Read Ephesians 5:8-14 Ephesians is about holy living. It’s a very practical book, with lots of direct instructions. But it doesn’t start with instructions. It starts by describing. It says who we are. It says that God has done the work of salvation. “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph 2:8). We were made alive in Christ even as we were dead in wrongdoing (Eph 2:5).
So, is the job done? Works will not save us. Christ has saved us, “even as we were dead in wrongdoing”.
Well, no, the job isn’t done. The Father’s work in Jesus is done, “It is finished”. But we have work to do. Even in Chapter 2, the words continue, “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:8).
Ephesians gets practical, but it also uses picture language. Today, we hear that we are to live as “children of light” (Eph 5:8). We should reject the “fruitless deeds of darkness” (Eph 5:11). What does this mean for us?
We’re given a few clues in verse 9: the fruit of the light is goodness, righteousness and truth. But what does that mean?
In Chapter 4, Paul talks of getting rid of “all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice” (Eph 4:31). That’s easier said than done!
In Chapter 5, he turns to sexual immorality. And maybe that’s what he’s getting at in verse 12: “for it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret”.
But this causes us a problem. Children of the light are supposed to expose deeds of darkness, but some dark things cannot even be named. We are left to imagine what these might be. What is sexually immoral? Don’t take the easy path on this one. Relationships can be wrong even inside marriage. Is the relationship respectful, loving and committed? These are what is required to build up a family, and equally what builds up the church.
There are acts we often ignore that truly are shameful. There can be victims in the bedroom or the boardroom. Abuse of power occurs everywhere. Violent or verbal. Children of light need to call these out. Rage, anger and slander are damaging in themselves, and can lead to crimes of all kinds. Greed (Eph 5:3) deprives the needy of basic things.
On Wednesdays, we’ve been working through the gospel of John. John, too, uses light to describe Jesus and how people accept or reject the opportunity to use the light: to see. With Jesus, the man born blind was able to see (Jn 9). The Pharisees knew scripture so well, but they couldn’t see the light in Jesus. Or, more truly, they decided not to believe with their eyes. They used their power and their prejudice to label the newly-seeing man a sinner (v 34). Their judgement was wrong and had no reason. Jesus exposed their darkness. They were insulted and said “What? Are we blind, too?” (v 40). That claim to see is what condemned them. As children of the light, let us be sure of ourselves when we call out deeds of darkness.
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