Into the Light

  • Kristian Rose
  • Jul 12, 2009
  • Series: Wealth Redefined

I)  INTRO

 

Each of us has an identity before God and it is one of only two things – light or darkness.  This is difficult for our postmodern, relativistic culture to hear because we so often want to think of everything as dependent on perception, and fluid and relative and dynamic. 

 

But Paul is saying here to the church at Ephesus each of you is either light or darkness, and your identity before God is going to determine your inheritance in the Kingdom of God.  And although everyone has an opinion as to which one they are, the only opinion that matters is God’s. 

 

So we’re forced to ask the question: Are we darkness, or are we light?  Are we dead to God, or are we alive to Him?  There is a lot riding on the answer.  If we are alive, are we experiencing the abundant life that we’ve heard Jesus talk about?  Are we living as Darkness or as Light?    

 

II)                 DARKNESS – BEHAVING AS DARKNESS (v. 3-5)

 

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

 

This is the state that we’re all born into.  The natural state of humanity is that of darkness behaving as darkness.  And the fruits of darkness are outlined here.  It’s what we saw two weeks ago when we talked about the way the Gentiles walk – those who are darkened and hardened and who invent ways of sinning with a continual lust for more. 

Someone who is darkness behaving as darkness is open and blatant in their rejection of God and his commands.  Jesus said it this way, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

 

Now you can probably think of somebody who is darkness behaving as darkness, someone who cherishes their sexual immorality and impurity and covetousness and persists in it unapologetically. 

 

But here’s what’s not so clear.  Some of you think that you’re light, but the reality is you’re not.  You’re darkness.  Some of you think that you’re a Christian, you say that you’re a Christian, but you’re not.  Christian isn’t an adjective, it’s a noun.  It doesn’t describe us; it defines us. 

 

Look as this warning that Paul gives in VERSE 5.  See, there were apparently some people at Ephesus who would have said that they were Christians, but the reality is they hadn’t genuinely been disgusted by their sin and repented of it.  There hadn’t been any change in their affections or appetites or attitudes.  Their affections for God were no warmer now than they had ever been, the wicked things that they used to love, they still loved and their attitudes about obeying God were the same as always.  Jesus said that a good tree produces good fruit and that a bad tree produces bad fruit. 

 

Now we said that what you do isn’t who you are, but who you are needs to be what you do.  And Paul is saying here that a good indication of who you are is what you do.

 

So if you think that you’re a Christian, and would claim to be a Christian, but these verses have just painted an entirely accurate portrait of your lifestyle and you’re embracing that life without remorse or regret or repentance, then you need to understand that there is a very real possibility that you may not light – you may very well be darkness behaving as darkness.  Jesus’ words on judgment day: away from me, you evil doer – I never knew you.  Should cause introspection.    

 

III)              DARKNESS - POSING AS LIGHT (v.6)

 

But those who are darkness can also pose as light – darkness posing as light.  Look at verse 6. 

 

“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”

 

There are actually people who are darkness, who have nothing to do with Jesus, who pose as those who are light in order to deceive.  Jesus said that there will be false teachers, false prophets, and even false Christs.  He says that Satan actually masquerades as an angel of light so we shouldn’t be surprised that Satan’s servants pose as servants of righteousness, pose as light. 

 

In Ephesus there were people who were saying to the church, “you can worship and follow Jesus and still hold on to your old lifestyle.  It’s not a problem.  You’re free in Christ, his job is to forgive you.  So just live how you want to.” 

 

Paul says here, don’t let those people deceive you with those empty words – those words are empty, their meaningless, they’re untrue.  God’s people are called to holiness, not disobedience.  We all come to Jesus as sinners – nobody comes to Jesus clean.  That’s why those who are Light are no better than those who are Dark.  If you’re Light, you have no room for pride – to think that you’re somehow superior to someone who is Darkness.  If you’re apart from Christ today, don’t hear me saying that Christians are better than you; they’re not.  We all come from the same original condition. 

 

But he calls us to repent of our sin.  To love Jesus is to become more like Jesus, not to try and use him as a get out of jail free card of forgiveness and then living however you deem appropriate.  That’s destructive to community. 

______________________________________________________________

 

But here’s another way that darkness poses as light, and it’s less malevolent.  Many people in our world are good, moral people.  So they live moral lives and obey social rules and try to improve the world and do right things.  And like we said last week, many of them actually do a better job of imitating Jesus in some areas than many Christians do. 

 

The thing which determines whether or not God sees us as Darkness or Light, the thing which determines whether or not we have any inheritance in the Kingdom of God isn’t our morality, it’s our identity. 

 

Trying to live out the righteousness of Jesus without the resources of Jesus is impossible.  We can look a little bit like Jesus just by trying.  Some of us can even look a lot like Jesus just by trying.  But none of us can look exactly like Jesus unless God takes form us our sinful heart of stone and puts within us a heart of flesh and seals us with his Holy Spirit.  And at that point we only look exactly like Jesus because God then looks upon Jesus instead of us, not because our lives look exactly like Jesus.  But only when God has given us His Spirit are we empowered to actually become more like Jesus.

 

IV)             CONVERSION

 

That’s what we have called being given a regenerate heart.  It’s what Jesus is referring to when he talks about our need to be born again in order to enter the Kingdom of God. 

 

The reality is that we all start out as Darkness.  But in order to be given access to the loving reign and forgiveness of God we need to be Light.  Jesus said that, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12

 

And so when we recognize our sin in light of God’s holiness, his perfection, his righteousness, and we confess it and simply place our faith in Jesus as the creator and King, then we become Light.  There is actually an ontological change in us, at the very core of our being, we are changed, we are made alive.  The Bible says that we actually become a new creation.  We’re given new affections, new attitudes, new appetites.  We actually become new people – a new humanity. 

 

V)                LIGHT – POSING AS DARKNESS (v. 7-12)

 

But just as there is such as thing as Darkness posing as Light – there is also such a thing as Light posing as Darkness.  I think that there may be many people who would be most accurately described as Light posing as Darkness. 

 

Look at verses 7-12.

“Therefore do not become partners with them; 8for 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), 10and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.”

 

Even though these Christians at Ephesus were Light – they had undergone a spiritual change at the core of their identity and had been assured of their glorious inheritance in the Kingdom of God and had been called sons and daughters - many of them were still living as though they were Darkness. 

 

I think the reason that a lot of us are Light Posing as Darkness is that we are living out the last two words of verse 12.  “In secret”. 

 

Some of you have come into the light; you’ve become light.  You’ve trusted in Jesus, you have placed your faith in him as the Son of God who bore and died for your sins to free you from the penalty of death and oh how your affections and appetites and attitudes have been mercifully changed so that now the things you used to love you don’t love anymore and things that you used to not desire now you desire and where you used to be indifferent to God now you love him! 

 

But secretly you’re putting some habits and addictions and dalliances into shadowy little corners of your life. 

 

For some of you it’s the late night secret visits to pornographic websites, for some of you it’s a crowd you hang out with occasionally where you feel at liberty to get drunk or use drugs or engage in casual sex, for some of you it’s talking like a generous person but secretly fostering an ambition to just build the most comfortable little kingdom for yourself that you can, for some of you it’s a severe preoccupation with your appearance and need to please people that causes you to starve yourself so that you can maintain a certain body image, for some of you it’s the flirtatious relationship at the office that your spouse doesn’t know about, but you say it’s okay because it will never go beyond that, you think. 

 

I recently read about a Christian guy in Chicago who is in his late 20’s, very attractive, a very successful businessman with a beautiful fiancé whom he is sexually celibate with.  From the outside he looks like a poster child for Christian living.  But in this shadowy little corner of his life that nobody knows about he is having anonymous sex with other men at clubs.  And it’s enslaving him. 

 

Here’s the difference between somebody who is Darkness behaving as Darkness and somebody who is Light Posing as Darkness.  When someone who is under the false impression that they are Light, but are actually Darkness behaving as Darkness, they live in that persistent disobedience with no real compunction or trouble.  They love and cherish their sin.  It’s a very natural and easy part of their life.  They don’t lose sleep over it.  It doesn’t really bother them.

 

But if you’re Light Posing as Darkness, you’re miserable.  I once heard a pastor say that there is no more unhappy person in the world than a Christian – one who is truly Light – living in persistent and secret sin.  You can’t enjoy any feeling of peace or rest or comfort before God because you are grieving the Holy Spirit.  It’s tormenting. 

 

And just like you can’t really enjoy God very much because of your conviction, you can’t enjoy the sin either.  You keep going back to it over and over again, and every time you leave it you feel absolutely sick.  You feel dominated by it, you feel enslaved by it, you feel entrapped by it.

 

When we try to live a duplicitous life, when we try to hold onto a double existence, when we try to harbor secret sins in shadowy corners of our life, it’s like we’re mocking God.  God says he will not be mocked.  He won’t be mocked.  He’s given us his very Spirit, he’s saved us from death and given us life, he’s taken us who were Darkness and made us Light – and when we harbor secret, persistent sin he’s just saying, “Who are you kidding?  Are you trying to mock me?  Do you think that I don’t see this?  Do you think that I don’t know about this?  Do you think that I love you so little that I’m going to allow you to give yourself over to corruption with a clear conscience about it?”  No. 

 

I remember a couple of years ago Katy and I were babysitting for some friends in the church, and when we arrived at their apartment I saw one of their kids hit their sister. Now the dad had walked up at that exact moment that the boy had hit his sister and seen it happen.  When the kid turned around and saw the dad, the dad asked, “did you just hit your sister?”  And he gave his dad this confused look like, “I have no idea what you’re talking about” and said, “no”. 

 

When kids do it we laugh.  When we harbor and nurture secret sin, we’re doing the same thing.  And God is saying, “Are you kidding me?  Are you trying to mock me?  I will not be mocked.” 

 

If you’re light posing as darkness right now, if you’re trying to live a duplicitous double existence, if you’re harboring secret sin in some shadowy corner of your life – you’ve got to expose it.  You’ve got to expose it or it will gain mastery over you and destroy you.  It won’t steal your salvation; if you’re light your standing with God is secure because of what Jesus has done on your behalf – but it may steal your life. 

 

How many Christians do you know of who entertained some small, occasional secret sin where they lived with this constant refrain on their tongue: “one more time.”  And one more time, became one more time, became one more time until it destroyed them. 

How many failed pastors do we have to read about in the media until we understand this?

 

 

God is being patient and long suffering with you right now.  He is protecting you from being devoured by your sin for the moment and he is giving you opportunity to repent.  Do it.  Confess it to somebody – the only thing that will dispel darkness is light, and so you’ve got to let light shine on it.  Just like the AIDS virus can’t live outside of the body for more than a few seconds, sin can’t survive long outside of the dark for very long.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

 

First, confess it to God, but then confess it to someone else – someone that you trust.  One of our pastors, or deacons, or your community group leader or a friend.  Someone that won’t joke about it and be entertained by it, but someone who will be broken by it and help you through it. 

 

Some of you have a group of friends that you’re open with about your sin, but instead of having your hearts broken by it and being grieved by it, you’re entertained by it.  I’ve been in “accountability groups” where people sit around and brag and laugh about their sin.  That’s asinine.  It’s like bragging and laughing about having cancer.  If that’s what’s happening among your group of friends, you can be sure that the community you’re experiencing is nowhere near the true Christian community we talked about last week.  Love doesn’t rejoice at wrongdoing; it mourns over it. 

 

But you say, “I’m not catholic, I don’t have to confess to somebody – only God needs to hear my confession for forgiveness.”  I wonder though why it’s easier for you to confess it to God than to another person.  Do you realize that God is infinitely holy and righteous, and infinitely greater than you?  I heard someone say recently that a willingness to confess sin to God but not another person is the height of hypocrisy.  We should have entirely less trouble confessing our sin to another person who is just as sinful as we are than we do confessing to a Holy God who is infinitely more righteous than we are. 

 

The reason we confess to God and not to another person is that it allows us to keep it a secret and it protects our pride.  And the fact that that is true of us shows us how very little we truly recognize the transcendence and greatness of God.  And God is just saying, “Who are you kidding?  I will not be mocked.” 

 

I wonder how long you’ve been trapped in the cycle of saying, “just one more time”, and then confessing your sin to God and then falling right back into that same sin.  Listen, you need the community.  That’s why Paul has been talking to us with plural nouns in these passages.  You need encouragement, you need accountability.  You need to bring those hidden things from out of the shadowy corners and into the light! 

 

You may have great confidence that you’re Light today – thank God for that!  But are you Light Posing as Darkness? 

 

 

VI)              LIGHT – BEHAVING AS LIGHT (v. 13-14)

 

The call for us in this passage is to be Light Behaving as Light.   

 

But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

    "Awake, O sleeper,
   and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

 

Jesus wasn’t a nice guy with a big smile who went around and helped a lot of people and said some cool philosophical things. 

 

He was God, come to earth, who fulfilled the law of God by living perfectly according to it and who spoke the truest words we’ve ever heard and told us that a day is coming when God is going to judge sin and because of  his love for us, he is going to take the punishment for that sin upon himself by being crucified. 

 

But then because death could not hold him he actually defeated it by rising from the grave!  And he’s alive now, sitting at the right hand of God. 

 

He said that he is the light of the world, and that whoever would align themselves with him would be light as he is light and not only be spared from the judgment of God but be ushered into the family of God as a son or daughter. 

 

And he said that our intuition is a terribly deceptive guide as to how to live.  So instead of living according to our instinct and inclinations, we need to live according to the world of God.  We need to do it in the context of community – within the fellowship of His Church, whom he is purifying and sanctifying and causing to look more like himself. 

 

And that as we do that, as we put away our old ways of living, or old patterns and rhythms of life, as we turn away from our sin and embrace the way of Jesus that we will experience more joy and peace and satisfaction and wholeness than could be found in the world even if we lived a hundred lifetimes apart from Jesus. 

 

That God loves us so excruciatingly much that he was willing to sacrifice everything for our sake, that we could live!  And not just live, but live abundantly!  And that means that he will take our darkness and make us light.  That he’ll save us from our disorientation and misconceptions and deceptions and show us the most excellent way of love that can never be truly be known apart from him. 

 

What endless joy there is for us when we are Light Behaving as Light, living in fellowship with God, pursuing what pleases him. 

 

 

This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

28 And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame.29 Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children.

From 1 John 1&2