The Power of the Dark Side

Ephesians 5:7-14

The deeds of darkness are shameful… and so they are done in secret. Secret sin has power.

Light always chases out darkness. Secret sin loses all power in the light of conviction, confession and forgiveness of Christ.

We are called to live as the light of Christ – beacons of goodness, righteousness and truth.

Afraid of the Dark

We have an extensive process of bed time in our house. There is the night-time routing. Then there are books. Then there is eyes-closed book. Then older kids can read for 30 minutes or so. Then close your eyes and go to bed.

But some nights, after the whole thing, we get one who is fighting sleep. I won’t say names but it is usually one of my daughters.

Nightmare – hasn’t been asleep yet.

Scared of the dark. It is barely even dim in her room. It certainly isn’t dark. But “scared of the dark” is a thing.

Afraid of the Light

But when morning comes and I have to drag them out of bed, it is the exact opposite. They screech at the light. They shield their eyes. They hide under blankets and pillows. Anything to stay in bed, anything to stay in the dark.

For the last two weeks we have talked about behavior modification. How do I change my own behavior so that I sin less. Living in light of the new self. Taking off the old self and putting on the new self.

Sinners in the Dark

For the last couple weeks we have been talking about behavior modification. These are ethical commands for living as Christians. Putting on the new self, taking off the old self. That has been our metaphor.

The hard truth, the difficult truth, is that, even while we are the saints of the church, we still have that old self to take off. We still have old patterns and habits. Addictions even.

In short: we still have sin and stupid cropping up in our lives.

We encounter conviction of sin. Conviction of areas of our life that are “old self”. Or, using the metaphor from today’s passage: we are convicted of areas of darkness and shadow in our lives.

We can be afraid of that shadow. Afraid of the dark. Thing loom in the dark, they look weird and strange and intimidating. We can be afraid of the dark.

We can be afraid of the light. Afraid of exposure to the light. The dark has become comfortable and easy. Cozy, even. We are afraid of the light because it means exposure, and change, because it means awakening to something new.

Scripture – Light vs. Dark

Ephesians 5:7-14

7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 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.”

Light vs. Dark

Powerful metaphor because it so visual.

In reality, light vs. dark is not really a contest. Wherever there is light, darkness is simply gone.

Calvin & Hobbes. The speed of dark.

You were darkness. Now you are light in the Lord. The fruit of that light is all goodness, righteousness and truth.

Not that you are light when you are good, righteous and truth. This is an inward reality, an inward change, that new self. This is salvation. This is a fundamental change to your spirit, who you are. You are alive.

In the light of that change you know have an amazing capacity. To “find out what pleases the Lord.”

To “try to discern” what is pleasing to the Lord.

This is to be the glorious focus of our lives. “God what do you have for me next?” What is the next great opportunity, open door, next ministry? What is my next step? From light to glorious light. Exploring who he has made you and the abundant life he has for you and the people he has brought into your life to love and do life with?

And the people still trapped in darkness he has called upon you to bring to.

The Trap of Shame

But there is something that could hold us back. Trip us up in this process.

“Have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness.” The “unfruitful works” of darkness. This goes back to verse 7, do not be partners or partakers with Gentiles, who in turn represent the old selves focused on self-satisfying and sensuality.

Somehow, even as we are light and children of the light, the potential is there within us to sneak off into the shadows. To stumble around in the dark a bit.

The unfruitful deeds of darkness are sin, and in particular, shameful and embarrassing sin. And there is a life-stealing, freedom-stealing, light smothering TRAP in this kind of sin.

I did something shameful. Therefore I am shameful. Therefore I must hide in darkness. Might as well do more shameful things.

“It is shameful even to speak of the things they do in secret.”

And we can easily build a list of shameful sin, embarrassing sins.

Sexual immorality of all kinds. Not easy to talk about. Affairs within marriage, and the web of lies that surround it. A consuming darkness. Pornography. Difficult to avoid, it is everywhere and it is sin. But that is really awkward coffee-hour conversation. Hard to bring up. So it stays in the shadows.

I did something shameful. Therefore I am shameful. Therefore I will hide that part of my life in darkness and simply try harder to not do it.

There is another option.

The Light Escape

12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light.

This has application in our lives, then in the lives of those we come in contact with.

I did something shameful. I am convicted of that (and that is the act of the Holy Spirit).

But what the Holy Spirit says, what Jesus says, what the gospel says, is that, far from shameful, I am forgiven. I am free from sin and shame and death. I am forgiven. I am loved. I am remade and brought into the light.

I once was darkness, but now I am light in the Lord.

So I did something shameful. I bring that something into the light.

Having been convicted, I confess it to God. That brings light.

Because we are humans, in our spiritual immaturity, we can sometimes fool ourselves that confessing it to God is the easy route and confessing it to one another is the hard route. If that has any place in your thinking than you absolutely need to confess it to a brother or sister in Christ.

Confession brings the light of truth onto the sin and the sin loses power.

Secret sin always loses power in the light of truth.

Last week, Trap of Shame vs. Light Escape

Last week I was convicted of a casual coarseness to my jokes. I don’t want to build a whole theology out of 1 verse… but at the very least, I miss opportunities because I am habitually looking for the witty comment rather than the God-moment in the situation.

Now, the trap would be to be convicted and transform the Holy Spirit’s conviction of a shameful act into my being a shamed person. I did something bad becomes I am bad. And so I hide it and vow to try harder and be more righteous and deserving of my salvation and how other people see me and “I’ll be good I promise!” That’s a trap. That’s a lie. That is creeping into the shadows towards darkness.

OR! I could confess my sin (and I did that last week). That may not even be sin territory, it is a question of wisdom in conversation, maybe a Scripture interpretation issue, but wherever it sits in this gray area, I bring it into the light so it can be examined. Examined not only by me but by my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Light as a Chain Reaction

So this is the power of truth, the power of God’s light and his children, us, as light. It exposes our deeds and can transform them into light. But here is the primary thrust of the passage.

We, living good, righteous and holy lives, can expose to the light those who are living in darkness, making them visible, and turning them into light.

That is we live as light. The fruit of that light is holiness, goodness and righteous. We are focused on that question “what next to please the Lord?”

And some of those who are in darkness, rather than fleeing from the light, are drawn to the light of Christ. And the light of Christ is then like a nuclear reaction. We are exploding in light and power and glory. That smashes into their life and they encounter Jesus. And they explode.

They explode into light and power and glory.

Your Life as Light

Live as light. Live as children of the light. Our main focus is this: “what will please the Lord?”

Try to discern the “what next?” The Next Step in glorious light. The Next Step in goodness and righteousness and holiness. Not because we earn anything by it, we are already made light by Christ’s work. We are already made righteous and holy.

But we want to live that way because why we would we want anything less? Why we would want less glory and less life abundant now? Why would we want to live in shadow?

But perhaps you are convicted this morning of some “deeds of darkness.” An area of life, a habit, a behavior, a temptation… and it is embarrassing or awkward or shameful.

Drag it into the light. Secret sin always loses power in the light.

Something that looks so big in the shadow, it is amazing how drawn into the light, it becomes small.

Drag it out of the shadows and into the light. Confess it before God. Find a wise brother or sister and confess it to them. Let them be light in your life.

We – A Community of Light

Let us transform every shadow within and among us into light.

So that we are light, we become light. And every time we encounter our community we shine that light of goodness, righteousness and holiness.

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.”

We don’t know exactly what he is quoting. Possibly rephrasing Isaiah. Quite possibly a very early Christian hymn.

From death to life. That is the transition we have gone through, and that is what we offer to a world of sleepers around us. There is nothing better.

Let Christ shine on you. That is what we offer. More than that, that is what we are to be. Christ’s light shining on every person in our lives. That is our witness. That is our evangelism.

Lord God, let us be light. Your light in this world. A chain reaction that doesn’t stop. Let my life be transformed, let our church be bursting with light. Let it catch hold in our schools and workplaces, in our friends and family.

Let us awaken in every part of life to the light. To the new and abundant life you have for us. Our life in the light, our life in you.