Living Sent As Children of Light

Amen. Go ahead and have a seat. I’m so glad that you came into the house of God. Worthy is the name of the Lord. Amen? How you doing today? Everybody ok? Tired a little bit? Tired? Anybody? I was a little foggy driving into church. I’m thankful for the worship team pointing us through the fog today and on to Jesus Christ. But go ahead and open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. And we are continuing in our series “ONE- United in Christ.” We have this week and next week left and then we’ll be jumping into the Easter season.

But we have been looking at what it means to be imitators of God. That’s what Ephesians 5 has us looking at the last couple of weeks. And so the mark has been set, the standard has been set. And God’s Word calls us to be holy as God is holy. So we just proclaimed the perfection of God, the holiness of God. and yet Jesus called believers to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Therefore, be imitators of God on the earth.

And so the past two weeks in Ephesians 5 we were looking at what it looks like to walk in love. Imitators of God walk in the sacrificial Jesus-kind of love. And last week we saw what it looks like to not walk in love. And it looks like a whole bunch of sexual sin or sins that lead to sexual immorality. And we’re supposed to put that off.

Well today Paul is going to challenge us with another way that we should walk as imitators of God. We are called to walk as children of light in the world. Did you know that your salvation not only makes you an adopted, beloved child of God. It not only makes you an heir with Christ, it not only brings you from death to life, but the power of God’s saving grace in your life brings you from the darkness into His marvelous light. In Christ you are 100% different than you were before Christ.

And so what Ephesians is telling us is that to even dabble in the darkness of this world is you trying to hide a light in a dark room. Think about how foolish that would be. If you had a massive Maglite and you were walking into a dark room, it’s pretty hard to cover up a light, right? It’s pretty foolish. You’re trying to cover it. It’s hard to cover up light in a dark room. You could certainly dim it. You could certainly try to cover it up. And yet that’s just making you a dim Christian or a lukewarm Christian.

And in Revelation chapter 3 it says that Jesus will spit lukewarm Christians out of His mouth. It makes him gag. You weren’t saved so that you could be dim and so that you could cover up your light. You were saved so that you could shine bright, so that you could shine bold, so that you could light up the world. And so that’s what Paul aims to tell us today as we continue in the book of Ephesians.

So we’ve been focusing a lot on inward growth as believers. Today is going to get a little bit outward focused. That’s encouraging. That should encourage you. Because all of this growth that happens inside of you is so that you can be a light to the world. So here’s the big idea on the screen. Living sent displays the light of Christ and will expose and awaken the darkness. Living sent displays the light of Christ and will expose and awaken the darkness.

Now I want you to get your eyes on a copy of God’s Word. Ephesians chapter 5. We’ll be in verses 7 through 14 today. And let’s honor God’s Word and allow it to speak to us. Now hear the Word of the Lord.

Verse 7. Therefore do not become partners with them; 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. 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.”
(Ephesians 5:7-14)

So this is God’s great Word for us today. And before we dive into it, before we dig into it, you understand that light and darkness is one of the most familiar metaphors in the Bible that describe the unregenerate world versus those who have been made alive in Christ Jesus. And so Pastor Mitch this week gave me a bunch of passages of Scripture that show me the difference between light and darkness or the metaphor of light and darkness in the world. And I want to read some of them to you as we dive into our text for today. I want you to see the theological viewpoint of light and darkness all throughout Scripture.

Psalm 119:105 says, Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

So the Bible, the Word of God that we just read to one another, it reveals the way that we should walk in the world. It’s like a light on a dark path. And so just as a light lights up the way that you should go, the Word of God lights up the way that we as believers should go.

In Isaiah 5:20 the prophet said this: Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.

So the word “darkness” in Isaiah 5 is speaking of what is evil in the world and light is speaking of what is good. And Isaiah was speaking into a time when the culture was trying to trade what is good for what is evil. That’s very similar to our day and age, right? We’re calling what is good evil and what is evil good. But in Isaiah 9 he addresses the issue. We looked at this at Advent. But it says that the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

So the word darkness in the Bible shows us a state of utter doom and hopelessness, and yet a light was going to shine into the doom. And that light is Jesus Christ. He would be a Wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, an Everlasting Father, a Prince of Peace. And in the gospel of John, John 8:12, we see the fulfillment of it. Jesus spoke to them saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So it echoes what Isaiah chapter 9 was prophesying that Jesus is the hope of salvation. He is the light of the world who has come to save people from their darkness.

Now I heard your elder chairman, Justin Butler, last week on Sunday night. He was speaking at Core class about man and sin. And I heard him say that almost everything in the Bible can be traced back to the Creation account in Genesis chapter 1. I think that’s great. And so just as God spoke into the darkness, “Let there be light.” God made something out of nothing, right? In your darkness, the light of Christ has shone and God has said, “Let there be light.” And you went from darkness to light. God has made something out of nothing. He’s made you a child of God when you were an enemy of God at heart.

Colossians 1:13 says, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son.” And so Satan’s kingdom is darkness; God’s kingdom is light.

And one more. 1 John 1:5-7 on the screen says this: This is the message we have heard from him and 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 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 his Son cleanses us from all sin.

So God is not only light, but our worthy walk on the earth is described as light. And God is perfect and holy and good. And those who are born of Him walk in the light as He is in the light and they do not sin. So hopefully you see in Scripture today a clear distinction between the two kinds of people in the world. Notice that I said two kinds of people. There are two kinds of people here today. There are people here who are dead in darkness. And that’s where the majority of the world finds themselves. The way is wide that leads to destruction.

So there are people who are dead in darkness and there are people who are alive in light. And that way is narrow and it leads to life. But in the already but not yet. That’s where we’re living. We’re becoming what we already are. The book of Ephesians is helping us see that we need the teaching of Ephesians chapter 5 because sometimes our light doesn’t look so much like light. Yo’uve experienced that? That’s the spirit of the world trying to take over from the spirit that is within you from God. And sometimes your light is not as bright as it should be. And that reveals one of two things: that we’re trying to hold onto the darkness, which is the old way of living, the way we’re trying to put off, or we’re not light at all and we need the light of Christ to save us.

And what I’m going to show you today in God’s Word in Ephesians chapter 5 is that if you’ll live boldly as the light that you have been made in Christ, three things can happen in your sanctification and in your walk with God. Ok?

So the first point is this this morning. You will display the fruit of light as you walk as light in the world. Display the fruit of light as you walk as light in the world.

Look at Ephesians 5:7. It starts out, Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light.

So again, when you see the word “therefore,” you’ve got to understand what it’s there for. And it says, “Therefore do not become partners with them.” Who are we not to become partners with? Everything that came before verse 7. And Paul gave us a running list, right? We’re not to become partners with the sexually immoral, with the impure, with the covetous, with the filthy and foolish talkers, with the crude jokers. And all of these things can be summed up as idolaters and sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, right?

But now that we’ve been changed we don’t live that way. But we also don’t become partners with these kinds of people. It’s a great case that if you are truly in Christ, you need to find some new friends. And that can be really hard being a Christian in a world is a hard thing.

I was talking to a college student this past week who’s living for the Lord on a big campus and he’s telling me it’s hard to find Christian friends. It’s hard to find people who want to shine bright for Jesus. And sometimes you feel alone in that. And that’s how it will feel as you walk out your salvation here on the earth. That’s why we need one another. That’s why we need the Body of Christ. Because our best friends are probably going to be found in the dark and dying world.

Proverbs 18:24 says this: A man of many friends may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

You don’t need a lot of friends. Popularity in the world will get you nothing. In fact, it might make your life come to ruin. But a few friends who love the Lord, who love the Word of God, who can hold you accountable, this can bring about sanctification and truth in your life.

So not only are you not supposed to become partners with these kinds of people, but Paul is giving us another gospel reminder. Look at verse 8. This might not be like a hall of fame Bible verse, but it should be. It’s an awesome verse. Look at it.

For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. What a great gospel reminder that you were darkness; now you are light in the Lord. Notice it doesn’t just say you were in darkness and now you’re in the light. You were darkness. It speaks to your broken, doomed nature. You were evil. You were a son of Satan, a daughter of Satan. Yet God transferred you to the kingdom of light. He gave you His light. You have the ability to shine bright in a dark world. You have the ability to look different than the rest of the world. You have the ability to shine into the darkness. You have the answer of hope in a dark world. And so verse 8 says it’s because you are in the Lord. It’s in Christ, the most important position you could ever find yourself in.

If you’re not in Christ, in the Lord, here this morning, you should be saying, “How can I get in Christ?” And the gospel beckons you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to repent of your sins and to believe and to follow God. This is the only way that you become transferred and you become light in darkness.

But if we’re not to be partners with darkness, because we were once darkness and now we are light, what are we called to do? Look at verse 9. It says, “walk as children of light,” at the end of verse 8. And then you’ve got these parentheses. “ (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true).” Verse 10, “and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.”

So the first thing that I thought of when I saw “walk as children of light,” I thought about kids with flashlights. Think about that. Kids with flashlights. That’s how you are to be as a follower of God, like a fun, innocent, dependent kid that’s just been given a Maglite. Just think about it. I never had to coach my children to turn on a flashlight in a dark room. Right? I’ve had to tell them to shut it off after they’ve shined it long past bedtime a few times. I’ve had to go in, I’ve had to confiscate the flashlights. But man, that’s how we’re called to be as believers of Jesus, shining that Maglite everywhere we go with boldness, unashamedly, so much so that some people might have to tell you to chill out with the flashlight.

“Hey, you’re shining too bright. Hey, you’re shining all over my mess. Hey, would you quit lighting up this room with the name of Jesus?” That’s how we are called to be as we walk as children of light.

And so the passage helps us to understand how we’re to do that. Look at it, that phrase, “walk as children of light.” And then skip over the parentheses to verse 10. “And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.”

So in the Greek, the translation doesn’t need the “try to.” it’s saying if you’re going to walk as children of the light, you’re going to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. And all of this is very helpful. How do we know what is pleasing to the Lord? Jump back to verse 9. It’s the fruit of light that is found in all that is good and right and true. So God’s Word is being very helpful to us, very clear to us. You’ve just kinda gotta sit in it for a moment.

Fruit and lights are massive metaphors in the Bible. We’ve seen light already. But fruit you’ve heard of. But have you heard them together? The fruit of light. Does light grow fruit? Does fruit grow on light? No. Fruit grows on what? Trees, right? Fruit grows on trees. But a tree won’t grow fruit if it doesn’t have what? Light. And so as the light shines on the tree, it begins to bear fruit.

And when the light of Christ has shown into your heart and changed you from darkness to light, Psalm 1 says, “Blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree planted by streams of waters who yields good fruit in due season.” That’s what your life is supposed to look like. You are supposed to be a tree planted by streams of water. And as the light of Christ shines on your life, you will begin to bear fruit.

It’s the same concept as the Holy Spirit sealing your life. As the light of Christ came into your life, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentless, self-control. And all of this fruit can be summed up in what verse 9 says. It’s found in what is good and what is right and true. That’s the fruit of light. As the light of Christ shines on you as you bear fruit because you’re like a tree planted by streams of water, you will produce what is good and what is right and what is true.

Pastor John Macarthur, he summed up what is good is referring to our horizontal morality. So the good things we do among one another, how you act, how you operate in the world. And then what is right is summed up in our vertical relationship with God. I live a righteous life because of the light of Christ that has shined into my life. And then what is this internal sanctification by truth? As I focus my life on what is good among one another and what is right between me and God and what is truth internally shaping my heart and my life, the light of Christ will help me discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

So walk as children of light by discerning what is pleasing to the Lord and you will grow fruit that is good and right and true. It’s something that I said a couple of weeks ago when we talked about sanctification. Garbage in, garbage out. What goes into your mind will eventually get to your heart and come out of your life. And so we have to protect what goes into our minds.

I thought about another example from when I was in eighth grade, ok? I grew up in a Christian home and my parents were trying to discern what is pleasing to the Lord often. And so we had some rules in our household. I grew up in a house that loved music. There was all kinds of music. There was a rock concert going on at my house all the time with all my brothers, and we played music. But all the music that was in my household was music that was glorifying to God. It was music that pointed us to Christ. All different genres, but the lyrics, the things that we listened to were pointing us to Christ.

And at times as a kid I thought that was lame. There were times as a kid that I thought, “That’s just a bunch of weird rules. I don’t listen to the lyrics. I just like the beat and the beat’s better.”

And I remember in eighth grade my friend brought a magazine where you could order CDs. And I ordered the Eminem CD, which was a rap artist. And it was his first one. And I got that album a couple of days later. I paid him ten bucks. And when I got that album, I cut the parental advisory sticker off and I put it in my awesome walkman. And I got on the bus and I had a long bus ride. And so I listened to the Eminem album on the whole way home as I was driving in the bus.

And by the grace of God I had enough of the light of Christ in me at that point in my life that it exposed the darkness of the Eminem CD. And I was driving on that bus, I was sick to my stomach with conviction, listening to these evil, dark lyrics. And they were going into my brain and they were convicting my soul. And I remember getting home and going up to my room and being just so under the conviction. And I hid the CD and the next day I took it back to my friend and said, “Hey, I can’t have this. I’m sorry, I cut the parental advisory off the front. I know that’s probably lame. If you want to give me my ten bucks back you can, but you don’t have to.”

But here’s the thing. I had enough of the light of Christ in me, but it was just really dim. Because I wasn’t seeing that my parents were trying to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. I just thought it was a bunch of rules. And the light of Christ by His grace showed me that the things of the world are dirty and rotten and full of doom and destruction. And I need to lock in to what is pleasing to the Lord, what is good and right and true. And that began to shape me going into my highschool years as one who wanted to walk as a child of light, not just by word but by action and by all that I said and did. It only comes from the grace of God.

But let me just move to point number two, which talks about exposing the evil in the world. That’s what the light of Christ did for me that day. Number two, expose the evil of darkness as you shine as light in the world. Expose the evil of darkness you shine as light in the world. Look at verse 11. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

So if light produces fruit, if light produces good fruit, then darkness produces unfruitful works or it doesn’t have fruit or not good fruit anyways. It’s not good, right and true. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. I love that. 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.

So I was thinking about why this is such a powerful passage to these believers in Ephesus, and it’s because you remember when we were in the book of Acts maybe, but let me remind you. The culture in Ephesus was steeped in the occult and in sorcery and in exorcisms and in casting out demons and witchcraft. And so even when Jesus was on the scene or Paul was on the scene, the name of Jesus was being spoken. And the exorcists were like wowed by the fact that Paul’s headband was healing people. And they’re trying to steal the headband.

And you remember they went to that one group of guys and they tried to cast out the demon in the name of Jesus and the demon said, “I know Jesus and I know Paul, but who are you?” And they went running for the hills because the name of Jesus is so much more powerful than the darkness of the occult.

But also in Ephesus at the center was the temple of Diana or the temple of Artemis, which is the Greek name. And this was the goddess of the hunt. They were sacrificing locks of hair on her altar, which is evil and its having another god besides Yahweh. And from that spilled over all kinds of sexual immorality into the city. And then the temple of Artemis was also the bank of Ephesus. And so the money and the trade and how you made money was all connected to this temple. And so surrounding the city center of Ephesus were dark arts and sorcery, worship to a false god, sexual immorality and money. Money, sex and power. Sounds like a recipe for disaster in a city.

And yet while Paul instructs them to take no part in the darkness and do not even speak about it, he does tell them to expose it. Now there’s something you have to understand about if you’re going to expose the evil of the world. In order to expose something in the darkness, you have to be among it, you have to be able to notice it, you have to be unafraid to shine light on it, and you certainly have to live differently than it.

It makes me think of another example of my kids. Ok? My kids love to sleep with the hallway light on when we put them to bed because they like the light to come into their room. And so my son Zion, when we put him to bed for the last couple of years, if the door is not cracked just right he lets us know. And if at 4:00AM he wakes up and the house is dark because we shut the light off when I go to bed, he lets us know. And here’s how he lets us know.

From my bed at 4:00 AM I hear, “Too dark! Too dark!”

And I open my eyes and I roll out of bed or my wife does and we go and we turn on the hallway light. “Go back to bed, son.”

But that’s how I want to be as a Christian in the world. I want to be like that. “It’s too dark!” So let me shine some light on the situation.

“Hey, it’s too dark!” Watch me get up and walk out of the movie.

“Hey, it’s too dark!” Let me add the hope of Jesus to this conversation.

“It’s too dark!” Let me shine the light of Christ into this situation.

Take no part in unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. Those are the kind of believers we are called to be. We see evil and we’re like, “It’s too dark!” Expose the darkness of this world. Don’t take part in it. So as I said before that illustration, in order to expose it, you’ve got to be among it, you’ve got to be able to notice it, you’ve got to be willing to shine some light onto it and you have to live differently than it.

SPLIT HERE

And so the problem in Christianity that the church has struggled with over the years is I think there are two things. Christians in history past either have tried to accommodate the culture. If you try to accommodate the culture, your light will look more like darkness. Your light will be massively dimmed. If you try to accommodate the culture… like all of the culture is shifting and changing so we can allow for these things and invite them into the church, you won’t be shining light. You won’t be exposing darkness at all. Rather, you’ll be accepting it.

But the opposite is also true. You don’t accommodate the culture, but you also don’t try to escape the culture. And some of us grew up in that kind of setting where we were Christians and we want to escape the culture. We want nothing to do with the world around us, and so we’re just going to take ourselves out of it altogether and avoid it. And that doesn’t allow you to shine light. You’re no better than a fish out of water if you’re a Christian trying to escape the culture. It’s like a light under a bushel.

“No!” you’re supposed to yell. Right?

So we’re not saved to accommodate the culture. We’re not saved to escape the culture. But you have been made light so that you could be restoration in the culture. You have been saved so that you could be an agent of reconciliation and restoration to the world that is around us. You can expose the wickedness of man. You can expose man’s need for God because you are light.

And I want you to just think about Jesus’ incarnation. Jesus left His high and holy throne in perfect heaven to come to our world. He left perfection to come to our ghetto. And He didn’t escape the culture. He certainly didn’t accommodate the culture. But He brought a ministry of reconciliation to the world because He was the light of the world and He was salt and light to the dead and the dark. He was around the broken hearted and He was a friend of sinners and He was a defender of the weak. And He was humble and lowly and a servant.

And yet He was so bright that centurions and demons, lepers and kings bowed and trembled in His presence. The light of Jesus caused blind men to see, demons to flee, deaf to hear, lame men to walk. And the light of Jesus put death in its grave forever so that we could be His lightbearers on the earth.

And so believers, we’re not saved to accommodate or to escape the culture. We are saved to be a light of reconciliation in a dark and dying world. We are His workmanship, created in Christ for good works. And our good works will glorify our God in heaven and even cause some to come along with us. We’ll look at it in just a few moments.

So one more thing from verse 13 along this exposing point. Look at verse 13. It says, “But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible.” The world’s only hope of even recognize its darkness is the light that you have been fashioned and formed in.

The lost people at your job or at your school, they don’t know better than to lie. They don’t know better than to cheat or to cuss or to talk down about their spouse or to get pumped about the weekend when they’re going to get trashed or where they’re going to go to. You can shed light on the darkness without shoving it down their throat. That’s exactly what Jesus did. And it looks like standing up for what’s right in the world. It looks like having integrity when it comes to decisions. It looks like you having a submissive attitude to a boss who might be unreasonable or even a jerk at times.

Maybe you are the boss, and so it looks like you having a sacrificial, Jesus-kind of love in the way that you lead your organization. It looks like stopping to pray with a coworker who doesn’t want anything to do with god, but they’re hurting. It looks like talking different than everyone else or skipping a party that everyone will be going to and not being afraid to tell them why when you’re asked.

And your good and right and true actions or woks will help expose the darkness and make it visible to the unrepentant. May they see your light shine in the world. And I want you to see what Jesus said of you. Look at Matthew chapter 5 on the screen. Jesus said this of you, the church, You are the light of the world.

And you say, “I thought Jesus was the light of the world.” Yeah, He made you the same light. You are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. That’s foolish. But on a stand and it goes light to the whole entire house. And in the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)

This is how it works. The truth exposes darkness and the truth has set you free through the light of Christ, so shine that light that others might come to glorify God in heaven as they see you living out your faith. Unbelievers will see you and wonder what’s wrong with you. They may even tell you to turn that light off. We don’t need that light here. And eventually they may come around because you’ve been loving, because you have been sacrificial, because you’ve been kind. And when they’re hurting the most, they’ll know who to come to when they need an answer, when they need encouraged, when they need exhorted, when they need pointed to the light of Jesus.

That leads to the third point. It’s this. Awaken the power of Christ as you live sent as the light in the world. We’re displaying the fruit of light. We’re exposing the evil of darkness. And now we awaken the power of Christ as we live sent as light in the world. Not only does light expose darkness, but it can completely change it. Light not only makes what is in the dark visible, but it can obliterate the dark. So when the light of Christ shines on the sinner, revealing the darkness of sin and the need for Christ, repentance and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ is made possible through the Spirit.

If you’ll look in verse 14, it goes on, “For anything that becomes visible is light.” So 13, you’re exposing the darkness with the light. And anything that is exposed by the light becomes visible. And then anything that becomes visible is light. That should radically impact the way that you evangelize the world. Often we’re like, “I don’t have the gift of evangelism. I’m not great at sharing my faith. I don’t really know exactly what I would do.”

But man, it just looks like building relationships with the people that God has put around you. And then it looks like living differently than they do. And it looks like talking about Jesus in simple ways. What has Jesus done for you? What has Jesus done in your life when you were in the situation that the person is sharing with you or griping about with you? How did Jesus impact your reaction to that situation? Practice your faith in front of others. Pray. Pray with people. Quote Scripture. Move conversations to spiritual matters. And all of this light will make it possible.

As the light shines on the darkness, eventually the darkness will become exposed, and when it becomes exposed, the need to repent and believe is made possible for the sinner. You might be that person. And so there are people that you are longing to see come to the Lord. Keep shining bright. Keep praying for their salvation. Don’t give up shining the light.

And you never know. Leave it up to the Spirit to turn on the visibility so that they might repent and respond and turn to Christ. The Spirit opens the darkness of the heart. So we keep shining our light because the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few. So don’t give up. Shine your light in the world.

And check out the awesome hymn or poem that Paul puts in this letter, probably for the early church. “Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.”

That’s awesome. I need that on the ceiling right when I wake up every single morning. I need to put that on the dash in my car. Awake O sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. It serves two purposes here this morning. It serves as a gospel reminder to us. C’mon Christian! Awake O sleeper! Get up out of your grave! Come out of your depression! Come out of your hiding! Fear not! God has been good to you. God is with you. Once you were dead; now you’re alive. So as you abide in Christ, the light of Christ will shine on you and good fruit will come. So don’t give up. Don’t grow weary in doing good. In due season you will reap if you don’t give up.

Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Every day the believer’s mindset is locked there. But it also serves as a reminder of our mission as believers. It’s a live sent reminder. This is our declaration as believers to a dark and dying world. It’s too dark! Awake O sleeper! Arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

And as we walk as light, the darkness is exposed and Christ can bring the lost from death to life. Everything that Ephesians chapter 5 is proclaiming, everything I’m saying to you, is simply rooted in the DNA of the kind of church that we want to be here in Michiana. We want to be a missional church. We go vertical with the Lord, but everything that goes up must lead out.

And as so we gather here and as we get fueled up here, we have to live sent into the community, into our neighborhoods, into our world. In the naming of Gospel City Church, it was anchored a lot in Matthew chapter 5. We are a city within a city. That means we are a city of light in a city of darkness that is all around us. The world is stuck in darkness and doom, but we are a city of light. We are a people joined together, and we are like a beacon on a hill that cannot be hidden.

But we don’t stay here in this little Christian bubble in our light, right? We’re a city sent to the city. And so we leave this place. We scatter every week back into the dark world with the light of Christ that is burning inside of us and we live out our faith. And we live out our faith and we speak about our faith. And we point others to Jesus and we tell others about Jesus. We’re a city sent to the city.

And then we’re a city longing for a better city. Man, the city of heaven has zero darkness in it, praise God. And it will be the greatest gain of your life. To live is Christ and to die is gain. For me to live is to shine the light of Christ in the darkness of this world. For me to die is to be in the light of eternity forevermore. Both are great options. Both are great things. Because you know what’s coming.

And so you don’t have to fear death. You don’t have to fear evangelism. You don’t have to fear being made fun of for sharing your faith. As you speak your faith into the darkness of this world, the light of Christ can bring the dead to life. And so live sent. Awake O sleeper. Arise from the dead.

But I don’t know if you’ve noticed, and this is where we’ll close this morning. We had a members meeting a couple of weeks ago. And I said that we clarified our mission statement at Gospel City Church. I don’t know if you saw it in the Gazette. We planted this church. We inherited a mission statement that was like, “Glorify God in the spirit of the Great Commission in the spirit of the great commandment.” It was something like that. It was kind of wordy and hard to say. And most church’s mission statements are an iteration of what Jesus called us to do. But that was harder to say, harder to memorize.

And so we simplified it over the years by saying, “We’re on mission to glorify God and make disciples,” which is a great kind of way of saying it. But I don’t think everyone knows exactly what it means to glorify God. It means to worship, to love God, to give to God the weightiness of God, the majesty of God.

But as we were thinking and praying and as I was looking in Scripture, we clarified our mission statement. Here it is on the screen. “At Gospel City, we are on mission to love God, to love people, and to make disciples of all nations.” Will you say it with me? At Gospel City, we are on mission (say it loud) to love God, to love people, and to make disciples of all nations.

And if you know your Bible, in the book of Mark and in the gospels, Jesus was asked, “What is the greatest law? What’s the greatest thing that we can do in following God?”

And Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, love your neighbor as you love yourself.” And the scribe, he repeats it back and God says, “If you do these things you won’t be far from the kingdom of God.”

And as I was praying about my own life and as I was praying about my friends’ lives at Gospel City Church I was like, “I don’t want us to be far from the kingdom of God.” And so we’ve gotta get that right. We’ve got to love God and we’ve got to love people really, really well.

Before Jesus went back to heaven He gave us another command that we are called to do. He said, “Make disciples. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them all that I have commanded them. And lo, I am with them always, to the end of the age.” God’s not going to leave you. God’s not going to forsake you. And so He’s put you on a mission if you’ve been saved.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a realtor or a plumber or a salesman or a pastor. You are called to go and live sent and shine the light of Jesus in a dark and dying world. And you’ve got what it takes. So love God, love people, make disciples of all nations. Loving God with our heart, soul, mind and strength looks like a whole person caught up in the adoration of Jesus Christ. Is your life loving God today?

If the love of Christ is growing the good fruit of light in your life, then we could say that you are anchored and abiding in Christ and you are loving Him and worshiping with your whole heart. But then it should cause you to love people. It should cause you to love your annoying neighbor. It should cause you to want to go and cross the street and talk to them about Jesus. It should cause you to want to have a conversation that you work with that’s driving you a little crazy right now. How can you heap up coals of kindness on their head? By shining the light of Jesus.

How can you love the broken and hurting, the widow next door? How are you loving people like Jesus loved people? That is something that we have to do on this planet. It starts with one another. It starts in our household. It starts in our neighborhood and then in our city and in our world.

And then every believer should have an eye for the nations. Get your eyes on the nations. There are places that have never heard the name of Jesus. Think about the doom and the darkness that they’re stuck in. People are dying every day and going to hell because they’ve never heard of this person Jesus Christ whose changed your life. And yet we can sit and be so comfortable. And we can come to church and we can sing songs. We’ve got to get busy on the mission of making disciples. And so do it where you’re called. Open your hands to the Lord and say, “Here am I. Send me.”

Maybe God would send you somewhere hard. Maybe God would send you somewhere uncomfortable. Maybe He has already, and that’s why you’re here today. But let’s serve the Lord by shining the light of Christ in the darkness. Consider Jesus’ words to Paul. I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins in a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. ( Acts 26:17-18)

The people around us are held captive by Satan. We have the message of hope. We have the message of reconciliation. We have the light that is able to pierce and expose the evil of darkness that others might come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Amen.

C’mon stand to your feet and we’re going to pray. We’re going to respond in song. But let’s just give glory to God this morning for He is worthy. Father, we come and we just say that we need You here today. And Lord, Your Word is so good. It’s so faithful. It gives us everything that we need for life and godliness. And Lord, even on our harder days or our harder weeks, remind us that we are in the battle, that we don’t fight against flesh and blood but against angels and principalities and demons and darkness and the kingdom of Satan.

And so Lord, we need to shine this light bright. Would You cause our light to burn brighter and brighter? Would You cause our light to shine in the world that desperately needs the name and the love of Jesus Christ? Would You help us not to be ashamed? I pray for the student who’s in the high school right now or hate junior high or even the elementary school who is just struggling to live for Jesus. God, the pull of this world is so deep and so hard. And Lord, I just pray that they would be able to withstand the culture and Lord that they would embrace the love of Christ that has changed them, that they would live differently, that they would stand out, that they would be bold.

Lord, I pray for those in college, those on Notre Dame’s campus and those at Bethel and IUSB and Holy Cross. Lord, I pray for the Christians that are standing up on these universities’ campuses, that they would be able to shine bright, that they would be bold, Lord, that they would be unashamed of the gospel knowing that it is the power of God to salvation.

And while they may feel alone at times, while they may feel secluded at times, would the church be their friendship? And Lord, would it send them back into the world burning bright that others might see their light and good works and glorify their Father who is in heaven. I pray for the men and women, the parents of this church, God that we would burn for the glory of God, that we would shine our light bright so that others might turn and confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

Lord, fill us up and send us out. Stir us up and send us out that You might be glorified. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.