Preparing for His Coming

Romans 13:11-14

Introduction

After prayer and thought BCL agreed that for the next year, the preaching should be planned by using the Biblical texts from the Revised Common Lectionary. The Revised Common Lectionary is a way of reading Scripture in worship services. It has been put together by a large group of churches. It is organized around the Christian year and guides us in celebrating the events of Jesus’ life. The Lectionary is organized in three year cycles and we will be following year one this year. After that we will evaluate to see if we will continue. Each week there are readings from the Old Testament, Psalms, the Gospels and from the rest of the New Testament. We will encourage whoever is preaching to choose one of the texts and we will read some of the others in the worship service. If you would like to read along, you can find the Lectionary on line or purchase a copy. The Lectionary begins on the first Sunday of Advent, which is today, so we will begin today.

Advent means coming. In this season, we think about the years during which people waited for the first coming of Messiah. There is a similarity in this time of waiting to our time. We also are waiting, now for the second coming of Messiah. The text we will look at today is Romans 13:11-14 which reminds us of the waiting period we are in. Let’s read it.

Last week we talked about the good news of salvation which God has given us in Christ. As we wait for the second coming of Christ, we wait as those who are His followers. We are people who have received the gospel and we look forward with anticipation to His coming. How do we live as people who have received the gospel while we wait for the coming of our Saviour?

I.                Know What Time It Is

As we wait, we need to know what time it is.

Whether you look at your wrist or at the clock on the wall or at your phone, there are occasions when we check the time in order to know how near we are to whatever we are waiting for. How the time seems to go by varies depending on what we are waiting for. If we are waiting for a dentist, 10 minutes seems like 1. If we are on vacation 1 minute seems like 10. What was it like to wait for Jesus before He was born?

The Old Testament contains many promises of the coming of Messiah. Isaiah 9:6 promises, “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” This and many other passages speak about the promises of His coming and so the people waited. I Enoch was a book written within 200 years before the birth of Jesus. It speaks of the hopes of the people that the Son of Man, the Elect One or the Messiah would soon come and so expresses the hopes the people had. In Luke 3:15, John the Baptist prepared the way for the coming of Jesus and there we also read of this expectation. It says, “…the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah…” For so many years the promise of His coming created a longing for His coming. The people waited and finally the day arrived and Jesus came into the world the first time.

In a similar way, we are waiting for Jesus to come again. Are we aware of the time that we are living in? Do we recognize that we are in a similar time of waiting? Does a similar longing fill our hearts?

In Romans 11:11, we read that “…salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers…” This statement is founded on the truth that we don’t know when Jesus is coming back. A strange thing happens to us in relationship to anticipation. When it is sunny, we anticipate that it will never rain and when it rains for a few days in a row, we anticipate that it will never be sunny again. In a similar way we live in the present time and we think that Jesus will never come back again, but that is not true. Jesus came the first time and there is a limited amount of time until He will come back again. When Paul wrote this, time had passed, which meant that they were closer to His coming than when they had first believed. Much time has passed since then and so today we are even closer.

What makes it so hard to remember that Jesus is coming back is that we live in the time of darkness. But Paul says, “…the night is far gone…” Since we are closer now than when we first believed, the time when night and darkness reign is getting shorter all the time. It is important to know that we are in the night because it explains why there is so much evil in the world and why people gladly choose evil. But to say that it is far gone also reminds us that that darkness is passing away. Darkness is not the eternal reality in God’s world. The time of darkness is almost gone and when Jesus returns, it will be removed completely.

            The other reality is that “…the day is near.” The term “the day” is used in the Bible to refer to the return of Jesus. For example, in I Thessalonians 5:2 we read, “For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” Jesus’ coming will happen any time and then the full light of God’s day will dawn on all who follow Him.

            We need to “know what time it is. We need to know that the night is almost gone and the day is getting closer. We can’t allow the human tendency to extrapolate the present into the future to influence us. We can’t allow the delay of Jesus to cause us to give up hope. Although sometimes all we see is the dark horizon, Paul is telling us that the eastern sky is getting lighter. The return of Jesus is imminent. We live by this hope not because of any signs we think we may see, but because God has promised that He will return and the time of His return is getting closer.

            When someone promises to come and pick us up at 7:00 we sit and wait for them to show up. When they don’t come on time, we may question their promise, their integrity or our understanding of the right time and location. We feel as if Jesus’ return has been delayed a long time, but we don’t need to engage in questioning His promise or His timing. God has told us that He will come and that coming could be any time.

When I was growing up, mom came into my room to wake me up in the morning. I have two memories of that time. One is the smell of Nivea cream, which she was putting on her hands. The other is having my toes pinched when I didn’t immediately get out of bed. When she came to wake me I understood two things. Sleeping time was over and it was time to get ready for the day.

This text functions like a wakeup call. As we wait for the coming of Jesus and as we become aware of what time it is, we must also understand that it is time to wake up. Night is for sleeping, and the day is for working. If this text functions as an alarm to wake us up to the reality that Jesus’ return is going to happen any time, we can’t hit the snooze button! Living as followers of Jesus means being aware of the time and ready for His return at any time.

II.             Lay Aside the Works of Darkness

One of the first things we might do when we wake up is to lay aside the clothing of the night. We take off our pajamas, we wash the sleep out of our eyes and we get rid of our “morning breath.” In a similar way, knowing that the day may soon be here means getting rid of the clothing of the night. Paul calls for followers of Jesus to “lay aside the works of darkness.” It is inappropriate for those who belong to the light to live in the darkness. It does not fit for a follower of Jesus to follow the path of sinfulness.

The text identifies 6 deeds of darkness in three pairs. Reveling refers to the kind of parties where self-control and appropriate behavior are thrown out of the window in favor of self-centered self-indulgence. It is often associated with drunkenness. The second pair addresses darkness in regards to our sexuality. God has declared His intention for our sexuality. It is that we should abstain from sexual intercourse until marriage and then be faithful to our spouse in marriage. This is God’s plan because sexual activity is intended by God to be the physical expression of the deep bond between a husband and wife.  NLT translates the third word “sexual promiscuity.” This warns us about the hurtful way in which sexual activity outside of marriage destroys relationships and is part of the darkness which we must avoid. The other part of the pair refers to the person who does shameful things and does not care who notices. It is the attitude of the absence of shame. The third pair warns about the terrible consequences when people fight with each other because they are jealous of each other. Dissension is the willingness to fight for what we want and often arises out of selfishness. Jealousy is the hatred of those who have what we want.

Many more deeds of darkness exist in the world around us and are tempting for us. Deeds of darkness, such as greed, conspicuous consumption, racism, bullying, abuse and many others, are not appropriate for those who live in the light.

In order to avoid these deeds of darkness we need a strategy to avoid them. In verse 14 we have some thoughts on that strategy. It says, “…make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” How do we do that?

The most dangerous position we can be in is to deny that we have a problem with our “flesh.” If we think that we have conquered sin in our life, we are more susceptible to it than ever. To make no provision for the flesh begins with the understanding that we are in danger, subject to temptation and susceptible to yielding to temptation. When we understand that, then we can begin to learn how we can “make no provision for the flesh.”

A good starting place is to covenant with ourselves that we don’t want sin in our life. Sometimes when we are faced with temptation, we resist it, but in the back of our mind, we may leave the door open to allowing it someday. If we are to make “no provision for the flesh” we must close the door to sin by making a covenant to avoid all sin.

This won’t, of course, guarantee that we won’t sin. In order to gain victory, we need to know when and how temptation comes into our life and have strategies in place for victory. Satan isn’t really all that clever and usually attacks us in pretty predictable ways. If we are aware of those ways, and have a plan to counter-attack temptation, then we can have victory over sin. Someone reminded me this week about Billy Graham’s strategy to avoid temptation. It was his rule in life never to be in a room alone with a woman. He even had a staff person assigned to make sure that that never happened. What a great way to make no provision for the flesh.

We are children of light and the deeds of darkness, which are all around us and even within us, do not fit with who we are. May we make every effort to lay them aside!

III.           Put On the Armor of Light

If we know what time it is, the text also calls us to “put on the armor of light.” This is an interesting term for it is military language. Why would it say “armor” of light? The use of this term reminds us that we are in a battle. It isn’t just a matter of darkness gently co-existing with light and the light gradually taking over the darkness. The darkness is opposed to the light and there is a war going on. The powers of darkness know that their days are numbered and they are seeking to drag as many as possible into the darkness before the day arrives. That is why it is not as simple as avoiding darkness and putting on light. We must battle to avoid darkness and we are in a battle to represent the light.

A great passage to help us think about the armor we need to put on is Ephesians 6:10-20. But I would like to stick to our text which invites us to put on the armor of “light.”

What is the armor of light? Satan uses the methods of darkness. He hides things and deceives. The armor of light is exactly the opposite. Jesus said in John 8:32, “…you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” God’s methods involve truth, transparency, openness and honesty. That is the armor of light. Another phrase in this text adds to this strategy when it says in verse 13, “…live honorably as in the day.” Last week one of the survey questions which CTV news asked was, “Are you concerned about government surveillance of your online activity.” I suspect there are aspects of that I have not thought about, but on one level, it seems to me that if we are living “honorably as in the day” then we have nothing to hide from the government or anyone else. When we live that way, we put on the armor of light. When we put on the armor of light, we gain victory because the enemy does not know how to handle the truth nor honorable living.

IV.           Put On the Lord Jesus Christ

As we wait for the day to come, we are also invited to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Salvation is about Jesus. Our sins are forgiven because of Jesus. We have eternal life because of Jesus. Therefore, it makes sense that we also live our life of faith in relationship with Jesus. When we become Christians, we receive Jesus and so put Him on. We also put on the Lord Jesus as we follow Him every day.

How do we put on the Lord Jesus Christ? We put on the Lord Jesus as we walk in His way and as we do the things He did. We put on the Lord Jesus as we walk in a daily relationship with Him. It isn’t about memorizing the things He did or about creating a list of Jesus deeds. It is about knowing Him as our companion and friend. We can live that way as we begin each day on our knees before Him. There we declare to Him, “You are my friend and companion through this day. I recognize your Lordship and I am on my knees to declare my submission to you.” As we come to the end of the day, we can put on the Lord Jesus Christ by looking back over the day and considering how it has gone. There is an ancient spiritual practice called “Examen” in which we discern the times during the day when we have experienced Consolation and also when we have experienced Desolation. Or another way of saying that is to think about when we have experienced the presence of God and when we have felt the absence of God. As we reflect on that, we process our day in the presence of God. As we do so, we can begin to understand ourselves and also how God is at work in our life. With these strategies we book end our days with Jesus and learn to remain in Him throughout the day.

Conclusion

During this advent season, we have an opportunity to think about what it meant to anticipate and wait for the coming of Jesus. In light of what we have just learned from Romans 13, we know that this is not just an exercise in historical reflection. It is an opportunity to think about what the coming of Christ means to us as we realize that we are also in a period of waiting for the second coming of Christ. The two comings are closely connected. They both contain an element of anticipation and waiting. Both comings focus on the Lord Jesus. What happened in the first coming prepares us for the second coming.

May we know the time and, while putting aside the deeds of darkness, may we put on the armor of light and walk with Jesus. May we wait with joy and faithfulness during this Advent and Christmas season!