Wake Up And Smell The Coffee

Wake Up And Smell the Coffee

Text: Rom. 13:11-14

Introduction

1. Illustration: This little grandmother was surprised by her 7 year old grandson one morning. He had made her coffee. She drank what was the worst cup of coffee in her life. When she got to the bottom there were three of those little green army men in the cup. She said, "Honey, what are the army men doing in my coffee?" Her grandson said, "Grandma, it says on TV, ’The best part of waking up is soldiers in your cup!’"

2. Many people drink coffee in the morning to help them wake up.

3. The church needs to drink some spiritual coffee, because the church needs to wake from its sleep. We need to wake up and see:

a. Time is short

b. Act Accordingly

c. Prepare ourselves

4. Read Rom. 13:11-14

Proposition: The church needs to wake up because the time of Christ’s coming is soon.

Transition: We must wake up and see that...

I. The Time Is Short (11)

A. Awake Out of Sleep

1. Paul begins this section by saying "This is all the more urgent..."

a. What is he referring to?

b. He is referring to the previous section and the admonishment to love and do what is right.

c. He indicates that we should live our lives with a sense of urgency.

2. However, Paul has a specific reason in mind that we should love and do the right thing. He says, "for you know how late it is; time is running out."

a. The word "know" means to make sure that you know; leave absolutely no room for doubt.

b. "Time" refers a critical period; the strategic or special period of time.

c. This critical time, or event, that Paul is referring to is the second coming of the Lord.

d. The time of His coming is upon us, so we must be sure that we are living right so that we are not caught off guard.

e. 1 Thessalonians 5:2 (NLT)

For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.

3. He says that because the Lord is coming soon we need to wake up from our sleep.

a. Paul says that the time has come that we must hasten to obtain our reward (Ambrosiaster, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Romans, 320).

b. Too many believers are sleeping and paying no attention to what is going on in the world; too many are not watching; too many are not observing the signs of the time.

c. Too many are complacent, lazily passing through life with little commitment to serving Christ.

d. We have become so busy and obsessed with things that don’t matter that we have but our relationship with the Lord in second place.

4. Paul says the reason we should wake up is because "our salvation is nearer than when we first believed."

a. Paul uses "salvation" language to refer to the final accomplishment of God’s plan in history (Moo, NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Romans, 440).

b. That final day, the day of Christ’s return and the glorification of the believer, is getting closer all the time.

5. The point is dramatic: the day is nearer than when we believed. Awaken out of sleep—arouse yourself—get up—pay attention:

a. Look at what is going on in the world.

b. Look at the moral condition of our society.

c. It’s not getting better; it’s getting worse and worse.

B. Time to Get Up

1. Illustration: A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. The next week, the man realized that he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight to Chicago. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (AND LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me at 5:00 AM." The next morning the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and that he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn’t woken him when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said, "It is 5:00 AM. Wake up"

2. What a horrible thing it would be for us to wake up one morning and discover that we have missed it.

a. That we had missed the glorious coming of the Lord.

b. That we had missed all the warnings and missed the train to glory.

c. That Jesus has come and gone and left us behind.

3. The alarm clock is going off, and its time to get up.

a. When the world has gone mad, it’s time to wake up.