Sermon Tone Analysis
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SCRIPTURE
OPENING
I never will forget when I was a child and we went on a vacation to Tennessee.
Somewhere during the trip we stopped to take a tour of one of the caverns.
I remember going down into this particular cavern with a large group of people.
They got us down into area where it opened up what looked like a large room.
The guide began to talk about how workers, before the invention of electricity, used to come down in these caves and mine for various things and how back then they only had a torch, or a lantern, for light.
And then they turned the lights off.
I wasn’t ready for that.
It was the darkest dark I’ve ever experienced.
It was a impenetrable darkness.
I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.
It was completely dark.
There was no light in that place.
And our guide starts talking about all the dangers that are around us.
You know like the 100-ft drop our death just over to our right.
And meanwhile I’m calling out for mom.
Because I’m thinking what are we going to do if somebody messed up and the lights don’t come back on.
Today, everybody would just pull out their cell phone.
But understand, we didn’t have cell phones back then.
We heard about this cavern from a paper brochure we found at a rest stop on the interstate and navigated there using a paper map.
So I’m hearing all these voices in the dark, but I don’t hear mom’s voice.
And all of a sudden they turned the lights back on.
And I look up and say “mom?” and realize I’m holding hands with a complete stranger.
You know I’ve often thought, how did I get separated from my parents?
What made me want to move around in the darkness?
If I would have just stayed still and not moved, I would have been standing right there beside my parents.
And I began to think about how difficult it would have been for me to try to find my way out of that place in complete darkness, with no light.
But that is exactly how the Bible describes those who don’t know Jesus.
They are trying to navigate through this life in complete spiritual darkness.
They can’t see the dangers and the pitfalls that are all around them.
Without a source of light, they are helpless to fumble through the darkness.
They need a light.
They need somebody to “Turn the Light On.”
And Jesus comes into the world and proclaims during His earthly ministry, “I am the light of the world.”
Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies like:
And John, as he begins to write his gospel, pens these words under inspiration of the Holy Spirit:
Jesus is the true light!
And Jesus came into the world to “Turn the Light On.”
But He has always been the light.
Where did the light come from in the beginning, back in the creation account of Genesis?
The sun, moon, and stars were not created until day four.
But there was a light that transcended this universe and that light was the light of Christ, the light of God Himself.
But when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, spiritual darkness has permeated this world.
But there is coming a day when there will be no more darkness.
In Revelation we are told there is going to be a new heavens and a new earth and a new city, New Jerusalem, where we are going to spend eternity.
One day Jesus is going to be the only light we need.
We are going to illuminated by His glory for eternity!
But for now, we still live in a world filled with spiritual darkness.
But during His earthly ministry, and as He prepared for His death, burial, and resurrection and to ascend back to heaven, Jesus made it clear that His light would continue to shine on the earth through His disciples!
What a statement!
You are the light of the world!
You and I as children of God, as followers of Jesus Christ, are called to let the light of Christ shine through us!
We are called to “Turn the Light On.”
To be a guide to lead others out of darkness and show them the way to the light of Jesus Christ!
MESSAGE
So what does it mean for us to be the light of Christ?
What does that look like?
How do we “Turn the Light On?”
Well Paul begins Ephesians Chapter 5 by telling us that we are to be different.
As different as light is from darkness.
That means when we “Turn the Light On,” we are going to stand out and be different.
Paul describes this difference in the first seven verses of Chapter 5 that we read this morning:
In Verse 1, we are commanded to live like God.
To imitate Him like a child imitates their parents.
In Verse 2, we are commanded to love like God.
To love others the way Christ has loved us by offering His life for ours.
In Verses 3-7, we are commanded to leave the ways of this world behind.
To come out from among the world and be separate, be different.
This is something that we all need to hear and heed.
As Christians, we are in this world, but we are not of this world.
We are strangers and pilgrims and we are just passing through.
We were once citizens of this world, we were part of the kingdom of darkness.
We lived like the world lives.
We thought like the world thinks.
We did what the world does.
But now our citizenship is in heaven.
We have changed our allegiance from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light.
When we were saved by the grace of God, we were delivered out of our old life of sin, and we were born again into a new life of righteousness.
But even though we have been delivered from darkness and the things of this world, there is still a part of us, the flesh, or our sinful nature, that still desires the things of the world.
The darkness that is around us is constantly trying to creep back into our lives and diminish the light of Christ that is in our hearts.
People who are in darkness may be trying to influence us to be more like them.
We are bombarded constantly with advertisements, entertainment choices, and all types of media that are trying to convince us to be more like the world and do what the world does.
And even though we have the Holy Spirit within us, there is that part of us that still desires the forbidden fruit and loves the pleasures of sin and hates the rigors of holiness.
Paul knows this.
And so in Verse 7, he just says very plainly, “do not be partakers with them.”
Don’t let the darkness diminish your light.
There is a harvest of souls that need to see the light that is within you.
Don’t let the light go out.
Don’t let the light be hidden.
“Turn the Light On.” Get the brightest bulb you can get by continuing to draw close to Jesus and continuing to be filled with His Spirit on a daily basis.
As we talked about last week, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Therefore pray the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
I’m praying this morning that the Lord will send out some laborers from Farm Hill Church into the harvest.
God, “Turn the Light On” in our hearts and let our lights so shine before men that they will see our good works and glorify You in Heaven!
The rest of Chapter 5 that we read this morning teaches us how to make this happen.
Let’s take a look at these verse and talk about how to “Turn the Light On.”
How We Are Changed (Verse 8)
Who We Were
We "were once darkness.”
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