LIVE IT OUT!
Ephesians 4:7-14
We’ve heard a lot over the last 5 years about how people should be allowed to live out their true selves.
The problem is when their supposed “true self” is being self-defined rather than being defined by their
maker.
No matter how sincere and convinced they are, if how they see themselves isn’t true to reality it’s just not
going to work for them.
What’s sad is that people who are deeply committed to defining their world are told that their unhappiness
comes from the fact that their loved ones don’t accept what they’ve decided is their true self.
So, whether it’s your co-worker who’s redefined their gender or your nephew that argues that he shouldn’t
have a criminal record for smoking a plant that God made, you have a choice to make.
Do you respond to them with, “Whatever makes you happy?”
Or do you prayerfully and lovingly represent God’s truth to them as He directs you to do so.
I’ve been reading a book, called The Quest for More, by Paul David Tripp.
And it’s helped me to understand our restlessness for self-definition in very simple terms.
We can’t both have autonomy and transcendence.
Transcendence is the ability to live beyond normal limits, surpassing normal understanding or existence.
Autonomy is self-determination and governing oneself - judging for oneself what’s right and wrong.
Tripp writes this -
“The quest for autonomy will always crush transcendence. Rather than the huge glories of living for the
glory of God, I end up with little shadow glories filling the dim cubicle of my own glory.”
Think of our first parents, Adam and Eve, and how they were created with the ultimate transcendence.
They were made in the image of God with a perfect connection with their Creator which transcended
anything creation had to offer.
But they sacrificed their transcendence for autonomy.
They chose self-determination and the right to judge for themselves what is good and evil.
We can shake our heads at those who are lost and reaching for significance by ruling their little world
But we as Christians, can also sacrifice transcendence when we decide what our lives should be about.
We decide that our lives should be about comfort or success and that God should want this for us too.
Today, we’re going to learn that our lives are to be about being a light in the darkness.
The truth is that we live in greater freedom and transcendence when we LIVE OUT the life that God
created us for.
I think it’s best to review the verses we covered last week to keep us in context.
* 1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave
himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. * 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or
covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no
filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
* 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that
is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. * 6 Let no one deceive you with
empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
So this brings us to our passage for today, which helps us to understand the life we are to live out rather
than living like the immoral world around us.
* 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light
in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and
true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
* 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to
speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes
visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from
the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
As I said, we see in our passages that, as Christians, we’re to be a light in the darkness.
This is the life that we were created to LIVE OUT.
The first aspect of how we’re to live is to -
1. LIVE OUT YOUR GOSPEL-TRANSFORMATION. (7-8A)
* 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light
in the Lord.
The point that’s being gotten to here is that we should not be unintentional or haphazard in our
relationships with unbelievers.
The explanation that’s given is one of the most common and amazing NT illustration of the total difference
between the unsaved life and life in Christ.
We were darkness, which is void of light and represents being lost and hopeless of finding our way.
This was because of being estranged from God and His truth.
It’s the embodiment of lostness and hopelessness.
This is why God told Paul that He had commissioned him to reach us Gentiles –
* Acts 26:18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the
power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are
sanctified by faith in me.’
Or as our salvation is described in -
* Colossians 1:13 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the
kingdom of his beloved Son,
Let me just say this to those of you who haven’t come to trust Christ as your Savior.
You may be learning bunches about God, but you’re still darkness.
Upon receiving Jesus as our Savior, we’re transferred into a completely different realm that’s described as
being light in the Lord.
Light describes holiness, majesty and glory, as well as knowledge and enlightenment.
The Evangelical Expositive Commentary describes Christians when it says,
“They are light in union with Christ” He is, of course, the light of the world.
God caused light to shine at Creation, and it’s also what He does in a person’s salvation, as seen in -
* 2 Corinthians 4:6 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
I can remember seeing the movie E.T. in the theaters.
So, if you didn’t know, the movie was about an alien that was stranded on earth.
If you younger people saw the movie, being used to modern special effects, you wouldn’t be impressed.
Yes, we were impressed with the magic of making a wrinkly, big-headed puppet talk and move around.
But what we were really impressed with by the fact that the tip of one of E.T.’s fingers glowed with light.
Yes, we were very easily impressed.
By his finger glowing, we didn’t think, he should really see a doctor for that.
No, we thought this weird little guy is special.
Whenever E.T.s finger lit up, we just knew something awesome was about to happen.
Then he reached it out and healed his friend’s boo-boo with his glowing finger.
From then on, we were like, “Aliens with glowing fingers have got to be the coolest little weird guys ever.”
Did I mention we were easily impressed?
Knowing Christ as our Savior, we don’t have weird healing lights on the end of our fingers.
Somehow, God has made us light.
And this is a total gospel-transformation because we were darkness.
We must accept our new existence as light rather than darkness if we’re going to live as God intended.
Let me ask you this.
Would your life be described as…
a. shining the light God has transformed me into?
b. reflecting the darkness of our current culture?
The way that we’re to walk is shining the light that we are.
* 8b Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try
to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
From verses 8-10, let me challenge you to -
2. LIVE OUT YOUR GOSPEL-PURPOSE OF PLEASING THE LORD. (8B-10)
* 8b Walk as children of light
As we’ve seen before in Ephesians, how we live is described as how we walk.
As children of light, we’re to pursue daily living that fits the new nature we have in Christ.
This type of definition of God’s people being light in the world reaches back into the Old Testament -
We see in -
* Isaiah 42:6 6 “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and
keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,
Jesus embodied this theme as we read in -
* John 9:5 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
We describe much of this walk as Harvesters as being “on gospel-mission in our daily lives.”
* 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),
We see in this parenthesis in v. 9 what the nature of our daily walk.
As the fruit of the Spirit grows naturally from the Holy Spirit’s activity in us, so does the fruit of light.
Those things that are good, right, and true stand in contrast to the activities of the darkness from v. 3-4.
These we looked at last week and are sexual immorality, all impurity or covetousness, filthiness, foolish
talk, and crude joking
* 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
The the command to try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord underscores that we must choose to live as
light.
We’ll see this again next week in -
* Ephesians 5:17 Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is.
This is the same concept that’s addressed in -
* 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.
It’s important for us to also note that, because God is good, right, and true, when we discern what is
pleasing to him, we will arrive at what is good, right, and true.
A life lived in the light as light with the light of the world shining through us begins with a huge step -
SURRENDER.
The follower of Christ must come to the place where they surrender their will and the desires to please
themselves, and they set their heart on pleasing God.
This allows us to begin to agree with the Apostle when he states in -
* 2 Corinthians 5:9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
I had an experience recently in which I just felt like I was running into a wall at every turn.
The more I tried to accomplish what I wanted to do or felt like I should be doing, the more my attempts
seemed to be frustrated.
Honestly, I was getting rather depressed and despairing.
But then I studied this verse, and the Lord graciously reminded me of the truth.
My responsibility isn’t to be productive as I see fit.
I’m not on the earth to check off my list and meet my goals.
As a follower of Christ, I exist to please God.
Like a key, this truth unlocked my despair.
And like a master key that works in every lock, I believe that it can unlock every dilemma like this that we
can find ourselves in.
It’s as simple as that great reminder - “It’s not about me.”
Remembering that I’m to be about pleasing the Lord gives me freedom because I can do this in any
circumstance.
This concept of living to please God is a master key to unlock joy.
When we live to please ourselves, the joy in our lives fluctuates based on our circumstances.
When circumstances are suitable for our pleasure, we’re happy.
When circumstances are unsuitable, we’re sad.
When we live to please God, we can always have joy because God is always at work for His glory.
Life isn’t about pleasing myself.
It’s about pleasing God.
And this is right for every situation, because God’s righteous will is PERFECT for every situation”
Ask yourself, “I’m I comforted or irritated that my life is to be about pleasing God?”
Bringing these concepts together, I want to challenge you to -
3. LIVE OUT YOUR GOSPEL-MISSION CALLING. (11-14)
* 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to
speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes
visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from
the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Paul brings the analogy full circle now.
Having told us that, as believers, we’re light.
Now we’re told to do what light does, which is to light up what’s dark.
* 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to
speak of the things that they do in secret.
The central theme is revisited of putting off what we used to be and putting on what God has made us.
V.7, We were told to not partner with the behavior of the world because we turned form darkness to light.
Now we’re warned not to join with the unfruitful works of darkness, which is the direct contradiction of the
fruit of light - what is good, right, and true.
In the days of this writing, there were cults that had such practices at night in the cover of darkness that
Romans wouldn’t even discuss them in normal society.
This was the case even in the days of some of the vilest Roman Emperors.
Instead of joining with them, the readers are told their godly behavior should have an effect of exposing sin.
This wouldn’t necessarily mean investigating and exposing sin like an investigative reporter.
Expose means to convince through discussion more than to display to a 3 rd party.
John Stott states, “Paul’s idea is that of a silent process, comparable to the action of light.”
So, the idea is to help the sinner to see the depth of their sin.
Seeking to live a godly life can have the effect of reproving those who are living sinfully.
RC Sproul explains the scenario in this way.
“As people of light, we have participated in a spiritual resurrection. Therefore, our lives cannot be lived as
men and women who look for the darkness to do those things that we would be ashamed to do in public.
Rather, we are to reflect Jesus’ injunction: ‘Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good
deeds and praise your Father in heaven’ (Matthew 5:16).”
I think it’s easy to see the convicting nature of living by our convictions.
In our day, even when minding our own business, we can be accused of being “holier than thou” or of
having harmful beliefs because we simply won’t join in the sinful insanity of our culture.
* 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible,
I would hope that the best lights to see with would be found in an operating room.
This is vital because surgeons need everything to be visible by the patient being exposed by the light.
In the same way, a person’s sin is only going to become visible as it’s exposed by the light.
And that light is emitted by those who are light - by us as believers, as Harvesters.
This carries on the teaching of Jesus in -
* Matthew 5:14–16 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do
people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give
glory to your Father who is in heaven.
* 14 for anything that becomes visible is light.
Verse 14 gives the great encouragement of how a person becomes a Chirstian by first having their sin
exposed by the light.
It describes the person as becoming visible and thereby becoming light themselves.
This points to the fact that allowing our sin to be exposed to God’s light is a big part of salvation.
So the process looks like this according to these verses:
A person is living and doing shameful deeds in darkness.
And thus they don’t see their sin for what it is.
But through the life and words of a child of God, the light of Christ breaks through to the person’s heart.
Resisting the desire to cover their sin, the person allows their lives to be exposed by the light.
Surrendering themselves to God’s righteousness and grace, the person becomes light themselves.
* Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
In closing, Paul quotes what was likely a baptism hymn of the early church.
This is a description of a Christian’s salvation, weaving the metaphors of going from sleep to awake, from
death to life, and from darkness to light.
The idea of Christ shining on us is a reminder that we don’t shine with a light that’s sourced in ourselves.
Instead like the shine of the moon, the light we give off is simply a reflection of the light of God in Christ.
The image that’s created here is a person shining a light into a dark corner.
And there happens to be a person hiding in the corner doing something they don’t want exposed.
But keep in mind that the light in that day wouldn’t have been flashlights, but a flame - like an oil lamp.
What’s different about a light that’s a flame is that it can be spread from one person’s lamp to another.
Imagine that person who is exposed becomes convicted about their sin which has become visible.
Upon being convicted, they choose to be a beacon of light rather than a creature of darkness.
Next thing you know, they’re lamp is lit by the same flame that they originally hid from.
Our gospel-mission calling is to let our friends and families know what makes us different.
It’s not what we do on Sunday mornings.
It’s not what we do and don’t do with our free time that makes us different.
What makes us different is we’ve been turned from darkness to light by the grace of God through Christ.
Now, what makes a difference in our relationships is what we do and don’t do with our free time.
We can’t be living like the world and expect our lives to have an evangelistic impact.
We can’t look no different than the unsaved friend and just hope that we can talk to them about Jesus.
What that basically tells them is that our relationship with God is something that we keep tucked away and
only talk about it only now and then when it’s convenient.
That is not a Christianity that God will use to convict and turn the heart of stone to a heart of flesh.
or turn a person from darkness to light.
