Remember, Paul has just described mature believers in verses 13 - 16: united with others in Christ's body in faith and knowledge of Christ; not easily deceived by popular doctrinal movements; continuing to grow up into Christ; doing his/her part in the building up of that body; functioning out of love. Now he turns to the difference in that mature walk and the futile life of the Gentile (the non-believer). He lists several things characteristic of futile living. It is useful to list them for yourself in your notebook. Notice ...
- futile in their minds - in their thinking
- darkened in their understanding of God
- excluded from the life of God
- hard hearts toward the things of God
- given over to sensuality in personal life
- practicing impurity
- greedy
Whew! The path of the non-believer. I am interested in the phrase, "darkened in their understanding" (verse 18). There is a lot of word-play in scripture between light and dark. Jesus described Himself as the "light of the world." (John 8:12)
Listen to the "Life Application Commentary on Ephesians": Have you ever tried to share your faith in Christ with unbelieving friends, even very intelligent ones, and they have looked at you as though you were from Mars? Your friends aren't stupid; they have darkened, unregenerate minds. Of course, you should continue to give them a reasoned defense of your faith if they're interested , but the struggle is not really a matter of explanation. It's more a need for 'illumination' - for God to 'turn the lights on'. Continue to be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you [1 Peter 3:15], but even more urgently, pray that God will lift the darkness.
A mind that stays in darkness has a devastating affect on the person. You see, a darkened mind gives way to a darkened heart. Solomon tells us: "For as he thinks within himself, so he is" (Proverbs 23:7 NAS) Then, you take a darkened mind and add a darkened heart and you have darkened behaviors. And the spiral continues to drill down into the soul of a person and into the soul of a culture.
So, as a believer, what is our task? First ... we must WALK in the LIGHT! We are going to be examining more and more of exactly what that means as we move on in Ephesians. And secondly, PRAY for the light of Christ to shine, PRAY for illumination from heaven to come. Third, with love, shine the light of Christ on those around you through your speech and your behaviors, not with any sense of moral superiority, but with grace, the grace of God.
Let's close our study time today with the words of the song ...
Light of the world, You stepped down into darkness ... Opened my eyes, let me see Beauty that made this heart adore You ... Hope of a life spent with You
So here I am to worship ... Here I am to bow down ... Here I am to say that You're my God You're altogether lovely, altogether worthy, altogether wonderful to me
Light of the world, You stepped down into darkness ... Opened my eyes ... let me see.
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