Battle Ready: “Light Beats Darkness” Ephesians 5:7-10 Pastor Daniel Reese

Well good morning

If you have her Bibles, I'd encourage you to grab one in front of you or the one you have and turn to Ephesians chapter 5 with me

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

We'll get there in just a second

When I was a kid growing up

We always had a holiday in January

Where we got the day off in order to remember Martin Luther King, Jr. I

Think I think we still do that now, right?

So for the few days before that Monday that we had off we would be

Studying about his life and his contributions to the civil rights movement. We'd watched the speech that he gave in front of the Lincoln Memorial

We'd read his biography and and then of course we would be talking about why our country needed men like him

One of his favorite quotes was darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that

Hey cannot drive out hate only love can do that now he was contrasting two very different things right?

Darkness in its simplest definition is the absence of light no light whatsoever

So when any sort of light is introduced into the situation

There's no longer any more darkness in other words darkness doesn't have the presence of anything

That's how the Bible starts

It starts in Genesis 1 chapter 1 it says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the face

Of the waters and verse 3 it says and God said let there be light and there was light and God saw that the light was good

And God separated the light from the darkness and so in just a moment

When we continue our journey through Ephesians we'll find that Paul is going to use the very same imagery of darkness and light

That that goes all the way back to the beginning of the world all the way back to the beginning the world we began with a physical

separation of light and

Darkness and Paul is going to use that same picture to describe the spiritual separation

But between those who are followers of Jesus and those who aren't

So we're going to read our passage this morning. I want you to keep that in mind

I'm going to invite Adam Clark wherever he is

I know I thought it was in here up to here and he's going to read our passage for us together

If you would mind as he comes up here standing in preparation

For him to read the word together

Therefore do not become partners with them for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the world

Walk as children of light for the fruit of light is found in all that is good

Right and true and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord

Amen, hold on. Let's pray for quick father God

We thank you for your word and I thank you for kids like Adam that want to

Be partakers in it and sharing it with us and so God I pray that as we as we study this passage that you have given us

I pray God that we will be able to see the differentiation between light and darkness and

In our own lives in the world around us and I pray God that this will ring true for all of us this morning

So thank you for your word. We ask all these things in your name. Amen. Thank you Adam. So

In this passage that Adam just read

Paul describes three principles that will help us to use

The light that is in us to beat the darkness that is around us

Each one of these principles contains two aspects something that we must do and something that we must avoid

The first point that Paul makes is that we need to be in the world

But not of the world. He tells us in verse 7 therefore do not become partners with them

As always we when we see the word therefore

We need to understand what it's there for in this case Paul is very clearly looking back to the immediately

preceding verses

Where he describes the consequences of living a lifestyle that is characterized by

Immorality by impurity by by covetousness and Paul warrants his readers

Just like the God is warning us through this text that they are not to be partners with those who engage in such a lifestyle

Now the word translated partners is the same in this verse is only used one other place in the entire New Testament

Now not surprisingly it's also used by Paul in this same book

In chapter 3 verse 6 Paul writes this mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs

Members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel

So partakers in verse chapter 3 and partners in chapter 5 are the same

Word the word literally means joint participants

So Paul's main point here seems to be that followers of Jesus Christ those that call themselves

Christians those who have surrendered their life to him are not to

Participate in the same and morality the same impurity the same covetousness that characterized the darkness of our culture

Now I don't think any one of us that proclaim faith in Jesus Christ

Would disagree with that premise but just how far are we to carry that?

That there are many believers that carry this principle to such an extreme

That they isolate themselves completely from unbelievers

They they only work with other Christians all of their friends and acquaintances are Christians

And often they they try to isolate their kids

From the world by either homeschooling them or sending them to Christian schools

Now side note real quick

I homeschooled I seen a homeschooled our children

For a long time. I'm not knocking homeschooling. There's lots of reasons to homeschool

There's lots of reasons to send your kids to a Christian school. I'm not proposing that we do that

But I'm saying there should be a red flag when the only reason we do that is to send our children to a Christian school

When the only reason we do that is to isolate them from the culture around them

But that seems to fly in the face of the principle of being in the world but not of the world

Just as Jesus eloquently expressed in his prayer in John 17

In his first letter to the church at Corinth Paul also makes it clear that he is not advocating for

Isolism here in Ephesians in 1 Corinthians 5 Paul basically says that if you want to associate only with fellow believers

If you don't want to associate with non-christians

Then you would have to leave the world

As we'll see even more clearly here in just a few minutes when we become followers of Jesus Christ

God God leaves us here on this earth

For the very purpose of being the light in the midst of darkness

And that's impossible if we have no contact if we have no interaction with unbelievers

So so Paul is not encouraging his readers to withdraw and isolate themselves from the people in the culture around them

Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3 that we need to always be ready to give a response to anyone who asks for the reason that you have hope

Peter is obviously writing here about how how believers are to interact with non-believers

We are to treat them with respect

We are to love them and be prepared to share the gospel message with them

Peter is implying here that that others will ask us

About our faith

Because they'll be around us enough to be influenced by our light shining in the midst of their darkness

But we also need to be careful not to carry those things to the other extreme

And become just like the darkness

Paul confirms that principle very clearly when he says in 2 Corinthians

Six where he tells us not to be yoked together with unbelievers

So we are to interact with non-believers. We're to do life with non-believers, but not to be conformed

to unbelievers

There should be a stark difference between the way you live your life as a follower of Jesus

And the friends that you have that aren't

There should be a very significant difference

For a lot of my life growing up that wasn't the case

I'd be at church on a Sunday morning talking about the Lord and what I thought he was doing in my life

And then I would go to school on Mondays without giving him any thought

And acting just like the rest of my idiot friends

So of course I I never felt comfortable inviting them to church

Because they wouldn't have seen the benefit of it

Why would I go to church? You don't have to be a believer

Why would I go to church? You it's made no impact in your life

It would be like you coming up to me and asking for tips on how to do your hair

You probably wouldn't take me seriously if I walked up to you afterwards and say you know what?

I really feel like you should style your hair this way use this product. You wouldn't take me seriously

Now if you wanted to know how to get the smooth silky softness

Of a bald head at the same time avoiding how to

You know not making your wife mad when there's hair all over the place then I can I'm your guy

I've been there. I've learned through experience. I know how to do those things

But but we are to interact

With non-believers, but we can't conform to their behavior and join them

The the key is to find balance

We need to respect them and not isolate from the world

But refuse to resemble the world

A little bit of light can eliminate the darkness

Make sure your light is on at all times

So that when someone asks you where your hope comes from where that light comes from

You have an answer

The next point Paul makes is to remember history so that you don't repeat it

He says in verse 8 for one time you were darkness, but now you are the light of the Lord

Now this is not the first time where Paul has reminded his readers of what they were before they were christ followers

For instance back in chapter 2 he reminded them of how they were once dead in their transgressions and sins before the work of God in their lives

And here Paul reminds them that they were once in darkness

That's how you once lived you were once in darkness

But as Jesus says in John chapter 8 whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life

John 8 · chapter mention

When scene and I were engaged to be married

She would okay. We were separated

Geographically and so she would come visit me occasionally and she would be around people that I grew up with that knew me when I was from when I was a kid

They would tell her pretty often

I can't believe you're with him

You seem so nice

Why would you want to be with Daniel?

How did he trick you into being with him?

Right like she would hear it all the time where it kind of began to make her upset

What they didn't understand is the person that I was growing up was not the same person that was about to be married

The Lord had done a work in my life while I was away at college

He changed my heart. He changed my worldview. He changed the things that I valued

I think about those times growing up a lot. I want to remember who I was and I want to remember what I thought was important before I really came to know the Lord

Now some of that's just maturity right? Some of that's just growing up

But a lot of what was in my heart had now changed

Did you ever watch The Biggest Loser on TV? You ever watched that grow up years ago?

We used to watch that show pretty often in my house when it came out

But we'd be watching these people work out really really hard right?

They'd be on a really strict diet while I was sitting on my couch dunking Oreos into my milk

Like you see the irony in that?

It was a pretty inspiring show. You would see these people lose 100, 200 pounds over a course of months

Meanwhile I probably gained 10 pounds while watching the show sitting on the couch in Oreos right?

The story for a lot of those people though is that once they got home they put the weight back on

They would get back into the routine of not exercising as much

They didn't have a personal trainer yelling at them and motivating them

And slowly the weight would get put back on. They forgot about the work they had done

They forgot about how miserable their life was before they went back on the show

They were repeating history

When we choose to follow Jesus Christ, He is continually present in our lives

And because we have Him, we become light

I'm not merely enlightened, I am light because the light of the world lives in me

Now although Paul is certainly not someone who dwelled in the past

His letter indicates that there is great value on us recalling what we were before Jesus Christ came and changed our life

If nothing else it makes us appreciate the fact that God did something in us that we could never do for ourselves

By transforming us from darkness to light

At the same time Paul warns us against reverting back to that darkness

Since we are now light, since we now have the light in us we are to live our lives in a manner that is consistent with the light

And when we do that our lives will bear fruit that is consistent with the light

If we are truly children of light, if we are truly children of the Lord

It's going to be characterized by goodness, righteousness, and truth

Jesus addresses this idea in Matthew 7

He says you will recognize them by their fruits

Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles

So every healthy tree bears good fruit but the diseased tree bears bad fruit

A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire

Thus you will recognize them by their fruits

Jesus is really clear that our character will be revealed by the fruit that we produce

Our character will be revealed by the fruit that we produce

If we are darkness, we will produce fruit that is consistent with the absence of God in our lives

If we are light, our lives will reflect and produce goodness

It will produce righteousness, it will produce truth, but we have to live in the light

I like to sleep in a dark room

I don't like any lights

I used to cover up my alarm clock, that stupid red light

Many of you don't know what that is because now we have phones

But I used to cover up the light

That's one of the main reasons when we were finishing our basement

I wanted our bedroom in the basement because it was darkness

We've invested money in every house we've ever lived in for room darkening shades

I like sleeping in the darkness

But have you ever struggled with depression?

There have been times in my life where I've had that battle

And here's how it goes for me, maybe you can relate

When I begin to feel like life is overwhelming

I tend to want to go home and isolate in my bedroom

I can turn on the TV and be numb for hours at a time

I ignore my phone, I ignore any offer for help

And I just stay where I am and mope

Just me alone with my thoughts telling everyone else that I'm just fine

When in reality the best way for me to snap out of it is to be around people

To talk about the issues that I'm struggling with

To get outside and be in the light of the sun

And get out of the darkness

I think that's the best way to fight off sin

Bring it into the light where the darkness loses its power

Don't just say you were struggling

Say what you were struggling with

Don't say you've messed up

Say what you did, give it some exposure

There's a big difference between I got a speeding ticket and I cheated on my wife

Both of those are mess ups

There's a big difference between I over ate at dinner and I viewed pornography for an hour

Those are both struggles

Bring it into the light

Now here's just a moment

I'm going to give you the opportunity to respond and bring some things into the light

I'm not going to ask you to stand up and say it out loud

But I'm going to ask you to write it down

Put your name on it

I'm asking you to own it

And bring it to the light

It's going to remain confidential

But I think it's important that we begin to take steps to make things right

By exposing them to the light

Don't just say I've been tempted

Say what you've been tempted by

Don't just say you had a moral failure

Say what your moral failure was

Don't let it have any more power

Bring it to the light

Finally, Paul's third point is to let your light shine

Let your light shine

When you let your light shine

That's the word

The literal translation should be putting to the test

And then approving what is well pleasing to the Lord

Paul uses that very same phrase in Romans 12 verse 2

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world

But be transformed by the renewal of your mind

That by testing you may discern what is the will of God

What is good and acceptable and perfect

The idea in both passages is that when we live our lives in a way

That is consistent with God's plan

That we put to the test and prove His ways do in fact produce

The results that He promises

The idea here is that we live our lives in a manner

That is consistent with the light of Jesus that is in our lives

It will cause other people to look at our lives

To watch us and give glory to God

Our purpose in living as children of light

Is not to bring attention to ourselves

But rather to give praise to the one who transformed us

From darkness to light

That's why we are still on this earth

In other words, when we produce the fruit of light

We actually reveal God living in our life

We actually reveal what He has done in our life

Beginning in the middle part of chapter 4 of Ephesians

Paul spent a lot of time writing to Christ's followers

Writing to you and to me and challenging them

To take off their old way of life

And put on their new life that is consistent with who they are in Jesus

This is what he's been going over

But I'm struck by the fact

That not even one time

Does Paul instruct his readers to try and impose

The same way of life on those who are non-believers

He never encourages them to go into the world

And condemn those that are still living in darkness

And who live their lives in a way that produces fruit

That corresponds to darkness

In fact, although I can't completely rule out the possibility

That it's there somewhere, I couldn't find one instance in the New Testament

Where unbelievers are either commanded or expected

To live their lives in a way that is consistent with being a child of light

And though there are plenty of warnings and consequences of an immoral lifestyle

I cannot place where unbelievers are condemned and criticized in their lifestyle

About the only place where I see people being condemned for their lifestyle

Is the way Jesus confronts the religious leaders of his day

And even there it seems that Jesus was so hard on them

Primarily because of how they were leading others astray

That is consistent with how the New Testament writers confront very directly

And forcefully sin within the body

But when Jesus dealt with people in the darkness

Like the woman caught in adultery

Like the woman at the well

He didn't condone their sin

But he didn't condemn them personally either

Since darkness is the absence of light

The way that we overcome the darkness is not by cursing the darkness

We can't get rid of darkness by condemning it because there is nothing there in the first place

It's void

There is nothing there

The only way to overcome darkness is by allowing the light of Jesus that is in us

To shine in the midst of that darkness

That's you and me

How are you shining your light in the darkness?

See as Christians we like to boycott things

We like to take a stand for things

And we like to tell people that aren't believers

You're going straight to hell

When in reality we should be shining the light to them

So that they can see the goodness that is the Lord

So here's what I'd like to do

Take, I don't know how you all do sermon notes if you even do them

But tear off a piece

Write your sin down

Sign your name to it

It's going to be confidential

And here's what I want to do

I want to invite the worship team to come back

As we sing and as we respond

And as you bring these things to light

And as you own it

I'm going to invite you to come put it in this basket

I'm going to have it right here on the altar

And as you put it in the basket

I want you to just rip it in half and throw it in there

As a symbol of what the Lord has done for you in overcoming sin

I'm also going to ask our elders to be up front here

At the front

So that we can pray for you

So that we can minister to you

Now our church historically is not real good at responding

We don't like to publicly respond

That's okay

But here's how I'm going to challenge you

We're not going to get better at responding to the Lord

And what he's stirring in our hearts if we don't start practicing it

And so maybe just one person comes up and confesses these things to the Lord

And lays them at the altar and rips them up and declares victory over that

Maybe just one

But in my mind that's still a victory

But maybe there's five of you, maybe there's ten of you

Maybe there's three hundred of us that come forward this morning

And confess these things before the Lord

And we're here for an hour and a half extra

I think that's a victory too

And so here's my challenge to you

As the elders come, I don't know who is on here

I think there's two here, I'll be here

We want to make ourselves available to you

And we're going to pray over you that you find victory over sin today

That you bring things to the light as it's exposed

And so I'm going to have this basket right here

And I'm going to pray for us

And as you feel that we start to bring some things into the light

Because I think it will change your life

I think it will put you on the right path

I think that it will empower you to fight off the temptation and sin that's in your life

So I'm going to pray for us

And I'm just going to ask God to move in your heart

I'm going to ask some of you that have never responded to the Lord in a physical way

By standing up out of your chair and walking forward

And I'm going to ask that the Lord put a heavy burden on you as you lead today

Find victory today, let's pray

Father God, I pray right now that your spirit will be thick in this place

God, I pray you take away any pride that's in this place

Humble us

God, I pray that you bless us as we try to bring things into the light

As we have to drag it

So God, I pray for a lot of dragging today

Your way is better with you, there's victory

So God, I pray that you will allow us to minister on your behalf today

God, we love you

And we thank you for Jesus

We thank you that because of him we have the power to overcome sin

And I pray that that would be a reality in this place this morning

I need you in your name, we pray

Amen