Turning Darkness Into Light!

This morning I am reflecting on some verses from Paul's letter to the Church in Ephesus.  This letter is so full of good things, I am pretty sure you could spend a few months working through it daily and have plenty still to mine, for the richness of the Lord's wisdom is beyond us.

Here are the verses - Ephesians 5:8-13 NIV:

[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] It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. [13] But everything exposed by the light becomes visible---and everything that is illuminated becomes a light."

What caught my eye this morning was the combination of the end of verse 11 and the end of verse 13, for you can read these verses just leaving out verse 12, and that is the completed thought of Paul.  They would read as follows, " Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them... But everything exposed by the light becomes visible---and everything that is illuminated becomes a light."

Look at what happens to the fruitless deeds of darkness when they are exposed, they actually become a light!  Talk about turning the tables on the works of the enemy!  The enemy would love nothing more than for us in the Body of Christ, to keep any bits of darkness in us, hidden and festering, hooked to shame and fear. He works hard to cause us to stray from the path the Lord leads us down, and then condemns us for our faltering when we do!  He is no friend of ours, and the these things bear no good fruit in our lives.  So Paul says just expose them, and they become light!  In other words they bear good fruit in our lives if we expose them.

Now this requires a mature church, a non-judgmental church to make this a reality.  We are supposed to be encouraging one another forward in the Lord, to be brighter lights!  As C.S. Lewis writes in his book "The Last Battle" from "The Chronicles of Narnia", the call from the Lord is come "higher up and farther in!"  We are called forward in the Lord, and we must help one another do this!  Inflicting punishment on fellow members when they confess sin, when they expose areas of their lives to the Light, has the exact opposite effect.

The enemy has convinced much of the church that the way to shine the light is to BE pure, but Paul writes that the way to make these things shine is to expose them.  The light is shined forth as they are exposed!  We have pursued the end goal of purity, to the detriment of the process of becoming pure.  In my opinion, in much of the church, someone's confession of sin, or areas of darkness, is something that can bring shame, guilt, and condemnation.  We can cheer people who transform their lives through weight loss, exercise, stepping free from alcohol or drugs or any such thing, but we often judge these same people as sinners in the Body of Christ, not really acceptable or trustworthy for leadership. We don't encourage them through recognition of these areas actually becoming light.

In the Church, we want to hold up this "WE ARE PURE" light to the world, but the truth is that we are sinners and we should be holding up a sign saying "VICTORY OVER SIN AND DARK THINGS" or maybe "CHANGING DARKNESS TO LIGHT".  Holding up the "pure" sign only sends the wrong message.  We don't want to expect people to be pure, for that sets an impossibly high bar for anyone who is struggling with areas of darkness.  We want people to come to us because they know they won't be judged and there will be help to set them free.  That is one of the great things about programs like AA, people are not judged for their confessions, because everyone there has similar experiences.  They know that it is safe to share, because rather than judgment they will receive support and help in getting free.

Oh that the church would learn to fully embrace her role as ambassador of reconciliation.  As Paul writes in his letter  2 Corinthians 5:18-21 NIV: "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: [19] that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. [20] We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. [21] God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

We are called not to count people's sins against them, but rather to encourage all to embrace the Lord and receive from Him, His righteousness. As we do, we are transformed, and shine His Light to all men!  In Him we can turn darkness into Light!

Amen!