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Please Leave the Lights On! Ephesians 5:1-14

Please Leave the Lights On! Ephesians 5:1-14. Ephesians 5 & 6: Practical applications Purity Marriage Family relationships Work relationships Spiritual Warfare Prayer. What is darkness? Darkness does not really exist. DARKNESS IS THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT.

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Please Leave the Lights On! Ephesians 5:1-14

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  1. Please Leave the Lights On!Ephesians 5:1-14 • Ephesians 5 & 6: • Practical applications • Purity • Marriage • Family relationships • Work relationships • Spiritual Warfare • Prayer

  2. What is darkness? • Darkness does not really exist. • DARKNESS IS THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT. • Paul describes for us the stark contrast between light and darkness • Know the Source of our Light • Avoid the Deeds of Darkness • Obey the Command to Be Light

  3. 1. Know the Source of our Light • Ephesians 5:8b – “Live as children of light.” • To obey this command, we know the light we are called to be the children of • The source of this light… • Ephesians 5:8a – “…you are light in the Lord.” • John 8:12 - “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

  4. Feast of Tabernacles: This ceremony celebrated the great pillar of fire, the glorious cloud of God’s presence, which led the Israelites during their journey in the wilderness and spread its fiery billows over the Tabernacle.

  5. Jesus was saying: • “The pillar of fire that came between you and the Egyptians, the cloud that guided you by day in the wilderness and illumined the night and enveloped the Tabernacle, the glorious cloud that filled Solomon’s Temple, that great light is ME!” • “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

  6. Paul says: You also, if you are a follower of Christ, have this Light in you. • You are children of this Light • So now - Live like children of the Light. Is your life in alignment with the source of the light, the Lord Jesus Christ so that you can fully reflect his likeness to the world?

  7. 2. Avoid the Deeds of Darkness • Ephesians 5:11 – Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness… • The deeds of darkness are fruitless and something we need to avoid. • Paul reminds believers that life without Christ was also one of darkness. • Ephesians 5:8 – For you were once darkness...

  8. Ephesians 4:32 - “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every kind of malice.” • Areas of darkness we are to avoid • sexual sin • greed • inappropriate language • Ephesians = “epistle for today” it describes the current culture we live in.

  9. Sexual sin is the one place where pride, power, and pleasure are inordinately concentrated. If sin gains control, sexual immorality is often the result. Language and greed are so important because they are gateways by which sin finds entrance. • a. Sexual sin • Ephesians 5:3 - But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity …because these are improper for God’s holy people.

  10. 1 Corinthians 6:15–20 - Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

  11. 1 Corinthians 6:15-17 - Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? • v.18 – flee sexual immorality • Sexual intimacy is a gift from God to be enjoyed within the covenant of marriage. • Ephesians 5:6 “Let no one deceive you with empty words.”

  12. b. Greed • Sexual sin, like other sins of self-gratification are motivated by our desire for more. • “Sin has been described as seeking to get more out of life than God put into it.” • Pleasure and possessions are the two driving forces of the marketing world that feeds our desire for self-gratification.

  13. c. Inappropriate Language • Ephesians 5:4 - Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place…” • The words that come out of our mouth say a lot about the condition of our heart. • Ephesians 4:29 – Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths… • obscenity – also translated “filthiness” refers to talk that is degrading and disgraceful

  14. foolish talk – root derived from word for “moron”. Foolish talk is stupid, pointless words. • course joking - turning words that are innocent in themselves into something obscene or suggestive. • Ephesians 5:3 - But among you there must not be even a hint of… Sexual sin; Greed; Inappropriate language • “…because these are improper for God’s holy people.” • We are called holy people  to demonstrate to the world that we are children of light.

  15. 3. Obey the Command to Be Light • Ephesians 5:8 - For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. • Command: “Live as children of light.” • v.9 for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth • v.10 …find out what pleases the Lord. • “find out” means to “put to the test, examine, or discern”

  16. Romans 12:2 - Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. • Ephesians 5:11 “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, rather, expose them.” • Not separation but confrontation • “expose”  the idea of correcting or convincing someone

  17. 1 Peter 3:15 – ...always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. • We can refuse to be involved in wrong practices yet still demonstrate that we care deeply for the people doing them. • We are light in the Lord and we are called to live as people of light.

  18. We need to be diligent in following Christ – reflecting His light to the world. • Living continually in tune with what is pleasing to God. • Refuse to partner with anything that relates to darkness • Keep doing what is good – what is right – upholding what is true. • Expose the darkness for what it is.

  19. 1 John 1:5–7 - This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by 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, purifies us from all sin.

  20. Please leave the lights on! • Are you a child of the Light?

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