(Ephesians 5:11).
The spiritual riches of the Epistle to the Ephesians and its treasures are well known to us. In order to understand the text verse, it is necessary to make a comparison with the other letters of Paul.
The Letter to the Romans sees us, who have been saved, us who have found salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus, us who, as lost sinners, have given our lives to the Lord Jesus - because we became convicted of sin through the Holy Spirit - in a new position.We are in a new position now! This letter to the Romans sees us as "co-crucified", as "buried with him" and now in "walking in the novelty of life" (Romans 6: 4, 6).
The letter to the Colossians goes a little further, we are now "awakened," and since then seeking "what is above" (Col. 2:12, 3:1).
The letter to the Ephesians even reveals the highest about our position as children of light - in the time of grace. After that we are not only "brought to life", we are not just „raised", but also "sitting in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph.2: 6).In this highest position we recognize the glory of the Lord's Church in perfection. The church is "co-seated" on His throne.
There are a few more words in this letter to the Ephesians.
"Chosen in him before the foundation of the world“,
"Blessed with every spiritual blessing“
"Predestined to the sonship" (Eph.1, 3-5).
Because the church has a unique and high position, chapter 5:1 says, "Be now imitators of God ...". We are as God-loved children capable of representing His essence, that is, light and love, practical and constant
- in the place where the Lord has placed us - that is the purpose of the heavenly church in Christ here on this earth.
Love is often mentioned in various forms. We can read this in Ephesians 1.6; 2.4; 3.18 + 19; 4.3 + 15-16; 5.1 + 25; etc.The love mentioned there is also necessary for the building of the church. That's one side of the thing. At the same time, love is necessary for the development of the individual. If, on the one hand, love is to mark our personal position, love also makes the light recognizable. The Light, that God has given us. The Bible says in Eph.5: 8, "For once ye were darkness ...".
Have we thought about what that means: you were darkness? Do you know what that means, darkness? The Bible speaks of the relationship of the saved as such from the past. Once we were darkness, "darkened in the understanding" (Eph 4:18).Everything was dark and cloudy, even the mind. And if the mind is already dark, then everything else can never be light.
Paul says that we stand by grace (Rom. 5:2) This is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as a light in the midst of darkness.Why? Because Christ is God. He let the light shine in the darkness and shine into the darkness. He let light come into the darkness, so that there is light in it.
While we are in the world, we are not of the world. God has put the church into the world, although we are not from this world, seen from the side of our new creation.But the mere mention of the light and the darkness finds its reasoning in the fact that we are confronted with Satan, the father of darkness (Eph 6:12). In the word "darkness" we are not dealing with humans. I am convinced that such biblical passages can not be removed from the context of the letter.The letter is a unity and shows us such this fact razor sharp.
We are rescued people who have accepted the Lord Jesus carry something in us. Nobody talks about how once we were darkness.For the enemy we are very interesting as persons.
Why?
We are confidants - aware of the purposes and the purpose of God.
I point out here, the fallen angels and the light angels can never know what God's counsel is. Col 1,27 ....To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory......... God wanted to reveal what the riches of the glory of this mystery are among the nations, and that is Christ in you, the hope of glory. I'm talking about the mystery of the church. We are aware of the secrets of God.We are under our constitution - under special protection. But we also have a mission in relation to us: we reveal the same will of God to the people of this world who are still lost. At the same time this is the verdict for the darkness.The darkness is against us. The darkness is Satan.
The endeavor of the enemy has always been to darken the light, or to bring it in a different direction, or to turn it off altogether. And the enemy achieves this goal through the secularization of Christians. That is why it says, "Benot now their fellow-men "(Eph.5: 7). Associates belong to a cooperative. Who is a companion with the things of sin, belongs to the cooperative of Satan. Also in 2 Corinthians 6, in particular, the necessity of segregation is highlighted. Because light and darkness are called there in context. There is exposed the impossibility of a harmony of essence. The apostle Paul reveals to us the will of God before the foundation of the world. The apostle John, in contrast, reveals in his Gospel the nature of God, which is light and love. Only those who walk in this love are in the light. It does not count the imagination, no matter what amount and intensity of imagination.
A life in love, in the love of Christ, joined to the sacrifice of thanksgiving and the sacrifice of praise, would be enough to save us from the things in Ephesians 5:13, 14. Everything that is exposed is revealed through the light, for all that is revealed is light. Therefore, it says, "Wake up, that you sleep, and rise up from the dead! And the Christ will light up for you!“But the practice of all Christians teaches us that it is different.That is why we have the addition of the revelation of the light. Ephesians 5: 3-21 are imperial principles, for they lay responsibility. Five times we read: "Light" and "Lord". That's no coincidence.The light enables us to test, in order to distinguish all that is pleasing to the Lord (Ephesians 5:10).
The Epistle to the Ephesians places the highest demands on the divine love in us because the light is the supreme revelation.High prerogatives also bring with them a high degree of holiness. The separation of darkness from light is of divine origin. And this fact requires exact observance - because of the glory of God. Dissonances among believers occur when essential messages of Scripture are either overemphasized or denied, not recognized or skipped. As surely as we were once all "darkness", just as surely as we are "light in the Lord now "(Eph 5: 8).This is what the apostle, led by the Holy Ghost, said.
Therefore, we want to cheer ourselves up and let us seriously examine whether this being is also practically reality in our lives.We do not want to make the mistake of wanting to test others, because that's the original sin.
No, do not test with sin, but we want to test ourselves in the light of God.
If we see the very serious exposition of the revelation of the light, it is no less true of the darkness. Both objects are the reality of the being. We also want to remember that.
In the Epistle to the Galatians we read of the "works of the flesh" (Gal. 5:19), but in the text verse of the "works of darkness." In the Letter to the Galatians the flesh is the instrument of darkness, but in the letter to the Ephesians the essence of darkness is dealt with.That's a difference. I just hope that we want to understand it now.The explanation of what "works of darkness" means is not difficult to find. Works of darkness are the activity of darkness in every form. Not always has the character of this darkness come to light in their works, so that we would grasp it immediately. I think of the little ones, the inconspicuous sins - I may call them that now - the white lie and insincerity.Its essence is darkness, we must be clear about that. In the light of God, in His Holiness, even the smallest white lie, the little bit of insincerity, can not exist.
Brother and sister, works of darkness are done by practicing sin. Without going through the sin, there is no other one; whether it happens through the flesh of the faithful, through the worldly sons of disobedience, or through satanic power.There is no excuse. Darkness is rebellion against God, is rejection of the Lord, is separation from the Creator.
Exceptional works of darkness include:
the killing of our Lord Jesus Christ and His witnesses,
ever Christians persecutionsin general,
the elevation of Christianity to the state religion,
wrong forms of government,
the Antichrist with all his character and posturing, with his spirit and his effects.
And then something comes, that must not surprise you: the art. Art in a certain form as promoter of sin.
Wherever we find evil in action in God's word, it is synonymous with works of darkness. In the light of the Epistle to the Ephesians, everything is evil and everything that disdains God, is a work of darkness. There is no evil that pleases God or glorifies God. Never in God's Word do we read of a fruit of darkness. Light is life. Light brings fruit.
And where the light falls down, where the light penetrates darkness, it brings fruit, because there is fruit only in the light. Where there is no light there is no life. It is impossible for darkness to yield a god-pleasing fruit. The darkness is death. Everything freezes and is unable to bear fruit at all, because the warm and living light is missing in the darkness. It's the life-effecting thing. Where there is no light, life is missing. Light is spiritual. Life begins with Light. "Let there be light"
Science is already well advanced today, but to this day it can’t create a living being. They can make experiments, that's something else again. But they can not create live. Even if we lock up one million such leading people in a hall for twenty years. There will be no life they are able to produce, because the warming and vivifying light is missing them.Without light, no life - and that applies to dead matter and to the human heart. That's one and the same. The Bible tells us very precisely and clearly what comes out of our human hearts.What a difference, whether it is fruit or work. Let's think about it! What a difference!
We, redeemed people, are fruitful by the light. That is divine destiny. Everything, but also everything that happens through the light, has eternal value and is thus permanent.All this we find again in the words of the Lord, with different verses, but analogously very precisely.The born-again knows very well that the works of darkness are barren. When assessing the darkness by the light, the term "barren" is probably the right expression.The darkness will eventually be banished to a God-given place forever.
This brings us to a sentence that tells us that the darkness passes, and with it its works. Why? Because they were barren.Now to the question, what does Scripture say in the expression "unfruitful works of darkness"? The addition of this word "infertile" is not unnecessary, even if the works of darkness itself are infertile/barren/unfruitful.
There are a lot of these inscriptions in Scripture.
Let us remember only a few, such as "the blessed hope of glory" according to Titus 2:13. Our hope of glory is already anyway blissful. Why does the writer say "blissful hope" here?Or "the foolish issues" in Tit.3: 9. All issues are foolish. Or to "the effective power of error" of 2.Thes.2,11.There is no power that is not effective. Or the "fragrant sweet smell" of Eph 5: 2 (german: duftender Wohlgeruch) and Phil 4:18. It will only be a fragrance when it smells, otherwise I would not be able to perceive it.These are double terms or double statements. These tautologies are reinforcements that give the noun a fundamental character. Nothing new is added, but the noun will be expanded and strengthened.
If we never read of the fruit of darkness in Ephesians, it is truth. As far as I know, there is some verses - albeit in a completely different form - about a fruit that could have been caused by sin. But the whole context there shows that the nature of this fruit does not deserve the name fruit. So it is addressed in the negative sense and put in contrast to the "fruit of holiness":
"For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit did you have then of the things that you are ashamed of now? Because the end of it is death.But now, freed from sin and become God's slave, you have your fruit for holiness, but the end is eternal life "(Romans 6: 20-22).
Basically, there is no fruit for God in the darkness. Fruit is always something organic, something growing on the basis of a seed or a plantation.But works are something made by man. Or by Satan.The Divine Seed - His Word - the plant that Heavenly Father has planted (Mt.15: 13), brings forth fruit that corresponds to the life-giving nature of the seed or plant. That is why it is organic and has real value, as inconspicuous as the world that is lost may be for them. The world does not see her. But only from such a living fruit does new life grow again, precious in God's eye.Only life brings forth new life, never the darkness. The works of darkness remain barren. They are dark, as their own author, who did not create them in accordance with his nature, but transformed them, transformed them, corrupted them. That's Satan and the sin. They are the people's ruin.Never can the nature of darkness be denied because it remains what it is. No matter what dress she appears in. The Bible even speaks of an "angel of the light" (2 Cor 11:14).
How serious this is for us, who are so easily inclined to give our power and our will to to the enemy - to darkness. To have fellowship with such things means for believers to renounce the precious fruit - the fruit of the Spirit according to Gal. 5:22 - and to substitute with works which grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30). ,Only when we punish such unfruitful works of darkness-that is, not regarding others, but our own works - will we be able to bear fruit for God. This is the will and purpose of the Lord with each one of us.
"fruit that will last," says the Lord in John 15:16.Fruit that gives life. Why? Because she herself is life, while the infertile works of darkness entail destruction (Gal.6: 7 + 8). This also results in a ban on having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. This, beloved brothers and sisters, should be for today an insight into this verse of Eph 5:11, so that the Lord may also bring us a little bit further in this verse so that we may learn to look into God's manifold wisdom, so that we get to know and understand the connections and apply them.
Amen.