Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 

Php 2:14  Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 

Php 2:15  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; 

Php 2:16  Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. 

The effectual working of our Father’s word is not only designed to work ‘in us,’ but it is designed to make an ‘outward impact’ to the men of this world, the angelic realm, to Satan, to the saints, but most importantly unto our Father. And ‘shining’ as lights entails more than just shining ‘like’ light would in the darkness, but this ensample is designed that we understand that we are to be “enlightened” by the “light of the glorious gospel of Christ.” and because our Lord is the “Word,” and the “Light,” we who are being “conformed to the Image of His Son” are taught to “put on the Armor of Light.” And with this being the case, we are to ‘be’ “lights,’ this example of godliness is given unto us so that we would desire to “live” as “blameless and harmless, the sons of God.”

Eph 1:17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 

2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 

2Co 6:18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 

Moreover, this ‘outward impact’ is accomplished by those who are the faithful in Christ, and who have become a “living sacrifice.” And as “sons of God,” we who are being conformed “to the Image of His Son,” are to be in His “likeness” in selflessness. And shining “as lights in the world” has a Godly design for ‘the world’ to see this power. But only they who are “blameless and harmless, the sons of God” would be “separate,” and be not “of this world,” or “conformed to this world.” The sons of God would desire to walk “in the Light,” and be the children “of Light,” and as sons “of God,” we are beseeched to be in His likeness, so our understanding also ought to be that we are to be in the ‘likeness’ of “the Light” as well.

Rom 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 

Rom 13:13  Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 

Rom 13:14  But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. 

The Children Of Light

Eph 5:6  Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. 

Eph 5:7  Be not ye therefore partakers with them. 

Eph 5:8  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 

Furthermore, faithful sons of God shining as “lights” in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation deals with more than a comparison between light and darkness, and that the ‘evil’ is darkness, and the ‘good’ is the light. But our Father is Light, His Son Is Light, and we as “sons of God” ought to BE “light” as well. This is what it means to be “children OF light,” this is what we are being taught by our Father, we are beseeched to “walk as” our Father has taught us, and He is referred to by James as “the Father of lights,” and our being the children of Light, we are to walk in His will, His Word, and His intended purpose for us was that we be in His Image, after His likeness.

Eph 5:9  (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 

Eph 5:10  Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 

Eph 5:11  And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 

Eph 5:12  For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. 

Eph 5:13  But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. 

Eph 5:14  Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 

Finally, ‘shining as lights in the world’ ought to have more meaning unto us than just an ‘outward appearance’ of being different from the evil of this world. But we ought to ‘be light,’ we are also the “children of the day,” our sanctified life should be a walk “of the day,” because WE ARE the children “of Light.” The “day” is the ‘Spiritual Life’ of our Father’s “day,” this is what a day will be in “ages to come,” there will be no “darkness” in ‘that time,’ or “day.” And we are to walk “as in the day,” and be as sons who are “of the day,” meaning being in the ‘likeness’ of the our Father who is “Light,” and walking as “the day is at hand.” And our ‘reproving’ the works of darkness is consistent with what sons of “Light” would do because the “light of the glorious gospel of Christ” exposes this darkness unto us. This only takes place when we read, and are ‘enlightened’ by “the light of the knowledge.” But those who continue to “walk” in “the night,” are looked upon by our Father as “sleep,” even though justified unto eternal life, but we who desire to be of the day, and be the children of Light, we are “awake” in Him, and He gets the glory as “the Father of glory” because we shine “as lights” in His sight.

1Th 5:4  But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 

1Th 5:5  Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 

1Th 5:6  Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 

1Th 5:7  For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 

1Th 5:8  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 

Rod Jones