Exchange your pajamas for armor

Romans 13:11-14 ¹¹And do this since you understand the present time. It is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. ¹²The night is almost over, and the day is drawing near. So let us put away the deeds of darkness and put on the weapons of light. ¹³Let us walk decently as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual sin and wild living, not in strife and jealousy. ¹⁴Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not give any thought to satisfying the desires of your sinful flesh.

Keep alert. Stand firm in the faith. Demonstrate manly courage. Be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13) Amen.

George woke up to a racket on the roof of his up-north cottage. In his Batman pajamas, he staggered into the back yard to find a woodpecker on the TV antenna. The bird was relentlessly banging his little brains out on the metal pole.

George was irritated with the woodpecker for waking him up so early in the morning. He took a good size rock and threw it. He missed the bird. … But the rock sailed over the house and struck his car, breaking the windshield.

In his anger, George took a vicious kick at a clod of dirt, only to remember – too late – that he was still in bare feet.

The woodpecker was unfazed by everything and kept on pecking at the antenna.

St. Paul reminds us how important it is to always be properly dressed. If we are going into battle with a woodpecker early in the morning, we want to put on the proper clothing and shoes. We want to be awake and thinking clearly, so we don’t cause more damage than the woodpecker is causing.

But we are not going into battle against woodpeckers. We are daily going into battle against the Great Dragon, the old evil foe, the devil. The devil isn’t alone. He has his demonic henchmen and a world filled with atheists, agnostics, heathens and outraged unbelievers all eager to attack us on all fronts.

“The night is almost over,” St. Paul writes, “and the day is drawing near. So let us put away the deeds of darkness and put on the weapons [armor] of light.” Exchange your pajamas of the evening for the armor of the midday fight.

Paul writes, “And do this since you understand the present time. It is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.” Understand the present time we are living in. Every day brings us one day closer to our death or one day closer to Judgment Day. Yet we often go through our daily routine as if we are half-asleep. We just go through the motions of life. There is no urgency. No purpose. No ultimate goal.

School. Work. Meals. Sports. Carpooling. Sleep. Cleaning. Errands These are all important and necessary things in our lives. Even though we are certainly keeping ourselves busy doing things, are they the important things?  They consume our energy and time. So much so that we are too exhausted to have any time and energy left for God, his Church, his ministry and missions.

We become so exhausted with everything we need to do and accomplish each day that we become indifferent to what God wants us to do and accomplish each day.

We are so caught up in our indifference that we don’t realize how sinful we are. In Catechism class, we talk about the sins of commission and omission. Paul mentions the shameful sins of commission that we commit in the darkness, when we think no one is looking. “Let us walk decently as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual sin and wild living, not in strife and jealousy.”

Paul’s list is representative of deeds of darkness. It is certainly not an exhaustive list. These are sins of passion when we allow our sinful nature to have the upper hand.

Though you might not be involved in carousing, sexual sins and wild living, think about what you watch on TV, the kinds of music you let your teenagers listen to, or the kind of video games and chat rooms you allow your children online with. Are they healthy and moral? Or are they the world’s way of slowing cutting away at the Christian moral fabric in your family?

Someone recently told me about how he had started watching the first season of “Game of Thrones,” just to see what all the fuss was about now that the show is over. He said that he had to watch it on his computer, with his ear buds in, for fear of his kids hearing and seeing the language, violence and sexuality in the show. He decided that if he had to go through all that, then something was wrong. If the show wasn’t good for them, it probably wasn’t good for him, either.

Paul isn’t telling you what you should promote or boycott. He is instructing you to think about everything first. If you wouldn’t do something in the daylight with others around – if you have to do it in private and darkness - then you shouldn’t be doing it.

Sexual sins are sins of passion. But strife and jealousy are sins of passion, too. As we’ve been talking about in our anger management Bible classes, we feed our passion for rage, envy, slander, gossip, strife and jealousy because it feels good. Our sinful nature always wants to get back, get even, get justice.

If we think about sin at all, we think about what we’ve done wrong. The sins we commit. The sins of passion.

We are so sinful that we often forget about the sins of omission. These are the sins of indifference and apathy. We don’t care. So, we don’t do what God wants us to do.

St. James puts it succinctly, “For the one who knows the right thing to do and doesn’t do it, this is a sin” (James 4:17). When we know that God gives us more than enough money to care for our family, but we don’t help another family who is struggling, that’s a sin of omission. When we can send a card or make a phone call or offer a word of comfort to someone who is hurting, but we don’t take that opportunity, that’s a sin of indifference. When we know people around the world, in the homes of our next door neighbors and within our own family who are living without Jesus, but we don’t tell them about Jesus, or support missions with our offerings, prayers and efforts, that’s a sin of apathy.

Jesus reminds us, “In fact, in the days before the flood people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the very day that Noah entered the ark. And they did not realize what was coming until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man returns” (Matthew 24:38-39).

We are no different from the people of Noah’s day. Just going through the motions. Going between commission and omission. Between passion and indifference. But the day is coming when we will die and meet Jesus or Jesus will return and we will meet him.

That’s why Paul says, “Wake up!” There is urgency. There is immediacy. Exchange your pajamas of spiritual slumber for the gospel armor of Christ. “For this reason, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to take a stand on the evil day and, after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand, then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness fastened in place, and with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace tied to your feet like sandals. At all times hold up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. Also take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:13-17).

I have friends who live in Southern California. They’ve told me what it looks like when a big earthquake hits. All the neighbors run outside, away from any buildings or trees that might fall on them. It is quite a fashion parade out there with people in their long T-shirts and footie pajamas. Woe to those people who sleep in their underwear. When there is a 6.0 earthquake swaying the house, there isn’t a lot of time to go digging for a bathrobe.

We don’t live in earthquake country, but the imagery is still the same. If you know an earthquake is coming, or a tornado, or a fire, wouldn’t you be dressed and ready to go? Of course, you would.

We know that our Lord Jesus is coming. He has told us repeatedly. We know he is on his way. We just don’t know when he’s arriving. He will bring his glorious light into this world of darkness. He will destroy the world. Last time it was with water. This time it will be fire. He will come to judge the living and the dead. The only question he’ll ask humanity is if they are ready. If they are ready, they will be dressed for readiness.

“Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not give any thought to satisfying the desires of your sinful flesh.” Being clothed with Christ means believing in him as your Savior. You accept the righteousness Christ has earned for you. You put on all the holy acts that Jesus did to cover all your passionate sins of commission. You put on all the holy acts that Jesus did to make up for all your indifferent sins of omission. Even though it might be a tight fit, you put on your baptismal gown. When God the Father sees you, he doesn’t see your dirty, shameful, sinful clothing. He sees the white robe of Jesus’ perfection that you are wearing. He no longer sees the wrong you’ve done. He no longer sees the right you’ve failed to do. He sees only the perfection that his Son has give to you and you have put on by faith.

We are not dressed for battle so we can stand around and do nothing. We put on the gospel armor so we can go into battle. Wear the helmet of salvation. Swing the sword of the Holy Spirit’s Word. Deflect the flaming arrows of the devil. Run to your injured allies with the combat boots of the gospel. Tell others about a Savior who saved them from their sins of commission and omission. A Savior who clothes them in his righteousness. So they can be awake, dressed and ready for Jesus’ return.

St. James encourages us, “Be people who do what the word says, not people who only hear it” (James 1:22). A life of satisfied, holy living is not an optional feature of the Christian life. It is the mark and sight that our faith is living and active. That we are Christ’s soldiers going off to war. That we are doers of the word, not merely hearers who sit around. We are awake, ready and dressed when the Great Dragon comes. We are ready to stand against the rulers, the authorities and the powers of darkness (Ephesians 6:12).

We are awake when everyone else is asleep.

Fellow soldiers, rub the sleep out of your eyes. Get off your comfortable couch. Get up from your not-as-comfortable pews. Get active in the Lord’s church. Get active in the Lord’s ministry and mission. Give up your living a life of passion for yourself and indifference to everyone else. Get up and live a life of passion for the lost. Get up and make a difference in someone else’s life.

Exchange your pajamas for God’s armor. What better clothing can you be wearing for Christ’s return? Amen.

“Look, I stand at the door and I am knocking. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in with him and dine with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). Amen.