ARE YOU A SLEEPWALKING CHRISTIAN?
Eph. 5:14
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR:
1. Have you heard about the dog that sleepwalked into a PetSmart and told the attendant, “ZZZZ, I’m a cat. ZZZZ, I’m a cat.” The attendant responded, “Yes sir, you are a cat.”
2. The sleepwalking dog left and a patron said, “Why did you agree with him? That dog’s not a cat!!” The attendant replied, “You’re right, but my orders are to ‘Let sleeping dogs lie.’”
B. THESIS
1. Tonight we’re looking at a disorder that affects many Christians: they’re asleep and don’t even know it. Although they were ‘born-again’ years ago, they’ve reverted to their old lives and are no longer really living for Christ.
2. This message is entitled, “Are You A Sleepwalking Christian?” In this message we look at what spiritual sleepwalking is, the characteristics of such a person, and why it is so serious.
I. HOW DO PEOPLE ACT WHEN SLEEPWALKING?
A. WHILE THEY’RE SLEEPING, THEY MAY...
1. Get out of bed and walk around.
2. Have open eyes and appear to be awake.
3. May not remember later what they’ve done while asleep.
4. May do routine activities, such as getting dressed, talking or eating, leave the house, and even driving a car. [Mayo Clinic]
B. WHY THEY DO IT?
1. Usually they are in a dream-like state because they are sleep deprived or have been going through a stressful situation. They are trying to solve, while asleep, the things which so occupied their mind earlier. So during sleep they continue pursuing a solution even though they’re asleep.
2. HUMOR. A man stood up during the sermon and walked out of the church. After the service the man’s wife approached the Pastor. “Pastor, I can assure you that my husband meant no disrespect when he walked out during your sermon. You see, Frank has been sleepwalking since he was 5 years old!”
C. EXAMPLES OF SLEEPING-AWAKE PEOPLE IN THE BIBLE
1. The Apostles during the Transfiguration of Jesus were in a dream-like state, seeing and hearing, but seeming to be asleep (Luke 9:32).
2. The prophet Daniel, when receiving a great revelation, was in a dream-like state (Dan. 10:9).
3. Peter, when delivered from Herod’s prison by an Angel, walked two or three blocks before he woke up to himself (Acts 12:8-11). So the possibility of being asleep, yet carrying on partial activities, is clearly in the Bible.
II. HOW TO IDENTIFY SLEEPWALKING CHRISTIANS
A. CHRISTIANS CAN BE ASLEEP SPIRITUALLY
1. Jonah was disobeying God, fleeing from his assignment. The spiritual realm around him was greatly disturbed, but in his repudiation of the Spirit, he was unconscious of it. Amazingly, even the lost people around him were aware of it and rebuked him. (Jonah 1:6,10)
2. Paul told the Corinthians that some of them were spiritually asleep; “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” Eph. 5:14, Phillips. They seemed to be awake and were walking around, carrying on their lives – yet they were really sleeping, spiritually. They were sleepwalking their way through their lives.
B. CHARACTERISTICS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE ASLEEP
1. THEY’RE NOT ALERT TO DANGER. When I was a kid there was a girl in our neighborhood who sleepwalked. One of her parents got up at night and noticed the front door was ajar. They checked on the kids and found the girl’s bed empty. They began to look for her outside the house and found her laying in the street, asleep. She had no memory of how she got there. They came to the conclusion that she had sleepwalked. It was lucky a car hadn’t come along when she laying there, unaware of her danger.
Those who are asleep spiritually, like Samson in Delilah’s lap, aren’t aware of the danger that gathers around them. Satan still wants to kill, steal, and destroy us – even if we’re sleepy Christians! Don’t think that because you’re not walking with the Lord that Satan will leave you alone. No way!
2. THEY’RE OUT OF TOUCH WITH THEIR SALVATION. They’ve forgotten who they are, that they’re sons and daughters of God (James 1:24). They don’t act like they’re saved anymore. Peter says that they have forgotten “that they have been cleansed from their past sins” 2 Pet. 1:9. They’ve forgotten what Jesus has done for them!
3. THEY’RE DISTRACTED BY DREAMS. Spiritual realities have become unreal to them. This transitory world has become, for them, the only real world. So they’ve assumed its culture, priorities, and belief system. As far as eternity, they’re living in a dream, denying that what God has said is true.
4. THEY ARE INACTIVE. A sleeping person isn’t active in real life, only in dreams. Likewise, a sleeping saint doesn’t do anything for God, but only for the earth-life, which will pass away. There’s no reward for the passive, but there will be a serious punishment for those who neglect Christ’s commands (Mt. 24:48-50; 25:26; Lk. 19:22-23; Mt. 7:21).
III. WHY THIS IS SERIOUS
A. THEY DO THINGS THEY WOULDN’T IF THEY WERE AWAKE IN THE LORD
1. Paul warned the Corinthians to “Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame” (I Cor. 15:34).
2. Reverting to our old life makes us again call ‘good, evil, and evil, good’ (Isa. 5:20). If we go back, we fall back into the sins we were once delivered from.
3. The fallen Christian does things they would be ashamed of if they had to immediately stand before Christ in judgment. They commit the unspeakable act of crucifying Christ the second time, possibly committing sins for which there is no more forgiveness (Heb. 6:4-6; 10:26-27)!
B. THEY DON’T DO THE THINGS CHRIST WANTS THEM TO DO
1. They won’t do the things they should, as a Christian, because they’re in a sleep-like state, unaware of their true duties.
2. “And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” Romans 13:11-12.
3. Since Jesus’ Second Coming is so close, we ought to be concentrating on doing the will of God. We’re supposed to be examples of godliness and witnessing to the lost. We’re to help the weak and be generous with the poor. Every one of us has a lifetime of assignments and divine appointments to minister for Christ. We MUST be about the Father’s business!
C. THEY ENDANGER OTHERS BY NOT BEING ALERT AND BEING GOOD WATCHMEN
1. Ezekiel spoke for God, “But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.” Ezek. 33:6.
2. Every Christian is a “watchman” for the people around them that don’t know the Lord. Their lives are in our hands. We must not fail to deliver the Gospel to them so they may be saved.
3. God rebuked Israel’s spiritual watchmen for not sounding the alarm on people’s sins and warning them of the judgment that would surely follow (Isa. 56:10). Let’s be faithful to God and to help those around us to escape all that is coming on the world.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. The famous missionary, David Livingston, spent a year or two with a certain tribe in South Africa. Then urged on by his desire to spread the name of Christ, he went far into the interior with his wife and child.
2. When he returned to the first tribe, he found that they were in sore straits. Another tribe had killed many of their soldiers and taken the Chief’s own son as a captive.
3. An ambassador from the victorious tribe asked for friendship and peace. The victors were motivated by the fact that another tribe, the Zulus, were about to attack them; they wished to protect their rear.
4. The village chief was a good man who desired nothing better than to live at peace with his neighbors. He said to Livingston, “How can I be at peace with them when they still hold my son as a prisoner?”
5. If this attitude is true in the heart of a savage chief, how much more is it true of God the Father toward those who trample under foot His Son, and who count the blood of the covenant which sanctifies them as an unholy thing, and who despise the Spirit of grace?
6. Access to God must begin with Jesus Christ. He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me” John 14:6. [Donald Grey Barnhouse, “Let Me Illustrate,” pp. 17-18.]
B. THE CALL
1. As we’ve discussed the signs of a person who’s spiritually asleep, have you noticed any signs of it in your life?
a. Are you alert to the spiritual dangers around you?
b. Are you acting like a son or daughter of God – like a person whose a “new creature in Christ” would?
c. Are you distracted with the world or are you captivated by Christ?
d. Are you taking in spiritual nourishment? Witnessing for Christ? Teach and sharing with those around you?
2. Let’s heed Paul’s command; “Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame” (I Cor. 15:34).
3. Let’s pray about reconsecrating our lives. PRAYER.
