Ephesians 5:1-14
Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear
children; 2 and walk
in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour. 3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it
not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which
are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor
unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in
the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for
because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of
disobedience. 7 Be not ye
therefore partakers with them. 8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye
light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and
righteousness and truth;) 10 proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
but rather reprove them. 12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things
which are done of them in secret. 13 But all things that are reproved are made
manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. 14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from
the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Embarrassed of what her
husband did in church one Sunday morning, a woman approached her Pastor after
the church service, “Please do not take it personally, Preacher, when my husband
walked out during your sermon.” The Pastor, with his usual compassionate self,
replied, “I did find it rather disconcerting, but I would understand.” “It
wasn’t out of any disrespect to you,” explained the woman, “you see, my husband
has been walking in his sleep ever since he was a child.”
The Bible speaks about life
that is both in light and darkness and presents Jesus Christ as the light of darkened world (John 8:12). The light in the
darkened world came in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.
As
darkness is equated to sin, then light is equated to victory from sin (Romans
1:21; John 3:19-20). Receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is receiving
light from darkness. Being children of God is receiving light from darkness. This is
life that is taken from darkness into the wonderful life of God (1 Peter 2:9). Ephesians
5 talks about life in darkness among the Ephesian believers.
There is also a life that
is asleep (Ephesians 5:14).
When is our life considered
asleep? Is it a good thing or a bad thing for us to see ourselves living in
slumber? Sleep is very important in a person’s life. Normal sleep hour is still
in the range of 7-8 hours even at present. As sleep is as important as
nutrition and exercise, it brings a myriad of benefits such as promoting
growth, arresting stress hormones, strengthening the body immune system,
reducing injuries, increasing attention span, and enhancing learning. Hypersomnia,
on the other hand, which is oversleeping, is considered a medical disorder. It
is mostly associated with fatigue, but many times, oversleeping is associated
with depression and low economic status in life.
There are persons who are
asleep in their spiritual life. When light comes into the world in the morning,
humans and animals arise from their sleep and go on to their natural activities
in the light of the sun. We can apply this to our spiritual life as well. Being
asleep even when the light is up means that we have not been walking and living
in the light of God. We may have been spiritually fatigued, spiritually
depressed, or spiritually low in our status in God. This is a sad thing for
believers to suffer spiritual oversleeping in the same way as it is an alarming
situation to be suffering from physiological hypersomnia.
The first 13 verses of
Ephesians 5 show how Paul advised the believers in Ephesus to become better
Christians. These people are already believers (Ephesians 5:1-2) but their
spiritual life is not manifested. Paul observed that they were sometimes
“darkness” but Paul also reminded that now they are “light” in the Lord (Ephesians
5:8). Finally, Paul admonished them to walk as
children of light.
Paul also advised the
believers in Ephesus to wake up from their deep sleep (Ephesians 5:14). This
deep sleep is tantamount to being dead. Paul saw the kind of lives they live
and identified the reasons why these believers are deep sleepers and spiritually
dead.
.
There is fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness among Ephesian
believers (Ephesians 5:3).
There is filthy or foolish
talking, jesting, thrash talk among Ephesian believers (Ephesians 5:4).
There is an easy falling
for deception through vain words among the Ephesian believers (Ephesians 5:6).
There is a comfortable
partaking of the worldly activities and wickedness among the Ephesian believers
(Ephesians 5:7, 11).
Paul advised the Ephesian
believers to wake up from oversleep and spiritual death. These are characters
of life that is devoid of Christ. This is darkness, which is a symbol, a
description, depiction, portrayal, translation, and representation of a life
without Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. He delivered us from
darkness to a life that has hope and spiritual direction (John 12:35).
Do we sleep in your spiritual life? It is time to wake up to the
light of Jesus Christ. Only then can we sleep tight in confidence in the
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a story about how good it is to “sleep” in our spiritual
life when we live in the light of Jesus Christ. There was a farmer owned a
piece of land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired
hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They
dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the
buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he
received a steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well past
middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farmhand?" the
farmer asked him. "Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered
the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for
help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to
dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work. Then one night the
wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a
lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook
the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down
before they blow away!" The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly,
"No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows." Enraged by the
response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried
outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all the
haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the
chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were
tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. The farmer
then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also
sleep while the wind blew.
When we're spiritually awake in the light and the
power of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have nothing to fear. This time, we can
sleep when the wind blows through our life.
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