Light It Up

Put-off

Last week (vv. 3-7) could seem once again like a laundry list of “don’ts”

Things removed almost always need to be replaced by something else

Paul continues his pattern of “put off”/”put on” with verse 8 using the analogy of light

Localized Light

Just as the image of moving from death to life, life in Christ is moving from darkness to light

Moving from one to another means leaving behind the behaviors of the former and putting on the behaviors of the new

“all goodness, righteousness, and truth” v. 9

Light exposes behaviors, attitudes, beliefs

Perhaps what is interesting is what Paul doesn’t say: when you see things done in darkness scream, “Sinner!” or gossip to your another self-righteous neighbor about the deeds of another.

Sin isn’t snuffed out by shouting Christians; it’s exposed and snuffed out by the reflection of Christ within us

That doesn’t mean that we don’t speak entirely;

Those sins which cross legal lines require us to speak, even as we desire redemption and reconciliation

There is a lot of sin that still falls as permissible in society

still, how we speak matters

“But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.” v. 13

Grounded by Maturity

Whatever can be seen in the light is worth looking at

“But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.” v. 13

Are shadows worth watching?

Paul here asks that we shape our world by the light of Christ

we are called to be more substantive to the world by the light we reflect

what do I mean by that? Let’s think about TV shows for a second here

who watches “this is us” or “america’s got talent” or some TV crime drama

The way we achieve this is through maturity in Christ

Paul wants us to have our identity in Christ so grounded that we operate out of that

It requires that we know God as more than acquaintances

It means that we take on the identity of Christ in our hearts, not just in our minds

“The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”