Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
Ephesians 5:11
Sometimes it’s easy to figure out what things you need to stay away from. For example, there was a piece in the news about some guys that caught a nearly 18-foot python[1] in south Florida. Weighing in at 215 pounds, and carrying 122 eggs, she was the largest python ever caught outside their natural habitat.
There is no way I’d ever go out python hunting in a swamp, or anywhere else for that matter. Let’s be clear, I never-ever-never would be caught dead riding around a swamp. Say nothing about getting out and walking through the marsh. My feet were made for asphalt and concrete. Period. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
It’s with this same kind of passion and energy that we are to have nothing to do with deeds of darkness. We’re not supposed to invite them in for a beverage or to be friends with them. We are to stay away from them. We are not to be in partnership with them.
There’s to be no agreement with them because there’s nothing we agree on. They are to be so foreign and distasteful to us that we’re not to have anything to do with them. And the last time I looked up anything in the dictionary, anything means anything. Not a single thing.
I know that this doesn’t sound very modern. Not very intellectual. Not very sophisticated. We’re smart enough to be able to dialogue with deeds of darkness without letting them infect us. Yea, right.
Well friends, you’re not. And neither am I. There are certain things that any exposure to is not just be harmful, but deadly. Ask the people of Flint, Michigan[2] if a little bit of lead in their water was ok. Ask the people of Hinkley, California if a little bit of hexavalent chromium[3] in their water was ok.
When you have nothing to do with something, you don’t just ignore it. You’re not passive about it. You’re not content that it’s somewhere else, that it’s in someone else’s life. It’s got to more than just stay out of your neighborhood, away from you and your family. And just exposing it isn’t enough.
Exposing deeds of darkness is never the end of the story. A surgeon doesn’t expose a tumor just to look at it. You don’t expose film to light just to put it into a drawer. You don’t expose corruption just to talk about it.
Exposure always, always, always leads to something else. Exposing a tumor always leads to removing it. Exposing film always leads to developing and printing. Exposing corruption always leads to arrest and a trial. True exposing always leads to another step. It’s never the end of the line.
And just in case you think that the people involved with the deeds of darkness are going to cooperate or just roll over peacefully, think again.
Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
John 3:20
We all have a role to play in exposing deeds of darkness. We can’t just run for the hills to escape the deeds of darkness or the people responsible. All of us, and I mean every one of us, are an important part of exposing deeds of darkness.
The famous quote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” may be truer today than at any time in the past. With modern digital communications, darkness can reach out to anyone, anywhere. It can come from any computer or cell phone in the world, and reach anyone, regardless of age. Regardless of political affiliation. Regardless of race.
So, what’s your role in exposing deeds of darkness?
You have a view – you see it and can’t sit by any longer.
You have a voice – you cannot remail silent any longer.
You have a vote – you cannot sit by and do nothing any longer.
Jesus did the same thing when it came to our sin, our deeds of darkness. He didn’t sit on the sidelines of heaven, wringing his hands. No, he took action, he came to Earth to die for our sin. It cost him something more than just a few hours of his time. It cost him his life.
And he was willing to give himself up for you and me. It cost him everything. That will motivate us to give him our all.
Noodling Questions
Why is it easy to dance around the edge of darkness than to expose it?
Where can you expose deeds of darkness in your life?
How has Jesus replaced deeds of darkness in your life?
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