INTRODUCTION
In the previous verse we are told that we are to be imitators of God. How can we do that? WE must walk as He wants us to walk.
We live in a society much like Paul’s, full of immorality and sin. We have all have come from the kingdom of darkness to the light. Most of us had baggage that we brought with us when we came to know Jesus.
The thing that we need to do is to rid ourselves of that baggage and understand that we are free in Jesus, and that we can walk or live the way that He wants us to live.
In our passage we will look at the deeds that people who live in darkness perform, and we will see why Christians are not to do them.
Secondly we will look at the deeds that characterize those who live in the light.
The message of the text is powerful. It is convicting. It challenges us at the very core of our being to be what God wants us to be. And that is as it should be.
We should not be able to read the Word of God without being moved by it. Hopefully, we do not engage in a merely academic study of this Book. Our lives should be impacted as we read it. At times, however, we will come upon sections which speak very pointedly to where we live. That is why it is important to read the Bible in a systematic fashion. That is also why it is important to systematically preach through entire books of the Bible. In that way, you can avoid the temptation to skip the more convicting passages.
The key verse in the passage before us is verse 8: for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light. It seems like a nice verse. Taken by itself, it is not particularly challenging. But it cannot be taken by itself. It is defined by the verses surrounding it. And there is the challenge.
In these verses, the contrast between living in darkness and living in light will be clearly drawn. How we live will be challenged. And that is what is so convicting.
SERMON
DEEDS OF DARKNESS Verses 3-6
1. Attitudes and actions. Verse 3.
A. Immorality
1. Comes from the word porniea, from which we get pornography.
2. It deals with sexual promiscuity or and sexual relations outside of marriage.
B. Impurity
1. A more general term that deals with anything that would put us in a position where we could not be in God’s presence.
2. In Matthew 23:27, Jesus uses the some word to describe bodies that have rotted in the tombs. The other 10 times the word is used in the New Testament it deals with sexual immorality.
C. Greed The desire for more and more. The two things mentioned above are both a result of greed and selfishness. A desire to have what is not yours. A young man who is trying to talk you into participating in immorality with him does not love you, but he is greedy, you don’t belong to him.
2. Sins of the Tongue. Verse 4.
A. Filthiness and silly talk.
1. The word for filthiness only occurs here in the New Testament. It means shameful.
2. Silly talk comes from the words that we would get our word moron combined with the word to speak. Silly talk means moron talk.
a. God is not condemning humor, but foolishness. A fool according to the bible lacks wisdom and a knowledge of God.
B. Course jesting.
1. Jesting. A word that means easily turned. Double meanings statements. This word is only used here in the New Testament also.
2. Woman and PARTY ILLUSTRATION.
3. Why we are not to do the deeds of darkness.
A. It is not proper for saints. Verse 3.
1. We are not to even to give people grounds on which they can accuse us of the things mentioned above.
2. These sins are so bad that our minds should not dwell on them nor our tongues speak of them.
3. There are two indications of a man’s character according to Warren Wiersbe, what will make a man laugh and what will make him weep.
4. Living under the Lordship of Jesus Christ must make a difference in the everyday decisions of life. We must be willing to pay the price of discipleship.
5. A few years ago, Jack Eckerd, founder of the Eckerd drugstore chain, committed his life to Christ. Shortly afterward as he walked through one of his stores, he noticed the magazine racks with their glossy copies of Playboy and Penthouse. Although Eckerd was retired from active management, he called the president of the company and urged him to get rid of those pornographic magazines. The president protested because substantial profits were gained from their sales. Being the largest stockholder, Eckerd himself stood to lose a lot of money by such a decision. But he remained firm in his objection, and he prevailed. The offensive magazines were removed from all 1700 drugstores. When he was asked what motivated him to take this action, Eckerd replied, "God wouldn’t let me off the hook!"
B. We are to honor God with our speech. Verse 4.
1. COL 3:16-17 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
2. Ask yourself, would I tell this to Jesus? Because we are!
C. We have an inheritance. Verse 5. Rejection of God’s will in our lives equals rejection of God’s inheritance.
D. The Wrath of God falls on people who habitually practice these deeds. Verse 6.
1. READ GALATIANS 5:19-21.
2. As Christians, we will not be sinless, but we will sin less and less and less.
Verse 8 tells us that we were darkness. That was the past.
DEEDS OF THE LIGHT
1. The Deeds
A. Goodness Verse 9. When moral excellence is combined with a generous spirit.
B. Righteousness. Verse 9. Giving God His due
C. Truth. Verse 9. Genuineness and honesty. Not only something to be said, but something to be done.
D. Trying to learn what is pleasing to God. Verse 10.
1. The word is the same one used of testing to amount of gold in an ore.
E. Exposure instead of Participation. Verse 11.
2. Why we are to do the deeds of the light.
A. We are children of the Light. Verse 8.
B. It is disgraceful to even speak of the hidden deeds of the darkness. Verse 12.
C. Our light will expose darkness and help others.
1. The word exposed means not to just make known but also to reprove, correct, point something out to someone.
D. Christ will shine on us. Verse 14.
CONCLUSION
Dale Hays, in an article entitled Total Commitment, published in Leadership magazine, writes of a Haitian pastor who told his people a parable about a man who tried to sell his house for $2,000. The perspective buyer could not afford the house at that price, so after haggling with the owner, the owner decided to let the house go for $1,000 with one stipulation. The owner would retain ownership of a small nail that protruded from just over the door. The buyer took possession of the house, but after several years the original owner decided he wanted it back. The new owner refused to sell. The old owner found the carcass of a dead dog, and hung it from the single nail that was still his. Finally, the stench rendered the house uninhabitable, and the residents were forced to sell it back. This Haitian pastor concluded, “If we leave the devil with even one small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotten garbage on it, making it unfit for Christ’s habitation.”
Is the way we live our live really that important. Yes it is. Our lives should be as such that we don’t mind it being examined.
We you fly on an airplane, you must pass yourself and your baggage through a metal detector and an x-ray machine. Does that bother you? I AM GLAD THEY DO IT, SO THAT SOME PERSON DOESN’T BLOW UP THE PLANE.
If you were carrying a bomb, then would you want to go through the machine?
A lot of people leave the church because they know that their lives cannot stand up to examination. We can fix this, walk in the light!
