Eph 5-7-14 Leave the Light on (1)_Devasting Darkness

8/8/2019 Eph 5-7-14 Leave the Light on (1)_Devasting Darkness

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L EAVE THE L IGHT O N (1): T HE DEVASTATION OF DARKNESS

(Ephesians 5:7-14)

IntroductionA group of people were winding through the eerily beautiful passageways

of Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico when suddenly the guide turned off allthe lights and said, "I'm the only one who knows how to get back to theentrance. If I left you here, you'd probably never find your way out. Anyonelost in this cave would no doubt become insane within a week from theoppressive loneliness. Be quiet for a moment and feel the darkness!" After about 30 seconds, someone in the party cried out, "Turn on the lights! I'mgoing crazy now!" The guide laughed but one person observed it was a stark reminder of the outer darkness awaiting unbelievers.

It’s for sure, no one likes darkness. It is scarey. And yet, did it ever occur to you that it is really the natural state of things. The Bible says in Genesis1:2 regarding Creation, “2) The earth was without form and void, anddarkness was over the face of the deep.” 3) And God said, “Let there belight,” and there was light.” God made light, but first there was darkness.Darkness. In the depths of space, absent sun or stars, what would there be?Darkness. Darkness is the natural state of things. And since the Fall, thesame has been true in the moral realm. Darkness is the natural state of things. In Scripture, darkness routinely stands for immorality and sin. It isthe absence of God, and it is the state into which we are born.

Jesus said in John 12:46, “ 46) I have come into the world as light, so thatwhoever believes in me may not remain in darkness .” Do you see, man’snatural state is to be in darkness? We have to do nothing to remain there.To escape it, we must believe in Jesus. Paul says to the Colossians: “ 13) Hehas delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to thekingdom of his beloved Son” Moral darkness is our natural born state. To

become part of Christ’s kingdom of light, we must be born again.

So far in our travels through the practical section of Ephesians, we have

been exhorted to walk in unity , to walk in holiness , to walk in love , andnow – Ephesians 5:8 , “8) for at one time you were darkness , but now you arelight in the Lord. Walk as children of light .” So, get the picture. Youwere born in darkness. You have become a believer and now, you are light .That being true – live like it. Same message we have seen throughout this

great book. Live like who you are .

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But, Paul makes a startling statement in the two verses before this. Look carefully at Ephesians5:6-7: 6) Let no one deceive you with empty words, for

because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7) Therefore do not become partners with them ” “Sons of

disobedience” is a phrase we have seen before in Eph 2:1-2, “1)

And youwere dead in the trespasses and sins 2) in which you once walked, followingthe course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, thespirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.” Sons of disobedience is what we all were at one time prior to being saved. Butnotice 5:6 again, “ Therefore do not become partners with them.” Partnerswith them? Paul, How can I who am now a believer become partners withthe sons of disobedience ? He answers in 5:11, “11) Take no part in theunfruitful works of darkness.” How can I partner with the sons of disobedience? By taking part in works of darkness . By living the selfish,worldly lifestyle that I used to live. By not living up to the light that I now am . Actually – Jesus describes the problem with great precision in Matt5:14-16, “You are the light of the world . A city set on a hill cannot behidden. 15) Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on astand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16) In the same way, let your light shine before others, (why?) so that they may see your good works andgive glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Paul is saying the same exactthing in different words in Eph 5:7-8. Don’t put your light under a basket.Let it shine. Don’t let darkness prevail in your life. I want to look at this

passage from two perspectives to help motivate us to let our lights shine.Today, what is darkness like? Characteristics? Next week – light.

I. Darkness is Satanic

Darkness in Scripture it is symbolic of evil. It represents immortality,rebellion and sin. It is Satanically inspired and it leaves God out . We seethis in Ephesians 5:8, 8)” for at one time you were darkness, but now you arelight in the Lord .” Light is of the Lord; darkness is the absence of God .This is re-enforced in unambiguous terms by John in I John 1:5-8, “5) This is

the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light,and in him is no darkness at all. 6) If we say we have fellowship with himwhile we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”Understand Jesus message! When we are practicing the deeds of darknesswe cannot be having fellowship with God. It is not possible . We are livingas though God did not exist or matter. If you are hanging on to some pet sin

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or lifestyle that excludes God and think you can go to Him in prayer, think again! God has nothing to do with darkness wherever found, even in Hisown children . That does not mean He abandons us, but there is nofellowship – not until be make genuine confession. Until then, He isconcentrated on one thing – getting the darkness out.

So, if darkness is not of God, then where does it come from? And theanswer, of course, is Satan -- in opposition to His creator in every way

possible. There is a most interesting verse in Acts 26. Paul is defendinghimself before King Agrippa and telling of his conversion and commission

by Christ. He explains that Jesus personally sent him to the Gentiles for thisexpressed purpose in verse 18, “ 18) to open their eyes, so that they may turnfrom darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God , that they mayreceive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified byfaith in me.’” Here you have the contrast again; people a re either indarkness and under the power of Satan, or they are light and under the

power of God.

Most people live under the illusion that there is a middle ground; that theycan maintain some kind of neutrality much like Switzerland does; that theyare their own person existing between God and Satan. It is an illusion .There is no middle ground. And even as a believer, we are either

partnering with darkness which is Satanic – or we are following God .

God is urging – keep the light on! Satan fears the light. Many years ago, anEnglish governor of the Bahamas, was returning to England. He promisedto lobby the Home Government for any favor the Colonists might desire.What do you think was their unanimous request: " Tell them to tear downthe lighthouses. They are ruining the colony !" The men of the colony livedon materials gleaned in shipwrecks, and they hated the light . The devil sohates the light, that he would tear down every spiritual lighthouse in theland, if he only could. He desires shipwrecked lives, and when we partner with works of darkness, we are partnering with Satan himself.

II. Darkness is Stupifying (makes one stupid)

Second, darkness is stupefying. Please notice verse 8 again: 8)” for at onetime you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” Paul’s

phrasing is very telling. He does not say you were “ in ” darkness. Rather he

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says you were darkness. It didn’t just surround us; it was us. Darknesscharacterizes the very existence of the unbeliever, and when the believer isacting like an unbeliever, he is participating in the same ignorance, walkingin the same darkness. He is not just like a man in a dark room who can’t geta light turned on; he is like a blind man who could have a million lights

turned on and it would not help. He is stupified by his blindness, livingignorantly, selfishly and ultimately stupidly if there is a God to whom wereare all answerable. He or she may be the most brilliant individual in theworld, but if they are rejecting the truth of God, they are darkness

personified.

Unbelievers just don’t get it. They can’t get it! They can hear the sameeffective presentation from the Word of God as you and yet walk awaysaying, “How can anyone believe that?” Remember what we saw earlier inEph 4:18, “18) They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from thelife of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.” In essence, the mind that refuses the truth of God is blind. That is

because unbelievers willfully ignore half of the universe . They accept andmay be able to brilliantly describe all of the physical realities – things theycan touch, feel, see, taste and smell. But in refusing to accept the reality of the spiritual world, they have eliminated half of reality . That eliminatesany possibility of understanding ultimate truth. Refusal to acknowledge aGod to whom they are accountable leads to half vision – darkness aboutspirituality. If God is, then it goes without saying that to leave Him out isworse than stupid. It borders on insanity.

Douglas Erwin, a paleobiolgoist at the Smithsonian Institution, gives a clear and unambiguous illustration of the hold this blindness has on people whenhe tells the New York Times , “One of the rules of science is, no miraclesallowed. That’s a fundamental presumption of what we do .” BiologistBarry Palevitz makes the same point. “ The supernatural ,” he writes, “ isautomatically off-limits as an explanation of the natural world.” If youstart with those presuppositions, and yet there actually is a spiritual realm,can you see that you will be like a blind man groping to find something he

can never find for he is refusing to look in the right place. As a means of doing science, such rules are necessary; but as applied to the larger questions of life, which is what these men mean, they are devastating. Theyleave God out by definition. And when you do that you miss can’t possibly

get the right answers . You’ve been stupefied.

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A frustrated mother called to her son, "Peter! There were two cookies in the pantry this morning but now there’s only one! Do you have anexplanation?" Peter replied, "It must have been too dark and I didn’t seethe other one. " Beloved, do you see that to walk in darkness is stupefying?You don’t even know what you are missing. You miss the most important

parts. To live in our old lifestyle is to buy the illusion that the world offersthe best, that holiness is for wimps and sissies, that the temporal glamour of the world brings more joy than living for Christ. But we’ve entereddarkness so we don’t even see what we are missing. We miss the vibrancyand joy and contentment of Christ. We cheat ourselves and everyonearound us. Darkness is stupefying.

III. Darkness is Sterile

A third characteristic of darkness is that it is sterile – unproductive,unfruitful, unfulfilling. So when we choose to once again partner withthose in darkness, sterility will characterize our lives. The pleasure of sinis only for a season. In the end it cannot deliver . Look at verse 11, “Takeno part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Theword “unfruitful” literally means to bear no edible fruit. Any fruit that isthere is bad. We’ve all had fruit trees that we had high hopes for, but theyeither did not produce at all or the fruit was sour, spoiled, rotten, unediblefor some reason. That is exactly what continuing to fool around with worksof darkness does to the life of a believer. We become useless.

The works of darkness offer momentary excitement followed by an eternityof futility . They are emptiness dressed up in all the glitz and glamour thatthe world is so good at producing, but inside -- nothing. Little lies intendedto spare someone’s feelings ultimately destroy trust and intimacy. So it iswith every single work of darkness. It promises what it can never produce.The only one deceived in the end is us. The works of darkness of sterile.

The grudge, tenaciously held, rehearsed over and over like a favored

companion in fact only renders us a victim. It eats away unseen at our vitality, sweetness and sensitivity, leaving us in the end a harsh, dried up

pitiful excuse of a human being. The works of darkness are unfruitful.

The pursuit of pleasure by whatever means or the pursuit of money to theexclusion of the pursuit of God seems okay. Surely I can have God once in

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awhile on Sunday, and in times of crisis, but the rest of my life is mine. It isa dead end street, Beloved. It will lead to an, unfruitful, unfulfilled uselesslife that you will soon present to God with great shame . Even the goodyou think you do will ultimately burn in judgment. Listen to this soberingwarning from I Cor 3:11-15, “ 11) For no one can lay a foundation other than

that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (this is salvation. We’ve committedto Christ. Now – how will we live? He goes on). 12) Now if anyone buildson the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones (holy living, actionsconforming to God’s will), wood, hay, straw (living for self) — 13) eachone’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because itwill be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one hasdone. 14) If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he willreceive a reward. 15) If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss,though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” Surely that isnot the way that any of us want to stand before our Lord one day.

A New York City businessman decided to avoid a $40 service change under the terms of his office lease by replacing a seven-foot fluorescent lightingtube himself. He avoided office staff by bringing the new tube in andinstalling it early one morning. But – what to do with the old tube! Hecouldn’t give it to the building maintenance people for disposal. So hedecided to deposit it in a large receptacle for debris at a construction sitenear his subway stop in Brooklyn. That night he got on the subway, holdingthe white tube vertically with one end resting on the floor of the car. As thetrain became more crowded, other passengers took hold of the tube,assuming it was a stanchion . By the time the business man reached hisstop, he had formed another plan. He simply removed his hand, leaving theother passengers to continue holding the tube, and got off the subway.

So, are we a 7-foot burned out fluorescent light tube that others are futilelyhanging onto when we are really worthless, surreptitiously and privately

practicing the works of darkness while putting on a front for neighbors,friends, family and even children – people who think they can count on usnot knowing that our life is unfruitful, unfulfilled, sterile worthless? Is that

who we are? We need not be unfruitful. Titus 3:14, “14) And let our peoplelearn to devote themselves to good works , so as to help cases of urgentneed, and not be unfruitful .” Are we willing to devote ourselves to thegood works of Christ rather than pleasure? Are we? Peter beautifullydetails how to avoid coming to the end of life as an empty suit. He remindsus in II Peter 1 that we are partakers of the divine nature, then he goes on:

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“5) For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith withvirtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6) and knowledge with self-control, andself-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7) andgodliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8) For if these qualities are yours and are increasing (you are growing), they keep

you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord JesusChrist. 9) For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he isblind , having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” Seehow it all connects? Unfruitfulness links to blindness which links to former sins. Beloved – let’s not go there. Get concentrated on all those positivesthat Peter mentions.

Blindness is devastating. When we go there, two disastrous things occur.First, we live in sin and excuse it, and second there are no good works to

point others to our Father. Our life is useless , implying that being aChristian doesn’t matter. It’s just a social thing. No change required. It’snot big deal! Paul is urging, don’t be castrated, living an unfruitful,darkened life. How could you? You are light. Act like it!

IV. Darkness if Shameful

Finally, Paul reminds us that darkness is shameful. No secret there, is there.We can get pretty calloused, but as a believer, we cannot sin without

shame . If there is no shame, we don’t know Christ. Notice verse 12, “For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.” The sinsof the flesh and the world – the selfishness, lasciviousness, harsh attitudes,immorality, greediness, drunkenness an unforgiving spirit -- that is our pastand shouldn’t even be talked about among us, let along participated in.They are shameful and not deserving of mention by those who have done atrue about-face and are striving with all their being for the qualities Peter mentioned earlier – pointed toward Christlikeness as a goal.

You say, “Man, that’s too goody-goody for me.” Then you have notunderstood the glory of being like Christ. You have not understood the

wonder of holiness. And like our society, you have lost the sense of shamethat should always attach to sin. You have only to walk onto any local

beach or swimming pool to know that we have lost our sense of shame for remember that in the Garden of Eden, the first move of Adam and Eve wasto cover themselves. A true sense of sin brings a true sense of shame andwe have lost it. To our shame, we have bought the world’s standards.

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I wish we could recapture the sensitivity reflected in this little story.William Allen White was a famous American editor from Emporia, Kansas.In 1928, he attended the convention for the Democratic Party where his armwas being severely twisted to attend a dinner for Senator Jim Reed, of

Missouri, who was running for the nomination. However, as the loneRepublican at the convention, White said, “I’d better not attend. I don’twant God to know I’m here.” He was kidding, of course, but how I wishwe could recapture the sense that God is truly always there, and the worksof darkness shame both us and Him.

We must begin again to care about what God thinks, rather than whatsociety has ruled. Pretty much anything goes these days. Little iscondemned anymore. What used to be done in secret is too often out in theopen and acceptable, but Beloved, God has not changed. He desires our holiness. Doing good does not save us, but being saved, we are now light.To us in particular, the works of darkness are shameful and we must careenough about God not to be found in any of those places or acts or thoughts.

Conclusion

Now, if something is Satanic, stupefying, sterile and shameful, would wereally want to be part of it for the sake of some fleeting pleasure? Is thatwhat we want our one and only life to be about – seeing how much we canget away with? We only fool ourselves. That’s why Paul has issued thiswarning. Wake up. Don’t live in your past! Live in your future!

A fellow named Andy was sentenced to 5 years in prison. From the start, hegot along well with the guards and all his fellow inmates. The warden sawthat deep down, Andy was a good person and made arrangements for Andyto learn a trade while doing his time. After three years, Andy wasrecognized as one of the best carpenters in the local area. Often he would begiven a weekend pass to do odd jobs for the citizens of the community, andhe always reported back to prison before Sunday night was over.

Eventually, the warden was remodeling his own kitchen. But he lacked theskills to build a set of kitchen cupboards and a large countertop which hehad promised his wife. So he called Andy into his office and asked him tocomplete the job for him. To his surprise, Andy refused. He told thewarden, “Warden, I’d really like to help you but counter fitting is what gotme into prison in the first place.”

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You get the point, I trust. We are out of prison, folks. We are no longer darkness. But – it is still possible for us to partner with unbelievers, to hideour light under a basket and resume the old ways that put us in prison

before. But what is the upside? There is none, other than perhaps some

momentary pleasure that is ultimately unfulfilling, unfruitful and evenshameful. Let’s do it God’s way. Don’t live in your past; live in your future. Leave the light on! Let’s pray.

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Eph 5-7-14 Leave the Light on (1)_Devasting Darkness