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You're listening to audio from Faith Church Indy.  This fall we're studying the book of Ephesians,  learning about the new life that we find in Christ.  Now here's the teaching.  Before we read our scripture today, I would like to  introduce  our guest preacher for today.  Dr. Nicholas Piotrowski is the founding president of our seminary partner locally,  Indianapolis Theological Seminary. um He  is uh also a biblical theologian who has written some fascinating works, if you get a chance to see them.  And it's just a great privilege to have him join us today.  He'll be walking us through Ephesians. uh Chapter five, verses eight through 14, which  I will ask if you stand as we read those. So please listen as I read. For at one time you were darkness,  but now you are light in the world. 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. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, awake, O sleeper  and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. This is the word of the Lord. In the beginning,  God created the heavens  and the earth  and the earth was formless and void  and darkness  was over the face of the deep  and God's spirit hovered. over the face of the waters.  And then God said,  let there be light.  And there was light. God simply spoke  into the darkness  of the primordial creation and light  came into existence  into the world. Scholars, theologians, critics  have all wondered, what is that light? What is that light? The sun and the moon  are not created for several days. So what is this  light  as God's  first act  of organizing the created  world that he just made? Well, I the best interpretation is that this is the resplendent effulgence of the divine glory. That is to say,  God creates the world in darknesses over the face of the earth. The first thing he does is he extends his presence into that created world in the form of light. This is the same light that we would subsequently come to be known in the book of Exodus as the Shekinah glory. And Israel comes out of Egypt and they come to Mount Sinai and the Lord meets them on the mountain.  It's in the form of fire on the top of the mountain. And then for 40 years, the light of God's presence goes before the children of Israel by night to give them  light. So whenever God is present in the created world, it's described as  light.  In the Gospel of John, this biography of Jesus begins like this. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. The Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him. And without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life. And the life was  the light  of men. The light shines into the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. That's how John begins his account of the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth. He describes his coming into the world  as God coming to the world  as  light. Now, what kind of light is that? That's the same question. We don't think Jesus walked around  glowing,  putting off physical light. What kind of light is this? Well, as you read the rest of John,  it becomes very clear that this is intellectual light.  This is knowledge  of God that you would otherwise not have. You'd be in complete darkness about who God is. Were it not for Jesus shining the light of the knowledge of God into the world. And then secondly, it's moral light. It's ethical light.  The world is dark because it does not know God and the world is dark because it does not obey God. Jesus' coming into the world is the shining of the knowledge of God  and the holiness and righteousness of God to expose darkness and to bring light into  that kind of darkness. And so light, whether it's these two passages or anywhere else in the Bible, is a very powerful metaphor to speak of God's presence. It's more than a metaphor. To speak of God's presence, to speak of knowledge of Him, to speak of right living and salvation. Isaiah says the light of salvation has dawned on us. And then in the Sermon on the Mount, you know this, right? Greatest sermon ever preached. Jesus says to his followers, you are the light. of the world. I don't think Jesus just pulls that metaphor out of nowhere. I think everything that the Bible is saying already about  what it means  that there is light from God in creation,  in His incarnation. He now says, you are the light. There's an extension therefore of God's presence,  knowledge,  and morality extended through to the world through His people. through his people. Sometimes it doesn't feel that way, but it doesn't matter. That's what the Bible says. And so that's the truth. Our passage today, which is already read for us in Ephesians chapter 5, goes in the same direction, doesn't it? Look again in chapter five, this is Ephesians five, verse eight. Paul says, at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the world, in the Lord. Walk therefore as children of light. What does he mean here? What's this passage about? Sometimes when you read the Bible, it can feel like, they're on this topic, then that topic, and meandering a little bit, and Paul can feel that way too. A little tip for you. And then try to figure out what Paul means. Look for the active verbs, the active verbs where he's describing specifically what someone is doing or should do.  You can see the first one right there in verse eight. Walk. Walk as children of light. That's an imperative. He's telling you what to do. This is what you ought to do. You ought to walk as children of light, not as children of darkness, obviously. So that's the point of this passage. Paul wants to tell the Ephesians, and us, here's what you ought to do. Walk as children  of  light. Secondly, verse 11, take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness. Well, that makes a lot of sense. You just called us to walk in light. The opposite would be darkness. Therefore, walk in light, not in the darkness. And why? For, verse 12, it is shameful even to speak of the things that others do in secret. The way the sinful world operates that doesn't know God, that doesn't walk in the light, they want to do things in secret. That makes a lot of sense because when you do things that are sinful and evil and corrupt and so on and so forth, you want to hide that. So secret and darkness kind of work in parallel here. And this is why verse 14, because we should walk in the light, not in the darkness, because the things done in darkness are shameful. This is why in verse it is said,  awake, oh sleeper, and arise from the dead.  Christ will shine upon you. So really simple flow of thought here. You should walk his light, not in the darkness, because the darkness is shameful. And we have this saying among us, don't we? Arise and no longer sleep. Arise from the dead. Christ will shine upon you. Probably some early Christian  slogan that he's developing out of some some verses  in Isaiah. So if that's the flow of thought, that's the main point Paul wants to get at here. There are three points that I would like to make. from this passage. Number one, how  should we walk? How should we walk? If the main point is in verse eight, walk, how should we walk? Number two, how should we walk specifically  as children of light? What does Paul mean by that? And then thirdly,  this text is, I want to show you, is imploring us to walk as children of light together. So that's the third point. How do we walk as children of light, not  individual automatons,  but collectively as the people of God, how do we walk as children of light together? So how do we walk? How do we walk as children of light? How do we walk as children of light together? So number one, how then  should we walk? If Paul says in verse 8, you should walk. That's what we call an imperative. Paul is giving us a command. You must do this. You ought to do this. And as Paul is inspired by the Holy Spirit, what this means is God Himself. is telling us,  walk. Now, anytime we see these kinds of imperatives in the Bible, I think we get a little nervous, don't we? Here we go again with the rules,  right?  Some kind of works righteousness or some kind of attaining of our status with God because we walk in or behave or obey in a certain way. Well, don't be nervous.  Christianity is full of commands. There is a way to live. Christ said what? Follow me.  Then he preaches the Sermon on the Mount. The Ten Commandments are the moral will of God. Paul is full of instructions of bear one another's burdens, weep with those who weep, rejoice with those who rejoice, walk in the spirit. Ephesians, Galatians 5, right? So the Bible is full of instruction on how we ought to live. The key is we need to understand these commands and instructions for Christian life. in their right relationship to the rest of the Christian doctrine. Here's what I mean. In the New Testament, in fact this is true in the Old Testament too, test me on this. The Bible always talks about what God has done first for your redemption  and then discusses how you ought to live. He always,  there's always an explanation of what God has done,  either let's say in the Exodus or in His providential acts in Old Testament or done in the Gospel in the New Testament. What He's done in the Gospel through Jesus Christ. And if that's true, if Christ has really saved you through His death, resurrection and gift of the Spirit, therefore you can now live in a new way. In fact, that's God's goal. God's goal is not just to get you out of hell, as good as that is. is to get you out of hell and turn you into a new kind of people. I think about it. Think about this. Israel comes out of Egypt, right, in the first 18 chapters of Exodus, and then they're given the Ten Commandments. It's not the other way around. The Lord does not say, here are the Ten Commandments. Here you go, ten of these. If you can keep all of these, then I'll save you from Pharaoh. Does he do that? No. He saves them by His grace through His own sovereign power from Egypt  and then says, now that you're my people, live like this, 10 commandments. Not like that. The same is true in the New Testament, especially in Paul. Paul always begins with the work of God in Christ and then,  never leaves it there, always then turns it to here's now how you ought to live.  Christ is truly in you. Never the other way around. Let me show you here in Ephesians itself. Notice that I've already pointed this out. Ephesians 5.8 says, walk as children of light. This seems to be a term Paul likes because in chapter 5 verse 2, Paul says, walk in love. In verse 15, he says, be careful how you walk. So walking  is a way for Paul to speak about living the Christian life. Well, if you jump back to chapter one, there's another curious verb here that Paul likes. Chapter one, verse 20, talks about how God worked in Christ. This is Ephesians 1 20. God worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places. That is clearly an articulation of Jesus's resurrection. ascension into heaven. God raised him from the dead, called him up to heaven, and now,  Ephesians chapter 1 verse 20, Jesus is  sitting at the right hand. Why is he sitting? He's sitting because he's done. He's finished his work of redemption. In dying for sinners, rising from the dead, ascending to heaven, Christ has completed his great work of redemption. Does that make sense? Now look at chapter two, verse six.  and He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him  in the heavenly places in Christ. You see that? In chapter 1 verse 20, Jesus is seated in heaven because He's raised from the dead. And then Paul says in 2 6, you too are seated in heaven with Christ. Now you thought you were seated in the faith church auditorium on College Avenue. But Paul says, yeah, that may be true. But there's also a reality that you are sitting right now in heaven because Christ is seated in heaven. In other words, When Christ was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven, and equally, he gave his spirit to the world. He gave his spirit to his believers so that there is a real  spiritual  union between the risen Jesus Christ and us down here on earth. So that Paul can say,  are actually seated  in Christ in the heavenly places. To put it simply, the work of redemption is already completed for those of you who are in Christ. And you are already in heaven. It's a guarantee that the work necessary for your salvation  was entirely accomplished in Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension. In other words, there's nothing else for you to do.  to add to your salvation and there's nothing you can do to take away from it because the work is already done in Christ. And there's a perfect verb to explain that.  Seated in the heavenly places. And you too are seated because the work of redemption is finished.  But Paul wants you to do what? Walk. He wants you to walk. And if you look at chapter six, verse 11, he says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to  stand against the wily schemes of the devil. So there's a theological logic going on for Paul. It goes like this. You can walk in light and you can stand against the devil only if you're seated in Christ. See, if I asked you to put these verbs in order, walk, stand, sit, you would probably say, yeah, well, that makes sense. Walk and stand and sit, or stand, then walk and sit, or sit, then stand, then walk, or something like that. Paul says, here's the logic.  Sit, walk, stand. because you are seated in Christ and His perfect atoning work is done and you are united to Him,  therefore you have the ability to walk as children of light. If we get this backwards, if we think for a moment, okay, in my mind, if I walk as a child of light, if I obey, if I'm faithful, if I do good works, I will then  establish my seat.  at the table. In other words, I will earn some merit before God, then you will stumble. Because there's nothing we can do to possibly earn our way to the pleasures of God. Christ has already done all the work and when you understand that and you sit and rest and sit in Him, which is another way of saying trust Him, have faith in Him, then you are empowered to walk in the ways  of  the Lord. sit, walk, then stand. To put it another way, Paul is not calling us to become something through our walking. He's simply saying, be who you already are. Be who you already are. If you are in Christ, then what does it say in verse eight? You  are the light already. You are the light. Now, act like it. Because God's purposes in redemption And the death and resurrection  of Christ and his gift of the Spirit is not just, although it's a lot to forgive you of your sins, that's a lot, but it's also to change you into a new people who can walk in a new way, contrary to what it also says in verse eight, darkness. Walk in a way that, a different way than you were before you knew  the Lord. So Paul wants you to understand. that the ability to live the Christian life originates because we are already redeemed by Christ, united to him, so much so that we are  sitting in the heavenly places. And that allows us to walk down here on earth. So that's number one. Paul wants you to  understand that  relationship between the works of Christ already completed  and the works he now calls us to. Number two, if we're to walk,  we're to walk specifically  in  the light. Now, how do we do that? How do we walk  in  the light? Look at verse 10. If verse eight says  walk in the light, verse 10 tells you how.  By trying to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. So the first way  that we walk in the light  is by thinking. That's what discernment means. Discernment means to grow in our knowledge, to think right thoughts after God, and to understand what it says in verse nine, what is good, true, and right. Do you see that in verse nine? What is good, true, and right. So the first way of walking  is actually a way of thinking, which we've already started with. Think of Christ's finished atoning work  and from there,  your position that you walk. But also consider this, consider this. We live in a world where there are some serious  competing ideas of what is  good, right and true. All kinds of isms  out there  and they're everywhere.  Competing. ideas  of who is God, what is the world, what is humanity, what is a man and a woman,  what are politics, what is money for, what's the meaning of life. I mean there are too many to mention right now, but they're all out there and they surround us and they seep into us  because of the technological culture we live in, the economic system we live in,  the friends we have. the media we consume,  the magazines we read, the billboards we see on the side of the road. In other words, there's just a cacophony of voices all around  trying to  make us think what they think is good, true, and beautiful, as opposed to what God says is good, true, and beautiful. For example, this thing right here. This is brand new. I never had one these when I was your age. They didn't exist, right? But now everybody's got one. and we're on them all the time. Here's a little exercise you can do this week. Don't do it now. I don't want you on your phone right now. I'm on my phone right now. You can simply go to this little gear. You know this little gear? It's like little inside of a clock. Later today, click on that gear. And if you don't have an iPhone, you've got some other kind of phone. I'm sure there's a way to do it there too. And then a little search bar will come up. Type in the word week,  W-E-E-K. And the first thing that will come up, it'll say screen time this week. You click on that and it will tell you how much time this week you spent on messages.  Games,  very specific games that you played. uh the internet,  eBay, whatever you do  to scroll through and spend time on your phone.  Well, this thing is a worldview and ism funnel.  All those perspectives on the good, true and beautiful that are competing with God in the scriptures  are out there and they're coming into your brain  and into your heart through this thing right here. And so you can see How much exposure do you have  to the isms of the world that have a different perspective on the good, true, and beautiful than God does? And then compare that number, how much time did you spend, to  how much time did you spend reading the Bible this week? How much time did you spend in your small group this week? How much time did you spend  at the Wednesday Bible study here? You understand? Make a comparison. That's all I'm saying. Make a comparison. And you can get a gauge if those numbers are significantly lopsided. I understand sometimes the phone is used for work and things like that. But if the intake of the worldly isms significantly lopsided  to your Bible intake, your scripture intake, your theology and Christianity intake, then I guarantee you, you're being influenced by what is not good,  right and true. And you are not discerning what is pleasing to the Lord.  So the first way we walk  in light is to learn, to  grow, to discern, to  think what God thinks.  That's number one.  That's what it says in verse 10. And the way to do that is, as I've already mentioned, through the Scriptures  and through God's people.  So you simply spend time,  I mean, literacy. Wow, what a gift.  And we all have Bibles in our homes. The creator and redeeming God has spoken to us and you can just read and hear him. You can spend time with each other and learn from them the will of God. So walk as children of light by discerning what is pleasing to  the Lord. Number two, when we walk in the light, another thing we do is we push back the darkness. Do you see that there in verse 11? Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. Push them back. When light shines, it doesn't only shine into the darkness, but what does it do? It dispels the darkness. The darkness is gone. So by learning and growing, And your discernment of what is good, true and beautiful in God's eyes, you not only shine a light, but you also push back the forces  of darkness. You know, those isms I was talking about, competing worldviews and perspectives on life that are out there,  we call them replacement myths,  replacement myths.  Because those who  are not Christians call Christianity a myth. God created and the virgin had a baby. These are myths, so they say, right? And in their attempt to get away from those myths, they haven't gotten away from any myths. They simply replace them with other myths, different myths about who they think God is. What is a human body? What is marriage? What is good? What is true? What is beautiful? So these replacement myths out there. And here's the thing, as we raise our kids in this culture, they will be indoctrinated with those replacement myths. And so there's a way to live and learn in the scriptures that will not only countermand those myths,  but also dispel them from our homes, from our neighborhoods, from our lives, from our schools. But that's only if we discern and learn and grow  and discover what is pleasing to the Lord. Verse 10. I mean, what did Jesus say? Again, Sermon on the Mount helps us here. He said, don't shine it in a corner. He's says, Jesus uh is  Get out there with walking in the light, following me and everything I'm teaching, Jesus is teaching,  and show off.  Show off. Let the world see the good that you're doing in your homes, in your neighborhoods, in your jobs,  here at church, and so on and so forth, so that they may look and they may say, wow, look at those Christians doing something different and unique and  light providing, whereas the rest of the world is darkness. So we walk in the light by discerning what the Lord is pleasing to the Lord. Number two, pushing back the replacement myths of the world. And then number three, would say also confession. Confession. Now where do I get confession from? Well, it's not here exactly, but in 1 John, listen to this. This is the message we heard from the beginning. And we proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light as he is in the light,  we have fellowship with one another  and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So you can easily be understood that, man, I gotta live a perfect life or something if I'm gonna be light in the world.  No,  you don't have to live a perfect life, but you gotta live a self-aware life. You gotta understand there's places of darkness in the world, and you know what they are.  I don't need to explain them to you. That are influencing and infiltrating our lives. Confess. Confess and repent. Confess to the Lord. Got a faithful brother or sister in the church. Confess to them  and turn from your sin. And it says in 1 John, he is eager to forgive you. He wants to forgive you and amplify your light  all the more. So we walk in the light  by learning the will of God, exposing and pushing back darkness and confessing our sins and receiving that beautiful life-giving forgiveness from Jesus. Number three, now, how do we walk in the light together? in  the New Testament, in the books of Paul in particular, whenever you see the word you,  I don't want to say all the time because I'm sure you'll find one example, but 99.9 % of the time when you see the word you in the letters of Paul,  it's a plural you. It's y'all.  You understand? In English, we don't have the distinction between the singular you,  Nick, how doing, right, and the Collective, y'all or yous, you get it? But in Greek they do. And in Paul,  when he says,  you are light, verse eight, it's collective, y'all are the light. When he says walk as children of light, even that, that imperative is a  y'all ought to walk as children of light and so on and so forth.  And so consistently in Paul's letters, he's not talking to you as an individual. He's talking to you as a member of a collective whole that is the community of God. And so, he's telling the community, the whole congregation of the Ephesians and telling you as well, Faith Church, that collectively, your light should shine into the world, dispel darkness. Collectively, you should grow in discernment. Collectively, you should confess your sins and receive forgiveness. The difference between The Lone Ranger,  individual Christian, and the community is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. I looked into it this week. A lightning bug produces  what is equivalent to one eighth of a watt. One eighth of a watt. That's not nothing, that's something. You can see lightning bugs at night. One eighth of a watt. Lightning produces the equivalent of one billion watts of energy with a single crash. You understand? One billion. What that means is a lightning bolt  is eight billion times more powerful than a lightning bug. No surprise. No surprise. But I want that image to resonate with you. Some people imagine their Christian lives as me, Jesus, the Bible, Holy Spirit, and God, and that's it. New Testament doesn't imagine it that way. New Testament teaches that we are in a family. We are a temple. We are a body. You understand? And that collectively we are the people of God. And that if you are light, you can shine your Christian light like a lightning bug by yourself, which lights up a little bit, but you can't say that dispels darkness.  Or in the communion of saints, in the fellowship of the church, bring your little lightning bug lights together and you might create a lightning flash that dispels darkness all over the whole land. Does that make sense? That's what Paul imagines here. A communal  light collecting into the culture  radiating effect that dispels the darkness all around us. So two quick points of application. Number one, I would contend that the New Testament has a very high view of church membership. That there  is no conception of a lone ranger Christian in the New Testament, but only those who have committed to a local church and are fully part of a local church. In our day, we simply call that membership. Membership is raising my hand saying, I'm here, I wanna be part of this body, I wanna contribute my lightning, light to this lightning flash. And I want to be encouraged equally by the same by the rest of the community. I want the pastors to know who I am. I want to know the people. But if you're not a member, you just kind of come and you visit.  It's like you're in, you're not in. Are you with us? Are you not with us? Jump in. Go all the way. Be part of the body. If not this church, another gospel preaching church where you can say,  I am all the way in and all the way committed to dispelling the darkness and walking as the light. together with real people, not just conceptually like, I love Christians in the Philippines. We don't know any Christians in the Philippines. You only know the Christians around you.  And so join in the membership of a local church that preaches the gospel from the scriptures. This one is good example. Number two, if you are a member, don't run away.  Don't run away after the service. Get to know each other, have some fellowship, share your life with one another, be part of a small group, come to those Wednesday Bible studies. and so on and so forth. Again, it's easy to be a member in name, but then actually live your life in isolation. I realize for some people, you know, that's more difficult. We're not as gregarious as others. Okay, you got a little more work to do. You don't got to make friends with everybody in the church, but find a way to have meaningful connections with people, share your life with them, let them share their life with you so that rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep actually has some meaning. And walk as the light together  actually has  some  meaning. Finally, this  word here in verse 15, what in the world does Paul mean? Therefore, awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Everything said so far is the justification for that verse. What does mean by that? Well, it's probably an early Christian slogan.  It doesn't exactly have an Old Testament reference, but it's probably drawn from the language of Isaiah 60. Now, why is that significant? Because Isaiah 60 is about a new creation, a new  world. that the creator God is bringing about. And what Paul is saying is that new world has already started. Look, there's light just like the first creation. And that light is us. We need to awake and shine our lights because again, Christ has already been raised from the dead. Therefore, we are being raised from the dead. As Ephesians 2.10 says, to walk in the works that he's prepared in advance for us. to do.  And mystery of mysteries. In Genesis chapter one, the light  before the sun was an extension of God's presence into  his created world. Jesus's birth  is also  an extension of God's presence  into the world. How does God extend his presence further and further into the darkness? The answer is  through us, sinful, frail, ignorant, forgetful, simple-minded as we are, because  it's the work of Christ's Spirit, not our own efforts,  but Christ's Spirit through us as we are seated with Him, that indeed we collectively can be  a light shining into the darkness. Let's pray. Almighty God in heaven, you who are. God of God,  light  of light, very God of very God, we stand in awe that you would  condescend to shine your goodness, your knowledge, your salvation upon us, and then use us  to shine that same into the rest of the world.  Would you do exactly that with this congregation? In Jesus' matchless name, amen  and amen. Thank you for engaging with our community by checking out this podcast.  If you would like more information about our church and ministry, you can find us at faithchurchindeed.com.