FROM chapter 12: 9 Paul has been outlining the way Christian's ought to live in the light of the love of God they have experienced through the Gospel of salvation received by faith. In chapter 12: 9 he speaks of the core quality of a Christ-like life, which is sincere love. All that follows from there up to the verses before the ones we are considering in this sermon have been an exposition of what it means to live a life of love. In the previous sermon on chapter 13: 8-10 we found Paul returning to this core theme when he speaks of love and loving to be a continuous debt we owe to God and to others. In the verses before us he urges us to live in the light of this teaching, this Christ-like loving.

UNDERSTANDING THE PASSAGE.

In the NIV translation of the Bible which I use, this section commences with the words 'And do this'. The Greek simply says 'And this'. The NIV translation is undoubtedly an interpretation, but also undoubtedly captures the meaning of the Apostle. The Apostle applies what he has just said, and indeed all he has been saying from chapter 12: 9, and applies it by showing us how urgent, right and important it is to live the life of love which he has been expounding.

The next phrase literally is 'knowing the time', but again the NIV captures the meaning by translating it 'understanding the present time'. It is the present time in which we are living which Paul is speaking of, whatsoever time that may be. Paul is saying understand where you are in the present in which you are living. It is the time now to look at your life and how you are living in terms of the Gospel and eternity.

So it is the present time to be awake and not asleep. Paul is not suggesting time is being wasted in sleeping all the time, but it pointing out that it is so easy to go to sleep concerning the issues of life which face us, and concerning the shortness of life, and concerning how we are using the time we have.

The next phrase 'because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed' needs to be understood properly. When we believe in Jesus as Saviour and Lord we are saved from our sins, and from the punishment our sins have incurred, and we possess eternal life. Paul is not suggesting in this phrase that the believer is still not in possession of the assurance that they are saved. What he is indicating is that until this life ends, or until Jesus returns, the full blessings of the salvation we possess through Christ, and faith in him, are not yet fully experienced. We still are troubled from the fallen nature which still resides in our body here on earth. We still experience temptation, and we still undergo the pains and sickness of life which Adam's sin brought on the world. We can't live the holy life we long to live, and although we know joy in the presence of Jesus as we abide in him by faith, we still do not know the blessing of seeing him face to face. So although we are saved, we will not enter into the full blessing and experience of that salvation until we leave this life and are brought by Jesus to those mansions in glory he is preparing for all his believing people. In this sentence Paul is reminding us that we are nearer the time when this earthly life will end and we are brought to the blessed life of glory. The point Paul is pressing upon us is that the time for living and witnessing for Christ is less than when we were first converted, and there is so much still to do in the business of extending the kingdom of God, and bringing the gospel to the lost and unsaved, and living our life to the glory of God.

From this understanding we can appreciate that in the next sentence where Paul speaks of the night is far spent, and the day is almost here, that by 'night' he speaking about our life in this world, and by 'day' he is refering to our eternal life in heaven. Time is going on so swiftly, and the time when there will be no more opportunity to witness and seek the lost is getting nearer and nearer, time is precious and must not be wasted.

So because the time is so short and the task still so great, and there are so few saved, and God's kingdom still needs to be extended, let us be the sort of people Christ has saved us to be, stop living for this world, and seek to live the holy life which is ours in Christ, and which brings glory to our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul speaks of this as turning from the world and the darkness of sin, and being clothed in the Lord Jesus, with the armour of light put on, and living as citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

WHAT ARE THE LESSONS AND APPLICATION WHICH PAUL IS URGING UPON US?

In the first place Paul is warning us that we can know the Lord and be saved from our sins, and still be living for this world, and are asleep to the real issues of life as a Christian. The world can so absorb us that the things of God, and the care for our eternal soul, are neglected. Not only will the quality of our personal life be effected, but also the work God has for us to do for his kingdom will be neglected and left undone. It is possible to be so busy in Christian work, that we neglect to care for our souls, and fail to have a right balance in our lives. We can be very busy in what we term as 'the Lord's work', that we are asleep to the reality that we are living like Martha, who was distracted by many things, like preparing meals, and being engaged in business, that we neglect spending time with Jesus as Mary did, and so strengthening and building up our spiritual life so that we may fight a good fight of faith. It is possible to be very busy in Christian work which is not necessary, and so the real work is left undone.

The next lesson is that time is so short. When we are young life seems to extend into the future with limitless time. As we get older suddenly we wake up, and realise that the years have rolled by, and we have done so little, and the quality of our life is spiritually poor. We need to live constantly in the light and reality of eternity. Our time here on earth is no time at all compared with the limitlessness of eternity. The time we have has been given to us by the Lord. As the Lord's people our time has been given to us to be used in the service of Jesus, and to live to his glory. Our time is given to be his disciples making him and his love known in the world. That time we have is so short that we cannot allow any of it to be wasted or lost. Yet we have to confess that we have lived for the world, and not for Jesus, and we have not realised it. Time past is time lost. We need to wake up to this, and dedicate the time we still have to the service of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ.

HOW ARE WE TO DO THIS?

Paul tells us here. There must be a turning away from the world to Christ. The turning away from the world must be putting aside the deeds of darkness. The deeds of darkness are the ways of the world, from gross sin, to living for the world, its glory and praise. We have to earn our living, and we have to fulfil to the glory of God the duties of the world with the greatest excellence we are able, for this is what living for Jesus requires; but we must always hold this living as secondary to living for Jesus in his service.

Paul always gives both sides of the 'coin'. On the one hand he tells us to put aside the deeds of darkness, and not to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. On the other he hand he tells us to put on the armour of light and to be clothed with the Lord Jesus. Both the negative and the positive are essential to successful, holy and fruitful living for Jesus. We understand what it means to put aside the deeds of darkness, or we think we do. However we need to take to heart that any inordinate living for the world and for our human desires even if they may be quite innocent in themselves, need to be watched against. Anything that is pursued to such an extent that it starves the time we spend in caring for our soul needs to be corrected. For if we do no give time to nurture our soul, the devil will be quick to probe any weakness that may result.

What is even more important is that we nurture our soul, guarding it and defending it from all the attacks and subtle suggestions of the evil one. With regard to this Paul tells us we must put on the armour of light. The armour of light is faith, and love, and hope. Paul expounds this more deeply and at length in Ephesians 6: 10-18. Here he speaks of it as the armour of God. In this Ephesians passage Paul itemizes the various pieces of the armour. There is the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the Gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the offensive weapon of the word of God. It is not the place here to expound the meaning of all these pieces of the armour of God, but if we are to put on this armour we must make sure we understand what the pieces mean and are, by searching God's word, and seeking help in understanding from good commentaries and Christian books.

What is plain from the list of the pieces of the armour is that they are all concerned with gospel and its application to our hearts and lives. There is no substitute in the Christian life from being like Mary and sitting at the feet of Jesus, and hearing his word, so that we may understand and so be able receive the fullness of the blessings of the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ. We must not only understand the truths, but we must believe them from our hearts, and seek to apply them by faith everyday and every week. Only by dwelling in the truth will we be able turn aside the fiery darts of the evil one.

Then there is the exhortation by Paul to be clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course this means in the first place that by faith we clothe ourselves in the righteousness of Jesus. We must have put on the garment of salvation, which is by faith trusting in Christ and what he has done for us, and trusting only in his imputed righteousness to save us.