Do you remember during your childhood, and perhaps our youth can relate to this now, when you had fallen deep in sleep? I mean you were past counting sheep and you were on cloud 9. Everything was perfect, and you were having the best dream you had in months. Then you were suddenly awakened by that all so dreaded phrase, rise and shine! Some of us would be like, “Oh no, can I at least have 10 more minutes.” That’s because it seems like our best sleep is between 5 & 6:30 in the morning. Nevertheless, your parent was making an urgent appeal for you to get up and get dressed. Why was this appeal so urgent, because your mother or father knew what time it was, and if you continued to sleep any longer you would be late in wherever you were going or behind schedule in whatever you had to do.
Some of you had parents who weren’t lying when they said if you weren’t ready you going to get left behind. Now some of you used that to your advantage when you didn’t want to go anywhere, but you also noticed it didn’t work on Sunday mornings. But when the urgent appeal to rise and shine is given, it is in our best interest that we respond by rising and shining. Whenever we fail to wake up when we’re suppose to, we find ourselves in not so good situations. Recently, and my wife may argue that it’s been longer than that; I’ve found that it has been very difficult for me to wake up. I mean sometimes I hear the alarm, but most of time I don’t. It’s really bad when my wife is out of town for business, that’s when I can set three alarms and still not hear when they go off.
The problem comes when I realize that if I don’t rush, I’m going to be late for work, but praise God we have flex time. But in rushing at times, I’m putting myself in danger, if I would I woke up on time, then I wouldn’t find myself in those situations. The alarm clock was the urgent appeal for me to rise and shine, but missing that call to awaken I find myself in not so good situations. Now don’t get me wrong, it isn’t the alarm clock or the loud voice of our parents that wakes us up, but only the touch from Jesus can open our eyes to a brand new day. Our parents and alarm clocks are only instruments that God uses to wake us.
It is in our text that Paul in this letter to the church at Rome, urgently appeals for them to rise and shine. Paul had never been to Rome before, but he had a great desire to visit. Rome was the New York of its time, it was a place of great influence that spread far and wide. In Paul’s day, Rome was the largest city in the world. It was diplomatic and the trade center of the world. To the world, Rome had it going on, it was the place everybody wanted to be, but for the Christian living in Rome it was like being a distinct and oppressed minority.
Rome was a worldly city, but it was also very religious. Roman citizens centered their religion around Jupiter, the Greek god of the heavens and weather. Jupiter wasn’t the only god they served, for they had many gods, and this is one thing that caused conflict with the Jews and Christians because they believed in one God, the true and living God.
There was a great opportunity for Paul and the church at Rome to share the gospel with the unsaved. But the church at Rome had no apostolic leaders or teachers. In other words, the church wasn’t founded by any of the disciples that had walked with Jesus, nor was it being led by anyone who had been taught by the disciples. So, one of Paul’s reasons for writing this letter was to give the church at Rome “Christian” literature. They only had the Hebrew scriptures, which was the Old Testament, but the Gospels hadn’t been written yet, and Paul’s other letters had been sent to other churches.
Under divine inspiration, Paul wrote a theological masterpiece that had a strong message of the sovereignty of God and justification by faith. This letter would also give Paul credibility and authority to speak on Christ’s behalf. The church at Rome had only heard about Paul, but didn’t really know who he was. Paul had to establish what he believed in and identify himself as a servant of God. The church at Rome would have no reason to believe anything Paul said in this letter, if they didn’t believe he was sent by God.
In the first eleven chapters of the book of Romans, Paul has a doctrinal discussion, but in the latter portion of the book Paul moves to a practical discussion. We can be taught something all day long, but if we don’t know how to put into practice what we were taught, then we will face difficulties. Christian doctrine translates into action, and in our selected passage Paul makes an urgent appeal to the Christians in Rome to rise and shine.
I hope you have your bibles out because I’m a biblical preacher. I know that sounds funny because you may being saying, “Shouldn’t all ministers preach biblically?” Yes they should, but all of them don’t. Some preachers are so worried about having a catchy title for their sermon like, “You Can’t This”, and when they preach they hadn’t touched any scripture in the Bible. But as we walk through this passage, I want to share some thoughts about rising and shining.
Paul begins in verse 11 by saying, “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.” The first thought we want to make note of is, if we are to rise and shine we must be aware of what time it is. Paul is about to make an urgent appeal for the believer to rise out of sleep, but what gives this appeal its urgency is when we know what time it is. When the alarms sounds in the morning, what compels me to get up is knowing what time it is. When I know that it’s 6:30 or past that time, I need to get up or I’m going to be late for work. Paul says, “You know what time it is, you know we’re in the last days.”
In the early 70’s Marvin Gaye released, in what is known as one of the greatest records to come out of soul music, an album titled “What’s Going On.” If any of you own or if you’ve seen this record you may have noticed that there isn’t a question mark after the title “What’s Going On.” This wasn’t a typo or misprint by the printing company, but by leaving the question mark off, Marvin Gaye wasn’t presenting a question to his listeners, instead he wanted them reflect on the climate of the early 70’s, the widespread civil unrest, drug abuse, and abandoned children. In the same manner, Paul says, “Knowing the time”, in other words reflect on climate around you, the evil that’s present, and since you know what’s going on, it is high time to awake out of sleep. The hour has come for you to rise and shine.
Paul isn’t speaking of physical sleep, but to rise out of spiritual sleep. Sleep represents inactivity, being unalert, which in the spiritual state can be dangerous. Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, asked Peter, James, and John to come with him while he prayed to His Father in the garden of Gethsemane. He told them to watch while He prayed. When Jesus came back he found the disciples knocked out, they had fallen to sleep. Jesus used that incident, not referring to their physical sleep, to teach them about being spiritually awake. He said, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
Satan is having so many victories in our lives because we’re sleep, we’ve become inactive and ineffective in bearing fruit for God. Some of us are sleep in studying the Word of God, sleep in our prayer life, sleep in our church attendance, sleep in giving to others, sleep in having the right attitude, sleep in loving one another, sleep in being obedient to God, we’re sleep and the urgent appeal has already been given, rise and shine!
Look at the latter part of verse 11, Paul further backs up his urgent appeal when he says, “For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.” Somebody may be saying, “Now hold up, are you telling me that my salvation is two-fold, and that I’m not completely saved?” Yes, salvation is two-fold, and yes if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you are completely saved. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians said, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” Believers in Christ are sealed by the Holy Spirit, which guarantees our inheritance of the kingdom of God.
Now salvation has a two-fold nature because here on earth those who have believed and accepted Christ are saved from the death penalty of sin and freed from the power of sin, but when Christ returns or when we go to be with the Lord, we will be saved from the presence of sin, from heartache and pain, and from trials and tribulations, which is our ultimate and final salvation. Paul says that each day that has passed after we’ve given our life to Christ brings us closer to His return. How many of you know Jesus is coming back?
He is coming back, Paul says in verse 12, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” The night represented here is referring to the time of deeds of sin and shame, and the evil time we’re living in. The night is far spent, in other words this world has been given more time than it probably deserves to get right, evil has been taking place long enough, and time will soon be up since the day, which refers to the day Christ will return, is at hand. It’s close, and if the day was at hand when Paul wrote this letter to the church at Rome, think about how much closer we are today.
In this latter part of verse 12, Paul says, “Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” Here is another thought we want to make note of, rising and shining calls for us to change our clothing. Paul isn’t talking about our physical clothing, but we can use that for an example. When we wake up in the morning, before we go to school, work, or get our day started, we take off our night clothes or our pajamas and put on appropriate clothing for whatever activity we’re about to be involved in. We can’t go to school or work with plaid pajama pants on; we have to change into something decent. Paul is saying since we know what time it is, since we know that our salvation is closer than when we first believed, and that the day is at hand, cast off and put aside works of darkness.
Paul refers to them as works of darkness because when we live in sin we don’t want anybody to know about it, these sins are done in the dark because the light will expose them. These works of darkness must be cast off and replaced with the armor of light. In this text, light represents that which is pure, righteousness, and is exposed publicly. But notice Paul says we have to put on the armor of light. Armor suggesting that not only is the light pure and righteous, but it is also protective. Think about it, when light appears what happens to darkness? It disappears. Light exposes things for what they are; therefore darkness cannot exist in the light. When we put on the armor of light we are protected from evil, satan can’t touch us.
Somebody may say, “What about Job, he was a righteous man, and satan struck his body with sickness and took all his material possessions, that doesn’t sound like protection to me.” But what did God say to satan, he said you can do whatever you want to Job’s possessions, but you can’t take his life. We need to get beyond the physical and material and realize that there is a spiritual battle going on. If we have put on the armor of light, we are protected spiritually from satan and he can not have our souls. This physical world, these material things are going to pass away and the only thing that will matter is your soul. After satan tested Job, and because he didn’t turn his back on God, Job was blessed and restored with more than he had in the beginning.
In Ephesians chapter 6, Paul says, “Put on the whole armor of God”, and it is there he discusses in the detail the armor of light. So we are to rise, and we shine when we put on the armor of light.
Now it’s one thing to put on the armor of light, but we must also walk in the light. Verse 13, Paul says, “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.” In contemporary language what Paul was saying is we need behave decently, with lifestyles that please God. Don’t participate in wild parties and getting drunk, in sexual immorality and lust, and in fighting and jealousy. And if you’re having trouble defining what is considered a wild party, well it’s any party you feel guilty for going to. Paul calls believers to live an honest and honorable life before God and the world. When a person claims to be a Christian, if they cannot change their lifestyle, then they better change their name.
I’m about to sit down, shut-up, and be happy all by myself. Look at verse 14, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” The last thought we want to note today is, rising and shining involves surrendering your will to Jesus Christ. If we are to awake out of our state of inactivity, cast off works of darkness, put on the armor of light, and walk properly before God, then we must let Jesus Christ take control of our total lives and surrender our own wills to Him. Waking up in the morning involves surrendering our will, because I’m sure most of us would like to sleep a little longer. But if we’re smart, we know that having total control of our lives isn’t a good thing. We don’t always make the right decisions, and we don’t know what the future holds. But Jesus Christ does and it is in our best interest that we put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Putting on Christ means to allow Him to envelop us so that when others view us they see His righteousness. Therefore Christ not only lives in us and through us, but on us as well. I don’t want anybody to see Shad, that wouldn’t be a pretty picture, but when I put on Christ you don’t see my will, you see God’s will. You don’t see my attitudes, you see Christ’s. You don’t see the actions of my thoughts, but you see the actions godly thoughts. And here is the key, just as we put on clothes everyday, we have to put on Christ daily as well. This is how we keep ourselves and our wills out of the picture. We have to rise and say, “Lord I don’t know which way to go today, take control of me and remove my fleshly desires. Lord if you don’t move in me, I’ll be lost.”
When our all is surrendered to Christ, we’ll not only rise, but we’ll be able to shine. If we are going to rise and shine we must be aware of the time. Knowing that Christ’s return is at hand, we must awaken and be about the Lord’s work. We must also realize that rising and shining calls for us to change our clothing. We must cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, which also protects us from the wiles of the devil. And if we are going to rise and shine, we have to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and surrender to him every area of our lives.
When our alarm clocks go off or our parents awaken us in the morning, it’s the most dreaded sound to our ears, but praise God for this urgent appeal to rise and shine. This should be a call that we embrace. We need rise and shine and work while its day, for the night comes when no man can work. This urgent appeal was to the believers, but it can also serve as a warning to the non-believer to rise and shine or get left behind...
