Wake Up And Get Concerned

Posted on February 18, 2007

 

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Romans 13:11

I’ll tell you one of the worst memories I have had here at Bethel since becoming your Pastor. We have a Tuesday morning men’s Bible study that begins at 6:15 a.m. and it’s a great time for everybody who comes. One morning, Angie woke me up at 6:30 and it hit me that I was missing the Bible study… led my me! I threw on clothes and a hat (the only time I’ve worn a hat to church!) and ran as fast as I could. They had started without me (thankfully), but talk about a wake-up call!

We’ve all had an experience like that (I hope it’s not just me) where we were jolted out of our sleep. It’s an awful feeling to know that something is happening or we’re late for something, but thank God for the alarm that gets us up just in time.

In my spiritual life, there are times when I have had those wake-up calls as well. God has reminded me of the urgency of the moment. I have the habit of slipping into the “someday syndrome.” In fact, I think it’s an epidemic problem among all of us at times. We begin to say, “Someday I’ll get started in the Christian life…” “Someday I’ll share my faith…” “Someday we’ll do great things for God…” But “some day” rarely comes. What is always here is the word “NOW!”

ONE GREAT TRUTH:

Right now is the time to wake up spiritually, to be aware of God, ourselves, and others in a way that impacts eternity.

What I want us to do is just see this single verse in all its splendor, then make some important applications of it. But notice the key word, “NOW!” Paul refers back to the principle of loving people. Then he says, “This (loving others), knowing the time…” We’re to have a sense of urgency about loving others because of the time. We are to wake up spiritually, to become alert and alive, responsive to the crises all around us because, as believers, we are to be wise to what time it is on God’s clock of redemption.

What is it that makes this hour so urgent? Jesus is coming! He’s on His way back and our salvation (the end product of what happened when we trusted Him initially) is going to occur, so time is running out. History is winding down. The earth is headed for doomsday, the day when the whole world will stand before the judgment bar of God, and billions will enter eternity without Christ. The clock is ticking. Time is running out!

That’s Paul’s message. WAKE UP… NOW! Jesus is coming!

So let me make some practical and spiritual applications of the “NOW Principle.”

Right NOW, it’s time to wake up to the needs around us.

Right now, there are people dying all around the world without the gospel, so love compels us to give to missions and to go to the end of the earth with the message of the gospel. But it’s not just a global problem, it’s a backyard problem. There are rich, wealthy, hard-working people right here in Northwest Arkansas who are trusting in all the wrong things to get them to heaven. Then, there are desperately poor families who need help as well. There is a spiritual poverty that has resulted from the church’s spiritual apathy.

I don’t want to salve your conscience. It’s easy to take social action, to get into a “holy huddle” and rant and rave about all the problems of the world, but when was the last time you involved yourself in the life of a hurting person and really did something concrete to change a life forever? The time is now!

Right NOW, it’s time to wake up to the need within us.

Right now, we are suffering from the disease of spiritual apathy. It’s not that we don’t care about lost people or that we don’t care about God, it’s that we are not moved by our concern. We have atrophied. We’re not being put to use.

Matthew 26:36-46 tells us the story of the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane who slept during Jesus’ greatest trial. As He sweated drops of blood, they slept. I don’t think we ever fully understand all that God does. We don’t ever fully feel all that God feels.

The problem with sleep is that you don’t realize when you slip into it. Driving down the road on a long trip is a good example. I used to really struggle with sleepiness. Actually, I was falling asleep before my eyes closed. I learned this the hard way once in the car with my Father-in-law, who fell asleep with his eyes open, going down the road. What was I to do?

Could you be spiritually asleep right now?

Right NOW, it’s time to wake up to the God Who is coming for us.

We are to be on the lookout for the coming Christ. Our salvation is near, it draweth nigh! We are to live with an excitement and positive enthusiasm that is absolutely contagious. We need to spread it around that Jesus is coming!

The first line of the next verse really, I think, belongs with verse 11. It says, “the night is far spent, the day is at hand.” I think He’s talking spiritually about His eternal clock. Satan’s day to rule this world is nearly over. His hour is almost up. Jesus is coming again, first thing in the morning. The Son is coming back, the day is at hand! Are we living like Jesus is on His way?

We have the problem of living in the past. If there is a problem worse than the “someday syndrome” it’s the “remember when” syndrome. This is the condition in which we are always living in yesterday’s victories. We’re always clinging to the way things used to be. I see dying churches everywhere that are doctrinally correct but headed to their graves because they keep preaching, “Oh… for church the way it was then!”

We focus too much on the cross sometimes. We picture Him there, dying for our sins. This is an important picture when it comes to our salvation. But I don’t live on the cross, I live in the power of Jesus’ resurrection. He’s a reigning King! He’s coming. Look up! He’s on His way!

Do you need revival now? Do you need to say, “I don’t want to live in yesterday, and I don’t want to just hope for ‘someday,’ I want to live for Christ NOW. I want all of God I can get NOW. I want dynamic worship NOW?”

Let’s have an altar time with God in which we respond NOW! What do you need to do? Do you need to trust Christ right now? To follow Him in missions or ministry? Now is the time!