I don’t know how many times I have told myself, “you need to exercise.” I always have done a little, but only if it was fun and not for too long or too often.
Next month, Lord willing, we are leaving for our study tour to Israel. It will be 21 days of walking and listening and standing. We have been told that if we expect to enjoy the whole time, we should prepare by exercising 30-60 minutes, 4 or 5 times a week. Guess what I am doing? I am exercising between 40 and 60 minutes or more 5 times a week and am motivated to do it. Anticipation of what is coming has motivated me.
How many times a day do you look at your watch or at a clock? We always want to know what time it is, but often we are just curious or as soon as we see what time it is, we forget. It doesn’t make much difference, unless we are waiting for an important appointment. Then we truly do want to know what time it is.
In Romans 13:11-12a we read, “…you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near.”
What time is it? It’s nearly salvation time. Romans 13:11 says, “our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”
When the Bible speaks of salvation, it speaks of it in three different senses. Salvation refers to the day that we believe in Jesus and the Bible promises that we have received salvation. In Luke 19:9 Jesus says about Zacchaeus, “Today salvation has come to this house…” But that is not the only way in which this word is used. It is also used in the sense of God’s ongoing work in our lives. This is the sense in Philippians 2:12 when Paul encouraged the believers, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling…” When Paul says in Romans 13:11 that our “salvation is nearer now” he is obviously not using either of these senses, because both of them are already with us, not “nearer now.” The word “salvation” is used in a the third sense in this text. Here it refers to the final completion of what these other two senses speak of. The day of salvation referred to here is the day when Jesus will return in order to judge the world and bring His own people to their eternal inheritance.
Sometimes we count the days until a certain event. If you ask a bride-to-be how long it is until her wedding, she will probably be able to tell you. Other times we count the days from a certain event. If you ask a person who has been widowed how long they have been alone, they will probably be able to tell you. Paul does neither here. Although he is counting towards the day, he does not know when that day will be. So instead, he counts from a previous event, from the day they met Christ, and indicates that from that day, the coming day is closer every day.
What time is it? The day of our salvation is getting nearer all the time.
What time is it? Romans 13:12a says, “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.”
Night and day refer not to two parts of the day, but to two ages.
Night refers to the present age which is characterized by life far from God. At night we can’t see because it is dark. We do not know things as they really are. Night is also an imagery of the time when immorality and evil reigns. Our world has plenty of evidence that we are living in the night.
One time when we were traveling, we drove quite late into the night. About 11:00, we set up our tents and camped for the night. It was dark, we had never been to this place before and so had no idea what was around us. That is like it is in our world today. We are camping in the darkness, and we do not know what is around us and what is about to happen.
When morning came, we found ourselves in a beautiful campground. It was in a lush valley with a mountain towering right above us - it was a wonderful place. The day refers to life near to God. On the day when Jesus comes back, all of God’s plan from the beginning and all that Jesus came to do will be finally completed. The darkness of ignorance will be gone and we will see all things clearly. The darkness of evil will be removed and there will be no more wickedness. The darkness of depression will be replaced by joy. The darkness of sadness and loss will become the confidence of fulfillment and peace.
What time is it? It is almost day time!
One of the fist things I noticed was someone pinching my toes through the blanket. The next sensation was the smell of Nivea cream. What time was it? It was wake up time. When I was growing up, it was my mother’s morning ritual while she walked down the stairs to our room to moisturize her hands with Nivea cream. Then she would call from the door and if that didn’t work, she would pinch our toes. To this day the smell of this cream reminds me that it is wake up time.
Paul tells us that because our salvation is near and because the day is almost here, it is wake up time.
Is Paul really implying that we are sleeping? That seems to be what he is saying! What does it mean that we are sleeping? John Toews says, that sleep is “a negative image symbolizing the inactivity of the mind, even the complete abandonment of thinking.” Just think of that delicious moment when you have had a great sleep and you are just beginning to wake up. It feels so good and nothing really matters. The reality of the day and what needs to be done has not yet dawned on you. The troubles of the past and all the tasks left undone have not made their way into your brain. You are sleeping and all is well, but all is also not real.
Is that the state we are in? Is it true that we are living as if what is real is not in our brain? Does it mean that we don’t really understand what is true and what is important?
What time is it? If salvation is getting nearer all the time and if it is almost day time then it is wake up time!
What are the implications of that? In Romans 13:12b, Paul uses the word “ “So…,” which implies that there are implications.
Since Jesus is coming back, what matters? How do you live in the reality that it is wake up time? Several specific things are mentioned in this text.
Put Aside The Deeds Of Darkness
If the night is nearly over, then God’s Word tells us that we need to put aside the deeds of darkness. In Romans 13:13, Paul identifies three word pairs which are used to describe some of the deeds of darkness.
The text says, “ not in…” which is a command that we should not be involved in these things. Why is God saying “no” to these things? The deeds of darkness are sin. They are the ways of the evil one. One of the things we know about the evil one is that he likes to destroy. Whenever we engage in these things, we are involved in activities that destroy. Even though they may look like fun or we may think that destruction will not touch us, the truth is that the deeds of darkness always lead to destruction.
The first pair, orgies and drunkenness, refers to the kind of parties we hear about in which people are not in control of themselves and in which they have had too much to drink or have taken drugs. They are the kind of parties where fights are not unusual and self centered, destructive behavior is common. Do we as children of light really want to be there? Do we really want to put ourselves in the place where we may be destroyed by this evil?
The second pair is sexual immorality and debauchery. God has declared His intention for our sexuality. It is that we should abstain from sexual intercourse until marriage and then be faithful to our spouse in marriage. Sexual activity is intended by God to be the physical expression of the deep bond between a husband and wife. If it is seen simply as a pleasurable physical activity, as is common in our world today, the true beauty and depth of its meaning is lost. If it is practiced in any way other than as a loving expression in a committed marriage relationship, it results in brokenness and difficulty. Do we as children of light really want to participate in that which will result in brokenness?
The third pair is “dissension and jealousy” and warns about the terrible consequences when people fight with each other because they are jealous of each other. Dissension is the willingness to fight for what we want and often arises out of selfishness. Jealousy is the hatred of those who have what we want.
If we were to set up a report card, how would we do? Orgies and drunkenness? – do/don’t do. Sexual immorality and debauchery? – do/don’t do. Dissension and jealousy? – do/don’t do. Since the night is almost over and the day is almost here, let us be diligent to throw the garbage out of our lives. In verse 14 Paul says, “do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” A few weeks ago I talked about a Greek word which encouraged us to “pre-think” how we would respond if we are wronged. The same Greek word appears here. Paul is encouraging us not to pre-think how we will engage in the deeds of darkness, rather he encourages us to put aside those deeds of darkness.
I am so thankful that the message is not only negative. Certainly we need to rid our lives of those things which are darkness, but much more importantly, we are called to three positive responses: “put on the armor of light,” “behave decently” and “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The call to put on the armor of light reminds us that we are in a battle. The forces of evil are waging war to win our souls. Satan would like nothing more than to have us distracted from following Jesus and living in the light. He makes the darkness seem so appealing. He invites us to self pity. He tempts us to self-centeredness. The fight is hard. Sometimes we lose a skirmish here and there. It is even possible for us to lose the battle. In Revelation 2,3, God says to the churches, “to him who overcomes.” If we want to be among those who overcome, we must put on the armor of light. Then we will have the protection and the weapons to win this battle. He does not specifically identify what those weapons are here, but in Ephesians 6:11,13 we are encouraged, "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes" and in that passage he does outline the armor of light as truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation and the Word of God.
In contrast to the deeds of darkness, Paul invites us to “behave decently.” Again there are no specifics. This does not mean that we cannot enjoy the life we have on earth, but it does mean that we are called to do whatever we do according to the practices of light.
I think the most beautiful imagery is the call to “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.” People have sometimes asked, “what would Jesus do?” That is significant, but this phrase is more powerful! We have sometimes challenged people to think about what they would do if Jesus was with them. That is important, but this is more powerful! We are called to clothe ourselves with Jesus. We are to have Jesus as our skin or if we look at it another way, we are to have Jesus fill our life and we are to be the skin of Jesus.
Since our salvation, which comes from Jesus and is bringing us to Jesus, is nearer now than when we first believed, rather than becoming less and less interested in Jesus, the evidence of the life of Jesus must be more and more a part of our life. John Toews invites us to, “live now in a fashion appropriate to what we will be.”
If you have been watching the text and the material we have covered, you will notice that I missed a whole section. I have not spoken about Romans 13:8-10. Although it has connections to what precedes it, it also has connections to what follows. Notice that in Romans 13:11 it says, “And do this…” which leads into the discussion about our coming salvation and the coming day and waking up. In other words, because Jesus is coming again soon, the truths found in Romans 13:8-10 are also a part of our response. Another part of waking up is living in love.
In this passage, the call to love is addressed to us. It is to be exercised on certain people. Who is it that we are to love? There are two specific words used here. In verse 8, we are called to love “one another.” This is a common New Testament imperative refering to our brothers and sisters in the church. But that is not the only direction for our love. According to the same verse, we are also invited to love our “fellow man.” Then in verse 9,10 our neighbor is also mentioned. When we add Jesus’ instruction to love our enemies, there is really no one who is outside of the circle of those we are called to love.
Why is this such an important thing? There are many times when we would rather not know that we should love others. There are many times when we would rather not act in love, but rather hate and be angry with others. Why love? The text gives two reasons why we ought to live in love.
The first is because it is a debt. Paul says, “let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another.” How is love a debt?
We have been given an amazing gift of grace. Jesus has taken all of our sins and died for us. We owe Him so much, but we cannot ever pay Him back for what He has given us. In fact, because it is a gift, we must not even try to pay Him back. What He has given us is a gift of grace and it must be received as a gift of grace. So if we are indebted to Him because of His gift of grace, how can we pay this debt? We pay it as we love others, and we need to make sure that we love them in the same way in which we have been loved. Matthew 10:8 says, “Freely you have received, freely give.”
The other reason is that all the right things to do which all the governments and religions of the world have identified as good things are summed up in the command to love. The law given by God on Mount Sinai is summarized by this one law, to love one another.
Paul mentions four laws which come from the second half of the ten commandments. All of them have to do with our relationship with our fellow human beings. All of them are summarized by the command to love your neighbor as yourself, which is a quote from Leviticus 19:18. Love fulfills the law because it allows us to carry out what the law requires. All of these 4 laws are intended to help us love others. So although it is good to know the ten commandments and all the other illustrations of the command to love, there is really only one law we need to remember and that is the law to love one another.
How do we carry out this command? Paul gives us a very precise, simple summary when he says in Romans 13:10, “love does no harm to the neighbor.”
When we realize that we will be in heaven even with those we may be tempted to hate today, it puts a different spin on things. Why will we suddenly be able to love those we hate now? What will change? Why can’t we begin to live those conditions now?
In any and every action towards any other person on earth and in any and every reaction towards any person on earth, we need simply ask, “will this do harm or good.” It isn’t always easy to answer that question. Sometimes what seems like love is actually harmful to another person. Therefore learning how to love well takes a lot of practice and constant understanding. The key is to have our mindset on considering how it looks from the other person’s point of view. A few weeks ago we had a very good retreat with the ministerial of our church. We talked about caring for people in our church. One of the things we learned is to stop asking the question, “how are you doing.” Sometimes people don’t want to answer that question. Sometimes they don’t want to answer in depth. Sometimes they have been asked so many times that they are tired of it. We were taught that instead of asking, “how are you?” we should say, “it is nice to see you.” That is one case in which what we have always thought was a loving thing to do, may not perhaps have been so and so we learned a better way to express caring to people.
In 386 AD, Augustine was in the garden of a friend. He was well educated and a teacher of rhetoric, but lived a wicked lifestyle. A number of events had brought him to the place where he was at the point of decision. Weeping, he was almost persuaded to take up a new life, but he lacked the will to make a final resolution. From a neighboring garden, he heard a child singing a song and the words of the song were, "take up and read." Beside him was a Bible and he opened it to Romans 13:13-14 and read the verses we have been looking at. Immediately he was convicted and made a commitment to God. He writes, "No further would I read, nor had I any need; instantly at the end of this sentence a clear light flooded my heart and all the darkness of the doubt vanished away."
Jesus is coming again! Are we living in the light of that expectation? Leaving the deeds of darkness, clothing ourselves with Jesus and living in love are the primary ways in which we can live in the light of that expectation.
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