Ephesians 5:8-14 [3rd Sunday in Lent—CWS A]
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Tucson, AZ
March 15, 2020
In the name of Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, dear friends, If you are giving much thought to Jesus’ sufferings and death right now during Lent, you are very much aware of the somber note the season sounds. We are painfully reminded of our sins and Jesus’ punishment when it should have been us receiving not only the torture and pain, but even worse, total separation from our God. Although difficult to consider, the message of the season is necessary for our life of faith. While Wednesday Lenten services strike that somber chord, still in the midst of the season, we go on with Sunday worship, pretty much as we usually do, and can even do so by singing a song like we just sang: Shine, Jesus, Shine! How can that be? Jesus’ sufferings and death do not appear to the world to be shining moments! But in reality, they were. Through everything and through all of time, JESUS SHINES! 1. IN A DARK WORLD 2. SO THAT YOU MAY SHINE We live in a world—and are part of a world—that is dark with sin. God sets the expectation that people are to worship him as the only true God and to set him and his Word as the priority in their lives. God also expects that we love one another and show that in a number of ways. Really, those two things—love for God and for people summarize the expectations God puts forward in the Ten Commandments. Whenever and wherever those things don’t happen—whether in the heathen or in those of us who believe—the dark cloud of sin is hovering and it brings the judgment of God. So, it is a dark world we live in as we see people who have no regard for God and his will. It is a dark world we live in as we see the love for others surrendered, leaving only self-serving individualism. It is a dark world we live in as we see hatred and murder and a million other sins. But you know something? Paul had to break it to the Christians in Ephesus that they were not just living in the darkness of the world. In fact, they were not even just part of the world’s darkness. They were darkness itself! So corrupt was the sinful nature in each of them—and in each of us—that God considers us totally dark with sin even from birth. Before our baptism or before we came to hear the wonderful gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ, we were not just affected by darkness or influenced by darkness around us, we were darkness. Try to picture the world—maybe think of a globe. Picture that globe painted black. Now imagine a tiny spot of light on that darkened sphere. Imagine that light as Jesus Christ shining in a dark world. When he came to be our Savior, he came as a man who could only physically be in one place at a time so you could watch that little light travel around on that blackened globe. And as true God and true man, he was the only person shining with perfect righteousness—everyone else was tainted with sin. The light of Jesus began shining at his miraculous conception and birth. It kept shining as he preached and taught about salvation through faith in him. It kept shining as the conspiracy was put together by Judas and the religious leaders to have him put to death. Jesus shone as they led him before Herod and Pilate and the soldiers—and the
people, as he was nailed to and hoisted up on the cross. He continued to shine as he rose from death, defeated the devil and ascended back to the right hand of God where he continues to shine to this day and will for eternity! Jesus was a perfect, shining light in a world dark with sin. And why was he willing to do all that…to put up with the abuse, to suffer horribly, to die—when he deserved none of it? The answer is selfless and amazing and humbling. He did it so that YOU MAY SHINE! He was not concerned with himself, but with you. God did not want sinners to die eternally. God didn’t want all people to have to be separated from him in eternity, but that’s what would have to be because a just and holy God cannot coexist with creatures darkened with sin. So God sent Jesus to shine with perfection in our place, to take our darkness on himself and to replace it with the light of his perfection. Now, by faith in Christ, you and I are turned into light! Listen to what Paul says again: but now you are light in the Lord (v.8). Once again, he doesn’t say that we are affected by the light of Christ or influenced by it or merely reflections of it. No! We ARE light! Just like we were darkness, now we are light! So thoroughly has Jesus paid for all sin, so powerfully has the Holy Spirit worked in our hearts! We are light that shines! Every person who believes that Jesus did what the Bible says he did has forgiveness of sins and the sure promise of eternal life in heaven! So now picture that formerly blackened globe. What does it look like now? That’s right! Now you see dots of light all over it! There are great concentrations of light where the Word of God is active among many people. There are a few lights together in many places. There are single lights where missionaries dare to tread into the darkness. There are lights in all the nations and even lights out over the seas on cruise ships and ocean liners. There are lights hovering over the sphere of the earth in commercial airplanes and fighter jets. There are real lights shining all over the place! And God intends for us, his lights, to shine brightly. He says, Walk as children of light…and learn what is pleasing to the Lord (v.8,10). How do you learn what is pleasing to the Lord? Well, you look at everything from the viewpoint of God’s Word, don’t you? That’s where God tells us what is pleasing to him, so we simply look at the things of life and decisions we need to make and stuff we want to do and we compare those with what God says in the Bible. That will tell us what is acceptable to him and what is not. Like a plant bends and grows toward the light, so a child of the light will bend their attitudes and actions toward the Lord as the light of his Word shines on them. Their shining walk through life will be filled with goodness, righteousness, and truth (v.9). Light reveals God…light produces fruits of faith in our lives…but light also exposes what is wrong. No surgeon would willingly operate in darkness lest they make a false move and take a life. Light shows the doctor what must be fixed. Or how could an artist paint an accurate portrait in darkness? Only the light reveals where and how they should paint. Light reveals the truth and exposes the true character of things.
This explains why the unbelieving person steers clear of church and the Bible, doesn’t it? God’s light reveals their true character, and the exposure is not glamorous! The darkness of sin is obvious when God’s light shines upon it. And people who walk in the darkness don’t want that to happen. When it comes to God’s children, we are instructed not just avoid the fruitless deeds of darkness (v.11), Paul says to expose them for what they are—a menace to faith, dangerous to souls, things that can cause eternal separation from God. This is tough to do. In fact, it is no fun at all to speak about the sin and evil that is so prevalent around us and seen in others. But the point of speaking up and exposing sin is a noble and God-pleasing thing. The desire of those who are light in the Lord is to turn sinful people from their dark ways and to the light of Christ, so that there is repentance and forgiveness and life and salvation! We keep in mind for ourselves and announce to each other that even the most shameful things Jesus forgives! Paul concedes that it is shameful even to mention the things that are done by people in secret (v.12). Isn’t that true? You don’t want me to get too graphic up here in the pulpit, right? I could. I could tell you stories about sin that are downright disgusting. I could give you graphic details and use the words that are used by darkened individuals. Perhaps there would be some shock value to that, but typically, we shy away from being too explicit even when speaking privately with each other, don’t we? Why? Because it is shameful even to mention the things that are done by people in secret. By saying too much about shameful things, we might even pique the curiosity of someone’s sinful nature and actually promote sin! Yet we need to at least expose it for what it is so that people might look to Jesus for forgiveness. Paul concludes by quoting what might be the words of an early Christian hymn: “Awake, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (v.14). Whether a hardened unbeliever or a Christian not living like light, the remedy for all problems of sin is the same: the light of Jesus shining on their hearts. The spiritually apathetic Christian and the dead-in-sin pagan are both awakened from a sleepiness that leads to eternal death to spiritual life and salvation by the light of Christ. Focus on this, dear friends: that Easter morning, when Christ rose from the dead. That was the dawning of a new day for the world. Christians are not sleeping in sin and death. We have been raised from spiritual death through faith in him and his resurrection. The darkness of the graveyard is past, and we are now walking in the light of salvation. Dear friends, the saving light of Jesus Christ has shined in a sin-darkened world. He has shined on you so that you may shine with the light of faith. In a song of praise, we sing, “Shine, Jesus, Shine!” and he does. Jesus shines—and so do you because of him. Shine with that light of faith in all you do—in thankfulness to God…so that his name is praised…and to help those who are still wandering in the darkness. Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.