Title: Awake and arise for Christ is with you!
Text: Eph. 5:6-21
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
Famous American lies
- The check is in the mail.
- I'll start my diet tomorrow.
- We service what we sell.
- Give me your number and the doctor will call you right back.
- Money cheerfully refunded.
- One size fits all.
- Your luggage isn't lost, it's only misplaced.
- Leave your resume and we'll keep it on file.
- This hurts me more than it hurts you.
- I just need five minutes of your time.
- Your table will be ready in a few minutes.
- Open wide, it won't hurt a bit.
- It's not the money, it's the principle.
- It’s not a baby … until it’s born.
Bits & Pieces, December 9, 1993, pp. 12-13.
Awake and arise for Christ is with you!
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Empty words, we’ve all heard them. All those phrases that I read … that you and I have heard at one time or another in our lives … are words meant to deceive, to put off, or to fill one’s own agenda. The sons of disobedience hear and follow. Those opposed to Christ and his gospel continue to go the way of destruction, but we too who have been brought to faith by God’s gifts give way to the call of darkness and fall in sin.
7 Therefore do not become partners with them;
Don’t get sucked in, Paul tells the Ephesians. But what were the Ephesians getting sucked into … and does it apply to you and me?
Paul says in verse three and four that preceded our text:
3 [That] sexual immorality and all impurity or [coveting] must not even be named among you, and he concludes: 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking … but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who [covets], [which is to desire that which is not yours] … has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Harsh words indeed and the Ephesians were falling short then, and Christians today fall short too. When desires, feelings and societal norms go against God’s word and truth … the result is that darkness [the realm of Satan] reigns.
Awake and arise for Christ is with you!
You and I feel it too. Sin is a powerful force that in thought, word and deed we can all give in to … and its desires can lead us away from the truth that God intends.
When Paul speaks of sexual immorality and all impurity he is not just speaking of same sex attraction, (though homosexuality would be included in his rebuke) but of all sexual sins outside of God’s design of marriage or in the context of marriage that defiles that union.
Whether perpetrator or victim, there are no winners and the story in the news of the two freshmen congressional representatives in Lansing can attest to that. Here one man and one woman, with families of their own that have been harmed and broken by this affair have been affected. Spouses and children confused and hurt and while the information is still unfolding I’m sure, both public servants, had great intent in serving the needs of their communities and to do a good job making things better for the people they serve. But their adulterous relationship has jeopardized that service now with many calling for their resignation. Lies, innuendoes, supposed blackmail and cover up abound. It may be hard for either of these representatives to serve publicly, in any capacity again.
Paul cautions the Ephesians:
11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.
And here’s the key …
13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible,
The light that exposes darkness is Jesus Christ and his word of truth. And it is not to use God as a means – claiming “I believe” - while denying him and living in sin using Christ as a cover. But through repentance it is God’s desire that you be restored freely by faith in Christ through his saving Gospel and working of the Holy Spirit. And also by the light of the gospel that your light shines in the midst of those in darkness so that they too might come to faith and believe.
Paul speaks of coveting as well, or desiring that which you don’t have … and this can also be things we desire or people.
As Luther says in his explanation for the 9th and 10th commandments:
We should fear and love God that we may not [find] seek to get our neighbor's inheritance or house, and obtain it by a show of [justice and] right, etc., but help and be of service to him in keeping it … (9th commandment)
… [nor covet], force, or entice away our neighbor's wife, servants, or cattle, but urge them to stay and [diligently] do their duty. (10th commandment)
http://bookofconcord.org/smallcatechism.php
Darkness and light … lies and truth … you can’t ride the fence.
Ill.
Fuller Warren, who was Florida's governor in the '50s, was running for office in a year that counties were voting their local option on permitting the sale of liquor. Asked for his position on wet-versus-dry, he would say:
"If by whiskey you mean the water of life that cheers men's souls, that smooths out the tensions of the day, that gives gentle perspective to one's view of life, then put my name on the list of the fervent wets. But if by whiskey you mean the devil's brew that rends families, destroys careers and ruins one's ability to work, then count me in the ranks of the dries.
William Safire in New York Times Magazine.
I’ll have it just as I want it and change the narrative, might have been his view.
Everything you do untimely says something about who you are. So … 15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, Paul says, don’t let the world, your sinful flesh or the devil be your guide. And all too often we can fall silent in the face of evil.
Ill,
The illuminating light revealed in the resent videos and working of Planned Parenthood as life is pulled from the womb and sold much like parts from a junkyard … can even breakdown the staunchest defenders of abortion.
As one Worker who felt betrayed writes:
[I sat stunned watching the video. They swore that our affiliate didn’t do that. They hid it from me, and lied to me so that I would continue to protect them while they did it. And the worst part of the video? The announcement of “Hey, it’s another boy!”
Wait……it can’t be a boy. You told me it was nothing but a clump of cells. “A boy” is a determination you make about a baby ... A boy … is a child.]
http://archive.aweber.com/exposingthelie/EOPjj/h/_WorkersBetrayed.htm
Awake and arise for Christ is with you!
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
Joel Fritsche a career missionary suggests that this might be a stanza from an early Christian hymn. It certainly could be with this image of dying and rising and awaking from death that you and I who have been brought to faith understand. Not only being buried with Christ in our baptism, but also the daily rising we do each day as we remember what Christ, our baptisms and the working of the holy Spirit.
God’s will is that you live in light and not in the darkness that Satan inhabits. For that very reason Jesus died for you, so that you might be free of sin, death and the power of the devil and by his Spirit live a life free of the darkness of sin. And while drifting back into the ways of darkness will always be there Paul also points to a means that God gives to keep you illumined to God’s love for you.
[being] filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Here in the Divine Service God calls us to come. To be fed on word and sacrament. To receive God’s favor on account of Christ, and to go fourth, in a world of darkness, with the light of the gospel of peace – the very word of God – and it is this word that brings those who are dead in sin and darkness to God’s marvelous light of forgiveness.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
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