Jump Start # 3617

1 Thessalonians 5:8 ”But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.”

A word that we don’t hear much these days is being “sober.” Most times that word brings up the idea of alcohol and drunkenness. A sober person is one who is not intoxicated. And, with that, we put that word on the shelf of our minds and it stays there. But, throughout the N.T., as in our verse today, the word sober is used not in connection with drinking but with alertness, attentiveness and seriousness.

One of the qualities of a shepherd is that he be sober. Both Peter and Paul use this word to describe the character of a disciple of Christ. He is sober. He is clear headed. He is serious about going to Heaven. He is, as the Lord told us, watching, careful, alert to the things around him.

And, that quality flies in the opposite direction that our culture goes. Don’t be so serious, people say. Chill out. Take a chill pill. And, laughter, laughter, laughter is flavor of the month. Funny shows on TV. Funny videos on YouTube. Jokes. Pranks. Just laughing your way through life. There is little room for soberness. I’ve noticed even in funerals these days, many no longer cry. They want funny stories.

As disciples, we must take soberness off the shelf and add it to our lives. This does not mean we walk about with a sour look upon our faces. It doesn’t mean we dismiss happiness and laughter. But, it shouldn’t be one or the other—laughter or seriousness. We’ve got the laughter part down pretty good. What we need are some serious thoughts. Serious conversations. We need some soberness in our lives.

Here’s why:

First, Satan would have us to believe that none of these things really matter. Don’t get so serious about faith. It’ll all be ok in the end. By doing this, he shifts the most important things to the back burner. Having fun on the weekend is more important, Satan will tell you, than worship. You can worship anytime, he has you believing. Doing what you feel like doing is much more important than serving others. That’s Satan’s message.

Go to church, but find preachers that make you feel good. Preachers who act like stand up comedians are much better than hearing old fashioned doctrine. That’s what Satan wants.

Second, Satan loves distracting you. There is so much to do and thinking about your soul, righteousness and fellowship can always wait. The ballgame is on TV. Your friends want you to go golfing. The kids want to see a movie. Run. Run. Run. And, at the end of the day, you are too tired to read the Bible and not in the mood to pray. Do it in the morning, your mind tells you. But, in the morning, there is so much to do. And, soberness and seriousness about our walk with the Lord gets kicked down the road once more.

Who wants to talk about their soul, temptation and how to grow in Christ, when we can talk about the Dodgers? What does this verse mean or who did the Dodgers buy this week? About the only subject we get serious and sober is talking about whether or not the President will stay in for the election.

Distractions—they can sure take our eyes off the road. This is why we have signs about deer crossing and falling rocks. Pay attention when you drive, is what we tell new drivers. Keep both hands on the wheel. Turn the music off. Focus. Yet, when it comes to our spiritual walk, we need someone telling us the same things.

Third, it’s those who have paid attention to their souls and walk that seem to be so confident, sure and focused. Their lives seem to be all together and our lives look like puzzle pieces in a box. Why is it that way? They have learned when and how to be serious. They have learned to be sober about their walk with the Lord. They have see through the fog that Satan covers our eyes with.

We are of the day—don’t forget that.

Roger

Jump Start # 1368

1 Thessalonians 5:8 “But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.”

We conclude our week long look at “who we are,” from Heaven’s perspective. The actor, Kirk Douglass, in his autobiography, “Son of the ragman,” tells the story of driving along a San Diego highway after WWII. He was already a famous actor. A sailor was hitchhiking, so Douglass picked him up. As they rode together, the sailor kept looking at Douglass. It finally came to him, who the famous actor was. He blurted out, “Hey, do you know who you are?” The same could be said of us, “Hey, do you know who you are?” We are from God. We are light. We are the world’s Bible. We are made in His image. Today, we are of the day. These lessons are important because sometimes we feel like we are not important and that we are not doing anything worthwhile. When we realize how God views us and how much He loves us, it helps us to see our value and to understand the great trust God has in us. He places His word and His kingdom in our hands.

In our passage today, Paul is making contrasts between “day time people” and “night time people.” This has nothing to do with the time on the clock, but everything to do with the condition of the heart. The day of the Lord will catch the “night time” people unprepared. It will end their little joy ride through life.  Night time people sleep—not literally but spiritually. They are clueless to what is going on and what they are doing to their own hearts and soul. Night time people get drunk at night—again, not literally, but spiritually. They are oblivious to what God says. They do what they want, mostly harming themselves.

Paul identifies portions of a soldiers armor. We are familiar with the Ephesian description, but it is also found here as well. Only two pieces are listed here, the breastplate and the helmet. Nothing is said about the sword in this section.

We are of the day. We are sober. We are armed and protected. We are ready. That’s the thoughts found here. Like the five wise virgins who had plenty of oil, when the groom came, they were ready to enter the wedding feast. Readiness. Alertness. Day time. That’s us. Peter would tell us to be sober and alert because Satan, like a lion, is seeking someone, anyone, to devour.

Sober and alert means we have our spiritual radar on and our senses are trained to discern good and evil. Some things seem innocent, but they are wolves hiding under the disguise of a sheep. The alert Christian, the sober Christian sees that. Some fruit is poison for the soul. The sober and alert Christian sees that.

So, not every religious book is helpful. Some are full of poison. Not every blog tells the truth. Not every movie is worth going to. Not every TV should be watched. Discernment. Carefulness. Some things are harmful to my soul. If your kids had a friend over, and during dinner, this friend started using bad language and even cussing now and then, you’d tell him to stop it. After the dinner was over, if this friend, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and started smoking on your couch, you’d firmly tell him to stop. If he talked lewd and suggestive around your daughter, you’d tell him to leave. Any godly parent would do that. However, if that friend happened to be the TV, we allow the entire family to sit around and hear inappropriate language, habits that we do not agree with, and suggestive thoughts, while we laugh our way through the show. It’s only TV we say. However, we wouldn’t allow that behavior in person. Be alert. Be sober. Be of the day. Influences affect us. Putting our guard down will make us weak and vulnerable.

Sober. Don’t let your guard down because it’s a family member. It doesn’t matter if it’s a cousin, uncle, brother, or parent. Negative attitudes, saying false things about God and His church, exploiting the thrills of sin—too often we put up with those things because it’s family. It’s the family reunion but those moments can nearly ruin us. It’s family coming to stay for a few days. We feel compelled to let them watch the raunchy shows that we’d never watch, because they are family. We may feel pressured to skip church services, because family is in town. Instead of pulling them closer to the Lord, their presence pulls us farther from the Lord. Why do we do this? Be sober. Be of the day. Invite your family to come with you to services. Don’t allow them to drop bad words. Don’t let them trash the Lord you love with their wrong opinions. You are of the day. Some how we can stand up to the guy at work or the stranger in the store, but when it’s family, we cower in fear. Don’t be that way. You are of the day.

Family discussions about the Bible, over the Bible and with the Bible can be very profitable, helpful and even lead to changes. “I’ve always had a question about that,” can be answered in a Biblical way.

You are I are traveling through lion country. We must be careful. Just last week, an American tourist in Africa, were traveling through a lion park was killed. They ignored the signs about keeping their windows up. They didn’t. A lion attacked and a woman was killed. That’s not the first time that happened. It happens every day. We ignore the warnings from Heaven and Satan, the lion, attacks and wounds our soul. It didn’t have to happen. Keep your windows up was the sign from Africa. The sign from Heaven is be sober, be of the day, put on your armor. Instead of doing that, some of us want to pet the lion. Some of us want to get out of the car and stand beside the lion. Some of us will be shocked to see how our families are destroyed because of the lion. He is not something to be taken lightly. It doesn’t take him long to cause severe damage.

Have you noticed that most bad stuff happens at night. Most crime takes place at night. Most bars are dark. You drive by a bar and it’s not bright like a Wal-Mart. It’s dark. Dark places. Dark thoughts. Dark activity. Not us. We are day time people. We are in the light like Jesus.

Be sober. Be daytime. Be ready. That’s who we are.

Roger

Jump Start # 213

1 Thessalonians 5:8 “But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.”

  Daytime—nighttime. Paul in this section of Thessalonians makes a contrast between daytime and nighttime. He uses the expressions, “night,” “darkness” at least six times in just a few verses. Day and night. There are differences. Some of us are morning people, who get up at the crack of dawn with trumpets blowing. That’s me. Others are night owls. They stay up real late and don’t seem to get going until most of us have already gone to bed.

  There are day activities and night activities. I wouldn’t recommend going on a hike in the middle of the night—rather hard to see. Cutting your yard at midnight isn’t a good idea. Most businesses are open in the day. Not too many of us go to the dentist at 2 in the morning unless there is a real emergency. But if you want to go catch some lightning bugs you have to do that at sunset. Going out at noon, you’ll come home empty. Day and night.

  Paul is using these words to describe the spirituality of people. Day people are the followers of Christ. Paul said, “you are all sons of light and sons of day” (v. 5). Again, he said, “but since we are of the day…” (v. 8). The night represented those not in Christ. Those in darkness are not alert of what is going on around them. Mostly, they are not awake spiritually. Jesus used similar thoughts in John 3. There He said, the light has come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. In other places, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” John told us to “walk in the light as He is in the light.” Daytime and nighttime people…those who are following Christ and those who are not.

  I’ve noticed something about daytime people and nighttime people…they don’t get each other. Given a chance and a choice, there are some who would like to sleep in on a Saturday until noon or later. For them, that is a great way to spend a day off. Early morning folks, like me, nearly explode at such ideas. By noon the day is half over. A person has wasted it just sleeping in bed. There are things to do. Get up and get at it! That’s the way my internal clock works. If I’m in bed past 9:00 in the morning, someone better take my pulse. I’ve probably checked out of life! But on the other side, there are those who love to watch movies and play games at 2:00 in the morning. I need industrial strength toothpicks to keep my eyes open that late. Daytime people and nighttime people.

  I’ve also noticed that spiritual daytime people do not understand those of the night spiritually. Why is it that some don’t want to come to church services? I have a hard time with that one. Why do some not just want to sit down and talk about the Bible? That’s a great thing to do. Just saying that to some nighttime people and they’ll run the other way. No interest. Nighttime spiritual people have a bent on doing the very things that Jesus wouldn’t do. It doesn’t bother them in the least. I guess that’s why they are nighttime.

  Paul’s words were not a means to get nighttime people to live in the day, rather, they are reminders to the daytime people, the Christians, that they need to keep alert, sober and serious about Jesus. Others don’t understand you. God does.

  We are of the daytime! Good reminder of days when it seems to get darker earlier and earlier.

Roger