Wednesday, June 24, 2015

The God Of All Comfort

(Audio Version; Music--"God Of All Comfort" by: Tim Hughes and "Save A Place For Me" by: Matthew West)












Introduction

            This was not the lesson I had planned for this week but once nine of our brothers and sisters in Christ were murdered at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Emanuel AME) in Charleston, South Carolina earlier in the week it seemed infinitely more important to deal with such an evil and senseless tragedy. Honestly, I am heartbroken about this on so many levels but particularly because the victims were Christians including the pastor of the church. But also because they were targeted because they were black—the killer was white. Unfortunately, the political posturing has already started and the race hustlers are stirring their cauldron of discord. Over the next few weeks, here in America, we’ll here blacks blame whites, we’ll here Democrats blame Republicans, and we’ll hear gun control advocates blame gun possession advocates. What you probably won’t hear much about is the remarkable grief of the survivors and those left behind by the victims. What, exactly, motivated the killer will likely be thoroughly discussed and disseminated in the weeks ahead and his purpose may be determined with complete certainty. But do you know something? No answer will bring back the lives that were taken, so answers will bring no comfort to those who are grieving. Some of you face this sort of thing every day in your respective countries. Some of you have watched your neighbors, friends, and family killed before your eyes by the evil sweeping through or residing in your own communities.

Evil can be hard to explain and even harder to accept. It’s hard for all people everywhere whether that evil is a white man who hates blacks, a black man who hates whites, or a middle-eastern Muslim who hates all non-Muslims. It’s even hard for Christians who have an enduring hope of spending eternity with God because until then, we have to endure the pain and grief of this life. However, God doesn’t leave us to grieve alone, God is with us at all times. He’s even with those who don’t know Him or believe in Him—waiting, always waiting for the chance that maybe they will reach out to Him in their pain and grief. For the rest of us, God watches over us in our grief and continues to give us hope—hope that tomorrow the pain might be a little more bearable. God isn’t shock by our pain and our grief. God isn’t overwhelmed by our sorrow. God understands pain and sorrow very well. God the Son had to endure pain He didn’t deserve and God the Father had to watch the Son be tortured and put to death. God understands our pain very well. He understands the pain and grief of the Charleston community and all those who are grieving for whatever reason. God is not unaffected like some kind of machine, because He knows what it’s like from experience. That’s why He is so good at caring for us—That’s why He is The God Of All Comfort.

Subject Text

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

            3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

Context

            Quickly, there were actually four letters to the Corinthians from Paul. Two are now lost. What has most likely been preserved are the second and fourth letters which are now part of our Bible as First and Second Corinthians respectively. I say this because we have to remember when we read either of the letters Paul wrote to the Corinthians that we are missing some of the context of the conversation Paul was having with the church he planted there. Nevertheless, Paul was clearly upset in First Corinthians because of immorality and divisions among them as well as false teachings. It appears that once we get to Second Corinthians most of the church responded to Paul corrective teachings. However, seeing that some of their power and influence was slipping away, some of those who were at the root of the problems in the church were beginning to question Paul’s authority and motivation. Paul reminds them about the hardships he and his companions endured on their journey through the province of Asia. In fact, Paul says he was under so much pressure during his travels that he despaired life. Nevertheless, he understood that all his trials forced him to rely not on his own strength to survive but on God’s power and sovereignty to deliver him from what he described as “deadly peril.” Paul wanted the Corinthians to know that even though he suffered for the sake of Gospel, he was also comforted by God because He is The God Of All Comfort.

Text Analysis

            3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

            If you’ve been reading my lessons then you are aware that I grew up in the home of an abusive, alcoholic father. I can’t tell you how many times I prayed that God would change my circumstances but He never did. Nevertheless, God never abandoned me. Instead, He carried me through those difficult years. It never made any sense to me why God would allow something that seemed so senseless to me. Was there comfort in knowing that God was always with me? Sometimes. But as a young boy what I really wanted was a father that wasn’t abusive or an alcoholic. It wasn’t until I became a pastor that I realized that through my trials, I am uniquely qualified to speak into the lives of those who have suffered or continue to suffer through similar abuses. No matter how much someone loves you when you are hurting, there is nothing more comforting than to hear someone say, ‘I understand what you’re going through. I can help you walk this road because I’ve already walked it.’ This is what Paul is saying in vv. 3-4. Paul is able to extend comfort to those who are suffering because he has first hand experience of what that looks like as a result of the comfort he received from God during his own trials.

            This is so often one of the things atheists use to argue against the idea of a loving God—Why didn’t God do something to prevent trials and suffering in the first place so there wouldn’t be a need for comfort? I wish I had a foolproof answer to that question. Unfortunately, our world is still filled with sin and evil and unless God intervenes to eliminate humanity’s freedom to choose between good and evil, we must endure suffering at the hands of evil and sinful people. Suffering, however, has tremendous transformative power. In some people suffering plants the seeds of bitterness in their hearts and transforms them into hard-hearted, cynical beasts filled with anger and hatred. However in others, suffering plants the seeds of compassion in their hearts and transforms them into broken vessels that allow God’s compassion to pour through the cracks of their brokenness and into the lives of other people who are suffering. “God would comfort the Corinthians through these difficult times. When the troubles passed and the Corinthians emerged faithful, then they would be able to comfort others who needed the same comfort. Trials are never easy. But it is through trials that God can shape and mold our character. Often, it is only through trials that we can learn about God’s loving care for us.”[1]

5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

            Jesus said that if He would suffer and be persecuted then we should expect to be as well (Jn 15:20). He also said that we would have trouble in this life (Jn 16:33). In the first instance, Jesus makes clear that we should expect to suffer because we are His followers and we shouldn’t expect to be treated any better than He was. In the second instance, Jesus is far more general. He is saying that we are going to have trouble in this life. This seems obviously true for everyone—for believers and unbelievers alike. However, remember that Jesus also promised the disciples that when He returned to the Father, He would ask the Father to send the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God living with us and in us. Why is that important? Do you remember one of the names for the Holy Spirit? The NIV calls Him the Advocate and that is certainly appropriate because He advocates for believers before the Father when Satan attempts to accuse us of our sins. Some translations call Him the Helper and that is also true because He helps believers endure the hardships of this life. Some translations call Him the Counselor because He guides us in the truths of God’s Word. However, many translations call Him the Comforter and this is particularly important in light of Paul’s instruction in v. 5. We are able to comfort those who are grieving because we have been comforted by God the Comforter. This is how we are able to bring comfort to those who don’t have the benefit being in relationship with the Comforter Himself. A relationship with the Comforter is a common bond between believers and provides the foundation for the comfort believers provide for one another.

            “Christians are so intimately joined with Christ that experiences flow from Christ, to believers, through believers, and to others. The sufferings of Christ extend from Christ to his followers. Believers fill up…Christ’s afflictions because the church is his body (see Col. 1:24; cf. Phil. 3:10). This was plain enough from the hardships in Paul’s own ministry. Yet, just as Christ received joy and glory in his resurrection, and sent the Holy Spirit of comfort, comfort also overflows to believers through Christ. In union with Christ we face the hardships of sin and death, but we also receive compassionate encouragement from God.”[2]

6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

            Jesus promises us many things but He never promises that we will not encounter pain and/or suffering. He also never promises to deliver us from either. What He does promise is that He will never leave us or forsake us during the times of trials in our lives. Paul endured much in order to bring the message of the Gospel to the Corinthians. However, everything Paul and his traveling party endured, both the distress and the comfort, according to vv. 6-7 was for their ultimate benefit. The comfort Paul passed on to them would be necessary for them to be comforted during the sufferings that awaited them. Paul said that through the comfort he provided them, they would develop “patient endurance” that would sustain them in their time of shared suffering. “Patient endurance” is also referred to as “perseverance.” Perseverance is defined as steadfastly doing something despite difficulty or opposition. In the context of our Subject Text, comfort would develop in them the ability to persevere in their faith in the face of trials and tribulations. For Christians, suffering is inevitable, like it is for non-Christians. However, for Christians, comfort must be an active partner with suffering that is extended to all people. The comfort we give to our brothers and sisters in Christ will serve to encourage them to persevere through their time grief and suffering. The comfort we give to unbelievers will possibly serve to encourage them to reach out in their grief and suffering to The God Of All Comfort for comfort in this life and salvation in the next.

            “There is a divine purpose in human suffering that is borne for the Gospel’s sake. Thereby the cause of Christ is advanced. But one special reason is given in our passage. Those who receive encouragement from God are qualified to enter sympathetically into the experience of others whose pathway leads them through a vale of tears. ‘Sympathy is love perfected by experience,’…so Paul the apostle is not a man who lives a detached existence, untroubled by hard knocks in life; and by the same token he is no aloof pastor, remote from the people to whom he ministers. And the conclusion from this moving section seems clear:…That is, ‘he who has experienced one kind of affliction is particularly qualified to console others in the same and all circumstances.’”[3]

Conclusion

            In the days and weeks ahead, the battle lines will be drawn between the different sides who will opine as to root cause of the horrific murders of our brothers and sisters in Christ at Emanuel AME. On one side will be those who say the murders were motivated by racism and on the other side they will argue that it was the result of America’s moral decay. The two sides will engage in the fiercest of battles never realizing that they are both right to a certain degree. The sides will vehemently disagree as to the legislation needed to eliminate this tragedy in the future but they will fail to understand that they are both wrong. No legislation in the world, no matter how eloquent or foolproof will eliminate evil. Only the transformation that comes through faith in Christ will solve the evil that is in the world and we already know that not all people will give their lives to Christ. Consequently, racism, murder, hatred and every other form of evil will continue in this world until Christ returns to put an end to all evil and rebellion once and for all at the final judgment.

            In the days and weeks ahead, I worry that those who are left behind in the Charleston community, who probably feel like they are being crushed by grief, will be forgotten. So I ask that all of you set aside the academic exercise of trying to figure out who or what is to blame for this tragedy and instead stay focused on praying for or reaching out to those in the Charleston community generally and Emanuel AME more specifically. I would like to ask all of you to take a few minutes to write a note of encouragement to Emanuel AME letting them know you are praying for them. The address is:

Emanuel AME Church
110 Calhoun Street
Charleston, SC  29401

I know there are some of you, maybe all of you, who have experienced your own tragedy. Remember, “He or she who has experienced one kind of affliction is particularly qualified to console others in the same and all circumstances.” I also realize that some of you are right now reeling from your own personal tragedy right where you are. I want you to know that whoever you are, I will be praying for you this week as well.

I have a booklet in my Bible called Remembrance—Fallen but not forgotten. It was written to those who survived the terrorist attacks in America on 9/11. It includes writings from a number of people who are “particularly qualified to console others in the same and all circumstances.” One particular contributor to the booklet is the father of a high school girl, Rachel Scott, who was murdered during a shooting rampage by two evil assailants at Columbine High School here in Colorado. I want to share with you what he wrote so that you might be comforted by his words as he is used by God to bring comfort to many others because God is The God Of All Comfort.

Honor Their Memory
By: Darrell Scott

One moment you’re just going through the routine of another day, and the next moment your life is shattered. I know the feeling well, because it happen to me on April 20, 1999.

My daughter, Rachel Scott, was brutally gunned down while sitting on the grass, eating her lunch, at Columbine High School. She was a beautiful, talented, energetic, optimistic teenager with so much to live for. And in one moment’s time, she was no longer there.

I know the agony of “not knowing.” It’s a horrible day when your prayers are, God, let my daughter be wounded and hiding somewhere. Instead, it was more than 24 hours before we received confirmation of what we feared. Rachel was one of the fatalities.

I know the gut-wrenching pain that cannot find an adequate outlet even though your body grows sore from the fathomless, heaving sobs that never seem to end.

            I know the paralyzing numbness of days, weeks and months that follow.

            I know the empty spots that emerge on Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and her birthday.

            I know sleepless nights and red-rimmed eyes.

            But I also know the joy of celebrating a life that had purpose and meaning.

            I know the miracle of slowly watching good and wonderful things emerge from the very pits of horror and despair.

            I know the transforming power of a loving God who can create the universe out of nothing, and can take the worst of tragedies and bring purpose, life and meaning from it.

            Whether the location is a high school, skyscraper, military complex, or airplane cabin, or a hill called Calvary, tragedy can be turned to triumph.

            As I have learned, my daughter’s influence touched the lives of millions. A month before she died, she wrote a challenge in her journal: “I dare to believe that I can start a chain reaction through acts of kindness and compassion.”

            And Rachel didn’t just write about starting a chain reaction; she lived it—with people all around her. Many of them have since told me that they are living out that challenge themselves.

Shortly after hearing the news of our nation’s multiple tragedies, I wrote this poem:

The pain, it seems, will never end
The hurt is here to stay
The agony within my soul
Will never go away
It seems that it’s impossible
For me to “make it through”
(I know that feeling, precious friend,
For I have been there too)

I won’t attempt to offer cures
That will not ease your pain
But I will say, the life you lost—
It was not lived in vain

It’s been dispersed in memories
That now reside in you
And in the months and years to come
They’ll help you make it through

Today you feel the dark despair
Today you mourn and cry
But from the seeds of memory
That life will multiply

The torment seems too much to bear
The whole world seems insane
But if their life reflects through you
They did not die in vain!

            I am so grateful that I chose to turn to my Heavenly Father for strength and comfort in my own personal loss. There I found the courage to forgive, the strength to “let go” and the ability to see beyond the tragedy to a divine purpose that has slowly emerged with time.

            We all have the ability to make choices. Those choices may leave us either bitter or better. Those choices included honoring our departed loved ones and their memories. You are now a continuation of the lives of those you have lost. Make them proud.[4]







[1] Bruce Barton, Philip Comfort, Grant Osborne, Linda K. Taylor, and Dave Veerman, Life Application New Testament Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), p. 712.
[2] Richard L. Pratt, Jr., I & II Corinthians—Holman New Testament Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2000), p. 303.
[3] Ralph P. Martin, 2 Corinthians—Word Biblical Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Nelson Reference & Electronic, 1986), pp. 11-12.
[4] Darrell Scott, Remembrance—Fallen but not forgotten: Honor Their Memory, (New York, NY: The King’s College, 2001), pp. 6-7.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Children Of Light: Filled With The Spirit (Conclusion)
















Introduction

            Maybe you’ve heard it said that no person exists in a vacuum. In other words, no person exists without being influenced by something or someone—either for good or for bad. We see this principle play out in the lives of the children in the culture around us, especially here in America. Many of our young men and young women, not all but many, who reside in our inner cities, grow up without fathers in their homes and lives. The absence of fathers and intact families where values and discipline are established and enforced creates a vacuum of sorts in their lives. Very often, that vacuum, for young men, is filled by street gangs who provide purpose, belonging, and direction missing from their lives. Unfortunately, that purpose, belonging, and direction usually leads to prison or death at a very early age. 90% are arrested by age 18. 75% are arrested twice by age 18. 95% do not finish high school. 60% are dead or in prison by age 20. The average life expectancy of an active gang member is: 20 years, 5 months.[1] And the fate for young women isn’t much better. Many also join street gangs or become pregnant by a street gang member and, the few who don’t have an abortion, are left to raise their child without a father inevitably repeating the cycle of bringing a child into the world without a father or an intact family—and the cycle repeats itself over and over again. Without the guiding hand of a father to direct his child toward what is good and right, someone or something else will take his place and direct that child toward something that is often neither good nor right.

            The Irish statesman, Sir Edmund Burke, once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Burke understood that the absence of good doesn’t create a vacuum where there was no good or evil. Burke understood that where there wasn’t good, there would be evil. However, the inverse is true as well. Where there is true good, there is no room for evil. Where there is real hope, there is no despair. Where there is pure love, there is no hate. Where there is light, there can be no darkness. When we believe in the Light of the world, the darkness in our lives is vanquished and we become Children Of Light. When we become Children Of Light, our lives begin to transform and sinful thoughts and deeds begin to be displaced by thoughts and deeds of righteousness and holiness because we were Created To Be Like God (part one) in righteousness and holiness as we seek to become Imitators Of God (part two). However, none of this is possible for the believer without the power and strength of God living in and through them. There is no magic that occurs when a person becomes a believer and their words and deeds are transformed from sinfulness to holiness. Instead, it is the power of God in the lives of believers who were once filled with sin and all the trappings of sin but are now Filled With The Spirit.

Subject Text

Ephesians 5:8-21

8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” 15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Context

            There is a natural progression of our Subject Text that began in our first lesson where I explained that believers are Children Of Light and were no longer supposed to live the way the lived before they became believers. Their old way of living was like wearing dirty old clothes—they were clothed in sin. When they became believers they took off their dirty old clothes and put on fresh, clean clothes—they were clothed in righteousness. Humanity has been created in the image of God—Created To Be Like God. There was no longer supposed to be even a hint of impurity in their lives—either in their words, in their actions, or in their relationships. All areas of their lives were supposed to reflect the One they claimed to follow. Jesus gave them (and us) an example to follow for how they should relate to one another and an unbelieving world. They were supposed to do the same. They were supposed to be Imitators Of God. But how would they be able to be transformed from their old, sinful way of living and instead become righteous and holy in their words and deeds? How would they be transformed from their old self to their new self? This week’s Subject Text holds the answer. Believers, Created To Be Like God are able to be Imitators Of God because they have been Filled With The Spirit (of God).

Text Analysis

8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord.

            Paul circles back in vv. 8-10 to our overall theme that the Ephesian believers were once lost in the darkness of their sins characterized by bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander and all kinds of malice. They were tangled in sexual immorality, impurity, greed, obscenity, foolish talk and coarse joking. But once they made a commitment to leave the darkness and become followers of the Light of the world, they became Children Of Light. Paul uses the illustration of fruit to describe what grows from the identity of being Children Of Light. Specifically, what they say they believe should become manifest in the actions of their daily lives and characterized by goodness, righteousness and truth. “Theology is always transformative in the New Testament and not merely speculative. In Ephesians this comes to expression particularly in the author’s interest in how the believer should ‘walk’ in light of the Christian group’s ideology. Indeed, walk is a key word in the second half of the letter…which contrasts the way the (largely Gentile) believers formerly ‘walked’ and the life of good works that God has prepared for them to ‘walk’ in. His attention to practical detail in this letter serves as an eloquent reminder to the church that the Christian confession is less a matter of lips and more a matter of legs.”[2]

The objective of every believer is to seek God’s will for their lives and pursue that will. Like every good relationship, we work very hard to learn and understand what pleases the other person and we attempt to incorporate that thing or those things into how we relate to that person. It is the same way with God. We strive to seek, through the Scriptures, the things that please God and we incorporate those things into our lives to be able to relate properly to God and to others. However, that’s not the only source of learning and pursuing the things that please God. As believers, the Spirit of God lives within us. If we will learn to listen to the Spirit and allow the Spirit to guide us, we will more easily discern the things that please God because the Spirit will lead you only to those things that characterize God’s holiness and righteousness.

11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

            Like goodness, righteousness and truth is the fruit that is, or should be, manifest in the life of Children Of Light, all the characteristics of sinfulness—impurity and immorality—are the fruits that manifest themselves in the lives of unbelievers—those still in darkness. Paul gave us a list of those characteristics previously and I’ve already repeated them. But here’s what I want you to take notice of in v. 11: Paul’s not only saying that believers shouldn’t have anything to do with the darkness that is characteristic of life as an unbeliever, we are supposed to expose that darkness. I can already hear those who are mired in the darkness of their sins howling that “we have no right to judge them!” And you know what? They’re right! That’s not what Paul is instructing here. I want you to be very careful to understand what Paul is and isn’t saying here. Paul is not saying anywhere that we are to condemn the sinner. Paul is saying that we are supposed to condemn the sin. Do you understand the difference? Expose greed without condemning those who are greedy. Expose sexual immorality without condemning the one trapped in sexual immorality. Expose hatred without condemning the person bathed in hatred. We make judgments of right and wrong everyday. Not everyone will agree with what Christians judge to be right or wrong but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. Ironically, when unbelievers claim that Christians are wrong to judge the actions and attitudes of others, they are doing exactly what they are condemning Christians for doing. It is a fine line that unbelievers don’t seem to have trouble crossing even as they condemn Christians for crossing it and, unfortunately, some Christians have been known to cross the line between exposing sinful acts and condemning the sinner. Nevertheless, that is not what Paul is instructing here. Christians are to live as Children Of Light and allow their light to expose the darkness of sin in the world without the need or desire to condemn the sinner.

            “Light and darkness cannot coexist, so children of the light must take not part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness. Believers must separate themselves from sin, having no part of it. This does not mean that believers must be separate from unbelievers, but they must ‘take no part’ in their sinful actions. It is important to avoid activities that result in sin, but we must go even further. Paul instructed believers to rebuke and expose these deeds because silence may be interpreted as approval. Just as the light shines into darkness and exposes what is hidden, so the light of Christ, through a believer, should shine into the darkness of sin and expose it for what it is. God needs people who will take an active and vocal stand against sin and permissiveness in all its forms. Christians must lovingly speak out for what is true and right.”[3]

12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.

            If we were instructed in v. 11 to expose the darkness of sin, how do we do that if, according to v. 12, it’s shameful to even mention the deeds done in darkness? I believe Paul is simply trying to point out just how far believers should stay away from sinful behavior. I believe Paul is engaging in a bit of hyperbole here to make his point. Paul wants them to understand that sin is so awful that the mere mention of sinful behavior is enough to pollute them. Obviously Paul didn’t mean they literally shouldn’t mention sinful behavior otherwise he would have shamed himself because he did it all the time. Instead, Paul wanted to press the point that sin and the believer can never shake hands.

            “Paul gives the reason why his readers should not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness. They are so evil, Paul says, that they are shameful even to mention. Does this imply that when believers expose the sins of others, they must not use words but only the contrast of their own good behavior?...It is unlikely that Paul’s language has this connotation. Just as with his admonition that sexual sins and greed must not even ‘be named’ among God’s people, so here, Paul is exaggerating for the sake of emphasis: he is simply underlining how far out of bounds the behavior of some unbelievers lies…People are ‘exposed’ when verbal evidence, whether written or oral, is presented against them. The activities that Paul describes here, then, are shameful even to mention for the same reason that those who do them seek to keep them secret: they are especially evil.”[4]

13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

            Jesus said that no one lights a candle and then puts it in a jar or under the bed. Instead they put the candle on a nightstand so that it lights the way for anyone who enters the room. Jesus predicted that nothing will remain hidden forever and that one day the light will reveal everything that was previously concealed (Lk 8:16-17). This is the same thing Paul is trying to say in vv. 13-14. The Children Of Light are like a candle on a nightstand that lights the way to what is good, right and true and it will serve to expose all that is evil, wrong and a lie. Paul isn’t quoting directly from the Scriptures in v. 14 but is likely quoting from a hymn that was well known to the Ephesians and probably taken from Isaiah 60:1 where it reads, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.” It is possible that Paul was appealing to them to wake up and take account of their lives before they slipped farther into sin. Or perhaps it is a general appeal to all sinners to repent of their sins or allow the Light of the world to expose the sin in their lives.

            “The passage is introduced in connection with the reference to the effects of faithful [exposure of sin] and under the impression of the figure of light. It takes the form of an appeal to wake out of the pagan condition of sin, described by the two-fold figure of sleep and death, and of a promise that then Christ will shine upon the sinner with the saving light of His truth. The quotation comes in relevantly, therefore, as a further enforcement both of the need for the reproof [of sinful behavior] which is enjoined, and of the good effects of such a reproof faithfully exercised.”[5]

15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

            I want you to think about our own days as you read vv. 15-17. Do you suppose they are more evil or less evil than Paul’s day? I want you to think in terms of the Bible’s historical trajectory not in terms of our modern advancement in virtually all areas of human existence. The Bible teaches that history is inevitably moving towards a conclusion when growing evil will reach its pinnacle and God will finally say, “Enough!” On that day, in that moment, time will be up and it will be too late for those who have not accepted Christ as their Savior for they will be separated from God for all eternity. What Paul is saying so urgently to the Ephesians should be understood as being much more urgent for us today that we are drawing always closer to the end and God’s final judgment. As a result, like the Ephesians, we are to live wisely every day and understand the trajectory of history. Satan is still hard at work attacking believers; discouraging believers, while inspiring and deceiving unbelievers. The wisdom Paul says we should have is the wisdom to live lives of holiness and righteousness without any hint of impurity or immorality. The Lord’s will is that Christians would be a light that exposes the darkness of sin in the lives of unbelievers; a light that lights the path toward Jesus and salvation. Jesus said, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day (Jn 6:40).”

            The NIV is not very good in it’s translation of v. 17. A better reading would be that believers should “buy up the present opportunity.” Every day presents us with unique opportunities to share our faith with people who are now tangled and trapped in their sins. We have the means to set them free. We cross paths with people every day who are stumbling around in the darkness of their sins. We have the means to light the path for them. We meet people every day who are dead because of their sins and they don’t even know it. We have the words that will give them life. I have often said that you each have a unique life story of how you came to know Christ and how you live out your faith every day. God will provide you with the opportunity to tell people what you believe and to show them what that looks like in the details of your life. Be wise then and don’t miss the opportunities that God presents you with. Opportunity creates a vacuum and that vacuum will be filled with something. In the context of our Subject Text, opportunity that isn’t met with the good news of the Gospel will be satisfied by Satan and met with the allure and attraction of sin. “The injunction to ‘buy up the present opportunity’…has special reference to Christian witness in the world. The statement that ‘the days are evil’ may imply that, whatever difficulties lie in the way of Christian witness now, they will increase as time goes on. It must be borne in mind not only that the present age remains an ‘evil age’ even if it has been invaded by the powers of the age to come but also that…‘the appointed time has grown very short,’ so that opportunities must be exploited while they last.”[6]

18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

            Paul is very clear in denouncing drunkenness in his letters to the various churches and on the surface he does the same thing here in v. 18. But that’s a very elementary reading of the text. Instead, Paul is saying that using our time and resources to over-indulge in alcohol is unwise because it leads Christians to conduct themselves in ways that are inconsistent with who they are as Children Of Light. Using our time to get drunk is an unwise use of our time and squanders the opportunities that God has prepared for us to capitalize on. A wiser use of our time would be to allow the Spirit to direct more and more of our lives every day. Paul is saying that instead of filling up with booze we should be Filled With The Spirit. It is not a prohibition against drinking. It is a prohibition against drinking to get drunk. It is a waste of time that is running out and opportunities that are being met by something other than the good news of the Gospel. This holds true for anything, work, food, money, power, etc. None are inherently evil in and of themselves but are worthless and lead to sin when they interfere with the opportunities to share the Gospel. Instead of filling up or lives with the things that are ultimately worthless, we are instead called to be Filled With The Spirit. But what does it mean to be Filled With The Spirit?

            “In Acts, in the miraculous instances of the filling of the Spirit which resulted in speaking in tongues and other extraordinary activities, the word used for ‘filling’ is pimplemi. In [v. 18], when we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit, the world for ‘filled’ is ‘plarao.’ These words have different meanings. In Acts when pimplemi is used, the results are dramatic: the person speaks in tongues, prophesies, or preaches powerful messages spontaneously. In the only two New Testament occurrences of plarao in the verb form, it has no extraordinary event occurring with it…

            We do not see the pimplemi filling of the Spirit after Acts 19, the last recorded incident in Acts of the message of the gospel going to Gentiles. The purpose of miraculous manifestations of the Spirit was to validate and reinforce the message of the gospel to people who did not know Christ…

            [Gramatically], pimplemi is always aorist passive with the genitive case: aorist tense means that the filling did not last long and was not intended to last long. The passive indicates that the people who were filled had no control over the fact that they were filled. It was a sovereign work of God.

            Plerao in this passage is imperative passive, meaning that they were commanded to let it happen and they could control their willingness to be filled…

            The purpose of plerao filling is person oriented. The purpose of pimplemi is task oriented. The dramatic events surrounding pimplemi are designed to accomplish a certain task. The purpose of plerao is to cause a person to be filled with joy or the Spirit as a continuous state…

            We are not controlled by the Holy Spirit in the same way as a hand controls the functioning of a glove. Rather, we are governed in the sense that a speed limit sign controls how fast we drive. We are governed by it, in the sense that we have yielded to its authority and are law-abiding persons…

            As we let the Word richly dwell within us, we come to understand the will of God. The Holy Spirit applies God’s truth to our hearts, and as we yield to it, allowing ourselves to be governed by it, we experience the fruit of the Spirit—peace, love, and joy. Gradually, more and more, over time we are filled with the Spirit in a nonsensational manner, but a manner just as miraculous as the dramatic manifestation of pimplemi.”[7]

19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

            There is something that happens in the life of the believer who is continuously Filled With The Spirit. Their lives are bound to overflow and that overflow tends to come in the form of worship and thanksgiving. It is and always has been the natural consequence of continuously filling something—whatever is being filled overflows. Look closely at Paul’s instruction in vv. 19-21. They are entirely relational. When we are Filled With The Spirit we relate to one another on a spiritual level through worship; through psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. We relate to one another on a practical level by submitting ourselves in service and devotion to one another. We relate to God on a spiritual and practical level also through worship. However, the way we relate to God goes one step further because we are commanded to give God thanks in the name of Jesus for everything in our lives.

            “The purpose of singing is both praise to God and instruction to believers. Singing, then, has two audiences. Christians sing to each other, reminding each other about God’s character and work in Christ, but they also sing to the Lord as a way of offering praise to him.

            Whether any difference is intended between psalms, hymns, spiritual songs is difficult to say. In all probability no clear demarcation is intended. The people are to sing in their heart is not a request that the people sing with feeling or emotion. Rather, ‘heart’ refers to the controlling center of one’s being: ‘Sing with your whole being’ (which certainly includes the emotions). The issue is the integrity with which one sings, not the feeling. Words are not merely sung, they express the reality of the life in the Spirit…

            It is not surprising that thanksgiving is associated with life in the Spirit. Thanksgiving is the believing acknowledgment of God and his purposes for Good in Christ. Obviously such giving of thanks points to a lifestyle and not just to spoken words…

            The last participle describing life in the Spirit is perhaps the most surprising. People led by the Spirit ‘submit to one another.’ Many are offended by the word ‘submission,’ as if it points to a passive, weak life dominated by a negative self-image, a giving up of control and free will. This is not Paul’s intent, except for the fact that control for Christians has already been given over to Christ.

            The Greek work hypotasso (‘submit’) literally means ‘arrange under.’ It is used of submitting to God’s law, of everything being subjected under Christ’s feet, or of younger men being subject to older men. Attempts to translate ‘submit’ by ‘be supportive of,’ ‘be committed to,’ or ‘identify with’ are unacceptable. It is important to note that the text does not ask some Christians to submit to other Christians. It asks all Christians to submit to each other. No privilege group is in view…

            Christians are called to live in mutual submission, and without mutual submission they cannot fulfill their destiny. Such submission is a strong and free act of the will based on real love of the other person. In the end, submission is nothing more than a decision about the relative worth of another person, a manner of dying and rising with Christ, and a way to respect and love other people. In fact, for Christians, authority and submission are the same thing.”[8]

Application

            I began this Children Of Light series explaining that Christians were Created To Be Like God in righteousness and holiness because God is righteous and holy. Before we became believers we lived in the dark; we were separated from God because of the darkness of sin in our lives. With lives clouded by darkness, we plunged our lives into the sensuality of over-indulgence into every kind of impurity that simply left us constantly lusting after more. However, once we accepted Christ, the Light of the world, into our lives, the darkness was vanquished and we were set free from our former way of living. We put away the old sinful self like taking off old, dirty clothes and put on the new righteous and holy self like dressing in fresh, clean clothes. Freed from the bondage of needing to indulge in the impurity of the world’s way of living, we set course for a new way of living; living like the one we claimed to follow. Instead of living in a way that reflects the image of the world, we have become Imitators Of God that reflect the image of God

            As Imitators Of God, we do what God does and don’t do what God doesn’t do. We are holy and righteous because God is holy and righteous. We are loving, kind, compassionate, and merciful because God is loving, kind, compassionate, and merciful. As Imitators Of God, we serve because Jesus came to serve and not be served. We endure pain and suffering with patience because Jesus endured pain and suffering with patience. We forgive others because we have been forgiven by God. However, as Imitators Of God we don’t do the things that God doesn’t do. We refrain from unwholesome talk but engage only in talk that serves to encourage and build others up not wound them or tear them down. We rid our lives bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, and all forms of malice. We strive daily to eliminate any hint of sexual immorality in our lives or any other impurity for that matter. We seek to starve the monster of greed that can never be satisfied. We purge our lives of obscenity, foolish talk and coarse joking. We rid our lives of all these things because they are uncharacteristic of God and we have become Imitators Of God.

            We do not live in a world that is morally neutral; there is no moral vacuum. In the absence of good, evil will flourish. In the absence Christian morality, the world’s immorality will thrive. Humanity will always be filled with something—sin or righteousness; lies or truth; greed or generosity; hatred or love; darkness or light. As followers of the Light of the world, we are now Children Of Light. We have been Created To Be Like God to live lives of righteousness and holiness because God is righteous and holy. When the sinful world sees us, what do they see? Do they see a reflection of themselves or do they see a reflection of God’s characteristics? If we are Imitators Of God then the people we encounter should get a perspective of what God is like by the example of our lives. Believers, once lost in the darkness of their sins have, through their belief in Jesus, been Created To Be Like God. Setting aside their once sinful actions and attitudes, believers have instead become Imitators Of God. Having been sealed by the Spirit of God when they accepted Christ as their Savior, the sin and depravity in the lives of believers has been displaced by the Spirit. The world should be able to recognize believers by the fruit of the Spirit manifest in their lives—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23). These are the characteristics that should be manifest in the lives of believers—Children Of Light who have been Created To Be Like God with the power to be Imitators Of God because they are Filled With The Spirit.







[1] William J. Harness, Gang Facts and Myths: A Guide For School Administrators, (Conroe, TX: Conroe ISD Police Department, 1994-2006), p. 21.
[2] David A. deSilva, An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods & Ministry Formation, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), p. 726.
[3] Bruce Barton, Philip Comfort, Grant Osborne, Linda K. Taylor, and Dave Veerman, Life Application New Testament Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), pp. 825-826.
[4] Franklin Thielman, Ephesians—Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010), p. 344.
[5] W. Robertson Nicoll, The Expositor’s Greek Testament, Vol. III, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983), p. 360.
[6] F. F. Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians—The New International Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1984), pp. 378-379.
[7] Max Anders, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians & Colossians—Holman New Testament Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1999), pp. 180-181.
[8] Klyne Snodgrass, Ephesians—The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), pp. 291-293.