Bethel Lutheran Church - Pastor Luke Bernthal Live as Children of Light ; Ephesians 4: 30 - 10; 2009-08-23 The Bulletin (order of service) Text: Ephesians 4: 30 - 10; This is essentially what our Heavenly Father is saying to each one of us today. He has made us and called us all His children—“dearly loved…children of light” (Ephesians 5:1, 8)—and has told us, “Remember whose children you are.” Live as Children of Light. In our text, the Apostle Paul gives us a number of contrasts between the works of “darkness” (sinful thoughts, words, and actions), and the “fruit of the light” (thoughts, words, and actions that are righteous and good). In doing so, he also makes the contrast between “the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:6 – NKJV), and the “children of light” (Ephesians 5:9). The contrast and the difference between the two are as obvious as the contrast and difference between night and day. Paul once wrote in another one of his letters, “For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14 – NIV) The obvious answer is “NOTHING!” But the more difficult question for each one of us to consider today as we let these words of God dwell on our hearts and minds is this: “In our daily lives are our thoughts, words, and actions more consistent with “the sons of disobedience” (a.k.a. “unbelievers,” those who walk in darkness), or are our thoughts, words, and actions more consistent with the “children of light” (a.k.a. believers in Christ, the Light of the World)?” Keep that question in mind as we look at these contrasts in our text. It’s hard not to notice as we read through our text just how completely and totally separate our God wants us to be from any type of sin. “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice… But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving” (Ephesians 4:31, 5:3,4). God calls us to separate ourselves from sin for good reason. Not only for the sake of our own souls and our own spiritual well-being, but also for the sake of others. I don’t think we Christians always realize just how lethal our sins—or even our attitudes toward sin—are to our Christian witness. If we allow “bitterness, rage, anger…and malice [hatred]” (Eph. 4:31) to dwell in our hearts and fester and boil in our minds, we will be bitter, angry, hateful and unforgiving towards others in our actions. In contrast, Paul tells us to rather “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). There are few things more lethal to your Christian witness than sexual sins and verbal sins (sins of “word”). It is these sins that Paul focuses on in the second half of our text. He calls on the Ephesian Christians, and us, to control our bodies, our minds, and our mouths. Paul writes in verse 3 of chapter 5, “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people” (Eph. 5:3). Paul is obviously not just talking here about acts of sexual immorality, but rather sexually sinful thoughts and all types of “impurity.” Remember what Christ said about lust in His sermon on the mount: whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt. 5:28). The same principle obviously applies to women when looking lustfully at men. In God’s eyes it is morally the same as committing adultery. I am convinced that this sexual sin of lust is more of a danger to us Christians than ever. We may never fall into the temptation of physically having an adulterous affair and cheating on our spouse, or we may never physically have sex with someone before we are married, but in this day and age it is becoming increasingly more difficult to keep your heart and mind sexually pure. We are constantly bombarded by images and words that only a short time ago would have been looked upon as being improper and even pornographic by the secular world, but are now shown even during programs that are watched by families and young children. In fact, just pay attention to some of the commercials that are on TV and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Do we want our children’s minds filled with such “uncleanness”? Do we want our own minds and hearts filled with such “uncleanness”? Martin Luther is famous for the saying, “You can’t keep the birds from flying above your head, but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair.” His point is this: You may not always be able to control what is put before your eyes, or what is heard by your ears, but with the Spirit’s help you can control whether you will allow those images and those words to penetrate and sink in to your heart and mind where they fester and grow into full blown sins of covetousness and lust. Our flesh and the world around us have come up with all kinds of excuses, arguments, and reasons why we should be able to live in sin and unbelief of Christ’s clear words and commands. “We’re in love.” “No one is being hurt by it.” “We’re consenting adults.” “We can live together and have sex without being married, after all it’s just a piece of paper.” “It’s an alternative lifestyle.” “It’s my body and I can use it privately however I chose.” God has a response for all these arguments and excuses in v. 6 of chapter 5 of our text, “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient.” When you look at the over-all effects of sins against the sixth commandment it would appear that no other sin has so evidently been punished like the sixth. From the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah way back in the Old Testament, to the crippling and lethal sexually transmitted diseases, and neglected children and broken homes that have come about as a result of man’s disobedience to God’s sixth commandment in modern times. These sins of those who are unrepentant and unbelieving will all eventually experience the punishment of God’s just wrath eternally in hell. Paul attaches a horrifyingly stern warning to his words, “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person-- such a man is an idolater-- has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Ephesians 5:5). We, on the other hand, are not among “the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 5:6 – NKJV). In Christ, we are “children of light.” Paul’s advice to us in this matter, “Therefore do not be partakers with them” (Ephesians 5:7). As “children of light” we will not even want to speak improperly, or joke and make light of God’s gift of sex, or the misuse of it. Paul says in v.4 of chapter 5, “Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.” God does not want is for us to speak about sex, or anything else in life, in a way that is “obscene,” “foolish,” just plain dirty, or even tell crude jokes, all of which, Paul tells us “are not fitting” for God’s “children of light.” We’ve learned from early on that God forbids the misuse of His name in His second commandment, that we shouldn’t curse by it, or swear or take an oath improperly by it, but how many of us have taken to heart God’s words to us in this verse? I’ve heard—and maybe you have too—some Christians, and even some pastors, try and justify the use of “vulgar language,” and “cuss words,” or “four letter” foul words using the same type of arguments and reasoning used by those who try and justify sexual sins. “No one’s being hurt by it.” “It’s not offending anyone.” “They’re only words.” “I don’t mean anything by them.” Just words? Don’t mean anything by them? No one is offended by them? What does God say here in v. 4? They are “out of place” (“not fitting” – NKJV). I imagine that every single one of you here today would be appalled if you were standing behind me in the checkout line at the grocery store and heard me “cussing up a storm” and using all kinds of vulgarities because I was upset about how long the lines were. Why? Because it’s “not fitting” for a pastor to use such language. Even the most heathen unbeliever knows that. However, I am not only a pastor, I am first and foremost a Christian, and therefore one of God’s saints, a “child of light.” So are the rest of you. Do our words tell others who we are? Do our filthy mouths make us blend in with the “sons of disobedience” and make us look like “children of darkness.” Or does the purity of our speech make others take notice and ask why we don’t sound like everybody else? The unbelieving outside world is watching our actions and listening carefully to our words whether we like it or not. Many times we are the only experience some of the people in the outside world will ever have with Christ and His Word. The way we live our lives and use our mouths can either re-flect or de-flect Christ’s light. If they don’t see us living and speaking in ways that show we live for a greater purpose and serve a loving Savior with our love, how will that influence their thinking of Christ Himself? It will either bring glory to His name because we have lived as the “light in the Lord” (Eph. 5:8) and reflected our source, the true “light of the world,” (John 8:12) Jesus Christ. I can remember my dad telling me about a job he had while in seminary. One day he smacked his finger with a hammer. He yelled a bit, hopped around and shook his hand for a while. All the while his coworker sat there staring at him with a look of anticipation on his face. My dad asked, “What?” and the other man, who knew my dad was a pastor in training, said, “I was just waiting to see if you were going to start cussing and swearing.” Paul has clearly pointed out the “negative” to us: What we are not to do. What about the positive? What are we to do? He tells us in v. 9 that we are to pursue the fruit of the light. The words that should define our thoughts, words, and actions are these fruits: “goodness, righteousness, and truth” (Eph. 5:9). When we have questions about those so-called “gray areas” in our lives we should measure our actions by these words: goodness, righteousness, and truth, with the goal that we will constantly seek to be finding out what is acceptable to the Lord (Eph. 5:10). Now, let’s go back to the question we asked near the beginning of our sermon: “In our daily lives are our thoughts, words, and actions more consistent with “the sons of disobedience” (a.k.a. “unbelievers,” those who walk in darkness), or are our thoughts, words, and actions more consistent with the “children of light” (a.k.a. believers in Christ, the Light of the World)?” If we take an honest look into our hearts, if we take a good hard look at our attitudes, our actions and our words don’t we have to admit that we have often looked more like a “son of disobedience”—one who lives in darkness—rather than one of God’s “children of light”? Yes! But take heart! You did not become one of the “Children of Light” because your thoughts, words, and actions were so pure that you earned that title for yourself. No, the complete opposite is true: despite our sinful words, thoughts, and actions God made us His Children of Light by His grace through His Son Jesus Christ. Remember these words from our text, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 4:32-5:2). Jesus’ blood on the cross washed all of our thoughts, words, and acts of darkness away, so that now what we say think and do is seen by God as a “sweet-smelling perfume” because of Christ’s “offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2). So then, when Paul is tells us to Live as Children of Light he is telling us to be what we already are! We want our words and actions to be fitting for “children of light” because God, in His grace, made us such through His Son Jesus Christ. As you leave the “House of God” (Bethel) this morning, remember these words that He spoke to you through His apostle Paul. Picture Him grasping you firmly by the shoulders and saying, “There’s just one more thing I need to tell you: Remember whose child you are.” Live as children of light! Amen. |