Being Light

Being Light
Ephesians 5:8-14

8 For 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)
10 and find out what pleases the Lord.
11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible,
14 for 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." (Eph 5:8-14 NIV)

Here in Ephesians Paul boldly called the Church “children of light.” What does this mean? How does the Church act out living as children of light?
The Bible does give us the origin of light. Genesis 1:3 “Let there be light.” From this we can conclude God as the creator of light. Prior to light in creation we the earth as “ formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep (Gen 1:2 NIV), but the light exposed the chaos and creation begun.

Moses’ encounter with God left him glowing. “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD.” (Exo 34:29 NIV) To me this seems to indicate that God is light and this light is different than what we see here because something about this light causes the human body to radiate.

To go along with David in the Psalms states, “Let the light of your face shine upon us.” What is this light? What is the human draw to this light?

John seems to know what the light is. “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” (John 1:4-5 NIV) John later records Jesus affirming this opening statement of his gospel. "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (Joh 8:12 NIV) and again, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." (Joh 9:5 NIV) When we look at the opening of Genesis along with the opening of John’s Gospel we can John clearly placing Christ in the Creation narrative.

Matthew gives us the next step in the process of light. In the famous Sermon on the Mount Jesus looks at his disciples and those around him and says, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. (Mat 5:14 NIV) It is vital to know the “you” is plural, not singular. Only as a Church can we be light to the world.

Paul continues this reality in his application to the church in Ephesus. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light…” Jesus and Paul lay out the way in which to live and conclude that we are to do this because we are children of light.

I believe Paul has in mind the resurrection as his controlling narrative. So maybe this light is a resurrection light. The closing song fascinates me, "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." This isn’t an OT quote it is from the early church that Paul was a part of. Christ rose from the dead and we to have risen from the dead in order to live a resurrected life now. Earth started out in darkness and God spoke light into the world. Humanity lived in darkness and God sent His Word in order to speak to us. In return Humanity crucified God’s Word but God raised His Son in order that we might rise from the dead to have Christ shine on us. The darkness was exposed and the darkness was defeated. The Church is the light of the world like it or not. We become the light by our faith in Christ (the light of the world) and we are transformed into that light (you are the light of the world) through living as Christ did, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Eph 5:2 NIV) “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. …death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man [or nature] at his call. Jesus’ summons to the rich young man was calling him to die, because only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die…(Memoir by Gerhard Leibholz)