“Wake Up and Welcome!”

Scripture: Romans 14:1-12

One week ago today, the Greater Owego Tent Revival came to a close, and it was wildly successful in every possible way.
- It was, as far as we know, the first organized revival in the Owego community since 1920.
- We had 1,200 to 1,400 people attend over the 4 days.
- Every comment that we received was positive and encouraging.
- There were a number of people who came forward to make 1st time commitments and even more to recommit their lives to Christ, and there were, in all likelihood, many more who did so right where they sat.
- But the most wonderful thing that happened began months ago and is expected to continue well into the future – and that is the uniting of over 30 local churches for the singular cause of raising up the name of Jesus and bringing glory to him. Denominational barriers fell, personal benefit was set aside, and the unity was obvious to volunteers and attendees alike. None of us threw away our doctrine and polity and worship styles, but we set our differences aside for these few days in honor of our Single and Glorious Lord.

It was incredible! We praised the Lord together, we worshiped the Name of Jesus together, we even celebrated Holy Communion together, and the roof never did fall in on us! That is how the Church SHOULD be, the way the Church SHOULD live. There is plenty of room for different modes and styles of worship, and even in doctrinal standards, but when it comes to serving and praising our Lord Jesus Christ, there can be no divisions.

In today’s text, Paul is cautioning the Church against the divisiveness that was, in all probability, rising up to threaten their very existence. It is also very possible that the Church was becoming selective as to who would be allowed into the fellowship. Neither of these attitudes can be seen as being Christian in nature, especially when they are compared to the variety and natures of people who Jesus welcomed into his presence!
And so must we.

Read Romans 14:1-4

Paul opens with the admonition to stop badgering those whose faith isn’t as strong as those who have been in the church for some time, and continues with instruction to set aside their dependence on ritualistic issues that seem to be carryovers from the Jewish Torah. Remember that the earliest days of the Church was as a sect of Judaism, and the old ways are hard, to say the least, to let go of. And some of the new Gentile believers may have been chastising their Jewish brothers and sisters for keeping to those ways.
Regardless of who was doing what, it was becoming a problem! For the Jewish believers, Torah had been their guide all of their life. It provided them with the means of showing honor to Jehovah God, and it didn’t make any sense to suddenly cast it all aside! But for the Gentiles, it had never been their way, and they held to Jesus’ teaching that ritualistic practices had never been God’s demand for their lives.
But Paul seems to be telling the people that Jesus never said that you should throw all of the ritual away – only that it had little, if anything, to do with pleasing Almighty God! If it helped someone to live a righteous life, then all the better.
Do you have any Roman Catholic friends who don’t eat meat on Fridays, especially during Lent? Protestants don’t generally follow this practice, but Paul is telling us to respect the other person, regardless of what they eat and when.
Do you have Pentecostal friends who speak in tongues, and you don’t? So what? There are many spiritual gifts, and ours may not be the same as someone else! (1 Corinthians 12:4-11 & Romans 12:4-8)
Do you have Baptist friends who subscribe to immersion as the only means for Baptism? We seldom immerse, although today is an exception, but baptism is baptism, as long as the process conforms to scripture.
These are just three of the differences that must never come between us – they are simply to be seen as a means of showing honor to the Lord, and we can never let them divide the Body of Christ. In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, (Matthew 7:1-2) the Lord tells us that if we start judging others, then we will be judged in the same way.
The point is – don’t judge! Period!

Read Romans 14:5-8

Sacred days were another bone of contention. Pagan worship, which Roman converts may have been following would have stood in direct conflict with Jewish custom. Jewish holy days would have been a stumbling block to the Gentiles. Paul tells the church that the only way to bring honor to the Lord is if they set the day, or days, aside to the glory of Jesus! No more pagan ritual, no more strict adherence to Sabbath as defined in Torah - just give your life and your days over to the Lord.
The next few verses are Paul’s explanation for his concerns. He sees that the people are looking to their own preconceived notions of what is holy and what is not, instead of looking to Jesus’ teachings for their lives. The New Interpreter’s Bible comments that “The essential point is that everything that Christians do is done, not in relation to themselves alone, but in relation to the Lord.” We aren’t to place our own understandings above God’s. There is nothing inherently wrong with our culture, our heritage, our desires, but they can never be judged and justified by our own standards – they are to be compared to those that Jesus set in place.

Read Romans 14:9-12

This brings us back to Jesus’ sermon in Matthew 7:12. “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” Now before you think that Jesus is saying that we are to be accepting of each other’s sinful ways, that isn’t what he is saying. He is saying, though, that we are to respect each other and simply leave the judging up to him!
Paul reminds us that not only are we to avoid judging others for the ways that differ from ours, but that there is only one Judge in all of creation, and that we all will be standing before that Seat one day. And that on that glorious day, everyone – EVERYONE – will surrender to the authority of Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:9-11 reiterates this point – that everyone, believers and non-believers alike, everyone who has ever lived, will one day be subject and submissive to the authority of Jesus Christ.
And if we are the ones who are causing rifts and divisions in the Body of Christ, the judgment will not go all that well for us.

And that is the strength of the Revival Movement that has begun in our town. No judgment, no condemnation, no raising our own ways above those of others – only the praise of Jesus Christ and the power of his Blood to heal and cleanse us. That has been our focus from the beginning, and that is the only way that others will ever feel welcome when they come into our fellowship.
And we can’t wait until they show up at our door - Sunday morning is not the time to begin welcoming others! We have to extend the hand of faith long before they arrive – we have to make them feel welcome before they come, or they might never take the step toward our door.

We need to wake up, and stand up, and free our voices to live and work and love as Jesus did. And that is the key to our faith.

“Wake Up and Live!”

Scripture: Romans 13:8-14

Christian faith is, at best, difficult to live and even more difficult to explain. Now, I’m not talking about the basic tenants of faith – Jesus Christ as God Incarnate, Jesus crucified, dead, and risen, Salvation by faith, redemption by grace, and so on. I’m talking about those things that aren’t just different from the ways of earth, but those that stand in stark contrast to the standards that others live by.
Two of the commandments that are quoted more than any others are “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength”, and “Love your neighbor as yourself”. (Mark 12:28-34) These two commandments are at the heart of Christian faith, acting as the basis for every other commandment ever given. And yet, they are the most challenging to live. On the surface, they appear to be logical and straightforward and right, but if we were to examine them in depth, to search for Divine meaning in each, we could study them for the rest of our lives, and still not come to a complete understanding! In our text for today, Paul delves into the realm of how we are to love, and what true and complete love must mean for our lives.

Read Romans 13:8-10

Have you ever thought of “love” as being a debt that we have taken on? We all have a pretty good sense of what worldly debt is all about. We have a job, which brings with it all kinds of obligations – to be at work on time, to put in the agreed upon number of hours each day, to accomplish the tasks assigned to us, and so on. Of course, our employer also has an obligation to us – to provide established benefits and to provide our compensation on a regular basis.
And our obligation to Christ is no different. Through his love for us, he becomes our Savior and Giver of eternal life, and in return, we are expected to follow his way and his teachings to our salvation. And a vital part of this new way is to love just as he has shown us his love. Paul says that this isn’t just God’s desire for us, but a debt that we owe to the Lord! And why is this Godly form of love so vital for our lives? Because it is the basis for satisfying all of the rest of the Lord’s commandments!
If we truly love our neighbors, could we ever do anything that might bring harm to their lives? And “love” doesn’t mean that we do and say all of the things that they want us to do and say – it means that we give them our very best, the best that we have learned, the best that we have received from Jesus.
But we need to be careful not to interpret this discussion of Paul’s to mean that we are to perform “good works”! While we are to live a life of goodness toward others, Paul is not implying that our goodness will satisfy the Laws and Commandments of God! It won’t! Good Works are simply our response to the salvation that faith in Christ will bring.

And just one more thought on that phrase “Love your neighbor as yourself”. Remember Jesus’ discussion with the Pharisee’s over this very issue? He was asked “Who is my neighbor?” And he then told that famous parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Jesus would have us know that our “neighbor” isn’t just those people who live next door, or those who we worship with on a weekly basis, or, more importantly, those who we are comfortable with! The Lord says through this parable that we are to love those whose lives and ways we detest, those who live according to a completely different set of beliefs, those who hate us, those who have committed heinous crimes, those who the world may hate, those the world loves (!) – these are the ones who are to receive our love in addition to those who are closest to us. And not in a token or halfhearted way, either – but in an authentic and honest and genuine way.

Love God - love others - love the good, the bad, and especially the ugly!

Read Romans 13:11-12

“And do this, understanding the present time.” And what is this present time? Think of it this way – do you ever wake up during that transition between night and day? During the time when just a hint of light begins to appear, when the darkness still obscures the yard and bushes but you know that all will be revealed very shortly? That is the present time – when darkness still prevails in our lives, but we know full well that the Light is on its way and will, very soon, reveal Christ in a way that all will see and know. And we are anxious for that day.
But Paul is telling us that we are to live as though the day has already broken, that we are to stop living our lives as though the darkness still hides our actions. As a matter of fact, he calls us to live a life that brings honor to the Giver of that Day, to the Light of Christ, to the glory of Almighty God!
And his thought that it is time to wake up reinforces this idea. If we sleep though the dawn, we miss the coming of the sun. If we sleep “’til noon”, we miss out on the best part of the day. And in faith, if our “slumber”, our inability to sense what God is doing for us, our inability to believe in Christ as Lord and Savior, keeps us from experiencing his glory, we will miss out on the life that he brings to all who believe.

“Put on the armor of light.” Have you ever thought of the truth of God as “armor”? Children of the Light, children of the Day, need the power and promise of the truth of Christ if they are to be truly his. Without his truth, the “arrows”, the lies of the Satan will cause us to live in perpetual darkness, never coming to know the glory of our Almighty God. We are protected by God’s truth, we are kept safe by his truth, we are promised eternal life in his truth. And Satan can only offer us the pain of deep and overwhelming darkness.

Read Romans 13:13-14

So what does it mean to “wear” the truth of Christ? It doesn’t mean that loving the ways of our neighbor’s is sufficient. It doesn’t mean that the world’s truth is just as good as any other. It means that not only are we to live in Christ’s truth, but we are to make it so obvious in us that others will come to know the difference.
Paul gives quite a list of “don’ts”, doesn’t he! The list itself reminds us of the normative life we would expect of Rome, but we also have to remember that this letter is intended for the Christians who live in Rome, not the pagans. Paul reminds the church that the morals and ethics of the worldly can never be acceptable for God’s own. And quite honestly, I expect that several of these would never even enter the thoughts of most of us. Orgies, drunkenness, corruption – Christians, for the most part, realize the harm that these actions can cause in their, and their families, lives. But how about the other 3 – sexual immorality, dissension, jealousy – how about those? Now, believe me when I say that I’m not accusing anyone of living these sinful ways. But I am just as certain that these do go on in many churches of today.
Sexual immorality is not limited to the homosexual issues that plague us – it includes, believe it or not, adultery and other immoral acts as well.
Dissension, or conflict, is more than just a difference in opinions. It’s pervasive, it’s divisive, and it destroys far more than we might think. And it generally occurs over the most mundane issues.
And when jealousy rears its ugly head, it reveals our envious nature. We feel that we should have been elected to some position instead of the one who was. We feel that we could do a far better job that the other person, and we begin to try to convince others of that.

Paul tells us that all of these attitudes only fuel our sinful nature, that they only increase the darkness that we live within, that they will cause us to continue in our deep, dark slumber. Church, it’s time to open our eyes and get on our feet and find our voice! It’s time to arm ourselves with the truth of Christ and to carry his message of truth and life into the world. That’s what our revival this week is all about – carrying the light of Christ into a dark and lost world.

Will you take up the “armor of light” and use it to show the love, the complete love, the powerful love, the indescribable love of Christ to our world? It’s so desperately needed, you know!