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This is Nugget #9, submitted by yours truly...Tina. Please pray that God will give inspiration and revelation to all contributors, using them to His glory and for the edifying of every reader.
Nugget #9: Background Passage: Romans 13:11-14 Focal Passage: Romans13:11-14
11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
What do I mean when I say that it is time for the church to awake out of sleep? We all get up everyday. We open our church doors every Sunday and usually at least one other day of the week. Preachers are still preaching, ushers are still ushering, and choir members are still singing. So why would I say that the church is asleep?
Sleep is defined as the periodic suspension of consciousness during which the powers of the body are restored; as a state of torpid inactivity; as DEATH, a TRANCE, or a COMA; and even as a state marked by a diminution of feeling followed by tingling. See where I'm going here? In general, so many of us in the church have gotten so comfortable in our four walls that we've lost consciousness of what is going on outside of them. Once the center OF every believer's life, church is now just a Wednesday night/Sunday morning escape FROM life. So consumed with ourselves and plagued by internal issues, many churches have fallen into a state of torpid inactivity. No one wants to go out into the community anymore. No one wants to sweat. We're finding the classic case of Everybody waiting on Somebody to do what Anybody can but Nobody will. What has resulted? While we've been resting on the side of the road, the powers of the flesh, the world, have been restored. The world has gladly stepped in to do the things that the church won't- feed the hungry, provide shelter and medical attention to the sick and homeless, give hope to the hopeless, provide answers to the hard questions concerning life. Only it has come with a price. They aren't giving the right answers, the God answers. They are teaching the world how to live the abundant life, to be debt free, to find inner peace, but through the flesh, by robbing God, by focusing on self, by taking any means necessary, by stepping on whoever is in the way, even by finding "spirituality." Only it isn't the Spirit of God that they are seeking. The church has lost compassion not only for the lost, but for one another, has experienced a diminution of feeling. As a result, many "saints" have converted back to their old ways of life, where they use the works of the flesh to meet their needs and satiate their desires.
In this passage God is warning the church that night time is almost over and the day is at hand. No one knows the day or the hour Jesus shall return, but He has warned and the signs of the time testify that the hour is quickly approaching. The night- metaphorically the time when work ceases, the time of death, the time for deeds of sin and shame, the time of moral stupidity and darkness, the time when the weary and also the drunken give themselves up to slumber- is far spent. It has gone on too long! We've ceased to work for too long! We've allowed sin to control our lives for too long! We've been morally ignorant and deficient for too long! Those who've grown tired in this walk have slept for too long! The day- metaphorically the time for abstaining from indulgence, vice, and crime- is at hand! It's here! Not only that, but the day of Jesus Christ, the day of His return, the day of Judgment, the day that the wheat will be separated from the tares, is also drawing near. So what can we do?
Saints, it is time to take our rightful position as the body, the army of Christ. It is time out for excuses! All of us have to deal daily with our demons and the sin that wants to overtake us, but remember we are MORE than conquerors(Ro 8:37)! What used to hold us down no longer has power over us! If we are truly in Christ Jesus, then we are new creatures! The old has passed away, and all things have become new( 2 Co 5:17). Unlike the world, we have this hope, that he who has begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6). Jesus did not deliver you to allow the enemy to overtake you again! Whom the Son sets free is free indeed ( Jo 8:36)! So, throw off the works of darkness! Surely they will try to jump on your back, but simply throw them off! Submit to God and resist the devil, and he has to flee( Ja 4:7)! Heb 12:1 admonishes us to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us, and run with patience the race that is set before us. How do we overcome the sin? By getting rid of everything and everyone that can hold us captive to it! It's time to throw some things away! Am I saying you will immediately forget the sins of the past, won't fall again, or that throwing the enemy off is an easy job? Heaven forbid! But I do know this: there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Through Him we have been set free from sin and death (Ro 8). So no matter how hard the battle, know that in the end you WILL win, IF you don't give up( Gal 6:9)!
Once you throw off darkness, you must replace it with something else, or it will return. So, put on the armor of light! Ephesians 6 gives us the armor of Jesus Christ(see also Bible Nugget #1-#5). Church, let us walk in honesty and in truth, recognizing the day and knowing that our deeds are being brought to light. The world is looking at us, looking to see what sets us apart. So, let us not walk as they walk, in rioting and drunkenness, in adultery, fornication and unbridled lust, in strife and envying. But let us walk in love. Remember, God is love, so in order to truly walk in love we must walk in God. To do that, we must throw off the works of darkness, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and die to the flesh, no longer living to fulfil its desires, but God's desires. May our prayer be daily, "Lord, not my will, but Your will be done."
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