Ephesians 5:7-14

Key Points:
1. Expose secret sin to the Truth of Jesus Christ.
2. The Truth of Jesus Christ allows us to experience grace and live life as a child of God.

Key Themes:
o Don't participate in doing evil(7)
o Don't yoke yourself to people disobedient to God(7)
o You are called to be witness to those in the dark(8)
o Walking as a child of the light produces good fruit(8-9)
o Children of Light have lifestyles that bring pleasure to God(9-10)
o Children of God can discern what is pleasing to God and what is evil through the life of Jesus and the testimony of the Holy Spirit(10)
o Participating in sin and turning a blind eye to it produce guilt and shame(11-12)
o The Word of God helps God's Children know the Truth(13)
o Don't hide sin, expose it to the light(11-14)
o Wake up to the life God intends for you to live, life apart from God is death(14)

Reflective Discussion Questions:
1. Why and What does Paul instruct the Ephesians not to become partners with? (7-8)
a. What does Paul say will be the fruit of walking as a child of light?(9-10)

2. Why does Paul instruct the Ephesians not to participate in the fruitless works of darkness? (11)

a. What does Paul exhort the Ephesians to do instead of participating in the deeds of darkness?(11)

3. What does Paul mean when he says it is shameful to mention the sinful practices done in secret? (12)

a. How does Paul's command to expose the deeds of darkness relate to what Paul says in verse 12 and 13?

b. Is the command to expose the deeds of darkness something meant as a personal or communal imperative?

c. If this command is carried out in community what instructions has Paul given to govern how sin is exposed?(4:25-32, 5:1-2)

4. How does exposing sin to the light make things clear?

5. What does verse 14 mean?
a. How does the Messiah shine on you?
b. How does the Messiah bring someone dead to life? Or wake someone that is asleep?

Individual Challenge:
How would your life change if you were willing to expose the deepest darkest sins of your life to the Truth and find help to overcome it? Would you pray and ask God to give you the courage to seek help and to confess your shameful sin to a trusted and mature follower of Christ this week? How would letting the cat out of the bag free you from the burden of guilt and free you to begin walking in grace?

Community Challenge:
How would our community change if we were a people that could be trusted with the deepest darkest sins of others because we were up front and honest about ours? How would letting go of the facade that things are all good affect the relationships in our church? How do you think this openness allow the church to be more effective in doing ministry? How would this affect the world's view of Christians being hypocrites?