Snooze Alarm Romans 11:11-14
We are starting the season of Advent. The season of anxious waiting for the birth of our Lord and savior, Jesus. Good Friday is the holiest day in our Christian year because it is when Jesus completed his mission on earth and ushered in salvation; 1 Timothy 2:6, “he gave himself as a ransom for all people.”
Easter is the most joyous day of our year because through the resurrection we see the promise of Jesus, eternal life demonstrated through the power of God. Through the resurrection we see our future through our faith, death’s hold broken, eternal life with Jesus. John 10:28, “I will give them eternal life and they shall never perish.”
Isaiah 7:14, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and he will be called Emanuel.” Emanuel, God is with us. Christmas is the happiest day in our year, for it’s the day God set in motion his grand plan for our sin and for our reconciliation with him.
These events: Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter already happened in the past. Our celebrations honor what God accomplished in our past. But as we move through Advent let us remember God promised us more than what happened 2000 years ago; Hebrews 9:28, “So Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time…” Revelations 1:7, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him…” We are promised the return of Jesus.
Our readings verse 11, “The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber…” Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection are like our alarm clock going off.
The alarm wakes us up from our sleep, from the darkness and oblivion of what is going on around us. When I’m asleep I am unaware of what the cats are doing, unaware of cars driving down our road. The alarm wakes me up and I suddenly become aware of these things. For the first part of man’s existence, we existed as if we were asleep. Men didn’t seem to know how to live for God, didn’t seem to know what God wanted from us. We seemed to be oblivious to God himself.
Now when I sleep, I dream. However, when I wake up, I may remember them for a short time, but it disappears quickly. Noah and the flood, the Exodus, the Ark of the Covenant, the story of Joseph, the Psalms of David, the prophets; these are like dreams in mankind’s’ spiritual slumber. Their meaning and messages may have been remembered and acted upon for a short time, but eventually they disappear from our consciousness.
Verse 12, “The night is nearly over, the day is almost here.” The world is in the night, Jesus comes at dawn and brings the day. We are in the night because darkness still lives within many men’s hearts. The deceiver still has power over the world. His lies create man’s prejudices and hatred, his whisperings create man’s distrust of each other. When Jesus comes again, he brings with him the light of the Spirit. Man will live in the light of God; no hate, no pain, no prejudice.
Verse 12 ends with, “So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” When we are asleep, we are not interacting with the world around us. We are warm and comfortable in our own cocoon. This directive is for God’s church because unfortunately many churches across the globe are sleeping. Their congregations are comfortable in their cocoon. The church is not interacting with the world around them. This can come in many forms, “We’re small, we can’t support any missions, we need all our resources.” “We’re trying to be the best Christians, we can’t welcome them, they’re sinners.” Churches that separate themselves, congregations that don’t engage their community are spiritually asleep.
This verse doesn’t just apply to churches, it also applies to individuals. Are individuals asleep, not giving from their blessings to bless others, refusing to interact with others. Are there those that whether they claim faith or not, simply ignore God.
Many people across the world think that because bad things happen God doesn’t care, or that God doesn’t exist. They live in perpetual night. Those who have been called by the Spirit know different. We are called to put on the armor of light. We are asked to live as if it is day. Live now as we will live when Jesus returns. We may be in the night, but we are 2000 years closer to the day Jesus will return. Each day the world revolves around the sun is one day closer to Jesus’ return.
As followers of Jesus, we must know that we will be up against those who still listen to the deceiver, so living as if we are already in the day with Jesus can cause us difficulties, and this is why Paul uses the term armor. Armor protects its wearer. The armor of light that protects us is the light of the Holy Spirit.
When we wrap the Spirit around ourselves, we have divine protection from Satan, but even with the Spirit we can have difficulties. We must remember we are not in a battle against flesh and blood, we are standing against the forces of darkness and evil. Many times, when things go against us even as we do our best, it is easy to forget flesh and blood, mortal issues are not the battle God calls us to fight. We are fighting a spiritual battle. A battle that as believers in Christ, we cannot lose. In fact, we already won.
As the faithful there is now nothing to fear from Satan; and really, nothing to fear that is mortal. I know it can be hard for us to accept we may lose money, lose influence, even lose our life; but no matter what happens, we have lost nothing. We have heaven. The mortal part of us fears loss. Trust the spiritual part of you. You cannot lose anything of importance to God. You cannot lose your salvation. Let this truth be your armor. Let it allow you to live as God says. Let it lead you to battle the night and live in the day.
Now as we commit to this way of living Paul gives his audience examples of what this looks like; verse 13, “Let us behave decently…”
What is behaving decently? Each person has a different idea of what is decent and what is not, and these beliefs can change. Paul knows this. When he was persecuting Christians, he believed he was acting in the right, but this belief changed. So rather than leave us to our own devices, Paul led by the Spirit gives us examples, “…not in carousing and drunkenness, not in immorality and debauchery, not in descension and jealousy.” (Romans 13:13)
The thing mankind needs to understand, this is not a complete list. It is a list of examples for us to contemplate and meditate on. This list is meant to point us in a direction, meant to cause us to depend on the Spirit, meant to guide us in the light as we live our lives.
Paul explains this in verse 14, “Rather clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ…” To envelope ourselves with the Spirit we need to ask for his presence and guidance whenever we start thinking or acting in ways we know go against God, those times we let fear or prejudice rule our decisions.
The last thing Paul writes here is our guidepost, “…do not think about how to gratify the flesh.” (Romans 13:14) What I want to do, does it make me feel good, or does it bring honor to God? This is the question. This is also our prayer to the Holy Spirit, “Spirit, lead me to an honoring of God and not a worldly satisfaction.”
Christ was born, crucified, and rose from the dead; and he will come again. The world lives in the night, but at daybreak Jesus will come and establish his kingdom. Mankind has lived in the night since the fall, but Jesus on earth was the alarm clock ringing, waking us to the day ahead. The problem with many in the world is we have hit the snooze alarm. We ignored the alarm clock and went back to sleep. Unfortunately, that means we will be jolted awake when Jesus descends from the clouds.
The world’s time is limited and each day the world gets closer to the return of Christ. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, let’s look to the day he comes back. Don’t hit the snooze alarm. As a true follower of Christ, we must recognize the dawn and live for the day.
Amen.