Beware: Deceit and Disobedience | Ephesians 5:6-10 | 2/22/26

For the first 10 or so years of my

Christian life, there was a book I read

every year, sometimes a couple times a

year, because I just found it so

fascinating. And that book is called The

Pilgrim's Progress. You guys heard of

that one? Written by the Puritan John

Bunan.

The opening scene of that book is um

disorienting.

Hey Tim, is it possible to turn me down

a little bit? I feel like I'm loud and

echoey. Is that Is that Can you everyone

still hear me?

>> Okay.

This book opens

with a man holding a book reading from

it and he's shaking and sweating and on

the verge of tears. And he's standing

there covered in tattered clothes with a

giant burden on his back. And it says he

had his back to his home.

And he's crying out to heaven asking for

help

because this book he's reading tells him

that he doesn't just live in an average

town. He lives in a place called the

city of destruction. And this city he

lives in is doomed to be destroyed by

heaven along with everyone in it unless

he can escape. But he doesn't know how

to escape.

And so he cries aloud, "Lord, what must

I do to be saved?" And in in the story,

there's providential timing. A guy walks

up whose name is Evangelist.

His name's Dan Boddin. Uh and and he and

he tells the man, "You need to The man

says, "I I have this unbelievable burden

of sin. I'm becoming more and more aware

of the tatters that my clothes are that

I'm wearing. I am increasingly convinced

that the city is going to be destroyed,

but I don't know how to leave. I don't

know how to get out of here. And

evangelist tells him to flee from the

wrath to come.

The question this morning that Paul is

going to be wrestling with for us is

what should Christian have done once he

had that information?

That's the name of the main character of

that book. Now that he he knows all this

is true, should he just stay there and

act like nothing is wrong?

Or should that information fundamentally

reorient him towards his city, towards

his life, towards the direction he's

going in the world?

This is the exact scenario facing the

first readers of Paul's letter to the

Ephesians. It's the same scenario that

faces us each and every day as we

embrace what it is that God says about

who we are, about who we were, and where

the world is going. Given what God has

done in Christ, what are we going to do?

Are we going to live as though nothing

is different, or are we going to embrace

the reality of the change that God has

affected in the world by grace?

Here's my main point today, and I'm

going to start unpacking the context

here in a moment, but my main point is

this.

Wrath is coming.

Wrath, God's wrath is coming upon those

who are in darkness.

So live as light in the Lord.

Please open your Bibles to Ephesians

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5.

So obviously heavy topic today. Um

I was not made aware until 5 minutes

before the sermon started that

apparently there's some controversy

going on on the internet about hell. I

was not aware of that. I'm not planning

on addressing that today, but who knows?

I might end up saying something about

it. We'll see what happens as we go.

Paul wrote this letter, the letter to

Ephesians, to be circulated in the

region in and around Ephesus. It's be

it's meant to be read by these young

house churches that were gathering for

worship in and around Asia Minor um in

the Roman Empire. So, if you'll just

remember with me for a moment, in the

first century, Christianity is new. It's

brand new, couple decades old.

The Romans, from the Roman perspective,

they don't really know how to classify

it yet. Is this just a different sect of

Judais Judaism or is this some other

thing? They don't even really know.

within Judaism,

they look at it as a heresy

and they're constantly living under the

threat of being charged with sedition

because they're everywhere teaching that

there's another king besides Caesar,

namely Jesus Christ.

The local authorities within and around

Ephesus weren't that concerned about

this new religion. They were concerned

in so far as it was going to disrupt

worship at the temple of Artemis which

is the seventh wonder of the world to

the center of their city. It was a major

factor in the economic life of that

region and they didn't want anything you

know playing with that is like playing

with everybody's paycheck. Don't don't

mess with that. Sort of how they felt

about that.

She was the city's patron deity.

The festivals that were held in her

honor were like civic holidays. So the

festival for Artemis was their fourth of

July. It was pat uh to be pro- Artemis

was to be pro- epheus. It was the same

like these are overlapping ideas in the

first century world. Either we're going

to honor this god in the way she wants

to be honored and she'll bless us or we

will fail to honor her as she ought and

bad things will happen like famines and

floods and so forth.

the tourism industry, all of the

artistal guilds, all of the sacrificial

animal trade, all revolved, the entire

economic life in many ways revolved

around this temple.

And so to come along as Paul did and

started telling people from this region

that their allegiance now belongs with

Christ alone and that if they wanted to

follow Jesus they had to make a break

with a lot of this stuff. It has

significant impact on their life. There

was significant economic consequences

for being unwilling to go into the

temple of Artemis to sign your business

deals over

uh meat sacrifice to idols which is how

they did it.

Refusing to participate in these rituals

would communicate to your neighbors that

whether this is what you meant or not,

which is obviously not what you would

have meant, but they think they see you

not willing to participate. They think

you're willing to anger the gods over

your new philosophy.

You're willing to risk bringing famine

and drought on our whole city because of

your personal convictions. How selfish

are you?

It's against this backdrop that Paul has

been trying to explain to us the true

story of history.

The true story of what it means to

belong to God. To be chosen and loved

and adopted from before the foundation

of the world.

To be chosen, loved, and adopted into

God's family. It's against this backdrop

that Paul says we ought to strive for

unity together and the cultivation of

attitudes and actions that promote that

unity by the spirit.

It's against this backdrop that Paul

says we ought to lay aside our former

ways of life from when we were Gentiles

and we ought to walk in love. He's going

to say today we're ought to we ought to

walk in light. Next week he's going to

say we ought to walk in wisdom.

How should we think about following

Jesus? How should we think about living

a moral life when all of society and all

of culture thinks that what we're doing

is selfish or wrong or hurtful? How do

you stay faithful to God and to his

words and ways when all of society sees

your allegiance to it as a problem, as a

threat,

as a deep concern?

That's what Paul is talking about and

that's what he's been talking about is

people in that exact situation.

So let's now humble our minds. Let's

open our hearts for the reading of

Ephesians 5:es 6-10. Picking up where we

left off last week.

Let no one deceive you with empty words.

For because of these things,

the wrath of God comes upon the sons of

disobedience.

Therefore, do not become part partners

with them. For at one time you were

darkness, but now you are light in the

Lord. Walk as children of light. For the

fruit of light is found in all that is

good and right and true. And try to

discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

This is God's word. Lord, help us not to

be deceived,

but to discern what pleases you in this

world. Amen.

We're going to look at three. It's a

short text today in theory, and the hope

is I will not go super long again.

We're going to look at three things. The

reality of wrath,

the truth about who you are,

and third, what it means to walk as

light. the reality of wrath, the truth

about who you are, and what it means to

walk as light. So, let's begin by

looking down at verse six. Paul begins

this sentence with a warning.

Let no one deceive you with empty words.

One of the apostles first and most

fundamental concerns when the pressure

is turned up culturally on Christians

is that we would find ourselves

deceived.

We would let ourselves get talked into

false ideas.

We would allow ourselves to begin

justifying in our own mind why it's okay

to depart

from fundamental Christian teaching.

How we become persuaded that what is

true is actually false or false is

actually true

is really interesting.

What's so in so

I was studying this week what were some

of the consistent things that happened

that caused God's people to do this over

history both in Israel and in the New

Testament church. And you know what's

funny? Something that shows up a lot and

it's not the only thing but something

that shows up a lot is people want to be

deceived.

2 Timothy 4:3,

2 Timothy 4:3

"Not having a desire to hear truth

anymore, they'll accumulate for

themselves teachers that suit their own

passions.

You really, really want something to be

true, so you go looking for someone who

will tell you it's true." You really,

really want something to be false, so

you go look for someone who's going to

tell you it's false.

When you read Wow, I was about to start

talking about the book of Revelation.

Is that one of the ingredients for a

short sermon? They bring it up.

Whatever you think about the book of

Revelation, I I don't want to God help

me. Don't start unpacking it. There's

three bad guys that show up in the book

of Revelation. And you might have

different opinions about what they're

all about, but one is this beast who

says, "Worship me or I'll kill you." The

other is a false prophet who says,

"Believe this lie or you can't

participate in society anymore." But

there's a third character, the of

Babylon, who's not threatening or lying,

but is trying to woo you with all the

pleasures of the senses to deny God.

Sometimes pressure in the history of the

church is like what the beast does.

Sometimes it's what the prophet does.

Sometimes it's what the prostitute does.

In the context of this warning,

the apostle is trying to clarify what he

brought up last week in verses 1-5 that

those who are walking in unrepentant

sexual sin will not have an inheritance

in the kingdom of God. Last week he was

very clear. He said that everyone who is

sexually immoral or impure or covetous

in an idolatrous kind of way has no

inheritance. And then he adds in this

text, let no one deceive you with empty

words.

Even in the first century, believe it or

not, there was people saying things

like, "It's not that big of a deal.

If God, if there really is a God, why

would he care about who you sleep with?"

This was things they said in the first

century in Ephesus.

It's just a physical thing.

Paul says, "Don't let anyone trick you.

Don't let anyone confuse or ent trap or

ensnare you with false ideas.

If you want to do something that God

says is evil, if you want to walk in a

way of life that God calls wicked, you

can find someone somewhere to tell you

it's okay. That was true in the first

century. That's even truer right now.

You could reach into your pocket, pull

out your phone, and find people who will

justify your desire for evil.

We can find teachers to suit our own

passions who will offer clever and

convincing explanations for why what God

says don't do, you can do and what go

when God says do this you don't.

But this is really important to

understand.

Right now, Paul is talking about sexual

immorality.

There has been a lot of things that the

church has disagreed about over the last

2,000 years. That's a big book. It says

a lot of things. There's a lot of room

for debate.

Do you know what the church has never

really ever seriously disagreed about?

What constitutes sexual immorality?

That's been consistent in every major

tradition for 2,000 years.

And of course, every couple of decades,

someone comes along and goes, "Well,

maybe it it's not like that." And then

there's a big discussion about it and

everyone ends up coming back to what the

church has always said, which is that

righteous sex is between a married man

and a married woman within the covenant

of marriage. Or

I said that way, a man and a woman in

the covenant of marriage. Sorry, that

came out really weird. Sorry.

Come on, Josh. Um, that to depart from

that, you know, um, I was talking with

Phil here earlier. It's when God chose

to make that his analogy for Christ in

the church, a man and a woman married,

he made it even more, it was already

sacred. He made it even more sacred.

It's a it's a visual depiction of the

gospel.

And playing with it is not wise.

Don't let anyone trick you or deceive

you with empty words.

Don't be deceived by an Instagram short.

Did I say that right?

You know, things that sound really good,

like when there's a 5-second clip and

there's no one to sort of counter ask,

well, what about this or that?

Paul says, "Because of these things,

because of sexual immorality and

impurity and covetousness that expresses

itself as idolatry, the wrath of God is

coming upon the sons of disobedience."

Paul has been talking about people

um not so much in terms of individuals,

but as communities, in terms of realms.

There's children of wrath, Ephesians 2,

and then there's the heirs of grace.

There are those who were once Gentiles

but are now temples in the Lord. And

here in this passage, there are sons of

disobedience. And then verse 9, children

of light. He's talking about communities

that are oriented around different

values,

allegiance, identity.

He's talking about people in terms of

who they truly are, as we're going to

see more clearly in a moment. If you're

the kind of person whose life is ordered

around disobedience to God, you belong

to the sons of disobedience. If you are

the kind of person who's trying to walk

in the light, no matter how imperfectly

you are going about it, that is who you

are. You are a child of light. But each

way of life is going to meet the God of

judgment and justice in the end.

And all of us are going to give an

account for our deeds done in the body.

And if you are the kind of person who's

put your hope in Jesus and sincerely

tried to follow him in this world,

you're going to be met with compassion,

forgiveness, and grace and mercy that

covers your sins. And if you're the kind

of person that had no concern for or

desire for or humility before the risen

Christ, who's Lord over all,

you're going to be met with a clear,

fair, impartial, just judgment for how

you've lived.

That is the truth.

That is what is coming.

And there's nothing that anyone can do

or say to change that fact. Judgment is

coming. We're all going to give an

account. And we will either be met with

wrath or grace.

Don't let anyone deceive you.

Don't fall for empty words.

This is true whether I say it or not.

[laughter]

This is true no matter how we feel about

it. This is true even if we wished

things were different. Although I don't

think you should wish things would are

different.

People have told me over the years, I've

heard this many times from people I care

about that they just can't stomach the

idea of a wrathful God. that's just

doesn't resonate or something.

And I've always

[laughter]

can I just be super honest?

There there's always been something

that's really bothered me about that.

And here's what it is. Could you imagine

if I well I do have kids but imagine a

kid who's not one of my kids growing up

in my house and eating all of our food

and wearing our clothes and sleeping in

under our roof and basically enjoying

all the privileges of this life I

provide for them. But they don't love

me.

They don't like me.

They do what I say not to do all the

time. They're living in a life of just

perpetual

and

and then when they're asked by someone

like you don't think it's it you know

eventually I kick him out and they go

you don't think that your dad should

have kicked you out and they're like

well why would he care what I'm it's

like you're living in his house you're

every single thing you have sorry calm

down every single thing you have is from

him every gift is a gracious gift every

breath is a gift from him and it's

I'm just, you know, why would he care if

I didn't acknowledge him as Lord or give

thanks to him? Well,

that's kind of a I don't know. It's

always just felt like a goofy objection

to me.

God's wrath

is a deeply necessary expression of his

holiness and his justice and his love.

If you're going to love something,

you're going to be angered by

wrathful towards things that are trying

to destroy the things you love. Right?

I've used this example and I I just

think it's like if I love my wife and

you want to hurt my wife,

what kind of

do you want me to be the kind of husband

that sits there and does nothing?

That just seems like a crazy I don't

know. I feel like I'm probably preaching

to the choir here. If God's going to

love human flourishing, he's going to be

angered by things that harm human

flourishing. If God's going to love

life, he's going to be angry. He's going

to hate things that want to destroy

life. If God cares about the good, he's

going to care when the good is being

violated. Anger, wrath is a necessary

expression. It's a necessary element to

loving something.

And because of things like sexual

immorality and impurity and

covetousness, this says the wrath of God

is coming on the sons of disobedience.

God has real wrath. That wrath is really

coming and it's really coming upon the

people who reject Christ as Lord and

refuse his forgiveness.

Now, obviously, there's a lot more I

could say about this.

And one of the things about trying to

think when you're trying to think about

heaven and hell,

I was just talking with Birdie about

this before service. You try you you

read these things, you hear these things

and you try to put them in your own

brain to make them make sense.

When in fact what we ought to be doing,

which is very hard to do, is trying to

get out of our own mind and con get my

mind to conform to what's real. But

that's really hard to do. It's really

hard to understand why God does what he

does.

You know, there's people who have a

really hard time with hell as an eternal

thing. They think that that's not a just

response to a finite sin,

a finite life of sin. But

you know, you think about the story of

the Garden of Eden and God saying,

"Don't take of the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil and Adam and Eve did it

anyway." And it brought the curse upon

the world.

That's a pretty significant consequence

for a finite sin.

And that's just in reaction to violating

his word at the gift of creation.

I can't imagine how much stronger of a

reaction he's going to have to those of

us who reject the gift of his son.

He sent Christ in the world to literally

atone for our sins, to open the door for

all of us to be healed and forgiven. And

some of us still say no to that.

I know this is heavy.

I'm just saying it all to make the point

that I think

the orthodox conception of hell makes a

lot of sense.

This is the reality of wrath. Let's now

turn our attention to the truth about

who you are.

Because of these things, Paul says, do

not become partakers with them. Do not

become partners with them. Some of your

translations say

this sentence is

it's not so much emphasizing don't do

what they do though that certainly

follows. The sentence is stressing the

words with them with the sons of

disobedience. Don't get entangled and

drawn into that world into that

allegiance.

Paul is dealing with identities here.

He's dealing with realms of loyalty.

If you're going to be loyal to Christ as

a child of light, you can't be loyal to

the community of disobedience.

Don't become their partner. That word

means one who shares in a possession or

a relationship. It's like you're bound

together legally or something.

If you're going to be united to Christ

Jesus, you cannot be united to a pagan

world also. That is to walk in darkness

and sin.

Paul's rationale for this is that at one

time you were darkness but now you are

light in the Lord. It doesn't say you

were darkness or you were in the

darkness and you were in the light. It

says you were the dark and now you are

the light.

That is regeneration new creation

language.

You were dark but now you are light in

the Lord.

In the beginning, there was only

darkness. And God said, "Let there be

light." And then there was light.

At the resurrection of Christ Jesus, God

said that again. But rather than

creating the sun and the stars, he

created a people for his own possession.

A people to bear witness to the light in

the world. To be like a city set on a

hill.

Your life used to be governed by your

own self-interests, but now your life is

meant to be governed by God's interests.

And rather than this making your life

worse, this makes your life full of

deeper and more sustainable joy.

It's true that light reveals cracks and

dirty parts and problems which the

darkness easily conceals.

But there is in the light there is life.

In the light there is freedom. In the

light you can see the path to purity and

morality and love.

This all has like this profound

theological weight and import. But if I

can just evangelize you for a second as

someone who used to literally live in

darkness. Everything I did I kept a

secret. Everything I did I tried to hide

from people because I I didn't know what

they would think. You know what I mean?

Like I was using drugs constantly. I was

drinking constantly, but I didn't want

anybody to know. I didn't want to get

fired. I didn't want to get in trouble

with my my parents to know. And so the

lies just stack on the lies and the lies

stack on the lies and lies. And it's the

worst.

Living in deception and darkness is the

worst.

When you finally just tell the truth,

here's what I've done. Here's all of it.

Will you forgive me?

And God says, "Yes, you're forgiven in

spite of all that brokenness. In spite

of all that darkness, in spite of all

that, you're free.

It's like going out of a dark room into

the bright, beautiful light of the sun.

It's like going from a life of slavery

and captivity into a light of freedom

and joy in the Lord.

If any of you are living like that,

please listen to me. It is so much

better to repent and put your faith in

Jesus. It is so much better to leave

that way of life behind and embrace a

light, a life of light.

Your identity is tied to who and what

you love because who and what you love

is expressed in how you live.

I can say I love this and I love that.

But saying it doesn't make it true. It

doesn't matter what I say. The real

barometer, the real measure of what I

truly value and what actually matters to

me is what I at the end of the day

actually do with my life, with my heart,

with my mind, with my body, with my

words. That's how I know what I care

about.

It's not what I tell myself. It's not

what I convince other people of. How you

choose to live is the only real metric

of what you actually love. If you love

God the most, you will try to do things

for him. If you love something else

most, you will do things for that other

thing.

Now, I know for most of you it's not

that simple. There's layers to how that

works, and that's fine.

But it's worth asking yourself, what

does how you live tell you about what

you love?

How does what you give your life to

teach you about what you really care

about?

Are you light

or darkness?

Or to ask that more pragmatically, are

you trying to live in a way that aligns

with God's priorities, or are you trying

to live in a way that aligns with the

culture's priorities or your personal

priorities?

Let no one deceive you.

Don't be partakers with them, partners

with them.

Let's close by considering what it means

to walk as children of the light.

Verse 9 says, "Walk as children of

light, for the fruit of light is found

in all that is good and right and true."

It's it's kind of funny actually. The

commentaries at this point get all

wrapped up into a pretzel over Paul says

you're light and then he says you're

children of light, but then there's this

fruit of light. And how do you make the

metaphor be consistent? And

>> [laughter]

>> And I was reading it this week in my

office like it's a metaphor. I don't

think he's trying to be uh you don't

need to literalize this stuff quite the

way some people think you do. Paul is

talking about domains and identities.

He's talking about people who belong to

the light and do things in the light and

seek to carry light where they go.

Walking as a child of light means clear

and concrete things.

It's a bearing the fruit of a

lightfilled life and that means doing

what is good and right and true and

trying to discern what is pleasing to

the Lord.

So that last phrase in the end of the

verse trying to discern what is pleasing

to the Lord that pops up around the New

Testament. You probably see it. I don't

know if you've thought much about it.

It's interesting. He's writing to a

group of people who don't have a New

Testament. What they have of the word of

God is what they're able to memorize.

And that's what you take home with you,

what you can keep in your mind. And so

they're they're often finding themselves

in situations where it's like, I'm not

sure what the right thing to do is here.

And so they're having to discern

where I think Paul is emphasizing here

is not the discernment piece. It's on

trying to please the Lord.

It's a fundamental attitudinal

adjustment. Instead of doing what I

think I can get away with, instead of

doing what I think will be best for me

and myself in this situation, I'm trying

to think what's going to please the

Lord. What should I do here that is

going to align with what God cares

about? That's going to focus on what

matters to him.

Paul is saying, "Be the kind of person

who lives their life asking what would

please God. What would make God happy?

What would bring pleasure to the heart

of my king and my savior?" Children of

light walk in light by making it their

ambition to please the Lord. This says,

and so when you read this description of

the fruit of light, the good, the right,

and the true, we don't just define that

however we want. That's you're trying to

ple those are go. We use God's

definitions of those things. God defines

them. God gives us clarity about what is

good and what is right and what is true.

It's interesting. There's there've been

all these political movements in the

last six years and um there's all these

slogans that appear and if you think

about them too deeply, they're too vague

to really mean anything specific. And

the second someone starts trying to load

them with a definition, it becomes

problematic. No human being is illegal.

It's like, okay, what does that mean,

though?

Love is love. Black lives matter. What

What does that mean? The second you

start freighting it with actual

substance, you end up with problems.

often times often smuggled under these

vague statements are entire philosophies

of life that you may or may not find

morally repugnant, morally

reprehensible.

Jesus says, "Love your neighbor as

yourself."

What does that mean, Jesus? Well, it

means to seek to do good to everyone in

the holy. Seek the flourishing of people

around you, both physically, spiritual,

spiritually, and emotionally. Try your

best to the best of your ability to help

those who are suffering, to help those

who are in need, to lift up those who

are weak.

Try to help the people around you become

everything God intended them to be in

Christ. That's the fruit of the light.

Goodness and striving for the good.

When you compare the biblical vision of

goodness to the political slogans of

today, the slogans feel like a cheap

imitation.

God says, "If you're a child of light,

try to discern what pleases God by doing

good."

Doing good. That whole concept is

inherently related to how you treat

other people. It's connected to your

neighbor, how you love and care for do

good to your neighbor. And I was

thinking about, you know, what does it

mean to live a life in the light of

goodness? like bearing the fruit of

goodness, being a good person, I guess

is a way you could put it. And I was

thinking about just now as as Vivian was

sharing about Johnny and friends. I

mean, that's a wonderful thing to do.

Um,

even if you I mean, just like frankly,

going up there and looking at it is sort

of overwhelming.

It's so beautiful. People loving these

kids just to to love them. People coming

at the cost of their own. They spend

their own money to go up there and then

they serve all week just to make some

other kid happy or the adults sometimes

too. And it's it's glorious. There's big

things like that you can devote

yourself. But then I was thinking, you

know, this is a little this is a

daybyday how you're going to choose to

act in every situation kind of thing.

And I have a concrete one for you that's

going to haunt you the rest of your

life. You ready?

You know how when you go to the grocery

store and you finish putting all your

groceries away in the trunk of your car?

What do you do with your shopping cart?

I'm sorry, but you're going to think of

me the rest of your life when you see

shopping carts. No, you're not. But but

it's crazy though. It's like, what am I

going to do here? There's no reward for

putting this back. No one's even going

to say thank you. [laughter]

The only reason I would do this is to

make life easier on the guy that the the

poor guy that gets probably paid minimum

wage is to come out here and wheel all

these things back in.

That's a silly dumb example that is a

perfect microcosm for living a life of

like devoted to good. Just like looking

at situations like that and being like

what's going to what would please the

Lord here? How could I love my neighbor

in this precise

situation?

Don't just do good.

Do what's right.

All that is good and right or righteous.

That word is directly related to

justice.

That's connected to standing up for the

weak, doing what's right. Not just

yourself, but calling everyone around

you to do the same. You know, we we tend

to think of righteousness as like an

individual thing. And to be sure,

there's individual applications, but for

them, that was mostly a social public

square thing. We're choosing to value

what God says is valuable, to love what

God says to love, to

affirm what God said is right

and what God says is wrong.

And we're all going to have different

functions about how we go about that.

But at minimum, that means being willing

to speak up in your actual life for

people around you when you see something

unjust happening.

Being willing to use your God-given

avenues to try to do what's right.

I mean, whatever else Johnny and Friends

is that camp,

one of the things that it most is

is a correct and appropriate evaluation

of the worth of those lives, of those

kids

with special needs,

treating them like they really, really,

really matter, that they're important,

that they're image bearsers of God, and

we ought to love them and celebrate

them.

The last fruit of life, light, is found

in what's true. I think Paul uses that

word true the same way I said last time

in chapter four. He's not trying to

describe abstract principles. What he

thinks of as true is that which aligns

with reality. It aligns with God's word.

Seeing the world through God's lens,

through God's eyes.

This means ascribing value to things on

the basis of God's values and being for

things that God is for and against

things that God is against. This means

living as though wrath is actually

coming on those who are in darkness and

that the light is the only way of life

for God's children. Those things are

true.

Living as a child of light means loving

what God loves.

And it means hating what God's God

hates, namely sin and those things which

destroy and denature and harm.

Don't be deceived.

The wrath of God is coming on the sons

of disobedience.

And so you and I are called to walk as

children of light.

And we know if we're doing that by

looking at how we ourselves live, what

it is we actually do. What does what we

do connect like how how is that

connected to what we actually love and

value?

Being a child of light at the very heart

of it all is trying to live in a way

that pleases the Lord. Living as a child

of disobedience at the very heart of it

is trying to live in a way that pleases

you.

Who are you living for?

Wrath is coming upon those in darkness.

So live as light in the Lord. Let's

pray.