Shine, you lights in Christ.

 Sermon for Lent 4, March 19, 2023

To all those loved by God…called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Ephesians 5:8-14  ⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light, ⁹for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.  ¹⁰Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord, ¹¹and do not participate in fruitless deeds of darkness.  Instead, expose them.  ¹²For it is shameful even to mention the things that are done by people in secret.  ¹³But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes things visible.  ¹⁴Therefore it is said, “Awake, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (EHV)

Shine, you lights in Christ.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            Imagine trying to use a mirror in pitch darkness.  Since I can’t turn out the lights fully this morning, consider how light is reflected off a mirror covered in black cloth.  It reflects next to nothing, just as when we were immersed in sin, we reflected nothing good to the world.  But, when the cloth is removed, and especially, when a strong light shines on the mirror, the difference is obvious.  In this letter to the Ephesians, Paul takes that idea and applies it to our lives.  Because of the faith in Christ that is given to Christians, a transformation takes place that not only benefits us, but is a blessing to those around us.  Therefore, we say, Shine, you lights in Christ.

You and I didn’t start out as lights to the world, for in fact, every person enters this world completely devoid of the light of Christ.  We don’t even start out as blank slates as some imagine.  Rather, we begin fully immersed in inherited sin and unaware of who God is, what He has done for us, or even how we might live according to His laws.  Because of the natural law written in our hearts, most people soon realize a somewhat fractured expectation that there is some divine being and doing certain things is wrong or could even get us in trouble, but when still in sin that typically also leads to an antagonistic reaction to the idea of God, so we are by nature opposed to Him or to any authority imposed over us.  Because of sin in us, we are like that mirror in the dark—useless to anyone or for any good.

Today, though, we praise God that He didn’t leave us in that useless condition.  Paul says here, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.”  How did this miraculous change occur?  The prophet Isaiah wrote, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.  For those living in the land of the shadow of death, the light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:2)  The beginning of the change happens when God’s Son, Jesus, enters our world to be the Light that eliminates the darkness.  The law couldn’t do what we needed because the law couldn’t make us shine.  On the other hand, by humbling Himself to take on our likeness and live among us, to live without sin in our stead, yet die while absorbing our guilt and shame, Jesus is the holy perfection that makes us shine before God.  By His life and death, Jesus removes the shroud of darkness that covered all mankind.

Having said all of that, however, we were still in the darkness of our sins by natural birth, so we needed another gift of God, the gift of faith in our Savior.  Thus, God provided for our salvation by bringing us into His kingdom of grace through the rebirth of Baptism and the hearing of the Good News of all Jesus has done for us.  Properly applied, the law opened our eyes to our need for a Savior and the Gospel led us to repentance of our sins.  Today, you know all of this because the Holy Spirit has worked that faith in you.  “God, because he is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in trespasses.  It is by grace you have been saved!” (Ephesians 2:4-5)

Now, our Creator had big plans for His Son.  God doesn’t want only a few people saved; He wants all people to enjoy His grace.  Through Isaiah, He declared, “It is too small a thing that you should just be my servant to raise up only the tribes of Jacob and to restore the ones I have preserved in Israel, so I will appoint you to be a light for the nations, so that my salvation will be known to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6)  Having won forgiveness and salvation for all people, Jesus’s sacrifice gave power to the Gospel which made us alive as it enlightened us.  He then appoints those who believe in Him to reflect His light of mercy and grace on and around the world, which brings us to our sermon text.  By the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, Paul wrote, “Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.” 

Jesus lived as a Man in perfect obedience to the law, with perfect trust in God, in humble service to His neighbors, and showing kindness to those who came to Him.  His life on earth consisted of only “goodness, righteousness, and truth.”  Thus, by the perfect living of the Man, Christ Jesus, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” (2 Corinthians 5:19)

In our world, today, truth has taken a beating.  Every person wants to command his own narrative as some kind of truth for all.  We see it in the craziness that afflicts our world: men and women deciding they aren’t the sex in which their bodies were formed; nations attacking neighbors using trumped up fabrications to justify the murders; populations here, there, and everywhere seem to be in a race to declare themselves more disadvantaged and unfairly treated than anyone else around them. 

Thank God for the truth that “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)  By His life and death, Jesus set us free from the darkness of sin and death.  By the gracious exchange of our sin for His righteousness, we were released from the devil’s hold over us and from the hellish dungeon that should have been our destiny. 

So much of the world around us still walks in the darkness of the blind following the blind in the land of the shadow of death where no person can save himself by effort or offering.  They all need to know of God’s grace.  Thus, through Paul, the Holy Spirit instructs us, “Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord, and do not participate in fruitless deeds of darkness.  Instead, expose them.”  We learn what pleases God by hearing His word.  The Ten Commandments are basic instruction in what is true and holy and pleasing for our lives.  The Gospel reveals what God has done to rectify the lost condition of the world where none of us have obeyed the law in any part.

Therefore, the Lord sends Christians out into the world not to be stumbling around in the dark like everyone else, but to live in His light, to reflect His holiness by our kindness to others and faithfulness to His instruction.  That means we have to fight against our flesh, against the wicked among us, and against the temptations of the devil and the world, not with guns and ammunition designed to kill and maim, but with purity of action and intention, with kindness to all even those who hurt or seek to kill us, with forgiveness in our hearts and minds, and with the proclamation of what Jesus has done foremost in everything we do. 

When we are tempted to sin by friends, selfish desires, or the devil himself, we must be brave enough and strong enough in Jesus to resist.  None of this is done to elevate ourselves before the world.  We know that without Christ, we can do nothing.  It isn’t our good efforts that shine on people to give them hope.  It is Christ’s light reflecting off of us that brings hope to those who once were lost in darkness.

We should do nothing that imitates the ways of the world.  Nor should we be seeking to shame people into believing in Jesus.  Paul says, “It is shameful even to mention the things that are done by people in secret.  But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes things visible.”  As faithful Christians, our walk through this life is to imitate that of our Savior, Jesus, not so as to imagine we are contributing to our salvation, or are better than other people, or are earning a reward in heaven.  Instead, we strive to live our lives as such a reflection of Christ that others seek our help, and see that obeying God’s will benefits His people and gives glory to God.  Jesus said, “People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket.  No, they put it on a stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  In the same way let your light shine in people’s presence, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:15-16)

St. Paul concluded this section saying, Therefore it is said, “Awake, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”  This call to life is what the Holy Spirit works in our hearts by His Word of peace.  When the Gospel is heard and believed, God creates a new life, a spiritual life, a life that knows God and desires to walk in His ways.  As the Lord assured us through His prophet, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you.  I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put my Spirit within you and will cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will carefully observe my ordinances.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

Dear friends, like the Ephesians to whom Paul wrote, you have been given new life through faith in Christ Jesus.  By that faith, granted to you by the work of the Holy Spirit, you are counted as holy and righteous in God’s eyes.  For Jesus’ sake, your sins are forgiven and removed from you as far as east is from the west. (Psalm 103:12)  The shame and guilt of sin was washed away at your baptism so that you may shine before men in Christ’s glorious light. 

Consequently, when you examine your daily life, whenever you notice that the stain of sin, the lusts and desires and temptations of the world, the devil, and your own flesh begin to cover the brightness of the Savior who died to give you life, flee back to Baptism’s cleansing flood in repentance, and feast again at Christ’s holy table, where with His holy, precious, body and blood, Jesus again restores to you forgiveness and peace.  Open your heart in prayer and plead “to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.”  Look again to His promises of life and light everlasting through faith in His Word and sacrifice.  Then, happily refreshed in the peace of God—Shine, you lights in Christ.  Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.