Sermon 2011 Lent 4 Text: Ephesians 5:8-14 Theme: Life in the Chocolate Factory Most of you are familiar with the movie "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." At the end of the movie Charlie, Willie Wonka, and Grandpa Joe are skyrocketing above the chocolate factory and Charlie is discovering that he has been named as the heir of the factory and that he and his whole family may move into this lavish chocolate palace. As Charlie, in awe of what he sees, looks down upon his new estate, Willy Wonka leans over and asks him if he knows what happened to the little boy who got everything he ever wanted. Charlie shakes his head no. Willy Wonka says, "He lived happily ever after." Many of us spend a good deal of our lives dreaming of "life in the chocolate factory." All of our dreams vary, but they all include the aspect of having someone or something that we do not currently have. Why else would people spend money playing the lottery? Why else would people spend time filling out the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes which rivals the most complicated of I.R.S. forms? Why else would people spend hours sweating in gyms and lying on tanning beds? We all hunger for that which we do not have but we think that if we had it, then we would live happily ever after. St. Paul, however, tells us in Ephesians that we have already Page1 inherited the chocolate factory and, in fact, we are already living in our
palace. St. Paul says that though we once were darkness, living outside the walls of the palace, we are now light in the Lord, living in the presence of the king of kings. Take note of the verb tense. You WERE darkness. You're not darkness anymore but you WERE darkness. We were all darkness at some point in our lives. Until that moment that the Holy Spirit entered our souls and created in us faith, we were complete and utter darkness. Not that we were in darkness, but we were ourselves darkness. It is not as though we were basically good people on a bad path. We were in and of ourselves darkness, evil, unsaved, heathen. But now we are light. I am pretty safe in the assumption that everyone here is light in the Lord. People who are darkness don't generally gather together to hear the Word of the Lord. It is not that we someday will be light. We are light right now. And it is not that we are in the light as though we are basically rotten people who have wandered into the light, but we are in and of ourselves light. When the Holy Spirit created faith in our hearts, he profoundly changed us, because he dwells in us and his light makes us light. Jesus descended willingly into the darkness of Hell to do the work that would pay for our release so that we could be light and that is what we are right now. Page2 *** 2 ***
The hard question is, "what now?" Think of Charlie when he discovered that he was the heir to the chocolate factory. While there was the elation of having everything he ever wanted, there must have also been a feeling of being overwhelmed. Suddenly his world was completely shifted to a new context. He was just a poor street kid expected now to manage a fortune. Likewise for us, when we became light, we were shifted out of our old context and brought into a whole new world, a world for which we might feel quite unprepared and in which we might feel quite uncomfortable. The darkness is a known quantity for us. There is less expected of us and certainly fewer rules because as darkness, everyone does as he pleases and cares only for himself. That is why we, as light, are so tempted to wander into the darkness. We are like a pauper who one morning awakens to find himself a member of the royal family. We understand the darkness and we know the darkness and all in all, we are more comfortable in the darkness. St. Paul, however, encourages us to explore the light because the light really is superior to darkness even if it makes us a little uncomfortable. "Live as children of light and find out what pleases the Lord," says St. Paul. But our sinful side gets very nervous about living as Page3 *** 3 ***
children of light. Deep within us, that sinful voice warns us that goodness, righteousness and truth cannot be much fun. That sinful nature is terrified of the light because it recognizes that the light is its demise. Darkness cannot exist where there is light. When Neal was just about to turn two, his Godmother, decided to introduce him to Brussels sprouts. Now this woman is a first grade teacher and she can be very convincing. For quite some time she sat at the table with Neal explaining to him how yummy Brussels sprouts are. Now if an adult had never eaten Brussels sprouts, and had heard this woman talk about them, he would surely have thought them better than candy by far, however, you cannot fool a two-year-old. Somewhere deep within his mind, Neal drew upon some secret knowledge that only small children have, and refused to let one of those slimy morsels past his lips. As people who were once darkness, we look upon the light with the same kind of suspicion as a child looks upon vegetables Our dark side fears that being light will mean that we are locked into a life that is boring, flat and stale. We can always dream up things that are more exciting than goodness, righteousness and truth. But that is our dark side and we know that darkness lies. Darkness is designed to hide the truth. Light on the other hand makes Page4 *** 4 ***
all things visible because light has nothing to hide. God says walk in the light and you will know goodness and righteousness and truth and once you have known life in the light, it becomes more and more difficult for darkness to lure us away. Money is more important than doing the right thing. Sexuality outside of a committed relationship doesn't really hurt anyone so long as it is consensual. Church and Bible Study are less important than sleep, family time and extra work. These are just a few of the more common lies with which darkness tries to lure us away from the light. But we are not just in the light, we are light. The light of Christ has not only shined on us but resides in us as his very body and blood course through our bodies. Because of that we are free to live as children of the light and to know the joys and blessing of real goodness, righteousness and truth. The Holy Spirit dwells in us. He makes all things visible so that the lies of darkness cannot lure us away unknowingly, but rather we may stay in the light, we may live in the chocolate factory and joyously explore our new world where we really do live happily ever after. Page5 *** 5 ***