WALKING AS CHILDREN OF THE LIGHT
EPHESIANS 5:8-14
There is a company in England which makes beds with a price tag Of $7.000.00. It includes bedspreads of mink, heated mattress, build in TV and sound system.
I can’t imagine paying that much for a bed but I guess if one were weary enough, he would pay any price for a good night’s rest.
There are many this morning who do not know a night of rest and peace; even some Christians. The reason being, they are not walking with God, they are out of fellowship with Him.
Someone once said, if we as Christians would act like Christians and walk with God, nothing could halt the army of God.
I-WE SEE THE FACT OF OUR WALK IN THE LIGHT: 8
A-Paul Says Notice Our Past: 8A
For ye were sometimes darkness
Before we met Christ Jesus we lived in darkness. We were spiritually blind. We were hopelessly and helplessly lost, void of any light whatsoever. We were content in the darkness.
While I was in the darkness, my aunt kept asking me to trust Jesus, to get involved in the Church. But I refused for I was blind to the goodness and grace of God.
I thank God I didn’t die in the darkness, but God allowed me to see the Light of His Salvation.
ILLUSTRATION-I heard about a pig who got out of his pen and ended up wondering in the woods. While in the woods, he found a liquor still. He ate up some old corn mash and got drunk. Several of his pig acquaintances found out and reported his to the Swine Council. They had a meeting and were about to throw him out, but he pleaded with them and promised, "If you will give me second chance I’ll never act like a human again." -Tom Dooley
When we were in darkness, before we experienced salvation, our nature wasn’t too pleasing.
B-Paul Says Notice Our Present:8B
but now are ye light in the Lord
Now, we live in the light of our Lord Jesus Christ. by God’s grace we have been made light in the Lord
Because the Lord has brought us from the darkness into the light, we ought to have Him on our mind heart continually.
ILLUSTRATION: During a long and losing baseball game, the restless 12-year-old players were questioning Ritchie, their assistant coach, about his attractive younger sister. Annoyed at the idle chatter, the head coach hollered, "When you’re in the dugout, talk baseball!" After a moment’s silence, a young voice began, "So, Ritchie, does your sister play baseball?" -- Christian Reader
C-Paul Says Notice Our Performance: 8C
walk as children of light
That being the situation, we should conduct our lives as children of light. We are to be noticeably different from those who dwell in darkness. Jesus should make a difference in our lives!
"I love Thee, I love Thee
and that Thou doest know;
But how much I love Thee,
my actions will show."
But sometime our actions fail to show our Love for our Love. Someone has mentioned it in the songs we sing.
We sing Onward Christian Soldiers and wait to be drafted into His service.
We sing O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing and don’t use the one we have.
We sing There Shall be Showers of Blessing but do not come when it rains.
We sing Blest Be the Tie That Binds and let the least little offense sever it.
We sing Serve the Lord With Gladness and gripe about all we have to do.
We sing I Love To Tell the Story and never mention it at all.
We sing We’re Marching to Zion but fail to march to worship or school.
We sing Cast Thy Burden on the Lord and worry ourselves into a nervous breakdown.
We sing The Whole Wide World for Jesus and never invite our next-door neighbor.
II-WE SEE THE FRUIT OF OUR WALK IN THE LIGHT: 9
Put a plant in a dark room long enough and it will die. By the same token, put that plant in a room and shine light on it and it will flourish. The same is true of our spiritual lives.
You may go to church, carry a Bible, give money, be baptized but the real test of being a true Christian is "fruit." -Coy Wylie
A-The Fruit Of Goodness:9A
For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness
A term that can best be described as "love in action."
ILLUSTRATION: There is a story told about Sam Rayburn who was Speaker for the House of Representatives longer than any other man. One of his friends lost a teenage daughter and early the next morning Rayburn knocked on his door. "I just came by to see what I could do to help." The father replied that there was nothing to do. "Well," Rayburn said, "have you had your coffee this morning?" The man replied that they had not taken time for breakfast. While Rayburn was working in the kitchen, the man came in and said, "Mr. Speaker, I thought you were supposed to be having breakfast at the White House this morning." "Well, I was, but I called the President and told him I had a friend who was in trouble and I could not come."
What a different world this would be if we would learn to become more and more unselfish.
B-The Fruit Of Righteousness:9B
and righteousness
Righteousness" means living in integrity before God and man.
Someone said it this way, "When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when integrity is lost, all is lost."
ILLUSTRATION: Have you ever been in a hurry and buttoned up a long overcoat with lots of buttons and when you were done, found out that the coat was uneven? What went wrong? I’ll tell you what went wrong. When you don’t get the first button in the right hole, all the rest are out of sequence too, right?! That’s a parable about life. Jesus said it this way in the Sermon on the Mount: "Seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well." (Matthew 6:33)
If the Lord is not the high priority in your life, then, like the overcoat, so many other things in life will be out of whack as well.
C-The Fruit Of Truth:9C
and truth
It means the absence of deception, falsehood and hypocrisy. "Goodness" is about what we do. "Righteousness" is about how we live. "Truth" is about what we say."
ILLUSTRATION: Two little old ladies were walking around a somewhat overcrowded English country churchyard and came upon a tombstone that was inscribed, "Here lies John Smith, a politician and an honest man." "Good heavens!" said one lady to the other. "Isn’t it awful that they had to put two people in the same grave!" -Coy Wylie
While an estimated 74 percent of Americans strongly agree that "there is only one true God, who is holy and perfect, and who created the world and rules it today," an estimated 65 percent either strongly agree or somewhat agree with the assertion that "there is no such thing as absolute truth."
When Charles Spurgeon was asked by a writer to write his life’s story, he said, you may write my life in the skies, for I have nothing to hide.
III-WE SEE THE FELLOWSHIP OF OUR WALK IN THE LIGHT: 10-13
A-By Our Separation: 11
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
I remember when I was in the Air Force in England. I went to a café one night and it was almost dark inside. I started eating by faith and not by sight. But after a while I got used to the darkness.
The same thing can happen to us spiritually, we get used to sin into our lives.
But remember if we play around with sin, we become a slave to sin.
I hear of a youth director who said, he needed to better understand the youth, so he begin to read some of the books they were reading. It polluted his mind and he himself fell into sin.
B-By Our Silence: 12
For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
Some sin is so disgusting we should not even discuss it. It’s like some diseases, nuclear waste and dangerous chemicals that must be disposed of by trained professionals.-Coy Wylie
ILLUSTRATION: On September 11, 1995, a squirrel climbed on the Metro-North Railroad power lines near New York City. This set off an electrical surge, which weakened an overhead bracket, which let a wire dangle toward the tracks, which tangled in a train, which tore down all the power lines in the tunnel. And resulted in 47,000 commuters being stuck in Manhattan for 8 hours that evening.
Little things can have a big impact. And what some call little sins can have have an impact too.
C-By Our Shining:13
But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
This means that when Christians exercise their ministry as light, others are brought to the light. Wicked men are transformed into children of light through the reproving ministry of light. (Believers Commentary)
ILLUSTRATION: Sue’s parents were very wealthy. They attended no church. A friend of Sue invited her to a church service. She accepted the Lord. When telling her parents, they told her if she attended this church again, she would have to leave home. Being only 16 years old, it was a hard decision. Sue went to church again. Her parents asked her to leave home. She packed several bags and was leaving. Suddenly, her parents called her back, saying, "If you love God this much, we want to know Him too."
--Croft M. Pentz
IV-WE SEE THE FEATURE OF OUR WALK IN THE LIGHT:14
A-Notice The People Addressed:14A
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest
This verse is first a wake-up call for believers in a spiritual slumber. It is an adaptation of Is.60:1, "Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you." It possibly appeared in this form as part of an early resurrection hymn. Nonetheless, it is a call for spiritual Rip Van Winkle to wake up and walk in Christ’s light. -Coy Wylie
ILLUSTRATION: A little woman falls in love with a man ninety years old-until she makes a date with him. She goes out with him that night, and a friend asks the next morning, "How did you like him?" She says, "I had to slap his face three times!" The friend says, "Why, did he get fresh?" She said, "No, I thought he was dead."
I believe the reason some say in our day that God is dead is because we as Christians sometimes act as though we are dead.
B-Notice The Plea Announced:14B
Awake , arise
We as Christians need to hear God’s spiritual alarm clock to get up and go to work in His Kingdom.
ILLUSTRATION: I remember a time when I was parts manager for a Chevrolet Dealer. On one Saturday morning, the alarm clock went off, but I rolled over and went back to sleep. When I finally wake up, it was 8 O’clock, and it was really embarrassing to get to work an hour late.
Many Christians are going to be embarrassed one day, if they don’t arise and do the Lord’s will.
C-Notice The Promise Assured:14C
and Christ shall give thee light.
This is a guarantee that Christ will shine upon those who will wake up and rise up. He will give them power to do His service.
ILLUSTRATION: The life of Mary Reed, an early missionary from Ohio to India. While she was home in America, she felt certain she had the beginnings of leprosy, and she felt an urgency to hasten back to the land to which she had been called. She then devoted fifty-three years of her life to service among the lepers. At the age of eighty-eight, she broke her hip and soon passed away. But her gravestone still speaks. It has the text for today on it: "I will make all my mountains a way." (Isaiah 49:11}) And another missionary to India said, "She surely did."
It’s time we stopped staring up the steps and started steadily stepping up the stairs!"--Wilbert W. Welch
CONCLUSION- FOR SALE
One Cross, - almost new. Top heavy. Cramps my style keeping up with the world
One Talent, - slightly shelf-worn. Unused for several years.
One Bundle of Seldom Used Opportunities, - Among these, church attendance, personal witnessing.
One Badly Used Influence, - Buyer needs to repair it and use it more carefully.
These items may be seen anytime in the basement of my home. Corner of Careless Avenue and Neglect Street.
Signed, Careless Christian
MAY THE LORD HELP US NOT TO BE A CARELESS CHRISTIAN, BUT A COMMITED CHRISTIAN, WALKING IN THE LIGHT
