Pull Out!
Today’s Verse:
Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. ~Ephesians 5:10-12
Over the last 30 years our stock market has experienced several financial crashes. During those crashes, investors frantically pulled out their money and sought safer investment havens. A pull out is withdrawal from one place to another. It has the idea of severing ties and disassociation. Sometimes parents who are concerned about the direction of the school that their children are attending will pull their children out for their safety. This morning we are looking at a passage of scripture that strongly directs us to make a pull out.
We see the societal CONTEXT.
In vs. 8 it says, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.” The Ephesian believers were still living in their old sinful lifestyle. They were practicing what was going on in their society and world. These works of darkness are described as a lifestyle that indulged itself in sexual immorality, unrestrained desires, polluted thinking and speech, and idolatrous inclinations. In other words, they were still living like they did before they got saved! Jesus said that men love darkness rather than light. When your eyes get accustomed to the darkness, you tend to be comfortable with darkness. The works of the strange woman in Proverbs were done in darkness. When Judas left to betray the Lord, he went out at night. Darkness is associated with sinful choices and tendencies.
We see the supreme COMMAND.
“Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.” The command is that we first examine or put to the test the works of light against the works of darkness. The works of light are described in vs. 9 as the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Darkness and light cannot coexist together. Second, we are commanded to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Simply said, we are to pull out! We are to cut off our associations with the works of darkness. The pull out commanded by our Lord is in alignment with the doctrine of separation where we are to come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord.
We see the scandalous CONTEMPT.
“For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.” We are to be in contempt of the works of darkness. The works of darkness are shameful and scandalous. We are to be so close to the light that we recognize that to even speak of the works of darkness should cause us to blush and feel embarrassment. The more we are in the light, the more we see what is wrong with the darkness.
We see the stern CONDEMNATION.
“But rather reprove them.” We are not only commanded to pull out of the works of darkness, but also we are to take a stand against what it represents. “Reprove” means to censure, to condemn, and to speak against. In order for the Ephesian society to be impacted by the gospel, it needed to see believers who not only pulled out, but also unashamedly took a stand for the Lord against going back to sinful living. The drift in society desires to give approval to drunkenness, drug addiction, immorality, swearing, idol worship, covetous practices, and other sinful tendencies. Society must see that the church and God’s people take a firm stand against all of this.
It’s time to pull out! Let the light of God’s Word and fellowship so illuminate our lives that we realize how defiling the works of darkness are. Pull out and be released of the entrapments of darkness.
Have a victorious God Morning!