There is much we know at one level and it may even be that those things are our creed – the things we say we believe. However, if we are honest, we know there is a danger that those stated beliefs go without expression. Let’s call that danger sleep.  In Gethsemane, as Jesus is entering into the first stages of the agony of His Cross, the disciples are entering into the dreamland of sleep. While Jesus has gone a little ahead, falling to the ground praying for a way out: “Father, you can—can’t you—get me out of this? Take this cup away from me. But please, not what I want—what do you want.” , the disciples were doing what they felt they must – sleep.

He came back and found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, you went to sleep on me? Can’t you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert, be in prayer, so you don’t enter the danger zone without even knowing it. Don’t be naive. Part of you is eager, ready for anything in God; but another part is as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.” (Need I say? The Message) 

Surely, you would think, a direct word from God would have enough effect on one to keep him awake a bit longer but no……

Jesus then went back and prayed the same prayer. Returning, he again found them sound asleep. They simply couldn’t keep their eyes open, and they didn’t have a plausible excuse.

The disciples know at one level that Jesus is going to be betrayed. (He just told them again in the Upper Room.) At one level they know He is the Messiah. At some level they honor Him as the Messiah and know that He loves them. They were all unified (less Judas) in their creed and declared that they were prepared even to die with Him if it was to come to that. We know as the cock crowed their beliefs had gone without expression. They had entered a zone of danger without even knowing it.

Paul recognized the danger of sleep as well. Keying off of Isaiah, he says,

Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall make the day dawn upon you and give you light. [Isa. 26:19; 60:1, 2.]

Isaiah actually goes a bit further than just saying, “Wake up.”

Arise from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you–rise to a new life! Be radiant with the glory of the Lord, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!  For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and dense darkness all peoples, but the Lord shall arise upon you, and His glory shall be seen on you.  And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. 
 
While Isaiah the prophet may be more dramatic, Paul the teacher is more explicit and specific in his wake up call to usBefore I relate the council of this true apostolic heart, please understand the kingdom-inheritance motivation of an apostle’s heart. 
 
Paul knew what Jesus suffered. In fact he was privileged to even share in some of the sufferings of Christ. He was keen that both God and the saints realize their inheritance – not someday but now. An important backdrop to anything said in scripture is that God’s inheritance is the saints themselves and, if the saints can wake up and grasp it, God Himself is theirs. Paul does not teach a passive, God-will-work-it-out life with Christ. He teaches that it is our job to wake up and live with deliberation and intentionality. 
 
Paul’s specifics include the wisdom that says,  “Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” No doubt he had been influenced by the Psalmist’s counsel, “Teach me to number my days that I may present to Thee a heart of wisdom.”
 
Paul was consistently prodding us out of our sleep so that we can actively enjoy our inheritance and God can enjoy the fruit of His Spirit being expressed in our lives. When we hear him say, “Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord”, we see that Paul clearly envisioned an experiential interaction with the Spirit of God that would result in a visible glorious display of God’s life in this earth.
 
Surely the tides of war will have shifted when the nations begin coming to the Church to see 

our light, and kings to the brightness of His rising. But perhaps we should not fast forward quite so far. For the sake of an immediate hope and personal application let’s say we shall see our victory when we have awakened and the light is shining upon us when our neighbor (those we have been called to walk along side) see that we have awakened from our slumber and the light of Christ is shining upon us. 
 
Another wake up-word from Paul involves our heart’s orientation to our circumstances. “Give thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.” He specifically instructs us to replace our course language with the language of gratitude; There must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.” 
 
Intentionally voicing our gratitude to God and to each other prevents us from having some flimsy creed about God’s goodness and sovereignty that never finds expression. Giving of thanks enables us to begin receiving our kingdom-inheritance of God now. And, when our hearts are made joyful (and therefore strong), God has certainly begun receiving His inheritance in us. We must be clear that if we are grumbling verbally or inwardly we are living in creed-only and little if any light is being emitted. 
 
 
No doubt the New Testament Narrative in its entirety might be said to be the waking up-vision of our lives but here is one last specific wake up-word from Paul from Ephesians 5….
 
Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. 
 
Those next to us are not there by happenstance. They are the appointed and specific place of those good works we have been told that were prepared before hand that we should walk in. These very people are holy components of God’s inheritance and whether we are awake to it or not, we are joined to them for eternal reasons that God is wanting us to be awakened to. With God, the bottom line is always love. I can hear Jesus saying even now…
 
 
“Are you going to sleep all night? No—you’ve slept long enough. Time’s up. Get up. Let’s get going.
 
 
I can also hear Paul say in the present tense…
 
Be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
 
Father, expose our flimsy excuses and hollow creeds; awaken us to the glory round about us. May our spirits fully awaken to who you are and what you are doing in our lives right now.  Teach us to stay alert in prayer that we would not enter that arena of tempting slumber. Father, you who never slumber and never sleep, teach us to imitate you, living intentionally with our eyes wide open. Help us to convert our creeds into action, with our wise choices, making investments in that realm where moth and rust do not destroy. In the darkness that deepens may the Light of Christ be seen in the greatest contrast and point many toward Your loving plan.
I am in awe of You. I love you Lord.
 

 

 

 

 

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