Why do I get my best sleep right before the alarm goes off? I may toss and turn all night long, but there’s nothing like those last few minutes of sweet slumber before my clock/radio so rudely interrupts me. The temptation each morning is to hit the snooze button and roll back over and catch a few more zzz’s. But I know if I do, I’ll be in trouble. BIG trouble. I need to wake up. NOW. In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul flips on the lights and sends a wake up call for believers there. “For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you’” (v14). Get up! Wake up, sleepy head! Don’t hit the snooze button and roll back over. Open your eyes and realize what’s going on. Understand the reality of the situation. The bad is a whole lot worse than you realize. The good is a so much better than you understand.
Wake up and smell the coffee!
The apostle is wrapping up a section where he talks about what it looks like to “be imitators of God” (Eph 5:1) and to “walk as children of light” (Eph 5:8). His big point here is to live in the light (pun VERY much intended!) of the reality of what Jesus has done for us. We used to stumble around in pitch dark (Eph 5:8). Then Jesus, the Light of the World, kicked on the spiritual switch in our lives. Whatever you do, don’t walk back into the dark! Don’t turn off the lights and walk back into the darkness of your sinful lifestyle. As a matter of fact, use that light to lovingly and gently show others their own blind spots (Eph 5:11). Light helps us see the reality of the situation. Don’t roll back over. Get up! Open your eyes!
Wake up and smell the coffee!
You’ll notice that this verse is set apart with a little indentation in your Bible. What’s up with that? Well, Paul is probably quoting the lyrics of one of the hit praise and worship songs of the first century. Someone has taken the ancient and inspired words of Isaiah 60:1-2 and paraphrased them and put them to music. Just like your pastor might quote something written by Hillsong United to make a point, the apostle drops a line from one of his favorite worship tunes. The man from Tarsus repeatedly uses songs, poems and pop culture to tell folks about Jesus. He did it in Athens on Mars Hill (Acts 17:28). And he’s doing it again.
Flip back to Isaiah for just a minute. This prophet’s pen absolutely drips with the Good News. Kinda like talk of the Fifth Beatle, some folks describe this OT book as the Fifth Gospel. Ike is absolutely obsessed with God’s promise of Messiah. If Isaiah 53 isn’t talking about Jesus, who else could it be? Check out Isaiah 60:1-2. “Arise, shine, for the light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you...the LORD will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you.” These are the verses that inspired some first century worship leader to write these lyrics. And part of that is to connect the dots between what Isaiah predicted and what God fulfilled in Christ. Paul gives that his personal and apostolic stamp of approval. He confirms that Isaiah was 100% correct when he was writing about Jesus! What a great reminder that the entire Bible is about the radical Rabbi/Carpenter from Nazareth. He is THE Hero of THE Story.
Paul tells each of us to “awake” (v14). This is the Greek verb egeiro, which means to wake up, rouse, rise, stand up and pay attention. There’s an urgency to it. There’s an immediacy to it. Open your eyes! And I mean NOW! When Jesus’ posse freaked as He snoozed in the boat during the big storm, “they went and woke (Gr. egeiro) Him” (Mt 8:25). He needed to wake up RIGHT NOW!! And it’s the very same word Christ uses to describe stone cold corpses brought back to life. The Lord sent His boys out to “heal the sick, raise (Gr. egeiro) the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons” (Mt 10:8). Jesus predicted His own spectacular comeback when He told the religious hardliners, “Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise (Gr. egeiro) it up” (Jn 2:19). An angel is a shiny white suit broke the news to the women that looking for Jesus in the graveyard is a waste of time. “He’s not here; He has been raised (Gr. egeiro)” (Mt 28:6).
The lyrics of the praise song shake the shoulders of someone fast asleep, “O sleeper” (v14). The terminology here tells us that they aren’t just resting their eyes and taking a power nap. They’re snoozing. Out cold. REM sleep. Matt uses this description of sleepy time too when writing about Jesus’ adoptive dad-to-be Joe sawing serious zzz’s when God’s messenger tells him what to do in a dream (Mt 1:24). The term tells of such a deep sleep that it’s also used for folks who are dead (1Th 4:15; 5:10). Before God got involved, I was dead (Eph 2:1). It’s what Raymond Chandler called “The Big Sleep.” The dirt nap. But because of His grace, I’m now alive and awake (Eph 2:4-5). Wake up, sleepy head!
If you any have doubts about this imagery of sleep as death, Paul makes that clear when he writes, “Arise from the dead” (v14). He uses the Greek term nekros, meaning something lifeless. A corpse. A stiff. It’s where we get the prefix “nerco-” in words like necrophilia and necropsy. The apostle isn’t just shaking the shoulders of napping friend. He’s pounding on a closed coffin. Kinda gross, huh? But it gets his point across, doesn’t it? Only Jesus has the life-giving power to pull off that kind of miracle. Just ask Lazarus when you see him (Jn 11:38-44).
Paul desperately wants his readers (and that includes you and me!) to wake up and smell the coffee. For unbelievers, it’s time to open your eyes to who Jesus is and what He’s done. You can’t save yourself. Only He can. Please wake up! And for those of us who call ourselves His followers, it’s time to open our eyes wide to the reality of the oh so abundant life (Jn 10:10). Wake up to what He’s given you! “The hour has come for you to wake up from your sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed” (Rom 13:11). Wake up and understand the desperate situation of those around us! “Let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober” (1Th 5:6). Get up! Wake up, sleepy head! Don’t hit the snooze button and roll back over. Open your eyes and realize what’s going on. Understand the reality of the situation. The bad is a whole lot worse than you realize. The good is a so much better than you understand.
Wake up and smell the coffee!
So what do you think? Yes, I'm talkin' to YOU! Agree or disagree? Drop a comment below. I would love to hear from you.
No comments:
Post a Comment