January 27, 2002 1 Thessalonians 5:4-11
4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to the hard earned purchase of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (NIV)
There’s a saying in life that says, “roll with the changes.” Throughout a person’s lifetime we have to make a lot of adaptations to our living conditions. When I moved into a dorm at college, I had to adjust to living with a new roommate. When he was expelled from school, I had to adjust to another one. I had to grow used to living and taking on my own responsibilities of homework and work and play. It wasn’t the easiest thing to adjust to, but I managed.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that getting married and having kids would take so much change. I don’t know what I was thinking, but before I was married I used to think that marriage would be just like being single, except you’d have someone else living in the house with you. But pretty soon I began to realize that life wouldn’t be the same. There was someone else who was now my teammate - who I had to keep informed as to what was going on. And once we had kids, my complete schedule seemed to be locked into when the children were fed, clothed, entertained and put to bed. Never in my life did I have to make so many adjustments as when I was married and had kids.
This may sound strange, but I think one of the most major adjustments I’ve had to make is in my sleeping patterns. Before I was married I would generally go to sleep at 10 and get up when I wanted to. But now I live with four other people who have completely different sleeping patterns than I do. My infant son likes to wake up at 3 and have a little snack. My three year old girl loves to come bouncing in my room every morning to inform me that it’s almost light out and time to get up. Little does she realize that I went to bed later than she did and woke up in the middle of the night. But that doesn’t matter to her. Some days are just really difficult to stay awake. This is true in a spiritual sense as well. It’s difficult to stay awake, so Paul encourages us to -
Never Say “Good Night”
In his letter to the Romans Paul said, “the night is almost over.” (13) He compares living in this world to living in the dark. It is natural to sleep when it is dark out, because the darkness somehow triggers a hormone within us called melatonin, which is supposed to help us sleep. When I was in high school I used to work the graveyard shift. During this time, we would mop and wax sections of the store. This was not easy to do, for by the end of the night, my body would eventually get more and more tired. It was the natural thing to do because that’s the way our bodies are made - to sleep at night.
We sleep for beauty, our brains, our health, and to help us make it through the day. When we get enough sleep, the body purrs on all its cylinders. Gina Poe, a neurophysiologist at Washington State University, said that sleep is "housecleaning time. It’s strengthening things that need to be strengthened, weakening things that no longer need to be there, throwing them away." Infants spend 20 out of 24 hours in a day sleeping. We spend a third of our lives sleeping. This is necessary.
In a spiritual way, Paul told the Thessalonians that many others are asleep and “drunk” - like people who live in the darkness. When you are asleep or drunk, it dulls your senses so that you don’t know what is going on around you. You say things that you don’t mean to say, and you sometimes do things that you wouldn’t mean to do in your “right mind.” For instance, you have to wonder if the world has been sipping a few gin and tonics to believe that the world was created by a big accident that occurred millions of years ago. How spiritually asleep can Americans be to encourage their children to have safe sex before marriage? How insensitive can so many spouses be to leave their spouse and children behind for an affair? What world are they living in to say that it’s ok to suck a child out of it’s mother’s womb and chop it apart into a vacuum? We are living in a world that thinks it is blind tomfoolery to expect a child to remain a virgin until marriage. They preach that it is foolish to tell a woman to deliver a baby into this world that may have MS or mental retardation. They think that they are all going to heaven because they’ve been “pretty good.” And the thing is, they like it where they are. When their consciences are not convicted, and they convince themselves that they are good people, it’s as if they were nice and cozy in their beds of denial. They think this is good for them.
But Paul says, let us not be like others, who are asleep. In several parables, Jesus also warned against falling asleep. Why was Paul and Jesus so against sleep for Christians when sleep can be good for you? When the sun rises, it’s time to wake up. If you are getting 12 hours of sleep and still find yourself constantly sleepy and tired - even during the day - then you know something is wrong! And so Paul explains. 5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
Think of this from a spiritual aspect. Jesus once said, “come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The unbelievers of this world doesn’t know what it truly means to have rest. Some of their lives are driven by how much money they can make. Some of their lives are driven by how they try to please their god. And so they’re constantly tired - tired of working, tired of the pressure of trying to appease a holy God! Many turn to the bottle to try and put their consciences and their guilt to rest. But we already have had our spiritual rest in Christ. We know that He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. We have seen the light of truth in Christ! Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead - and so we were declared by God to be NOT GUILTY! When we were baptized God clothed was with a bright white robe of righteousness that permeates through our hearts, minds and souls. We have been awakened to the assurance that everywhere we go God is looking after us. His angels are watching over us. We have been awakened to the light of knowing that we are holy through the blood of Christ! And we have the light of God’s Word to guide us on our path. So why should we be asleep? Why would we want to sleep?
Isn’t it sad, then, when we as Christians start falling back into the darkness - and look for rest in a bottle of booze? But it’s so easy! It’s like when you are around someone who yawns, it immediately makes you tired as well! When you live in a dark world, it doesn’t matter how bright your headlights are, it’s still easy to get tired. And so we tend to turn to our old coping mechanisms with life. When we think that we can find rest for our guilt and sorrows over the dullness that alcohol brings? Isn’t it sad when we turn to the darkness of guilt and try to make ourselves feel better by putting ourselves on guilt trips? Isn’t it sad when we start letting our consciences fall asleep to the ideas of the world - that we can live however WE want to and God has no right to tell us anything. God says to us this morning - “never say ‘good night’! Remember who you are! You aren’t like those who are asleep and drunk in this world! You have been baptized and adopted into God’s family as a child of light! You’ve got the light of Christ all around you! The righteousness of Christ covers you and permeates you! Your world is filled with hope!”
I. It’s the natural thing to do as children of light
Why is this so important? Think about it from a physical point of view. The National Sleep Foundation estimates that sleepiness costs $18 billion a year in lost productivity. Over 100,000 accidents and 1500 deaths are caused every year because of a lack of sleep. Notice what Paul says is at stake - it’s more than just a few million dollars or a broken leg. God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to the hard earned purchase of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are talking about eternal wrath or eternal salvation!
I once had a roommate in college who was a very sound sleeper. I mean he would sleep through anything. One night as he was sleeping, some of my classmates picked him up, took him and his mattress outside, placed his mattress on top of a car, and left him there in front of the cafeteria. The next morning he woke up to find high school students going to breakfast while he was out there in his pajamas. Once he was asleep he was very vulnerable to anyone doing anything to him.
The devil knows this. If he can get us to spiritually fall asleep, then he can humiliate us with our sins, make us despair of forgiveness, and take us to hell. So think about what his weapons would be. When you are trying to go to sleep - what do you do? Buy a comfortable bed. Turn the lights off. Get a nice comforter and some nice pajamas. And make sure there isn’t any noise! So what would his weapons be spiritually? Think about it! Comfort! Silence! Darkness! Luxury! Sound familiar? How many times have you heard people say, “I don’t need someone ‘preaching’ at me! Sunday is my only day to sleep in! Why would I want to come to church? I worship God out in nature! What’s the difference between Christianity and Islam? There’s just one God. We all go to the same place anyway.”
He uses the same temptations on Christians. He whispers in your ear, “you already know the Bible, you don’t need to come to Bible class. You can stay strong in the faith without coming to church! You need to sleep in!” Slowly but surely he tries to lull you to sleep by closing the shades and telling you to sit in luxury on this earth. And once the devil starts getting you to think of your life in terms of LUXURY instead of SACRIFICE and BATTLE - he has you right where he wants you.
It’s sad for us then, to see our children and our loved ones fall asleep to the temptations of the devil. When we see them slowly drift away from coming to church, it concerns us. When we see the ones we love start hanging out with the wrong crowd, it is sad. The peer pressure is lulling them to sleep. And maybe even we aren’t praying as much as we used to or studying the Bible like we should. Are you giving up the fight? When you are starting to fall asleep and you need to stay awake, what do you do then?
1.) I can remember sitting through class and literally pinching myself trying to stay awake. Sometimes God keeps us awake by giving us problems and irritations in this sinful world. He says in Hebrews 12: God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
2.) Another way is to stay active - get up and do something. Paul says to be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. How do we “put on faith, love and hope?” Romans 10:17 says, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Hebrews 10:25 says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Through these spiritual activities of listening to and studying the Word - and interacting with other Christians, we are keeping our faith exercised.
3.) We stay awake by turning the lights way up. God again says in Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. The light of God’s law exposes our sin and the light of the Gospel fills us with the grace of forgiveness. This keeps us spiritually alert.
4.) Sometimes we take coffee to stay awake. Jesus said to take the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Him. You might compare this to drinking some coffee. The more we remember Christ, the stronger our faith gets - it energizes our faith. The more we hear God’s promises of salvation - the more hope we have. And once our faith is built up, then so is our love to God and one another.
Many of you probably remember the story of the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus went to pray - and left them to themselves. It had been a long day, and they were under the stress of knowing that Jesus could be arrested any time. As the darkness fell, and the disciples tried to keep watch with Jesus, they couldn’t help but fall asleep. And what did Jesus say to them, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” But what did the disciples do after that? They fell asleep again. So how did Jesus react? He went back and prayed. He came again, and they were still sleeping. So what did Jesus do? He went and died for them. He took those sins of the Garden on his shoulders.
How many times have we - like the disciples - fallen asleep on the job? How many times have we let the devil humiliate us when we let our guard down? Have we let him turn the lights down and slowly lull us to sleep? But the good thing is that instead of condemning us, Jesus went and took our condemnation on Himself! The literal word for “receive salvation” in today’s text is actually “the hard earned purchase of salvation.” Instead of lazily giving up on us, Jesus performed the most difficult work of all - He took our sins on His shoulders and died for us! And now He still doesn’t let us sleep. He sends His Holy Spirit through the Word to wake us up! And so here we are again today. Living in the light of forgiveness - the light of grace. Even though our body is weak, we will be more determined to never say ‘good night’! Why? If we don’t the devil will take us to hell!
II. This is important to do for our own safety!
When you get a new job - working the graveyard shift, it is a hard shift to adjust to. It isn’t easy. And it isn’t fun. It would be much easier to sleep in. But people have done it and they continue to do it. Why? Because they need to make a living. God never said life would be easy and fun. We enjoy the rest we have in knowing that Jesus lived and died for us. But now, out of love to Christ, Jesus warned that following him would take sacrifice and hard work. It means fighting the devil every day and staying in the light. This is not always easy! Sometimes it’s harder for some than others. But Paul encourages all of us today! He says that we are all children of light! We all have Christian friends to light up our lives! We all have His Word to keep shining in our eyes! And all of us have His sacrament to keep our blood flowing! With these advantages, God can keep us awake - no matter how dark this world becomes! With these advantages, we can “never say ‘good night’”! Amen.
