INTRO.- Do you know what time it is? Many people are living in their own little fairy tale world and they don’t know what’s going on spiritually.
ILL.- “Actress Katie Holmes Six Years Later” the article stated. Six years after what? Six years after meeting Tom Cruise. There are no more private jets. No more fancy dinners with David and Victoria Beckham. No more being the wife of the most powerful actor in Hollywood.
For Katie Holmes, after a jet-set start, a fairy tale wedding in Italy, and what would on Sunday have been six years of marriage to Tom Cruise, there is just ... being normal. And a source said that Katie couldn't be happier raising her daughter Suri on her own in New York City.
Apparently, Katie Holmes finally woke up to the fact that she was living in some kind of fairy tale world. She wanted out and she wanted a more normal life for a change. (normal for her)
Likewise, many people today are living a fairy tale kind of life in the sense that they are not living in the real spiritual world. They don’t recognize what’s going on and what is going to happen in this world and perhaps, in their own lives. They need a wake up call of some kind.
II Timothy 3:1-5 “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”
ILL.- Back in November I went to see grandbaby Sophia. She was 14 months old at the time. Do you know what she wanted to do? We sat in the floor together and played with lock blocks. I would put them together and she would take them apart. And that’s all she wanted to do: play blocks. She just wanted to play.
That’s pretty normal for a baby her age, but it’s not normal for adults to want to play all the time, that is, unless they are still living in some childhood fantasy. Many people are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Play and pleasure rules.
The reality is this: life will come to an end and we’d better be prepared! And there is only way to prepare for the end of life and that is a matter of seeking the Lord in all things and doing His will as best we can.
II Corinthians 5:7-9 “We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”
All some people do is live for play and pleasure when we all should be living to please God. Life begins with God and life ends with God. We need to sandwich God in between, that is, in all of life. He should be in the middle of everything we do in life.
11 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
PROP.- In the light of our salvation what must we do?
1- Put aside the deeds of darkness
2- Behave decently as in the daytime
3- Clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus
I. PUT ASIDE THE DEEDS OF DARKNESS
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.
ILL.- The drunk husband snuck up the stairs quietly. He looked in the bathroom mirror and bandaged the bumps and bruises he'd received in a fight earlier that night. He then proceeded to climb into bed, smiling at the thought that he'd pulled one over on his wife. When morning came, he opened his eyes and there stood his wife. "You were drunk last night weren't you!" "No, honey." "Well, if you weren't, then who put all the band-aids on the bathroom mirror?"
Is there any darkness in your life? Any dark deeds? Are any dark thoughts?
ILL.- Robert Louis Stevenson’s story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll discovered a drug whereby he could transform himself into a man devoid of conscience and able to wallow in every kind of vice. Stevenson named this monster Mr. Hyde.
When Dr. Jekyll wanted to become Hyde, he could do so with a dose of this drug. And likewise when Hyde wanted to become Jekyll, he could transform himself almost instantly by the same means. But the time came when the inclination to remain the evil Hyde was so great that he could not recover himself to assume the kindly and respectable life of Jekyll. Against his will, he now became Hyde, and much as he wanted to return to the sphere in which Dr. Jekyll lived, he was unable to do so.
There are many people today who change into an evil Mr. Hyde in a variety of ways. Sometimes it’s through drinking or drugs. These do transform people into evil people at times. Drinking and drugs make people do things they would not normally do: steal, fight, cuss, rant, rave, rape, and even murder others. The truth is: we all have a dark side. If we were put in the wrong place at the wrong time we’d all be in trouble!
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. The point of scripture is that we must fight the dark side and the deeds of darkness. We must grow up and put these aside.
I Corinthians 13:11 ‘When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” There is a point where we need to stop acting like children.
ILL.- I remember at one time when I was young, single, driving my car, looking for dates with girls, running at night, doing whatever I wanted, and not even giving God a second thought. I wasn’t doing a lot of bad stuff but I certainly wasn’t including God in my life because I wasn’t going to church at that time and I’m sure I wasn’t reading God’s Word nor spending any time in prayer. God wasn’t on my agenda even though I’d been raised in a conservative Southern Baptist Church.
I don’t want to live that way any more. I need to put some things aside and make time for God every day. When I allow the Lord into my life and stay busy serving Him I will have little time for any kind of darkness or evil. There is only one cure for the deeds of darkness: fill up our lives with doing God’s will. I’ve said before: I am at my best when I am writing sermons, studying scripture, in prayer, or calling on people in need.
ILL.- Thomas Edison was once asked how he resisted temptations. He said, “Never have any. I don’t have time.”
The way to overcome the deeds of darkness is to fill your life with deeds of goodness!
II. BEHAVE DECENTLY AS IN THE DAYTIME
13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
ILL.- Our time changed back on November 4th. We lost our daylight savings time and went to Central time. That means it gets lighter in the morning and instead of staying lighter an extra hour in the evening. I remember that one of our men gave a communion meditation that Sunday morning and mentioned that he didn’t like the time change. He liked that extra hour of daylight in the evening. Well, he’s got it back now! And I know why he likes it better. Why? Because it helps to keep him out of trouble! He stays busier with more daylight time! He behaves better in the daytime than at night! But don’t we all act better in the day time!?
13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
Haven’t you noticed how much bad stuff or evil stuff takes place under the cover of darkness? Most people do their evil deeds at night when they are not easily seen. Attitudes even change.
ILL.- When I was 18 years old and not a Christian if I wanted to do any beer drinking I certainly didn’t do it in broad daylight. I did it at night. I would drive to Kansas at night to buy beer. I didn’t do it in the day time where people could see me or maybe mom and dad would catch me drinking. Besides after drinking at night, I could go home and go to bed and sleep it off.
ILL.- Preacher Wayne Smith who preached at the Southland Christian Church in Lexington, KY, used to say, “When it gets dark you ought to be home and in bed.” Well, seriously he thought everybody should be home at night and not out running the streets because that’s when people often get into various kinds of trouble.
Live like it’s daytime. Live like everybody is watching you are doing. Live like God is watching you are doing because He is! There are many things that people do at night that they wouldn’t do in the daytime where more people could see them. We are to behave decently like people of the day, like people who walk in the light of Christ.
Ephesians 5:8-17 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
We are to behave decently as in the daytime, as people of the light.
III. CLOTHE OURSELVES WITH THE LORD JESUS
14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
ILL.- Struggling to make ends meet on his salary, the preacher was upset when he confronted his wife with the receipt for a $250 dress she had bought. "How could you do this?!"
"I was outside the store looking at the dress in the window, and then I found myself trying it on," she explained. "It was like Satan was whispering in my ear, 'You look fabulous in that dress. Buy it!'"
"Well," the preacher replied, "You know how I deal with that kind of temptation. I say, 'Get behind me, Satan!'" "I did," replied his wife, "but then he said, 'It looks fabulous from back here, too!'"
I’m not big on clothing, are you? I believe in getting dressed but I’m not into dressing up with fancy or expensive clothes.
ILL.- I remember attending a preaching convention one time and another preacher approached me and a friend at that convention. He was all decked out in a nice looking suit, tie and everything. He said something to the effect, “The way to have an effective ministry and a growing church is to dress well.” He basically said that “clothes make the man” or make the preacher. It was like he was advocating that a preacher must “dress for success." I don’t even know if he is still preaching or not.
We should be somewhat concerned about how we dress but even more concerned about how we dress spiritually. We should be more concerned with our spirit than with our flesh. And how do you clothe your spirit? According to this text, we should clothe ourselves with Christ.
And how do we do this? We spend time with Christ and with His Word. The more we behold Him in scripture, the more we will think like Him and be like Him.
ILL.- Actor Daniel Day Lewis played Abraham Lincoln in that new movie AND he won the Academy Award for that part. He was probably a very good choice to play the part of Lincoln. He seems to have the ability to put himself into parts better than many actors. It’s like he can become another person by studying that person’s life and character. And this is no different for us. WE MUST STUDY THE PERSON AND CHARACTER OF CHRIST. The more we do this, the more we will clothe ourselves with Christ.
II Corinthians 3:18 “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
New Living Translation. “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”
We clothe ourselves with Christ by saturating our minds with scripture: reading scripture, studying the meaning of scripture, memorizing scripture, quoting scripture, and living out scripture in our lives.
14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
CONCLUSION-------------
ILL.- Back in November, just before Thanksgiving, this was a big news headline: “Leaders express hope fiscal cliff will be averted. Leaders expect deal by Christmas. Tax rates still biggest hurdle.”
What is your fiscal cliff in life? I’m not necessarily thinking about a financial fiscal cliff from which you could fall. It could be anything in life: a family problem, work-related, financial, health related, etc.
Where are you in life? And are you about to fall off a cliff? If so, the apostle Paul has a message for you: Put aside the deeds of darkness. Behave decently as in the daytime. And put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is your only hope of a better life and a life that pleases God!
Steve Shepherd, Cape Girardeau, MO
shepherd111@hotmail.com
