"The Land of the Liviing" (Part 2)

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:6-14 NIV).

The Land of the Living is just as it sounds on the surface. It is dwelling in a place of life! I suppose I have thought a little more about that than I have in the past. Perhaps it is a natural result of facing a physical challenge serious enough to call for surgery; or it may just be that it was time for me to begin to ponder this great truth of God’s grace. You’d think that having preached through Ephesians several times in different churches I would have already gotten this one. However, as is often the case, God surprises me over and over again as I yield myself to His message in the Scripture.

Let me remind you of some of the contrasts of this life in our reading. Paul says it is a life in the light instead of darkness; a life of fruitful deeds of righteousness; and a life that is fully awake and alert. There are lots of things we can say about these things, however, as I promised yesterday, I want to look at the “how” before we do anything else. The Apostle Paul says we should not be deceived with “empty words.” Certainly the opposite could be said. We ought to be listening to words that are full, brimming with faith, hope, and love. These are the real words of grace. That’s where I want us to begin our little journey. How do you recognize words of deception and thus avoid them?

In Jesus’ day, these words were spoken by the Pharisees. The entire twenty-third chapter of Matthew is Jesus’ description of their empty words. He ends the description by saying, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (Matthew 23:27-28 NIV). Steve Brown may have captured the application best when he said, I fear too often the church has become an organization of guilty people with a guilty preacher standing in the pulpit telling guilty people they should feel more guilty.

Let me be VERY clear. There is no reason for guilt as a child of God. If you have come under the blood of Jesus through faith, your sins are forgiven! Of course, you will find those times in your life when you have wandered off the path of righteousness, but his grace and forgiveness have already been provided. Our only need is to appropriate that grace and live life as people who are alive! We can get so entangled with each step we can easily forget what that looks like. The Pharisees knew the right words, the right works, and the right ways but they didn’t have life. Grace is not about doing as much as it is about being. When you get the being part of life right, you’ll get the doing much better.

I’m almost out of space for today’s devotional. Let me summarize with this: Words of shame and guilt are of the devil, deceptive and empty; words of forgiveness and grace. Far too many believers feel dirty, worthless and ashamed of themselves. As a result, they feel unclean and therefore unworthy to approach God and have the living and intimate relationship that He wants to have with them! Shame prevents us from intimacy with God because it makes us feel unworthy and distant from Him. That’s not what Christ gave His life for! Stay tuned tomorrow for more on this tragic deception from our enemy. Today, let go of your past and give it to the Lord.