Romans 13
11 And
do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to
wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first
believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of
darkness and
put on the armor of light.13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing
and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension
and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe your selves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to
gratify the desires of the flesh.
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Every morning
when I get up, I look at the iPhone and wonder: “What time is it?” and I know the drill, the routine: 7 a .m.
One of the features of modern life
is that we are slaves of time. We wear watches, set alarms on our phones,
schedule meeting through Microsoft Outlook calendars. We keep careful track of
the passing time. It tells us when we need to do something and how to
prioritize our activities. But it is far more important to know God’s timing, the kairos moment, the moment of opportunity
or moment of decision presented to us today.
Let’s see what we
have covered so far in Romans. The apostle Paul shows us how the gospel changes
our relationships for the last two chapters: You should owe no one anything but
the debt of love. Chapter 12:9, Let love be genuine. Love one another with
brotherly affection. Verse 14, Bless those who persecute you. Repay no one evil
for evil. Verse 20, If your enemy is hungry, feed him. Chapter 13 Give to the
government what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect,
then respect; if honor, then honor. Owe no one anything, except to love each
other.” And now today in verse 11, he says, And this—do all this, love like this—because you know the time.
Because you
understand the present time in which you are living in.
Friends, do you
know what time is it?
The Bible
divides human history into ‘this age’ (represented by darkness, violence, sin,
pain and death) and ‘the age to come’ (represented by light, righteousness,
peace, love and life). But there’s more that: The age to come or the kingdom
of God
Even as
we celebrated Christmas last December, our joy is not complete because we
remember that our world is still broken by terrorism, natural disasters and
poverty. We are looking forward with hope for the return of our King Jesus,
when the old age will finally disappear, and the new age of God’s reign will be
fully realized. That’s why there is always a tension living in this interim
period between night and breaking dawn, in the already and not yet kingdom
of God
The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. That’s the time in which we live.
And Paul
says: It is now time to get up, sleepy heads.
Why? Because Verse 11: our salvation is nearer now than
when we first believed. Wait a minute. I thought we are already saved when we
first believed the gospel. Why did he say our salvation is nearer now than
before? That seems to imply that we are not yet saved.
Actually,
‘salvation’ is a broad, comprehensive word that covers God’s act of rescuing us
in the past, present and future. Salvation means that we have been rescued from
the guilt of sin (justification) and we are being rescued from the power of sin
(sanctification) and we will be rescued from the presence of sin in our future
(glorification). What this means is that our future and final salvation when
Christ will return to resurrect our bodies and bring us home is much nearer now.
Every passing day brings it closer and closer.
In some
Christian circles, a lot of energy and attention is spent on figuring out when
Jesus will come back. They may not be able to tell you the exact hour and day.
But based on charts of earth quake frequency, natural disasters, eroding moral
values in society, the rise of microchips/nanotechnology and escalating
violence in the Middle East , we are told: “See all these signs? Jesus will come back
very soon (give or take 10 – 50 years). We are living in the last days.”
We are
living in the last days, alright. But so did the early Christians. When God’s
kingdom came, the new age had already come. This whole period since Jesus’
death, resurrection, exaltation and gift of the Spirit until the present time
is called “the last days”, God had nothing else on his calendar before Christ’s
return. It would be the next big thing in redemptive history. And it is in this
sense that Christ is coming ‘soon’. So be watchful and alert, because we do not
know the time.
How then
shall we live? It is not enough to understand the time; we have to live and act
accordingly. Three things: Wake up, clean up and dress up.
Verse 11:
The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber.
There is
a provocative, no-nonsense song sung by Keith Green a Jewish Christian called “Asleep in the Light”. The lyrics are especially relevant for us who live in an urban
culture of affluence and comfort where it is so easy to just sit back and be
spiritually passive towards people in need.
Apathy is
our constant danger. Here the song goes like this:
Do you see? Do
you see?
All the people sinking down?
Don't you care? Don't you care?
Are you gonna let them drown?
How can you be so numb?!
Not to care if they come
You close your eyes,
And pretend the job is done
"Oh, bless me, lord!
Bless me, lord!"
You know, it's all I ever hear!
No one aches,
No one hurts,
No one even sheds one tear,
But, he cries,
He weeps,
He bleeds,
And he cares for your needs
But you just lay back,
And keep soaking it in
Oh, can't you see such sin?
The world is sleeping in the dark,
That the church just can't fight,
'cause it's asleep in the light!
How can you be so dead?!
When you've been so well fed
Oh, Jesus rose from the dead!
Come on, get out of your bed!
Come away! come away!
Come away with me, my love!
Come away from this mess,
Come away with me, my love!
All the people sinking down?
Don't you care? Don't you care?
Are you gonna let them drown?
How can you be so numb?!
Not to care if they come
You close your eyes,
And pretend the job is done
"Oh, bless me, lord!
Bless me, lord!"
You know, it's all I ever hear!
No one aches,
No one hurts,
No one even sheds one tear,
But, he cries,
He weeps,
He bleeds,
And he cares for your needs
But you just lay back,
And keep soaking it in
Oh, can't you see such sin?
The world is sleeping in the dark,
That the church just can't fight,
'cause it's asleep in the light!
How can you be so dead?!
When you've been so well fed
Oh, Jesus rose from the dead!
Come on, get out of your bed!
Come away! come away!
Come away with me, my love!
Come away from this mess,
Come away with me, my love!
Don’t sleep
walk in the dream world of more comfort, more entertainment, more fluff and more
glitz of this age. Don’t spend your life busy chasing shadows. There are
exciting, new purposeful activities that await us with a brand new day. Jesus
is calling us to live in a way that points forward to the age to come.
2: Clean
up. You know the day is almost here… verse 12: “So
let us put aside the deeds of darkness”. Turn away from the kind of
things people do under cover of darkness.
And what
are these deeds of darkness? Let’s be specific here. Let’s not hide behind
abstractions and generalities.
Verse 13: Let us behave
decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in
sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. He’s not talking about people outside the
church. Paul is talking about ‘us’. Contrary to decent Christian
behavior is lack of self-control in the areas of drink, sex and social
relationships.
In the
Bible, wine is often associated with abundance, celebration and joy. When Jesus
joined a wedding party, he turned water into wine. Drinking in itself is not
the problem. But excessive drinking leads to drunkenness and addiction and
substance abuse. You are no longer in control. You are now a slave to alcohol. Money
that should be used to support a family or children education gets wasted to
buy beer. Husbands get drunk, go home and physically abuse their wives. So wives
get up and leave for their own safety. And a family is broken and children
suffer.
If that’s
you this morning, God is calling you to put aside this sin and come back to Him.
And
Christians don’t think of sex as something dirty and shameful. No, sex is God’s
idea! He made us male and female, and gave us the good gift of sexuality. It’s
a sacred gift to be shared within a marriage covenant, a relationship of
exclusive commitment and faithful trust.
That’s
why we don’t treat it casually. Not because we see it as dirty, but because it
is so precious and sacred.
Right now
as we speak, sexual immorality is an epidemic sweeping across and destroying God’s
people. It has come to the stage that even in some churches, it’s an open
secret that young people (even leaders) are sleeping around with their girl
friends and no one says a word. People just politely close one eye and pretend
it’s alright. Is it any surprise that in one church, out of a group of 30 youths,
only about 2 of them remain as Christians a couple of years after graduation?
That tragedy can happen anywhere if we do not have a culture of repentance, a culture of confessing our sins to each other, speaking the truth in love, a culture of accountability and church discipline.
That tragedy can happen anywhere if we do not have a culture of repentance, a culture of confessing our sins to each other, speaking the truth in love, a culture of accountability and church discipline.
Guys, porn
is not harmless fun. It is a deadly addiction that changes the way you look at
women – it dehumanizes women and makes them into an object to be used and
exploited. It changes you – it harms you, it robs you of joy, fills you with
guilt and leaves you jaded and lifeless when it comes to pursuing God and his
kingdom. But you are not alone.
Check out
this xxxchurch.com video
Sin
thrives in secrecy, and it spreads in silence. But it dries up and dies when exposed
to light.
And let
us also put aside infighting, dissension, division and jealousy. How can we
apply this?
I am
struck by two things as I look at the members list of CDPC Puchong – for its
diversity (ethnically, culturally) and for the fact many of them are what I’d
call “solid Christians”. They are not the ones who say “Aiya, never mind…
whatever you say, pastor! Cincai lah”! They are mature and discerning in their
faith, serious about God’s word and actively serving others.
You can
see that in our worship style, one week it would be Bahasa songs, another week
it’s liturgical, and the next week it’s vibrant contemporary, and the next
week, you have lots of Getty’s songs. And the range of in-house preachers –
some are manuscript preachers, others are strong in exegesis, and yet others
are into experiential learning and practical application. Naturally, some
styles work for you and others don’t. Even if you don’t like my style, the good
news is you only need to endure it once in 2 months! And I’m very thankful to God for that mix.
It is a
real blessing but it can also be a stumbling block if we are not careful. Because when
you have gifted and diverse people with different agendas, personalities, hot
buttons and interests that are not aligned, that can
be an explosive formula in the test tube if we do not keep the main thing as the main thing… if we major in
the minor things and minor in the major things… if we lose sight of Christ’s
call to make disciples of all nations for the sake of fighting over grey areas,
disputable matters.
In fact,
that’s exactly what Paul is going to talk about in the next chapter. How will
God’s people love each other when they disagree on disputable matters? Phil
will preach on that next week.
In the
crucial, essential things, unity. In the non-essential things, diversity. In
all things, charity.
Because the night
is almost over, the day is near. If we are not proactively killing sin, sin
will be killing us. We need to clean up our act.
Not so that we can
earn God’s favor to be loved by Him, and adopted as children of light. Live
like this, do all this because you are already loved by Christ, and adopted into
God’s family. Be holy like this, because you already belong to the light. He
already loves you and died for you to forgive you, pour His Spirit in you and
transform you. Now, live in light of that reality.
1 Thessalonians
5: “But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you
like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not
belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who
are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep
at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to
the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate,
and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer
wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so
that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore
encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
3rd point:
Because of the hour, we must not only get up and clean up, we must dress up as
well. Look at verse 12: We must take off our night clothes, the deeds of
darkness, and put on instead, the armor of light.
Church,
when we come together as a community and a family centered on Jesus, when we
covenant to help each other follow Jesus, we are not signing up for a Star
Cruise package in Port Klang. I haven’t been on a cruise but it sure sounds
like a lot of programs and fun activities, lots of good food and entertainment.
And sometimes church can feel like that, doesn’t it?
But the
Christian life is not a cruise ship, it is a battle ship. When we follow Jesus,
we have signed up for spiritual warfare. If you don’t get that expectation
right from the start, you’d be surprised and disappointed when you get on the
boat and think: “Why am I sleeping in the bunker instead of a luxury suite?
Hello Captain, how come the rations you provide do not include wagyu steak and
abalone soup?” What’s more… you’d get very angry when you look outside for some
nice fireworks, all you find are bombs exploding, bullets flying by and
everyone busy fighting. “What’s going on here? I want to complain to customer
service!”
When we
follow Jesus, we signed up for spiritual battle against systemic evil in the
world, against personal sin in our own heart and against demonic powers in the
spiritual realms. As soldiers of the kingdom, put on the armor of light. The
faster we realize this, the better because we need a war time mentality… It doesn’t
mean you go looking for ways to get killed. But you won’t shy away from
situations where you might get shot either. Gospel ministry is not a walk in
the park, it is hard work. Even dangerous work… Our Commander has given a task
and we obey it even if it’s inconvenient.
When we pray, do not we often say “God, please help this or that to go smoothly!” Instead of smoothness, perhaps we need to pray more for boldness: “Lord, I know that as I make disciples and fight sin in my life and my family, it’s not gonna be smooth sailing but please give me boldness and courage to press on when things get rough and when the gospel is not well received.”
When we pray, do not we often say “God, please help this or that to go smoothly!” Instead of smoothness, perhaps we need to pray more for boldness: “Lord, I know that as I make disciples and fight sin in my life and my family, it’s not gonna be smooth sailing but please give me boldness and courage to press on when things get rough and when the gospel is not well received.”
Pray like
this, because we can do it only by the sheer grace and protection of Jesus
himself.
Look at
verse 14: “clothe your selves with the Lord Jesus
Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the
flesh.” Put Christ himself on as your
armor, lay hold of him, cling to him like the shirt or dress that you
wear. How do you clothe yourselves with Christ?
You put your faith and trust in Him, love Him and hope in Him. Faith, love and
hope… You get connected to Him. Immerse yourself in Him. Cling on to Him.
When we
stumble and fall, when we succumb to sin, THAT sin again, there is a small
window of opportunity for us to respond. Response One: Do we run away and hide?
Like children who have angered their parents, we stay away from God for some
time. We avoid Him for a few days and wait for His anger to simmer down a bit. Response
Two: Or do we try to buy Him off? We bargain with Him: “Oh please forgive me
God. I promise, I promise I’d do quiet time five times a day for the whole of
next week.”.
No matter
what your theology is, both responses show that you don’t really experience the
gospel. When you fall down, don’t avoid Him, run to His embrace. Cry out to Him
to pick you up and heal you. Don’t run away, run to Him. Christ loves you and
gives Himself up for you so that you can be forgiven. Have you ever talked
honestly to God about your sin?
“Lord,
I’m sorry my temper has exploded again just now! This hectic schedule in office
and house moving is really getting on my nerves. Help me by your Spirit to be
self controlled, help me to rest in you in the middle of this crazy week. Help
me detect early signs of this volcano eruption. I don’t want to blow up in
front of the kids.”
And don’t
try to bribe God or buy him off. That’s so insulting because nothing we can
offer is more valuable, more precious than Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. And
it has already been paid. He loves and died for us even while we were enemies. How
much more will He embrace you and save you now that you are His child!
This is
not easy message today. If you are heavily convicted this morning, if you are
so sick of yourself for failing again and again; and you are just waiting,
waiting for the day when God will get so fed up, when He will just give up on
you, well, then the good news is that day will never come.
Nothing you can do can make Him love you any less. Nothing
you can do will make Him love you more. Come and find grace again and again at
the cross of Christ. For nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic,
today or tomorrow, — absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love
because of the way that Jesus has embraced us.
Run
to Him this morning.
In the movie
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, there is a great battle called the siege of
Helm’s Deep. It was a dark and rainy night. The good guys were surrounded
inside a fortress, fighting off wave after wave of horrible Orcs. They suffered
heavy casualties and the enemies were about to break through the last line of
defense. All seemed lost but instead of going gently into the night, Aragorn
and his riders geared up for one final blaze of glory. And just then, just as they
charged out against impossible odds, a new dawn has broken. Gandalf and the
calvary arrived with the glorious sun behind their back, blinding the enemies
and sweeping the forces of darkness away.
Today it
seems like we are losing the war on sin, we feel drowsy and our strength almost
spent… But the night is nearly gone, and the day is almost here. Don’t go
gently into the night. Don’t waste your life sleep walking. Put on the armor of
light. Clothe yourself with the beauty and righteousness of Christ. What will motivate
you to press on and obey? It comes from knowing and experiencing the grace of
Christ day in day out. It comes from being fascinated by and captured by a
living relationship with Christ.
When that
happens, you will attempt great things for God and expect great things from
God. When that happens, you will help others see and savor Christ. It’s not going to be smooth and easy, but a new dawn
will soon break forth and it will all be worth it. For we shall then meet
Christ face to face.
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PS: Let
me close with an old Irish prayer called Saint Patrick’s Breastplate: it is a
prayer for spiritual warfare, a prayer for protection, to put on the armor that
is Christ…
Christ be with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ within me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ within me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.
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