It’s Time To Wake Up!
Romans 13:11-14
INTRO: We often fail to consider the gradual, cumulative effect of sin in our lives. In Saint Louis in 1984, an unemployed cleaning woman noticed a few bees buzzing around the attic of her home. Since there were only a few, she made no effort to deal with them. Over the summer the bees continued to fly in and out the attic vent while the woman remained unconcerned, unaware of the growing city of bees.
The whole attic became a hive, and the ceiling of the second-floor bedroom finally caved in under the weight of hundreds of pounds of honey and thousands of angry bees. While the woman escaped serious injury, she was unable to repair the damage of her accumulated neglect. Robert T. Wenz.
Is there something you have neglected? Something you have been lazy about? Something you have been lethargic about? I can name one thing we have neglected, we don’t even have a Christmas tree up yet or all of our present bought. It’s pretty much crunch time and I been lazy about it!
In Campus Life it was written, “Hard work is often the easy work you do not do at the proper time.” Campus Life, May 1980
Richard L. Evans, Bits & Pieces, “The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.” March 4, 1993, p. 2.
I think it is true of almost every Christian at some point in our lives, that we put off things. We get lethargic in our lives, we get apathetic to the world around us and we find ourselves just going through the motions. This not only happens in our personal lives, but it is brought into the church as well.
And the church as a whole finds itself just going through the motions, being lazy and lethargic. We may have good attendance and good offerings and we think that all is going well, that we’ve done a good job and God would be pleased with us.
But isn’t there more to the church than good attendance and good offerings and just going through the motions. Isn’t there more to the church than putting on a Worship Service that most people enjoy? Aren’t we called to do more than put on services and offer programs?
Personally, I’ve found myself just going through the motions in the past, I think many in church leadership have done the same and I think that many churches in our area and country have done the same thing too.
And others see those things too (laziness, being lethargic) and the church has no appeal to them. In all honestly there are many church who have lost their zeal and they are no longer appealing even to the head of the church Jesus Christ. They have either lost their first love like the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:4 or have become like the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:15-16 and have become lukewarm.
Did you know that in the last 20 years there have been millions of Christians leave the church? These Christians are hungry for spiritual help and meaning in this life, but they didn’t find it in the church.
ILLUS: According to the Barna Group, “Only 3 out of 10 twenty somethings (31 percent) attend church in a typical week, compared to 4 out of 10 of those in their 30’s (42 percent) and nearly half of all adults age 40 and older (49 percent).
So many of those who have left the church are hungry for God, but just didn’t find Him among the traditions, apathy, and lack of genuine Christ relationship in the church.
ILLUS: Hugh Halter, The Tangible Kingdom, “Yes, we have big churches, churches that grow and do much good in the world, but let’s be honest: Do people take us Christians seriously? Do they respect us and our way of life? Do the spiritually hungry look to the average evangelical church for help, or would they rather go buy a self-help book at Barnes & Noble?”
“How long has it been since you knew someone who came to faith for the first time? I’m not talking about in a youth group setting or in children’s church. I’m talking about an adult who had no idea about God but who has since found faith in Christ and rearranged his or her entire life around his? We’ve been working with pastors of mega-churches, house churches, and many new churches, and the reality of “non-conversions” is staggering.”
“We have churches everywhere, but they smell musty, fussy, clubby, judgmental, mean, punishing, ungenerous, and are not compelling people to come or stay. Almost every statistical reference to the church indicates that we not only can’t draw people, but we can’t even keep the ones we have.”
ILLUS: Tom Clegg and Warren Bird write, “The inescapable conclusion is that we must throw out any notion that God is truly at the center of the church’s heart in North America. The shift in society’s view of the church has resulted in the marginalization of the church and the secularization of society. Christianity has lost its place at the center of American life. Christians must learn how to live the gospel as a distinct people who no longer occupy the center of society. We must learn to build relational bridges that win a hearing.”
But instead we have become lethargic and are in need of a transformation if we are going to once again be relevant in the communities of which we exist.
I can tell you from my reading and from what I’m seeing and from what I’m hearing from other Christian leaders that I know. There is a sweep of the Holy Spirit across this land that is awakening church leaders to the fact that the church (in the way it has been done) is becoming less and less relevant (it’s relevant to you sitting here) to the lost and dying world.
Matter of fact many people who claim to be Christians (and they probably are) are leaving the church because they are not experiencing God or people who imitate Christ in the church today.
ILLUS: Did you hear about the farm boy who accidentally overturned his wagonload of corn in the road. The farmer who lived nearby came to investigate. “Hey, Willis,” he called out, “forget your troubles for a spell and come on in and have dinner with us. Then I’ll help you get the wagon up.”
“That’s mighty nice of you,” Willis answered, “But I don’t think Pa would like me to.”
“Aw, come on, son!” the farmer insisted.
“Well, okay,” the boy finally agreed. “But Pa won’t like it.”
After a hearty dinner, Willis thanked his host. “I feel a lot better now, but I just know Pa is going to be real upset.”
“Don’t be foolish!” exclaimed the neighbor. “By the way, where is he?”
“Under the wagon.” Source Unknown.
Not a good place to be! We’ve almost left Pa under the wagon. We’ve put ourselves behind the 8 ball and we need to wake up before we loose the game.
We have to wake up from our slumber and be diligent in the call of Christ to make disciples of all nations.
Read text: Romans 13:11-14
1. Why Do We Need To Wake Up? (11:12a)
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. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. Romans 13:11-12a
Paul tells the Roman Christians. It’s time to wake up! And do you think that Paul would tell us any less. No, I think he would tell us more emphatically. In other words he would probably follow the sentence with about 10 exclamation points behind it.
Why? Because of the nature of time and because time is short.
We have to understand what is going on in our world. Does anyone think our world is better today than it was 20 years ago, maybe 10 years ago, maybe 5 years ago? What about just last year? Has our world gotten better or has it gotten worse? If everyone is truthful about what going on worldwide, no doubt the answer has to be it is getting worse day by day.
And as the world in getting worse day by day, what are Christians doing? You know what they are doing because you are Christian. So the world is getting worse and worse but has your lifestyle changed to accommodate that? What I mean by that, is, are you seeking to do more and more of what Jesus would have you do?
Are you listening to His voice? Are you spending time getting to know Him better so that you will be better able to imitate Him? Are you spending time talking with Him in prayer? Are you seeking people out who don’t know Jesus or are you just hanging around with all your Christian friends?
The world is getting worse and worse, but are we doing anything to make it better? It’s time to wake from our slumber because the day of our salvation is nearer and nearer.
Why do you think Paul said that?
ILLUS: I remember when I was a kid and we were going to go to grandma and grandpa’s the next day and man was I excited. We were going there for Christmas and I just loved to be with them and the rest of the family for Christmas. My mom had me and my brother go to bed early so we could get up early and go the next morning and I went to bed and went right to sleep.
When I woke up I was ready to go. My clothes were laid out and I hurriedly put them on, got everything packed and went into the living room where my mom was sitting in her chair watching TV. She looked at me real funny and asked me what I was doing. I said I was ready to go to grandma’s. She said it was only 10:00 at night and we were going until morning.
I was excited about going and aren’t we Christians excited about going on to our salvation? Doesn’t the thought of being in heaven excite you? So wasn’t Paul telling them something that would excite them. Wake up! You get to go to your salvation soon! No, he wasn’t saying that was he?
He was saying, “the end of time is almost here so you don’t have much time left to do the work Jesus has left for you to do so WAKE UP and get busy!
Those of us who are older, I’m turning 50 next year so I guess I’m to the point of over the hill, we know how fast time goes, don’t we? It’s hard for me to believe that is just over a week it will be 2015 and I’m wondering what happened to 2014.
Listen to what James says, “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:13-14
What will you do with what is left of your mist? Are we going to be about doing business and making money, going to this town or that city, or are we going to be about the business of Christ?
We need to wake up because our chances of doing the will of Christ on this earth are less and less everyday we have.
Secondly this morning let’s talk about How We Ought to Walk.
2. How We Ought To Walk (12b-14)
So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Romans 12b-14
For those of us who have lived at least part of our lives not seeking to follow the way and will of Christ, we know what it is like to live a life that seeks out the desires of the sinful nature, don’t we?
The things listed in this text may have very well been things that you desired, orgies, drunkenness, sexual immorality, debauchery (excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures.), dissension, and jealousy. If all of those things weren’t in your sinful nature, I bet at least a few of them were.
Now if you have come to Christ some of those things still likely haunt you. Some of those things pull you back into your life of sin. You see the devil knows those things and he knows the best way to pull you back into those things and he was doing the same things with the Christians at Rome. That’s the reason Paul brings these things up.
It’s not changed from that time until know and the only thing that has changed since you became a Christian concerning the devil is that before you were a Christian the devil just let you do those things because you wanted to do them.
Now that you are a Christian and trying not to do those things, the devil is actively working in your life trying to get you to mess up. He wants to get you on that slippery slope back into that way of life so that he can regain you as one of his.
But Paul is telling you that you can’t walk in that way of life again! Don’t slip back into that way of life because the time is almost over.
And he says in verse 14, Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 13:14a
In other words put yourself in Jesus’ place, act like Jesus acted, talk like Jesus talked, help other the way Jesus helped other, walk as Jesus walked. Put yourself in His shoe, but don’t just walk a mile in them, spend you life in them.
And he is saying do everything in your power with the power of the Holy Spirit inside of you to win as many as possible and to make disciples who will make disciples who will make disciple so that the gospel may be preached to the ends of the world, to every tribe, tongue, and nation.
CONCLUSION:
Brothers and sister in Christ, if you are not hearing the voice of our Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ calling you to do His will with the time you have left on the face of this earth, you need to wake up and listen. You need to wake up from your slumber and get your Bible out and get to know Jesus better. You need to get on your knees until your knees are calloused so that you once again can hear His voice.
We are coming into the new year in just over a week and I have thought and thought about a theme for next year. I have thought about stealing the theme from Ozark Christian College and have the theme of getting “Just One”. But the theme I have thought about the most is “Transformation”. The more I think of that, the more I think is what we need.
Transformation = “a thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance:”
Already in the last year we have been in the process of transforming our leadership structure and that will be complete in 2015. So already there is one thing that will be transformed. (The stage)
But there are so many other things. Personally I’m looking for another transformation in myself by losing the weight that I gained back from a few year ago. But as a church we have to put everything on the table to make sure we are following the will and way of Christ as His body.
I’m not sure of all the transformations we will go through next year, but one thing I can promise you is that I will push you every chance I have to get you out of your comfort zones. Some of those pushes you may never see or hear of because I fear they may not make it past the vision casting stage into the practice stage.
But I plan to never leave you without a challenge to be obedient to the will and way of Christ. Hopefully by the end of 2015 we will have many successes through obediently following the will of Christ.
My challenge to you this week is to wake up from your slumber, get out your Bibles out and read the Gospels. Yes, Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John, if you can’t do that at least read 2 of those books. And to pray that God would show you His will for your life and to help you be obedient to His will.
ILLUS: Don’t be like Gloria Pitzer who in her little poem wrote:
Procrastination is my sin
It brings me naught but sorrow.
I know that I should stop it
In fact, I will...tomorrow.
Today in the Word, MBI, April, 1990, p. 41.
If you are not hearing His call in your life then understand there may be a reason for that because His (Jesus’) sheep hear His voice and following in His foot steps.
Let’s pray.
