Diamonds in the Rough

Diamonds in the Rough (Outline)
Ephesians 5:8-14

Good News: God sees the diamond hidden beneath the rough.

Diamonds in the rough are popular.
—Wall Street Journal article
Lately, a number of us have been feeling pretty rough.
—Flu is going around.
—Cabin Fever
—Gas prices, economic crunches.
Paul, speaking to some very rough people, the Ephesians encourages them to look deeper than the rough exterior to what Christ’s love is gradually doing to them from the inside out. He reassures their faith by reminding them that even though they are struggling to stay together as a congregation they already have the love of Christ among them.
Therefore, he reminds them that:
“once you were darkness (rough), but now you are light (dia.)
Diamonds are not precious because of the hardness of their chemical composition. They are precious because they have this rare ability to shine the beauty of the light back to others.
We may feel, behave, and even look pretty rough from time to time. But, from God’s perspective, we are diamonds—precious gems.
We are not diamonds because deep down we possess some rare quality to be truly good and righteous. NO!. We are remade, faceted, hand-cut by the forgiveness and mercy of Christ. We are diamonds because our hearts have said YES to let the light of Christ in.
So, how do we live, then as children of the light? How do we continue to shed this rough exterior?
To shine for all the world to see, all a diamond needs is to remain in the light.
We do this, Paul says, by seeking first what is pleasing to God.
It’s just a basic, Christian ethical question.
In all that we do, through all the decisions we make, all the
dilemmas we suffer, ask ourselves this one question:
Are my actions pleasing to God?
By doing this we are exposing ourselves to the light.
It’s not always easy to ask this question, or to live by the answer. But, its with this question that God’s love facets our roughness and darkness away to reveal that diamond of Christ’s love that God has placed inside from the moment we first believed, from the moment we were baptized.
By coming into the light we will begin to see what God already sees in us. —That we are precious diamonds.
Not just any rough stone—we are HIS diamonds!
And, we are called to shine the light of his son’s love.

We may indeed be diamonds in the rough, but God has an answer for that darkness, that roughness. It’s the grace and mercy found in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Paul said it best, “You once were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light.”
Live in the light.
Amen