Advent 1 December 2, 2007
“What Should We Do While We Wait for the
King?”
Romans 13:11-14
(8
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one
another.)
11 And do this, understanding the
present time. The hour has come for you
to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we
first believed. 12 The night is nearly
over; the day is almost here. So let us
put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime,
not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in
dissensions and jealousy. 14 Rather,
clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify
the desires of the sinful nature.
Americans are good at many
things, but waiting is not one of them.
A question that often is asked is, “What should I do while I wait?” It’s time to drop the kids off at
gymnastics…what should I do while I wait for them to be done? I’m in the parking lot called I-10 on a
weekday afternoon…what should I do while I wait for the accident to clear? I’m flat on my back in a hospital room…what
should I do while I wait for things to get better? There is a tense relationship in my life…seems
like I’m always on pins and needles…what should I do while I wait for a chance
to work things out?
There’s plenty of waiting in
our lives. To wait can be
excruciating. To wait can be
frustrating. Yet waiting is an important
skill to achieve; and it is especially important for Christians, because
whether we like it or not, we are all playing the waiting game. I’m not just talking about traffic or
hospitals. We are all waiting for the
King to come! Jesus is coming and he is
coming soon! That’s his promise. The question we will sort through this
morning is…what do we do while we wait for the King? Twiddle our thumbs? Listen to the radio? Go shopping?
Live it up and party hard? What
should we do while we wait for Jesus to come back?
Today the apostle Paul gives
us some advice on what to do while we wait for the King to come back. He will tell us that 1. We need to understand the present times, and
2. We need to get ready for war. (read
text)
It’s so easy to blend in with
your surroundings. We begin to assume
that the way it is now is the way it always has been and always will be. But sometimes it is good to step back and
take a good hard look at the past, because looking at the past will help you
understand the present. For example, as
a senior at seminary in 2002, out of thirty-eight seniors, there was a grand
total of one young man in our class who owned a cell phone. And the only reason he bought it was because
his wife was expecting to give birth any day.
Remember when most people didn’t have a cell phone? Nowadays, if you have a driver’s license you
also probably have a cell phone. Yet not
long ago, my wife and I told our kids, “Yep, when we grew up, there were no
microwaves, no DVD players, no VCRs, no computers, no cell phones.” And when we said “no cell phones” Ethan
laughed and said, “No Mama, I don’t believe you.” He couldn’t imagine life without cell
phones. It is easy to just live life and
never reflect on the present times we are in.
While we wait, we need to step
back and understand the present times.
Appreciate what we have! But there’s
more. When Paul says, “Understand the
present times” he wasn’t talking technology, he was talking spiritually. When Paul looked at his present times, what
did he see? He saw people looking forward
to getting drunk. The close cousin of
drunkenness is sexual immorality. So
often, those two go together; they went together in Paul’s day too. He saw “debauchery” – which literally means,
“living as though there was no law.” He
saw dissension – spouses fighting and frustrated. Instead of living in forgiveness, these
people were keeping track of how they had been wronged. Marriages were torn; families were ripped
apart. Jealousy was alive and well. And it was all normal.
With terrible sins like that
all around them, you would think it would have been easy for the Romans to
detect that they were living in a sinful world.
But just like we kind of blend in with a cell-phone-lifestyle, the
Romans were blending in with their surroundings. Drunkenness, immorality, dissension and
jealousy weren’t terrible. They were
normal; something to laugh at.
So what do we do while we
wait? We stop blending in, we understand
what is going on around you, and wake up!
The Greek word for “slumber” is “hypnos” –
which is where we get our word “hypnosis.”
In these sinful times, don’t walk around like a zombie. Don’t just go with the sinful flow. Don’t laugh along with the sinful world
around you. Don’t get drunk with the
boys; don’t ridicule your husbands with the girls. Don’t brag about it, don’t joke about
it. Repent! And why should we repent?
Because when you understand
the present times, more needs to happen than that you are simply made aware of
your sins. You also must be aware that
Judgment Day is almost here! That fact
vaults repentance to the number one slot on the to-do list. Each time you put your head on the pillow,
you are one day closer to the day you meet your Maker. Every time the sun sets, you have one less
day to live until the day God declares, “GAME OVER!” It is a terrible lie to push repentance off,
to think, “I have plenty of time to change my sinful habits, to fix issues I
know need to be fixed.” No! Understand the present times, wake up and
repent!
For in repentance, we hear
Jesus forgive. Every time, every day,
from every sin. From all the
drunkenness; from all the immorality; from all the dissension; from
sleepwalking through life living just like the rest of the world. He throws out our sinful clothes and puts on
his clothes – the clothes of his perfect life.
He reminds us that we are safe with him, that when the King does come,
we will be on his side. So what do we do
while we wait for him to come back? We
live in forgiveness. We let the power of
forgiveness conquer the power of sin.
Another way to say the same thing is that we put aside the deeds of
darkness and put on the armor of light.
It is significant to note the
phrase “armor of light” is used and not the word “garments of light” or
“clothes of light.” Certainly those
phrases would fit, but why did God choose the phrase “armor of light”
here? Because when you want to stay
sober and not cross that line you’ve crossed before, when you want to stick out
and protect God’s gift of sex and keep it as something special for marriage,
when you want to make peace, apologize and forgive rather than boil up in
dissension…you are in a war! You are
fighting a vigorous enemy that doesn’t take no for an answer. You need some protection. You need armor.
Jesus gives you exactly what
you need. Like a proud general who gives
his troops nothing but golden armor, Jesus gives you nothing but the best in
protection for your soul. His armor
won’t fail you ever. And what is his
armor? Here’s a thought to remember –
his armor for you is his forgiveness. It
is the armor of forgiveness that motivates you to drink in moderation or not at
all. It is the armor of forgiveness that
strengthens you in self-control, that you save sexual thoughts and actions only
for your spouse. It is the armor of
forgiveness that helps you to set aside your pride, to gently apologize, to
patiently forgive, and let that ugly dissension melt away. Put aside the deeds of darkness, and put on
the armor of light.
There’s one more thought from
these verses I want to share at the end.
Waiting time is thinking time. If
you are in prison waiting to be released, you have lots of time to think. If you in the prison of a hospital bed,
waiting to be healed, you have lots of time to think. Waiting time is thinking time, and there is a
major war that takes place between your ears.
While you wait, do not think
about how to gratify sinful desires. Put
on Christ’s armor of light, and fight the war not in worry but in
contentment. The King is coming! And when he comes, the war will be over and
the victory will be ours. Amen.