"Be ALERT!"
There are many Christians WAITING for the return of Jesus Christ -- but not that many who are WATCHING for the return of Christ! The Bible doesn’t teach us to wait for His return; we are to WATCH for His return! What then is the difference between WAITING and WATCHING?
Would you rather have when the enemy might attack, someone on guard-duty who is simply waiting for the enemy to show up or someone on guard-duty who is watching to see if the enemy has showed up? The difference between “WAITING” and “WATCHING” here might mean the difference between life and death! – Source Unknown
The Bible teaches us that we are to be wide awake watching for the return of Jesus, not just waiting for it. Those who watch for it will keep themselves alert and self-controlled; those simply waiting may slip into sloppy business with other things and let their priorities slip!
2 Tim 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
I. NEED FOR ALERTNESS!
1 Thess. 5: 1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
Why do we need to have a watchful attitude?
The momentum of fallen man will be toward getting worse and worse if we are not on GUARD, we might allow ourselves to slip slowly away from a firm commitment to Christ!
Paul’s point in saying that Jesus will come “like a thief in the night” is to emphasize how those outside of Christ will be caught OFF GUARD!
And for unbelievers, they will be caught off guard by Christ’s coming!
But for those watching for Christ’s return it will not be a great surprise!
Paul describes these "last days" in his letter to Timothy:
2 Tim. 3:1-7 “They will be terrible times.”
“People will be lovers of self, money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having forms of godliness but denying its power” ... depraved minds.
This sounds like CNN.
1 Thess. 5: 3 For when they shall say Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape
The use of the illustration of a woman in labor is to illustrate the fact that the return of Christ is a fact of certainty ... just as labor pains prove a baby is soon to come, so will the rot of sin in increasing measure around the world prove the soon coming of Jesus Christ!
During those last days people in the world will think things are really getting good, they will be thinking “PEACE AND SAFETY!”
While the world is saying "PEACE AND SAFETY" doom will hit them at that very moment!
The world will be caught OFF-GUARD!
According to Mark 13 we as God’s people are called upon a number of times in this passage concerning the future to be “WATCHING” ... “BE ALERT” … “DON’T BE DECEIVED.”
Christians should never be lulled into contentment!
II. NATURE OF ALERTNESS
1 Thess. 5: 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep as do others;
“We are not in darkness” (meaning without understanding!)
It won’t be a surprise to those watching for Christ’s return ... we expect it!
Because we are not “ASLEEP” like the world, we need to be alert!
To be alert means to be mentally sharp!
This means being knowledgeable about the enemy, understanding of warfare, alert to dangers, planning for the future!
Those who simply wait for the future are not alert to the issues of the day; those who are watching out for the future are alert to the need now to be ready for tomorrow!
ILLUS: Years ago in east Tennessee there was an old man would fill a shoulder sack with acorns and take a sharpened stick and head out each morning to the forest area and the mountains. Here and there he would poke a hole in the ground and place an acorn in it, covering it with dirt with his shoes. He did this every day for years. When asked about it he stated, "Someone has to think about the future!" He wasn’t just waiting for the future; he was watching it come ... and doing something about it ... alert!
1 Thess. 5:6 but let us watch and be sober
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
Those that are really WATCHING and not just waiting are usually those who are SELF-CONTROLLED!
They know the seriousness of the coming future ... that is why they are watching and not just waiting!
"SLEEP" and "DRUNKENNESS." is the lack of self-control.
God’s people need to be alert mentally ... and we need to be SELF-CONTROLLED!
It is the ability to not only know what is right and wrong, but the ability to do what is right and avoid doing what is wrong!
We must guard ourselves against the influences of this world.
For many Christians they feel good about not failing in big ways, but we must guard our hearts against the smaller attitudes that can be just as painful and damaging as those big sins!
We tend to be off guard against the smaller things, yet they are the things that trip us up!
ILLUS: Bobby Leach, an Englishman, startled the world some years ago by going over Niagara Falls in a barrel unscathed! ... A feat few have done! Some time later however, Leach was walking down a street and slipped on an orange peel and had to be rushed to the hospital with a badly fractured leg ... he wasn’t as watchful on the daily road as he had been with the big river and it cost him! – Source Unknown
1 Thess. 5: 9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him.
11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do
Why stay ALERT & SELF-CONTROLLED!?
Because “we have not been appointed for wrath!” 5:9a
“We are not children of the dark ... but of light!”
God has prepared something better for us than what we have now!
Why do guards stay alert on guard duty ... because they know that eventually the war will end and those alive will go home again! THERE IS A FUTURE WORTH STAYING ALERT FOR!
We are not simply passing time, we are watching for our Lord’s return by staying alert mentally and self-controlled!
Even if Jesus doesn’t come in our lifetime we need to leave the next generation a witness of having been on duty during our lifetime!
ILLUS: When Pompeii was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius there were people everywhere that were buried by the ashes. Some were found in attics, others were in cellars, trying to find a secure place. Guess where one Roman sentinel however was found? Standing at the city gate where he had been placed by the captain with his hands still clutching his weapon. There, while the earth shook beneath him, while the floods of ashes and cinders covered him, he had stood his post ... and even after a thousand years the impression of his body still standing there unmoved gives testimony to others of his faithfulness during his lifetime to his guard-duty! – Source Unknown
When our children look back on our lives will they see servants of the Lord that have been faithful to be watching or adults who were running around waiting for the Lord but passing time doing a thousand different things!?
Paul ends here with: “ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER, BUILD EACH OTHER UP.”
Those on guard-duty can encourage and be encouraged!
There is peace among the soldiers when they know they have good guards on duty!
CONCLUSION: Are you just killing time waiting for Jesus to return, or are you really making time productive while watching for His return? One role of the church awaiting Christ’s return is that of a sentry! We are to be "Watchful" or "On Guard" duty. We are to understand the days in which we live. A good guard is alert mentally and self-controlled. The church is moving closer to the day Christ will come ... be on guard saints! BE WIDE AWAKE!
