“Walking Up the Sleepyheads”
Text: Romans, Chapter 13
I love to sleep! What I mean is I LOVE to sleep! But sometimes, I sleep too much—or I’m asleep at the wrong times, when I should be accomplishing something. Sleep is a natural function of our bodies and we all need a certain amount of rest. But there are times I need to take heed of that old adage—“Wake up and smell the coffee!”
Sleeping too long, or at the wrong time, can cause serious problems in life. Do any of you remember the old story told by Washington Irving? I imagine we all read it in school at one time or another, because Irving was a notable American author—back in the 1700’s, I think.
Irving wrote a tale about a man by the name of Rip Van Winkle. Rip Van Winkle went up into the Catskill Mountains with his gun and his old dog, “Wolf”. Now, he went up in the mountains mainly to escape his nagging wife, Dame Van Winkle—but while he was up there, as the tale goes, he fell asleep and slept for 20 years! When he awoke, the whole world had changed!
Can you imagine? His wife was dead, his children were grown, and instead of hearing the name of King George III of England, he now heard the name of President George Washington and the “New” America!
Sleep has caused the whole world to change—history proves that!
On the night of September 2, 1757, French soldiers were under the command of the Marquis de Montcalm in Quebec, Canada. When the soldiers retired to their tents that night to sleep, they believed they were completely secure from the English troops. That’s because they were camped at the top of a cliff flanked by the St. Lawrence River.
However—while the French slept, troops under the command of the English General, Wolfe, scaled the cliffs, attacked and defeated the French army early the next morning. This very important English victory changed the dominion of North America—and this English victory over the French is one of the primary reasons we speak English in this country rather than French!
It’s dangerous to be asleep at the wrong time!
Another event in history brings this point even closer to home. After the fall of the Alamo, General Sam Houston retreated from his position and recruited about 800 men to fight for Texas against General Santa Anna and the substantial, very well trained Mexican army.
Santa Anna led about 1300 of his soldiers and was camped at Buffalo Bayou—around what is now known as Houston. Santa Anna was waiting for even more of his troops to arrive with General Cos. The combined forces would have been able to annihilate the Texicans by sheer numbers.
Houston knew that his troops had to attack ASAP if they were to have any chance at all, so he sent “Deaf” Smith to blow up a bridge nearby to delay the arrival of Santa Anna’s reinforcements.
On April 21st, Houston and his forces attacked Santa Anna’s camp. Their battle cry was, “Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!”
Houston and his troops killed over 630 Mexican troops and took 730 prisoners. Texas WON their war of independence against Mexico and that is why we speak English (or American) in Texas today instead of Mexican!
Why was Sam Houston so successful? Because he attacked at 3:30 in the afternoon, during the Mexican “siesta”—the Mexican troops were caught napping! The attack was a total surprise! Many of Santa Anna’s troops were still pulling on their clothes as they ran out of their tents.
As we return to Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome, let’s go back to Romans, Chapter 13, and read verses 11-14.
---11---“And this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.
---12---The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
---13---Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealously.
---14---But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust.”
The Bible talks about people who, for one reason or another, slept.
In the O.T. book of Jonah, we’re told the story of a sleeper—the prophet Jonah himself. Jonah didn’t like the assignment God gave him—he didn’t want to preach repentance to the city of Ninevah.
So Jonah ran away—away from the presence of God. He hopped on a ship headed to Tarnish and went down into the hull of the ship and just went to sleep. However, it was a restless sleep, because Jonah thought he could just go to sleep and forget what God had told him. He was wrong!
However, even the storms at sea couldn’t wake Jonah up…maybe sometimes we sleep like this. Maybe sometimes we sleep because we don’t want to face reality. You know, sin can be like a roaring tornado that reaches out to destroy us, tossing us to and fro. But men give no heed. In Romans 13:11, Paul tells us that, “…it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep…”
Some sleep as Samson slept in Judges, Chapter 16. Samson slept the sleep of presumption in the lap of Delilah. Here was a man who knew all the dangers of what he did—but he slept anyway. He felt that he could always rise to the occasion if it became necessary. Samson thought he would just jump up and take care of the danger if it came! Samson finally slept so hard that God left him!
Samson slept so soundly, he never realized God had left him! He presumed God would protect him no matter what he did. This attitude led Samson to the mill—in chains—working like a mule for the Philistines until the day he died.
Some people sleep like Samson—the sleep of presumption! They think God will always be there, no matter what they do. They know the follow and peril of their neglect—their neglect of prayer, study of the Bible, and the neglect of worshipping God. These folks know the deadly sting of sin, but, they sleep. They tell themselves, “I know the Truth; I know I should.” But they sleep, just like Samson.
Some might sleep like the sluggard described in Proverb 24:30-34.
---30---“I passed by the field of the sluggard,
and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense;
---31---And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles,
Its surface was covered with nettles,
And its stone wall was broken down.
---32---When I saw, I reflected upon it;
I looked, and received instruction.
---33---A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest,
---34---Then your poverty will come as a robber,
And your want like an armed man.”
Some sleep the sleep of the foolish, the negligent, or the careless. We should consider the parable Jesus told of the tares sown in the wheat field. When the tares were sown with the wheat, it was a disaster for a normal crop. Why wasn’t this stopped? Jesus explains in Matthew 13:24-25.
---24---“He presented another parable to them, saying, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.’
---25---But while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat, and went away.”
It happened when they were asleep!”
Many sleep like that. Some parents sleep when the devil—Satan—the destroyer—whatever you choose to call him, is seducing their children. And young people sleep, thinking they have many years to make peace with God. Sometimes, if we sleep, the things we love are destroyed.
Some sleep the sleep of the weary—just as Peter, James, John, and Matthew did in the Garden of Gethsemane. They were tired. That must have been one rough week for them in Jerusalem! I’m sure they felt quite overwhelmed. Certainly they were physically tired and, little did they know, it would only get worse!
Yes, while they slept, Judas was making a deal with the high priests of the Jews. In only a little while, Judas would lead the Roman soldiers to Jesus—Judas would betray Christ with a kiss, and the Roman soldiers would lead the Lord away.
I’m certain the apostles felt very badly afterward as they remembered what Jesus said to them when He woke them up twice from their sleep—“What, could ye not watch with me one hour?”
We need to wake up! In Ephesians 5:14, Paul writes—
---14---“For this reason it says
Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.”
How do we know, as Christians, if we are asleep or if we are awake?
In Chapter 13, Paul tells us it determined by how we live our lives. In verse 11, he begins our text with these words, “And this, do.” Paul is pointing back to the preceding verses, 8 through 10.
Romans 13:8-10
---8---“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
---9---For this, ‘you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet’, and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying—‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
---10---Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the Law.”
The term which is rendered “owe” is used a number of times in the NT in several forms. Most often, it is “not” employed in the sense of a “financial debt” or “obligation”; but, it has been used that way and could be implied in verse 8. Usually, it is used in a broader sense of “obligation” or “duty”.
Paul had previously stated (Romans 12:1-2), because of God’s mercy and grace we are obligated to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. In Romans 1:14, Paul said that he was “obligated” to preach the Gospel, “…to Greeks and to barbarians.”
We are “obligated” to not live according to the flesh (Romans 8:12), but to serve others and seek their good—even that of our enemies (Romans 12:3). We are “obligated” to honor those in authority (Romans 13:7).
In later chapters in the Book of Romans, we’ll find that the strong are “obligated” to bear the weakness of those who are weak (Romans 15:1). I believe Paul is teaching Christians that our highest obligation toward men is our obligation to love them.
Now, Paul doesn’t exclude all other obligations, rather, he subordinates them to our highest obligation. Loving God is our highest level of priority. Loving others is second, and all other obligations are subordinate.
I believe Paul is saying when I love God and I love others, that’s when I fulfill the Law. I fulfill God’s law, Old Testament law, and governmental law as well.
Love fulfilling the Law was not a new idea. The idea goes back to Leviticus 19:18. Also, Jesus taught the same thing in Matthew 22:34-40.
In Romans 13:9-10, Paul tells us what loving our neighbor would not permit us to do.
---9---“For this, ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet’, and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
---10---Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.”
When we live our lives in such a manner, we are not a bunch of sleepyheads—we are children of God who are awake! Paul told the Christians in Rome the reason they needed to wake up.
---11---“…for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.
---12---The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
The imagery here still refers to sleepers waiting too long to rouse out of slumber. They had slept long past the normal time of awakening, because dawn had come and daylight was coming quickly. Paul is telling them to “wake up” from pagan darkness into the glorious daylight of the Gospel.
We should cast off the old sins and debaucheries of the pagan darkness and put on the armor of light. The “armor of light” is one of Paul’s favorite metaphors for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which he called the “whole armor” in Ephesians 6:13-17.
---13---“Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
---14---Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
---15---and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
---16---in addition to all, taking up the shield of Faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one.
---17---And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”
We must understand that when we are putting on the whole armor of God, we must be awake, we are not considered to be a group of Christians who are “asleep”! We need to wake ourselves up, if need be, and wake up the sleepyheads around us!
If we are awake, there is a way to walk and there is something to do!
We should walk, as the KJV puts it, “…becomingly, as in the day…”, suggesting the beauty and adornment of Christian behavior, which will not cause us shame in the broad daylight. It is a life in sharp contrast with Gentile debaucheries usually committed at night, and referred to as the “works of darkness”. This was not a life becoming to a Christian.
Christians, rather, should walk in virtue—in integrity—in faithfulness and purity—in LOVE. To become like Christ or “become” Christ, we must strive to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15).
In other translations, instead of “becoming” , the word is translated as “worthy of” (Philippians 1:27) and “befitting” (Titus 2:1). Certainly, we should not be walking in the manner of reveling and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, and certainly not in strife and jealousy. This is not the way for the Christian to walk!
I also said there is something for us to do. This is found in verse 14—
---14---“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust.”
"…make no provision”, it says. The term Paul renders for “make no provision for the flesh”, is only found one other place in the NT in the Book of Acts. Tertullus, an attorney who was the spokesman for the Jews who wanted to kill Paul, speaking to Felix, said, “Since we have through you attained much peace, and since by your “providence” reforms are being carried out for the nation…”, the term “providence” is the same one used by Paul in our text in Romans. It implies forethought, planning, and activity. In Greek literature outside of the NT, the term is used of a “premeditated” crime.
Let us who are not sleeping, not premeditate evil—and are not living an evil life. If we who are Christians—like those to whom Paul is writing in chapter 13—are doing this, then we need to wake up, for our salvation is nearer than we first believed.
Some might think that when the Bible uses the word “sleep”, it always means “dead”. I’m talking about physically dead. That word would be “koi- mete- rion”, which was used by the Greeks as a “rest house for strangers; for the interment of the bodies of their departed”. This is where we get our word “cemetery”—“the sleeping place”.
The word Paul uses in Romans 13:11 is “hup - nos”, which never means physical “death”. It is used 5 places in the N.T. and it is used to denote physical “sleep”, “a slumbering state of the soul”. It is used to describe spiritual conformity to the world, out of which believers are warned to awake!
They were just asleep, and they could wake up. Are we awake? If so, let us awaken the sleepyheads we know before it’s too late!
Invitation.
In verse 14, Paul says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ…”, and this same apostle told us how to do that when he wrote the Church in Galatia in Galatians 3:27—
---27---“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
Do you need to do that today?
