Walking as Children of Light

September 17, 2024

Walking as Children of Light

Ephesians 5:6-14 CSB

Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things. [7] Therefore, do not become their partners. [8] For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light- [9] for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth- [10] testing what is pleasing to the Lord. [11] Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. [12] For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. [13] Everything exposed by the light is made visible, [14] for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said: Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Intro – Embrace the Strange

Good morning, dear family. It’s a joy to be with you again as we gather for our 11th week together as Harbinger Gospel Church. Today, I want to start by half-jokingly reminding us of something important: Christianity is weird. And I really mean that in the best way possible—I want us to embrace the strange!

But in all seriousness, I think it’s crucial for us to remember that Christianity is not just an intellectual journey, as deep and rich as it is. It is also profoundly supernatural. Our faith begins with the Most High God, invisible to our eyes, creating everything from nothing. Eve is deceived by a talking snake. Moses, through the power of God, challenges Pharaoh’s magicians in a supernatural duel. God splits a sea in two, and bread rains down from heaven to feed His people in the wilderness.

Jesus comes onto the scene, and the wonders continue: He feeds thousands with just a few loaves and fish. He walks on water, turns water into wine, calms raging storms with a word. Lepers are cleansed, the blind see, the deaf hear, and the dead are brought back to life. Then, God raises Jesus from the dead, and He appears to His disciples in His resurrected body.

But here’s where things get even more staggering: Jesus tells His disciples not to be troubled by His departure because He is sending them His Spirit—the same Spirit—to help them do even greater things than He did. Then, Jesus ascends to Heaven, and the Holy Spirit comes upon ordinary men and women. Empowered by this Spirit, they go on to do those greater things, brick by brick, ushering in God’s Kingdom. Not just preserving the faith, but actively building it, expanding it for nearly 2,000 years, enduring tyrants, martyrdom, and unimaginable persecution—yet through it all, the church has not only survived but thrived.

This is our heritage, brothers and sisters. A faith that defies the ordinary, empowered by a God who specializes in the miraculous. So today, as we dive into His Word, let’s embrace the mystery, the wonder, and the supernatural reality of the Kingdom of God.

Recap of Ephesians Thus Far

Before we proceed into this week’s passage, let’s remember where Paul has taken us up to this point.

In Chapter 1, Paul talks about how the Father exercised His power in Christ by raising Jesus from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens. He goes on to suggest that we are the fullness of Christ.

In Chapter 2, Paul tells us that we were dead in sin. If you remember my homily from that week, I suggested that “dead in sin” wasn’t necessarily meant to be a teaching on total depravity. Rather, it could be a teaching on our nature, being separated from the divine life in God through our carnality. When God made us alive with Christ, this was an imputation of a new nature.

In Chapter 3, Paul prays for us, that we may experience spiritual power. He prays that God may grant us, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in our inner being through His Spirit.

In Chapter 4, Paul tells us to take off our former way of life, be renewed in the spirit, and put on the new self that is created according to God’s likeness.

Remember, in Chapter 5, verses 1-5, Paul tells us to “imitate God.”

There are other topics in this week’s passage that I am hopeful you will bring up during our discussion time. For the homily, I am going to continue chasing this thread.

We Partake in God’s Divine Life Through His Power

In verse 8, Paul says that we were darkness, but now we are light. He doesn’t say that we were like darkness, and now we are like light, or that we walked in darkness and now we walk in light. Rather, we were darkness, and now we are light. He’s speaking to our very nature.

Dear family, there is a prevalent teaching, which isn’t wrong, that in the Gospel of Jesus, through His representative life, atoning death, resurrection, and ascension, we get God back. Praise God! This is beautiful. We need this. And God, in His kindness, makes provision for it in Christ. But I would submit to you this morning, that we don’t simply get God back. Rather, one of the core tenets of the Gospel is that we have union with God, which begins when we come to Him through Christ in faith and culminates in eternal life. At the moment of saving faith, as Jesus prophesied and Paul teaches, there is a rebirth—or a change of nature. And between the rebirth and eternity, we experience the process of becoming more like God, growing in holiness, virtue, and love through the work of the Holy Spirit. This growing process isn’t about becoming smarter and knowing more things about God. Instead, it is supernatural, and we partake and participate in God’s divinity—growing in His love, holiness, and even power. In this process, we are becoming like Christ, again, not just knowing more about Him, but as a newborn infant, we are grown, shaped, and transformed into His likeness. Again, this is supernatural, strange, and fun.

Consider:

  • Psalm 82:6 (CSB): “I said, ‘You are (lowercase ‘g’) gods; you are all sons of the Most High.'”
    • This verse, also quoted by Jesus in John 10:34, has been historically interpreted by the Church Fathers as human beings, being children of God, being called to partake in God’s divine life and glory.
  • 2 Peter 1:3-4 (CSB): “His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. By these, he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.”
    • This speaks of believers being called to “share in the divine nature.”
  • John 17:20-23 (CSB): “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.”
    • Jesus’ high priestly prayer emphasizes the unity between the Father, the Son, and the believers. The intimate union between the divine persons of the Trinity is offered to believers, us being in God and God being in us.

Salvation is not merely about avoiding sin but about growing into full communion with God, becoming radiant with His divine light and love.

Walking as Children of Light

In verse 8, Paul tells us to walk as children of light. What does this mean?

Verses 9-10 help us: the fruit of the light consists of goodness, righteousness, and truth. We are called to “test what is pleasing to the Lord,” to live lives that are distinct from the darkness around us. But it’s not just about avoiding evil; we are called to expose it.

In verse 11, we hear, “Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them.”

This is important: we are not called to simply stand on the sidelines and watch. We are to actively engage the darkness around us with the light of Christ.

This is not done through tattletaling, judgment, or condemnation, but through a life so filled with the love and power of God that it reveals the emptiness of sin. When we live in the light, the darkness around us becomes visible, and others are invited to step into the light as well.

The Urgency of the Gospel

Why does this matter? Because, as Paul reminds us in verse 6, “God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient.”

The stakes are high. The Christian life isn’t just about personal transformation—it’s about the fate of the world. The Father, because He loves the world, sent the Son to save it, and to those who have looked to Jesus in faith, He has called us to participate and continue in His mission to bring about this salvation.

The world is asleep in the darkness, but we are called to wake them up.

“Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” is our message to the world. We are not just called to live in the light for ourselves, but to shine that light into the lives of others, urging them to awaken from the darkness of sin and death.

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus says we are the salt of the earth, and expounds on the importance of the flavor of the salt. I would submit to you another purpose of salt, which is to preserve things from rotting. When we walk as children of light, we play a role in preserving the world from decay. Our lives should be a constant invitation for others to taste and see that the Lord is good, to experience the abundant life found in Christ.

But let’s be clear: walking in the light doesn’t mean we are perfect or sinless. It means we are actively living in the power of God’s grace, repenting where we fall short, and allowing His light to transform us and those around us.

Conclusion – Christ Will Shine on You

As we close, let’s remember the call in this passage: to wake up, to rise from spiritual death, and to let Christ’s light shine on us. Brothers and sisters, we are not just called to be believers—we

are called to be light-bearers in a world that desperately needs the truth, goodness, and righteousness of God.

So let us go forth from this place, not as passive Christians but as active participants in God’s divine life, shining the light of Christ into every dark corner of our world. May we continually call out, “Get up, sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

God, help us. Amen.