Ephesians 5:8-20 Live in the light

Ephesians 5:8-20

The movie Gladiator opens with a battle scene, the general Maximus addressing his troops. And he says “What we do in life echoes in eternity!”

Do you want a life that echoes in eternity? Do you want your life to count? Do you want to live with meaning, with purpose?

Today’s reading is about living meaningful lives. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord, living not as fools, but as wise, making every moment count. Your life echoes in eternity. What story will your life tell?

Live in the light – because you are people of the light
Live in the light – because the darkness will be exposed
Live in the light – because this pleases the Lord

1. Live in the light – because you are people of the light

8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

We are now firmly in the second half of Ephesians. The first half was the gospel - what God has done for us. Eph 2:1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins....4–5 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
And in Christ, Eph 1:3–4 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

This is who we are! We were once dead – full of darkness, stuck in our sins, in our rebellion against God. But now – now we are ALIVE! Alive to God, alive in Christ. We are full of LIGHT! We breathe, talk, walk – we live like people who are alive, not people who are dead. So we tell the truth, read the Bible, tell people about Jesus, are sexually pure, use our words to build up, work hard and provide for others, are kind, tender-hearted, quick to forgive.

Now all that can sound like a list of things to do! Try harder, do more. But there’s no gospel in that. Remember how we’ve seen in these two chapters (4 and 5) the gospel is sprinkled into all these verses about “this is how you should live”. Have a look: 4:19 No lust and impurity - 4:23 Let the Spirit renew you, put on your new nature. Don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t be angry, etc. 4:30 The Holy Spirit guarantees you will be saved. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving, not bitter angry, harsh, etc. 4:32 Because Christ forgave you 5:2 He loved us. No sexual immorality, coarse jokes. 5:8 You were full of darkness, but now light – and that light produces what is good and right and true.

This light within us produces only what is good and right and true. That’s where the fruit comes from - from the light within. We were dark, but we have now become people of the light. The light, God’s Spirit, is the one who produces the fruit. It is his work to transform us, to change us, to regenerate us. We are new creations.

So what do we do? Sit back on our bottoms and see what God does? Well, yes, and no. Because faith is living and active – so although it is GOD who changes us, who works, whose power flows through us: we take part in His work by thinking, obeying, acting like Jesus.
We live like we are alive, not like we are dead. It is not a passive faith – i.e. we sit on our couch and do nothing.
We’re not dead. Dead people live and let life pass them by.
We are ALIVE. It is an active faith. We are soldiers, warriors for God, so we plan, we think, we act, we do. 5:10 Carefully determine (decide, think about) what pleases the Lord.

5:8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!

2. Live in the light – because the darkness will be exposed

10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible.

Exposed! Found out! The criminal surprised by the floodlight that turns on, revealing his face to the camera. The movie star caught in a back alley with his pants down, the flash of light revealing his sin to the world.

I’m sure you know the feeling! I certainly do. When you’re doing something you shouldn’t and suddenly someone finds out. Oh the shame! The embarrassment! The immediate attempt to explain away what you were doing. No it wasn’t what it looked like.

I remember a very sweet bookkeeper at a company I audited. She needed to borrow a small amount of money - but the bank refused to lend it to her. The company had money – it won’t matter if I take some – I’m going to pay it back…. but of course, she used the money, and then her car broke down, and then something else came up.... And somehow the money didn’t get repaid before we came to audit. And she was exposed.
Thief! She didn’t mean to do it, but there it was: she had taken the money without asking, and had not paid it back. She was a thief. Her employer could no longer trust her – she had broken that relationship. She lost her job. Exposed, humiliated. The light shone on her and revealed her sin. She never thought that would happen! In the darkness when she decided to take the money she never thought about the sun coming up and shining its fierce light on her theft.

And isn’t that just like us. We don’t sit around and plan to sin (at least very often! Sometimes we do- I’m going to do THIS). But most of the time we don’t plan, we don’t think ahead, we kind of stumble into a situation and then try to justify our behaviour. Make excuses. It’ll be alright, I’ll put the money back.
maybe it’s not theft, but harsh words or even cruelty – guys with your wives, your kids. It’s fine, I’m under pressure. I don’t need to say sorry.
Or wives, manipulating your husbands, nagging them “do this, do that”, using sex as weapon, making them feel like dirt.
Or a little lie here, a little lie there – so small.
Or a bit of “harmless” flirting. It’s not going to go any further, it’s just fun.

And then the light shines on you, suddenly, without warning. And things have got out of control. The harsh words, the cruelty, have become a habit, and one day you come home to an empty house and a tear-stained note “I can’t live with the bullying”. Or the manipulation and nagging – and suddenly he walks out the door “I can’t take it any more” (or like many men just becomes less and less part of the family, “busy” with other things – in the garage, in the garden, out at the club - anywhere but in the home).

The lies suddenly catch up with you and you’re exposed.

The flirting lead to coffee, and then meals out, and then a visit to a hotel, and then more sexual escapades, and suddenly you’re divorced, living with this woman you were “harmlessly” flirting with and her child from another man – separated from your wife and two sons growing up without a father. Harmless.
Or the “harmless” flirting because the woman at the client makes you feel like a MAN whereas the wife at home just nags and nags. And so you play with the harmless flirting – until one day it becomes more than harmless, and you end up having an affair.
Both those are true stories. The second couple were Christians, and were by God’s grace able to forgive each other and sort out deep rooted problems in their marriage – but it was a very painful and deeply traumatic experience.

Eph 5:15 (NLT) So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Only a fool imagines that sin has no consequences. Every sin will be exposed. EVERYTHING you have ever thought, done, said will be revealed, if not now, on the Last Day when Christ returns. 13 evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible.

Live in the light - because the darkness will be exposed.

3. Live in the light – because this pleases the Lord

5:15 be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. We are called to live wisely, because we have been given the wisdom of Christ. We are called to live in a way that “pleases the Lord” – see that in v10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.

And what pleases him? Why, living wisely. Not doing what is shameful (v12), not doing what is worthless (v11) – instead, live intentionally: 15 be careful how you live. Literally translated “look with exactness at your walk”. Examine your life 16 Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. 17 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.

V16 is great literally translated from the Greek. It says “Ransom (rescue from loss) the time”.

Lives lived in rebellion and disobedience to God are worthless. They are “worthless deeds”, useful only for destruction. But you, child of God, you are called to ransom your time, use it for the glory of God! Live intentionally, thinking through how you live your life: how you work, how you play, who you marry, how you run your family, your church, etc. Look with exactness at your walk.

18 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit

This verse has often confused me – why does Paul suddenly talk about wine. But reading it in context (ah!) – because living unintentionally, living not carefully, living without a plan, lurching from one place to the next, saying or doing whatever comes into your head with no filter – that’s living like a drunkard. And so many people live like that. Many Christians live like that. Maybe even here today. Actually, probably here today. Our society is all about being “free” and not tied down and being “lead by our heart” and expressing ourselves. In other words living like drunkards. No plan, nothing thought through, just blurting out whatever, hooking up with someone, having a baby or two, then moving out because they were too much trouble, then drifting into someone else’s arms, and so on.

Our society is full of “drunkards”. And we should not be the same Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. 20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Instead of wandering foolishly into sin, living a life full of worthless deeds, our minds should be full of the gospel, the truths of the Bible – we are sinners, but forgiven by the grace of God.
We were dead but now alive!
Like songs in our heart we should be rejoicing over the grace of God, the love our Father has for us – and we should know the deceit (falseness) of our own hearts, of the world, of the devil – and we should be ready!

We need to examine ourselves, our own hearts, our motivations, and ask the Lord to show us the truth – and then take action! Maybe you find it easy to get drunk. Then stay away from parties and ask someone to help you with it. Debby and I have a rule that we’re never in the house alone with someone of the opposite sex. (So, ladies, if I don’t invite you in but make you stand on the step – that’s why!). Why? Not because I think anything WILL happen – but because anything COULD happen. Oh we are evil creatures, we love to sin, and I don’t want to even get near to a dangerous situation. It’s also a matter of Christian witness – if I kept on having ladies over at my house whenever Debby was out, what do you think the neighbours would imagine is happening? Bible study?

You know what your areas of temptation are – so stay away. Live intentionally. 5:15 be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Don’t live like a drunkard, but Be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts 20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord is so good – he has given us the church to help us KNOW how to please Him, and to help each other please him. This is the place where we are filled with the Spirit, we hear His words, we confess sin, we see His work in each other’s lives. Our lives together like a symphony of praise to God, music to his ears. This is where we gather to praise God, to thank him, to sing to him. God’s people.

We need each other! So make time for church. Plan time for prayer, for the Bible study, for one-to-one bible reading, for telling friends about Jesus. For the Sunday meeting.
“If you fail to plan you plan to fail.”
Do you pray for your church? Someone’s looking a bit down – meet them for coffee in the week. Send a sms with a Bible passage. Set aside money, make it the first thing you do with your paycheck, to support gospel work. Think through how can I serve better at church, at home, at work. How can I love my church family more, how can I raise my kids to understand the gospel, how can I love my wife better”. Live as people of the light, our lives echoing in eternity: Glory to God, glory to God, glory to God! We are forgiven sinners. Let us love one another like Christ loves us, and let us resolve today to live like that.

We have a moment now to think about these things – to consider our lives carefully. Where have we been living like drunkards instead like those filled with the Spirit? As you receive the bread and the wine, the reminder of the New Life given to you – the power of sin broken like the bread; your sins forgiven, washed away by the blood; the Holy Spirit taken within you; part of Christ’s body as we eat and drink together, united in Christ – use this time to 10 carefully determine what pleases the Lord, to repent of worthless deeds, shameful things done in secret, and to “expose” them, confess them to the Lord.

Live in the light – because you are people of the light
Live in the light – because the darkness will be exposed
Live in the light – because this pleases the Lord

Use this time, assured of God’s love, the forgiveness of sins, to be honest before God. He already knows your “secret” sins. Expose them to the light, and be forgiven.
What “private” sin do you struggle with? Where are you playing around with sin, thinking “it’s alright, it’s just in my thoughts” or “I’m alone, it’s not harming anybody”. Maybe it’s bitterness, thoughts of revenge, unforgiveness. Maybe it’s anger or frustration with someone in the church. Maybe it’s racism, or prejudice towards certain people or groups of people. Maybe it’s fantasies of another life. Maybe sexual fantasies. Maybe it’s worry, worry about this or that, worry about the future. Because those “hidden” sins – oh they find a way of coming out. As Jesus said “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks”.
Or maybe you know it affects others but you’re too proud to do something about it. Lies that need to be replaced with truth. Laziness with work. Unkind words with words that build up. An apology instead of defensiveness.

Friends, fellow sinners! Let’s repent! 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.

Confess them now to God, to each other. Perhaps you need to make right with someone. Resolve to do it, and follow through on that resolution immediately.