Monday, September 8, 2014

Waking Up (September 7, 2014)

Waking Up
Romans 13:8-14
September 7, 2014[1]

“The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”  Romans 13:11b

Today’s lesson tells us to “wake up!”  Why?  Because “the hour has already come” and “our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”  But the “why” question is not the most important question.  This why question gets us caught up in conversations about “when” and “what if” and “what if we don’t.”  There may be a time and a place for those discussions; but there is a risk that those conversations will divert us from the most important question.  That question is the “what” question.  What does Paul mean when he tells us to wake up?
So many times, I have read these words (as well as similar words from Jesus himself) and interpreted them as a call to repentance and conversion—to “seek the Lord while He wills to be found, call upon Him when He draws near, [to] let the wicked forsake their ways and the evil ones their thoughts and let them turn to the Lord, and He will have compassion, and to our God, for He will richly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7).  As much as I believe in the urgency of that message of repentance and turning around, something occurred to me this week.  In today’s lesson, Paul is not writing these words to evangelize.  Paul is writing to people who already have made the decision to follow Jesus Christ.  From the very beginning of this letter, he makes it clear that he is writing to “all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints” (Romans 1:7).  As important as the message of conversion is, I don’t believe that conversion is the message here.
Perhaps a little bit closer is the message to “get your house in order.” 
He tells us to wake up from our slumber.  That means that we are asleep.  If we are sleeping, we aren’t doing something that we should be doing.
Paul tells us to wake up because he wants us to do something.  He begins verse 11 by saying, “and do this, understanding the present time.”  So he wants us to be doing “this” (whatever “this” is) now.  There is some immediacy.  It’s as though he is stamping the message “URGENT.”
But what is it that we should be doing?
Recall that earlier in the summer, we spoke about the dilemma that Paul found himself in.  Having encountered the Lord Jesus Christ, have turned his life to a new direction, he was distressed to find that he kept slipping back to his old tendencies.  “I do not do the good that I want to do, and I do the thing that I hate.”  After reaching the point of despair, he cried out “who will save me from this body of death.”  He then answered his own question!  “Thanks be to God,” for he discovered that “there is no condemnation to those who place their trust in Jesus Christ, our Lord.  He then spends Chapter 12 and 13 inviting us to let God through Jesus Christ transform our lives.  “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.” 
That transformation sounds like an internal, spiritual transformation.  Indeed, it is.  But when we are transformed on the inside, the change makes a difference in the way we live.  Chapters 12 and 13 are filled with reminders about the changes God wants to make in our lives.  To truly follow Him, you need to open yourself up to the possibility that you might be changed.  Christ gives you freedom; but in the divine economy, freedom becomes a matter of giving up your self-will and ego-driven nature so that you want what God wants!
So Paul teaches us ways that God wants to change us.  In doing so, he steps on our toes (at least he steps on mine!).  Just look at some of the instructions he gives in Chapters 12 and 13:
·      Let love be genuine (Romans 12:9).
·      Hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good (Romans 12:9).
·      Love one another with mutual affection, outdo one another in showing honor (Romans 12:10).
·      Extend hospitality to strangers (Romans 12:13).
·      Bless those who persecute you (Romans 12:14).
·      Live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16).
·      Do not claim to be wiser than you are (Romans 12:16).
·      Do not repay anyone evil for evil (Romans 12:17).
·      If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all (Romans 12:18).
·      If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink. (Romans 12:20).
·      Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.  Paul calls the authority “God’s servant for your good.” (Romans 13:4).  He even tells us to pay our taxes (Romans 13:6-7).
When I read this list, when I see how far I have to go in order to measure up to these standards of Christian living, it’s easy for me to go back to the despair we found in Chapter 7:  “I do not understand my own actions.  For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…  Wretched man that I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death!” (Romans 7:15, 24).
It almost feels as though I could spend years and years trying to learn all that Christ wants of me, and then years more trying to live up to it.  But Christ doesn’t require special training in order to follow Him.  He reaches out to everybody who wants to receive Him.  But there is a catch.  You find that the way of Christ is a way of freedom; but freedom in Christ only comes when you give yourself fully to the law of love.  “Owe no one anything except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8).
How do I give myself the freedom to follow Christ completely?  We seek openness of heart, willingness to extend ourselves to people.  Looking for the deeper walk, beyond appearances.  Getting below the surface in our relationships.  Emptying ourselves, giving of ourselves, even to the point of joining Christ on the cross.  His way is a way of Love, a way of sacrifice.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  The perfect self love is giving yourself away to the people who need you.  It gets down to the business of “how do I get around to surrendering myself to Christ?” 
The wake up call that Paul is giving us today is a call to love.  A call to love with urgency!  It is a hard call.  It is easy to love when the person you love is lovable; but Christ loves me when I am not lovable.  He loves me when nobody else does.  And he calls on me to do the same.  He raises this standard of loving to make it the litmus test of discipleship:  “by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
And yet, He knows that this type of loving is not something we can do on our own.  That is why He invites us to have our lives transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit living and working in us. 
And this brings me to the final point of urgency.  In this call to wake up from our slumber, Paul is inviting us to enjoy, to savor every minute, every second we have to live in love with Christ and each other.  When I fell in love with Carol, so much in my life changed.  I wanted to spend all my time with her.  To talk with her.  To listen to her.  To hold her hand.  Sometimes talking, sometimes in silence.  But there was an urgency that would drive me to drive hundreds of miles to be with her.
Jesus Christ invites you today to wake up.  He is playing “Reveille.”  He calls you to love with urgency.  And He invites you to bask in, soak in, revel in the love that He extends to you.  Won’t you wake up today?
May it be so!
Copyright © 2014 by Thomas E. Frost.  All rights reserved.



[1] Preached at Cunningham United Methodist Church in Palmyra, Virginia.

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