Wake Up, Christians!
Romans 13:8 8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:11-12 11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already 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.
Ephesians 5:14-20 “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead,and Christ will shine on you.”
When I read the book of Romans, I am getting a lesson on the history of Christianity. Paul recounts what life was like before Christ, and he instructs the converts that they are no longer under the law, but under grace. But grace does not free them to continue in their sin. As Paul says, God forbid. Rather, grace frees them to live in victory over their sin.
Our scripture today begins by telling us love does no wrong to a neighbor, love is the fulfilling of the law. Amen and amen. When the love of God begins to permeate our beings, then we will know we’ve moved beyond mere Christianity and into kingdom living.
Loving people who are like you is easy, but loving those who are different is not. Have you ever known someone who is just plain contentious? If you say black, they say white, if you say straight, they say crooked. As disciples, how do we react?
1 John2: 5 But if anyone obeys his Word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in Him. 6 Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.
The key to loving all people is obedience to God’s Word. Is it easy to love all people? No. But it is necessary. When we move into kingdom living, we are not made perfect but we are perfected in love. Our humanity is covered by Christ’s divinity, and because of Christ we are able to choose love.
Paul says to wake up from sleep. What does that mean to us? We must stop playing church and be the church wherever we are. When we serve at a soup kitchen, do we perform such service as an obligation, or do we throw ourselves into what we are doing with a spirit of joy? When we see someone in need, do we hope someone else will stop and help so that we don’t have to, or do we give of ourselves, even if it is inconvenient?
May we wake up, Christians, not to a new way of doing church but to a new way of being church.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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