"stay Awake"

"But about that day or hour

no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."

THE CELEBRATION

Church, can I tell you something this morning? Jesus is coming back! And when He comes, He's not coming as a baby in a manger—He's coming as the King of Glory! He's coming to set everything right! He's coming to judge the living and the dead! He's coming to wipe every tear from our eyes! He's coming to make all things new!

And Jesus says, "STAY AWAKE!"

THE TROUBLE IN THE TEXT (6-8 minutes)

The Problem of Sleep

Now, when Jesus says "stay awake," He's not just talking about physical sleep. He's talking about spiritual sleep. He's talking about the kind of sleep that makes you comfortable with injustice. The kind of sleep that makes you numb to suffering. The kind of sleep that makes you forget God's promises while you settle for the world's scraps.

You see, the people in Noah's day weren't bad because they were eating and drinking and getting married. Those are normal things! The problem was they were so caught up in the ordinary rhythms of life that they couldn't see the extraordinary judgment coming. They were sleepwalking through their days, business as usual, while Noah was building an ark and preaching righteousness.

They weren't awake to what God was doing.

Our Ancestors Knew About Staying Awake

Our ancestors understood this text in their bones. They couldn't afford to fall asleep—literally or spiritually. When you're enslaved, sleep means vulnerability. Sleep means the patroller might catch you. Sleep means you might miss your chance to run. Sleep means death.

So they stayed awake. They watched. They waited. They sang:

* "Keep your lamps trimmed and burning, the time is drawing nigh"

* "Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus"

* "Wade in the water, God's gonna trouble the water"

Those weren't just pretty spirituals—those were coded messages about staying awake, watching for the moment, being ready to move when God said move!

Harriet Tubman said, "I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger." You know why? Because she stayed awake! She watched the North Star. She listened for the dogs. She knew every sound in the forest. She was vigilant because liberation required wakefulness.

Frederick Douglass stayed awake—reading by candlelight, teaching himself, preparing his mind for freedom before his body was free.

Sojourner Truth stayed awake—preaching truth to power, never letting folks forget that God made Black women in His image too.

Our people have always known: you can't sleep your way to freedom.

The Sleep of Today

But church, I'm worried today. I'm worried that we've fallen asleep in a different way. We're not physically enslaved anymore—thank God!—but some of us are spiritually asleep.

We're asleep when we accept systems that were designed to keep us down and we don't challenge them.

We're asleep when we see our young people dying in the streets and we say, "That's just how it is."

We're asleep when we forget that the same God who delivered our ancestors from Egypt and from slavery is still in the deliverance business.

We're asleep when we're so busy trying to get ours that we forget about our neighbor who doesn't have theirs.

We're asleep when we trade the radical gospel of Jesus for a prosperity gospel that makes us comfortable with the status quo.

We're asleep when we think the American Dream is the same as the Kingdom of God.

Jesus says, "STAY AWAKE!" Because something's coming. Change is coming. Judgment is coming. The King is coming. And when He comes, He's going to ask, "Were you watching? Were you ready? Were you working for My kingdom, or were you so caught up in this world's kingdom that you forgot about Mine?"