With the end of the church year we get a lot of readings that focus on the end of the world. Endings are appropriate to consider at this time of year as well. During fall things come to an end. Summer, leaves, plants, the days get shorter and shorter. In many ways this is an appropriate picture of the world we live in now. Paul in Romans 13 uses a different time picture for the present. We are coming to the end of night and the coming of the dawn. This knowledge of the time requires us to take certain actions. Know the time we are in, that the time is now for selfless love, and the time is to wake up.

First Paul talks about loving others. Love is pictured first as a debt we owe one another. Paul says do not owe anyone anything except to love one another. In the context of Romans 13 he had been talking about literal debts owed to leaders and others, in the form of taxes and the honor due to leaders. It’s a good piece of everyday wisdom to avoid being in debt, but Paul’s point is even deeper than that. The Christian is to be free of all debt except one- to love. Jesus has paid the debt our sin incurred to God and to others, we can’t possibly add to that. Yet the debt of love remains outstanding, and this is not a burden on us but a joy. It’s hard for us to imagine perhaps. Imagine a car loan that you pay monthly but it never gets any smaller. That would be a burden. But the debt of love is not a burden but a joy.

We can understand that more clearly when we realize what love is according to Scripture, which Paul goes on to explain. There are a lot of confused ideas about love in the world. People fall in and out of love like they change their shirt. “Love is love” is the mantra of many people- but what meaning does that hold? Love means to act nice and mild and let people do whatever they want to themselves- as long as nobody else gets hurt. Is that really what love is? Paul says the Commandments are summed up in this- Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor, so love is the fulfilment of the law.

When Paul says Love does no harm, it is a figure of speech that really means love does everything it can for the good of a neighbor. Love benefits the neighbor in a selfless way. So who do you love? And why? Pure Christian love is probably more rare than we think. So many of our relationships are based on mutual benefit after all. You love your friends because they give you something, whether it is simple enjoyment, or emotional support or validation. That’s just the way people tend to be.

As Christians our love is called to be deeper and more selfless than that, because the love of God is deeper than that. The clearest expression of love from God is found on the cross of Jesus. Jesus suffered and died only for us. God gave up his beloved son not for his own benefit, but only for us. And this was while we were worse than nothing to God, but even enemies and sinners. But God out of his mercy and love benefited us even at the cost of himself.

That’s what it means for Christians to love, and its important to be clear and distinguish because of the confusion about love that is in the world. Love is more than refraining from harm, its wanting what is best for those in your life. Another example of love is the love a mother has for her children. A mother wants what is best for the child no matter what. A mother doesn’t allow her children to harm themselves because that’s the choice they made, or to hurt others either.

All this love is based on the fact that we know the present time. This world is coming to a close, just as it was in Paul’s day. Our salvation, that is, the culmination of everything Jesus has done is nearer now than before. If you found out the date of the end of the world, how would you react? Lots of people would try to cram in as much enjoyment as possible before that time came. Others might see it as a license to get away with as much as they can with no consequences. Christians are to see the end of the world, the end of this world, as an encouragement to give themselves over to selfless love of your neighbor, following in the pattern of Christ’s love for the world. And today I’m telling you that the end is coming near, just like it was near for Paul. So love selflessly in a dying world.

Knowing the time does not only have to do with our love for one another. Our own spiritual state is important as well. You see, although this world is coming to a close, the twilight time is not going into night, but coming out of night into day. Night is almost over. Day is coming, and day is the time for battle. We put on the weapons of light. What weapons are these? Our first and most potent weapon is the Word, that sharp double edged sword of the Spirit, which grants the wisdom to judge and the spiritual perception to wage spiritual warfare. Don’t leave that most potent weapon rusting in the sheath! Another weapon Christians are given is prayer. The prayer of the righteous is surely effective. Don’t hesitate to rush to God in prayer in the view of these end times, with the day shining bright as a weapon against deeds of darkness! One more weapon Christians have employed in the fight is a little overlooked by modern Christians but valued by our forefathers is fasting. I want to talk about that when we consider the enemies we have to fight.

The activities of night must be put off and the activity of day put on. Paul gives examples- carousing, drunkenness, sexual sin, wild living, strife, jealousy. These are just some of the enemies we have to fight, and Paul focuses on the enemy of our sinful flesh. The reason to put these off and take up arms of light is obvious- day is here, and these deeds of darkness must be done under cover of night because they are shameful and wicked. Night is when people engage in crime and betrayal normally- but Christians are fighting in the day. This list is not exhaustive, but they capture so much of what people are caught up in.

Paul gives the example of carousing and drunkenness, and being drunk is not only about drinking alcohol. What is drunkenness? It is losing control, being unable to think clearly, it is not knowing the time- what is proper to do and to act. Alcohol does make you drunk, and so do other drugs like marijuana. People become drunk regularly as a coping mechanism, because they don’t see any other way out of pain or despair. This is not an appropriate attitude for the Christian. But other people might drown their sorrows not in drugs and alcohol, but in food, sex, Television, social media, pornography. One way of summing up these sins in gluttony- And even if some of these things like food and even alcohol are not evil in themselves, to be ruled by them is to live in darkness.

That overlooked weapon we have in fasting can be an efficient tool- and if you think that it sounds too catholic or something you should know I got the idea to talk about it from Martin Luther! And even Jesus talks about his followers fasting when he ascends into heaven. He says don’t make a show of it, that’s important. And its not a way to make ourselves righteous and holy- and it doesn’t have to be just about food. It is one weapon we can use against our sinful flesh, to master our bodies and our minds, and to remove the slavery to sin and the things in this world and become slaves of Christ. So even if you don’t think you have a problem with alcohol, for instance, can you give it up even for a month or six weeks? You are in charge, not your sinful nature after all. The same goes for television- Too many of you I’m sure spend all day at home with the TV on, and its called programming for a reason! No one putting out those messages has your best interest at heart, they want you asleep.

The problem is not our body itself. Don’t fast and beat yourself just for the sake of it, as though the problem were the body itself. Don’t destroy your body, crucify its desires. Jesus has won your freedom from sin and all its works on the cross. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and put off sinful desires.

Putting on Jesus in these end times days means putting on hope. It means having an optimistic view of the future. The time is God’s time. God’s time is always good. Amen.