Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Romans 13:8-14
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the 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: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
If you have a bible, I invite you to turn to Romans chapter 13 as we continue our study in Romans. So 26 years ago this month, my wife and I, we got married. We were 12 at the time. And the first Saturday we spent together was quite a shock for her. We just got back from our honeymoon.
Jeffrey Heine:We moved here to Birmingham. So we're waking up in our new apartment, Saturday morning. And and I'm a early riser. And so I was up at 5. Lauren's thinking it's a Saturday.
Jeffrey Heine:She gets up at 9. And, and so she could tell when she gets up that I'm just a little antsy. I've been pacing around kinda like a caged animal. And, she goes, something seems wrong. What's wrong?
Jeffrey Heine:And I said, well, the entire day is wasted. It's like it's 9 AM. I mean, it's the day is essentially over. And, and she looks at me in horror as she realizes that horrible decision she has just made in marrying me. Thankfully, the years have softened me a little.
Jeffrey Heine:We've we've met in the middle kind of what Saturdays now look like. But the text that we're looking at this morning, Paul essentially says, I was right. And you gotta read between the lines a little bit, but that's pretty much what he says is that I was right that you need to get up early and seize the day. Romans 13, we'll begin reading in verse 8. Owe no one anything except to love each other.
Jeffrey Heine:For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the 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. You shall love the lord you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
Jeffrey Heine:Besides this, you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone. The day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Jeffrey Heine:Let us walk properly as in the daytime. Not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy, but put on the lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. This is the word of the lord. To you. You would pray with me.
Jeffrey Heine:Father, I pray that this morning through your holy Spirit you would help us to put on the lord Jesus Christ, that we would look to him as our very life. May we listen intently to his every word. We've heard so many words this week that are worthless. Jesus, we are here to say you have words of eternal life. So I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore.
Jeffrey Heine:But, lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. So I am a morning person, but I don't like waking up. Matter of fact, I've never met anyone in my entire life that actually enjoyed waking up.
Jeffrey Heine:If you're one of those people who, you know, maybe jumps out of bed at 4:30 in the morning saying carpe diem, you know, just season. Don't talk to me because I've never met anyone who enjoys the process of getting up. Usually the 5 seconds before I know I have to wake up, that is when my bed has never been cozier. That's when the pillow is never softer. It is never when I am more sleepy than those 5 seconds.
Jeffrey Heine:And so it's hard to get up. I'm glad when I get up but it's hard. And often in those 5 seconds is when you begin to have those kind of crazy thoughts. You know, the thoughts like, what if I just stayed in bed all day? I mean I mean what if I just didn't go to work?
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, I think that would be alright. Or or you begin thinking about your day and you're like, you know, I could probably sleep for another hour, and then I could get up, exercise, have breakfast, get dressed, and still make that meeting an hour and 10 minutes from now. You begin having those irrational thoughts. And as you're thinking through those things, then you actually have to go to the bathroom and that gets you up and out of bed. That's what happens when you get older.
Jeffrey Heine:That's what gets me out of bed in the morning. But nobody actually enjoys the waking up process. There are exceptions to that though. Some days, I've actually wanted to get out of bed. My wedding day being one of them.
Jeffrey Heine:The day that I I was getting married to Lauren, nobody had to, like, you know, say it's time to get I wanted to get up. I was eager to get up. The day that Lauren was gonna be induced and we were going to have our first child, I practically jumped out of bed, eager to take on the day. Even days like, you know, vacations. If I know I'm flying out to Montana, like you don't have to set an alarm.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm up. I'm ready to go that day. There's something you know, if there's the promise of a of a new day, that this day is not gonna be like all the others. This day holds something glorious and new for you, a new chapter, a new beginning, something. If that's the case, then waking up is easy.
Jeffrey Heine:And this passage that Paul here tells us, writes to us, he says it's time for you to get up. Do you know what day it is? Do you know what day it is? How can he possibly be asleep on this day? This day has the promise of new life.
Jeffrey Heine:There is a new glorious dawn. Read verse 11 with me. Besides this, you know the time that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone.
Jeffrey Heine:The day is at hand. Now when Paul talks to us here about this, you know, the the time, this this is the hour, and his salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed, I don't think that he is talking about he believes Jesus is going to return tomorrow. He might have believed that, but I don't think that's what Paul is actually talking about right here. What I think he means is a glorious new dawn has arrived. There's a new age that has just been ushered in that we are now living into.
Jeffrey Heine:When Jesus walked out of that tomb and those disciples saw him for the first time standing before them, in that moment, everything changed. The world that they thought they knew was gone. Everything they thought they knew about the world, themselves, sin, death, God, humanity, all of that came crumbling down. The things that they were so certain of vanished in a moment in the light of the person who is now standing before them. This was their king.
Jeffrey Heine:And they knew that he was, ushering a kingdom that would never ever end. And they weren't just looking at their resurrected king for all of eternity, they were actually in that moment finally getting for the first time in their life a glimpse of their future. They were gonna be resurrected. They were gonna have a body just like the one standing before them. What was before them was not a dream.
Jeffrey Heine:It wasn't a vision. It was their future actually standing physically in front of them. They could talk to him. They could touch him. They could eat with him.
Jeffrey Heine:In other words, the kingdom of god that they had always longed for and hoped for had just broken through. It was a new day. This wasn't some distant future out there. This was a present reality standing in front of him, and that is what Paul is driving at here. This is the the hour he's talking about, the time and the hour.
Jeffrey Heine:And hear me, although every, you know, talking head you hear on TV or every internet article you read or every social media post is gonna spew out loudly to you, rules from another kingdom, moral conduct that you're supposed to live according to that kingdom. Paul says, that's a kingdom that's passing away. They're they're spouting out the rules from the old world. The kingdom of God has just broken in. And we fearlessly, boldly, joyfully now obey the rules of the new kingdom.
Jeffrey Heine:As Paul's driving thought through this passage, he's essentially saying wake up people. It's a new dawn. It's a new glorious day. And he tells us in light of that, I need you to do do 2 things. I need you to wake up and to do 2 things.
Jeffrey Heine:Wake up and love your neighbor. Wake up and get dressed. Wake up and love your neighbor, wake up and get dressed. Let's look at both of those things. 1st, loving our neighbor.
Jeffrey Heine:If you can remember last week, we talked about paying our taxes. And so if we owe taxes to the government, we pay taxes. Paul now begins here saying there is another debt that we owe, but it's a debt of love. And this debt we can't actually ever fully repay. Verse 8.
Jeffrey Heine:Owe no one anything except to love each other. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. And he then walks through some of the 10 commandments there. He he says, you know, you, you shall not, murder, don't steal, don't covet, don't commit adultery. And he says all those things are summed up together in the words, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Jeffrey Heine:And he's quoting Jesus who is quoting Leviticus when he says, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Loving your neighbor as yourself, that's the law of the new kingdom. That's the new kingdom laws that we are to abide by. And now of course you've heard, you've heard that law ever since you were probably, you know, this big, that you're supposed to love your neighbor as yourself. Even if you're not a Christian, you have likely been exposed to that command, to love your neighbor as yourself.
Jeffrey Heine:You've heard it so often you've probably actually become numb to just how radical that command is. To actually love your neighbor as much as you love yourself? I mean that means this, as much as you are all about your happiness and you long for your happiness, you not now long for that happiness for your neighbor. Or as much as you long good food when you're hungry, you know, you wanna go to hot and hot fish club or, like, that's what you long for, actually, now you really long for that for your neighbor. When you get some, you know, clothes clothing catalog in the mail and you're looking through it and you're like, oh I really want those shoes.
Jeffrey Heine:I really want that jacket. You now long for your neighbor to have just as good of clothes, to be just as fashionably dressed. As much as you long for meaningful work and activity, you long that your neighbor would find their same same purpose in life. Do you see how radical that is? I mean it's impossible, isn't it, to live that way?
Jeffrey Heine:But you can also see how beautiful it would be if people did live that way. I mean, what Jesus is describing here is what the kingdom of God is gonna look like. In which we are all so radically loving one another, we don't have to worry about our own needs. Because somebody else is loving us and taking care of our needs, just like we are loving someone else and taking care of their needs. I mean can you imagine how beautiful that would be?
Jeffrey Heine:If if you were so looking at your neighbor like I want to feed you, I want to clothe you, I am all about your happiness, and somebody is doing the exact same thing to you. And then somebody is doing that to that person. What a beautiful world. The problem we have is this. Who goes first?
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, who goes first? Because right now you're thinking this, if I want to love my neighbors myself, if I'm if I'm to to really, like, give them these things, then I'm I'm going to be without. Like, I'm going to starve, I'm not going to be clothed, I'm I'm I'm going to lack if I actually give those things and love my neighbor as myself. And so it only works if everybody goes at the same time. And so you're just waiting.
Jeffrey Heine:Do you remember when you were, little and, you would go swimming, at a lake or something and you're at a dock and you're with your friends or your siblings. The water's freezing cold. Nobody's gotten in yet. You know what y'all all do? You you get up to the edge.
Jeffrey Heine:Know, like, well, I'll get in if you can. Well, I'll get alright. Alright. How about this, we all get in together. On the count of 3.
Jeffrey Heine:You're like, 1, 2, 3. What happens after 3? No one goes in, do they? Like, they're all waiting for the or you know, your your little brother instead of the one who just foolishly jumps in. But like you you were just waiting.
Jeffrey Heine:What do we do with this? Well, you know, when Jesus, the night before he was betrayed, crucified, he gathered all of his disciples together. And he said a new commandment I give to you, love one another. That's not a new commandment. I mean, pretty much the Bible is that.
Jeffrey Heine:Love one another. The sermon on the mount. That's is that's all it's about. Love your enemies. Love, you know, bless those who persecute you.
Jeffrey Heine:He love your neighbor as yourself. He has already communicated loving one another many, many times, but this is why it was a new commandment. A new commandment I give you, love one another as I have loved you. In other words, Jesus went first. Jesus went first.
Jeffrey Heine:He was the first of all humanity to actually fully love His neighbor as Himself. He went first and he has lavished his love on us. And as Paul saying here is that's a debt we can actually never repay. A matter of fact, the more we love people, the more God pours his love into us. We're continually forever in his debt.
Jeffrey Heine:But Jesus has gone first, and it radically actually changes how we view loving our neighbor as ourself, because it's not so much predominantly about giving them things or giving them food or giving them clothing. The thing we have gotten most for our happiness is Christ. When he loved us, it transformed us. We were forgiven. We were reconciled to God.
Jeffrey Heine:We are given new life. And now when we look at our neighbor, what do we want for them more than anything else? It's to know the love of Christ. We can actually freely give our material things to people because we no longer find our satisfaction and identity in them. If it will help them to know Christ, we give it away because Christ has become our life.
Jeffrey Heine:So Jesus was the first, and he has poured his love into us that now we then get to take and to love our neighbor. Alright. The second thing that Paul commands here. 1st, wake up and love your neighbor. 2nd is this, wake up and get dressed.
Jeffrey Heine:Look at verse 12. The night is far gone. The day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and let's put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy, but put on the lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.
Jeffrey Heine:Alright. As as usual, Paul gets a little confusing here because he switches his metaphor. If you read a lot through Paul, he he he does two things to confuse you all the time. First, he loves really long run on sentences. I mean, he just goes on.
Jeffrey Heine:It's like he's he's too excited for the sentence to end. And so he just all throughout his writings he just goes on and on and on and on these run on sentences. The second confusing thing that Paul loves to do is he switches metaphors mid thought. Like no warning. He'll just all of a sudden change the metaphor or change the meaning of the metaphor.
Jeffrey Heine:And that's what he does here. Up to this point, Paul has been using the the metaphor of darkness to talk about sleep. When it's dark, you sleep and you need to wake up. Now he's using the metaphor of darkness to say, actually, you're not asleep. That's when you're partying it up.
Jeffrey Heine:That's when you're doing all these shameful activities. Alright. So we have a saying in the Brooks household. Maybe you have a saying, the same saying at yours. Nothing good happens after midnight.
Jeffrey Heine:We say that all the time to our girls, and they just roll their eyes. Nothing good happens after midnight. But you guys know that's true. I mean, if you get a call after midnight, what are you expecting? I mean if I get a call after midnight, I and I answer it, I'm not expecting to hear, you know, one of you on the other line saying, I just had the best prayer time and wanted to call you.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, I was just doing my bible study now and, like, it's just wow. I that's not gonna what I'm expecting is for me to have to come and, like, bail you out of jail. That's what happens if I get a call after midnight. Most of the drunkenness, the sexual immorality, the theft, the fighting, the quarreling, or just the plain bad decision making happens late at night. You you know and a lot of you who live in Mountain Brook, you know what happens after Mountain Brook High School football games, where all the high schoolers go.
Jeffrey Heine:They go to The Pines. If you're in Homewood, they go to Creek Bed. They go late at night. Why do you think they wanna go there late at night? Do you think they're, like, having a worship service there?
Jeffrey Heine:You know, they're they're going there to have their quiet time. Nobody goes to those places during the daylight. They only go at night. Why? They want their shameful deeds to be covered up.
Jeffrey Heine:This is the image that Paul uses here. You see people you're out partying like it's still nighttime. But do you know how shameful and gross those things look when they're done in the day? Years ago, I I was in Vegas, and I was catching the red eye out of of Vegas. And I got to walk around downtown Las Vegas, as the sun was rising.
Jeffrey Heine:Let me tell you. That is a interesting sight, walking around Vegas as the sun comes up. It's almost like people are like, it's like it's, they wanna crawl away and hide as they're being exposed. It, it, it looks like a terrible place in the morning light. So Paul is saying here, the light's broken through people.
Jeffrey Heine:It's a new dawn. Put away those shameful deeds and live in the light. It's a glorious new day. But he doesn't just say live in the light. Actually he says we're to cast off those works of darkness and we are to put on the armor of light.
Jeffrey Heine:Alright. So what's the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? I mean besides like maybe grab a cup of coffee. You shower and you get dressed. It's the first thing you do in the morning, you shower and you get dressed.
Jeffrey Heine:And then whatever you're planning to do first in your day actually determines how you get dressed. So if, you know, you're gonna go exercise, you know, go run first thing in the morning, well first thing you do is you put on your lululemons and your, you know, your on cloud running shoes and go out and hit the pavement or go to the gym. And the first thing you're doing is going to the office, where you put on a dress shirt, some pants or a blouse and a skirt. And you go to the office and work. What you were doing first that morning determines how you dress.
Jeffrey Heine:Look at what Paul says we are to put on. Armor. Put on armor. Any of y'all keep armor in your closet? You only put armor on if you're going to battle.
Jeffrey Heine:That's the only reason. If that's the first thing you expect to do after you get dressed is a battle. That's when you put on armor. There's no other reason. You, you go to Jameson Park and you're not going to see people running around in armor.
Jeffrey Heine:You you go to O'Henry's Coffee, people aren't sipping lattes in in their armor. Lauren and I don't snuggle up, you know, at the couch at night and fall asleep to a movie, you know, wearing armor. Armor is for battle. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 that we were to put on the full armor of God. He says you have to do this in order that you might be able to stand up against the schemes of the devil.
Jeffrey Heine:Remember, you are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So Christian, a new day has dawned but there is still a battle raging on. Now it's a battle that's already been won. We have complete victory in Jesus, but there is still fighting going on and you can still be wounded in that battle. Satan and all of the dark forces hate you with a hatred that you cannot even imagine.
Jeffrey Heine:You might not think much about those dark forces as you go about your day, probably many of you don't. But can I tell you what? Those dark forces eat, sleep, and drink your destruction. It is all they think about is how they might destroy you. And if you go on in your life without the armor on, you will be wounded.
Jeffrey Heine:Some of you, you're hurting and you're wounded because you're living the Christian life like you're going to the beach. I mean, that's what the Christian life is. I just kinda get to go to the beach and lay around and wear as little clothing as possible. Paul says, put your armor on. Have you forgotten that you were at war?
Jeffrey Heine:So how do you exactly put on armor? I haven't done it. I'm I'm not entirely sure. This is my my best guess here. I just imagine it's like you don't just slip it on though.
Jeffrey Heine:At least from the movies I've seen, which is pretty much my knowledge of armor, there's a lot of like tightening and strapping and like it's a process to put on all of the armor. In Ephesians 6 Paul describes to us all the pieces of armor. He says you need to put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes which are the readiness given by the gospel of peace. Then you've got to pick up the shield of faith, you've got to put on the helmet of salvation, then you need to get the the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. I mean there's lots of different pieces of armor that you have to put on.
Jeffrey Heine:It's it's pretty easy to forget to put on everything, isn't it? A few weeks ago this is so embarrassing. A few weeks ago I was getting dressed and then going to my truck. My mind was just it wasn't there. I was already thinking of, like, the crazy day, and the different meetings, and how to wear all these different hats.
Jeffrey Heine:And so I'm I'm somewhat absent minded. But I get dressed. I grab my backpack. I go all the way to my truck, and I'm opening up my truck door. And it's at that moment I realized I didn't have a shirt on.
Jeffrey Heine:Like, I literally made it all the way to my I had my backpack on. Just not my shirt. And what had happened, you know, is that I had worked out and I had showered too early while I was still hot. So, I was already sweating as I was waiting for the last possible moment to put on my shirt and I just forgot. You know, thankfully at that that moment, it did hit me.
Jeffrey Heine:But I realize this, if if I can forget a shirt, when it comes to putting on the full armor of god, I am pretty sure I'm gonna forget something. Thankfully, Paul tells us this. You don't have to remember everything. You just have to remember to put on this one thing. In verse 14, he says, put on the lord Jesus Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:It's all you have to remember. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ because you know what, Jesus Christ has got all the armor on, and if you put him on then you have all the armor on protecting you. So put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it's interesting because Paul has already told us so many times throughout Romans, we already have the lord Jesus Christ. That means pretty much what he's been spelling out all along.
Jeffrey Heine:We have him by faith. He's ours. He's already talked about us being clothed in his righteousness. We actually have his spirit. We have Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:So what does Paul mean here when he says, I know you have him, but you need to put him on. He's not talking about your salvation. He's not talking about anybody anything like that, but he is saying, put on Jesus who you already have. And I think it can mean a number of things by this, but at the very least what I think Paul means is you have to start spending time with Jesus. It's pretty simple.
Jeffrey Heine:You need to start spending time with Jesus. You need to take time to read and listen to him through his word, to pray. You you need to do those things like your life depended upon it. Because your life does depend upon it. If if you do not have a quiet time, and and that's just if you're unfamiliar with that term, that's a Christian slang essentially for a a time that you have set aside to quiet your heart before the lord in which you take time reading his word and you take time praying with him.
Jeffrey Heine:Just time to be with Jesus that you have set aside for no other purpose other than to be with him. If if you do not have a quiet time, I cannot urge you strongly enough to get one. Your life depends upon this. Take time to quiet yourself before the lord and, simply open up his word. Ask the lord to teach you.
Jeffrey Heine:Ask the lord to speak to you. Ask his spirit to to change you and to guide you. The first thing I do in the morning, and I would urge you to do this in the morning, is I wake up, and I've shared this before, but I try to, for my first thought, before my feet hit the ground, I say the Shema. I say, the lord our god, the lord is 1. And I will love the lord my god with all my heart and all my soul and all my strength, and then my feet hit the ground.
Jeffrey Heine:And then I try to find coffee. And then I sit down and open up the bible, and I have my quiet time. Confession, often the first 10 minutes. I don't know if I'm fully awake. I really don't know how beneficial it is.
Jeffrey Heine:Takes a little bit for the coffee aroma, which is my incense to the Lord. To to start to awaken the senses as I begin to read, but I pray like, Lord would you speak to me? I wanna be shaped by your word. I really wanna hear your voice today. Would you do that?
Jeffrey Heine:And you'll be filled with his spirit. You'll be filled with his joy. You'll be putting on Jesus. Can I say that the reason I believe so many of you are wounded, you're walking around wounded, is because you're going into this world without having put Jesus on? I'm not saying you're not a Christian, but the way you live your life, you don't put Jesus on.
Jeffrey Heine:And so the reason you are so hurt by others when they say something bad about you is because you you didn't take time that morning to listen to Jesus and what Jesus has to say about you. The reason that, you're filled with bitterness so many times towards your spouse or towards a a coworker or a friend, it's because you didn't take time to have the love of Jesus fill your heart that morning. The reason you're so swayed by whatever Internet news comes across and your your faith can literally crumble in an article. It's because you didn't spend that morning, like, reading the rock solid, eternal, never changing truth of God's word. So, of course, you're swayed.
Jeffrey Heine:You struggle to love people because you haven't been filled with God's love. And hear me. The reason that some of you are so so weary is because you haven't gone to the one who says come to me, those who are weary, and I will give you rest. He puts no qualifications on that. I mean, some of you you're, you're giving every excuse in the world as to why your soul feels so weary.
Jeffrey Heine:You're like, oh it's this my stage of life, you know, as a kid, it's, it's the stress that I have at work. It's like all of these things. Jesus didn't put any qualifications of that. He didn't say, come to me all who are weary after you've like cleaned up all these things, and then I give you rest. He just says, come to me with all of that.
Jeffrey Heine:And I will give you rest for your weary souls. Have you gone to him for rest? Take time to put on Jesus like your life depended upon it. And can I say for those of you here who have never put Jesus on, Whether you when you look at your life, you're like, yeah? I'm I'm the one who's, like, living the wild party shameful acts.
Jeffrey Heine:Or if you actually think you're more half awake, you look at your life and you're like, you know, when I look at my life, I barely feel like I've got a pulse. Whichever you are, a new day has dawned. There's a new reality, a new glorious age that you could be a part of. Jesus is calling you to live a life full of wonder and joy if you will just follow him. Let me pray for you.
Jeffrey Heine:Lord Jesus, through your spirit, wake us up. Lord, wake us up to the reality of who you are, to the reality that your kingdom has broken through into this world. And that if we live according to the rules of the world, we're committing ourselves to a system that is dying. But we wanna live into your kingdom that endures forever. Wake us up to a new and a glorious life, one in which we can love one another as you have loved us.
Jeffrey Heine:For those who haven't put you on Jesus, in this moment where they call out to you. We pray this in your strong and sweet name. Amen.