The dark life, a life apart from God, the life that you used to have before you came to Jesus, is a focus of Paul in his fourth chapter to the Ephesians. He first references the Light Life and then contrasts it with the Dark Life. In today’s podcast, we will look at the ins and outs of both kinds of life. Years ago, John F. Kennedy used this story about darkness in so many of his speeches. It concerned Colonel Davenport, the speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives. In the days before Connecticut became a state, an incident occurred during an era known as “the dark day.” One day a thick darkness —probably the result of an abnormal atmospheric condition—blotted out the sunlight. The colonial legislature was in session then, and some of its members concluded that the day of judgment had come. The cry went forth, “It is the day of judgment! Let us go home and get ready!” However, an old church deacon in the legislature stood up and said, “Brethren, it may be the day of judgment—I do not know. The Lord may come. But when he does, I want Him to find me at my post, doing my duty up to the very last moment. Mr. Speaker, I move that candles are brought in, and we get on with the colony’s business.” The Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, gave us simple instructions to occupy till He comes. I, too, prefer to be found doing my duty and not to default every time some howler of calamity sounds the siren. Jesus would not ask me to “occupy” was it His knowledge that I must be smothered by the unleashing of a nuclear inferno. Dark days do not always mean judgment.¹ I like this illustration. I enjoyed that amid the dark day; they brought out candles to light the way. That’s a great lesson; the Light Life is superior to the dark. In today’s Light on Life, we will talk along these lines so that by the time we are done, we realize once and for all ‘Why the Dark Life Is Not the High Life in God.’ That’s our primary focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Why Is It Important to Walk in the Light You Have?

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God believes in church. He believes in you being part of a local assembly. We all need to be involved in the church’s ministry because it is a ministry of people. When a church lives, it lives because the people are vital and active. When a church dies, it withers and dies not because the brick and mortar and carpet and pews get old and begin to crack and rip and crumble. A church withers and dies because the people wither and die. I think a vivid illustration of this comes from a true story of a young minister in Oklahoma who went to this little, though long-standing, church in hopes of really reviving the ministry of it. He had stars in his eyes and great hopes for the future. He thought he could turn it around. And he gave it his best effort and his best shot week after week, to no avail. Finally, he had one last idea, and it seemed to work. On Saturday, he announced in the local newspaper that the church had died, and on Sunday afternoon, there would be a funeral service at the church itself, and all who wished could attend. For the first time in his years there, the place was packed. In fact, people were standing outside on tiptoes looking through the window to see this most unusual funeral service for a church. To their shock, because most of them got there twenty or thirty minutes early to get a seat, there was a casket down the front. And it was smothered with flowers. He told the people as soon as the eulogy was finished, they could pass by and view the remains of the dearly beloved that they were putting to rest that day. They could hardly wait until he finished the eulogy. He slowly opened the casket, pushed the flowers aside, and people walked by, filed by, to look in and leave sheepishly, feeling guilty as they walked out the door because inside the casket, he had placed a large mirror. As they walked by, they saw the church that had died.¹ Funerals for churches, that’s not the plan — that’s the target we are to shoot at. Why God Believes in Church and Why You Need to Be There, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Seven Witnesses to the Mission of Jesus

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