Recap of Ephesians 5:8-14, Texas Style
We are not alone as light in the world. It is not our singular calling to shine the light of Christ into the darkness. You are not so much a solitary child of the light as you are one in the family of the children of light. We will only be able to fulfill our calling as light if we do so together, in shared community and ministry. When we shine as children of light together, we will sustain our glow. We will shine more brightly and practitioners of darkness will see the light of Christ among us and be drawn to this light.
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Don’t Fall Asleep!
I expect that Paul includes this hymn fragment here, not only to underscore the redemptive purpose of exposing, but also to encourage us not to fall asleep as we are shining. Indeed, we have already awakened and risen from the dead when we received God’s grace through faith in Christ. Christ has already shined on us so that we might be transformed into “light in the Lord.” But, there are times when we may begin to slip back into the darkness from where we have come. Though we have been raised to life and light with Christ, we can easily become drowsy, lulled into a kind of sleepy darkness. We stop shining with the light of Christ, leaving our part of the world in darkness and our neighbors without redemptive illumination.
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Hey, Wake Up!
Our message to those who live in darkness resonates with the ancient baptismal hymn: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” This is the good news we share with those who live in darkness, those who, according to Ephesians 2:1, are “dead” in their “transgressions and sins,” just as we once were. Through the light of our lives, we not only reveal the true nature of darkness, but also we invite the “sleepers” in darkness to rise from the dead and live in the light of Christ.
Read ArticleWhy Expose the Darkness?
The goal of exposing the darkness, therefore, follows the overall storyline of Ephesians. The same God who redeemed us through his glorious and generous grace seeks to redeem others through us (Ephesians 1:6-8). God’s ultimate purpose is not to divide the universe into light and darkness, but rather “to bring to unity all things in heaven and on earth under Christ” (Ephesians 1:10). When we shine as lights in the world, we contribute in some small but substantial way to this unifying work.
Read ArticleExposing the Deeds of Darkness, Part 3
This notion of exposing dark deeds by shining with good deeds and godly truth isn’t unique to Ephesians. It can be found in the Gospels. In John 3:19-20, for example, it says, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” What is the light that has come into the world and exposes evil? Not some divine pronouncement against evil, but rather Jesus himself, the light of the world (John 8:12). Yes, at times Jesus did speak out against sin. But the core of his revelation was not judgment, but “grace and truth” (John 1:14). Ultimately, Jesus defeated the darkness, not by some act of divine denouncement, but by choosing the way of love, the way of the cross.
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Exposing the Deeds of Darkness, Part 2
I want to raise the possibility that we expose deeds of darkness not so much by denouncing them as by letting the light of God shine in and through us. We do this by announcing the good news of God’s grace in Christ and by living in such a way that our light can be seen by others.
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Exposing the Deeds of Darkness
What does it mean to expose the deeds of darkness? How should we do this? Which dark deeds deserve our attention? Those of the world? Those done by fellow believers? All of the above?
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Running from Godzilla
In fact, we are not to have nothing whatsoever to do with the works of darkness—a truth that is affirmed by the following verses, as we’ll see. But we must not become partners with either the deeds or the doers. Ephesians 5:11 does not encourage us to run completely away from the dark world around us. Rather, it teaches us not to participate in dark deeds even though, in some way, we continue to engage with them and those who do them. This verse assumes that we will be in relationship with people who do what is wrong, even as it advises us not to become their partners in wrongdoing.
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The Challenge of Light and Darkness
But how do we relate to the dark world from which we came and in which we still live? Should we continue to be connected with the people of that world, or should we withdraw into the purity and safety of the enlightened community of God’s people in Christ? And if we remain somehow engaged with the world that is separate from Christ and his light, what should be the nature of our engagement? Ephesians responds to these questions in 5:11-14. Yet the answers in this text are often missed or even misconstrued. So in the days to come we will look closely at this passage and its guidance for us as we wonder how to relate to the darkness in which we continue to live even when we are light in the Lord.
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One Way to Discover What Pleases the Lord
Many times in life, we’re just not sure what might please the Lord. We wrestle with challenging questions: What career should I choose? Should I marry this person even though we think differently about matters of faith? How many children should we have? Should we join the church with the strong Sunday School program for our children or the one that offers stronger worship and teaching for the adults? How can I live out my faith in my workplace? To what extent should my Christian values be reflected in the business decisions I make at work? Should we move our family to a faraway place because of a tempting job offer? Should I retire even though I feel as if I still have so much to offer? What should I do in retirement? And so forth and so on. You can add your own ethical queries to this list. I’m sure you have plenty.
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You Can Please the Lord!
A more complete motivation for right living takes seriously the implied good news of Ephesians 5:10: You have the ability to please the Lord. By what you do and say, by how you live, you can delight the heart of God. You can please God in your daily work, your daily relationships, and your daily rest, as well as in your daily prayers. The more you reflect on this amazing truth, the more you will be drawn to do that which pleases God.
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Find Out What Pleases the Lord!
These days there is a sad shortage of thoughtful finding out. News media get attention from a rush to judgment, not from careful weighing of that is true. Social media exacerbates the problem. If you want to get lots of visitors online, you don’t have to take the time to find out what’s right. Rather, you want to be the first person out there saying something inflammatory or outrageous. Thus, the biblical call to find out what pleases the Lord requires a counter-cultural commitment to thoughtfulness, patience, and persistence. It demands that we learn to be open before God, or, as my friend Terry Looper says, “to get neutral.” We need to surrender our desire to project our pleasures onto God so that we might truly find out what pleases the Lord.
Read ArticleBe Fruitful! Part 3
The division between the sacred and the secular, or, as it’s sometimes described today, the spiritual and the ordinary, does not reflect the truth that our fruitfulness includes all goodness, all righteousness, and all truth. What we do in this world and for this world matters. It matters to the world and it matters to God. Like I said, “all” makes a world of difference.
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Be Fruitful! Part 2
Using the metaphor of light, Ephesians 5:8-10 helps us understand that God has redeemed and re-created us to be like God. Even as God is light, so we are “light in the Lord” and “children of light.” Even as God is good, righteous, and true, so we will be people of goodness, righteousness, and truth when we allow God’s light to shine in and through us.
Read ArticleBe Fruitful!
I want to be fruitful. I want to make a difference in people’s lives, in the church, and in the world. I expect this is true for you, also. Though we can exhaust ourselves in our daily routines without thinking about why we do what we do, when we step back and catch our breath we feel a deep desire for fruitfulness. We want our lives to count.
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