Title Ephesians 5:8-14
The church motto for 2000 of Saemoonan Church was "Let us be one in the Lord." And the motto of 2001 was "Take off the old man and put on the new man". In that continuum, the motto for 2002 was "Let's act like children of light". The work of becoming one and being renewed is not something that can be accomplished in one year each. We must constantly strive to be united and renewed. But on the one hand, while continuing to strive to become one and renew, on the other hand, we must now begin to shine toward the dark outside. Inside, we need to expand our missions and service while continuously seeking to substantiate worship, education, and communion.
Our church motto for this year, "Let's walk as children of light," is an expression of our will to respond to the first verse of today's text, "Walk as children of light." Why should we act like children of light? This is because, according to verse 8, we used to be darkness, but now we are light in the Lord. As we are now children of light and we are the light, as verse 11 says in the text, “do not partake in the fruitless works of darkness,” and we must bear the fruit of the light.
What, then, is the fruit of light? Verse 9 gives the answer: "The fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth".
Light is to dispel the darkness of ignorance. We must radiate the light of truth to poor souls who are dying because they do not know Jesus Christ, the good will of God revealed in him, and the truth of the kingdom of God.
The light casts out the darkness of sin and injustice. Sin and injustice hate light and love darkness. Evil and injustice are mainly done in covert places in the dark. In that dark place, we must shine a light on a society that is shadowed by the structural evils of corruption and absurdity. We must radiate the light of righteousness so that the sins of this world are revealed as sin and injustice as unrighteousness.
The light dispels the darkness of despair. A world entrusted to only people is a world without hope. In such a world, human sin, greed, and lies are so strong that it is difficult for good, righteous, and sincere people to bear it. Because in a world where evil breeds greater evil, injustice breeds more injustice, and unhappiness breeds more unhappiness, the good and the weak are bound to give up. The church should be a light of hope in this world.
The light casts out the darkness of hate. In a world full of individualism, selfishness, and distrust, there is only conflict, antagonism, hatred, and fighting. Christians should be able to radiate the light of love in such a society.
Even in dark and invisible nooks and crannies within our church, we shine the light of goodness, righteousness and truth, revealing and expelling all the shameful things that are being done in secret I hope this year will be a year of hard work for the alumni.