Have you ever gotten up in the middle of the night and stumbled straight into a wall? That's what life without Christ looks like — not just in the dark, but as darkness itself.

In this message from our series "Fullness," Pastor Ron opens Ephesians 5:8–14 and unpacks the second of Paul's three walking commands: walk in the light.

The Contrast — You Were Darkness: Paul doesn't say you were in darkness. He says you were darkness. Before Christ, your very existence was characterized by it. The well-dressed, charitable unbeliever and the outright Satanist stand in the same spiritual condition before God — both are darkness.

The Characteristics — Goodness, Righteousness, Truth: Goodness is how I live before others — an attractiveness that spreads like Ben Franklin's street lamp. Righteousness is how I live before God — am I pleasing Him when no one else is watching? Truth is integrity — the rarest commodity in a world where trust in government, family, and friends is collapsing.

The Command — No Fellowship with Darkness: Walking in the light means I am in the world but not of it. I don't partner with darkness, but I expose it — sometimes directly, sometimes simply by refusing to participate. And while we expose, we are careful: it is shameful even to speak of those things done in secret. Don't go back into the garbage can to prove a point.

The Call — Awake: This verse may have been sung as an early church baptism hymn. But it is also a call to believers who have lulled themselves into spiritual sleep — living in the gray, thinking how much can I get away with and still be a Christian? Like Jonah asleep in the hull of a ship in a raging storm, God is calling: awake, arise, and Christ will give you light.