The message of the alarm clock

Romans 13:11-14

            An alarm clock comes as an intrusion into your world, to your warm bed, to your dreams, to your desire to stay where you are.  And the alarm clock says, “you got to get up.”  And you react; you don’t like the message; you want to maintain the status quo.  Our passage today comes in the same way.  It’s an intrusion into our lives.  You are feeling pretty comfortable with the people around you, and the things that God has given you.  And this message says, “you have to do something” that you don’t want to do.  It’s asking you to get up, change your clothes and get serious about Jesus Christ in a total way.

            This message is a continuation of David’s message last Sunday.  He gave us reasons why we should be in submission to Government.  Do you remember them?  (1)  Their authority is from God; (2) they accomplish God’s purposes, (3) they are members of our team; and (4) our submission helps us live with a clear conscience.

            Today we’re in that same context, and Paul makes applications from our responsibility to government.  It comes down to the message of an alarm clock.  What does an alarm clock say to us?

1.  It’s later than you think – 11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand.

            A.  The day is here.  “Now it is high time” verse 11 warns.  “You need to get up already!”  That is the message of your alarm.  “Time’s up.”  Sleep refers to lethargic, passive, lazy Christians.  To rise from sleep is to get out of our absorption with the present world, the night time age, and break out of conformity to the present evil age (as in 12:2).

            “In a society governed by the sun rather than by the convenience of artificial lighting, people rose at dawn.  Only slackers would keep to their beds after the first glow of daylight.  Early rising was especially necessary in the Near East, where the bulk of work needed to be done before the heat of midday” (Moo, 820).

            B.  Reality is here.  Sleep is a temporary state, an unreal state; getting up and facing the day is the alive state, reality.  You don’t say, “OK let me go spend a couple of hours at work so that I can come home and go back to sleep, because sleep is the real me; when I sleep I am most alive.”  Sleep is the interruption to restore and refresh your faculties so that you will be most alive.  I doubt that they are going to do a reality show in coming days of people sleeping.  Can’t you see the limitations of that kind of show?   “Let’s see; let’s compare snoring patterns and snoring volume.”  There wouldn’t be anything about which to build a show.  And it couldn’t be called “reality TV” because the people sleeping wouldn’t be the reality, the people watching would be the reality.  I remember the story of the prayer steward of the Washington Bible College, a man by the name of Ed Stelling.  Mr. Miles stayed with him one night and at 5 am heard a knock on his bedroom door inviting him to get up and pray.  Ed said to George Miles, “let’s get to work.”  We wake up to reality.

            C.  This day is going to be a great one.  “Salvation is nearer than when we believed” (11).  The “reality” of life is that SALVATION is approaching.  We are to wake up and get out of bed and get dressed for SALVATION!  This is not disaster, this is not tribulation, this is SALVATION.  Do you remember when you were first saved, and how exciting that was?  What does that mean?  That I wasn’t saved when I was saved?

            Salvation comes in three tenses, a past, a present and a future.  For those of you who have never said, “yes” to Christ, you haven’t dealt with the past yet.  Your problem is that even if you are good from here on out, who’s going to take care of what you have done up to now?  Only Jesus Christ can forgive your past, and take away the penalty of your sins, eternal damnation in hell.

            For those of us who have said, “yes” to Christ, our problem is the present.  Jesus Christ wants to enable us to say “no” to temptation which leads to sin right now.  He wants to give us victory over the power of sin in our lives.  He wants to enable us to live holy. 

            There is also a future salvation that is coming toward us much faster than we think.  It is salvation from the very presence of sin.  It involves a resurrection when we are given a new body, when we are taken out of our present circumstances and placed in His holy city, the new Jerusalem, described in Revelation 21-22. 

            What does that day look like?  Would you put that day in the category of a court date?  Or a vacation?

            Salvation is in the category of VACATION, not COURT, victory, not defeat, glory, not despair.  People think that when Christ comes they will go to court, and face the judge.  And that is true, that we will be judged.  But the attitude of the judge is extremely important.  Is He scowling as we enter the room, knowing what a piece of trash we are, and how badly we have messed up?  Or is He looking at us with the same attitude as He did when He died for us?  There will be embarrassment for those who sleep through the revolution, but its not an issue of being condemned to hell.

            What’s it like to get ready to go on vacation?  Don’t you find that you often work more to get ready for a vacation than you do to get ready for a day at home?  When we have gone up to my uncle’s cottage on Lake Michigan, Martha has prepared the food for all 16 of us before we go and has carried it with us.  Imagine the work involved!  She needs a week at the cottage just to rest from the preparations for the week at the cottage!

            That is the idea here.  You can’t snooze your way through the Christian life.  There are some who do but they are stupid and they will wake up some day ashamed.  The truth is that OUR SALVATION IS AT HAND; it is nearer than we know!

            Sometimes the alarm rings with a greater jolt than at other times.  Yesterday I had to get up at 4 am to take Martha’s sister-in-law to Dulles for a 6:30 am flight.  We had gotten in a little before midnight from the inaugural events at the Bible college and had discussed who should take Susan to the airport.  We voted democratically and guess who won?  The alarm rang with a jolt at about 3:59 so that I would have plenty of time to get ready to leave at 4:00.  I was in no mood; I felt almost like a hypocrite for getting up when I didn’t really want to; my sleep debt was high; Martha would probably have had a great time talking to her sister-in-law on the long trip to the airport; but no matter.  I GOT UP.  The alarm had spoken.

2.  You can’t stay where you are.

11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

            The bed is warm, things are comfortable, it’s your cocoon, and chances are pretty good that your dreams were good.  Everything in your body says “I’m staying here; I’m not getting out; it’s too early; I’ve got another five minutes, or ten minutes.”  And the alarm clock says, “you have to get out!”  “You have to get up.”  What does “UP” mean in this passage.  How do we get “up” spiritually?  Notice the terms:

            a.  “Throw off the works of darkness”

b.  “Walk not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy”

            c.  “Make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts”

When you are asleep you are in “darkness.”  You have no concept of what is going on in the “awake” world.  Christians can live in darkness, unaware of what is going on in God’s real world.  And living in darkness leads to living in sin (revelry and drunkenness) and fulfilling your own desires (the flesh). What keeps us asleep as Christians is a certain attractiveness of darkness.  You stay in bed with the “works of darkness,” “revelry and drunkenness.”  The word “revelry” means parties, parades through the streets like Mardi Gras that lead to drinking parties and letting it all hang out.  “Lewdness” is the word “sex,” and “lust” is the word “thinking about sex.”  “Strife” is the word “contention,” and “envy” is the word, “zeal.”  Three categories that Christians tend to stay in bed with – partying and excess, sex and thinking about sensuality, and fights, contentions, divisions. 

            Can you see how those kinds of things would say to us, “just stay here with me.”  “We’ll have fun.”  For a Christian to get out of dreamland, she has to say NO!  She has to throw it out, cast it off, get it out of her system, and get UP!  You won’t get out of bed when you are still dreaming that these things are going to bring you some kind of warm, cozy comfort in life.  Wake up, realize the harm they are going to do, and GET UP!

            Verse 14 is talking about the same thing when it says, make no provision for the flesh to listen to or obey its desires.  Make no plans for what your body desires.  Give no forethought to the warmth of the bed and the shock to your system of the cold shower of getting out of your comfort zone.

            What do you do when you get up?  You have to ignore the cry of your body for the pillow and the sheets; you have to ignore the aches that come with getting up and moving.  You say, “no” to them.  You can’t listen, otherwise you are back in bed.

            Your body has all kinds of desires that you have accumulated over the years, the desire for comfort, for fun, for excitement, for security, for love, for recognition, for people to know you are competent.  All of those desires can keep you in bed when the Son of God shines into your life.  God says, “ignore them, the way you ignore them when the alarm rings.”

            What do you have to do when you get up and it’s time to go to work?  You have to get the thoughts of bed and sleep out of your mind.  For me, it’s the shower that wakes me up and gets all the remnants of sleep out of my thoughts.  For others it may be coffee, or exercise.  But can you imagine the pain of living in a state where you are so tired that you are always thinking about sleep?  You can’t sleep when it is time to sleep, and you can’t stay awake when it is time to do something.  And yet, how many Christians live there all the time?

            Some people say, “oh if I don’t listen to my body, I will be a hypocrite.  I can’t be a hypocrite.  I have to be true to myself.”  Do you consider yourself a hypocrite when you get up in the morning and make yourself get your act together and get to work?  Of course not.  Neither will you when you say, “no” to your desires.

            The point of the alarm clock is that You cannot stay where you are, where you are is comfortable, is peaceful, is dreamy.  “GET UP, GET OUT. You can’t stay here.” 

3.  You have to change.  An alarm clock DEMANDS change.

Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

            Not only is it the time, not only do you have to get out of bed, but you have to change.  You have to get ready for the day and its demands.  And if you don’t get ready for the day, you will look rather odd. 

            Yesterday, I went to Riverdale Baptist Church, after having put on my tuxedo.  It was the inauguration of the new president of the Washington Bible College.  When I arrived at Riverdale, I greeted some people and walked through the back of the church into the room where the faculty were gathering.  After talking to a few people, I went over to my brother-in-law, Dave Shive who chuckled out loud when he saw me, and said, “did you put yourself together correctly?” as he straightened out my collar in the back.  Apparently I hadn’t managed to get my collar down over my tie in the back and it was standing up.  Can you imagine wearing a tuxedo for 11 hours, parading around in formal dignity with your collar sticking up in the back?  “Put ye on the Lord Jesus” means “get ready for the day so you won’t be embarrassed.”

            There are three commands that identify what our day is going to be like, and what we need to get ready for.

            A.  It’s going to be a battle.  “Put on weapons of light.” The word “armor” is the word, “weapons.”   Today is going to be a day of battle!  We may have snoozed; but today is a significant challenge.  We are going to fight with the weapons of LIGHT!  We win our battle in the darkness with weapons of light.  The command is to “get them on.”  It’s in the sense of “get your shirt tucked in,” “get your belt on,” “make sure your dress is zipped in the back.”  And it is in a middle voice, which means that this is YOUR responsibility.  No one else will dress you; in fact, no one else is able to dress you.  Your pastor can’t do it; your best friend can’t do it; your parents, your husband or wife, can’t do it.  If you do not set your heart on getting your weapons of light on, you will be brought low by the events of the day.

            Do you understand why so many Christians lose so many battles?  They haven’t gotten up and gotten ready.  They are fighting in their sleep.  And they lose.

            B.  It’s going to call for serious choices.  “Let us walk properly, as in the day.”  The word, “properly,” is the word “fitting.”  It means to walk in a way appropriate to those who are of the light.  The word “walk” means to make choices as to where you are going to put the next foot down.  “Walk” implies choices as to how one is going to order one’s life.

            The best time to do this is in the morning.  It’s in the morning you need to decide whether you are going to listen to your body’s desires, or walk worthy of your calling in Christ.  Often the best way to deal with temptation is to make up your mind how to deal with temptation before you face it.

            You young people in the morning of your life are going to be tempted with sexual issues.  If you wait until you are in the middle of sexual temptation and then say, “I wonder what I should do,” you are not going to be very successful.  You make up your mind beforehand that you are going to keep your body pure.  The same thing is true with honesty.  You say ahead of time, “I am going to be honest in everything, money, tests I take, papers I write, things I say.  I will be honest in all areas.  Then when the choice comes, it is easier to say, “I have already made my mind up on that.”

            C.  You’re going to need the power of Jesus Christ.  The command is to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”  The command is similar to what we do with a suit or dress.  You put it on.  Put on Jesus Christ. 

            HOW?  Two suggestions: (1) The verse helps us understand how.  It reads as if we have only two choices – we either put on Christ or we will obey the desires of our flesh.  That helps us understand what it means to put on Christ – obey Him, instead of obeying your own desires. (2) The context helps us understand how to put on Christ.  Chapter 12:1, present your body to Him; 12:2, live the new life by renewing your mind; 12:3, don’t get proud, but realize that you need everyone around you; so minister your gift.  We put on Christ by actively seeking to join Him in all He is doing.

            Your life is a battle, is going to be a battle.  Wake up to that fact.  You want an easy road?  You are in the wrong life for that.  God doesn’t want to give you ease, He wants to give you victory!  But along the way you are going to make hard choices, and you need to get ready for them every day. 

            Are you sleeping?  Have you made any hard choices to break out of your comfort zone for Christ?  We were talking last Tuesday in the Missions committee about why more people at BBC don’t go on short term missions trips.  It seems that every year it’s many of the same people, which is good.  But why don’t we have more?  And one answer was that it’s too radical.  It’s easier to keep going the way we are going, especially if we are busy and making money and things are going well.  We need to wake up to our opportunities to serve.

            Last Sunday Dave said we need to pray for our leaders.  He directed us to a web site, presidentialprayerteam.org.  How many went there and have prayed those requests for our leadership?  We need to wake up to our opportunities to pray.  Here’s what you will find there:

            Pray for President Bush as he manages four huge challenges, Iraq, Katrina’s aftermath (640 confirmed dead, 72,000 troops in the area), the observances of the 911 attacks 4 years ago, and a new appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Pray that God will be his constant comfort and strength, asking God to grant great wisdom, focus and energy to the President as he faces each day.

            The message of the alarm clock.  Has it gotten you out of bed?  Are you ready for the DAY?  Our salvation is at hand.  We need to wake up, smell the coffee, get a life, His life!  Jesus Christ may be back this week!

09/18/05, BBC am