What He said!, Pt 5: Awake, O sleeper

Ephesians 5:8-20                   8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14This is why it is said:

 “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

 15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I suspect there is a moment in every believer’s walk when an epiphany occurs. At that moment, the believer sort of crosses from the ‘dark side’ to the light and in that moment a sea-change occurs in the life of the believer.  But that moment is not at the moment of conversion.  Don’t get me wrong though:  My conversion experience was powerful.  They tell me my hands, arms, and shoulders were shaking in the overwhelming presence of Jesus coming into my heart.  When I came to Jesus I remember thinking how special this was.  How I was now in relationship with the King of the Universe, I didn’t have to worry about eternity, and good times were ahead.  I remember going to church every time any kind of service was held, two or three times a week, raising my hands, singing and shouting, and praising the Lord.

But as for the balance of my life, nothing much changed.  I still swore, I still compartmentalized, I still justified everything I did as properly due a person who struggled as much as I.  I had not submitted the fullness of my life to Him.  Those early days were filled with thought about what He could do for me.

No the moment I’m talking about was when I began thinking about not what He could do for me, but what I could do for Him.  I can point to a date on which I met my King (July 17, 1986), but I can’t point to a specific date for this change of focus.  It was too gradual.

These verses in Ephesians are pointing to that kind of epiphany, and having had that epiphany, how the believer is to live.  Those of us who are believers have come out of a life full of darkness, that is, full of a life of sin.  Now here’s the rub:  Most of us would say we are not sinners especially, but good, decent people who have had their share of struggle.  Most of us are not murderers, nor blatant idolaters, nor adulterers.  But also most of us compartmentalize our actions so we can live with ourselves.  We don’t murder, but we hate, which is only a few orders of magnitude less than murder but on the same scale.  If we are to live as children of light, and leave the world of darkness, we should be exhibiting those qualities which reflect the ultimate source of light, that is, Jesus our Lord.

This requires a change of focus.  Here is what I mean:  When I was a new believer, hearing all those sermons about how I was a new creation in Christ, and listening to teachings that said sin now had no place in my life, I got the idea that ‘OK, all I have to do is get rid of sin, right?’  Wrong. I found myself focusing on the sin, not on the Healer.

We are told that we need to “understand what the will of the Lord is”, and later we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit.  To be ‘filled with the Spirit’ means to be constantly controlled by the Spirit in our mind, emotions, and will, and in everything we do we must be guided by the Holy Spirit.  I believe these verses speak to us concerning advance preparation.  Submitting to the Spirit takes willingness on our part, which stems from a desire to be ready to enter the throne room of God.  Advance preparation is the key here.  When we start our day the Lord is saying ‘live every detail of your life submitted to me’.  Jesus said in John 4:23-24

From here on, worshiping the Father will not be a matter of the right place but with the right heart.  For God is a Spirit, and he longs to have sincere worshipers who worship and adore him in the realm of the Spirit and in truth.” (TPT)

By “spirit,” Jesus means that those who worship Him should do so with all their heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30); and by “truth,” Jesus means that He wants His followers to sincerely desire fellowship with Him.  I suspect we all have, at one time or another, come to a worship service at our church and left totally untouched.  I have at many times because as a pastor I am often concerned that things are going right for the people and I myself have not entered into worship of my King.  We must spend time before the services, and indeed in every part of our life, preparing our hearts and minds for worship. Praying as we rise in the morning, singing along to a praise CD on the way to church or work, and confessing sin in our life will help our worship time be much more meaningful and help us be attuned to the Spirit of God.

But what is that crazy verse in the middle of the passage?  In context, what does it mean to ‘“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”?  Paul is saying that every part of our lives must be submitted to His Lordship including all those dark and embarrassing parts of our lives that we want no one to know about.  In these troubled times many people are stressed and worried about the way things are going.  They wonder what is going on, why things happen the way they do.  We mature believers have a job to do to help such people work through their fears and enter into the wonderful place of communion with Christ.  But to do that requires His strength and power in our lives, and that requires full submission to Him of all parts of our lives.

So we must choose to live our lives in a way that pleases God.  I’m not saying we must not sin; I am saying that even though our sin nature will trip us up we must strive to please God.  It is important to find out what pleases Him.  The specifics of that are different for each believer; otherwise Paul would have said to do this, this, and that and you will please God.

So I suggest that each of us seek to find out what God has for us, and what it is in our lives that please and what displeases Him.  This can only be found through deep, personal, intimate, communication and that, after all, is the whole point.