Romans 13:11-14-4 “The Day Is Near”

Do you know what time it is? That is the question that the Apostle Paul asks of the Church in Rome. So, I need to ask all of you this morning, too: Do you know what time it is? I am sorry, but when I ask that it reminds me of that very old 1950’s children’s program on TV “Howdy-Doody.” Then, all of the television audience would start singing “It’s howdy-doody time.” Isn’t it strange how my mind works?

You are probably sitting in the congregation right now, thinking: “I know what time it is.” “I have even set my cell phone to wake me up at the end of the sermon!”

Funny thing, we have two words in Greek for time. One is “chronos,” meaning the time measured in terms of minutes, days, months and years. The other word is “kairos” which refers more to a quality of time as in we look at epochs, seasons, and greater periods of history. Which one do you think Paul is using here? “Kairos”! He is not asking everyone to go out and look at the sundial or to turn over the hourglass. He is asking whether the church knows what great epoch is dawning over humanity now.

The Kingdom of heaven is dawning over all of creation since the light of Christ came in the person of Jesus, born in Bethlehem. I have a hard time imagining the excitement there must have been in those days. The people preaching, some of them actually knew Jesus in his lifetime. They would have seen the miracles that Jesus did. It is like when you first meet your wife or husband-to-be and there is so much excitement. That is how I imagine the church in Paul’s time still to be.

To be sure, when one does get married, it is not that the love ever decreases, but the excitement may begin to wane slightly after the first twenty-five to fifty years. The love increases but the excitement goes down because you get to know the other person to that point where there are very few surprises left. That is just reality. So, after not twenty-five or fifty years, but now two thousand years, the excitement of institutionalized Christianity is maybe not quite what it used to be.

Paul is telling us to remember what time it is. We have to remember the excitement of the epoch in which we live. As Paul says, everyday brings us closer to the time when Christ returns. We are a lot closer to that now than they were in Paul’s time! Therefore our excitement should be building again. Yes?

So many people have tried to tell us that Jesus is coming back at one time or another. We have had those dates and times come and go. We cannot know when that will be. Jesus himself tells us that even he did not now when he would come again. That is knowledge that God in heaven knows only. Look with me at Matthew 24:36, “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” One thing we can say: everyday we get up in the morning brings us closer to that time when the world will see Christ again.

The following verses tell us that we must now live in the light of the new day that is dawning. That is why I always say “Good morning” to everyone no matter what time of day it is. God’s light is dawning in this the Day of Lord. What is the first thing we do when we wake up? We get dressed. We are told by Paul to “put on the armor of light.”

The verb here really does mean that we should clothe ourselves in the light of God. I want us all to see this morning that we are clothed in the light of God. When people look at you, they should see the light of Christ on you. We are like the moon, reflecting the light of the Son!

In verse 14 it says that we are to make no provision for the flesh. When people look at us, they should not see anything but the light of Christ. This line reminds me of the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus says, “And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field. . . .Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these!” Matthew 6:28. If someone comes to church just wearing old rags, all we should see is the light of God reflecting brightly from them.

I have to mention that in Paul’s days, you were what you wore! People were very much into dressing their parts in society. You knew who the emperor was by his clothes. You knew the senator, the centurion, the soldier, the slave by their clothes. That is not really the case anymore is it? I once met Jeff Besos on the beach. I did not know who he was at the time–although he did tell me he worked at Amazon.

On Tuesday I saw County Council member Mel Repozo ringing the bell at the Salvation Army Kettle outside of Walmart. He did not have the Salvation Army uniform with name badge on, and no other way to tell who he was. I said “hi, Mel,” but I know him.

In the day, really showing who you were was important. Paul is saying to let people know you are part of the Kingdom of God.

Let us keep moving to Romans 14:1. “Welcome those who are weak in faith.” We are supposed to welcome others to the light. I tell you that we are great at welcoming others here to Kauai. We go pick all the plumeria off our trees and string them together into a lei. Then, we go kill the pig and make Kulua pork for them. We have a complete luau sometimes. We are so welcoming on this island that we are now maybe asking ourselves if it is not time to roll up the welcome mat a bit. No?

I will tell you this secret: If you have never been to our island before and want to be welcomed at the airport, you can purchase that “welcome.” The deluxe honeymoon lei greeting is $92.14 —or with GET that equals exactly $95. I want you to think that if you come to church the first time, we also give you a lei, but it does not cost $95!

Now, we have to realize that Paul really is not talking about a simple “welcome” here. If you read this passage in your King James’ Version Bible, then you will have seen the word “receive” rather than “welcome.” To be sure, there is a difference between being welcomed and received. The word here that Paul uses from the Greek is λαμβανω. If we want to see how it is used elsewhere in the Bible, we might want to look at John 1:10-13, “He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.”

Getting back to the $95 welcome at the airport, what if instead of just getting the orchid lei around your neck, the person whom you have never met before takes you by the hand, picks up your luggage with the other hand, takes you outside to his or her pick-up truck and takes you home. Once there, they ask if you have laundry to do, and then they do it. Not only are you given a bed, but it is the best bed in the house. Everyone else has to sleep on the floor. This is the difference between being just welcomed and being received as it were.

Paul states that we are to receive others, especially those “weak in faith.” When you go to the post office to “receive” a package. You can receive it because somebody has sent it to you. Is that not correct? One receives what has been sent—addressed to that person. And so, the idea is that when someone comes to church, we are not just supposed to welcome that person, but we are to receive that one because he or she has been sent to us.

This reminds me of the story of the three strangers coming to Abraham and Sarah in the Old Testament. They come because they are sent by God to announce to the couple that they will have a child together. Sure enough Isaac is born.

When people come to our church, any church, we must also assume that God has sent them to us to build up their faith. They may have been walking down on the beach here in Waimea and heard a Word from God. Their faith might have been initiated in that moment. Then, they would have heard “go to the Waimea Church to build up your faith even more. A lot of people there to share your faith with. They will receive you in Christ’s name!”

Church worship is clear, but what about welcoming all those youth to the Ed Center after school? God is doing that! God is receiving them! I always have to remind myself of that. God is sending us those youth. What about colleagues at work? Sporting events? Supermarket checkout lines? God is sending you those who need a strong faith.

It is really easy to get judgmental about youth because they seem to do things so differently than us middle-aged folks. However, the last line of our scripture for today says it clearly: “They will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.” They are sent to us, but they are received by God, and God will make them stand.

Alleluia! Receive the one weak in faith in the name of Christ. Know that God is receiving them with your help. Amen.