Living as Children of Light in a Dark World

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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. [00:01:09]

It is our identity in Christ which then gives rise to our activity for Christ. It is our new life in Jesus which then is the foundation of our new lifestyle. And this of course is not unique to Paul in his letter to the Ephesians. He says similarly in Colossians, the Father has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. [00:02:36]

And so it is because they're no longer what they once were, that they must no longer live as they once did, and it is foundationally important that we get a hold of that. Throughout the entire first half of chapter five the emphasis has been on life and lifestyle walking. [00:03:34]

The challenge that comes across is a clear challenge: you're different now therefore you live differently now. Notice carefully what he says. He doesn't say therefore do not become friends with them. He says do not become partners with them. He's not ruling out friendship; he's ruling out partnership. [00:08:21]

The reason that we are not to be partners with the sons of disobedience is because we are now members of a new group. As we have seen in Colossians 1 from what we just quoted, we are now in the sense of light. So we were once in a band and the band was called the sons of disobedience and we're no longer in that band. [00:06:46]

He's not actually calling for the establishing of a Christian ghetto. He is not arguing for a monasticism if we might put it that way. He is not giving a foundation for some of us who would like to make a statement like this a kind of call to ensure that our contacts are exclusively with Christians. [00:11:37]

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers. When I read yoked I thought two things: one, I thought about oxen and the picture of a yoke which I think you're supposed to think, and then I actually thought at a far more trivial level of the egg and spoon race at our sports day. [00:13:10]

The works of darkness are unfruitful. They're ultimately empty. They're an expression of futility. One of the great questions that confronts a man or a woman every day that we awaken is, you know, what am I actually doing? What am I, where am I going? How do I make sense of this strange existence? [00:17:15]

What fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? What fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you're now ashamed? Now I could ask people to come up here and we could spend the balance of the time and numbers of you come up and say absolutely no fruit at all. [00:18:40]

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness but now he tells them something that they need to be doing, not something they shouldn't be doing. So he turns positively. What are we to do? Expose them. Expose them. Who or what is the them? That then refers to the unfruitful works, not to the unfruitful workers. [00:19:45]

What he is seeing is that the essential difference in the believer's life, the shining light that is present in the life of the believer however strong or dim it may be at any point along the way, but the light in the believer shows up the dark stuff for what it is. It shows up the dark stuff for what it is. [00:21:33]

Our lives are to reflect the light of the gospel as we walk in a dark world. It's our prayer at Truth For Life that God will work through these messages to lead those who are unbelievers to follow Jesus and to encourage believers to remain faithful in a culture that is increasingly challenging. [00:22:01]

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