Introduction
There are
numerous animals that have been created to conform to their surroundings. There
are two kinds of rabbits common in Manitoba
One of the
most striking examples of animals which change their color to match their surroundings
are some species of chameleon, which can actually change the color of their
skin depending on the color of the surface around them.
When these
animals change color, it is an important part of their survival. If they don't
blend in, they are much more susceptible to being eaten by their enemies. In
other words, if they don't change to match their surroundings they are in great
danger. The opposite is true for Christians. If we do change to match our
surroundings, we are in great danger.
Last week
we talked about the change which has taken place in us by the power of Jesus. In
Ephesians 4:17-29
we learned that we must live the change that Jesus has made in us, or in other
words we must live in holiness. We talked about some of the practical things
which must change: we must speak truth instead of lying, we must be generous
instead of stealing, we must be holy instead of immoral and so on.
This week,
we will look at Ephesians
5:5-20 and discover several more reasons why it is critical that
we be holy and why it is so dangerous for us to blend in with the society that
surrounds us.
I. To Avoid God's Wrath
The first
reason is found in Ephesians 5:5 ,
6 , "Be sure of
this, that no fornicator or impure person, or one who is greedy (that is, an
idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ
Whenever
you get on an airplane you have to listen to the safety information which they
give about seatbelts, oxygen masks and flotation devices. It must be difficult
for the flight attendant to stand in front and do the demonstration as most
people deliberately ignore them. Although most people have probably heard the
drill many times, for some it is new information and so it must be repeated
each time. When an emergency happens, I suspect that there are some people who
have ignored the important information many times and when they suddenly have
to act on it they don't know what to do.
Scripture
frequently calls us as disciples to live as holy people but I suspect that some
people have ignored this information. In Ephesians 5:5 , 6 ,
Paul makes a point of indicating that this is important information. It cannot
be ignored or dismissed, it must be listened to.
Notice that
in the beginning of verse 5 he says, "Be sure of this" and in the
beginning of verse 6 "Let no one deceive you with empty words." In
other words, look up! Pay attention! This is important and you need to know it.
There will be a test!
The test
may come in the form of deception. The Bible speaks about those who are false
teachers. Revelation 2:14 ,
15 mentions some of
the false teachers of that day when it talks about Balaam and also about the
Nicolaitans. False teachers are still around and some have taught that, as a
Christian, you can sin and not worry about the consequences because God is
gracious. Some people, by their example, have taught others to be careless
about wickedness. The NLT translates this
verse, "Don't be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins…" Penner
writes, "Whether society argues that one can participate in immorality in
the name of 'love,' or for the sake of so called Christian 'freedom' …believers
must not be deceived."
So we are
encouraged to realize that this is serious stuff and we need to take note and
not ignore it, as we so often ignore the announcements on the airplane.
It is an
axiom that God hates sin and anyone who lives in sin cannot be in His presence.
Those who sin will not receive an inheritance among those who will spend
eternity with Him. But we need to be careful that we do not dismiss this
warning assuming it applies only to those who do not know Jesus and are outside
the church. This is written to people who are in the church, it is written to
us. So the warning is to everyone of us. We need to be aware of the danger and
we need to be aware of anyone who would deceive us that sinning has no serious
consequences.
And so we
are warned that anyone who lives in fornication, impurity or greed has no
"inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ
The further
warning is that those who continue to live in such disobedience are under the
wrath of God. God hates sin. That is why He sent Jesus to this earth. That is
why Jesus died on the cross. God wanted to do away with sin and it's evil
consequences. If we continue in sin, especially after we have received the gift
of God in Christ, what makes us think that God is suddenly OK with our sinful
disobedience? God still hates sin and so if we walk in sin, we are in great
danger because the wrath of God will come on all sin, whether we have once
given ourselves to Him or not.
We cannot
blend in to the surrounding society because God's wrath comes on all who are
unholy. Therefore, we are called to live holy lives so that we will not come
under God's wrath.
II. To Live as Children of Light
When our
children were in high school and when they participated in school functions we
often asked them the question, "are you an influence or are you being
influenced." The other reasons to be holy is so that we will not be
influenced, but rather that we will be an influence.
In verse 8
we are reminded, "once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are
light. Live as children of light." This is the message we looked at last
week when we were reminded that God has created a change in us and we must live
in that change. Yet we have just noticed that it is possible for us to be
deceived. There are those who would say things to make us think lightly about
the matter of holy living. They may say that it isn't all that bad if you sin a
little or they may convince us that some action or other is not a sin, when
Scripture is clear that it is disobedience to God. Because of that danger, Paul
says in verse 7, "Therefore do not be associated with them." In other
words, we are called to live in holiness so that we will not be influenced by
darkness.
But this is
a difficult thing to do. There are two important questions that we need to ask
about this statement. One is, "who is 'them?'" The other is,
"What does "associate" mean?"
As
Christians our relationship with people who are not Christians is often
somewhat tentative. It isn't very long after people become Christians that they
begin to drift towards friendships only with Christian people. Often our
interpretation of who "them" is in this passage is that it refers to
unbelievers. The problem with that interpretation is, how are we going to tell
people about Jesus if we don't know them? How are we going to earn the right to
be heard if unbelievers are not among our friends? How are we going to imitate
Jesus if we don't eat with "tax collectors and sinners" as He did?
That is why
I believe that "them" refers to people who identify with the church
and may even sit in the pews, but who influence us towards darkness. These are
the people we are not to associate with. They are the ones who are really
dangerous. The reason they are dangerous is that, because they are in the
church, we feel that they are safe. This was my experience. When I was in grade
7 and 8 I went to a public school. I knew I was different and needed to live in
a different way and so I was quite careful about how I lived my Christian life.
In grade 9 I went to MBCI. I am not blaming MBCI and it was a combination of
factors, but one of the things that happened was that I felt "safe" in
the "Christian" environment. As a result, I was no longer on guard and
so I was influenced towards disobedience. I am to blame, but I think it is an
illustration of why it is those who are in the church, but are disobedient,
whom we must not associate with rather than those who are not believers.
What does
such non-association look like? Some churches have made rules about this and
they legislate that you cannot eat with anyone who is excommunicated. I think
we need to be very careful about our actions of non-association. If we find
that our association with those in the church who are living in disobedience is
influencing us towards disobedience, we need to avoid associating with them. If
we find that there are ways of relating to them which help them and influence
them and encourage them back to faith, then we should not avoid them. We need
to recognize the point that Paul is making here and that is that we are called
to be careful. Because of the danger of being influenced by disobedience, we
are called to do anything we can to continue to walk in holiness.
As we think
about these things, we need to hear what Paul says in Ephesians 5:10 , "Try to
find out what is pleasing to the Lord." We should never accept a list of
rules so that we can stop thinking. Holy living requires constant thought,
reflection and decision making. We will discover what is pleasing to the Lord
if we hear what it says in verse 9. Holy living has to do with what is good and
right and true. If that is our heart's desire, we will be able to walk in
holiness.
III. To Expose the Darkness
As many of
you know, my father was a photographer. When I was growing up, I helped with
certain aspects of the business. At one time, photographic plates were used in
the studio camera and the exposed film had to be manually taken out of the
plates and fresh film put in them. Of course all of this had to be done in
complete darkness, otherwise the film would be spoiled. That was my job and it
was always very interesting to be in complete darkness. You couldn't see
anything and had to do everything by feel. When the job was done, I could put
the light on and the change was always dramatic. Previously I could see nothing,
but as soon as the light was shining, I could see everything clearly.
Earlier I
mentioned the saying, "Are you being influenced or are you an
influence." We just examined that we are called to holy living so that we
will not be influenced to disobedience. Just as important is the other side of
that saying and that is that we are called to holy living so that we can be an
influence.
In Ephesians 5:11-17 , the text
continues with the imagery of light and darkness. In that context, we read in
verse 11, "Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead
expose them." Then in verse 13 we read, "everything exposed by the
light becomes visible" and in verse 14, "everything that becomes
visible is light."
What is
clear about these statements is that light dispels darkness. In the same way,
we are called to be holy so that we overcome the darkness.
But the
difficult question is, "What does it mean to "expose" the evil
deeds of darkness? How do we expose the darkness? There are, of course, a
number of options open to us. Some people seem to take delight in speaking
about evil things and condemning every evil deed that they become aware of. If
a crime is committed, they take delight in speaking about every detail of the
crime and declaring judgment on those involved. Although the temptation to do
so is strong, I cannot shake the feeling that people who do that are like the
Pharisees who brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus. It is interesting
that in that story Jesus concludes by saying, "Neither do I condemn you,
go and sin no more." When Ephesians
5:12 says, "it is shameful even to mention what such people
do secretly," I believe it teaches us that we have good reason not to
engage in public scolding or judgmental censure as the methods by which we are
called to expose the unfruitful works of darkness.
I believe
that the way in which we are called to expose them is by living in the light.
That is why the repeated emphasis in this passage on light. As I mentioned
earlier it says things like, "everything exposed by the light becomes
visible" and " everything that becomes visible is light." We
should never underestimate the power of holy living to be such a light in the
world and to have influence on all around. Of course we need to be careful how
we shine our light. Being "holier than thou" does not shine light,
but shines hypocrisy. Yet if we lovingly live in holiness, as Jesus did, we
will have a powerful impact and we will obey the command to expose the
unfruitful works of darkness, whether those works of darkness are present in
the church or in the world. So holiness is important as a way to have an
influence in the world. It is an important part of our mission in the world.
Penner says, "The bearers of true light do not
respond to the surrounding moral darkness with gloating superiority or
self-righteous condemnation, for these attitudes are themselves part of the
unfruitful deeds of that darkness. Rather they approach it with love and truth
to accomplish a twofold purpose: (1) to show the error and evil concealed by
darkness…and (2) to bring about transformation into light…"
The quote
in verse 14 encourages us to allow the light of Christ to shine in and through
us. As we continue to read in Ephesians
5 , we discover some very helpful thoughts on how we can be light.
Verse 15
encourages us, " Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as
wise…" Proverbs reminds us of the value of living with wisdom. As we put
our hope in God, He will teach us the path of wisdom and so we must always ask,
"Is it wise." We read a book in the last year with the title, "The
Best Question Ever" by Andy Stanley. What does he suggest is the best question?
"Is it wise?"
Paul goes
on to advise, "making the most of the time because the days are
evil." If we want to be an influence, we need to consider that we live in
a world that will try to influence us away from God. If we waste our time with
things that do not give us the opportunity to grow in Christ or to live in
holiness, we will not shine as lights into the darkness of the world. Neufeld
says, "In short, the wise had
better know that they are living in the last days and that there is no time to
waste. Whatever time there is must be used to get ready for the day of
redemption."
In order to
make the most of our time, we also need to "understand what the will of
the Lord is." There are several ways to discern the Lord's will. We have
already talked about one way and that it to seek wisdom. God has revealed His
will in Scripture and a good knowledge of the Word of God is very important in
teaching us His will. The other is to go directly to God and ask Him. Scripture
does not speak directly to every issue. If we ask God, He will teach us what
His will is so that we can live in holiness.
On
Pentecost Sunday, we talked about the wonderful power and strength that God has
given us to live for Him. He has given us His Spirit and we are called to be
filled with the Spirit. If we are filled with the Spirit of God, we will live
holy lives.
The last
two verses of this section call us to worship. It is clear that if our eyes are
focused on Jesus and if we encourage each other as we worship together we will
have a strong motivation to live holy lives and to do those things that are
pleasing to the Lord.
Conclusion
Do you know
what holy means? It means set apart. We have some things in our house that are
only used when we have special company. They aren't used for daily, ordinary
purposes. That is one sense of holy. When I want to write a note to myself or
figure something out, I grab a piece of scrap paper that has writing on the
other side. When I want to write a letter to someone special, I take a clean
piece of paper that is not blemished by anything else. That is another sense of
holy. So holiness has about it a separateness from the ordinary and a
cleanness.
When it
comes to the way we live in this world, that is what we are called to. The
values we have are to be different than everyone else in the world. They are
values formed by God Himself. Our lifestyle is not to be marked disobedience
and sin, but to be lived in obedience to God.
Because we
have been changed by Jesus and in order to avoid the wrath of God and in order
to not be influenced by evil but rather to be an influence, we as followers of
Jesus are to imitate the holiness of Jesus. We know that we will not be perfect
in this, but this morning I want to encourage us not to give up, but to commit
ourselves once again to be holy as we are called to be holy. May God give us
grace to shine for Him.
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