You Are Light in the Lord Ephesians 5:8-10, NIV For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth and find out what pleases the Lord. I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “You Are Light in the Lord,” which is based on Ephesians 5:8-10. Please repeat after me, You Are Light in the Lord. You Are Light in the Lord. Our status has been changed by believing in Jesus. We are not ordinary people any more. We are blessed children of God. Before believing in Jesus, we were slaves to sin. We were born in sin, lived in sin, and were destined to die in sin. However the moment we came to believe in Jesus, we became children of God. Our status changed to blessed children of God. This is why 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” The new has come! The old has gone. We do not have to live in hopelessness, sorrow, pain, and agony any more. Our old self is long gone. As renewed and blessed children of God, we must live with confidence, dedicating our lives for the glory of God. As newly created children of God, we must contribute to our new life every day. Scripture tells us to daily take off our old self so that we are able to add to our new self. First, take off your old self. Ephesians 5:8 says, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” Scripture says that we were once darkness. Before believing in Jesus, we were darkness, living in darkness. We were born in darkness as children of sin and enjoyed a life in darkness. We did not have true joy or satisfaction. We followed darkness and lived in unrighteousness and debauchery, sinning in darkness. Newspapers are filled with bad news of accidents and crimes. There is more bad news than good news. Since the devil controls the world, people talk about bad and dark things instead of good things. And we are quite used to it. Positive, good, or beautiful stories are covered only slightly in some corner of our daily newspapers. I once asked a reporter, “Why don’t you give adequate coverage to good and positive stories instead of just concentrating on bad ones in your newspaper?” He replied, “Then people would not read my newspaper.” This signifies that we are trapped in darkness. The nature of darkness is negative. We were once darkness, looking at things negatively, speaking negatively, not giving thanks, hating somebody else’s happiness, always blaming others, and complaining. What is the origin of darkness? Since the fall of Adam and Eve who committed the original sin, unrighteous and debauched darkness has covered the whole world. Immediately after Adam and Eve committed sin, darkness which is called fear covered them. When the Lord God called to them they were hiding. They should have been overjoyed when the God of love and goodness called to them; but they hid from God in fear. What was the immediate fruit of Adam and Eve’s sin? Their first born son, Cain, was filled with hatred and jealousy. When God looked with favor on their second born son, Abel’s offering, and rejected Cain’s offering; Cain became very angry and attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Cain became a murderer because he was trapped in darkness. During the days of Noah people lived in lewdness and corruption. Only Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. And only Noah and his family were saved when God destroyed the world by flood. We also were once darkness. It is time for us to take off our old self. We must put off darkness. Ephesians 4:22-24 says, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Put on the new self! We need to take off the old self as a slave of sin. We must take off the clothes of deceit, hatred, anger, and filthy thoughts. We must take off clothes of lewdness, debauchery, and greed. Instead, we need to put on the clothes of truth and love. Colossians 3:12 says, “Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Hallelujah! “Heavenly Father, renew me and help me put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” What kind of clothes are you wearing? Are you wearing clothes of the old self or the clothes of the new self? If you are wearing spiritually filthy and worn clothes of the old self, being full of hatred and anger; take them off before the Cross and put on your new spiritual clothes. Your new clothes are freely given by God. Bartimaeus was a blind beggar. When Jesus called him, he threw his cloak aside, jumped to his feet and went to Jesus. His cloak was all he owned. He used it to protect him from the rain. He used it as a mattress to lie on at night. He used it as a begging mat when he begged. He used it keep his body warm when it was cold. His cloak, his only possession, was indeed a multipurpose cloak. Bartimaeus’ coat must have been very dirty as there would have been much opportunity for dirt to settle on it. Apart from the occasional rainfall that would drench it, Bartimaeus would have had little opportunity if any to wash it. Covered with much dirt, his coat must have also carried a bad odor. But it was all that he had. He must have cherished his coat. However, when Jesus told Bartimaeus to come to Him; without hesitation, he threw his coat aside, and ran in haste to Jesus. Are you still wearing the clothes of your old self? Then, take them off. Sin often tempts us, trying to put the old clothes back on us. Sin tries to make us fall. How can we put off this old self? Galatians 2:20 suggests a way to take the old self off. It says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Here lies the secret: “I have been crucified with Christ.” We must be crucified. Our old self is dead. When we believed in Jesus, our old self died. An end was put to our old life. And end was put to our hatred, anger, bad habits, our slandering and vicious words. We are now made new. Our old self is dead. So is our pride and stubbornness. Our old self no longer exists because it is dead. “I have been crucified with Christ.” Therefore, let us live as a new self. Who are we then? Second, we are light in the Lord. We must live as light in the Lord. Ephesians 5:8 says, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” Please repeat after me, “You are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” We have taken off clothes of darkness and put on clothes of light. We are wearing clothes of salvation. We must establish a new self identity after believing in Jesus. Who are we? We are children of light. We are blessed children of God. Characteristics of our old self such as hopelessness, sorrow, suffering, curses, pain, and agony have nothing to do with us. We are changed. We are renewed. Even though some problems may come, they are only temporary. They are actually stepping stones to God’s blessing for us. Hallelujah! We should not be dragged by our old self any more. We should not be attached to a negative image of our old self. We should not repeatedly commit sins. We must not cause problems, lamenting again and again over our old self. Let us not follow negative patterns of our old self but live as new creations. Our old self always disappoints us. It makes us complain and blame others. It causes us to criticize and to be jealous of others. That is why we have a lot of problems in our lives. “Lord, I want to die every day. I want to die every day. I want to die every day.” What does it mean that we live as light? It means that we live confidently in front of God and people, without having to feel ashamed. When light shines on us, it exposes everything. A dishwasher washes dishes automatically. You put dishes and detergent in the dishwasher and press a start button. Then the machine automatically washes dishes. However when we sometimes see the washed dishes under a light, they are not very clean. Human hands can do a better job. What does it mean that we are children of light? It means that we can be without shame when God sheds His light on us. I pray that you will live without shame in front of God. “I want to be approved by God. I want to be greatly used by God. Heavenly Father, as Your child, I want to live in Your blessings.” The Early Christians lived as children of light. They were severely persecuted by the Romans. For over 100 years, under the successive ruler-ship of ten Roman Emperors, starting with Nero, Christians were persecuted and slaughtered. When a Romans citizen became a Christian, he would lose his citizenship and wealth, and be banished from Rome. When Roman nobles became Christians, they lost their status as nobles and were expelled. However even though they were severely persecuted; early Christians lived as children of light. They had nothing to be ashamed of. They dug underground shelters, called catacombs. Some were born in the catacombs, lived all their lives there, died and were buried there; but they kept their faith. With so many tombs, their underground shelter almost turned into a cemetery. Even today, we can see hundreds of thousands of tombs in the catacombs. These people lived as light. Constantine Augustus was a Roman Emperor. When he saw Rome, he felt hopeless because Rome was totally debauched, on the verge of collapse. But he saw the Christians living as light. Although the Romans had persecuted the Christians for over 200 years, Christianity continued to consistently grow until 8% of the empire’s population was Christians. Then in 313 A.D. Constantine announced a tolerance of Christianity and that 8% changed the Roman Empire. It is said that the Christian population in Korea is 25%. When all the Korean Christians become light, this will change Korea. Korea will be renewed. Then we will not be ashamed because we will stop fighting. We are not going to be divided any more. “Heavenly Father, we are light in the Lord. Help us live as light.” 1 John 3:21-22 says, “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.” When we become light and live as light, we will receive a wonderful grace from God. “The Light of the World” is an allegorical painting by William Holman Hunt representing the figure of Jesus, illustrating Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock…” There is a door in the painting but the door has no handle. Jesus is standing at the door, carrying a torch. Jesus, who is the torch of salvation, is knocking on the door. The door can only be opened from the inside, representing “an obstinately shut mind.” Many people keep their doors shut. Many are invited to open the door of their hearts, but few open their doors. Jesus is standing at the door with a torch to give the light of life, salvation, healing and forgiveness; but they tightly lock their door. They do not open the door of their heart. Jesus is still knocking at their doors. Open the door of your heart when the Lord Jesus knocks on your door! Then the Lord will bring the torch into your heart. He will shed the light of salvation, the light of life, the light of the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the light of healing, and the light of forgiveness into your heart. God will fill your life with His marvelous work of healing and salvation. So many people shut the doors of their hearts. Be a witness of the gospel and lead your non-Christian family members and neighbors to the Lord, participating in the marvelous work of the salvation of the Lord. The Lord Himself says that He is the light of the world. John 8:12 says, “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ ” When we follow Jesus, we will have life. We will be saved. Our spirits will be prosperous. Our bodies will be strengthened. We will be blessed in all circumstances. How great His grace is! One day a woman was brought before the Lord Jesus. Her hair was all messed up. Her clothes were torn. She was covered with dust. She had been caught in adultery. The Jews, with stones in their hands, brought her to Jesus. They said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were holding stones to throw at Jesus and the woman at the same time. They were jealous of Jesus because many people listened to Him and obeyed His teachings. The religious leaders, the priests, the Pharisees, and the scribes wanted to get rid of Him. They were setting a trap for Jesus. Although they knew the Law of Moses for themselves; they still asked Jesus if they should stone the adulterous woman. They knew that a problem would be created in either case: in stoning the woman or in not stoning her. Eager to trap Jesus, they put Him in a difficult situation. These people raised their stones ready to fling them at both the woman and Jesus. Jesus said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” He stooped down and began to write on the ground. Immediately thereafter those who were there began, one at a time, to leave. Jesus said to the woman, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” She was forgiven by Jesus. When we meet the Lord, we receive His grace of forgiveness. Deep hopelessness in our hearts will depart from us. We will be filled with God’s grace and blessings. Many fruits of darkness may attack us with stones in their hands. Nevertheless when the light of Jesus shines on these stones of darkness, they will depart. They, too, will drop their stones and leave us be to live as new creations of light. In the African country of Uganda the most notorious dictator Idi Amin killed so many people. He slaughtered his own people at will. He committed so many wicked acts; the record of his evil wrongdoings gives me a chill. Often Ugandans would say, “If God is living, why did do many evil things happen to our country?” The Christians began to gather and pray, “Heavenly Father, have mercy on us. Have mercy on us.” We must bow down before the Lord and pray when we face problems. We must pray to the Lord, “Lord, have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on my family.” To date AIDS is known to have no cure. It is a fatal disease. Those who contract AIDS will certainly die. There is no question about this. The only question is when that patient will die. According to the report of WHO, one third of Ugandans were expected to die from AIDS by the end of 1997. That is one person out of three. One out of so few people was an AIDS patient! The whole country felt indescribable hopelessness. Ugandans began to pray fervently, “Heavenly Father, change our country and heal us. Heal us.” They would swarm into their churches and with tears, cry out to the Lord. The marvelous grace of God fell upon them. AIDS patients went to church, prayed to God, and got healed from AIDS. Through the internet, I saw a movie of these testimonies, and was very much amazed. Their doctors first disbelieved the reports. The doctors could no longer find the AIDS virus in the bodies of the ones who were their AIDS patients. In the movie, the healed ones gave their testimonies. Hallelujah! Glory to God! These people went out with their testimonies and preached the gospel. Ugandan churches then began to rapidly grow. A small church with seven members grew to over 20,000. And so Uganda had a great revival. On December 31, 1999, before the new millennium, the President and all the leaders of Uganda gathered in a big stadium packed with people. They praised and worshipped the Lord. They made a proclamation before God. The woman on the screen who looked like the wife of the President declared, “Uganda will not worship idols. We will throw away incantations. We will believe in Jesus and live with Him. We dedicate this country to God.” Hallelujah! Ugandan leaders made a proclamation before their people to dedicate their country to the Lord. God poured His grace upon them and restored Uganda. This great revival was possible because the Lord was invited. At the end of the movie they said, “He is invited.” The Lord was invited. When the Lord went to Uganda, AIDS was cured. Diseases and curses were driven out. Their churches were revived. The Lord says, “You are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:14-16 says, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” We are the light of the world. Where there is light, darkness will be driven away. We must shed the light of salvation on those who are dying of hopelessness. We must shed on them the light of healing and forgiveness. We must rise up and shine. There are many around us who lament and suffer from the darkness of hopelessness. We need to shine on them. We must change them by shedding light on them. Let us spread hope in the place of hopelessness; joy in the place of sorrow; and healing in the place of sickness. More than anything else, we must shed the light of forgiveness on those who are filled with hatred so that they will be healed and renewed. Third, after becoming light, we must bear the fruit of light. Ephesians 5:9 says, “…for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth.” “Heavenly Father, help us to bear the fruit of light. Help us to live with all goodness, righteousness and truth.” Philippians 1:11 says, “…filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ?to the glory and praise of God.” Be a good person in your life. And because you are good if you have to go through loss, hold on to the good. Even if we may undergo some loss, even if we are sometimes ignored, or even if we appear weak, if we live with goodness, God will be with us. God will take care of our lives. Therefore, as good people, we must do good things. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 says, “Test everything. Hold on to the good.” When each and every one of us holds on to the good, the world will not be trapped in darkness. People fight and hurt each other because they fail to be good. A few days ago, I was shocked by reading a story in a newspaper. A 21 year old police agent was testing drivers for drunk driving. A sodden drunk driver backed up trying to avoid the test. The drunk driver hit the young police agent, ran him over and dragged him over 700 meters because he got caught in the wheels of the car. The police officer’s skull was cracked and the flesh of his back was ripped open. This young officer is now in the hospital, still unconscious. I felt so sad at this news. He is only 21 years old with a bright future ahead of him. However, his life has been miserably ruined by a drunk driver. Feeling his suffering, I thought to myself, “The driver is wicked. How could he drink and drive, ruining the life of a young man?” He was really wicked, dragging the agent who was caught underneath his tires. Man is wicked in his very nature. We see so many wicked criminals. We must overcome wicked by holding on to the good. We should not act wickedly to the wicked. We must overcome the wicked by our goodness. The Bible compliments on Barnabas. Acts 11:24 says, “He (Barnabas) was a good man.” Barnabas was a good man. He sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet so that they could help the needy. The greatest achievement of Barnabas was picking up Saul. Saul used to persecute Christians. He was on his way to Damascus to capture Christians. Saul met Jesus there. Even though Saul received the Holy Spirit and was dramatically converted, no one approved him. Instead, they said, “He persecuted Christians. He also stood as a witness when Stephen was stoned to death. We should not associate with him.” Since no one approved or acknowledged Saul, he went to his hometown Tarsus. Barnabas saw Paul’s capability and went to Tarsus to look for Saul. He brought Saul to Antioch and they met with the church and taught great numbers of people. Barnabas supported Saul. Saul, who became Apostle Paul later, was greatly used by God. Barnabas was a really good person. Although Barnabas was a leader at the church of Antioch and Paul was a novice, He always lifted Paul up. After Barnabas brought Paul into Christian work, the bible mentions Barnabas less and less; and mentions Paul more often. In fact we can say that Barnabas made the progressive testimony of Paul’s goodness in the second half of Acts possible. In the natural we are likely to be jealous when somebody else does well. We want to pull them down. We do not want them to prosper. If someone stands out, we say, “Hey, let us pull him down.” We try to find fault with others, attacking and pulling them down. We cannot stand somebody else’s success. This is a pity! When people have hearings for high officials in our Congress, the appointees are questioned even with the smallest fault in their past. The appointees are made to look like a criminal. In American politics, the qualifications of the appointee are the issues of question; but here in Korea we talk about their past offenses; however slight they may be. There is an old Korean song which says, “Do not ask about my past,” but the reality of the matter is the past of political appointees never rests. Those who dwell in the past are living in darkness. Dwell in the future. Live as the light of the world. Be a good person. People should talk about us, “He is a Christian. He is a really good guy.” We should never hear people say about us, “My, is that rowdy a Christian? I will never believe Jesus, then.” Christians must live with goodness. We must be generous and loving. Since Jesus was good and loving, we should also be good. Moreover Scripture tells us to live righteously. What does it mean to live righteously? It means that we are not doing anything unrighteous. It also means we act justly before God. Micah 6:8 says, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” We must live righteously, without ever compromising with unrighteousness. However many people live unrighteously. What is unrighteousness? It is forsaking what is right and compromising with deceit for selfish reasons. It prompts people to deceive and lie to others. It is said that a used car dealer is one of the jobs that Christians should never take. Even though the dealer knows the car would soon stop, he says, “This car is in good condition. It runs well.” Of course, no Christian dealers would lie or deceive people like that. There are some non-Christian dealers who deceive people. What is the problem? Their compromise with injustice victimizes innocent people. Even though not all of them are liars, a few liars disgrace the reputation of the used car industry as a whole. Therefore, we must make up our minds to live righteously in the Lord. Then the Lord will take care of us and help us to live righteously. Next, we must live truthfully. Live truthfully. The children of the devil always lie. John 8:44 says, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Those who live in sin live in deception. God raises those who are truthful. Things have changed a lot these days. People try to live righteously and truthfully. Today in the auto industry we have a recall system. For example, suppose automobiles are sold, but later there are some defects or problems with a specific model of car. Then all automobiles with defects, regardless of the quantity, are recalled and fixed free of charge. The standard of quality of the auto industry has certainly changed for the better. A long time ago the industry would just tell its customer to go to a mechanic and fix the problems on their own expense. Now they acknowledge there are problems, call the owners, recall the vehicles, and fix the problems. When we live truthfully and righteously, the Lord will take care of us. He will lift us high above. This is the life which is pleasing to God. Ephesians 5:10 says, “…and find out what pleases the Lord.” I want you to please the Lord through your lives. I urge you to please God in your homes, work places, business sites, schools, or campuses, saying, “I give glory only to You, Lord. Receive glory from me.” John 8:29 says, “The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” Jesus always pleased God. This is why Apostle Paul exhorts other Christians. 1 Thessalonians 2:4 says, “On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.” Hallelujah! Do you remember Enoch? Enoch pleased God and was taken from this life. He did not experience death. Hebrews 11:5 says, “By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.” “Heavenly Father, in this year we want to please You. We want to move Your heart. We want to live for You throughout our short life on earth. We want to please You, giving glory to You. We want to be called home by You when our time comes.” John Harvard, who was a minister, died of tuberculosis when he was only 31. He was born in England. His father died when he was little and his mother remarried a man who was opulent. He wanted to discipline himself in America to fulfill the holy will of God. So he moved to New England and settled in Charlestown. Charlestown made him a minister of a Church, but within a year he contracted tuberculosis and died. Having substantial wealth, before he died, Harvard donated his great inheritance to a small college near Cambridge. He said, “I wish the graduates from this school to continue to fulfill my holy dream. Use my donation to educate great servants of the Lord so that they will spread out and fulfill their holy dreams.” He also donated his library to this school and died in 1638. This college was founded in 1636. It used Harvard’s donation to expand and then changed its name to Harvard College, which is currently Harvard University. Harvard University started from a Divinity School. It is the most prestigious university in the world. President Obama went to Harvard. Harvard University has developed and prospered to this day, carrying out the holy will of Rev. Harvard. Let us do things that please God. “Heavenly Father, I want to give my whole life for Your glory until I breathe my last. I want to please You through my life. Lord, take me and use me to fulfill Your precious will.” When we live as the children of light, God will show His glory all over the world through us. I pray that you will live as light in the Lord throughout this year. It is my earnest prayer for you in the name of the Lord. Let us pray. Our Father of infinite love, grace, and mercy, we once were darkness but we have become the children of light after believing in Jesus. We are light in the Lord. Make us Your precious servants so that we will shed the light of the love of God, the light of salvation, and the light of life all over the world. I pray in the Name of Jesus. Amen. 1