Wake Up!

Introduction

I recently installed an alarm-clock app on my phone that makes it so the alarm won’t go off until I do a puzzle or solve a math equation. This is because I am a heavy sleeper in the morning, and getting up is difficult. However, if I know I have something urgent to do that morning, I have no problem getting up, because the urgency causes me to forget my sleepiness and drives me to get ready for the day.

In this text, we see Paul giving such an alarm to all Christians, that we do indeed have an urgent reason to wake up from our past of sinful works to embrace the dawning of the Kingdom of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul’s instruction here is dependent on the time that we are in: believers must understand what context we live in so that we will see how we ought to naturally behave. Just as it is appropriate to sleep at night and wake in the day, it is appropriate for those who were once asleep in the darkness of unbelief to rise up and act, knowing the nearness of our salvation which is at hand.

The Coming of the Dawn

The metaphor Paul is using, that of night or dark and day or light, corresponds to an eschatological understanding of the coming of Christ.

When we talk about end times or eschatology, we think about the second coming of Jesus, some think about a rapture and tribulation 7 years before the beginning of the millenium. However, the Bible uses end time language to describe the first coming of Christ as well as the second coming. This is why the NT often calls the church age the last days.

When we begin to think about end times in this way, we can see what Paul is saying here. The age of darkness that reigned before the coming of Christ, an age where Satan held the world uncontested everywhere except among the remnant of the faithful in Israel, is over. What the OT writers didn’t know, however, was the the Kingdom of Heaven would not make its visible appearance at once. Instead, like the shades of dark that pass to shades of grey, purple, orange, and yellow bring in the dawn, we live in the twilight hours before the dawn. The dawn here is the second coming of Christ, since Paul mentions that the day is near, and in his first coming, his death, and his resurrection the first scattered beams of the sunrise began to show.

So now, the dawn has come. The end times, that is the end of the night, is here. In Paul’s words, “our salvation is now nearer than when we first believed”. Salvation here refers to eschatological salvation; our salvation in its completion in the New World Christ is making for us.

In light of this, Paul is telling us something about the nature of the time in which we live as the reason we must act a certain way.

What Paul then goes on to say is connected with his previous discourse on love, which we looked at last week. Verse 11 begins awkwardly, and different translations translated it differently. In Greek, it literally reads, and this, knowing the time which is difficult for us to understand. The NIV is probably better than the ESV here, as the ESV translates it in such a way as to remove the following idea from the previous with besides this. The NIV, however, adds the verb do in its translation, and do this. That is because the and this is riding off of the verse in verse 5, countering “love does no harm to a neighbour” with “instead, love does this.” Essentially, the fulfillment of the law, as mentioned in verse 10, is love; but it is also this: to wake up and behave in a way that is consistent with the light.

In 2012, many people thought the world was going to end. Some people sold their possessions, some Christians hired pet sitters to look after their dogs and cats after they were raptured. It didn’t happen, because they misread the times. They acted according to the time in which they thought they were living, but they were wrong.

Christian faith is holding onto the hope that, because of the death and resurrection of Christ, the day has come. How has the day come, it is still dark outside? Yes, but don’t you see, there is a faint streak of grey on the horizon. It is the light of Christ shining through his saints. They have their eyes to the eastern sky in the hope of sunrise, while the unbelieving have their eyes to the west and see nothing but the same darkness that has always been there, so they turn over and go back to sleep.

So the matter of faith is very simple: do you believe that it is morning, that the sun is rising and soon it will be day? Or do you believe that it is still night? Whichever of these someone believes will impact the actions they take, since if it is still night I’m going back to sleep. If Christ has not risen from the dead, lets go down the street and pick up a pallet of beer to get drunk on, because the hope of dawn does not exist. But if he did rise from the dead, its time to get up, wipe the sleepiness from our eyes, and make sure we are awake and ready for the appearance of the morning sun.

Life in the Dark or in the Light

Paul tells us what the nature of darkness is by instructing the Romans on what actions they should put behind them, since these are the actions of a sleepy night and not an active day.

Vs 12: the night is nearly over, as we see we are not in a New Earth yet and there are plenty who are still sleeping around us. And yet, we know it is ending. Now what does it look like to live in the sleepiness of life?

The night is characterized by essentially letting our fleshly desires run our life chaotically, rather than submitting them to the will of God. Paul gives examples of the outcome of following chaotic and sinful desires, but the list is not exclusive.

Orgies or carousing (depending on your translation) is paired with drunkenness. This refers to drinking parties in which alcohol was drunk excessively and prostitutes were hired to please the party-goers. This specific example is, for Paul, a picture of the chaotic indulgence of our animalistic desires. It is the polar opposite of self-control and “walking properly” or in the NIV “behaving decently”. We may say, “well I don’t go to such parties, so this has nothing to say to me” but recognize that this is just a picture of the real problem: acting like there is no day. Acting like there is no hope in life. Acting like I am just an animal with no reason to reign in my fleshly cravings.

Sexual immorality is in Greek just a word for any sexual intercourse, but paired with debauchery or in the ESV sensuality we get the idea of sex which is unrestrained by morality or reason. The ideas is an abandonment of any control over sexual desires.

Paul moves from these most obvious forms of destructive behaviour to those that are often more socially acceptable: fighting, division, jealousy. One may seem to have the reigns on their sexual appetites, but live without restraint when it comes to other desires. When anger flares up, they give into it, often without asking why. When they have a disagreement, they create divisions and chaos rather than control themselves while they seek the most uplifting outcome of the disagreement.

Much more could be said by Paul, so many desires that we often leave uncontrolled such as gluttony, addictions to our screens, lying and deceiving, gossiping, and generally a lack of self control.

Paul’s point here is to characterize the works of darkness as self-abandonment. What we need to recognize about the sinful life is that it is a life without hope. It assumes two things:

First, it is night. There is no day coming, there is no future world where sin will be abolished. The promises of God are not real. Therefore, why should I control myself? A worldly person may control themselves for temporary gain or happiness, but it is not in hope of the day that is dawning. Rather, it is an attempt to ‘make do’ with the darkness which is all they can see.

Second, at night you sleep. That is, if there is no hope, there is no reason to reach for the humanity God has created us for, the image-bearing nature shown perfect in Christ to which we are aiming to obtain. You sleep at night because it is not day, and likewise sinners sin because they believe they live a life in which attaining the perfect nature of a divine image-bearer is not necessary or even desirable, like someone who walks around at night as if it were day. To sleep, then, means to fall back into whatever makes our current bodies and minds comfortable, like someone who wakes up in the middle of the night roles back into the warm comfort of their bed.

So we see that behind sinful behaviour is a worldview, an essential denial of the eschatological truth that has been revealed at the coming of Christ. His resurrection was like the alarm clock going off, telling us it is time to rise out of our comfortable beds and get ready for a day of light. The unbeliever turns off the alarm because they look out towards the west and see nothing but darkness, and so assume that it is still night and go back to sleep. The believer, however, looks towards the east in faith and sees the glimmer of a new day coming.

This becomes the reason the believer seeks to fulfill the law through love and self-control: because they fundamentally believe that the morning has come. The morning of a new world, an eternal life filled with activity and fruitful labour. They wake up to a new nature, one which bends their bodily appetites under self-control. They see the need to leave the sleepiness of sin behind because they know that when the sun is up, they must be as well. They live in moderation because they are awake to who they are in Christ: a new creation prepared for the day. No longer will they sleep in their mindless passions, they must push on to the hope of the rising sun. Salvation is near, and they must be ready.

The Time is Now!

So, the call we see here is this: pull back the covers, abandon your pillow, brush your teeth, get in the shower, have breakfast, and get dressed out of your pajamas. The day is coming, the sky is brighter now than it was when the alarm clock first sounded.

Paul communicates this in verse 14 by telling us to clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus in order to get ready for the eternal day of glory ahead of us. Chrysostom defines this “putting on” well:

For this is what putting Him on is; never being without Him, having Him evermore visible in us, through our sanctification, through our moderation.

Since it is Christ who brings the morning, let us be ready to be like him. Just as you cannot wear your work clothes and pajamas together, we cannot be clothed with Christ and gratifies the desires of the flesh at the same time. The garments of sleep must come off so that the garments of the day may replace them. We must put on the Lord Jesus Christ, let the Spirit fill us with his presence, his power, his truth, his righteousness, and at the same time put our fleshly comfort and desires under submission. Our fleshly desires are not inherently evil; the desire for food, enjoyment, laughter, sex, and fun have their place. But they must not be uncontrolled, but rather put under submission to the Lordship of Christ. Chrysostom point this out, that we may drink wine and enjoy the company of friends in thanksgiving to God, but not get drunk and indulge in unrestrained wickedness. We may enjoy the loving intimacy of marriage in holiness, but not let our sexual passions drive us to uncontrolled sexual fulfillment. All such desires now belong to Christ, and must be submitted to him.

Conclusion

So we see in Paul’s introduction to the remaining two chapter of Romans, which deal with Christian behaviour, a worldview presented which counters that of the world. If you believe the day is coming, you will get up and get ready. If you do not, you will roll over and get back to the sleepiness of worldly passions. You faith will show itself by your works, because faith leads to actions that are consistent with the truth we have received. In light of this, I close with three applications:

Wake up, because the day is almost here. See in this text the urgency of the matter. All those found sleeping when the sun is up will be condemned, for they heard the alarm of the gospel, but they didn’t believe it. They rejected the truth, and now they are rejected from enjoying the day and instead will live in an eternity of a restless slumber of punishment and death. Let that day not find you in this position; meditate on the urgency and cultivate in your heart an eagerness to get ready for the day of eternity which, even now, is dawning. You may say, “The stars disappear one by one, and the moon is gone. The world grows dark. How is it that the day is near?” Know that the disappearance of light in this world is not a sign of a deeper night, but rather of the dawn coming. A cloud may hang over the horizon, but the resurrection proves that morning is nonetheless on the horizon and if you gaze at the eastern sky with the eyes of faith, you will see the faint glimmer of the coming day. Shake the sleep from your eyes, look to the hope of the coming day, and fit yourself with all that is fitting for it. Take of the pajamas of sin and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul elsewhere promises us in Galatians 5:16

Galatians 5:16 ESV

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

By putting on Christ and walking in love of God and neighbour, which is the fulfillment of the law, you will naturally deny the flesh as its desires on contrary to such things. Then, brush your teeth with good works done in love. Shower yourself in the Scriptures so that you are washed by the water of the Word. For breakfast, feed on Christ through prayer, communion with the saints, and the Lord’s Table. Do all that is necessary to get the sleep out of your eyes, for the darkness that remains will at times begin to weigh on our eyelids. Rise and shine, salvation is near!

Next, let us in love continue to keep each other awake. To exhort another believer is to lovingly and graciously make them aware that they have hit the snooze button when the morning is here. May we also be open to such corrections, because we know how easy it is to slip back into slumber out of which we may not wake until the trumpet sounds. The purpose of the church is to be the people of the day who keep each other awake as we prepare for the sunrise of the glory of Christ. In humility, let us walk in that.

And finally, do not be angry or impatient with those who still slumber in darkness. Remember how many times you hit “snooze” on the Spirit’s urging you to awaken, and recognize the hopelessness in which they live. They do not awake because they have not seen the dawn in faith. Instead, let us busy ourselves with the work of waking the sleepers. By God’s grace, perhaps they will see the first rays of dawn and come to their senses. Some unbelievers may arise, but only to fluff their pillow and tighten their sheets to make their sleep more comfortable. Our is not simply a call to get up for a more comfortable night, but to get up because the dawn is almost here. What mercy and compassion we must have on those who continue to live in darkness. They have no reason to get out of bed. Let us make it our aim to give them a reason through the preaching of the Word.

The day is almost here, our salvation is almost at hand. Very soon, though it seems long to us, the sun will rise and we will rejoice in the day. Take hope in this, and you will endure to see that glorious sunrise.