[The following transcript is auto-generated from the recording and has only been lightly edited.]

Ephesians chapter 5, and I’m reading verses 8 to 14, page 1176

Ephesians chapter 5, verses 8 to 14:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. And find out what pleases the Lord, have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shamefulful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. light. This is why it is said, “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

When God God first created the world, it was without form, and it was empty. And we read in Genesis 1, verse 2, that darkness covered the deep, the deep deep is water. It was just a lump of earth surrounded by a huge ocean, and it was all in complete darkness. God did not create people at that point. They simply would not have survived, just water, just darkness. I mean, it would be unbearable to think of.

But, you know, if God had made everything apart from the light, so the land, the plants, the animals, the birds, the fish, everything there, but men no light. Can you imagine what it would be like then if you created the first people? They would have stumbled around, maybe they would have found some food to eat, but maybe not, and life simply would not have made any sense in the darkness. How wonderful, then, it was that God, on the very first day of creation, said, Let there be light. It was the first thing that he created, having made the heavens and the earth. This earth that was surrounded by darkness, God created light. Let there be light. The light makes all the difference. In the light, you can make sense of your surroundings. You can move forward, you can make plans, you can work, you can do things, you can live.

But actually in Genesis chapter 1, there is another type of light that is given. It’s the light of knowledge. Imagine Adam and Eve, created on the sixth day of creation. There’s light. They have all the food that they need. The animals are there, the land, the sea, a beautiful world. God saw all that he had made. It was very good. But, you know, still, life would not have made much sense, because here are Adam and E, they would find themselves in this world and they really wouldn’t know what it’s all about.

Maybe you’ve watched some of those Bourne Identity films. They came out, I don’t know, 15, 20 years ago. And one of them begins with Jason Bourne, and he’s literally swimming in the sea, and he doesn’t know why he’s there. And gradually, he comes to work out as he gets attacked, and it’s an exciting film, I recommend it. If Adam and Eve had just been created, they would have been there, not in the middle of an ocean, not in the darkness, but in a beautiful world, but they wouldn’t know what it’s all about. Why are they here? What are they supposed to do? God gave them light. He told them. He spoke to them, the light of knowledge. I guess they would have been able to figure out that they could eat the fruit from the different trees. I guess they would have figured out how to build things, how to raise a family, how to work, but they wouldn’t really know why, what really is this all about? But God spoke. And when God spoke, they did know where they came from. They had been created by God. They knew why they were there. They were to look after this world that God had made. And they were to know God and relate to God and love God. And that knowledge was just as important as the physical light. This was spiritual light.

But then something terrible happened. Adam and Eve turned against God. They disobeyed him. They rejected the light that God had given, that spiritual light, and they were plunged into darkness, and all their descendants were also plunged into darkness. And as children of Adam, that darkness, that spiritual darkness, is what we were born into. Verse 8, in Ephesians 5 begins, for you were once darkness. You didn’t know where you were from. You didn’t know why you were here. You didn’t really know what you were supposed to do. You were in darkness. Yes, you did stuff. You did what you thought was best. You did what made you feel well and feel good and feel nice. But they tended to be things that caused hurt and damage. Once you were darkness.. We’re going to see this morning how through Jesus Christ, we have been made light.

It’s not the first time that he’s talked about the darkness and the light. Back in chapter 4 and verse 17: “I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding, separated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardening of their hearts.” There’s a darkness in this world, people stumbling around, not knowing where they’re from or why they are here. Jesus came into the world to give light, to make us light. So we’re going to see, under three headings, what this passage tells us.

You are light in the Lord

Firstly, you are light in the Lord. That’s our first heading. You are light in the Lord. Thank God he has not abandoned us in our spiritual darkness, but now he says in verse 8, you are light in the Lord. The Lord here is Jesus Christ. These Ephesians, the people that Paul the apostle is writing to, he’s writing this letter, and he says, you are light in the Lord. They had come to believe in Jesus Christ. They turned from their idols and their sinful ways, and they had turned to the Lord. This light had not come from themselves. It wasn’t that they had suddenly made some new discoveries. No. They were turning away from those things and they’d come to the Lord Jesus.

Greek culture, which continued into the Roman world, which is when this was written, was a very sophisticated culture. They had their philosophers, they had their religion. They thought long and hard about things. They were wealthy enough to have people who could devote their whole time to thinking, philosophers. But the light of that philosophy gave birth to paganism., to worshipping many different idols. It gave rise to slavery. It gave rise to so many injustices. It gave rise to so much indulgence, so much bad behaviour. The light within the human soul is no light at all. You are darkness. And this is what results. In different cultures, it will look in a different form, but it’s still darkness.

Now, this light did not come from within themselves. Even the best of cultures, you might argue, could not produce true light. Just as at creation, God had to say, let there be light, so in the spiritual darkness of our world, God himself has to intervene. Jesus is the light of the world. You are light in the Lord. It is through Jesus Christ that they had become light. By faith, in Jesus Christ, these Ephesians who once were darkness, have now become light. Once they were in Adam’s family, descended from Adam who had plunged them all into darkness, now they are in Christ, belonging to him, in his family. Once they were dead in their sins. Now they have been made alive by God who is rich in mercy chapter 2 and verse 5.

Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you’ve been saved. This picture of light is a common one throughout the scriptures. Let me just read to you from two Corinthians, don’t turn to it, but just 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6. God who said, let light shine out of darkness. That’s looking back to creation. God who said, let light shine out of darkness made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. We were in darkness, and God sent his light through his Son Jesus, through Christ, God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. It gives light into our hearts. God shines. God sent his Son into the world. The Word became flesh and lived amongst us. He was the light of the world. Through him, he gives light. Jesus shone in the darkness.. That light overcame the darkness.

But we read from John chapter 1 that not everyone received that light, not everyone wanted it. Even though he came to his own people, they rejected him. The light didn’t enter their hearts, but to those who received him. To those who believed in him, he gave the right to become children of God, John 1 12. And this is the message of the gospel, that though we are in darkness, we can become light, not through thinking hard, not through more study, not through trying harder to lift ourselves out of the darkness, that’s impossible. The best of people have tried that and failed. The best of cultures have tried that and failed. We need God, God Himself to give the light. And He’s given Jesus Christ to be the light of the world. Those who receive him, who believe in Him will become children of God. Children of light. They will become light.

Do you notice, this is not simply saying you’ve been enlightened? It’s not that they’ve just come to some extra knowledge. No, no. Once you were darkness, but now, you are light. Once they were children of darkness, children of Satan, now they’re children of God, children of light. This is a massive change, a huge difference from what they were. Now they know who they are. Their children of God. Now they know. why they’re here, to live for God. But it’s more than knowing those truths, that they’ve been joined to God. They’re part of his kingdom. They’re part of his family, they are children of light. And so becoming light, it gives us a completely new way of living, a completely new way of being. When it says, “You are light, it doesn’t mean that we’ve become God. Only God has life in himself, and that life, we’re told in John, is the light of the world. Yes, we are like light, but it’s a little bit like we’re more like the moon. If Jesus is like the sun, you know, the energy of the sun comes from within the sun. The light comes from within the sun itself. It shines, it radiates constantly. And you look at the moon at night, it’s bright, isn’t it? It’s pretty. A full moon is really bright. But it’s all reflected light. That moon, bathed in the light of the sun, shines brightly in the dark sky of night. And that’s what we are like. We’re now light. It’s not that light comes from within us as if we become God, but the light of Christ is shining on us. and it changes us. And we begin to shine. You are light in the Lord. And that moon can be so beautiful. On a dark night, the moon makes all the difference perfectly possible to walk just by the light of the moon. You are the light. In the darkness of this world, you reflect the light of God. You are the light in the Lord.

Live as children of light

Well, let’s move on. to see more of what that means. to our second heading. Live as children of light, or shine. Live as children of light. You are light, now live as children of light, verse 8. Again, this is more than being enlightened. It’s not just that we’ve received some more knowledge. Imagine someone climbing a mountain, and they get the lost and night falls, and they are exhausted, their food has run out, their water has run out, they are cold, they are lost,, they’re on their own. They’re in a dangerous situation. But someone comes along and shines the light. Well,, that’s nice. You can maybe see where you’re supposed to go. But that climber needs something more than just being shown the way. It’s a help, but it’s not enough. What does he need? He needs food, he needs warmth, he needs rest. He’s utterly exhausted, he’s hungry, he’s thirsty. He needs those provisions. He needs that nourishment and strength. And that is what the Lord gives us. He doesn’t just shine the light. He doesn’t just tell us, that’s how you must live. But he gives us the nourishment. He gives us the strength. He gives us the light. Because you are light, you can live as children of light. You are in the Lord, you receive from him that energy, that nourishment. And so the command, then, is to be what you are. You are light. It doesn’t come from within you. It’s in the Lord, you are light. Now live as children of light.

Be what you are. It’s not true just telling you to do something, he’s changed you so that you can do that. We don’t try and become light by our own effort. Christianity is not a religion of works. It’s not a religion where you just moralise and tell people they must do this, this, and this. The religions of the world do that. They’ll give you a lovely list of things to do. And by and large, they’re very good things. But there’s no strength to do it. There’s no power to do it. It’s just like shining the light in the mountain, but giving no food, no warmth, no shelter, no rest, just saying, “Go and do it.” And of course you fail. You can’t. Jesus makes us light and then says, “Live as children of light. Talks about the fruit of light in verse 9. The fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. It’s been a very warm year this year. In some ways, the harvest has not been very good. Not much rain, the warmest year on record. But some foods have done really well. Apples and strawberries have been sweeter than normal because they’ve had so much sunshine. The light of the sun has made them sweeter. And you know, the light of Christ shining on you will make your life sweeter. It’s a lovely picture, isn’t it? The light shining makes you sweeter. The fruit of the light is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. If you’re a Christian, that sweetness will show in these ways. And of course, it’s not the only ways. These are very broad terms. And in many ways, we’ve already seen so many different aspects of the change that comes upon the person who becomes a Christian. We’ve seen how they speak. speech changes, how they deal with anger, how their attitude to sexual sins is completely transformed. So much is different.

Let’s just look at these three words, all goodness. It stands in contrast to the all malice of chapter 4 and verse 31, get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. The fruit of the light, or goodness. There’s a goodness about it. God is good. It covers so much of what God does. It’s is kindness, it is moral excellence. We’re to be good, and we can be good, because the light shines on us. When someone becomes a Christian, you see a change. It doesn’t mean they suddenly become perfect. But they’re kinder. They want to help the people that they once were happy to ignore. Maybe the person who sits alone at coffee break. If they go and sit with them. And people at work will notice. People at school will notice. People in your class will notice. They see that their colleague, their fellow students, is showing more integrity in the way they work, and they’re kinder in the words that they speak. There’s a goodness about them. I want to know know if you’re in the light. This will characterise you, not perfection, but there’s a goodness. Righteousness. Now, that word is used a lot in the New Testament. Here it means what is morally right. There’s no fudging, there’s no trying to get away with sin. The hypocrite only wants to appear to be right. The believer wants to be morally right from the heart, that there’s an integrity about it. It’s a joy to them to live a life that pleases God. And so their concern is not mainly that they won’t get caught, their concern is that they please God. And when they do wrong, that’s what concerns them, that they’ve offended God, not that they’re going to get caught.

And then there’s truth, truth as opposed to falsehood. Remember how we consider this before. Speak truthfully, poorly put our falsehood. 4, 25. Instead of pretending or just saying, there’s an honesty about the way in which we talk and relate to others. In our words, we’re not trying to deceive other people. In our actions, we’re serving from good motives. There’s something true about us. The fruit of the light is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Now, how can we be like this more and more? Yes. You know, I like growing tomatoes. Normally, I grow them in the garden, but you can grow tomatoes in a pot. And if you’ve got you have a little tomato plant, I grow them inside, and they’ll get about this high, and then I plant them outside. But I could leave them in a pot, maybe put them in a bigger pot. But the one place I would not put them would be in our front garden on our doorstep. Do you know why? Because the sun never shines there. Maybe first thing in the morning, but it’s a very weak sun. You want to put your tomato plants where the sun is gonna shine most of the time. And actually, we had really tasty tomatoes this year, because it was so much sun, I planted them in the light. You want to be sweet, you want to be tasty. You want to have all goodness, righteousness, and truth? Well, don’t skulk away in the darkness. Be in the light.

What does that mean? Well, avoid the darkness, yes, verse 11. have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Don’t dabble with the things of darkness. Don’t stay in those wrong attitudes. Don’t stay in that negativity. Don’t stay in the in the wrong actions. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness. Come away from the darkness. Don’t put your tomato plants in the shade. But instead, in the sun, come to Christ. Think about him, meditate on Him. He is the light. He’s the sunshine. He’s the one who will make you sweet. He’s the light of the world. Think about him. Let me just read to you, another verse from two Corinthians. It’s just a bit before that other verse, this 2 Corinthians 3, verse 1, and we all, who, with unveiled faces, contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image, with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.. As we contemplate the Lord’s glory, we become transformed to become more like that. That’s how you become a sweet tomato. Spend time in the light, contemplate Jesus. That’s why we read the Bible. The Bible is full of Jesus. You know, you could be reading the Old Testament, it’s full of Jesus. The more you understand the Bible, the more you see that it’s telling you about Jesus, the light of the world. Think about him. Search the scriptures, for in them, said Jesus, they will tell you of me. When you read the Bible, look for Jesus Jesus, bathe in that light, because that is how you will be transformed. Put your tomato plants in the sun. It’ll mean searching the Bible. It’ll mean maybe talking with other Christians, verse 10. Find out what pleases the Lord. You, we sometimes come to situations and we think, “I genuinely don’t know what the right thing to do is here.”, I certainly as a parent. What? So many times, what am I supposed to do here? I’ discuss it with Hamaramu. think, “Well, what’s the right thing to do here?” It’s not always very clear what’s the best thing, what’s the right thing. There’s ten, “Find out what pleases the Lord.” The other day, I had a long chat with a much older couple about a particular situation. What did you do when you were in that situation with your children? Ah, right. So we can ask other people for some advice. People who’ve searched the scriptures, people who are mature in the Lord. Let’s find out what pleases the Lord. Right, live as children of light.

Shine in the darkness

Third heading, shine in the darkness. You are light in the Lord. This radical change has happens. You’ve received him, believed in him, you’ve become the children of the Lord, children of light. Then live as children of light. Be what you are. Put your tomato plant in the sun. Lastly, I’m the third point. Shine in the darkness. Now, we’ve seen that when someone becomes a Christian, their life changes. Sometimes dramatically. I love the story of the I’ve told it before, but I’m sorry I’ve been preaching. to some of you for decades, so you sometimes hear the same story, but I love the story of the workman who’d become a Christian, and he had a foul mouse. And then he became a Christian, and one day he was working, and he suddenly slipped, and he went through the floor, and he was just about hanging by his arms. And you know, I underneath him, there was a room and a board meeting was happening. And you can imagine the mess on the board table and the surprise that these people around, you know, they’re smart suitsits had, and he was just hanging there. And people said,Are you okay? And he was just stunned. And he said, “Are you all right? And he said, yeah, but I didn’t swear. The difference that God had made in his life, his mouth had been changed. When you become a Christian, your life changes. And that new life is not to be hidden. We’re still to interact with our neighbours, our friends, our colleagues, our fellow students. We’re not to join in with their bad behaviour, but look at verse 11. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Now, this will not normally be through our words, telling people off. Look at verse 12. It is sh shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. You know, we’re not to elaborate on all their dirty deeds. It’s interesting, isn’t it? When Jesus. lived on earth, we do not read Him of Him forever exposing people’s wrong behaviour. Now, he knew what was in people’s hearts. We’re told that. Once or twice, he talked with the woman of Samaria, not the first thing he said to her, but at some point he said, “Well, go and call your husband.” She said, “I have no husband.” Or Jesus said, yes, you have have no husband. Jesus knew that she was living with a man to whom she was not married, but that was unusual. Jesus didn’t normally cast judgement on people. He wasn’t judgemental. He told us not to be judgemental. Rather, I think verse 11, where it says, “Epose that darkness, is talking about how the light of our lives will shine in the darkness. That’s how we expose the darkness. Think of the candle in the dark room. You’ll light the candle. It doesn’t need to see anything, but it shows everything up because it’s light. Our lives will have an impact on the people around us. They will notice the difference. and that goodness does challenge. You know, if you don’t join in the slander around the coffee table, if you don’t laugh at the dirty jokes, it makes an impact. People are challenged. People will notice when you’re kinder, that you’re working harder, that you’re honest, that your words can be trusted. This is good. This is shining as a light in the. hurtful world that you live in. In a world that’s full of bad behaviour, full of greed, you’re generous. full of hurtful words, and you speak kindly words. The light shines. That’s what we call to do. If it’s with what Jesus said, let your light shine before before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

You see, when you live like this, at least for some people, it brings a change. And I think this is what verse 13 is saying. Everything exposed by the light becomes visible, and everything that is visible or illuminated becomes a light. Now, it’s not 100% clear, but I think it’s saying that as you live your life as a light, shining on other, challenging others, well, those who are willing to be illuminated, they will in turn, become light. Of course, some some rejected, some rejected Jesus. He came to his own, his own did not receive him, but to as many as did receive him, he gave the right to become children of God. And as we shine, as lights in this world, some will accept it. They will see the goodness of your life, and they’ll think, “That’s what I want.” They were stunned to glorify your Father in heaven, said Jesus. Didn’t happen to everyone? Not everyone who saw the life of Jesus, the good things that He did. Not everyone, glorified God in heaven. But some did. Well, whichever way we take verse 13, Certainly when you come to verse 14, it is an amazing call. Wake up, 0, Sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” This is amazing. Now, you may know what it’s like to call someone who’s sleeping to wake up. You’ve got children, you sometimes have to do this… And they wake up up, usually. Rise from the dead, well, we don’t do that, do we? But the this is the amazing thing, that as our light shines, it becomes a call to those who are spiritually dead. To rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. They will become light. It’s amazing verse. It’s probably a hymn, a verse from an earth early hymn, based on Isaiah 61, verse 1., but it’s an amazing call. Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Through our lives, God calls people to rise from the dead. Your behaviour and your words are a light that can draw people out of the darkness and interlight. And maybe you’ve been impressedressed by Christians, with their kindness, with their love, with their integrity, with their generosity. And it’s attractive. You can become like that, too. Not by trying hard, that will fail. but by coming to Jesus Christ. To as many as received him, to all who believed in him, he gave the right to become children of God. You can become a child of the light. Do you find Christians attractive? I’m not saying, are they perfect? They’re not. But there is something good about them. There’s something righteous and truthful about them. There’s something wonderful about Christians. It’s not because they’re better people and not themselves. It’s because they’re in the light. And those tomatoes get sweeter in the light. You can be like that as well. But you need Jesus Christ. You need to come into that light, but Christ will shine on you. He will change you. He will make you to be light. So let’s be encouraged as Christians to keep shining. Maybe you feel your friends, your colleagues, your neighbours, just won’t change. I don’t know if they will. But keep shining. Keep being kind. Keep being polite, keep being generous, keep shining. And if you’re not yet a child of light, come into the light, believe in Jesus. He will transform your life just as he has done to these people here. Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.

Let’s pray.

Oh Lord, how we thank you for the wonderful message of Jesus. We thank you for all that he is and we thank you that in his light, we become light. How we pray that each one of us would live as children of the light, in all goodness, righteousness and truth. How we prayed that we would attract others to Christ, that they might rise from the dead. They would wake up and there was no Christ shining on them. Lord may we be children of light, living as children of light and shining in this dark world. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.