Put on the armor of light
Romans 13
Key verse 13:12
Good morning. Last week, we learned in order not to think ourselves more highly than we ought, we need to remember how sinful we were in the past. Also we learned the reason why God sends diverse people in the church is to build the body of Christ together. Today, in chapter 13, Paul mentioned three things: submit to the authorities, love one another, and put on the armor of light. You know, recently many companies have troubles of hiring employees. It turns out during the Pandemic, unemployed people have received more salary than they used to work. If they begin to work, they lose all the benefits they have enjoyed. So, of course, there is still a danger of COVID 19 but more importantly they get accustomed to receive the benefits without working while America itself is having billions of dollars in debt. It might lead America to a bankruptcy someday. Likewise, in today’s passage, Paul pleaded Christians in Rome who were complacent in their sinful life. He told them to understand the present time, wake up from their slumber, put aside the deeds of darkness, and put on the armor of light. Like early Christians, we need to understand what is going on spiritually today and clothe ourselves with Christ Jesus as the light of this world.
- Be subject to the governing authorities
Let’s read verse 1. “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God”. Everyone needs to be subject to the governing authorities. There is No exception at all. From a baby to retired senior people, every single person has to submit to the governing authorities. Then, what are the governing authorities? They are not only government officials but also school teachers, professors, parents, boss in company, .. Then, why did Paul say that everyone submit to the authorities? Because the authorities were established by God. In verse 1, Paul repeated two times that God established the authorities. In verse 2, he mentioned one more time that God instituted the authorities.
Is it true that God established the authorities? There are some evidence in the Bible. In 1 Peter 2, Apostle Peter also said “submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors”. Daniel 2:21 also said “God changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others.” Then, why did God put the authorities over people?
Look at verse 4. It says “ For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good.” The reason why God established the authorities is for your good, for your benefit. Before sin entered this world, in Genesis 1 and 2, people did not need the human authorities. However, as sin entered this world, as people have sinful nature, the authorities became necessary. According to verse 3, the main function of the authorities is to commend those who do what is right and to punish those who do what is evil. Think about what if there is no legal authorities? Who is going to punish thief or murderer? what if there is no military authorities? Who is going to protect us from the enemies? So the authorities itself is good for us.
But these days, one of the problems in our society is that people deny the authority. Some people distrust the authorities. They rebel against the authorities. Of course, in history, there are many cases how the governing authorities (not only political leaders, even parents or school teachers) abused their power to oppress people. But the real reason behind all these things is that we, human beings, having sinful nature, like Adam, are rebellious against God and against the authorities.
So in verse 3 and 4, Paul said that those who govern are God’s servants. In another meaning, they are God’s delegates. They are working for God and for God’s people. In history, we know king David, identified himself as God’s servant. He knew that God established his kingdom. So he worked for the people’s good. Emperor Constantine was not a Christian. But in AD 312, after seeing the sign of God and defeating his rival, he realized that God helped him. So he became the first Christian emperor. And he considered him as God’s servant. He proclaimed the freedom of religion, used his country to preach the gospel to all over the world.
You are young. Currently most of you are under the authorities. But someday, by God’s grace, you will be sitting in the seat of the authorities. At that time, what kind of attitude should you have? Do not forget that it is God who grants you such a governing position. Keep in mind that God calls you as his servant to govern people according to his will.
Then, what if there is a conflict between God and the authorities? In the Ten Commandments, there are worship God and honor your parents. But what if parents demand you to stop doing the bible studies? Since Paul said submit to the authorities, should we stop bible study? It is a tough question, but the answer is Absolutely no. we must obey God rather than human beings. Paul himself was demanded to worship Emperor later, but he did not submit to Emperor Nero. Instead, he chose to worship God. What about our Lord Jesus? In the Bible, the religious leaders kept telling him to stop healing the sick on the Sabbath. But he said to them “even to this very day, God is working to save sinners”. (John 5:17). So the bottom line is we must submit to the authorities because God has established for our good. However, when the authorities enforce us to stop worshipping God, we need to choose God first. Of course, there may be a cost for the decision.
Look at verse 6 and 7. Paul said since God established the governing authorities, we have to pay taxes. Today or even 2,000 years, paying taxes is a hot issue. In our sinful nature, we want to receive benefits but we do not want to pay taxes. But Paul said that the one in authorities is God’s servants. When the servants work, they expect their wages. Through paying taxes, they can receive their income. I can see here that God takes care of his servants. If God is taking care of his servants, how much more he will take care of his own children. According to Romans 8, we are the children of God. He did not spare his own son for us, then, how much more graciously he will give us all things. We need to put trust in him in money matter and pay taxes. Furthermore, look at verse 7. Let us read together. “ Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.” Paul said if we owe anything like taxes, revenue, respect, honor, then we should give to everyone what we owe them. But he also said if possible, owe nothing except the debt to love one another.
- Love one another
Look at verse 8. “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” The New living translation says “Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.” When I read verse 8, I thought Paul talked about debt of money. But as I read other Bible versions, actually he talked about debt of love. In General, if you owe something, you have to pay; it can be either in credit card debt or other types of debt. In Romans 1:14, Paul said “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.". He said he owed the debt of Jesus’ love for people. As you know, he persecuted believers. But Jesus had mercy upon him. One day, Jesus appeared to him, forgave him from his sin, and called him as the apostle of the Gentiles. He did not forget the love of Jesus. He wanted to pay back the debt of Jesus’ love to his neighbors. Like him, we also owe the debt of Jesus’ love. We did not love him, but he first loves us. While we were sinners, on the cross he died for us. He paid off all our debt of sins before God. Now we need to share the love of Jesus to other people (our neighbors: friends, classmates, lab colleagues, and roommates).
Look at verse 9. It says “The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself”. What does this mean? It is not easy to keep these commandments. We, sinners, actually cannot observe these commandments. But even if someone might observe the commandments, if there is no love, it is still not enough. In the Bible, a rich young man came to Jesus. He said “he honored his parents, he did not commit adultery”. He was very proud of himself. Then, what did Jesus say to him? You still lack one thing (Mark 10): love your neighbors. Why did Jesus ask the young man to love his neighbors? Because love fulfills the law. Look at verse 10. It says “ Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” When I love my neighbor, how can I commit adultery with them? When I love them, how can I murder them? When I love them, how can I steal? No way. So Paul said we should not be satisfied with just keeping the law bur rather we need to go one step further: love one another.
Then, how can we love our neighbors as ourselves? Is Paul talking about giving food or water or praying? Yes, they are included, however, according to chapter 13, there are much bigger things from verses 11.
3. Put on the armor of light
Let’s read verse 11, “And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.“ In Paul’s time, what did his present time look like? Based on what he said “wake up from your slumber”, we can see that at that time, believers were in slumber spiritually. Why were they in that situation? Probably, it was because Jesus did not come back right away. He promised that he would come back soon when he went up to heaven. It was about AD 33. And in Paul’s time, it was around AD 57, so 24 years had passed. Probably early church Christians waited for Jesus so eagerly in first month, first year, first 10 years. But as time passed by, they did not see any sign of Jesus’ coming. Then, they slowly became complacent and sleepy. In General, when people are sleeping, they do not know what is going on around them. Some people die unfortunately while they are sleeping when there is a fire on the house. Some people also have car accident while they are in drowsy driving on the highways. According to verse 13, they actually indulged in carousing (drinking party), drunkenness, sexual immortality, debauchery (extreme sexual pleasure), dissension and jealousy. Even though they were in such deeds of darkness, they did not know that the night is almost over and the day is coming. So he told them to wake up from their slumber. Similarly, we need to understand our present time and wake up from our spiritual slumber. Our society is getting away from God and indulges in sins more. Even Christians are melting down in the pot of adulterous culture. You know a famous story about boiling frog. If a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in warm water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. How can we not be like the boiling frog in our present time? Verse 11 says “The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”
Then, until Jesus comes again, how should we live? Verse 12 says “put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light”. I could see when believers lose their focus on Jesus, when they do not wait for Jesus’ 2nd coming, when they do not love each other, when they do not submit to the governing authorities, they are naturally getting into the deeds of darkness as. Then, how can we put on the armor of light? What does it mean? In the Bible, Jesus says “you are the salt of the world”, “you are the light of the world”. (Mt 5) When we live as the salt and as the light, that is how we put on the armor of light. Also this is how we love our neighbors. According to Amos 8, the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of a famine of hearing the words of God. It is necessary to help those who are in need financially but the more important in our present time is to let our young women and men hear the words of God. This is what our neighbors really need today.
Look at verse 14. Let’s read verse 14 together. “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh”. What does it mean that you clothe yourselves with Jesus Christ? It may be easy to understand when we think about why soldiers wear their military uniforms. Through their uniforms, they identify themselves as soldiers. They proclaim the world that I am a soldier. Also their uniforms remind them that they should think as soldiers and they should behave as soldiers. Also their uniforms make them proud and honored. In the same way, clothing ourselves with Jesus is identifying ourselves as a soldier of Christ. According to 2 Timothy 2, Paul told Timothy: “Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus”. We proclaim this world that I belong to Christ Jesus. Also we need to grow in thinking as Jesus did in the Bible, behaving like him, so that eventually we can imitate his image until he comes back. If we fix our eyes on Jesus daily, then, we do not need to be afraid of his second coming at all. As you know, St. Augustine was born into a Christian family. His mother was famous for a prayer woman. But his life was debauched. He was a man of lust. He was not a Saint at all. His mother woke up and prayed for him with tears. Finally, he repented and became a new being in Jesus. He went to church, read the Bible, and tried to live a good life. However, he couldn't cut off his deeds of darkness. In his book, Confession, he said “The Lord did not immediately break the ropes of my old habits. I cried to myself, 'I must break it now. Now is the time to take off this cord.' But the more I tried to give up my old self, the more anxious I became.” Then, one day, suddenly he heard a voice from his neighbor’s house, ‘Pick it up and read it. Pick it up and read it.’ So he opened the Bible and read the first part that caught his eye, where it was written in verses 13 and 14. In his book, he said “I did not read any further. Because now my face is completely at peace." It was finally the moment when Augustine was truly born again. Is there anyone who, like Augustine, who believes in Jesus, yet, still caught up in the desires of the flesh? Why do not you desperately pray to Jesus like Augustine? Why do not you cry out and ask for help? Then our Lord Jesus will shine the light of grace upon your sleeping soul and make you put on the armor of light.
As a conclusion, today we have learned that it is God’s will to submit to the governing authorities. Also when we love our neighbors, we are able to keep the law. And lastly, we are called as the salt and the light of the world. Let us wake up from our slumber and clothe ourselves with Christ Jesus every day.