When it comes to being a neighbor, we love our neighbor as ourselves when we place our neighbor before ourselves...

This week, we have been looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Romans to begin to answer the third question that we are going to look at in this series, which is “How should I be a neighbor?”

Yesterday, we looked on as the Apostle Paul commanded followers of Jesus throughout history to owe nothing to anyone except to love one another. As followers of Jesus, our relationships should not be driven and motivated by slavery to financial or emotional obligations. Instead, the only debt or obligation that should weigh on our lives and drive the motivation of our lives is the obligation to love one another.

Paul then explained that when love is the driving and motivating force behind our lives, the result is that we will live a life that is in line with God’s commandments. When followers of Jesus willingly place ourselves under others by placing others first out of a selfless and other-centered love for one another, we do not wrong to our neighbor and we fulfill God’s requirements of how we are to relate to one another. And it is in these verses that Paul reveals for us the reality that, as followers of Jesus, we are to willingly place ourselves under others by placing others first. Today, we will see Paul transition to reveal a third area where followers of Jesus are to practice a lifestyle of submission that willingly places ourselves under others by placing others first in Romans 13:11-14:

 Do this, 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. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

Paul begins verse 11 by providing a timeless reason why followers of Jesus throughout history are to practice a lifestyle of submission to government and are to willingly place ourselves under others by placing others first out of a selfless and other-centered love for one another. And that reason was “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.” But what does that mean?

When Paul uses the phrase awaken from sleep, this phrase refers to a state of thoughtlessness, laziness, lethargy, and sluggishness. This morning, have you ever been there? Have you ever been in that place where you wake up in the morning, of after a nap, and you are in an incoherent daze and have no desire to do anything? We have all been there at some point in our live, haven’t we? For some of us, that could be right now. And not only can we find ourselves in an incoherent daze of lethargy and laziness physically; we can find ourselves in an incoherent daze of lethargy and laziness spiritually.

And that is exactly where some of the members of the church at Rome were. And this morning, that may be where some of us are when it comes to our relationship with Jesus and your relationships with others. You may not give much thought or effort into your relationship with Jesus or your relationships with others.

Maybe you are at a place where you spend time with Jesus when Jesus fits into your schedule or when you feel like you need Jesus to come through for you. Maybe you are at a place where you spend time investing in relationships with others only for what you could get from others, not for what you could give to others.

Paul’s response to the members of the church at Rome, and followers of Jesus throughout history, who had become lethargic and lazy and lived life in an incoherent daze when it came to their relationship with Jesus and others, was this: Wake up! We need to wake up. And the reason why we need to wake up is become salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

By salvation, Paul is referring to the end of God’s story here on earth, when Jesus Christ will return to defeat selfishness, sin, and death, and when we will experience the fullness of the relationship with God that we were created for.  Every day here on earth is a day closer to Jesus return. And while we do not know the exact day and time when Jesus will return, we are to live our lives in a constant state of expectancy for His return.

Paul then explains that we are to wake up and live in expectancy of His return by laying aside the deeds of darkness and putting on the armor of light. Paul’s point here is that in light of Jesus return, as followers of Jesus we are to rid ourselves of the deeds that flow from a life of moral and spiritual darkness.

Instead of thoughtlessly and lazily living a life that is led by our old selfish and sinful nature apart from Jesus that is dominated by attitudes and actions that are selfish and rebellious, as followers of Jesus we are to live a life that battles moral and spiritual darkness with the weapons that God has given us as a result of his transformational activity. As followers of Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence and power, His word in the letters that make up the Bible, and prayer, just to name a few of the many weapons that God desires us to actively and thoughtfully employ in our lives so that we would live a life that reveals and reflects Jesus’ activity in our lives.

And it is here that we see Paul reveal for us the reality that, as followers of Jesus, we are to practice a lifestyle of submission to Christ’s commands. Instead of submitting to our old selfish and rebellious nature, we are to live a life that is submitted to following the message and teachings of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul’s point is that as we wait for Jesus return, we are to live our lives in light of His return by embracing a lifestyle of submission to His commands. In verse 13 and 14, Paul explains that whether it is our actions with what we eat and drink; whether it is our actions sexually; whether it is our attitude and actions in our relationships with one another, we are to conduct our day to day lives in a decent manner that follows the message and teaching of Jesus by submitting ourselves to His teaching. Instead of submitting Scripture to our thinking, we are to submit our thinking to Scripture. 

Paul concluded this section of his letter with a command that summarizes verse 11-14: “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”? The word provision here, in the language this letter was originally written in, literally means to make thoughtful plans in order to meet a need. In addition, the word flesh here refers to our old nature apart from Jesus that is dominated by the evil and destructive power of sin. Lust, simply put, is a desire for something that is forbidden.

Paul is commanding followers of Jesus throughout history to not make plans in order to meet the forbidden desires of our old nature that is dominated by selfishness and rebellion. Instead of taking the time to make plans to do something that is forbidden physically, sexually, or relationally, as followers of Jesus we are to be spending our time willingly placing ourselves under the leadership of Jesus by placing Jesus and His message and teachings in the forefront of our lives.

And it is here, in this section of this letter, that we discover a timeless answer to the question “How should I be a neighbor?” And that timeless answer is this: When it comes to being a neighbor, we love our neighbor as ourselves when we place our neighbor before ourselves. You see, to love our neighbor as ourselves is to place our neighbor before ourselves. And when we place our neighbor before ourselves, we will do no wrong to our neighbor and we will fulfill God’s requirements of how we are to relate to our neighbor. When we place our neighbor before ourselves, we also place ourselves under the message and teachings of Jesus. And, as we have talked about throughout this series, that is what matters most to Jesus.

What matters most to Jesus is that we live a life that loves Him with our total being and that demonstrates our love for Jesus by loving our neighbor like Jesus. And when we love our neighbor as ourselves; when we love our neighbor like Jesus, we are perfectly positioned to be the vehicle God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to those around us as we live a life of faithful obedience to Jesus.

We will live a life of faithful obedience because our faithful obedience flows from a life that loves God with our total being and the loves our neighbor as ourselves. And that is what matters most to Jesus. What matters most to Jesus is to be a neighbor that reveals our relationship with Jesus through how we love and treat our neighbor that leads us to be able to lead our neighbor to a relationship with Jesus.

So here is a question for us to consider: How are you doing when it comes to loving your neighbor as yourself by placing your neighbor before yourself? What are some ways that you can love your neighbor as yourself by placing your neighbor before yourself? What are some ways that you can put this truth into practice in your home, with your family, at school, in your workplace, and your relationships?

Because the timeless reality is that when it comes to being a neighbor, we love our neighbor as ourselves when we place our neighbor before ourselves...