Come, Live in the Light

The prophet Isaiah foretold, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” But now that the light has dawned, how are the people who have seen the light supposed to live?

It would be really easy to reminisce about sitting around a campfire singing “It only takes a spark to get a fire going…” a spark that is a gift of God and which we pass on, bringing light to the darkness of earth. Or to draw us even farther back to “This Little Light of Mine” I’m gonna let it shine, hide it under a bushel – no! I’m gonna let it shine, bringing light to the darkness of earth.

It would be easy to skip over the verses between where we left off in Ephesians last week, “Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” and where we picked up this week, “For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, walk as children of light” and to leave out the middle verses with their details about the darkness.

Because, truth be told, it is unsettling to realize and acknowledge the shadows, the places we have not allowed God’s light to reach, in our own lives. It is unsettling, and it might be transforming.

In these middle verses, Ephesians 5:3-7, Paul writes to the churches around Ephesus, “Among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality…or of greed [for these are idolatry], and are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, but rather offer words of thankful praise.”

“Remember the song that the congregation sang at your baptism?” he asks. “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.”

Here’s what was happening, people were joining the church and they weren’t changing. They were still living the way they had always lived and finding ways to justify it.

One group argued that people are spirit and body, and that spirit is good and body is always evil. And the two are so separate that it doesn’t matter what a person does with their body. Yet, God formed us – body and spirit – Christ took on flesh – the Holy Spirit has come upon us…this line of thought was rejected as heretical. God is concerned with our redemption – body and spirit.

Another group argued that if grace is the greatest thing in the world, and God’s grace is able to redeem every sin, then we should continue sinning because the more we sin the more God’s grace is able to work. In fact, sin is good because it causes more grace to be produced, and how can it be bad to produce grace, since it is the greatest thing in the world? Yet, grace is a gift, to be honored and respected, to be treasured. This line of thought was rejected by Paul when he wrote to the Romans, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.”

Wake up. Open your eyes and really look. Are you walking in the light or are you still living the way of deep darkness? To walk as children of light requires change because they have been walking as children of darkness.

In his letter to the church at Rome, Paul warns, “Do not allow this world to mold you in its own image. Instead, be transformed from the inside out by focusing your mind on God.”

The first letter of John teaches, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.”

So, from the very earliest days of the church until even now, Christians have sought to answer Christ’s invitation to “Come, live in the light.”

One answer to the problem of making sure you aren’t being formed by the world is to withdraw. By the mid-third Century, small groups of faithful people were committing to live together in ascetic, strictly disciplined, communities in the desert, removed from urban life.

The other answer is to remain, in the world without being of the world, to be light-bearers, exposing the darkness.

Paul’s instructions are clear:

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness. The fruits of light are benevolence, right relationships, and truth; so, the fruits of darkness are stingy tight-fistedness, relationships broken by injustice, and dishonesty.

The way to move into the light is to start with our words. Every time we speak obscenity or coarse jokes, we corrupt ourselves. We shift our thinking and imagination toward darkness. When we remove course, obscene, rude, vulgar, profane language from our speech – and from our social media engagement – we shift our thinking. Over time, they are removed from our thoughts. And once they are removed from our thoughts, they are removed from our actions. Do not be foolish, says Paul, and go to the pagan worship gatherings, where they get drunk and commit sexually immoral acts that take advantage of the weak and those society labels “less than”. Let the Holy Spirit fill your life with songs of praise, with thanksgiving, with community that puts the other first.

The days, though, warns Paul, are evil. Because it is easy to let a day go by, to share a crude joke or to make a rude comment, thinking tomorrow I’ll do better. But another day goes by and another day…and we don’t change. It is up to us to open ourselves to be filled with God’s light. We choose how much to open.

We come to this table today to receive the grace of Jesus Christ, and it is the most incredible gift. It cleanses us from all our sin, every word, every thought, every action. It restores us to right relationship with God. May we receive and respond to Christ’s invitation, “Come, live in the light.” Not just as we worship, not just this afternoon, but tomorrow, and Tuesday, day after day…”

“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.”