Title: Faith in Light
Contents
Bible Text: Ephesians 5:8-12
faith in light
Dark is earthy and light is bright. Darkness without light is chaos, and light is order. Darkness is the state of pre-creation disorder. Light is the glory of creation.
In the Bible, darkness is night, and night is a place under the dominion of evil. When it is dark without light, it causes people to stumble. Darkness is a world of ignorance where nothing can be seen. Darkness is the absence of Christ. Because Christ is the light. The world without Jesus is darkness. When he turns his back on Christ, he turns his back on the light, and he enters into darkness.
We must have a philosophy of light. We must live with faith in the light. God is the creator of light. God's first words were, "Let there be light. It was. The light is bright. We must be bright, not dark. A bright person makes a bright home and a bright world.
I am the light in the Lord
“You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (verse 8).
I was dark before because I was in darkness before. Many stars in the night sky also reflect light from the sun. A star cannot emit light on its own. A star can shine when it receives sunlight.
I am neither darkness nor light. Whether I become darkness or light is up to me. I am either darkness or light, depending on whether I am in darkness or in light.
“I, wisdom, take refuge in understanding, and have knowledge and discernment” (Proverbs 8:12).
My address is my place of residence. Wisdom does not choose where it lives in darkness. Why leave the light alone and live in the dark? To be a light, I need to be in the light.
One hot summer day, I got on a bus without air conditioning. I'm annoyed because I'm not going because I'm waiting for customers. “Why don’t you go to this shit car!” The driver turned around and said, “You have to go when the shit is full!” I got on a shit car and turned into shit.
“… … .God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sins” (1 John 1:5, 7)
When I stand in the light, I become the light. There is no darkness in him. When I associate with the light, I become like the light. Receiving light is the way to become light.
We are the light when we are in the Lord. David said, “The Lord is my light” (Psalm 27:1).
David not only knows that God is light, but that God is his light.
“My light” is the light that relates to me. It is the light that brightens me, the light that makes me see. David said that the Lord is my light, that God is my hope and my lamp.
“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the goodness of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. They are God's people, who once had no mercy, but now they have found mercy (1 Peter 2:10).
The Lord who became the light has brought us from darkness into the light. I, who used to be darkness, came into the light and the darkness disappeared.
When I enter into the light, he becomes my light. Sunlight doesn't just shine on tall buildings. It chases and shines from low places to the ends of the earth. May you live joyfully in hope in the light. “Let the sunlight of the soul shine near to Jesus, and let the clouds of this world rise and do not cover it… … .”
Bring forth the fruit of light.
“The fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth” (verse 9). Goodness, the truth. It is the fruit to the person as it is the fruit to the tree.
“Do you know them by their fruit? Do you pick grapes from thorns or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, and a bad tree bears bad fruit. It cannot bear fruit. (Matthew 716-18)
In a high-end residential area in Tokyo, there is a restaurant called “Sawijilpan Iguchi”, which is a course meal for 20,000 yen (270,000 US dollars) for a dinner. However, it is said to be reserved for up to 6 months.
The reason is apple soup. It is a “miracle apple” produced by organic farming. Chef Kimura was an apple farmer at the age of 29. The 800 apple trees were infested with insects and the leaves fell ill. The crops were not good and they suffered from severe hardship. I climbed the mountain with a depressed mind and lay flat in the forest, but why is it forming a dense forest without pesticides? I thought the problem was the soil. He left the apple orchard to grow weeds like in the mountains.
Every effort was made to restore the soil to life. The apple harvested after 9 years has become a miracle apple that does not rot.
During the typhoon in 1991, 96% of apples fell, but more than 80% of Kimura's apples were still attached. The roots of other apple trees were 3-5 meters, but Kimura's apple trees were 20 meters tall. In pure sunlight and pure earth, a miracle apple opened. That is the fruit of the light.
Light bears the fruit of truth. Darkness bears all kinds of unrighteousness. When Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you… … .” he often said. Jesus, the light, always bore the fruit of truth.
All unworthy, greedy times of fire, vicious gossip, and slander are the fruits of those who do not want to keep God in their hearts (Romans 1:28-30).
“I tell you, walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the lust of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit is against the flesh, because they oppose one another, so that you cannot do what you want.” (Gal. 5:16-17)
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There is no law against such things (Galatians 5:22-23).
Name the person you want to be. God changed Abram's name to Abraham to make him the father of many nations. I am the light! My fruit is goodness, righteousness, truth!
Testify to the light
“Test what pleases the Lord” (verse 20).
To please the Lord who is light is to bear witness to the light. There is nothing more pleasing to the Lord than this. God sent a prophet to do that and the Holy Spirit to testify his name.
“There was a man sent from God, and his name was John, and he came to bear witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him” (John 1:6-7).
Witnesses are witnesses and those who testify and testify are witnesses. It is a unique word in Christianity. It is the history of Christianity that has continued through persecution and martyrdom while witnessing. Witnesses of the light, they shed blood while testifying to the blood of Jesus Christ.
“The woman was drunk from drinking the blood of the witnesses of Jesus and the blood of the saints. I got goosebumps looking at her. (Easy Bible Revelation 17:6)
The woman here is a woman who symbolizes Babylon or Rome, the persecutors of the church. It means that the apostle John drank the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses of Jesus and saw that he was drunk.
When a witness (證人), testimony (證言), or witness (證) is attached, it is connected with blood (血).
“They stoned Stephen, and Stephen cried out, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my soul… … .Lord, do not hold this sin against them. After saying this, he went to sleep. (Acts 7:59-60) Stephen bled as he testified.
Thousands of Christians were bled to death by the Roman Empire. I can't count how many there are. He shed blood to defend his faith. I shed blood while testifying to Jesus who was the light to others.
Who else was the Jesus that the saints preached? He, too, was crucified and shed His blood. The Apostle Paul said that there is nothing to boast about except the cross of Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:14).
Jesus is the light. It was the fire that brought the light. Jesus is the light that came down from heaven. It must be fire to those who transmit the light. A person without fire cannot transmit light.
In Buddhism, the Buddha is said to be burning, but you must have a burning passion to testify as a witness. In other words, fire testifies to light.
The Dutch painter Rembrandt painted a lot of icons, and when he painted John the Baptist, he painted the light coming out of his fingers. His finger points to Jesus, who is the light. John the Baptist was not the light, but he came to testify of the light. Jesus said that I must increase and I must decrease. It was his mission to testify of the light Jesus. He finished his mission and ended his own life.
“Have no part in the fruitless works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (verse 11). Only light can reprove darkness. Light is not affected by darkness. He who changes the world does not let the world change him.
“The rebuke of the prudent is a gold ring, and a necklace of pure gold in the ear of the one who hears” (Proverbs 2512). When darkness accepts the rebuke of the light, darkness disappears. When darkness goes away, there is only light.
We used to be dark. It was dark in the dark. Now out of the dark. Now it is light in the Lord. Let's live like children of light. We must bear the fruit of the light. I am responsible for showing who I am with my fruit. The fruit of the light is goodness, righteousness, and truth.
“In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16) The way we spread the light is our light. We need the fire of the Holy Spirit to spread that light. You must be empowered.
We are the light in Jesus. We must bear the fruit of the light! Rise in the light and shine. I am the light! Hallelujah!