Chapter 41

Wake Up Now And Get Dressed!

Romans 13:11-14

 

Are you an early bird or a night owl?  Everyone wakes up differently.  Some with little difficulty.  Some with great struggle.  Some are loud.  Some are quiet.  Some are cheerful.  Some are sour. 

 

I am definitely a morning person.  A mom will tell you that even when I was a little guy, I woke up with a smile on my face.  To a great extent, I am still like that.  Isn't Carla blessed?  The best hours of the day for me are the early hours. 

 

My sister, on the other hand, was always a sour-puss in the morning hours.  She would not speak for 30 minutes after she finally struggled out of bed.  I always thought that it was because of all those round brushes and curler things that she slept with in her hair.  At the breakfast table, I would say something perfectly innocent like, "Pass the salt please, darling Belinda" to which she would respond something like, "Shut up, ya' jerk!"

 

My middle daughter, Larah, always wakes up hungry.  When she was 1 year old, she would come into our bedroom at 5:30 in the morning, rubbing her eyes and say, "Eat cereal please, right now."

 

Although we all wake up differently, we all go through the same basic process.  First, the alarm sounds making us aware of reality.  We check the time (hit the snooze or decide we must get up).  We clean up (shower, shave, morning zoo breath) and eventually we get dressed.  You might have some added features to your morning like biscuits and gravy or the newspaper, but we all have those four basic parts of starting the day - Wake up, check the time, clean up and get dressed.

 

In Romans 13:11-14, Paul uses this common human experience to make an important spiritual point.  Paul has been writing about practical aspects of Christian living - how we relate to Christians at church, how we related to the general public, how we relate to those who are hostile towards us, how we relate to government.  He has written about not being conformed the world but being transformed by the Word of God.  And this text sort of sums it all up, that we are to become more and more like Jesus Christ.  Notice the sequence:

            * Wake up and check the time, vv. 11-12a.

            * Clean up, vv. 12b, 14b.

            * Dress up, vv 12c, 14a.

 

Today, I want to be the alarm clock.  I want to wake you up!  I want to jolt you out of your dream world and into an awareness of reality.  I want to make you aware of what it is.  I want to motivate you that there are some things that your life needs to be cleansed of and I want to inform you about what you should put on to be prepared for the future.

 

 

Wake Up! (vv. 11-12a).

 

Sometimes people apologize to me, when they shake hands at the door, for their drowsiness during church.  They assume that I noticed that they were dozing during my preaching (which is usually not true - when I preach I'm in a zone - I'm usually oblivious to anything else that is happening in the room.  But not always - just in case you were hoping to get away with something today).

 

I heard about a man who fell asleep during the sermon.  The guy sitting immediately behind him, notice.  He leaned forward, nudged the sleepers shoulder and said, "The pastor just called on you pray."  The man jumped to his feet and right in the middle of the pastor's sermon bellowed out, "Our heavenly Father ..."

 

But when I say to you "Wake up!" I am not referring to sleeping in church, but to sleeping in life!  Friend, you need to wake up and look at the clock.  What time is it?

 

In Your Lifetime?  If we could reduce your 70 years to one day of waking hours (7:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.) what time would it be?

           

1.  Age 15 - 10:35 am             7.  Age 45 - 5:16 pm

            2.  Age 20 - 11:34 am              8.  Age 50 - 6:25 pm

            3.  Age 25 - 12:42 pm              9.  Age 55 - 7:34 pm

            4.  Age 30 -  1:51 pm            10.  Age 60 - 8:42 pm

            5.  Age 35 -  3:00 pm            11.  Age 65 - 9:51 pm

            6.  Age 40 -  4:08 pm            12.  Age 70 - 11:00 pm

 

It's later than you think!  You need to wake up!  Life is uncertainty.  You have no guarantee that you will live to 11:00 (age 70).  Proverbs 27:1  Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.  James 4:13-14  Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

 

In God's Timetable?  Which seems to be what Paul has in mind as he writes Romans.  "Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed" (v. 11).  "The night is far spent, the day is at hand" (v. 12). 

 

Paul is referring here to the future aspect of our salvation.  Ultimately, you see, we will be saved when this mortal physical body becomes spiritual and immortal.  This will happen at the return of Christ in the clouds and the rapture of the redeemed.  According to Romans 8:23, we are waiting for "the redemption of our body."

 

And when we consider the signs of the times.

            1.  False teachers, Matthew 24:4-5, 24...

            2.  Wars and rumors of wars, Matthew 24:6-7...

            3.  Famines, pestilences, earthquakes, Matthew 24:7...

            4.  The rapid increase of knowledge, Daniel 24:4. 

            5.  The perilous times (crime, homosexuality), II Timothy 3:1-2...

6.      Disobedient children, parents without natural affection,

pleasure-lovers, II Timothy 3:2-3...

            7.  The reuniting of a confederation of Europe, Daniel 2, 7...

            8.  The globalization of government, economy, religion...

            9.  The world's focus turning toward the Middle-east...

 

Wake up, Christian!  It's later than you think!  "The night is far spent!  The day is at hand!  Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed!"

 

Clean Up! (v.12b, v.13, v. 14b-c).

 

Paul writes that there are some things that we need to be cleansed of.  There are some things that Christians need to cast off!  These are things that belong to the unbeliever's life but are not part of the Christian's walk.  Paul speaks of these things in both general and specific terms.

 

Specifically, Paul writes a list of six things that are works of the flesh that Christians should cast off.  This list comes in the form of 3 groups of two things.

 

Group 1 - "rioting and drunkenness" - the word for "rioting" means "revelling and carousing".  It's just the idea of the wild party atmosphere, bar-hopping, honky-tonking and, associated with that, of course, is "drunkenness".  Both of these words describe the abandoning of self-control, letting one's self go and being brought under the influence of other things.  That kind of lifestyle is not for the Christian.  Don't do it!  It's wrong, it's sin.  You may hide it from your parents, you may hide it from the church, but you cannot hide it from the Lord. 

 

Group 2 - "chambering and wantonness" - these are immoral sexual sins.  Any and all sexual activity outside of the commitment of marriage is sin, Hebrews 13:4.  "Wantonness" is the mental side of it.  It is a vulgar, filthy mind that thinks and speaks of sensuality.  "Chambering" is actually doing it.  Both are equally wrong.  It is sin.  Stay away from it!

 

Group 3 - "strife and envy" - Isn't it interesting that is a list with wild parties and drunkenness and sexual immorality is quarreling and jealousies and disunity – sins against God's people?

 

These are all works of the flesh that need to be cast off.  We need lives that are clean and holy before the Lord.  We need to be becoming more and more like Christ. 

 

In general, Paul says that we should "make no provsion for the flesh."  The flesh is that part of us that still longs for sin.  Just don't even give your flesh the opportunity to be tempted.  Don't think about how you can gratify the desires of your sinful nature.  You see, there are certain people, certain places, certain activities, certain situations, that tempt us and promote sin in our lives.  Identify them and void them! 

 

Deal with the sin in your life!  Confess it and be cleansed.  I must hasten to add that cleaning up one's life is not just a matter of reformation.  Reforming your life, turning over a new leaf, will not save you.  There is only one thing that will wash away sin.  What can wash away my sin?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.  John writes in I John 1:7b - "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."  Only the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross can atone for your sins.  When I tell you to clean up your life, I'm telling you to repent of your sins and apply the shed blood of Christ to your life, by faith.  If you have already done that, but are still struggling with sin then you need to hear the words of John, recorded in I John 1:9 - "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  We need that once and for all bath of salvation followed by those frequent foot washing experiences of confession so that our lives will be clean.  Wake up!  Clean up!

 

 

Dress Up! (v. 12b, v. 14)

 

In verse 12, Paul instructs us to "put on the armor of light."  The Christian life is not a playground.  It is a battlefield.  And every day when you get dressed you need to put on armor.  This is a favorite analogy of Paul.  II Corinthians 6:7 speaks of "the armour of righteousness."  I Thessalonians 5:8  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.  And, of course, there is that long list of Christian armor found in Ephesians 6:10-17.

 

When I was a very young kid-preacher, I preached about the armor of the Lord from Ephesians 6.  I made two columns on my note page.  In the left-hand column I wrote the individual pieces of armor.  In the right hand column I wrote a Scripture reference indicating that Christ was that article of armor.

 

Girdle of Truth - John 14:6 - I am the truth

Breastplate of  Righteousness - I Corinthians 1:30 - Christ Jesus who is ... righteousness

Shoes of the Gospel  of Peace  - Ephesians 2:14 - He is our peace

Shield of faith    - Hebrews 13:2 - Christ is the author of our faith

Helmet of salvation - Psalm 62:2 - He is my salvation

Sword= Word of God - John 1:1, 14.

 

In verse 12, Paul says to put on the armor of light.  In verse 14, he says to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.  You see, they are the same thing.  Christ is our armor. Ephesians 6 emphasizes that we need the "whole armor" of God.  Christ must be Lord of every part of your life.  How do we put on the whole armor of God?  Ephesians 6:18 answers that question like this, "Praying always ."  The hymn writer understood this when he wrote, "Put on the gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer" (From: Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus).  Each day with prayer you should arm yourself with truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation and the Word of God.  Each day, just as you get dressed physically by putting on clothes, you should get dressed spiritually, dressing for battle by putting on Jesus Christ, by yielding to His Lordship in every part of your life.

 

Wake up!  It's later than you think!

Clean up!  Deal with the sin in your life!  Find cleansing in the blood of Christ!

Dress up!  Arm yourself for battle with Christ as Lord.

 

By doing these three things you will become more and more like Jesus Christ!