First Wednesday in Advent

First Wednesday in Advent
12/1/10
Romans 13:11-14
Bror Erickson



[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. Romans 13:11-14 (ESV)


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.

Than when we first believed. Paul is writing to believers, He is writing to believers and asking them to wake from their sleep. A poignant reading for advent.
The season of Advent begins the new year, and we are reminded that being a Christian is waiting for Christ to come, being awake, being alert, waiting for salvation, which is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
Of course Paul knows that these men and women have been saved. They experienced salvation as it were in Baptism, just read what he has to say about that in the sixth chapter of Romans. He knows that they have been justified by grace through faith. Yet he tells them to wake up. Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. Or the night is fare gone; the day is at hand. The time is now.
Christ keeps coming to us, to sustain our faith, to keep us awake as it were. He comes over and over again in his word and sacraments, forgiving our sins. But it is easy to grow weary on the road. It is easy to think that Christ isn’t coming tomorrow, as he didn’t come yesterday. It’s easy to think you have time to indulge yourself for a while in worldly pleasures perhaps not walking properly as in the day time, and then Paul lists some fairly gross things that people do at night, orgies and drunkenness, sexual immorality and sensuality, He starts off with the heavy hitters, and I’d like to think none of us have ever been tempted by such things, but then I’m fairly certain it goes on. And then we like to think that quarreling and jealousy are maybe not as serious, but Paul lists them right there with the orgies and the drunkenness that goes along with that. Oh and do we love to quarrel. Never met a family that didn’t. Brother against brother, Mother against daughter, Father against son. Families are good for quarrels. And jealousy, Jealousy doesn’t it take over? Jealous I have to say this perhaps happesn more often than not in the family too doesn’t it? Or work? I knew a person once who was perfectly happy at her job, loved it until she happened to find out her coworkers made a few dollars more than her. Incredible. And isn’t that the way of worldly pleasures? All of these things we indulge ourselves in here on earth? They rob us of joy do they not? The joy of being a Christian, The joy of knowing our salvation. Isn’t that why we pray Sunday after Sunday as we sing the offertory praying restore unto me the joy of thy salvation? And this is what it means to wake from our sleep as believers in Christ to have the joy of salvation renewed in our souls in our very beings.
Oh this life it gives us plenty of occasion to be down on ourselves. It gives us plenty occasion to be upset, and frightful. But not the new life we were given in baptism, not the newness of life that we now walk in with Christ, knowing every day that we have been forgiven of our sins, we have been redeemed, and that every day we are given on this earth, is a day in which our final salvation in which we know the full glory of God’s salvation is drawing ever nearer. It is coming. For us it is a day to look forward too, but for others it is a day of fear and wrath, this day that Paul talks about as our salvation. And so though we wait in great expectation for that day to come, we rejoice every morning that God grants this world a stay of execution, knowing that then this day becomes the day of salvation for another soul, another brother or sister in Christ, a day of salvation for another soul who has never heard of Christ, or has just now learned to trust him, has been given that same joyful gift of faith that we know and experience, another day in which the love of Christ reaches out and grabs hold of yet another person so that they too may look forward to that salvation that is still nearer to us then when we first believed.
Now the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord Amen.