Gifts of Grace: Be the Light

This is part 14 of a sermon series on Ephesians. English statesman Edmund Burke is credited with saying, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing," which raises the question, "Is there such a thing as being morally neutral?"

Today’s verses say the answer is, "No, definitely not." A slang version of today’s lesson might be, "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem." White or black. Hot or cold. In or out. On or off.

We don’t like white or black. We want shades of gray. We think of gray as safe, a neutral color. Even if gray is not as good as white, at least it’s not black. We don’t like to think of everything as good or evil. We want to see some aspects of life as unaffiliated, safe, outside of considerations about good and evil.

However, that’s not how the world works.

Ephesians 5:8-20

Commentary

v8 You were once darkness: "Darkness," not "in darkness." We prefer to think of ourselves as basically OK, or at least morally neutral, but this verse says otherwise. Before the advent of Jesus in our lives, we were evil.

v10 The KJV is a better translation: "Proving what is acceptable to the Lord." Sometimes the best way to learn about something is to try it out, or prove it; "Taste & see that the Lord is good" (Ps. 34-8)

v11 The KJV is a better translation: "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness ..." A variation of the word koinonia appears here, so a slang translation might be, "Don’t get all buddy-buddy with things best done in the dark that get you nowhere ..."

A second problem here is the word translated as "expose" in the NIV and "reprove" in the KJV. The point of a Biblical rebuke is something more like corrective discipleship or educational redemption. The goal of a Biblical rebuke is to change the darkness to light. Paul puts it this way, "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience & careful instruction" (2 Tim. 4:2). See Matt. 18:15; Luke 3:19; John 3:20; 8:46; 16:8;
1 Cor. 14:24; Eph. 5:13; 1 Tim. 5:20; Titus 1:9,13; 2:15; Heb. 12:5; James 2:9; Rev. 3:19 for more examples.

v16 The KJV is a better translation: "Redeeming the time ..." We think of people as needing redemption; however, this verse says we are to redeem the time because the days are evil.
Romans 8:19-21 suggests that we have a role to play in redeeming all of creation, not just ourselves!

v17 Foolish: literally, without thinking. Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Paul might reply that the unexamined life, clueless and apart from Jesus, is wandering in the darkness—worse, it is darkness itself, and therefore evil. See Luke 11:39-41; 12:15-21; Rom. 2:17-21; 1 Cor. 15:35-37; 2 Cor. 11:16; 1 Peter 2:13-17 for other examples of this kind of foolishness.

V18-20 These verses are an elaboration of v17. v18 parallels v17, while v19-20 are a picture of a wise, considered life.

Application

What is evil?

It has been argued, by way of analogy, that evil is like darkness and cold in the following sense:

What we call darkness is not a physical object. Darkness is simply the absence of light. Light is a real physical object made up of photons. Photons are massless subatomic particles emitted during certain subatomic and atomic reactions as a release of energy.

Cold is not a physical object. Cold is simply the absence of heat. Heat is a real physical object. It is the transfer of energy from one object to another of a different temperature.

Likewise evil is the absence of God. God is Spirit, and he created you to live in a spiritual dimension. When that spiritual dimension is non-existent, the result is not a morally neutral person, but rather an evil person. All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for our spiritual dimension to be zilch.

Jesus called the Pharisees fools for worrying about the law instead of the Spirit (Luke 11:39-41). He called some rich men fools for being preoccupied with their financial wealth instead of their spiritual health (Luke 12:13-21). [2] We are fools as well whenever we are too distracted by other cares to be built up spiritually.

When we are NOT foolish, when we take the time to learn God’s will, when we take the time to build up ourselves and others in the Spirit, an amazing thing happens: we become part of the light, part of the solution:

For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. (1 Peter 2:15-16)

Points to Ponder

Where do you see evidence that the days are evil? (Don’t jump to any end times prophecy conclusions; human depravity means that, left to their own devices, humans mess everything up routinely.)

Where are you tempted to coast through life at home, at work, at school, in important relationships, or with God?

What might "redeeming the time" look like at home, at work, at school, in important relationships, or with God?

Important reminder: it is not up to you to manufacture, to muster up, the light! The light of God is within you; let others see the change that God is making in your life. That’s not boasting; rather, by a humble lifestyle living obediently to God, dare to live diffferently from those around you. That is what it means to be the light of the world. That is what it means to expose the fruitless deeds of darkness (v11).

End Notes

1 - Actually, there is no record of Burke having said this! What he did say was, "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle." (Thoughts on the Cause of Present Discontents)

2 - What Jesus does not say is that it is foolish to be rich. Specifically, in the story Jesus is teaching, and a man asks Jesus to arbitrate an inheritance dispute. Jesus is giving the crowd spiritual wealth, and the man is missing the opportunity because of his excessive concern for wealth that cannot last.

Gifts of Grace: The 80/20 Rule

This is part 13 of a sermon series on Ephesians. You have probably seen the bumper sticker:

Be patient! God is not finished with me yet!

We know we are not what we want to be, but neither are we what we used to be. Often we don’t sweat the incongruities between the two (life has enough other distractions to occupy our thoughts) but then we hit verses in the Bible like today’s, and we fear we are a fake, a hypocrite, a charlatan, a reprobate. We are called to be holy—yet we know we are not holy enough by far.

What are we to do?

Ephesians 5:1-7

Commentary

v1-2 Sometimes the chapter and section breaks in the Bible fall in odd places. Do you think v1-2 relate more to the verses that follow or the last few verses in chapter 4? (Remember, chapter 4 concludes with the exhortation, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”)

v3 Purity is just the beginning. Paul says there should not even be a hint, a suggestion, of impurity.

v4 Aristotle calls foolish talk, “cultured insolence.” When we engage in foolish or coarse talk, we know better, but we choose to be disrespectful and impertinent.

v5 Idolatry is the lynchpin for these verses. Humans can only serve one master. Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Matthew 6:24).

v7 The direction given here is not to be partners with the deceivers in v6. It’s easy to make the mistake of thinking that we are to have nothing to do with the degenerates mentioned in v3-5; however God has called us to live in the world, to be the salt and light of the world, and we cannot do as God bids by living in isolation! Rather, we are told not to partake of the empty words—words devoid of Spirit and lacking in power—words that cannot save us.

Application

In his movie Why Did I Get Married? writer & director Tyler Perry [1] introduces his own version of the 80/20 Rule:

In life you get about 80% of what you think you need. When something comes along and offers the other 20% and you jump at it, thinking that you’re getting a good thing, you end up losing the 80%.

The temptations to immorality, vulgarity, greed, and coarseness derive from a sense of entitlement, a sense that we are owed something which God has not given us. The Bible might say that God satisfies all our needs (Isaiah 58:11) but we are frustrated, thinking that God has not satisfied all our wants. Like the characters in Perry’s movie, we feel like we’re only getting 80% (more or less).

Temptations arise when we have an opportunity to get that other 20%, the thing we feel we have been missing out on. If we are foolish, we chase after it … and in the process lose the 80%. We gain that which God would have withheld from us, but we gain it at the expense of losing the gifts from God. We gain our idols, but the cost is losing God.

I modified Perry’s 80/20 Rule earlier. In his movie, the rule pertains to marriage and infidelity, but it turns out that marriage and infidelity is exactly the metaphor God uses to describe his relationship with us the pernicious evil of idolatry:

Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, 'I will not serve you!' Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute ...

How can you say, 'I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals'? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there,

a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving— in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her.

Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, 'It's no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.' (Jeremiah 2:20,23-25) [2]

Chasing after the 20% and forsaking the 80% is a losing proposition, and in Jeremiah we see it as a ridiculous proposition as well! A wild donkey in heat? Lord, let it not be so! And yet that is exactly the battle that wages within! Paul puts it like this:

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Romans 7:21-24)

What is a wild donkey, a wretched man, to do?

Jeremiah shows the way:

You say, 'I am innocent; he is not angry with me.' But I will pass judgment on you because you say, 'I have not sinned.' (Jeremiah 2:35)

These are empty words, foolish words, the words of a deceiver (Eph. 5:6). These are the words that lead us to forfeit the gifts of God. At the same time, to say, “I have sinned,” to say, “I am not innocent,” is the beginning of wisdom, the first step in a right relationship. God will not despise a contrite heart (Ps. 51:17).

Points to Ponder

Where are you tempted to immorality, impurity, greed, or just foolish talk? What does your temptation suggest that you feel you are missing out on?

What is the better thing that God has waiting for you?

Is it possible that idolatry is a vote of no-confidence in God to give you what you need?

Are you willing to forgo chasing after the 20% and being content with the 80? [3]

End Notes
1 - Tyler Perry is a highly-acclaimed African-American writer, director, producer & actor. His movies are generally rated PG-13, because he takes on serious topics, like domestic abuse and marital infidelity, but his main characters have strong Christian values and usually several are explicitly Christian. I highly recommend his movies!
2 - There is a lesson to be learned in these verses with respect to Ephesians 5:3-5. No doubt some will call these images vulgar and unnecessary, an affront to good taste, an example of the kind of talk we're told by Ephesians to avoid. Could it be that vulgarity is more a matter of intent than content? Could it be, as Peter learned in Acts 10:9, we should never call unclean what God has called clean (i.e. God's use of the image makes it clean)?
3 - I realize that, arithmetically, the 80/20 Rule doesn’t work. What God gives us is worth infinitely more than what we crave, but perhaps the rule reflects our appraisal of what we have. We’re so foolish, we don’t know a good thing when we have it!

Gifts of Grace: A Way to be Good Again

This is part 12 of a sermon series on Ephesians. Last week (“Gifts of Grace: The Parable of the Onion”) I said that we were turning the corner in Paul’s letter, changing from talking about theology to talking about practical issues of Christian living. In the parable of the onion, I said that that the whole process of sloughing off an old way of living and taking on a new way of living is a never-ending process.

James says, “If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check” (James 3:2). I have learned the hard way that my mouth routinely shows how far from perfect I am—how many layers there are to the onion. I recall when I first became a Christian, my mentor said, “If you want to show the world that you are a Christian, clean up your mouth.” I battled profanity in my language for months (i.e., taking off one old way of living) but profanity was only the beginning. Beyond profanity, I have had to battle gossip, little white lies, sarcasm, foolishness, and more; each was an old way of living that needed to be taken off. I have had to learn encouragement, forbearance, silence, kindness, forgiveness, and more; each is a new way of living that I have tried to take on. Nothing I have ever done as a Christian has been as humiliating—nothing has ever convicted me more—than my own mouth.

Ephesians 4:25-32

Commentary

These verses are sort of a hodgepodge of vices and virtues—ethical instruction, ranging from exhortations about lying, anger, theft, negative talk, grieving the Spirit, malice, and compassion. Each vice represents an “old self”—an old way of life that must be “put off” (v25). Here each vice is followed by a virtue, a “new self,” a new way of life that must be adopted.

The question is: Are all of these verses—all these vices—related somehow, or not?

v25 Notice the “body of Christ” language in these verses: “members of one body” (v25); “building others up” (v29)

v26 Paul is quoting Psalm 4, verse 4. Questions for later: Do you think Paul is quoting the psalm in context? Where is the anger in Psalm 4 directed? What comparisons can you make between Psalm 4 and the verses here today?

v28-29 These verses are linked by the word “need.” The former thief must give to those in need and the former badmouth must encourage (literally, build up) those in need. The one who was formerly a drain on the community has become a community resource!

v30 The notion of grieving the Spirit occurs only here and in Isaiah 63:10, but it appears to refer to willful disobedience by a believer. If you have asked God into our life, if you have asked God for a spiritual makeover, God is faithful and he will do it. You are sealed for redemption. However, to then stand in God’s way and resist God’s work is simply foolish and a waste of your time. God has infinite time; however, you don’t, so why waste your precious little time by resisting what you have already asked God to do?

v31 In the body, this is what resisting God—refusing to take off an old way of living—will look like.

v32 In the body, this is what submitting to God—living a new way—will look like.

Application

Sticking with the metaphor of the body of Christ a little longer, there is one part of the body that we haven’t talked about: an alien part, a part which really doesn’t fit in, a part which doesn’t support the other parts, a part which doesn’t build up the body. Once upon a time, it looked like a vibrant part of the body, but then something happened; it changed. Once it supported the other members; now it just worries about itself. Once it fed others, it built up the other members; now it just worries about feeding itself. It is a tumor.

A tumor has forgotten that it once belonged to a body. A tumor is willing to kill the body for the sake of trying to feed itself. A tumor has forgotten its place, forgotten its role in the body. It comes to dominate and throw out of equilibrium the delicate balance of the members of the body.

On the surface, in today’s verses, a tumor is most like the thief (v28) who invades by stealth, takes what it wants, and shows no remorse. However, the tumor is like the other vices as well: the liar, who steals the truth; the brawler, who steals the peace; the badmouth, who steals the harmony; the evil-doer, who steals justice. In the movie Kite Runner, the narrator’s father, a merchant, says:

Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. When you kill a man, you steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal someone’s right to fairness. There is no act more wretched than stealing. [1]

Like a tumor, our old ways are self-centered and have no regard for family, community, or God ... except where family, community, and God might be useful to us. When we lie, we seek to steal an advantage for ourselves. When we gossip, we seek to steal an advantage—perhaps by disadvantaging another. When we are angry, we seek to steal an advantage at the expense of real justice. When we are malicious and spiteful, we seek to steal a personal peace at the expense of the peace of the community.

Our old ways don’t just hurt a few others—the ones we think deserve to be hurt—our old ways hurt the whole community, the whole body of Christ. Therefore, the truth be known, our old ways are hurting us as well! Therein lurks the lie that feeds the tumor and poisons our souls. We have thought that we could gossip, hold secret grudges, nurse blame in our hearts and that malice would give us strength and peace even as we sought to steal justice. [2] But our old ways are stunting us, deforming us, and killing us even as they hurt the community. The tumor ultimately will kill itself as it kills the body.

Like a tumor, our old ways must be cut out and destroyed. That surgery for us, as members of the body of Christ, is taking off our old ways of living, e.g. gossip, finding blame, malice, and badmouthing. Like a tumor, other therapies may needed to help the body get back to normal. That therapy for us, as members of the body of Christ, is putting on new ways of living, e.g. forbearance instead of gossip, forgiveness instead of finding blame. Like many medicines, this new way of living may not taste great at first, but God’s promise is that it will be worth it.

Points to Ponder

If what comes out of our mouths is a window into our souls, what is your mouth revealing about you? Are you perfect, with your tongue firmly in check, or is there a place that you are struggling?

If all sin is a form of theft, what you trying to steal?

Paul is concerned about members of the body building up each other. Why does he not seem as concerned about building up those outside of Christ’s body and being built up by them? Aren’t the secular communities in which we live important? [3]

What we are talking about today is shalom and building a community of peace, justice & security for all.

End Notes

1 - I highly recommend this movie! Set in Afghanistan, it tells a story of cowardice & betrayal that takes a generation to see justice. The movie has some violence, but no swearing and no sex. You can read a movie review at http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2007/kiterunner2007.html . The sermon title is taken from the tagline of the movie: There is a way to be good again.

2 - Curiously, the human body maintains health on a cellular level by enabling individual cells to kill themselves when they realize that they are damaged and are a threat to the body. This process is called apoptosis. Many tumors grow because the cancer cells have forgotten to kill themselves—more correctly, they have a chemical imbalance (e.g. survivin) that prevents apoptosis. See the parallel here:

• the human body maintains health by enabling unhealthy cells to terminate themselves, while the body of Christ maintains health by encouraging members to die to self,

• the human body develops cancers, in part, when cells “forget” to die when broken, while the body of Christ gets sick when members forget to die to self and seek to serve self instead.

3 - Of course you are a part of many communities—family, work, church, town, etc.—all important, but some more spiritual than others. I think Paul is concerned with building up other Christians first because: (a) without Christians working in harmony, the other communities don’t stand much of a chance, (b) the greatest damage Christians do in the world is the witness they bear when they hurt each other, and (c) non-Christians ultimately have no power to harm us with their words (Matt. 5:11-12).

Gifts of Grace: The Parable of the Onion

This is part 11 of an sermon series on Ephesians. Each of Paul’s letters is a mix of theology and practical tips for living every day life as a Christian. Typically, the first part of each letter is filled with theology:

Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith (Eph 2:8)

The Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body (Eph 3:6)

The second part of each letter is filled with advice and exhortations for everyday living:

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up (Eph 4:12)

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Eph 5:21)

Fathers, do not exasperate your children (Eph 6:4)

These verses today are the turning point in Ephesians—the place where Paul begins to shift from theology to practical advice.

Ephesians 4:17-24

Commentary

The New King James Version is probably the best, and most literal, translation of this passage. Paul begins this passage by calling it his witness, which the NIV translates as “insist.” However, when we ask others to change how they live, we do not insist. Rather, we are bear witness to what we have seen God do when we change. The NKJV also correctly calls the way we live our “walk.” There are nuanced stylistic differences that make the NKJV better here, but I always encourage you to read from a variety of translations to get a better sense of what’s being said. (Even preachers should do that!)

v17 Regardless of our previous lifestyle, we should not continue to live as we did before we became Christians. There is so much of our former lifestyles that gets between us and God. Our former thinking is called futile—more literally vanity (as the NKJV says). Remember Biblical vanity is not so much conceit or pride as it is trusting in something that is insubstantial. We used to trust in things that failed to deliver—God’s promise is that he will never fail.

v18 The origin of our vanity is revealed. Hardening (or dulling) of the heart leads to ignorance of how to live. Ignorance then leads to darkness of intellect and separation from God. As bad as ignorance, darkness, and separation are, they proceed from a dulled heart. Enlightenment is not the answer; spending more time in church, or prayer, or Bible reading trying to get near to God is not the answer; knowledge is not the answer. Until our heart changes—and only God, with our permission and help, can change our heart—nothing can change.

v19 Dullness of heart is a vicious cycle, as the loss of sensitivity leads ever further away from God. See in v17-19 a snapshot of human descent into depravity illustrated by Paul in Rom. 1:18-32.

v22-24 In these three verses, Paul gives us a picture of repentance. Remorse is not a Biblical definition of repentance. Remorse alone changes nothing. Rather, Biblical repentance involves a change of thought followed by a change of action; so one takes off an old way of thinking and acting and adopts a new way of thinking and acting. Again, until our heart changes—and only God can change our heart—new thoughts and new actions will have little effect.

Application

To what should I compare the kingdom of God in you? You are like a common onion, where the old self is dry, brown, flaky, and not very fun to taste. It is peeled off and thrown into the fire. The layer beneath is whiter, moister, more pungent; however, it is still mottled. It is peeled off as well and thrown into the fire. The layer beneath is whiter, moister, more fragrant still; it looks good, but what if we leave the onion like this? In a very short time it will darken, dry up, rot, and lose its wholesomeness. It will need to be peeled as well and thrown into the fire. Each layer is better than the one before, but it is not the one; it must be peeled and burned eventually.

Your worldly nature is like that outer layer. Whether you have followed Jesus all your life and have never followed him at all, there are those parts of you that have made accommodations to the world—what you say, or don’t say; what you love, or what you hate; what you chase after—and those parts continually need to be set aside. Refuse to trust in the old ways any longer. Ask Jesus to show you a different way to think, and act. That is repentance: taking off the old, the rotten, the dried out ... and searching out the new, the fresh, the wholesome—Spirit-filled life that the Spirit of Christ is laboring to bring to life in you. The new you is just below the surface, [1] waiting for the old you to be taken away forever.

You are like an onion, but you are not an onion. Herein lies the difference, herein lies the mystery of the kingdom of God in you: the more the onion is peeled away, the less of the onion there is, but the more you are peeled away, the more you there is underneath: whiter, more fragrant, more pleasing, more wholesome, more a child of God.

Points to Ponder

Reading what the commentary says about the Biblical definition of vanity being trust in something insubstantial (something that will fail to deliver) how does that understanding of vanity play into the conventional definition of vanity, i.e. conceit or pride in oneself? Consider current news stories: what other vanities call to us—what other things call us to trust in them?

The parable of the onion suggests that repentance is an ongoing process—that there is always something more that needs to be peeled away for the sake of something better that God is trying to bring into our lives. Where have you seen this ongoing process at work in your life? [2]

Have you ever known Christians that just seemed to stop growing in their faith? It’s as if they peeled away enough layers of their onion that they got down to something they felt was “good enough” and stopped trying after that. What happened to those Christians? Could they, like the Gentiles, be accused of futile [vain] thinking?

What’s the next layer of your onion?

End Notes

1 - Jesus tells the Pharisees, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20-21).

2 - Consider Simon Peter who takes off the old self of unforgiveness; he nevertheless has to take off the self that knows forgiveness in favor a newer self that forgives continually and unconditionally. Don’t believe it? Read Matthew 18:21-22.