Light for Dark Times

 

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (St. Matthew 5:14-16)

 

 

          Have you had a hard time waking up lately? I know I have. This daylight-savings thing has me all confused.

          When the alarm rings, it’s still dark outside – very dark. Not only does this fact leave me still longing for my pillow; it also means it’s hard to see my surroundings. You and I have to take extra care in dressing so we don’t put on shirts inside-out. We have to travel the roads more slowly, because we can’t see the sides of the highway well. And if you work in a city, beware: criminals still lurk under cover of darkness while you’re trying to walk to the office.

          I’ll confess I thought I would enjoy having a bit more daylight in the afternoon. But in all this early morning darkness, I now know that how desperately I need the light!

 

          In like manner, you and I must be light to the world around us – a world that is dark not just physically but, worse, spiritually.

          This morning the Apostle Paul reminds you and me that we are now light in the Lord Jesus. Because we are light, not darkness, we are to walk in God’s light as we reprove everything that is darkness, or opposed to His holy character and will.

          The dark, sinful ignorance of this world is threatening and damnable. That’s why you and I, who are enlightened unto salvation in Jesus, must shine forth his light in what we think, say and do.

 

          First, recognize that you are now light in the Lord Jesus.

          St. Paul begins this passage (Ephesians 5:8-14) by first reminding you and me of what we once were outside of Christ – darkness – and of what we now are in Christ – light. This pattern resembles that of chapter 2, in which he asserted that you and I were once dead in sin but now have been made alive in Christ.

          Certainly “light” and “darkness” are common themes in religious literature around the world and throughout history. The Qumran community, for example, concerned itself very much with the distinction between light and darkness. Many modern-day folk consider themselves too “enlightened” to believe biblical Christianity, as though Oprah’s latest book-club bestseller could make them wiser than the one true God.

          Notice, though, the qualifying phrase that Paul places in verse 8: “in the Lord.” You and I are light – we are made pure and holy, just like the Lord, and are made spiritually wise and understanding – only in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Light of the world. In Jesus, you and I are made to be light in three ways: in terms of knowledge, in terms of purity and in terms of Godly conduct. Yet this enlightenment comes only as we are “in Jesus” by faith.

Only in Jesus are you truly enlightened; apart from knowing him as your Savior, you won’t understand God, yourself, sin, God’s provision in Christ, Heaven, Hell or any of the “issues of life.” It is foolish to call yourself “enlightened” yet think you’re not a sinner; see 1 John 1:5-2:2. Fools dwell in spiritual ignorance of the Word, so to be “light” especially means that you know and receive the biblical teaching about Christ.

          You are light in the Lord also as you are credited with his holiness. When Paul uses the term “saints” to describe you and me, he means we are perfectly holy in Christ. Jesus’ perfect obedience to the law of God is credited to you and me by faith, while he was credited at Calvary with our sin. Although you don’t experience that perfect holiness in this life (all of you think greedy or thankless thoughts from time to time, for instance), the fact remains you have been declared holy and righteous in Christ – hence Paul calls you “light in the Lord.”

          Being light in the Lord also involves revealing Christ’s character in his world. Jesus commanded us to let our light so shine among men that we would have an evangelizing effect on others, as we reveal the character of God to them. In the choices you make, great and small, the Lord calls on you to exemplify His truth and wisdom to this darkened world. Being light in the Lord, then, is both a state of being and a way of living.

          You and I once were as sinfully ignorant as the pagans around us. Of His grace the Lord shined His light in your heart and mind so that you might perceive and embrace the truth of your own guilt and of His mercy in Jesus. Once a child of wrath, you now – gloriously! – are a child of light in the Lord.

 

          As a child of light, Paul secondly calls on you to walk in God’s light.

          In essence, the Apostle here exhorts you to “be what you are in Christ.” He uses one of his favorite verbs for the Christian life, “walk,” in verse 8, and this verb is in the present tense. This means that in the moment-by-moment choices facing you, you continually must decide based on the wisdom of God in Scripture and not on your sinful inclinations or on the world’s wicked provocations.

          You and I must bear the fruit of the Spirit in our daily lives. Now, your Bible might say “fruit of the light” in verse 9 instead of “fruit of the Spirit,” but the ultimate meaning is the same: the Holy Spirit, who seals you as Christ’s and gives you Christ’s light and wisdom and truth, causes you to walk in God’s ways and thus bear fruit for Him. It is the mark of pagans to suppress the Word and be barren in life; you as a child of the living God must be verdant and fruitful in holy living.

          The fruit of the Spirit, Paul writes, is in all goodness, righteousness and truth. “Goodness” refers to noble actions that please the Lord and are in accord with His character, as only He is good. “Righteousness” refers to walking in conformity with God’s law, which also reveals His character to you. To walk in righteousness is to know the Word, to take the Word to heart and to implement the Word in the twists and turns of your daily existence. “Truth,” of course, means that you and I – who know the true God by coming to grips with the truth about our sin, about His judgment and about His Son, Jesus – walk honestly before each other and advance the truth in thought, word and deed. Your life, therefore, should be marked by walking in conformity to God’s Word, reflecting His compassion, truth and holiness every moment.

          As you live this sort of fruit-bearing life, Paul says you’ll prove, or examine and determine, what pleases God in the various situations you encounter. In Romans 12 the Apostle exhorts us to be renewed in our minds every day as we remove filth and replace it with biblical thinking and truth; as you and I have our minds renewed, we will think Christianly about every decision in life. Of course we refer to His revealed will, the Scriptures, in decision-making – but sometimes the Scriptures don’t speak directly to a particular situation. So you and I are to apply God’s revealed will with sanctified common sense in moment-by-moment living, and we will bear much fruit for His glory.

          Walking in the light thus means that you and I live out what we already are in Christ. It means we think, speak and act as the Spirit of Wisdom clearly leads us.

 

          As you walk in the light, Paul thirdly commands you to reprove all darkness – to bring it to the light and to call it “sin” in hopes of convicting the sinner unto repentance.

          You are to have no fellowship, or partnership, with the “unfruitful” works of darkness (such as the lies, stealing and sexual immorality Paul mentioned earlier in the letter). Pagans are barren, because Christ does not live in them – and their thoughts, words and actions reflect their spiritual deadness. If you are to bear much fruit for Jesus, you cannot “settle in” next to those who engage in conduct the world finds praiseworthy. You can’t take part in their darkness if you are the light of Christ!

          Instead of having part in their barren works, you must reprove those evil deeds. The verb “reprove” literally means “to bring to the light” or “to expose,” with the final goal of the sinner confessing his wrongdoing before God and being illumined to the truth of Christ the Savior. You and I reprove the evil deeds of darkness in two ways: primarily by how we live as light, and secondarily by graciously but firmly speaking against immorality, lies, hatefulness, greed and everything contrary to God’s will. Practitioners of evil do their deeds in secret – as Jesus said in John 3, they do evil under cover of darkness because they don’t want their work to be manifest – so you and I must cast God’s light on their evil by our own holy living.

          Our aim is that pagans repent of their sinfulness and come to faith in Christ. Paul in verse 14 loosely quotes Isaiah 60:1, but he surely gets across the substance of that passage. In Isaiah 60, the prophet speaks of the light of the Lord shining on Gentile lands, once filled with unbelievers who lived in spiritual darkness. As the Gospel came to the Gentiles, Christ shone his Heavenly light in their hearts and minds and brought them from death to life.

The wonderful, encouraging news is that you and I – simply by making choices big and small in the light of God’s truth – can shine the light of Jesus where once there was only menacing darkness. God saves souls using your light-bearing life.

 

          Lately, as you and I have prepared for the day amid darkness, we can agree that we can use a little more light! I tend to mismatch clothes and improperly pack lunches in the darkness, so I for one am anxious for the time change. Light steadies my step and makes things so much clearer.

          If you think it’s difficult putting on clothes and driving your car in the darkness, imagine making vital choices – whom to marry, whether to remain married, where to spend money – in spiritual darkness. Imagine facing Freeman Funeral Home apart from Jesus. This is the sort of blindness that engulfs non-believers around you.

          If you know Christ as your Redeemer, you are in the light as He is in the light. Indeed, you are light in the Lord.

          For the sake of the world, be light in the Lord!