονεξίας ἔχοντες ‘they are experts in greed’ 2 Pe 2.14. (Louw and Nida) (PT O’Brien: sees) greed as a covetousness of someone for your own sexual desires. So it is not monetary so much as sexual. I wouldn’t push the point, but expand to both.
This can be a touchy subject. As I said, God designed it to be a good thing, and made it to be physically appealing. Humans have spent thousands of years exploring and devising all kinds of ways to gain the pleasurable feeling at the expense of keeping sex in the honorable location of marriage.
We become Co-conspirators, Predators, all in the name of “love” (but really it is sexual immorality).
We try to justify it. I and my friends in highschool used to say, “But the Bible doesn’t mention ____________ (a specific sexual act, NOT intercourse). And so we thought we “okay.”
Until I learned that Jesus said: “any sexual desire played out in your mind and heart is like doing the act itself.”
He shed some light on my sin. He exposed it. I couldn’t hide any longer.
It doesn’t really matter if we are with a prostitute, with our boyfriend, in front of a computer screen, or having an emotional affair in our hearts: it is all not how God intended it.
Paul, writing as an apostle inspired by God, says all these acts are “unfruitful.” They amount to nothing.
At the time, they seem fruitful to us: we are with the boyfriend or girlfriend we “love.” We are getting the satisfaction we “need.”
But those really never got us closer to God. They were unfruitful in that regard. Wasted time.
Perhaps acting out sexually was not an issue for you. But your mouth is.
v. 4 obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place . . .
One ancient rabbi saw a connection between our mouths and our sins: “Jesting and levity accustom a man to lewdness” (ancient Rabbi, quoted in NIVAC, Ephesians, p. 276)
I don’t know how many jokes and innuendo’s I have laughed at in my lifetime. I hear them among Christians all the time, too. They really have no place among us. No matter how funny they seem. They still can roll off my tongue—especially innuendo, and I am not even talking about “really bad ones” but I now feel kind of uncomfortable when they do form on the tip of my tongue. Maybe that is the Holy Spirit reminding me of whose I am.
And from last week you may remember that other things can roll off our tongue, too, like comments about brothers and sisters in Christ that tear them down (personally or in the ears and eyes of whomever we talk to . . . ) THESE ALSO HAVE NO PLACE.
I don’t know what your sin is. I don’t know what you might be trying to cover up. Justify. Explain away. You may be even harboring guilt, trying to get rid of the memory, whether you were a co-conspirator, a predator, or a victim
Let Jesus shine his light on you through His Word, through His Spirit. Because not only is sin unfruitful, it is destructive:
vv. 5, 6.
actually, sin is destructive even as we live: it breaks down relationships, creates baggage, hurts people (maybe you have been emotionally or physically wounded by someone through no fault of your own)
We are flying upside down.
but it is more destructive if left unrepented of till our death. It would be the spiritual equivalent of the pilot who thought they were pulling up out of a maneuver but instead plowed into their death
Transition: When Jesus shines his light on us,
2. We are Faced with a Decision (keep on or put away)
In the words of those renowned English theologians from the early 1980’s (the Clash):
“Should I Stay Or Should I Go?”
From our passage specifically we might ask Do I want to be
Unfruitful or Fruitful?
Darkness or Light?
Selfish or Loving
Asleep or Awake?
Dead or Alive?
It can be scary to find when we read Paul saying: BE SURE OF THIS! (v. 5) Because it is a certainty, a WARNING to those who do such things
Three kind of people I think of being referrred to (directly or implied)
1. those who ARE children of darkness
2. those who are NOT, they are instead of light
3. those who purport to be of light, but are living in darkness
This is scary, especially as a Christian who finds him/herself in a recurring sin pattern. “Is my recurring sin habitual and a sign i am unrepentant? Can I lose salvation? Am I persisting? Am I repenting? Even after coming to know the Lord, there can be a strong temptation to want to go back to the old ways (remember Cross and the Switch Blade that dealt with people going back to the ‘hood and getting back in to drugs and prostitution, etc.)
If you are concerned you might be of that third group, here is a ray of hope
"I am merciful," says the Lord; "I will not be angry forever.
Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the Lord your God."
Jeremiah 3:12,13
(Does that give you a little light in your dark tunnel?)
In Florida they have a sunshine law. The Sunshine Law establishes a basic right of access to most meetings of boards, commissions and other governing bodies of state and local governmental agencies or authorities. People can find out what officials are saying and doing.
Christians need to engage their own “sunshine law.”
Sunshine Law for Christians
Start a regular Bible Study, so that Christ’ teachings can shine on your life
Pray daily for God’s Sunshine on your heart (his Spirit, to stir things up, but as they get stirred up, tho painful, He and you can deal with them, and like sun does for the body, bring health to your life)
Form Accountable Relationships. We are built for relationship, and God uses people to both keep us in check and to strengthen our limbs when we are weak.
These are ways we can shed light on our sin. Expose it. When our sin is exposed, we have a choice. And when we keep in mind what SIN REALLY IS, there really IS NO CHOICE, we “go to the Light.” (yes, some still choose darkness, but that is not the choice we want)
Transition: Not only do we “GO” to the light,
3. We Become Light by being In Christ.
Pres. Bush: 1,000 points of light
Jesus is the light
v. 8 WE are light (but not of ourselves, IN CHRIST) In Christ, we ARE light. Children of Light.
I like how the NCV translates v. 14:
13 But the light makes all things easy to see, 14 and everything that is made easy to see can become light. This is why it is said:
“Wake up, sleeper!
Rise from death,
and Christ will shine on you.” (NCV)
With the help of Jesus, his teachings, His Spirit, His Body, it is easy to see the folly of sin and let him transform us into light. (see commentaries by Klyne Snodgrass and P.T. Obrien on verses 13 and 14, and how the light is talked of in a “transforming sense,” here. PTO is not so warm to the idea, but he atleast brings up other’s views on this. Transforming for Christians, that is, and not just non Christians)
How can we be light?
By Letting People See Christ at Work in Us
o When your heart and word and actions match up with the heart and word and actions of God, you find yourselves being a light that draws people who are in darkness (who will need to make their own decision)
v. 10 Find out What Pleases the Lord
Your inspiration for this comes from none other than Jesus.
The Lord Jesus always did what was pleasing to the Father: John 8:29 “The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”.
His life was entirely determined by the will of God for Him, and in doing that will, He found pleasure: John 4:34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. John 5:30 “For I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.”
Is his pleasure our pleasure?
2. The believer must test everything in life so that he can learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
Ephesians 5:10 “And find out what pleases the Lord.” The thought in this verse expands on Eph. 5:8b in that to live as children of light one must discern what pleases the Lord. The words find out literally means, “putting to the test,” “approving,” or “discerning”.
(Herman Abrahams, www.sermoncentral.com)
We have a short description of what might be pleasing to the Lord in the previous verse
V.9 GOODNESS, RIGHTEOUSNESS, TRUTH
these three are the outworking of light. the fruit of light. when light is at work, this is what you get.
(PT O’Brien says that )
Good can mean generous (LN) as well as moral goodness. See how the Bible refers to the Lord’s kind generosity in Neh 9:25, 35 as “goodness.”
I noticed something interesting in that: If so, it is the opposite of covetousness, or greediness (v. 3).
Christians are people who look out for the wellbeing of others in the name of God
They are generous
They don’t let each other persist in sin ( HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THOSE. Non Xians or Xians who are caught up and act like it is no big deal)
singles keep self control over their passions (saving them for their spouses)
give hope to those in despair over their past, giving them hope in Jesus
Change their habits, walk in Good works.
Husbands choose to do things that are loving toward their wives: (kind words, pure eyes, etc)
(SHOW ONLINE AD FOR X3CHURCH filter, encrouaging husbands and men to get it on their computers to help be one thing that keeps ready access to sin more at bay)
CONCLUSION
SO I hope you see, that we CAN make LIGHT of Sin. When we let the light of Jesus in on our lives, exposing our sin, we are brought to the place where we can leave that darkness behind, and live a life filled with light. And as the nature of light is, it is not something that stays hidden. It is to be given.
Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. 3 John 1:11
Our Prayer
God of Mercy, forgive us when we have acted in ways that dishonor you and hurt others. Lead us to turn away from sin, evil, and selfishness in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Remind us of your cleansing power that enables us to start afresh. Amen. (from the Moravian Brothers.)
