Live as Children of Light

Introduction: we’re working our way through the book of Ephesians, and one of the big things we’re learning about is the church. And you would have noticed the shift as we’ve moved from the first three chapters into the second half of the book. In the first three chapters, the focus was on what God has done, but from chapter 4 there’s a big focus on how we are to live.

What does it mean for us to live as the church? The big focus is now on how we live.

Take a look at this with me: 4v1—I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 4v17—You must no longer live as the Gentiles do. 5v2—live a life of love. 5v8—live as children of light. 5v15—be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise. Again and again in this section, Paul wants to emphasise just how important it is for us to live a new kind of life. A life that reflects God’s character. And a counter-cultural life, a life that is very different from the culture around us.

And in the last two weeks specifically, we’ve seen how different that life needs to be in the area of money and sex. Unlike the culture around us, as Christians we need to pursue sexual purity and avoid greed.

Well, in this section, the apostle Paul continues to exhort us to pursue this new kind of life. And his main command can be seen in verse 8: live as children of light. That’s his main point. If we are Christians, we need to live as children of light.

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But how do we do that? We’ll consider that together under three points: understanding your identity, discerning your fruit, engaging the darkness.

Understanding our identity

Living as children of light begins with understanding our identity.

Paul introduces two new metaphors at this stage in the letter: the metaphors of light and darkness. And he uses this metaphor to help us understand both Christian identity and Christian behavior.

Now, for Paul, behaviour is always rooted in identity. We behave a certain way because of who we are. And our identity in this passage is remarkable.

Take a look at verse 8: at one time, we were darkness. Several commentators point out that Paul isn’t merely saying that we were in the darkness, he’s saying we were darkness. This emphasises the fact that, in the very core of our being, in the very depths of our nature, we were darkness. Darkness, here, is a symbolic way of talking about wickedness and evil.

This can really jar with us because we tend to be relatively optimistic about the human condition. Perhaps we think that people, in general, are essentially good. Sure, we may occasionally stray from the path but we’re all basically good people.

No, says Paul. We were darkness. You were evil and wicked. To use the language he used earlier in Ephesians, “You were dead in your transgressions and sins”. Darkness is the human condition outside of Christ. In fact, it goes even further because the Bible talks about the dominion of darkness—the place where the power and influence of evil is at work. So when Paul talks about spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6, this is what he says:

Ephesians 6:12 NIV

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

This, according to Paul, is the human condition outside of Christ. Darkness.

Apologetic: too pessimistic? I’d like to help you see that what Paul says here about the human condition finds corroboration again and again and again in reality, both locally as well as globally, and both in the contemporary world as well as in the ancient world.

Recently, we have had to reflect on the scourge of GBV that taints our country and destroys the lives of women and children. Between 25% and 40% of South African women have experienced Intimate Partner Violence.

Prevalence estimates of rape in South Africa range between 12% and 28% of women reporting being raped in their lifetime.

In addition to SA having one of the highest global rates of rape, we have thousands of abortions taking place, violent crime, assault, robbery, and the list goes on.

A South African, a local, problem? No—we see sin and violence everywhere. We’re still processing the brutal murder of George Floyd, and just last week the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for international freedom of religion or belief published a report on its findings of Christian persecution in Nigeria. Writing about this report and the graphic violence it describes, The Spectator journalist Hardeep Singh: “it’s difficult to fathom the barbarity described.” The report details how this persecution can “pave the way for genocide.”

Wherever we look on the planet, we see Paul’s assertion confirmed. In the very core of our being, in the very depths of our nature, there is darkness.

Is this a modern problem? No—just do a bit of reading on the ancient world and, wherever it’s been documented, you’ll once again be confronted with the reality of Paul’s words. We heard last week about the sexual ethics of ancient Rome, or rather the lack of sexual ethics. And again, the list could continue as we see evidence of brutality across human history.

But it’s not just people out there—no, darkness described you and me. We were darkness. We were evil in the very core of our being. Now, that’s uncomfortable for us to acknowledge. We’d much rather say that those people are darkness, but not us. But for honest and thoughtful people, there’s a recognition that there is a darkness that lies within.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Russian novelist and critic of the Soviet Union and Communism. He was exiled for criticising Josef Stalin and imprisoned. Now, Solzhenitsyn could have easily looked at Stalin and others and recognised the darkness - but he understood something very profound. That evil was not just something out there in those bad people, but in the hearts of us all. He famously wrote,

The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either – but right through every human heart

You were darkness, Paul says. Have we really logged that?

But as bleak as that is, the contrast is incredible: although we were darkness, verse 8, now we are light in the Lord. Although we were dead in our sins, we have been made alive in Christ. Although we were blind, now we can see. Although we were lost, now we’ve been found. In Jesus, we have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of light.

God is light because there is no evil or wickedness in him. He is absolutely pure and perfect in all of his ways. And when this God rises upon His people, it is as if, according to Isaiah, those walking in darkness see a great light.

Isaiah 60:1–2 NIV

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.

This is now who you are. You are light. We are children of the light. That’s our identity. Because we have placed our faith in the One who said of Himself, “I am the light of the world” we are now light. We have experienced an enormous change in identity. Once we were darkness, but now we are light.

Apply: I wonder how you think about the issue of identity? When you think of who you are, what comes to the front of your mind? In a cultural moment where identity has become politicised, where politicians and movements seek to claim our allegiance, we need to hear what God says to us all the more clearly. Regardless of other legitimate identity markers, Paul wants us to know who we really are. We were darkness, but by an act of amazing grace, we are light in the Lord.

That’s the first element when it comes to living as children of light. We need to understand our identity.

And as followers of Jesus who are now “created in the likeness of God” (4:24), Paul calls us to live out our identity. Our Christian behaviour needs to follow our Christian identity, and for that we need discernment.

Discerning our fruit

Take a look again at the flow of thought in the passage: in verse 8, we’re told that although we were darkness, we are now light in the Lord. Here’s the application: live as children of light, bear the fruit of light.

And there’s an objective side and a subjective side to this. The objective side is the value system - expressed in those three virtues of verse 9: goodness, righteousness and truth. The subjective side is seen in verse 10, we need to figure out how to discern what those virtues look like in our lives.

Let’s first look at the objective side, these three virtues: the fruit of light consists in goodness, righteousness and truth.

Goodness: we are to live lives of goodness. Goodness is a general but fundamental virtue. The metaphor of light is actually symbolic of goodness. Christians are to be good, to be good to others, good for society. We are to be like this because God is good, and God does what is good. This positive virtue, which is true of God, must also characterise His people.

Righteousness: this means to do what is right. Sometimes translated as justice, this word refers to the fact that God’s people do what is right by conforming to God’s ethical standard. Righteousness, when it describes behaviour, often refers to behaviour that seeks the wellbeing of the community. Charles Simeon: “There is in the heart of man a selfishness, which disposes him to see every thing with partial eyes; magnifying his own rights, and overlooking the rights of others. This disposition the Gospel will subdue and mortify.” Part of the process of maturity is moving from unrighteous behaviour to righteous behaviour; is moving from selfishness to considering others before ourselves. And can you see then, in these virtues, the renewed mindset? If selfishness is what’s behind the sexual sin and greed of the earlier verses, can you see the selflessness behind these virtues?

Truth: as we saw in chapter 4, truthfulness refers to both speech and lifestyle. Instead of changing what we believe, or living inconsistently with what we believe, we are to speak and live the truth.

This is the fruit of the light, these virtues describe what it means to live as children of light.

As I’ve reflected on this during the week, I’ve been struck at how comprehensive these virtues are. As we’ve seen in the previous passage, Paul does not divide up his ethics like contemporary culture. He doesn’t separate his emphasis on righteousness from his emphasis on goodness. He doesn’t have a selective morality.

You see, I think it’s easy to spot someone who really values one or maybe two of these - but Paul calls us to value all three. Some people rightly value being good. They are kind, they do what they can to help out. But they’re not as concerned about righteousness or truth. Their motto is that you just need to be a good person. Other get much more animated about being righteous and just. They rightly understand that God calls us to seek the welfare of others. But they’re not as concerned about goodness or truth. While others really value truth: truth is the only thing that matters!

Well, ironically, the truth is that all these things must go together. Justice without goodness and truth can turn into ideological persecution. Goodness without truth and justice becomes vague. And truth without justice and goodness becomes abstract, cold, and judgmental. God’s Word teaches us a comprehensive ethic, and we’re encouraged to hold these things together. Even when our society is trying to pull these things apart, God wants us to keep them together.

But how do we actually do this in everyday life? How do we pursue goodness, righteousness and truth? How do we bear the fruit of light?

Well, if the objective values are goodness, righteousness and truth, then the subjective side is discernment. We need to discern what the fruit of these virtues will look like in our lives (read verse 10).

That’s what I mean by discerning your fruit. You’ve got to discern what fruitfulness looks like for you. The sense here seems to be on practical wisdom, and I love how the NIV has translated it: “find out what pleases the Lord.” ESV: “try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.” Bearing the fruit of light takes discernment as we learn how to please God.

So, objectively, we know that God wants us to pursue goodness, righteousness and truth. What we don’t always know, subjectively, is how to do that. How do we pursue goodness, righteousness and truth in our family relationships? In our work places? In our neighborhoods? On social media? How do we navigate life in a society that doesn't recognise God’s values?

We need discernment. And we’ll actually learn by doing, we’ll figure this out as we try to obey God and please Him. We’ll discern the fruit as time goes by. And notice how relational this is—we are trying to find out what pleases God.

This is such an insightful comment by Paul, and so needed for us because we live in a time where there are all sorts of people who are only too happy to tell us how to live. But our goal is not to please people, but to please the Lord. And for that we need discernment.

The contrast between discernment and dogmatism: a dogmatic person is someone who expresses their opinion as though it were a fact. And so to disagree with them isn’t allowed, it’s almost seen as immoral.

We need discernment. This is exactly what Paul wants for his friends, and it’s no surprise that we seem him praying this for his friends at Philippi.

Philippians 1:9 NIV

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,

Let’s pray this prayer for each other.

So that’s what we all need to do if we’re going to live as children of the light—we need to discern what the fruit of the light is going to look like in our lives. What does it mean for me to live a life of goodness, righteousness and truth? What does it mean for you?

Engaging with the Darkness

Well, although we are now light in the Lord, we continue to live in a world of darkness. How do we deal with that? How can we be in the world but not of the world? Paul gives us two commands that provide some guidance.

Avoid

Take a look at verse 11-12 (read). So Paul says we should pursue the fruit of the light, and avoid the fruitless deeds of darkness. These works of darkness should be understood in a broad way of any kind of behavior that is displeasing to God. But it would especially include the evil activities mentioned earlier, such as sexual immorality, greed, and filthy talk of various sorts (Eph 5:3–5). As, as a child of the light, avoid any and every form of immorality. Flee from both sin and temptation.

These things are to be avoided. And, according to verse 7, we should not partner with those who do these things.

Paul does not specify the degree to which he wants believers to dissociate themselves from the ungodly. He clearly does not mean that they should have no contact with sinful, unbelieving people.

1 Corinthians 5:9–10 NIV

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

It is probably that Paul’s main concern here is that believers do not participate with unbelievers in their immorality. So that’s the first command—avoid the darkness.

But there’s a second command here as well, take a look at verse 11 again.

Expose

The second aspect of dealing with the darkness is that we are to expose it. Twice Paul tells us this - verse 11 and 13 (read). It’s worth reflecting carefully on this, what exactly does Paul mean by this. The word translated ‘exposed’ occurs a number of times in the NT, and according to the commentators, has a wide range of meaning. It could have a verbal meaning, so that to expose something is to rebuke someone. But, while this could include that, I think here the emphasis is probably more on how godly behaviour exposes ungodly behaviour.

And light always does that—light invariably lights up any darkness that it comes into contact with. What’s really amazing about verse 13 is not merely that light exposes darkness, but that light transforms darkness. (read)

So how does this work? I think it’s something like this: Christians live as children of light, and as they engage with their non-Christian friends and neighbours, they shine the light of God into the lives of these friends and neighbors. This might sometimes be uncomfortable, but it’s an important way that God works. The person then is faced with a decision—do they avoid the light, and do they let themselves get exposed by the light?

John 3:19–20 NIV

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

But here’s the thing, Paul says. Something that gets exposed can then become illuminated. Something that was once in darkness can get lit up! The light can light up the darkness!

This is both encouraging and challenging. It’s encouraging because it means that we can be a blessing to those around us.

But it’s also challenging because how often is our light shining bright enough? How bright is your light?

I am reminded by the words of Jesus:

Matthew 5:14–16 NIV

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

This is what it means to live as children of light. It means that we know who we are—once we were darkness but now we are light in the Lord. It means that we will pursue godliness as we seek to find out what pleases the Lord. And it means that we will avoid sinful behaviours and seek to expose them.

Let’s let our light shine before others, so that they might come out of darkness into God’s wonderful light.