This is going to be another extension of Building the City on a Hill series. We have looked at walking in love in a couple of different ways. We have talked about growing up in our relationship with Christ and God the Father. Today, we are moving on to the next point of how to build the city on a hill: Walking in the Light. To do this, we will go back to Ephesians Chapter 5:
Ephesians 5:8-14 For you were once Darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (9) (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), (10) finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. (11) And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. (12) For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. (13) But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. (14) Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light."
I want to take these points one by one. When I saw some of this, I just shook my head and chuckled because everything comes back around full circle in the Word of God. But, nonetheless, here we go.
When we look at the section above in Ephesians 5 we several things. First, we were once darkness but now are light in the Lord, so we should walk as children of the light. Why? Because the "fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth so we can find out what is acceptable to the Lord." In Romans, Paul said,
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Walking in the light requires a sacrifice from us. Walking as children in light should allow us to find out what is acceptable to God. We are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. How do we do that? We have seen in past posts and discussion that we are to put off our old man and nature. We are not to be conformed to the world with a desire to look as the world looks. We should not want to imitate the pattern of behavior that we see with those are "of the world." We are to be transformed (metamorphosed) by the renewing of our minds. This is how we prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God.
When we walk in the light, Ephesians 5 tells us that we should have not fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Unfruitful means in this case barren. Plants do not grow in the darkness they must have sunlight; it would stand to reason that the fruit of the Spirit that we are to be growing within us cannot grow if we walk in darkness of the world. 2 Corinthians 6:14 expands further on what it means to walk in the light.
2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
There is always some debate over this scripture. What exactly does it mean to be unequally yoked with unbelievers? The scripture itself answers this question. Righteousness has no fellowship with unrighteousness. Those who keep the commandments of God have no fellowship, nothing in common, with those that do not keep the commandments of God. Does this apply only to believers and unbelievers? No, I don't think so. Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 5:
1 Corinthians 5:11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.
In our society today, we are concerned about offending someone by saying the wrong thing. As Christians, we are concerned about being guilty of judging others when we ourselves have so much room for improvement. The bible doesn't say we shouldn't judge others. It says that if we do, we need to be ready to be judged by the same measure we hold others to. In 1 Corinthians 5:11 Paul said it pretty plainly, if we know of a brother or a sister that is a professing Christian and they participate in any of those activities, then we are not to even eat with them. That is pretty harsh, isn't it? It takes sacrifice to walk in the light. What happens when a light switch is turned on in a room? The room is bathed in light and there is no more darkness. There should be no room for darkness around us if we are walking in the light of the Lord.
Learning to walk in the light and crucifying our flesh (we haven't even touched on that yet...) is hard to learn. I say we have to learn it because we have established habits prior to receiving Christ as our Lord and Savior that we have to change. Putting off former behavior is a necessary act for us to move forward in our relationship with Christ. It is necessary for us if we are going to walk in the light. Our former behaviors prior to salvation are borne out of darkness. Darkness cannot dwell where light exists.
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Learning to walk in the light and crucifying our flesh (we haven't even touched on that yet...) is hard to learn. I say we have to learn it because we have established habits prior to receiving Christ as our Lord and Savior that we have to change. Putting off former behavior is a necessary act for us to move forward in our relationship with Christ. It is necessary for us if we are going to walk in the light. Our former behaviors prior to salvation are borne out of darkness. Darkness cannot dwell where light exists.
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