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Royal Yoga begins by improving the social life you lead. Your interaction with other people reflects a lot about you. Inner forces are made visible, and it is these inner forces that dictate what happens to your social self, the self you show the world. The apostle John repeatedly used the “light” metaphor in relation to the Messiah. For example, he writes that Jesus is “the true light that gives light to every man” (John 1:9). In 1 John 1:7 he says, “If we walk in the light as He [God] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” In verse 5, John says that God’s very nature is light. Jesus, then, is the conduit or provider of light to the world. In Scripture the figurative use of light has two aspects, the intellectual and the moral. Intellectually it represents truth, whereas morally it represents holiness. To live in light therefore means to live in truth and in holiness. The figure of darkness has the same two aspects. Intellectually it represents ignorance and falsehood, whereas morally it connotes evil. 1 Some diseases, chemicals, and nuclear by–products are so extremely deadly that even the most highly trained and best–protected technicians and scientists who work with them are in constant danger. No sensible person would work around such things carelessly or haphazardly.
If you adopt these practices, you won’t be leading a saintly life. You will have succeeded in right living, however, which, at this stage is a huge step in your evolution. Take time to look over the practices of peace listed above, and honestly ask yourself how well you are practicing them. Social intelligence is a skill, and, like all skills, it can be learned. Learning doesn’t come all at once but in pieces, so take a single strategy from the list, and set your own learning curve. Anger is a good one to begin with, because, along with fear, it is one of the two basic negative emotions.
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
Money, sex, and power. The world tends to worship them. Christians are often suspicious of them. And yet God made us to enjoy them. Now, as you know, we are studying the walk of the new man. The book of Ephesians presents to us the pattern for Christian living. The first three chapters - who the Christian is; the last three, how he lives, how he acts, how he functions. And Paul here, in chapters 4, 5 and 6, gives us a clear, concise, and careful outline of how we are to behave as new creatures. How Christians are to live in the world. And if we were to sum the thing up, we could probably sum it up in two great statements that are made. Chapter 4, verse 1, is the first one, where he says: “Walk worthy.” In other words, that we told you the word worthy means to balance it off; let your living balance off with your identity. If you’re a new creature in Christ, then walk that way. Agathos - you know what it means? It means overall, moral excellence, and one lexicon says especially active in behalf of others. It isn’t just free from defects, it isn’t just useful for certain things, it’s just good, and it touches everybody in that same way, with a very positive, moral, excellent effect. And that’s the word he uses here. This is what Paul meant in 1 Thessalonians5:15, when he said, “Just do good to everybody.” And I think this is the first element of the fruit of light, and that is that it touches other people with goodness. Look at yourself. If you’re a child of light you’re going to walk in light, and you’re going to walk as a child of light, then the first thing should be goodness in terms of others.Morally, you have behavior. Sometimes light and darkness speak of holiness and unholiness. For example, in Isaiah chapter 5, to give you one illustration, verse 20, it’s a very graphic one: “Woe unto them who call evil good and good evil.” Boy, is that a sermon for today.“Woe unto them who call good evil and evil good, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put the bitter for the sweet and the sweet for the bitter.” And the point is he compares good and evil with light and darkness, and he’s talking about behavior. So sometimes the concept of darkness has to do with behavior. In Romans, chapter 13, we see a New Testament illustration of this. He says: “The night is far spent, the day is at hand, let us therefore”– watch this line –“cast off the works of darkness.” In Isaiah 5:20, these words refer to both the intellectual and the moral. It says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Christians must put their light on a stand (Matt 5:15). When placing a lamp in a house, people put it in the most advantageous position. We must do the same with our lives. We must consider this when deciding where we will work, live, and go to church. How can we most effectively spread our light?
Inner peace is a wonderful state, but let’s be clear: Our journey hasn’t gotten there yet. The first limb of Yoga is about social tactics—using your intelligence to bring more light and lightness into the story you are now living. Do not get drunk with wine, which will only ruin you; instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 ( C)Speak to one another with the words of psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing hymns and psalms to the Lord with praise in your hearts. 20 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, always give thanks for everything to God the Father. Wives and Husbands In John, chapter 12, verse 35, our Lord had just presented Himself as the light, and He said, “You’d better respond to the light while you have the light, because a little while you won’t have the light and darkness will come upon you and you won’t know where to go. While you have the light,” He says in verse 36 of John12, “Believe in the light that you may be the sons of light.” He gave them a message. But they didn’t believe. It says in the next verse “they believed not.” And then He said, “Well, then this is what Isaiah says; ‘He’s blinded their eyes, hardened their heart, they should not see with their eyes or understand with their heart, be converted and I should heal them.’” In other words, where you say to yourself, “I will not believe,” God then says judicially, “You cannot believe.”You come under divine judgment. We have been translated, Colossians1 says, out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son, which is a kingdom of light, because He said, “I am the light of the world; whosoever followeth Me shall not walk in”– what –“darkness.” I don’t think there’s any middle ground. I think when you were saved you were taken out of darkness into light. You say, “Well, what about when we sin?” Well, when you sin, you do the deeds of darkness, but you do them in the light. And they are manifest. Right? They are manifest. And we’ll see more about that as we go. We are to walk, Ephesians5:8, we are to walk as children of light. Listen, people: if we are the children of light, if we are the sons of light, if we are the sons of the day, if God is our Father, and He is light, and then we are the light of the world, we are to live that way. We need to be ethical light when we are in the office, in the classroom, in the shop, and in the Church. We must be willing to risk being called “negative,” “narrow,” “judgmental,” “puritanical,” or “bigoted.” If God’s Spirit is calling us to stand up against wrong, it is up to us to be faithful. 9Many times it will simply be the fact that believers do not curse, cheat, get drunk, have sex outside marriage, or lie that exposes the sin in others’ lives. A life of light exposes the sin of those around it. The rebuke of the light typically invokes either desire to change or anger. First Peter 4:3-4 says: the rebel is no more free than the one oppressed and obeying an authoritarian since it reacts to authority by doing the reverse no matter what her true desire is Application Questions: In what ways are you tempted to hide your light? In what ways do you believe God is calling you to place your light in the most effective location? To Live in the Light, Believers Must Produce the Fruit of Light Wives, yield to your husbands, as you do to the Lord, 23 because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. And he is the Savior of the body, which is the church. 24 As the church yields to Christ, so you wives should yield to your husbands in everything.
To “walk in the light” is a common metaphor within Christian culture. It is often taken to mean “acting correctly” or even “living openly.” Biblically, however, the phrase has the idea of relinquishing sin by following Jesus.Romans 1:21-23 describes the world as intellectually darkened in reference to knowing God the Creator. It says, Philippians 2:13 says he works in us “to will and to do according to his good pleasure.” This means that God is always working in our hearts to help us discern and do his will. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” When I am walking with God—abiding in his Word, prayer, and the fellowship of the saints—many times the desires in my heart are of the Lord. In discerning what is pleasing to God, we must discern what God is doing in our hearts. Money, sex and power are the three towering gods of our age, and the greatest temptations for those both inside and outside the church. In this short, pithy and powerful book, John Piper brings biblical wisdom, practical insight and a pastor's passion to the subject, and shows how living in the light will eclipse all the idols this world has to offer—and put money, sex and power in their rightful, God-glorifying place. Since you are God's dear children, you must try to be like him. 2 ( A)Your life must be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and gave his life for us as a sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice that pleases God.
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