Ever flip on the lights and see cockroaches run for the shadows? Kinda makes your skin crawl just thinking about it, doesn’t it? Yech! Just typing it makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit. Paul tells the folks back in Ephesus that this is a picture of what happens when the light of God’s truth reveals sin. “For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible” (v12-13). Think of sin as a ninja. Sin loves the dark. The searchlight of God and His truth allows no darkness for sin to hide.
Let’s back up just a bit for a little perspective of what’s going on here. Paul is writing a letter to his friends in the big port city of Ephesus. They are members of the church he planted there during his second missionary expedition (Acts 19). He set up shop in that city for three years (Acts 20:31), longer than he stayed anywhere else during his Gospel tours. One of the big reasons for this letter is what’s going down just 100 miles away in the towns of Colossae, Hierapolis and Laodicea. A team of spiritual hucksters have duped Jesus’ followers into falling for a counterfeit gospel. Jesus might be good but He’s not God, they said. The only real hope of salvation is self-salvation, they said. You save yourself through obeying a complicated list of religious rules and regulations, they said.
The apostle has just fired off a letter to the Colossian church to set them straight. Those religious rules are a complete waste of time (Col 2:16-23). Jesus is indeed God. As a matter of fact, He’s more God than we can ever wrap our puny brains around (Col 1:15-20). He’s the ONLY one who saves. If we have any role at all, it’s to “seek the things that are above” and “set our minds on things that are above” (Col 3:1-2). In other words, stay focused on who Jesus and what He’s done. After licking the envelope on the letter to the Colossians, Paul writes a second one to the Ephesian church. Think of the first as a treatment for a heretical disease and this one as an inoculation against it. The Gospel vaccine is to keep on keeping on in Christ. We didn’t do a stinkin’ thing to save ourselves! God did it all by Himself (Eph 2:-8-9)! Let God’s “Tsunami of Blessing” overwhelm you (Eph 1:3-14). Keep walking “in a manner worthy of the calling” of Jesus (Eph 4:1). Keep working on your God imitation (Eph 5:1). “Walk as children of light” (Eph 5:8). Walking in the light of Christ will expose any spiritual snake oil salesmen and the false gospel their peddling.
In the previous verse, Paul told us that a big part of living in community with other Christ followers is to gently show each other our blind spots (Eph 5:11). Here he goes on to warn us about killing and disposing of what we find in those blind spots. First of all, we don’t need to spend a lot of time discussing and analyzing the crap that’s destroying people. It’s “shameful” (Gr. aischros). Ugly. Deformed. Disgraceful. Dishonorable. Dishonest. Filthy. Those are just some of the nasty terms used to define this word. Kinda makes you wanna take a shower, huh?
And there’s no intent to let anyone know about out nasty practices. They’re being done in “secret” (v12). This is the Greek word kruphe, which means privately, while hidden and concealed and completely unknown by the public. It’s the only time we see it used in the NT. It’s covert. It’s in the closet. It’s behind closed doors. It’s behind locked doors. But here’s the deal. If I think my secret sin will remain secret, I’ve got another thing coming. The Big Mo warned the Israelites, “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Num 32:23). Remember the lie you told yourself when you were a kid (and maybe now that you’re an adult!): “What I can’t see won’t hurt me.” Well, there’s another big lie we tell ourselves: “What they can’t see won’t hurt me.” Sin does hurt. Sin causes pain. God flips on His light to expose our secret sins done in the dark for our own good and His own glory.
Paul goes on to say something that seems rather obvious. “But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible” (v13). At first glance, my response is, “Well DUH!” But let’s take a closer look. He says that when God shines His divine light, we see things that we didn’t see before. This is the verb phanero'o. It means to make known, reveal, show, make evident or plain. God is doing more than just kicking on the lights quickly and turning them back off. He’s bringing truth to light and in some detail. Take a closer look at that nasty stuff. Take a long look. I don’t like what I see. I don’t like it at all.
The writers of the Bible use this verb throughout the NT. God has pulled back the curtain on who He is and what He’s done even to those who reject His salvation. “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown (Gr. phanero'o) it to them” (Rom 1:28). Jesus promised that He would lovingly show Himself to anyone who willingly submits to His leadership (Jn 14:21). John tells his readers about the day that the resurrected Jesus showed up out of nowhere and “revealed (Gr. phanero'o) Himself” while they were out fishing (Jn 21:1). God reads me like an open book. “What we are is fully known (Gr. phanero'o) to God” (2Cor 5:11). And He knows and reveals hidden sin (Rom 7:13).
God is in the revealing business. When the Light of the Word powers up, things get revealed. He reveals Himself. He reveals His plan. He reveals who I really am. He reveals my sin. God is the Revealer. When He flips on the lights, the cockroaches of our sin scurry for the shadows.
So do you agree? Disagree? Would love to hear what you have to say. Drop a comment below to get things started.
No comments:
Post a Comment