Delivered
by Rev. Ellen Brantley
Sunday,
March 2, 2008
SERMON: Children of Light
TEXT: Ephesians 5:8-14
Hasn’t the sunshine been glorious
these last few days? Everybody feels
better when the sun is shining. I
overheard one person asking another, “How are you today?” She answered enthusiastically, “I’m
fine! How can you not
be fine on a day like today?!”
I don’t know anyone who isn’t affected
this way by the light. So many good
things come to mind when we think of light.
It’s a word that has so many positive connotations.
But have you ever thought about a time
when you didn’t like the light? How
about when you’re driving east early in the morning? Or when you’re trying to sleep and someone
turns on the light in your room. In
A couple of years ago we had a
policeman come to the church to give us an assessment of building
security. The officer told me that
“criminals are like vampires – they don’t like the light.” So the more light you have around the outside
of your building, the less likely it is that thieves will try to break in.
Jesus Christ is often referred to as
the Light of the World. In fact, he even
referred to himself this way. And all
the references to light in the Bible (over 200) indicate that light is good,
and is associated with God and truth and righteousness. “The people who walked in darkness have seen
a great light.” “The Lord is my light
and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”
“Light is shed upon the righteous.”
“Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” “Nations will come to your light, and kings
to the brightness of your dawn.” “In him
was life and that life was the light of all people.” “Everyone who does evil hates the light and
will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”
And in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians,
he encourages the believers there to “live as CHILDREN OF LIGHT – for the fruit
of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.” Of course, this comes as no surprise to us,
for we hear the same message Sunday after Sunday.
On the other hand, it bears
repeating. It seems to me that we live
in a society that believes more and more in the idea that “it’s only wrong if
you get caught.” And so we live by
appearances. But we must remember that
while others may not see what we do, “the Lord looks on the heart.”
It’s not an easy thing, because we
begin to believe that “nice guys finish last” and the only way to get ahead is
to play dirty just like everyone else does.
Consider this story about a boy and his father who went fishing
together. It was the night before the
bass opener, but they were fishing for sunfish and perch. After awhile, the boy grew tired of fishing
with worms, so he tied on a small silver lure so he could practice
casting. On one of the boy’s casts,
something huge doubled over his pole.
When the fish was brought up out of the water, it was the largest fish
the boy had ever seen. It was a
bass. The father lit a match and looked
at his watch. The bass season opened in
two hours. The boy pleaded to keep the
trophy fish. Nobody would ever have to
know. But his father insisted that the
fish be put back into the water. The
story concludes by saying that the boy, now a man, sees that same fish again
and again, every time he comes up against a question of ethics.
Are we CHILDREN OF LIGHT even in the
dark, even when other people aren’t looking?
And what does the Lord see when he looks on your heart?
It is still true for us as it was for
the Israelites of Isaiah’s time: we are
living in a land of deep darkness. This
is all the more reason why we need to live as CHILDREN OF LIGHT, so that we can
“brighten the corner where we are.”
Remember that Jesus not only referred to himself as the light of the
world, but when he gave his sermon on the mount, he said to the crowds, “You
are the light of the world.” And he
encouraged us not to hide our light, but to let it shine before others.
How do we let our light shine? By doing the right thing,
even when no one is looking.
Also, don’t do anything at home that you don’t you’re your children to
do in public! One of my favorite
examples isn’t necessarily about doing the right thing, but about following
what we’ve been taught. There was a high
school band in
Here’s a poem that expresses this
message well, called, If Jesus Came to Your House.
If Jesus came to
your house to spend a day or two;
If he came
unexpected – just dropped in on you;
I know you’d give
your nicest room to such an honored guest.
And all the food
you’d serve Him would be the very best.
And you would keep
assuring him that you were glad to have him there;
That serving him in
your home is joy beyond compare.
But when you saw him
coming, would you meet him at the door,
With arms outstretched in welcome to your heavenly visitor?
Or would you have to
change your clothes before you let him in?
Or hide some
magazines and put the Bible where they’d been?
Would you turn off
the radio and hope he hadn’t heard,
And wish you hadn’t
uttered that last, loud, hasty word?
Would you hide your
worldly music and put some hymn books out?
Could you let Jesus
walk right in or would you rush him out?
And I wonder if the
Savior spent a day or two with you,
Would you go right
on doing the things you always do?
Would you go right
on saying the things you always say?
Would life for you
continue as it does from day to day?
Would your family
conversation keep up its usual pace,
And would you find
it hard each meal to say a table grace?
Would you sing the
songs you always sing and read the books you always read,
And let him know the
things on which your mind and spirit feed?
Would you take Jesus
with you everywhere you planned to go,
Or maybe would you
change your plans for just a day or so?
Would you be glad to
have him meet your very closest friends,
Or hope that they
would stay away until his visit ends.
Would you be glad to
have him stay forever on and on,
Or would you sigh
with great relief when he at last was gone?
It might be
interesting to know the things that you would do,
If Jesus came in person to spend some time with you.
“Try to find out what is pleasing to
the Lord,” Paul wrote. May we “live as
CHILDREN OF LIGHT.”
To the glory of God! AMEN.