Ephesians 5:11-17 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“11Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that is illuminated becomes a light itself. 14So it is said:
“’Wake up, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.’
“15Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
Fruitless Deeds of Darkness
What does it look like if we are to have no fellowship with
the fruitless deeds of darkness? Well, the word “fellowship” means “to share in
company with, i.e. co-participate in, be partaker of, identified with” (source
bible hub). And darkness, in this context, has to do with sin, wickedness. And
some of the fruitless deeds of darkness being referred to in Ephesians 5 are
sexual immorality, impurity, obscenity, greed, and crude joking, etc. We are
not to be partakers in such sins as these, but we are to expose them.
So, what does that look like to expose these fruitless deeds
of darkness? It is certainly to call them out for what they are and to warn all
those who profess faith in Jesus Christ not to participate in them, and to warn
of the consequences of participating in such sins as these as a matter of
habit. For to “expose” these deeds of darkness is to reprove, to refute, and to
correct what is wrong about them and to convict and to convince all those who
are caught up in them to cease from any and all participation in them.
The Disobedient
And who are the disobedient? They are all for whom sin is
their practice, their habit, and not obedience to God and to His commands. They
are all who have chosen their sins over God. And what kinds of sins do the
disobedient do in secret? They could be many and varied, but the first sin
mentioned in Ephesians 5 is sexual immorality, which is a sin for which it is
very common to have been done in secret, which is very easy to do with the hand-held
smart phone devices connected to the internet.
Many are those who are addicted to sexual immorality who
hide their sins in secret. Many of them are morally unclean, liars, deceivers,
adulterers, and the untrustworthy who lie and who cheat and who manipulate.
They are the selfish and the self-indulgent who do what they do regardless of
who gets hurt in the process. For they are mean, cruel, uncaring and malicious.
And they are increasing in numbers as so many have gone the path of “cheapened
grace” which gives them permission to keep on in their sin.
Pay Careful Attention
So, we are to pay careful attention to how we walk. For the
days are evil. And our walk is how we conduct our lives, the things that we
think and do and say by habit, in lifestyle. And we are to live not as unwise
but as wise. And we get our wisdom from God the Father and the Son and from the
Scriptures and from the Holy Spirit living within those of us who are of
genuine biblical faith in the Lord Jesus. For they teach us the things that we
must do and not do as followers of Christ. So we are not to be foolish.
For we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have
fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we
claim that we know God, but we do not obey His commandments, in practice, we
are liars. For it is not the one who claims He is “in Christ” who is “in
Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and
who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to His commands, in practice,
and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God
in heaven.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts
26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans
8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians
5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14;
Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24;
1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation
3:1-22]
The Fruitless Deeds of Darkness
An Original Work / September 15, 2026
Christ’s
Free Servant, Sue J Love
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
Hymn lyrics by William Williams,
pub.1745
tr. by Peter Williams, pub.1771
Music by John Hughes, 1907
Guide
me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim
through this barren land.
I
am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold
me with Thy powerful hand.
Bread
of Heaven, Bread of Heaven,
Feed
me till I want no more (2X).
Open
now the crystal fountain,
Whence
the healing stream doth flow;
Let
the fire and cloudy pillar
Lead
me all my journey through.
Strong
Deliverer, strong Deliverer,
Be
Thou still my Strength and Shield (2X).
Lord,
I trust Thy mighty power,
Wondrous
are Thy works of old;
Thou
deliver’st thine from thralldom,
Who
for naught themselves had sold.
Thou
didst conquer, Thou didst conquer
Sin
and Satan and the grave (2X).
When
I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid
my anxious fears subside;
Death
of deaths, and hell’s destruction,
Land
me safe on Canaan’s side.
Songs
of praises, songs of praises,
I
will ever give to Thee. Amen (2X).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7G59DKf-AI
