The Church: People of Light

So this morning, alongside 5,000 churches worldwide, we are participating in what is called Freedom Sunday, a service that we dedicate to talk about the issue of social justice and the role of the church in pursuing that. We'll hear more about the ministry of the little cards that you would have received on your seat, IJM, a little bit later. But this morning, I want to begin by informing you of an issue, and it's a hot button topic at the moment of social justice, and some people are actually a little bit unsure about the church's role in social justice. At this very moment, there is something that's being signed, a document called the Dallas Statement, a document that warns the current church, especially in the reformed evangelical world that we operate in, that we are making too much of the concept of establishing justice to a lost and fallen world. It's a really interesting controversial bit of sort of news and development at the moment because some leading reformers that I respect, the likes of John MacArthur, for example, has signed, put his name on this document, denouncing some of the movements in the Christian church that is working towards, I guess, ridding the world of injustices to the, what they feel, to the exclusion of the gospel which saves eternally.

So saving people physically instead of saving them eternally. Now it's been a surprising development and a controversial one, and I'll let you go and sort of read up more about that if you want. Although I agree with some of the things that are written in that document, some of the warnings that are placed there, I personally feel, alongside some very other respected thinkers like Al Mohler, Tim Keller, and Ligon Duncan, that this pushback against social justice and that mission of the church, this pushback is actually a bit of a cynical thing. It's a bit overly cynical. Yes.

People are called to be saved eternally by the gospel and can only be saved by the gospel of grace. The sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross and their faith in that. But nevertheless, the church is called to do the work of justice. The church is called to do the work of justice. Like we read this morning, to love mercy, to do justice, to walk humbly with our God.

So this morning's focus actually on Freedom Sunday is so right. It is so timely. So we're going to look at a passage this morning that is explaining this mission statement of the church, and it's based on one metaphor that's repeated over and over again through the whole of scripture, a metaphor or an image that the church should be busy with or that the church is, and that image is of light. Light as opposed to darkness. You probably remember Jesus' words in Matthew 5 that says to his disciples, you are the salt of the earth.

You are the light of the world. Jesus called his followers a light to the world. Now this same concept is in the writings of Paul that we're going to read this morning, and we're going to turn to Ephesians 5 and investigate that a little bit more. Like I said, it is all throughout the Bible, which is very compelling, very compelling. Even in the Old Testament, the people of God are called light to the Gentiles.

Ephesians 5, and we're going to read from verse 1 through to verse 16. Ephesians 5, verse 1, therefore, Paul says, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not become partners with them. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.

And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light.

Therefore it says, awake, oh sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. So far, our reading. In the context, let's just get a bit of an understanding of where this passage is going. In the context of the book of Ephesians, we see Paul talking in the previous chapter in chapter 4 about personal holiness.

Personal holiness. Paul begins chapter 4 by saying, in light of what Christ has done for you on the cross, making you righteous in the eyes of God, making you blameless before our holy God, in light of that, live up to the calling you have received. In other words, become what you already are. Then in verses 17 to 24, this is what Paul sort of is driving at in this personal holiness. He says, now this I say and testify in the Lord, verse 17, that you, Christians, church, must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, the unbelievers do, in the futility of their minds.

They are what? Darkened in their understanding. Alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practise every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ.

Assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus. To put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Become what you are. Become like God in holiness. Paul is talking here about personal holiness.

But now, moving on from this personal drive, this personal reflection on how they are to live, Paul moves into chapter 5, which is starting to talk about societal holiness, social holiness. When the apostle Paul warns the Ephesian Christians about these areas in their life that they are to be careful to surrender to God, when he said that there should not even be a hint of sexual immorality or any kind of impurity or of greed, in our passage here, he's actually starting to move into the social problems in Ephesus. He's addressing a social sin that is at odds with God's will. You see, when Paul addresses the Ephesians, he's remembering his time spent in Ephesus. Ephesus was a city that was like our modern day New York.

It was a city booming in economical wealth, but a city also steeped in rampant socially ordained sin. Sin that was at the very fabric of its identity. Does that sound familiar? Sin that was all pervasive and all consuming. It was everywhere.

Think about this. If you go to Sydney, what do you go and visit if you're a tourist visitor? You go and see the Opera House? You go and see the Harbour Bridge. I was there a month or so ago.

That's what I went to go and see. When you go to Paris, you go and see the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. We talked about that in the trivia, the museum. In New York, you go and see the Statue of Liberty or you go and see a Broadway show. Well, in first century Ephesus, the main attraction, the number one reason people went to Ephesus was the Temple of Artemis, one of the ancient wonders of the world.

Artemis was the god of fertility. People went to Ephesus, very religious people went to Ephesus to take part in ritualistic government sanctioned prostitution. This is the way you honour God, the god Artemis. The temple was run by trafficked prostitutes. For two and a half years, Paul is ministering in the shadow of this temple.

Paul preaches there, and you can bet that much of his preaching, as is his writing to the Ephesians here, is directed at sexual sin. The sin that has become a way of life to many people of Ephesus. And now Paul is writing this letter to Christians several years later, even as recognised Christians who some of them were still wrestling with this theme. The church at Ephesus tangibly sensed, tangibly felt socially sanctioned, government funded, money corrupted culture in which they lived. Lived.

It affected every part of their social structure. And here Paul is writing and using this metaphor, be light in the darkness. Be light. Live as children of light, Paul writes. Verse 8, let's have a look at that.

For at one time, he says, you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk therefore as children of light. Verse 11, take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. Now we have to do a bit of biblical theology here. The metaphor of light and darkness, like I said, gets used throughout the whole of the Bible.

But darkness symbolises not so much in our way of thinking these days, darkness is evil. Or, you know, we think of Star Wars, you know, the dark side of the force or the light side. You know, that good and evil fighting each other. It's not so much good versus evil. It's actually the domain of ignorance or lack of knowledge versus light, which is knowledge.

Ephesians 4:18 talks about that. We read that in 2 Corinthians 4:4. This lack of knowledge, this darkness of understanding is steeped, however, in sin, which is evil. Interestingly, Satan himself is as much clouded by this darkness of unknowledge as every other person who lives apart from Christ. Satan is consumed by this ignorance.

On the other hand, light in the Bible pictures a knowledge of the truth that comes when God centres Himself in our lives. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:6, the God who said, let light shine out of darkness, in other words when He made creation, let light shine out of darkness. This God made His light to shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. God who called light out of darkness has shone His light into us to give us the light of knowledge. As believers in 1 John 1:7, the apostle John calls us to walk in the light.

In Ephesians 5, Paul wants to tell Christians surrounded by socially ordained injustice something about God's light, something about the power of knowing God, the power of knowledge of God's good and pleasing will. He wants to share the knowledge of the character of God Himself. And so firstly this morning, we're going to look at the issue of what light is according to Ephesians 5. What light is. Verses 8 to 10.

Have you ever done a tour of a cave? Who's done, you know, one of those things? It takes very, very brave people to do that. You have to be not very claustrophobic to do it, but I've been to some pretty spectacular caves, and they make you, you know, they light it up beautifully. There's usually lots of lights and a flashlight and all that sort of stuff, but there's always a moment in the tour where they say, we turn off all the lights.

And that darkness that you experience, and you just have to think of those Thai boys in that cave, that darkness is just all consuming. You cannot see your hand in front of your face. It's that dark. It's an incredible experience. You are completely blind.

And Paul says that we were once that blind, that blind. Not only were we surrounded by darkness like in that cave, verse 8 says, we were darkness. Do you notice that? Have a look at verse 8. At one time, you were darkness.

It doesn't say you were in it. Like you sort of in that cave experience and it's around you, you were darkness. By nature, we were consumed by sin and the lack of the knowledge of God. We not only didn't see God's glory and truth, we didn't have any ability or desire to see it. Apart from Christ, there is no place where our darkness begins and ends. Before Christ, we didn't sense our need for a saviour because we didn't understand or know the absolute holiness and the justice of God.

And so we lived entirely for ourselves, Paul says, avoiding the thought of death and eternity, living entirely for ourselves. Paul explains in verse 5 what this darkness would manifest in immorality, in impurity, and in greed. And he says, all of these things is idolatry. John Calvin said, the sin beneath all sin is idolatry. In pursuing immorality, in pursuing impurity, in pursuing greed at all costs, we have chosen to be our own god.

Idolatry. And Paul says because of this and because of the work of Christ, by God's grace, you are no longer that. He says, we are the opposite. We are light. Notice it again in that same verse.

At one time you were darkness, but now you are light. You're not in the light. You are light. That's an incredible statement. You are light.

You, in your essence, have changed. When God saved us, He opened the eyes of our understanding so that we saw the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. We saw our true condition as guilty sinners, and we saw the all sufficiency of Jesus Christ and our absolute need of Him in our lives. And we had a new understanding of truth and we came to believe that what we find in God's word is true. And through the Holy Spirit, we now have a new desire, a new desire to live how God has intended humanity to live.

And even though we struggle with sin, we actually hate it now. Now. We actually hate it. We long to be like our Saviour. We long to be like Jesus, to be holy in all our ways.

We now walk in light rather than in darkness because God has made our character like this. Now while some of us can't say exactly when this happened, when this change happened, some of us may have been, you know, Christians for as long as we remember. We know that it has taken place because we can probably see how we've come to hate darkness or sin even more over the years. Paul says again in effect, become what you are. You are light now.

Walk as children of light. But now he goes on to explain how or what this light does. What it actually means. He says four things about it, what this light is. Firstly, he says, if we walk as children of light, we will be good.

Paul says in verse 9, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good. Goodness is a broad term in the Bible for behaviour that benefits others before yourself. A good person is concerned for the well-being of others, both spiritually and in all other ways. This is what I think some of these people that are critiquing the mission of the church as social justice may not completely hold in mind. It doesn't mean simply that we are good spiritually and that we care for people's eternal life.

We care for them in other aspects as well. Being children of light means we will, by nature, be concerned with the well-being of others. So if we walk as children of light, we are good. If we walk as children of light, we will be righteous. This refers to our nature being transformed to be in line with the standards of God.

A righteous person is right before God and others. They do what is right according to God's perfect will in all situations. It is the absolute epitome of integrity to be right in all situations. As a child of light, they will pursue what is right even when no one else is doing it. They will fight for righteousness in every circumstance.

If we walk as children of light, number three, we will be people of truth. That's all in verse 9. Again, in the context of Ephesians, the truth spoken of here stands in contrast to the untruth of darkness. We are to be people who celebrate the truth, people who expose lies, and therefore, we shouldn't have anything to do with those who want to hide the truth. We are people of all truth.

We speak truth boldly. We accept the truth humbly for our lives therefore as well when it is exposed in us. And then lastly, moving on to verse 10, if we walk as children of light, we will learn or we will discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Living to please the Lord is maybe the fundamental difference between a believer and an unbeliever. Living to please the Lord.

An unbeliever may be considered a good person, at least outwardly. They may be truthful, but apart from the transformational reality of coming to Christ, this person will do good things out of ulterior motives. They may be making sure that people see me. There will maybe be reasons to gain self respect. But Christians live to please the Saviour.

In joy and thankfulness, they now evaluate everything they do by the question, does this please my Lord? Does this please my God? So the first requirement for being children of light is to live light by pursuing goodness, by pursuing righteousness and truth, and therefore to seek a life pleasing to our Saviour. But then secondly, what light does. In Ephesians 5:11 to 12, Paul adds this.

He says, have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. So not only are we light and that we will pursue and love and cherish righteousness and goodness and truth, but light pushes back against darkness. Light exposes darkness. It does something.

It's more than being something. It does something. I recently read a lecture by Charles Spurgeon, that great preacher, a sermon on candles, it was actually called. An essay. A sermon on candles.

And in it, it's amazing. He uses an analogy of light in all different ways. He talks about how light can be this and this and this from scripture. It's amazing. But he's speaking to a bunch of Bible college students learning how to preach, and he says this is how you use analogies.

But he comes at one point to one of the illustrations of Job, talking about light in the context of Job, the man whose life had been turned upside down with despair. And he reads what Job said in chapter 29, verses 2 and 3. This is what Job says, oh, that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me, when His candle shone upon my head. So in his absolute despair, he just says, may that the light or the lamp of God would have just shone upon me again. Spurgeon says, Job had known God's prosperity, but now it was gone.

He had enjoyed heavenly fellowship and that had been obscured now. The candle of the Lord is a good light indeed. When that brightness is reflected from our faces, we are as happy as the angels in heaven. But when it is taken away, that light of God, we sit in a darkness which can be felt. He says, he who has once enjoyed fellowship with God will never again be happy without it.

If we had remained in the blindness of nature, we should not have known the glory of divine love nor should we have been in distress when it is withdrawn. But now that we are enlightened by grace, darkness brings woe to us. What Spurgeon pointed out is the reality that every Christian who has tasted the light and the goodness of God cannot help but be moved by the scourge of darkness. Once you know the joy of Christ's light, darkness brings woe to the heart. And Paul says in Ephesians 5 that God's light is not passive.

It exposes and it drives out darkness. It is pervasive. Verse 14, he says, it is light that makes everything visible. Everything visible. And so this leads me to talk about the work of this Christian organisation called IJM and they do some incredible work and I'm so thankful that we can talk about them today.

We're going to watch a video about a guy called, a young man called Foley from Ghana, and it exemplifies the plight of millions of people around the world that are caught in slavery, in the injustice of slavery. Foley is a young boy caught up in the scourge of darkness. So if we can hit the lights, we're gonna play it. I am five years old. I follow grandfather to the farm and watch what he's doing.

I am nine years old. I never want to leave this place. I always help my. When I left home with my uncle, I didn't see my grandparents anymore. The first time I went on the lake. I wanted to escape, but I didn't know the way.

They told me my grandfather came for me, but he could not find me. My uncle said, don't forget about your grandfather. And he said, those are the people who come for small boys. So, I mean, that story is pretty amazing, but it can also seem like a drop in the bucket when we consider that there are 40,000,000 slaves in the world today. 40,000,000.

That's double the size of Australia. We have more slaves today than there has been in the history of humanity. We thought that it was a biblical era issue or an era of the civil war in the US. We still have that issue of injustice today. Now what I really like about IJM and why I was happy to spotlight it today, our denomination has actually taken it on board.

So throughout the year, every dollar that you donate, a percentage of that will go towards their work. So our entire denomination has been convinced of their work, but what I really, really appreciate about them is that they're an organisation that gets stuff done. They're an organisation that consists of 850 workers that are lawyers, social workers. These are people that are high up in political organisations. They're criminal investigators and pastors.

They work in nearly 20 communities throughout Africa, Latin America, South and Southeast Asia. And what they do, what I really appreciate is that they don't simply help someone that is in a situation and they help the individual. They break down structures that have been built over decades and centuries that oppress people in this way. They get to the heart of the issue, and they break these syndicates down. And then they have pastors who come and preach the good news to these people, explaining why the message of Jesus would cause these people, these lawyers, these policemen, these politicians to do this for them.

We're not just seeing real freedom for individuals caught in slavery. We are seeing real freedom for whole cities and whole nations, in fact. One of the exciting things that IJM did a few years ago, they had a project in the city of Cebu or Cebu in the Philippines a few years ago to combat sex trafficking amongst children. After five years of comprehensively working with the state stakeholders in the public justice system, independent auditors of the work of IJM confirmed a 79% reduction in the number of minors that had been sold for sex. Seventy nine percent.

The Filipino government then decided to scale this strategy to other areas, metropolitan areas in the Philippines, and by the grace of God, in the span of just a decade, we have seen the near eradication of sex trafficking of minors in the Philippines. That's an incredible, incredible effort. And so this morning we do, we stop to pause on the church that is called to act. We are the people of light, and we expose darkness. But this light doesn't just bring exposure, it brings life.

Paul quotes an ancient hymn right at the end of our passage in which he says in verse 14, wake up, oh sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. This was a hymn that was sung by the church of Paul's time. The light of Christ brings people back from death. And that is the power of being children of light. It is the calling we have been given as Christians.

And we are challenged to do this wherever we find ourselves, in our workplaces, in our politics, in our neighbourhoods. But I'd also like you to consider this morning, and I'm not gonna put a hard sale on you, but to support the incredible work of IJM. We have these bits of pieces. You've received this card which tells you how you can pray for the work of IJM. But on the table back there, right at the near the serving station, we have these envelopes, and there's not too many.

I hope we could maybe take all of them. These are Freedom Partners packs. If you decide to sponsor monthly, I think they say $31, but on their website, you can go down as far low as $5 a month to contribute to this work. But $31, I think, on this pack, you can support this work. And like I said, it is really an incredible ministry.

They do fantastic work, not just with individuals, but breaking entire structures down that are the cause of oppression. I don't want to do a hard sell because I know we've got our Samaritan's Purse here, our shoe boxes, and there's lovely, lovely people that are contributing to that. We've contributed to our church, our trivia night. There's, you know, giving and giving and giving, but if you prayerfully consider this, if you're not supporting or sponsoring Compassion children, World Vision children, or whatever, why not consider this as an opportunity to contribute as well? Please pray about it this morning, and then take one of those packs.

Come and maybe speak to me as well. Might put a sheet down there. You can write your name down just so that I know who's taken one. And, yeah, I can guarantee it's money that's worth spending. As we close this morning, let me pray that we may be a church that works and intercedes not simply for the people in our church, but for a world that is lost, a world that feels that darkness that Job was experiencing when God took His presence away.

The darkness that Spurgeon said could be felt. Let's pray for God to do incredible things in this world and to use the church to accomplish that. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you this morning that we may be a church that can help. We can be a church that can contribute, Lord.

And the wonderful thing about this church and the church is that many hands make light work and that we can, as a movement, come together to do these incredible things. Well, this morning, in particular, we pray for the work of International Justice Mission. We pray for wisdom and tact and very, very shrewd diplomacy, working with people that are at high levels in governments who themselves might be caught up in this corruption, in this oppression. Father, we pray that You'll protect these workers, some of whom have lost their lives for this cause, some of whom have disappeared because they were pushing too hard. Father, I pray that You'll protect them and their families.

I thank you, Lord, for the multicultural aspect of this, that they are people that are working all over the world in this. And we pray for justice to be established on this earth. Lord Jesus, You are the great Servant who came to bring justice to the nations, to establish Your law among the coastlands. And so, Lord, we know that You are gentle. A bruised reed, You will not break.

A smouldering wick, You will not quench. Please, Lord, see these poor people and rescue them. And, Father, use Your church to do that. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.