It's Time to Wake Up!

It Is Time To Wake Up!
Romans 13:11-14

11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

In the name of Jesus:

Revielie is the traditional call to wake up for the military. It is usually a bugle call to wake up our armed forces. Reveille comes from the French word reveil, which means to wake up. There are different lyrics that are associated with reveille in the United States; the first says:
I can't get 'em up I can't get 'em up, I can't get 'em up this morning; I can't get 'em up, I can't get 'em up, I can't get 'em up at all! The corporal's worse than the privates, The sergeant's worse than the corporals, Lieutenant's worse than the sergeants, And the captain's worst of all!< repeat top six lines >
An alternate rendition to the U.S. tune above:
I can't get 'em up I can't get 'em up I can't get 'em up this morning; I can't get 'em up I can't get 'em up I can't get 'em up at all! And tho' the sun starts peeping, And dawn has started creeping, Those lazy bums keep sleeping, They never hear my call! < repeat top six lines >
But it is probably this version that is most well known, and is appropriate to our text for today:
You've got to get up You've got to get up You've got to get up this morning You've got to get up You've got to get up Get up with the bugler's call The major told the captain The captain told the sergeant The sergeant told the bugler The bugler told them all.

God today calls His children to Wake Up! It is time for us to get up from our spiritual slumber, it is time for you to wake up, shake off the doldrums, and rise and live for Christ!
Paul uses a picture to describe the situation that Christians and the Church finds itself in while living in a sinful world. Think of the last time you found yourself asleep (not during the sermon, try another time). When you were asleep, the world went on about its own business. You were oblivious to what others were doing. Perhaps you were dreaming and all caught up in your dreams. If you were having a nightmare, you were startled from your sleep and found it difficult if not impossible to return to your slumber. But the point of sleep is this: while sleeping you were shut off from the world around you. You had no clue as to what was going one.
Paul uses sleep as a way of describing spiritual inattentiveness. Most certainly we can point to the world today and say that many are spiritually asleep. There are many today who go about their own business without thought or mind of God. They live as if they are oblivious to God and His will. They dream as if they can live without God, and many certainly many try. Their sins are listed by Paul in our text: living in the darkness as their lives are marked by drunkenness, sexual immorality and sensuality, quarreling and jealousy. They exhibit in their lives neither the love of God nor the mind of God.
Yet, as sinful people we too are fallen. Before we can say, thank you Lord that I am not like those people, we have our own sins which bear their weight in our lives. These weigh us down. For we at times live as if God is not really important. There are times in our lives when we care more about what others think than what God thinks. We conform and bend to peer pressure. We are quick to judge, we snap in anger and rage at those whom we love. Rather than to treat and act in love, we love to turn and twist the truth, gossiping that which we know not is true, failing to speak up for the good name of a neighbor, failing to act because of selfishness and thus we will not show mercy and love to someone in need. You see, it is easy to point fingers at others who live without God. The sad fact is that we as God’s people choose to live without God. We live and act as if we are spiritually asleep, as if God does not matter. How many times have you thought: Oh, I don’t have to do this, God will understand. How many times have you cheapened God’s love and forgiveness? How many times have you gone about your business without seeking God’s guidance, direction, or blessings? As a child of God, you have lived your life as if God did not matter, as if His Word was not important, as if there were more important things in your life instead of God. And God’s work and His Kingdom have suffered for it.
This is why Paul tells you and me to wake up! Come to your senses! It is time to awaken from the slumber that we are in and repent! In these days before Christmas, the season of Advent, the Christian Church pauses to reflect upon its sinfulness and repent of its sins, turning to God who is merciful and who will forgive sins. God invites you to come and reason together with Him, for though your sins are like scarlet, they will become white as snow.
How will they become white as snow? Because of the mighty work of God! God the Father in love sent His only Son, Jesus, to keep God’s Law for sinners without a flaw, Jesus lived the perfect life. Then in love Jesus died, paying the price for the forgiveness of all sin. Jesus cried out on the cross: “It is finished!” Nothing more needs be done. All has been accomplished by God on the cross of Christ. In victory Jesus rose from the grave, defeating sin, Satan, and death for all who believe. You have been saved by a free gift of God in Christ, not because of works, but because of Christ. You have confessed this in the Creed, professing that you believe in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. In Baptism you have been clothed with Christ. You ARE FORGIVEN! Now, as a child of God, how then should you live? Like the rest of the world that acts as if God doesn’t exist? As if we are asleep at the switch? Or do we live for God, in thanks to Him for what He has done for us in Christ? You know the answer, we live in thanks to God! Paul, though, gives us another reason as to why we live for God in these dark days, we live for God because the day of our salvation is nearer than when we first believed!
It is a fact that Christ has come, born of a woman, born to redeem sinners. It is also a fact, that we believe what WILL HAPPEN, and we confess this in our Creed, that Christ will come again, as Judge, to judge the living and the dead. Paul exhorts Christians, he exhorts YOU to live for Christ today because that day of Christ’s second coming is closer by the day!
How do you prepare for that His Coming? By putting off the works or darkness. By living your life in continual and constant repentance and faith. We are called by God to examine ourselves in the light of God’s Law each day and repent, turn from sin, confessing it to God who forgives us in Jesus. And then, trusting in Christ for full forgiveness, we live lives on alert. Like a soldier standing guard or a sentinel who stands at the ready, you are called to live your life as a solider for Christ, at the ready for Christ. Being alert in your life for the temptations of Satan, who Scripture says is like a roaring lion seeking ones he can devour. Being alert, you remember what God has done for you in your Baptism, and remembering who you belong to, namely Jesus, you live a life pleasing to God.
How is this done? Let’s look at how some various versions of the Bible translate this passage, to get an idea as to what God is talking about. Make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. Don't plan to have your fleshly desires aroused. Make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. Make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Don't make plans to enjoy evil. Make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Stop giving attention to your sinful nature, to satisfy its desires. Forget about satisfying your bodies with all their cravings. Give no more thought to satisfying the bodily appetites.
It is one thing to say that God has given us our body and therefore we are to satisfy our God given appetites. These are not wrong per se. But what God is warning us against is that we must be on our constant guard not to let these appetites rule us, nor to use them wrongly. When it's a matter of sinful lust we must say NO. In Baptism we have put on the Lord Jesus Christ, which means that you live out your Baptism each day, giving Satan no quarter or place in your life. As a baptized child of God, you don’t leave room for the devil to operate.
Even thought the world in its sinfulness stands condemned by God and under His wrath, you are called to live in the light of God. Paul tells us in verse 13: “Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.” Now the good Lutheran asks, what does this mean? Simply, it means that the believer is faithful to Christ in all things. It means that the child of God will not participate in revelry and drunkenness . Paul here is talking about all night drinking parties and celebrations which cause harm to others. What am I talking about? Think in terms of riots after victorious sporting events, or riots on college campuses during Halloween. Paul goes on to warn against fornication and unrestrained pleasure. The Christian is called to hold marriage as a high and honorable estate between a man and a woman, and to keep the marriage bed undefiled, which prohibits sexual activity which is forbidden by God’s Law. The child of God is to lead a life of restraint. Too many times in the sinful world we see and hear the message, if it feels good do it. That is not becoming of a child of God. The Christian is not to live as a slave to sin, not giving in to any and all desires, of shameless greed and lust. We are not animals, but creatures of God redeemed by Christ! We are called to live as such! to not live as a slave to self indulgence or living a life without any inhibitions. Paul warns us elsewhere in Scripture: “Let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls!” (1 Corinthians 10:12) Anyone who thinks they could not become the victim of such sins deceives himself.
Rather, we are called to run from sin, to repent and turn from sin, and live in the light of Christ. You are a new creature in Christ. By faith in Christ you have the power and the strength to live godly lives. Baptism is to be your daily dress, so that each day you live as a Baptized child of God! Putting off the works of the flesh, denying the darkness of the world, forgiven by Christ you rise to newness of life, living in the light of Christ’s light and sharing His love and light with a darkened world. You live by faith in the Son of God who now lives in you (Galatians 2:20) Jesus is the vine, you are His branches, grafted into Him so that you will bear fruit for Him (John 15:1-8;) You have been born again in Christ so that the world will know of Jesus in and through you! (John 17:23). Christ has redeemed us so that we may serve Him with fear for the rest of our lives IN HOLINESS AND RIGHTEOUSNES all of the days of our lives until He comes again to take us home to be with Him forever!
In these next few weeks we will be preparing for Christmas. Soon the Christmas trees will be erected and lit. We will, with joy, celebrate the birth of the Savior. But all the while we must not fall asleep. We must not give in to the devil, the world, or our sinful flesh. Saved by the grace of God, forgiven as His children, we are called to stand at the ready to serve our God and others in the name of Jesus. It’s time to wake up, and continually walk in the grace of God, for the day of Christ’s coming is drawing near!
Amen