Ephesians 5:11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Two commands are offered in this verse. First, Christians are to completely avoid participating in sin. The command here implies that sin is a waste of time and associated with darkness, which is opposed to the light of those living for Christ. The second command is a contrast to merely avoiding sin. This instruction says we are to expose what is sinful. This does not mean to speak in graphic detail about certain sinful actions. Ephesians 5:12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. However, we must expose what are fruitless deeds of darkness and encourage others to live in the light. Ephesians 5:13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.
This world lives in the dark and not only do we live in the dark, we get used to it. There is a slow, subtle, deliberate brainwashing process going on and by it we are gradually being desensitized to evil. For example, look at the popularity of Halloween. Americans spend over $9 billion dollars annually on Halloween, making it one of the country’s top commercial holidays. Halloween is part of the culture we live in but is it a fruitless deed of darkness?
The origin and meaning of Halloween are derived from ancient Celtic harvest festivals began over 1900 years ago in England, Ireland, and Northern France. It was a Celtic celebration of the New Year, called Samhain which occurred on November 1. The Celtic druids revered it as the biggest holiday of the year and emphasized that day as the time when the souls of the dead supposedly could mingle with the living. This certainly goes against what Scripture teaches.
Leviticus 19:31 says Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, 14and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse. According to this passage part of the reason King Saul died was because he called up the spirit of Samuel (1 Samuel 28:3-20).
Samhain remained popular until St. Patrick and other Christian missionaries arrived in the area. As the population began to convert to Christianity the holiday began to lose its popularity. However, instead of eradicating pagan practices such as this, religious leaders used these holidays with a Christian twist to bring paganism and Christianity together, hoping to make it easier for local populations to convert. This brings to mind Paul’s God inspired words from 2 Corinthians 6:14 “what fellowship can light have with darkness?”
Modern Halloween traditions have their roots in ancient druid beliefs. The Druids believed that during the night of November 1, demons, witches, and evil spirits freely roamed the earth with joy to greet the arrival of “their season”—the long nights and early dark of the winter months. The demons had their fun with poor mortals that night, frightening, harming, and even playing all kinds of mean tricks on them. The only way, it seemed, for scared humans to escape the persecution of the demons was to offer them things they liked, especially fancy foods and sweets. Or, in order to escape the fury of these horrible creatures, a human could disguise himself as one of them and join in their roaming. In this way, they would recognize the human as a demon or witch and the human would not be bothered that night. Today costumes take the place of disguises and candy has replaced fruits and other fancy foods as children go door-to-door trick-or-treating.
Over the course of history Halloween’s visible practices have morphed and merged with the culture of the day, but the fact is that Halloween is rooted in paganism and darkness. As a logical thinking person; consider for a moment what Halloween is all about. Does it consist of all goodness, righteousness, and truth (Ephesians 5:9)? Is Halloween based on the light or on darkness? Does the Bible condone things that Halloween promotes?
On the contrary, the Bible makes it clear that these practices are an abomination to the Lord. Leviticus 20:27 stated that mediums and spiritists (those who called up the spirits of the dead) were to be put to death. Deuteronomy 18:9-13 adds, “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. 13You must be blameless before the Lord your God.”
We must not imitate the detestable ways of this world that means having nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but exposing them. As stated earlier, many pagan practices were not exposed by so called Christian leaders for what they were, but rather were incorporated into church practice to draw others in. This practice of trying to co-exist with darkness doesn’t just apply to things like Halloween. It is a common problem of mankind throughout time. This world lives in the dark and not only do we live in the dark, we get used to it. There is a slow, subtle, deliberate brainwashing process going on and by it we are gradually being desensitized to evil. Little by little, sin is made to appear less sinful until the light within us becomes darkness—and how great is that darkness! Our culture bombards us with things that Scripture clearly defines as sinful and attempts to teach us that it is acceptable. We are engulfed in a tidal wave of the fruitless deeds of darkness. We get used to it, acclimated to it, until we just accept it as a matter of course.
Let’s take Lot for example. Abraham’s nephew chose to “pitch his tent” near Sodom, though it was known to be exceedingly wicked (Genesis 13:12-13). Lot lived in it, and may have even become a high ranking official there because Genesis 19:1 tells us that he sat in the gateway of the city, a spot usually reserved for important officials in the ancient world. Scripture tells us in 2 Peter 2:7-8 that Lot was distressed by the depraved conduct that he witnessed and that he was tormented in his soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard. Yet, he tolerated it and therefore encouraged it. He lost his influence with his own family and had to flee for his life (Genesis 19:14-22). The last we see of Lot he is a drunken widower committing incest with his daughters. Out of those incestuous relationships came the Moabites and the Ammonites, two of Israel’s greatest enemy’s (Genesis 19:30-38).
There are plenty of Lot’s in our society today. They tell us that we should associate with Sodom and get friendly with Gomorrah in the hopes that we might convert them. But the end does not justify the means. Such people do not turn the light on in Sodom—they merely get used to the dark. It is true that Jesus associated with sinners (Luke 15:1-2) and that the apostle Paul was willing to be all things to all people that he might save some (1 Corinthians 9:22).
Neither Jesus nor Paul (following his conversion) ever participated in the fruitless deeds of darkness, rather they exposed them. So how do we expose the fruitless deeds of darkness? We live as children of light (Ephesians 5:8). The two commands in Ephesians 5:11: have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness and to expose them require the Christian to avoid particular actions, encouraging purity and unity in the body of Christ. This is what Ephesians 4-5 are all about and this means that we must live as “children of light”. Ephesians 5:15-20 tells us how to live as “children of light”, it shows us how to resist the fruitless deeds of darkness and expose them.
Ephesians 5:15-16 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. We must be very careful how we live, this means we must be alert and of sober-mind (1 Peter 5:8), we cannot be naive, we cannot try and explain away the evil in our world, we cannot stick our head in the sand and not accept the reality of the situation this world is in. The days we live in are evil; therefore we must make the most of every opportunity to expose the fruitless deeds of darkness. We must be wise and make productive use of our time.
Ephesians 5:17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. We must be focusing on God’s will and not living like fools. Paul previously stated in Ephesians 5:10 that we need to find out what pleases the Lord. Based on the commands to walk with wisdom (Ephesians 5:15) and make the most of every opportunity (Ephesians 5:16), Paul, inspired by God, concludes that Christians should not be reckless or unwise in our lifestyle choices. Paul mentioned some of the fruits of foolish living in verses 3-4 (sexual immorality, any kind of impurity, greed, obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking). Those who are wise refrain from foolish living. In contrast, Paul urged readers to recognize God’s will.
Ephesians 1:9 says God has made known to us the mystery of his will. God’s revelation to mankind, in the person of Jesus Christ and the Scriptures contains the clear will of God. Those who immerse themselves in God’s Word: by reading it, studying it, meditating on it, and practicing it; those who follow God’s example and walk in the way of love just as Christ did (Ephesians 5:1-2), will become familiar with God’s will. Those who quit conforming to the pattern of this world (darkness) and renew their minds will be able to test and approve what God’s will is (Romans 12:2). Furthermore, prayer and the wise words of other mature believers can assist us. All of this will help us better determine specific applications of God’s will to areas of our life. When we turn from foolishness, we can focus more clearly on understanding what God wants us to do.
Ephesians 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit… We must be sober-minded (1 Peter 5:8) and not drunk on the things of this world. Paul contrasts getting drunk on wine, which produces a temporary “high”, to being filled with the Spirit, which produces ever-lasting joy. Getting drunk with wine is associated with worldly living and its selfish desires. In Christ, we have true joy. When we yield to God’s will we are being led by the spirit and then we will more easily recognize the fruitless deeds of darkness and we will be better equipped to expose them.
Ephesians 5:19-20speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here, Paul, inspired by God, lists three by-products of being filled with the Spirit: singing, making music, and giving thanks.We must be joining together with other believers in joyous, thankful, worship. Whatever we do must be permeated with an attitude of joy, gratitude, and encouragement of others. Instead of whining and complaining, which our culture has raised to an art form, we are to focus on the goodness of God and what He has done for us.
The world lives in the dark because it rejects Jesus Christ, the Light of the world. John 3:19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. The word here translated “verdict” is more literally translated “crisis” in the original language. The coming of Christ precipitated a crisis. It compels people to come to the light or abide in darkness. This light shines in Christ: He is the light of the world (John 8:12). It shines in the Scriptures: Your word is a lamp for my feet,a light on my path (Psalm 119:105). And it shines in God’s people, we are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14).
Our business as Christians is to have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them (Ephesians 5:11). We expose them not so much by denunciation, although that has its place, but by the contrast of our godly living, and this means we live with courage and integrity. We can’t be so afraid of being offensive that we are not effective! Today we dim our light by turning it low for fear of creating a disturbance; we shade it to match the darkness of this age. We would rather grieve the Holy Spirit than offend the wicked. We are a city set on a hill, not hidden in the dark. We are to shine as lights in this world and this is no time to get used to the dark; it is time for God’s people to turn on the Light! For far too long the fruitless deeds of darkness in this world have not been exposed, they have been appeased.
We are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness (1 Thessalonians 5:5). Early Christianity set the world on fire because absolute Light was pitched against absolute darkness. The early Christians believed that the gospel was the only hope of the world, that without it all men were lost and all religions false. The day came when the church and the world mixed light and darkness. The church got used to the dark and lived in it for several centuries, with only occasional flashes of light. Today too many Christians think there is some darkness in our light and some light in the world’s darkness. We half-doubt the gospel and half-believe the religion of this age. We creep around in the dark when we should be flooding the world with light.
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16). As children of God we need to quit dimming our light and take off the shades of compromise; letting our light shine in our hearts, our homes, our schools, our businesses, and our communities. This starts with living out what God tells us in Ephesians 5:11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
