TOPIC:“It's Time To Take Action”
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:Romans 13:11-14
“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for
now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (13:11)
The recurrent note that has sounded forth again and again in the history of the world are the words, “It's time to take action.” There are many instances of this which could be cited, but permit me to mention a few of them. The man's name was John the Baptist. He was the forerunner of Jesus, sent by God to give notice of the coming of the Lamb of God. His was a message of judgment and repentance. When Herod Antipas decided to live in open immorality with Herodias, his brother's wife, John would have none of it. He denounced it. He declared: “It's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife” (Mark 6:18, NIV). John knew it was forbidden by the Mosaic law. It was time to take action. But such action was costly. It cost John his head.
In the lowest and most dangerous time in the history of our country we sustained ourselves against the invading British troops. General George Washington on Christmas Eve in a surprise move upon the British forces, crossed the Delaware to defeat the enemy. It was time to take action. The year is 1943 in Nazi Germany and Hitler and his political followers were sending Jews and other undesirables to the gas chambers. Then a Christian minister by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer spoke out boldly against such inhumane practices. The result for such action was that Bonhoeffer was stripped naked and hanged in 1945. This one man realized that it was time to take action.
In 1963 our country was engaged in a battle over racial slavery. Many thought we would have another Civil War. Into that deep struggle came a man by the name of Martin Luther King, and although murdered himself, through his no-violent demonstrations across the south he brought freedom and justice to black people and oppressed minorities throughout these United States. Once again it was time to take action.
And now, today, the call comes for us here in America, and here in this church, to realize once again it's time to take action. Paul the Apostle sounds the trumpet of alarm as he calls the church of Jesus Christ to action. It's time for the church to be awakened from its deep sleep and spiritual slumber and replace indifference with involvement and apathy with alertness. Hear Paul's summons from the words before us in verse 11: “It is high time to awake out of sleep.” That's what God is saying. Notice the words in verse 12: “Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” Notice the words in verse 13: “Let us walk honestly as in the day.” Notice the words in verse 14: “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision . . .