03.19.23

Scripture Reading - Ephesians 5.8-14

Message “”

Three weeks ago we started a series entitled, “Roman Road”. You can imagine my surprise when I opened the lectionary to discover that this Sunday, our text comes not from Romans but from Ephesians. I felt a little like Bugs Bunny who often said, “I knew I should have taken that left turn at Albequerque.” A phrase which essentially means we went a long way in the wrong direction.

But scholars agree that both Romans and Ephesians are letters from the apostle Paul and so maybe we didn’t miss a turn, but simply made a bit of a detour instead.

Paul, writing to the church in Rome has been sharing with them the reality of the human condition. We are all born into sin. We all have a tendency, when it comes to choosing between right and wrong, to choose the wrong. And the solution for this problem, as we have learned is not work, but is Christ.

Last week, we acknowledged there are benefits to following Christ. Not that we follow Him for the benefits, we follow Him because we have acknowledcged our need for Him but we do receive the benefits that Paul lists in the 5th chapter of the book of Romans.

And now we come to this chapter of Paul’s written in a completely different style, to a completely different group of people, moving, as we have already said from the church in Rome, to the church in Ephesus. Again, the only thing that remains the same is the author, Paul.

And the question, whether it has been asked or not, is unclear, but the question Paul is dealing with in Ephesians is this, “does this hope I have in Christ only benefit me?”

And Paul in these verses tells us salvation is a “we” thing, not a “me” thing. In other words, while the grace of Christ changes me, it does more than that as well. In fact, if I have appropriately connected the love of God as a factor in my life, it is only natural that I want to share this relationship with others. Paul uses the imagery of light. And he says the light doesn’t just shine in me, but it fills me so the light shines out of me as well.

Imagine a dark room. Now what happens when one candle is lit? And then another, and another? If you have enough candles, there would be no more darkness. Jesus told His disciples, “you are the light of the world.” Paul is reminding the church this invitation to be light isn’t