Intro to Ephesians 5:8-14

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/3/2019 8:27 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to Eph. 5:8-14

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 5:8-14

 

            Message of the verses:  “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."

 

            I mentioned in our last SD that John MacArthur entitles this 16^th chapter in his commentary on Ephesians “Living in Light” and after reading over these seven verses I understand why he chose that chapter.

 

            I want to go back to Ephesians 5:1 and quote that verse at this time “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”  Paul is telling his readers in verse one to be imitators of God because we are His beloved children, and that theme continues in verses 8-14.  Now the first way we can do this is to imitate His love, and Paul shows us both in its true and in its counterfeit forms, with Christ Himself being our divine patter as seen in verses 2-7.  Now in our verses for this section the focus is on our imitating God in relation to light.

 

            John MacArthur writes that “Scripture speaks of God as our ‘light and…salvation’ (Ps. 27:1) and as ‘an everlasting light’ (Isa. 60:19).  His Word is called ‘a lamp to [our] feet, and a light to [our] path’ (Ps. 119:105; cf. v. 130). Christ is called ‘a light of the nations’ (Isa. 49:6), ‘the true light which…enlightens every man’ (John 1:9), and ‘the light of the world’ (John 8:12).  For a believer to imitate God, therefore, he obviously must share in and reflect God’s light.

 

            “In Scripture the figurative use of light has two aspects, the intellectual and the moral.  Intellectually it represents truth, whereas morally it represents holiness.  To live in light therefore means to live in the truth and in holiness.  The figure of darkness has the same two aspects.  Intellectually it represents ignorance and falsehood, whereas morally it connotes evil.

 

            “The intellectual aspect of both figures pertains to what a person knows and believes, and the moral aspect pertains to what he thinks and acts.  In 2 Corinthians Paul speaks about the intellectual aspect when he says, ‘The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God’ (4:4; cf. Rom. 1:21; Eph. 4:18).  In Isaiah 5 the prophet speaks of both the intellectual and the moral aspects when he says ‘Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness’ (v. 20).  Both the teaching and the practice of those people were corrupt.  Paul speaks of the moral aspect when he pleads with believers to ‘lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light’ (Rom. 13:12), and in the following verse he specifies some of the deeds of darkness; carousing, drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, sensuality, strife, and jealousy.

 

            “But everyone who belongs to God walks in light, both intellectually and morally.  ‘This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you,’ John said unequivocally, ‘that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.  If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 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’ (1 John 1:5-7).

 

            “In verses 8-14 Paul mentions five practical features we should recognize in order to faithfully walk in God’s light.  He gives the contrasts, characteristics, command, commission, and call of Christians as God’s own children of light.”

 

            I apologize for making such a long quote, but I believe it is imperative that we understand the introduction to these verses in order to better learn from what is in them and this, I believe will help us.

 

Today’s quotation is from none other than Mark Twain:  “Keep away from people who belittle your ambitions.  Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

 

6/3/2019 9:03 AM