"All things become visible when they are exposed by the light"

Ephesians 5:1-21 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Be Imitators of God

5 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; ² and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

³ But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; ⁴ and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. ⁵ For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷ Therefore do not be partakers with them; ⁸ for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light ⁹ (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), ¹⁰  trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; ¹² for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. ¹³ But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. ¹⁴ For this reason it says,

“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵ Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, ¹⁶  making the most of your time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸ And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; ²⁰ always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; ²¹  and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; ¹² for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. ¹³ But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light…    The church today could benefit by following Paul’s instruction in these few verses. First the church and believers are told not to participate in deeds of darkness.  He says:       But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; ⁴ and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. ⁵ For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

In Revelation 21:6-8    it says:    “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. ⁷ He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. ⁸ But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

It is quite clear then that believers should not be embracing and tolerating the immorality and perversions of our present culture any more than we would tolerate murderers. We also though need to look at the whole list in 21:8. It says the cowardly,  unbelieving and all liars will also experience the second death. Cowardly and unbelieving are also translated as fearful and doubters.

Before the church speaks against the evil and darkness of our society and culture, we need to make sure we are free of these things ourselves. We can never by our own actions and efforts remove the darkness from ourselves. It is through Christ alone that we are changed.    Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)  It is in Christ that we are changed.  1 John 1:5-7 says:  This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; ⁷ but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.      There is no darkness in God. If we are to be like God, like Christ, there should be no darkness in us.

Let’s also look though at what else Paul says in today’s text.  Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;  for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.  We need to understand the truth of what Paul says here.  “It is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.” We mistakenly believe that we expose the darkness by talking about it. In truth the more we talk about it the more power we give it. The more we focus on and concentrate on darkness the darker things become. When people post violent videos on social media to decry violence, it actually perpetuates violence. Those violent act are then seen and shared hundreds, thousands or even millions of times, feeding the spirit of violence, hatred and prejudice. The same is true when we talk about immorality. Those who participate in the acts of immorality don’t need us to describe and talk about what is done. Again, that only feeds and fuels the spiritual darkness behind those acts.

We can flail at and rail against the darkness in our society and culture to little effect. Or we can do as we are called to do. We can:     Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)   We can speak out against the darkness of our times or we can:      "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” (Mark 16:15)  

Paul says: “all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light” It is only light which will expose and overcome the darkness of this age. May we as believers, followers of Christ, His church, walk in His light. Jesus did not tolerate or embrace sin when He walked and ministered as a man, neither should we.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, the light of the world, Holy Spirit forgive me where I have walked in darkness or empowered the spirit of darkness by speaking the disgraceful things it does. Thank You that in You there is no darkness and that in and through Christ I can walk in the light. Empower me by the Spirit to shine the light of Christ into the darkness of the world. Your light alone can overcome and dispel the darkness. I pray as John the Baptist said:  “He must increase, but I must decrease.”   I pray for others that they would:   “Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.”    Amen.