Out of Place: Proper Living for Beloved Children (Part 2)
Notes
Transcript
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Therefore do not become partners with them;
for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),
and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.
But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible,
for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Introduction
Introduction
“If another man’s child is threatened, and you move not to protect it, all men’s children are in jeopardy, and you stand as guilty as those who threaten.” Those words by John F. O’Brien are stretched across the end of a heart-wrenching movie on the Holocaust. Jerry Lewis, who directed and starred in the 1972 movie vowed that no one would ever see it believing it to be the worst movie he ever made. But today, a partial release of it is on YouTube. Having watched it, I would say that the entire thing is a heart-wrenching and thought-provoking story.
The Day the Clown Cried is about a washed-up German clown, named Helmut Doork, who was fired from the Ringling Brothers’ Circus. In an effort to drown his sorrows, he goes to a local bar and gets drunk, ultimately assaulting a German officer. He was arrested and sent to Auschwitz. While there, he was inspired with new clown bits that would make people laugh—especially the Jewish children on the other side of the barbed wire fence. They loved him and he loved them. Though he was threatened and beaten by the guards for associating with the children, he continued to do his routines to make them laugh.
Eventually, the Nazi officers realized that they could use Helmut to do their dirty work for them. A general asked Helmut to lead the children into a “building” at the other end of a camp that he had helped transport the children to. He refused to do it saying, “I can’t; I won’t!” But the general made an offer he couldn’t refuse. “Not even to save your life?”
After spending a few minutes making the children laugh, it was time for them to go. Helmut told them that they were just going to a larger building so they had more room to play. And you see him leading them to their death. As the last little girl enters the Helmut is holding open, he takes a step to leave, but she turns to Helmut, and puts out her hand. He takes it and they enter the gas chamber together as the door behind them closes. The screen fades to black, and we read those words, “If another man’s child is threatened, and you move not to protect it, all men’s children are in jeopardy, and you stand as guilty as those who threaten.”
Beloved, if that is true for the children of men, how much more so is it for the children of God—the blood-bought, adopted sons and daughters of the King? That’s the weight of Paul’s argument in the text we are meditating on this morning.
This morning, we are in Ephesians 5:6-14—a passage in which Paul is calling on his readers to walk as children of light, exposing the deeds of darkness. In doing so, he writes to them two prohibitions and three commands (with five reasons) as to how they must live. The first prohibition is not to be deceived by empty words. The second is not to partner with the disobedient. And the commands are to Walk as children of light, expose darkness and awaken from our slumber.
Do not be Deceived with Empty Words
Do not Partner with the Disobedient
Walk as Children of Light
Expose Darkness
Awaken from Slumber
Do not be Deceived with Empty Words
Do not be Deceived with Empty Words
The first prohibition that we see in the text today comes out of verse 6: do not be deceived with empty words. You may have heard the old saying that there was a lot of heat but not much light in someone’s words. A person can generate a lot of heat—passion in themselves and passion from others, but they don’t have much light. Even with all their passion, their words are empty, deceptive, hollow—devoid of substance and of truth. Like Doork who was able to entertain the children, and in doing so lead them to their death, so false preachers and teachers can captivate their congregations, and yet lead them down the path of destruction. Such is the way of liberal Christianity.
J. Gresham Machen saw this clearly in his book: Christianity and Liberalism, in which he said about liberal Christianity and the churches that adhere to it: “The chief modern rival of Christianity is ‘liberalism (liberal Christianity).’ An examination of the teachings of liberalism in comparison with those of Christianity will show that at every point the two movements are in direct opposition” (Machen, 53). In other words, liberal Christianity is not Christianity at all. It is moves in the exact opposite direction of Christianity. Paul’s point is that this isn’t just a different way of reading Scripture; it’s deception that leads to death.
And I think it is important us to notice how Paul frames this:
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
“Let no one deceive you...” That’s a little different than my simple, “Do not be deceived.” Being deceived happens with someone takes on a passive role. Paul tells his readers that they cannot be passive; they must take action, “don’t allow deception to happen!”
Right now, you are listening to a sermon. Generally speaking, this is a passive role that you are taking upon yourself. I’m talking; you’re listening—receiving the words I am proclaiming. And more times than not what happens is that a congregation will accept that the person that is preaching knows what he or she is talking about. They’re the ones who went to school. They’re the ones who spend hours studying. And so we passively receive what comes from the front without giving it too much thought.
But that’s the problem. Deceptive words—whether intentional or not—can make their way into the sermons and teachings. And if all we are doing is receiving the words and not reflecting on what is said, we can easily be deceived and not know it until it’s too late!
The sad news is that Paul told Timothy—the lead pastor in Ephesus—that people would go from passively receiving empty words to actively seeking them.
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
For now, Paul explains just how harmful these empty words can be. Some—whether members of the church or preachers with authority—were downplaying the seriousness the sins of sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness were. Paul said not to allow ourselves to be deceived by this hollow teaching because for these reasons—sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness—God’s wrath will come.
Those who are teaching otherwise, whether from behind a pulpit or over slice of pie, are leading their listeners to their death. God’s wrath will surely come upon the sons of the disobedient.
Do not Partner with the Disobedient
Do not Partner with the Disobedient
Which leads to Paul’s second prohibition: do not partner with the disobedient. Paul wrote,
Therefore do not become partners with them;
for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
Note carefully that “therefore,” in the text. Paul just wrote that God’s wrath will come upon the sons of disobedience. And so, as a result, we must not become partners with them. That word for partner in Greek is a synonym for a more common word that you may have head of before: koinonia. It means to share something with another. When Peter refused to let Jesus wash his feet, Jesus responded that unless he did, Peter would have no share with him. Paul used this in reference to the Lord’s Supper.
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
So the prohibition is against becoming partners, sharers, or participants with the sons of disobedience. But if we allow ourselves to be deceived, it’s only a matter of time before we join in. First, we accept what is said, and then we partner in the action.
Why do we not partner with them in their sins? It’s not because Paul wants to be a killjoy. He doesn’t exude H.L. Menken’s definition of puritanism having the haunting fear that someone, somewhere is having fun. It’s because that’s no longer who we are! We are no longer sons of disobedience and so we can’t participate with the sons of disobedience.
Think back at a point in his letter when Paul used similar language. We have to go back to Ephesians 2.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Those who walk following the world, the devil, or their flesh are sons of disobedience—children of wrath, exactly what Paul was getting at in 5:6—God’s wrath comes upon the sons of disobedience.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
We once were darkness—not simply in darkness. We were darkness. That was our identity. But our identity is no longer darkness; it’s light! In mercy, because of his great love—we went from death to life. We went from wrath to inheritance. We went from destruction to salvation. Why would we ever go back?
We are light in the Lord! Jesus is the light of the world. We who are in Jesus then are light by our very union with him. So how can light partner with darkness? That’s the very question Paul asked in 2 Corinthians 6.
There is no common ground in which light and darkness can walk hand in hand, and we must never pretend as if there is.
Walk as Children of Light
Walk as Children of Light
Which leads to our first command: walk as children of light. If we are truly light in Christ then we must walk as children of light. Let’s look at what Paul wrote in verses 8 and 10; we’ll come back in a moment to verse 9.
Walk as children of light
and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
Paul mentions walking quite a bit in Ephesians and here he does it again. And by it, he just means how we live life—how we act, think, and speak. As we walk about our lives, we are to do so as children of light. But what does that mean to walk (or live) as children of light? That’s where verse 10 comes in. It might seem that verses 8 and 10 are loosely tied together with the word “and,” but in reality, verse 10 explains what it means to walk as children in light. I think this is clearer in the Holeman Christian Standard Bible
discerning what is pleasing to the Lord.
The word for discerning is what is called an adverbial participle of means. Participles are not main verbs; they are often modifiers of the main verb (much like adjective modify nouns). In this case, “discerning” tells us how we are to walk in the light: by discerning what is pleasing to Jesus. This then is the exact opposite of what we saw earlier. We—the children of light in the Lord—cannot allow ourselves to be deceived. Instead we must walk as children of light discerning what pleases Jesus. The opposite of being deceived in order to participate in acts of darkness that please the world, the devil, or the flesh is to discern and participate in acts of light that please our Lord! I’m going to say that again. The opposite of being deceived in order to participate in acts of darkness that please the world, the devil, or the flesh is to discern and participate in acts of light that please our Lord!
And that takes us to verse 9.
(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),
What pleases the Lord is found in
goodness (reflecting God’s morality),
righteousness (reflecting God’s purity),
truth (reflecting God’s reality).
Thus, every step that we take walking as children of light ought to be preceded with three questions: is this good? Is this right? Is this true? If our answers are yes, we will produce an abundance of the fruit of light.
Expose Darkness
Expose Darkness
And one of the fruits of light is that we expose darkness—Paul’s second command.
Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.
Once again, Paul prohibits participating in darkness. This time the word does come from koinos, pitting the fruitful work of light against the unfruitful work of darkness. Thus we can bear fruit—do something meaningful for the kingdom of God, or our works can be fruitless and have no lasting value. But if we are children of light bearing fruit of light, then it’s not enough to simply refuse to participate, we must expose the fruitless works of darkness. In fact, Paul is quite emphatic about this. We may not see it with the word instead, but in Greek it is an emphatic way of saying it. “But instead! expose them. That doesn’t mean we gossip about the sin or humiliate the person trapped in it. It does mean that we bring it into the light and show it for what it is.
If I were to take a guess, I would venture to say that this will be the most convicting part of the sermon for most of us, for this is where Paul commands us to confront those Christians—those members of the local church—who take part in the unfruitful works of darkness. We expose their sins to them in hope and faith that they will repent. For Paul, “silence means consent.” If we are unwilling to lovingly expose darkness with light, we consent to the darkness. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer is purported to have said in regards to the Nazis and Hitler, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
We do not act in concert with the fruitless works, but we do act against them. We expose them for what they are. Jesus said,
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Paul added to this that they don’t just see your good works, but they see their fruitless works as well.
Again, Paul gives the reason: because it is shameful to speak of their secret sins—their sins of darkness. The point is that if it is shameful to mention these acts, how much worse is it to do them?! You and I feel sheepish even to talk about sexual immorality out loud. How much more shameful for that Christian doing them in darkness—in secret? That’s why they’re doing them in secret, because they know they shame the name of Christ. The fact that there is shame enough to do these things in darkness means that there is hope in bringing them back; the Spirit still has a hold of their consciences. But the shameful deed must be exposed to them.
But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible,
for anything that becomes visible is light.
Light must expose darkness. Transformation and sanctification cannot happen in the dark. It must expose the secrets so that the the believer can see their sin for the filthy, vile thing that it is. Until it becomes visible, the sin will continue on in darkness. But when it become visible, Paul says it becomes light. Light when shone on darkness begets light. Sin—in this case sexual deviance, impurity, and covetousness—cannot be swept under the rug. It cannot be kept in the dark. That’s the comfortable thing to do. Pretend that it isn’t there. Ignore the problem and it’ll go away. That’s a great way to live, isn’t it? Living in denial. Paul said no. Until the secret things are brought to light, there is no hope of transformation of darkness to light.
Beloved, the question is not if we believe this in theory. The real question is do we love our brother or sister enough to wake them from their comfort and sleep by shedding light on their darkness in order to save their soul? Many Christians choose instead to allow them to sleep on—caring more about our temporal relationships than our eternal ones.
Awaken from Your Slumber
Awaken from Your Slumber
And that takes us to our last command: awaken from your slumber.
for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Unlike the rest of this section which was written to children of light, this is written directly to the wayward Christian who is participating in the unfruitful works of darkness. You’ve been lulled to sleep. You’re dead to the things that bring pleasure to the Lord. Like those who are dead in their trespasses and sins, so you are going after the world, the devil, and the flesh, seeking only to please yourself. You think you’re living the dream, but in reality it’s a nightmare.
You’re like one of those children laughing and playing with Helmut Doork, following his empty words of a bigger building where more fun can be had. In reality, you’re following him to your own destruction.
Paul yells, “Wake up! Get up! See the truth for the sake of your own soul! Christ’s light will shine on you and you will immediately escape the darkness. But if you will not awaken from your slumber—if you choose to remain in darkness, you will have no inheritance with the saints in light.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
Only by God’s grace and strength that we find being in Christ are we able to do as Paul has prohibited and commanded in these verses. Remember that Paul is not calling on us to live outside of our identity, but to live in our identity to the fullest. And so we must not allow ourselves to be deceived by empty talk or partner with the disobedient. We must walk as children of light and expose darkness when we see it. Those who are already lulled to sleep by the darkness must now awake.
Once again, we are faced with a calling to turn from the darkness that so easily calls us. Like the Sirens song of Greek myth: beautiful melody with baneful motive, so darkness is. And too often we children of light “stay in our own lane” and refuse to confront those we are supposed to love more than life itself about their darkness.
Jude reminds us
And have mercy on those who doubt;
save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
“If another man’s child is threatened, and you move not to protect it, all men’s children are in jeopardy, and you stand as guilty as those who threaten.” So I ask again, if that is true for the children of men, how much more so is it for the children of God—the blood-bought, adopted sons and daughters of the King?
My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,
let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
I’d like everyone to bow your heads and close your eyes. As the praise team makes their way down, I would ask you to reflect on today’s sermon. Are you one who has been lulled to sleep by the darkness that is all around us? Are you one to whom Paul is crying, “Wake up!” Or are you one who knows someone who needs sin to be lovingly exposed under a merciful light? Either way it take courage—God-given strength to answer the call to action. In just a moment, I am going to pray over us, and as the instrumentalists play through the song one time through, I want you to pray—for yourself to have God’s courage and strength, and perhaps for a brother or sister that you know needs to awaken from their slumber. They’ll play through the song once, and then we’ll sing. On that first verse we invite you to start making your way down to respond through singing, through giving an offering, and if you’re a baptized believer, receiving the elements of the Lord’s Supper that we make take together after the song. Let us pray.
Heavenly Father,
Awaken the sleepers that are here this morning. Strengthen the timid to lovingly bring back a sinning brother/sister from wandering—snatching them from the fire. May we do so in goodness, righteousness, and truth. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
Continue to pray as the music plays.
