LGC - Rooted & Fruitful Part 19

Rooted & Fruitful (Part 19)

Speaker: Tay Leng Seng

INTRODUCTION

Core Text: Ephesians 5:8-15

“Live as children of light…,” Paul urged his fellow Christ-followers in Ephesus. “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” (1v4)

The church was called to be more than a gathering. It was called to shine.

Pray today for a fresh understanding of what this means for us.

Pray that our eyes will open.

Pray that we will awake.

DISCUSSION

What might it be like for you to live in a world without light? What will you miss?
Read Ephesians 5:8-15.

a. If we are “children of light,” having been “adopted to sonship” (1v5), what might this tell us about our Father?

b. Paul writes that “when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light” (5v13). What might this tell us about where our light comes from?

c. From the passage and the discussion surrounding parts (a) and (b), how do we bear “the fruit of the light”? How do we know when we have borne it?
Fruit-bearing takes time. It is a process of tending and pruning, with careful attention to ensure that specific environmental conditions are met.
a. Have you ever been impatient with God? If so, how did you manage your impatience?
What do you think Paul means by “exposing” the “unfruitful works of darkness” (5v11)?
a. Recall verse 13. What happens to the “works of darkness” once exposed?
b. How might we start “exposing” the secrets in and amongst us to the light?
“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead…” (5v14).
a. Are we asleep or dead? If the call is addressed to us, what do you think God is trying to awaken or revive us to?
b. What steps can we, as individuals and as a group, take to live differently without going back to sleep or dying again?

WHAT WILL YOU DO

“Be very careful, then, how you live…” (5v15)

“God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:5-7)

Take some time to reflect on how you are living today. How is your walk in the light?

Look around you. Are the people around you walking in the light? If they are not, how might you support them? Do you cry out to God on their behalf?

Consider your country and the world beyond and God’s people living in them. Given this week’s core text, how might you pray?

MEMORY VERSE

“But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light.” – Ephesians 5:13-14 (ESV)

LET US PRAY