No Mention of a Manger
By Mark Shannon, Guest Preacher
Romans 13:8-14
Romans 13:8-14
8Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who
loves another has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, “You shall
not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not
covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your
neighbor as yourself.” 10Love does no wrong to a neighbor;
therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
11Besides this, you know what
time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation
is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12the night is
far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put
on the armor of light; 13let us live honorably as in the day, not in
reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in
quarreling and jealousy. 14Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
On
this first Sunday in Advent can you tell that Christmas time is here? We’ve just survived Black Friday, the
carols are playing on lots of radio stations, and some Christmas specials have
already aired on TV.
Everywhere you look you can see that we’re in the midst of a culture
that’s in full Christmas mode.
Everywhere that is except in our Scripture reading for today.
Our
passages today don’t say anything about angels on high or a star in the
sky. Bethlehem’s baby is not the
subject of our text. There’s no
mention of a manger, or myrrh, or Magi.
All we get in today’s readings is talk of judgment and a list of things
we’re not supposed to do.
Christmas is all around us!
Why
can’t the Bible get in step with the rest of the world?
When
we turn our attention to the passage from Romans, we are
hard-pressed to find any hint of the Christmas story. Even though it’s a much more straightforward message
we can be forgiven if the birth of our Savior does not spring to mind after we
read the text.
When
Pastor Susan was putting the bulletin together, she wanted to know which of the
texts for today I would be preaching from. When I told her the one from Romans she remarked that she loves
this epistle but she said it can be a challenge to preach about it. Well, you know what they say about
fools rushing in don’t you? I’m
trusting that the angels of Christmas are gathered round, so here goes.
After
reading the text I was reminded of Paul’s words to the Philippians when he
says: “Rejoice…and again I say
rejoice!” Upon first glance this
passage contains a list of things not to do and to be careful how you
live. But consider this. When God’s Word tells us these rules
and restrictions the Author is writing them out of a deep
love for His people. We are loved
and prized by the Lord and He wants us to know these things because He is
concerned for our well-being. When
you see a child playing close to traffic, there’s an almost natural inclination
to warn the child to stay away from there and to be careful—even if you’ve
never seen that child before. How
much more magnified is God’s love for us, whom He sees as His children in a
dangerous world full of temptations and pitfalls?
When
we read verses that tell us to behave decently, not in orgies or drunkenness,
not in sexual immorality or debauchery, not in dissension or jealousy, can we
honestly say that we’d rather live our lives steeped in those sins? Although there is an attraction and a
fascination with these lifestyles we need to remember that sin tastes good—for
a season. Then come the
consequences. Some people might
say: “Well, God loves me so He’ll
bail me out after I have some fun.”
But we are not to put God to the test. The results of our actions and how God uses them in our
lives may not be to our liking. It
is better to have a healthy fear and reverence for God’s commands and to order
our lives accordingly.
When
we read the passage from Romans we get a glimpse of life in the kingdom that is
already among us and that is still to come. I pause when I read Paul’s message that we should let no
debt remain outstanding. I’d be
embarrassed if the apostle could read my credit score! But as I consider his message further I
realize that our concerns about money in this life probably have little in
common with the affairs of the life to come. I seriously doubt that the heavenly banquet Jesus is
preparing for us comes complete with a check with a gratuity factored in for
the angel waiting the table.
Currency has little value, if any, in the coming kingdom. We are told to store up our
treasures in heaven, but those are not treasures counted in dollars and
cents. Rather they refer to the
investments we make in this life in the lives and well-being of others and in
the work of God’s people. This is
not to say that our salvation depends on the work we do. But if we dedicate our time and talents
to the service of others and of God’s kingdom, we will see the benefit of our
labors in the life to come.
Paul
is also telling us that we should settle our debts here on earth because those
kinds of obligations have no place or value in heaven. So we are to settle our affairs here so
we can start fresh in heaven. When
we go on vacation we make sure the utilities are paid up and the mail and
newspaper delivery are taken care of, because we have no need of those things
when we are away.
Paul
tells us to settle our debts and to love our neighbors not just for heaven’s
sake but with an eye for the present time. We need to have our wits about us in this world. There are all manner of people and
things that can trip us up and divert us from the path God wants us to take. We don’t have the luxury of excuses
like: “The devil made me do it,” or
“it was just the one time,” when we slip up. We are the people God chose to reveal His plan of salvation
to. We have been chosen by Him to
take on the Christian life, knowing full well the cost Jesus paid to make it
possible for us to follow Him.
Paul is telling us that we can’t be lulled by old habits and the
persuasions of other people who, knowingly or not, would like us to join them
in sin. It’s time for us to wake
up! The alarm has rung and it’s
still ringing for those of us who need to hear it and join in the work of God’s
people. We don’t have as much time
left to fulfill God’s plan for us as we did when we first gave our lives to
Christ. The clock is ticking, the
sand in the hourglass is falling, and no matter how much time we have left, it is
short. The apostle is telling us
to use the time we have left in doing the things that matter most.
But
you know, this world is like a swamp that sucks us in deeper with every step we
take. We are in pain, whether
physical, emotional, or even spiritual pain. We grieve for loved ones who’ve gone before us, everywhere
we look we are surrounded by misery, violence and suffering. How is a Christian to live, and thrive,
in such a harsh environment?
I recently
read a book by Max Lucado called “You’ll Get through This." In it, Lucado
paints this picture for us.
Imagine, he says, that you were told that you could spend an entire day
in a tropical paradise surrounded by your closest friends and relatives. All your favorite food would be on hand
and there’d be time enough for you to do and to say those things with the
people you loved with plenty of
other good things left over. Then
imagine that you were told that in order to take part in this celebration you
would have to endure a millisecond of intense pain just before the party was to
start. The author concludes that
most people would gladly accept the bargain, knowing that no matter the extent
of the pain, it would only last a millisecond and then the best party ever
would commence.
Then
Lucado delivers the zinger. All of
us, he says, are living in that millisecond of pain right now. The party is being planned for us even
now, and one by one everything is being made ready for our arrival. Our task is to trust the One who is
throwing the party for us and to accomplish those things He has for us to do
before we can join the celebration.
We
can persevere in this life, knowing as we do that there is a life to come that
will make it all more than worthwhile.
We can cling to this promise in Advent because the One who made the
promise is trustworthy and will make sure it comes to pass.
Paul
also tells us to awake from slumber.
This is not mere rest in the conventional sense. The slumber here refers to a state of
being that allows us to be susceptible to the pervasiveness of sin and its
potential to take our attention away from the things of God. We fall into the slumber of sin when we
become distracted by things that seem attractive, but that can do us harm if we
allow ourselves to linger with them.
We all have areas in our lives that we indulge in to the exclusion of
other people and even God. It is
good to be awake and aware of these personal pitfalls and to ask the Lord to
keep us from straying into them.
Paul
tells us how to avoid this lapse into sin. He says to put on the armor of light. In his letter to the Ephesians he talks
about the spiritual armor that is available to us in greater detail. Here his use of the phrase “the armor
of light” is amplified when he says to clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus
Christ. If we consciously choose
to seek the Lord’s help in times of temptation we will be better equipped to
withstand the test. We do have the
option to focus our minds and attention on the things of this world or on the
things of God. It is
no accident that the apostle warns against drunkenness in this passage because
the stupor that comes with being drunk can blind the drinker and cause him to
fall into all kinds of trouble.
Therefore we are to keep morally as well as physically sober and turn
our lives more and more into an intentional focus on Jesus and the things that
matter to Him.
When
I read Paul’s injunctions against sexual immorality, it’s easy to say that I
don’t find myself in the grip of this particular sin. You know what the Bible says about pride going before a
fall. So when I substitute the
word “lust” for sexual immorality, suddenly I find myself a full-fledged victim
and just as guilty as any other offender.
All I have to do is consider my bookcases, yes that word is plural, and
the volumes I have stacked there to be read at a later date, and suddenly a picture of lust in my life
becomes all too clear.
Now’s
the time for confession. My mom
was right. I will not be able to
read all of the books in my possession—because there’s always some other book I
want. It’s not enough to clear out
my collection and give it to Half Price Books either, because you know that in
the back of my mind I can hear myself saying: “Now you can buy a Kindle Fire”! And so we see again how the things we own turn out to
possess us instead
Putting
on the armor of light and clothing ourselves with Christ means that we make a
conscious decision to let Him come and shine a light into the dark corners of
our neighborhoods and of our lives.
It’s not an easy thing for us to do. It doesn’t come naturally to us. Only with the prompting of the Holy Spirit can we summon the
strength necessary to turn our minds and our actions in the direction He wants
us to go.
A
text from Romans seems to have little to do with a birth in Bethlehem. But how can Paul’s words help us in
this season of Advent? These days
leading up to our celebration of Christ’s birth are meant to be spent preparing
our hearts and minds to receive the king of all creation. If you knew He would arrive on December
25, what changes would you make in your life? What behaviors or attitudes would you change? What would you tell people you
loved? What would you say to your
enemies? How would you use your
money? How would you spend your
time?
All
these things and more would need to be considered if Jesus was cosmically
scheduled to return on December 25.
But
we don’t know when that day will be.
There have been predictions
and warning over the years from people that said they knew what Jesus
Himself said He did not know. He
said only the Father knew when the Son would return. Early Christians assumed and hoped that He would
return in their lifetimes. They
responded by pooling their resources and sharing their possessions with other
believers. They also behaved as
though they didn’t need to work since the Lord was coming soon to rescue them
from the world.
But
He has not returned yet. That day
is still to come. He may come in
our lifetimes or He may not appear in the lifetimes of our grandchildren.
But
Paul has laid out some instructions for how we are to live now, in preparation
for that day. The apostle has
clearly stated what behaviors to refrain from to make us fit for that kingdom
that is to come. If we pattern our
lives according to the format written down in the Bible we will find ourselves
in more familiar surroundings when the Lord calls us to join Him in heaven.
It’s
time to decide. Will God’s people
get in step with the way He wants us to live? Only we can answer that question. May the Lord help us to choose wisely.
