“WAKE UP CALL” Psalm 57
INTRO – I don’t know many people who actually like this sound (play sound of alarm clock). These come in all sorts of designs with all sorts of sounds. Wake up to the sound of a beep, the radio, a CD, or the sound of rain, or the pounding surf, or crickets chirping. When you are traveling, you can usually use the alarm clock in your hotel room, or you can call the front desk and get a wake-up call. Used to be a real person who would call you in the morning, but now it’s automated in most places. When you were a kid, or if you are a kid right now, most of your wakeup calls come in the form of mama or daddy coming into the room to get you up. How many times does it take for you?
Whichever it is – the alarm clock or the wakeup call – it signals the end of a night of sleep and the start of a new day. Signals the end of the warmth and comfort of your bed (why is it that your bed feels the best right before the clock goes off?) and the beginning of a day of work or school or whatever you are going to do in the day. Signals that it’s time to get up and get going; it’s time to start accomplishing something; it’s time to make a difference; a new day is beginning.
Last night, 2 boys were tragically killed in a car wreck here in our community. Roman 12:15 – “…mourn w/ those who mourn.” We mourn with the families that are mourning right now. We cried last night at the hospital and we’ll cry more tears today and in the days to come. We will minister to them as the Church should right now. Galatians 6:2 – “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” The word “burden” in this verse means extra heavy and difficult burdens, not your everyday burdens. This is definitely an extra heavy burden for the families, and as the Body of Christ, we will come alongside them and help bear this burden with them, especially for this who are members of our church.
But I wonder if this will be the wakeup call that is needed to shake us out of our sleep and get us going? I wonder if this will move us out of the warmth & comfort of our own little world, our safe little place, & stir us to action. I wonder if we are going to go through this tragedy (as we have so many times before!!!), come out on the other side of it, and go on with business as usual. I wonder if we will wake up out of our apathy, our selfishness, our “I don’t want to get involved” attitudes, and try to do something in somebody’s life that will make a difference. I wonder if Lawrence County is going to wake up, if the church is going to wake up, if parents and families are going to wake up. Are we going to keep playing these games, playing with our kids’ lives, our families’ lives, our future lives, thinking that nothing is going to happen to us? Went to a Dave Ramsey seminar yesterday – “Total Money Makeover.” He kept making this statement – “If you keep playing with snakes, eventually you are going to get bit.” Are we going to keep playing with the snakes? Are we going to keep going on with business as usual, pretending like everything’s OK, pretending like there is no cause and effect? Or are we going to wake up – TODAY?
TEENAGERS – How many more of your classmates are going to have be cut out of mangled vehicles before you are going to wake up? It’s time for you to wake up! One thing that I have seen in Lawrence County in the last 6 years is that being a sold-out, fired up, passionate, Jesus Freak Christian teenager who will wake up, stand up, and never back up is definitely NOT a cool thing in this community! Teenagers with a passionate love and commitment to Jesus Christ are rare these days.
Saw a Mossy Oak commercial on TV the other day – “How many hunters can you see?” Could not see any at first, just saw the woods. Then they began to wave their hands. There were 3-4 hunters there. But until they did something to stand out, they blended into their surroundings with unbelievable perfection. This community is full of teenagers who are clothed head to toe in camouflage. Not necessarily Mossy Oak clothing, but a sort of spiritual camouflage. Do the church thing. Do the DNow thing. Do the youth camp thing. Maybe even do the youth choir thing. But don’t do anything else that would cause you to stand out as a dedicated Christian teenager.
When are you going to wake up? When are you going to understand that wearing that spiritual camouflage is not doing anything to make a difference for the cause of Christ among teenagers here in this county?
Verse 4 – You are in the midst of lions and ravenous beasts in this world that are going to tear you apart if you don’t get on board with Jesus. 1 Peter 5:8 says that Satan prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. And if you make yourself available to him by living the life that the world tells you to live, that lion will jump on you and devour you – every time! He doesn’t care who you are, who your parents are, who your grandparents are, what kind of grades you make, how good an athlete you are, how talented a musician you are, who your boyfriend/girlfriend is – if you give him the opportunity, he will attack and he will devour you. Wake up! It’s happening all around you and it will happen to you.
PARENTS – When are we going to wake up and realize that the reason that so few of our kids are sold out, fired up, passionate, Jesus Freak teenagers is b/c so few of us are sold out, fired up, passionate, Jesus Freak adults! Where are the examples for them to follow? Where are the men & women who are showing their sons & daughters that following Jesus is so much more than showing up & warming a pew on Sunday morning? Where are the men & women who are teaching their sons & daughters that following Jesus means a 24/7 relationship with Him that affects every decision that is made? Where are the men & women who are teaching their sons & daughters that living for Jesus means saying YES to some things – like a fervent prayer life; a deepening understanding of the Bible; a strong commitment to the church; a life of passionate worship of God; a heart that is broken & repentant over sin – and saying NO to other things – like the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and all the things that go along with those things?
Parents, what are you passing on to your kids? Not talking about inheritance, money, or material things. Talking about your legacy, your spiritual heritage. When folks see your kids and say, “He’s just like his daddy,” or, “She’s just like her mama,” is that a good thing? Parents, when are we going to wake up and realize that our kids are going to reap what we sow into their lives. There are some verses that ought to strike fear into our hearts & drive us to our knees in brokenness & repentance.
- Ex. 34:6-7 – “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate & gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love & faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, & forgiving wickedness, rebellion, & sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children & their children for the sins of the fathers to the 3rd & 4th generation.”
- Jer. 32:17-18 – “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens & the earth by your great power & outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the father’s sins into the laps of their children after them.”
Parents, what are you bringing into the laps of your children? Is there some generational bondage to sin that keeps getting passed on from generation to generation in your family? Daddy – you ARE passing that on! Mama – you ARE passing that on! When is that bondage going to get broken? When is somebody in your family going to get serious about living for Jesus in a way that will bring honor to His name & break the chains of sin that are on your family?
Verse 7 – “steadfast” means “fixed or unchanging; steady. Firmly loyal or constant, unswerving” (www.dictionary.com). Parents, do these words characterize your relationship to Jesus? If they don’t, are you going to wake up today & begin making the changes necessary in your life that will cause your walk with Christ to be steadfast? Oh parents, how our kids need for us to be steadfast! They will never be steadfast until you & I are steadfast. Sure, there are those isolated cases of kids who grow up in terrible home situations & end up being passionate Christ-followers. And truth is that there are kids who grow up in strong Christian homes & rebel against everything & turn against their family & God. But parents, our God-given responsibility is to show our kids how to have a steadfast heart by having a steadfast heart ourselves and passing it on to them. Wake up, parents!
CHURCH – I hope we are hearing the clarion call to wake up & keep pressing on! Church, we must renew our efforts to reach out to this community with the love of Christ as we have never before. Families are in desperate need of help. Marriages are in trouble; people are struggling w/ addictions of all types; families are falling apart; people are more concerned about themselves than about others; people are dying & going to hell – wake up, church!
This church situated right here in the middle of this county needs to be leading the way in reaching out to this community. We must minister to the real life needs of families. We must keep stretching, growing, looking for every opportunity to share the Gospel w/ those who are lost. We’ve got to think outside the box, color outside the lines. Doing the same thing the same way over & over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity!
CONCLUSION – So what do we do? We’ve heard the wakeup call. Now how do we get up?
- Verse 1-2a – cry out to God for mercy
- Verse 2b – renew our commitment to God & to living out His purposes in our lives & in our church
- And we do it NOW! -
