Awake, You Who Sleep, and Christ Will Shine on You

Ephesians 5:8–14 NKJV

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 Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 14 Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”

As we continue in this section which in my Bible has the heading “Walk in Light” we need to remind ourselves of Paul’s main point here which is in Vs 8

Ephesians 5:8 NKJV

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

You once were darkness. When you were darkness you were asleep you were dead in your sins

Ephesians 2:1–3 NKJV

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

Ephesians 2:4–5 NKJV

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

So through the miracle of the calling of Christ we were made alive, raise from the dead.

So we once were dead but now we are alive we once were darkness but now we are light so Paul says walk as children of the light.

Do not walk after the course of this world which is set by Satan. Or do not be conformed to this world rather be transformed, Walk as children of the light.

The rest of this paragraph is presenting the arguments for why we should walk as children of the light.

Because you are no longer darkness

2. Because the fruit of the Spirit is goodness, righteousness and truth.

3. We prove the will of God

Today we will carry on following Paul’s reasons for walking in the light

Do Not Fellowship With Works of Darkness

Notice he say Do not fellowship with the works of darkness rather than do not fellowship with workers of darkness. The instruction here is not that we should not have contact with people who are still darkness. That would be isolation. If we had no contact with those who are still darkness then how would we bring the light to them?

But Paul says have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. This is the same imperative repeated in different words that we found in vs7

Ephesians 5:7 NKJV

7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.

So we live in this world which is full of lost sinners who live in darkness, are darkness working the works of darkness. And we as children of the light live in this world full of darkness. So we go to work with people still in darkness, we go to school with people who are still in darkness. So what happens if we partake in the works of darkness? Our light is hidden, which means their darkness remains their sins are not exposed, and we have unfruitful works.

Unfruitful Works

Works of darkness are unfruitful or even worse they produce fruit which Paul mentioned just above.

Ephesians 5:5–6 NKJV

5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Verses the fruit of walking in the light which is

Ephesians 5:9 NKJV

9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),

Romans 6:20–22 NKJV

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

So if we do partake in the works of darkness we have fruit of shame and death and we don’t expose the works of darkness for what they are which is sin. We hide our light under a bushel.

on the other hand if we walk in the light our light shines and exposes the darkness.

Let Your Light Expose Works of Darkness

The word here means to admonish, convict, rebuke, reprove.

So as children of light part of the job of light is to expose works of darkness.

Does he mean with words or with our deeds?

I believe in the context Paul mean primarily with our deeds as the main idea of this paragraph is to walk in the light.

There is certainly a time and place to call out sin. If someone in the church is continuing in sin the Bible tells us that it is right to address it.

Paul give guidelines for such a case in

Galatians 6:1 NKJV

1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

However, Paul is telling us to walk in the light rather than participating in the unfruitful works of darkness and instead expose them. So I believe that Paul is thinking more along the lines of letting your light shine in the way that you live and in so doing you will be light and expose darkness.

In next vs he tells us that it is a shameful thing to even speak of the dark and evil deeds that are done in secret.

However, when things are exposed by the light they become manifest. When works of darkness are brought to the light they revealed to be sin.

Because you are no longer darkness

2. Because the fruit of the Spirit is goodness, righteousness and truth.

3. We prove the will of God

4. Because the works of darkness are unfruitful

5. because light exposes sins

vs 13-14 have a strange wording

the esv says

Ephesians 5:13–14 ESV

13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

So is Paul saying the works of darkness will become light?

I believe that he is talking about the person who is doing the works of darkness here. mainly because of this quote.

Ephesians 5:14 NKJV

14 Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”

No one seems to know where this quote is from exactly. Some believe that it is from a couple or different passages in Isa. Some believe that it is a quote for an first century hymn. No one knows for sure.

This is the real awakening. I hear this phrase used often these days. Some people claim to be woke which really seems to be a cover of darkness for them to do their dark evil deeds.

Other people are talking about being awake in the sense that they see the corruption of our government.

But this is the real awakening that Paul is talking about. He’s talking about conversion.

So the final reason for walking in the light that Paul gives us is that when we let our light shine it brings other people to Christ.

Those who were dead are raised to life.

When we walk in the light as children of the light. It brings light to those who are in this world of darkness that they might be converted.

2 Corinthians 4:3–6 NKJV

3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.