Sober: Children Of The Day

Introduction

Welcome to everyone. As is usually the case, we have some who are visiting. We welcome all of you, but I do want to call out one special visitor in the audience, and that’s Brother John Wilson, and he has two guests with him. He’s in our area as a result of his work. John worships normally with my folks, my family down at Temple Terrace. And I’ve known John for 30 years. And he heard some of the first sermons I ever preached. That poor soul. Yes, you can give him your condolences. And can you imagine those lessons 30 years ago? But John was in the audience in those days when I was first learning to preach. And it’s special for me to have him and his friends here with us today.

You know, sometimes I like to string you along before I let you know what I’m going to be talking about, but not today. We’re going to get it right out in the beginning. I want to talk to you about being sober. It’s really quite unfortunate that we equate sobriety almost exclusively with refraining from drinking alcoholic beverages. It certainly has an application in that regard, and I would just draw your attention to Proverbs 20 and verse 1, where it says, wine is a mocker, and strong drink is a brawler. And whoever is intoxicated by it, and that would be the opposite of being sober, and whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise. And I would also point out in the reading of that verse that we’re often talking about a drink in Proverbs 20 and verse 1 that is of less alcoholic strength than most of the beverages that are bought and consumed today.

But even of a lesser strength beverage, these kinds of warnings are given. But sobriety involves much more than just abstaining from mind numbing, judgment altering, brain debilitating alcoholic drinks. Here’s the point that I want to bring to your attention this morning, and that is that one can refrain from alcohol, be a teetotaler, never touch the stuff. One can refrain from alcohol completely and still not be sufficiently sober. There is a figurative use of this term that the Bible often uses. Some are drunk not with alcoholic beverages, but some are drunk with pleasure that interferes with a right response to God. Some are drunk with a selfish approach to life that excludes God or does not give him his proper due. I wanted to take you to a passage in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 5.

And I know that this is the case because he says to Timothy the evangelist, but you be sober in all things. Endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Oh, we know why. Paul said that right, because in the first epistle, in 1 Timothy chapter 5, because of his stomach issues, Paul said, take a little wine for your stomach’s sake. And so now in the second epistle, he’s concerned that Timothy might overdo it. And so you need to stay off of the little wine for your stomach’s sake so you can be sober. That has nothing to do. Absolutely nothing to do with the instruction in 2 Timothy chapter 4. Has nothing to do with that passage in 1 Timothy chapter 5. What he’s saying is that Timothy needs to stay alert, that there is an alertness that a preacher needs to have so that he might adequately equip his audience to be prepared to meet God.

An alertness, by the way, that all believers are admonished to maintain. Now I want you to look at three passages with me today in 1 Peter, though this is not our main text. There are three times that the word sober appears in 1 Peter, so you might want to put a marker there, and we’re going to look at all three of them, but we’re starting with the most familiar one, perhaps first. In 1 Peter chapter 5, be sober or be of sober spirit, 1 Peter 5.8. Be on the alert.

Prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. Some, you see, are so drunk that they could not detect the presence of the devil in their living room. And sometimes that’s exactly where he is. How long has it been since you reflected upon that rascal who desires the ruination of your soul? How long has it been since you thought about it? I mean, that’s what this passage is about. Be alert, be sober, be watchful of your adversary, the devil. And so I do go to our main text now as we talk about sobriety and the recognition of the evil one.

And it’s more than just refraining from alcoholic beverages. I want to ask the question are we children of the day? And this is our lengthy reading this morning from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 1 through 11. Now, as to the times and the epics, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. We quoted the 2 Peter reference in relation to that truth last Sunday. The day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. And while they are saying, peace and safety, then destruction will come upon them suddenly, like birth pains upon a woman with child. I think you all get the illustration, don’t you, ladies?

How suddenly that can happen out of nowhere. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren. You’re not going to be taken unaware, as so many will be. He says, but you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief. For you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night, nor of darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do. But let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober. Having put on the breastplate of faith and love. You see what he’s connecting to sobriety here? He says, People are spiritually in slumber.

They won’t be ready for the day that the Lord returns and comes as a thief in the night when it’s suddenly all over. They’re not going to be ready because they’re not sober. They’re not alert. They’re asleep. They’re drunken by a variety of things. But we are not those people. We are of the day. Many people would associate a lot of evil with the nighttime, especially in first century culture. And so we’re not of that ilk, he says. We are people of the day when things, when there’s light shining on things and people are behaving better, going about the task of life. He says, We’re children of the day. And as a result of the sobriety that we have, what does he say we do, verse 8?

We put on the breastplate of faith and love. Those are the driving characteristics of our lives. We put on the breastplate of faith and love. Again, this is a battle. And as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath. And thanks be to God for that we can escape the wrath of God because of what Jesus did for us. God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. That whether we are awake or asleep, and he does a little twist there. He’s not talking about spiritual slumber in that verse. He’s talking about those who are asleep in Jesus that he’s already mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 13.

They’ve already died, but awaiting the Lord’s coming. He says that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

1. The Very Nature of These Assemblies Is Sobering

Number one, I want to make the observation from this text that the very nature of these assemblies is sobering. So many things about our assemblies help us to be sober. Sometimes I know you’ve had this feeling. Perhaps you weren’t feeling on top of the world when you came in. Perhaps you didn’t feel 100%. After all, it is 9 30 in the morning, and there’s been a lot of hustle and bustle to get ready and to get to the place and then all the interaction with everyone that’s here. And maybe you’re not feeling 100%, but things are said as we’ve gone throughout Bible study and worship, and we walk out the doors and we’re saying, Boy, I’m glad I came. I feel better. I feel better spiritually.

In fact, I feel closer to God as a result of this assembly than I did when I came in. And I’ll tell you why that is. Because it’s sobering. That’s why. I’ll tell you what we do when we come here. And this is very healthy. To accomplish 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and to be children of the day, we set our minds on spiritual things. Perhaps, as I said in the introduction, you know, how long has it been since you thought about that rascal who’s trying to destroy you? As Peter tells us, we need to be sober and watchful about that. So we think about when we come here the spirit realm. We’re thinking about God and directing this worship to the very throne of our Creator and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

And that’s very sobering to do that. Our minds get engaged in spiritual thought. Are you a very good self starter? A lot of us need sort of a rigid kind of program. Isn’t it good that you have to punch the time clock on Monday? Because if it’s up to you to set your own hours, you might not be there at 7 30 or 8 o’clock to punch that time clock. And so aren’t you glad you, if you don’t, you’re going to be in trouble. So you make the necessary preparations. You get there. They force that situation upon you. But when you have to be a self-starter, sometimes you put things off and procrastinate, kids. You know that test is coming, but you wait until 11 o’clock the night before to finally crack the book open.

Well, I better get busy on this. Or the paper. Yeah, kids say this all the time. The paper’s due tomorrow. How long have you known? Well, two or three weeks. And you’re waiting till now. But see, we have to get, we have to be self-starters to get that done. And I think spiritually, that’s a problem for us too. Sometimes we know we’re not the self-starters spiritually that we need to be. But isn’t it great that the Lord has instructed us to meet every first day of the week to partake of his supper? And he has built in this Lord’s Day for us that comes around once every seven days, and I’ll tell you, I need it. And I need it more than just once every seven days, and that’s why it’s Ken always talks about.

Glad we’re here on Wednesday night as well. I need to be with the Lord’s people because it’s sobering. It’s sobering every time I’m here. Even if the singing is not the best singing we’ve ever had, or the preaching is not the best preaching we’ve ever had. It is sobering to drive ourselves to spiritual thought. It’s helpful to think about something other than television. Or the world of sports or the world of entertainment or the plans and activities that we have scheduled at infinitum. This is good for us. I’ll tell you what else is good about this. We come here and I see all these people.

You are a reminder of what I’m to be spiritually because we’re connected by our faith in Jesus Christ. We’re Christians together. We’re a fellowship. And just being with you is sobering because I know what are we? We’re a group that’s tied together by our faith in Jesus Christ. There’s a lot of different personalities, aren’t there? Yeah. In this group. People from different ethnic backgrounds and social strata, and we’ve all come together as one person in this place. And that just being together is a reminder of the spiritual things that are most important in our lives. And singing, I tell you, singing is more sobering to me than ever. To sing, you are the rock of my heart. Some of our hymns are so carefully crafted, the words so creatively chosen that if you invest your mind as you sing them, they drive you to possess a right thinking about your life and this world.

2. Our Calling Extends to Every Waking Moment

I could stay home and watch TV, but I’ll tell you, watching TV often doesn’t make you more sober. It actually works the opposite. But let me tell you something about that. We need to be careful of one thing. We need to be careful that our assemblies don’t become something like the light switch. That when we come into an assembly, we’re turning on the spiritual. Again, some we’re not very good self-starters. We’ve got this built in, and that’s a good thing. But then I think we can degenerate into something that assemblies are about the only time we think of spiritual things. And so on Sunday morning and perhaps Sunday night and Wednesday night, we flip the light switch, and here’s our spiritual dedication to God, and then we walk out the door, light switch goes off.

And we’re not thinking anymore about spiritual things. And let me just tell you that the Christian approaches life differently. 1 Thessalonians 5 is not just about assemblies when it talks about being children of the day. It’s about how we live and conduct ourselves in life. And those things that we do that we might say are not spiritual but secular, we need to relate those things in some way to who we are as children of the day. And so what I might recommend to you when you’re watching TV or whatever the activity is, you need to see that in relation to who you are as a Christian. And make spiritual observations about it. Like, that’s unacceptable behavior. That’s not the will of God. I don’t need to mimic that.

God wouldn’t approve of that. We need to make some spiritual assessments about the things that we’re doing in the world. I thought about this Friday night. I didn’t see it live. I don’t even know if it was on television, but the Miami Heat game. Have you seen the clip? The guy during one of the timeouts, because of the LeBron James Family Foundation, got an opportunity to stand at mid-court and shoot a shot, and if he makes it, he wins $75,000. They flew this guy in from somewhere who’d won the opportunity to do this. And here he is. He takes this bunny shot. I mean, he’s he’s hooking it from mid-court. LeBron James, after in the interview, says, when he started, took that bunny shot, I was going, oh no.

And then it would have got halfway there, I’m going, oh boy. Swish in the bucket. Okay, this is during a timeout, mind you, and LeBron’s watching this because this is along with his LeBron James Family Foundation. He goes out and bear Hudson body slams the guy. He was so excited for him. They’re rolling around on the ground. If you haven’t seen the clip, you need to see it. I’ve been saying for a long time the guy’s been overvilified. Okay. That proves my point. What does $75,000 mean to LeBron James? That’s chicken feed. $75,000. But you know what? He saw that guy, and he knew what it meant to that guy that just made that basket and won $75,000. And he went out there, and it was amazing that he would body slam that guy, roll around the floor, beat his chest, be so excited for him.

And I thought immediately, I don’t know what LeBron James knows about the Bible. But he knows rejoice with those who rejoice. See, you can make, you can make a spiritual application to some of those things that we do that are that we might say are secular. Who we are and our calling extends to every waking moment of our lives. And so I would further add that this idea of sobriety, again, is not about just abstaining from that, which causes us to be intoxicated and inebriated. We can’t perceive anything spiritually. You’re certainly not thinking about the presence of the devil. When you’re drunken with wine, like Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 1, you’re certainly not thinking about the Lord returning. He would definitely come as a thief at that moment.

3. What Is the Sober Christian Constantly Thinking About?

But it’s more than that. It’s the idea of being focused on spiritual things. And I want to give these thoughts to you about spiritual alertness and about an acute, and I like that word. I mean, it’s an intense, it’s an acute, consistent awareness of things spiritual. I want to share these six things with you briefly. What is the sober Christian constantly thinking about? Number one. But there is a living God. May that not be confined to thoughts that we have in this building. The Lord is near. Philippians chapter 4 and verse 5. We need to constantly be thinking about him and about the holy calling to which he has called us. As Paul would say to the church at Ephesus, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Let me go ahead and throw in the point about how we see ourselves here, because he says, walk worthy of the vocation with all humility. Romans 12 and verse 3 says a man ought not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. And then goes on to say, but rather be sober-minded or of sound judgment, the New American Standard says. But I like that idea of sober-mindedness. If you get all carried away with yourself, and as we talk Sunday night about us sitting on the throne instead of Jesus sitting on the throne of our hearts, if we get all carried away with ourselves and elevate ourselves and, oh, aren’t we pretty special? We’re pretty wonderful. The whole world needs to revolve around me.

You know what the problem with that is? It’s not sober. That’s not sobriety. Because the truth is, it’s not all about you. It’s all about him and how I live in relation to him. And so if we don’t have the proper assessment of ourselves, we’re not sober, even if we refrain from alcoholic beverages. Not just my holy calling, but like this passage is telling us in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, children of the day. Don’t let that day, the day of the Lord’s coming, overtake you as a thief. You need to understand this isn’t permanent. And if you lose sight of that, our sojourner status, our pilgrimage here, if you lose sight of that, you forfeit sobriety. I am short-lived here. I am transient. As David says in Psalm 39, Lord make me to know my end and how transient I am.

4. Our Account to God, Others, and Our Priorities

Furthermore, as a result of the fact that I’m transient, that I’m going to stand before God to give an account of my life. I’m going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. I’m going to be judged by the words of Christ. John chapter 12 and verse 48. There’s no escaping that. Jesus says, as we studied in our auditorium class this morning from John chapter 8, if you say you know God, then you have to keep the words of God. If you say that you believe, you have to hear God’s word and do it. That’s how he defines belief. And we’re going to stand before God to give an account of that. Being sober also causes us to think about our responsibility to others. On Sunday night, when we talked about Jesus sitting on the throne of our hearts, the young people, we got together and talked about how they could be selfless and demonstrate that Jesus is on the throne and put others on the throne ahead of themselves.

And one of the things, the first things we talked about is praying for other people. When you go to your closet or wherever it is you pray privately, because you don’t pray to be seen of men, as Jesus talks about in Matthew chapter 6. Whenever you pray privately and you pray for someone else, that is a completely selfless thing. It’s good for us. We need to think about others. In Colossians 4, we’re told to devote ourselves to prayer. More on that in a moment. Keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving. And then this, praying at the same time for us. Pray for me, the Apostle Paul, for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ for which I have been imprisoned, in order that I might make it clear in the way that I ought to speak.

I love it when people pray for me that I’ll have a ready remembrance of the things that I’ve studied. You know, you’ve heard that phrase so many times because I’m sitting there thinking sometimes, boy, I hope I remember my outline. I hope that’s not too much of a struggle today, and somebody will pray for my ready remembrance. Don’t just pray for my ready remembrance, but you pray that I’ll speak it clearly. I like this, that he may make it clear in the way that I ought to speak, he says. And then he says, conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace. Don’t you think about that? Sobriety. You’re out there living your life tomorrow. Who knows the kinds of things you’re going to confront out there?

The things kids you’re going to see in the hallways at school, you’re not off this Monday. You’re going to go back to school, you’re going to see all kinds of things in the hallway, and there’s going to be conversation. You ever think about, you know, the things I say to other people are important. They are a reflection of your sobriety or lack thereof. I want to say things that are seasoned with salt, that give grace, he says, so that you may know how you should respond to each, to each person. Even the way we speak is a reflection of the fact that we are children of the day. We have responsibility to others. If you don’t ever think about that, except when you’re here, as important as this is in our sobriety, so much more is involved.

These things are involved in our sobriety. And then finally, being sober is involved in thinking about having an alertness to our greater spiritual priorities in life. Just a brief tidbit here from Dan Shipley, who is a preacher who passed on not very long ago. He wrote an article many years ago called Our Tattling Priorities. And his son, who’s a good friend of mine, Ben Shipley, one of the elders in the church in Lindale, Texas, preached a sermon about his dad’s article, and he sent it to me. And there’s a quote in there from his dad that says, The person who finds that he meditates on God only when he forces himself to do so is deceiving himself if he says his spiritual values are his most important concern.

5. Keep Sober in Spirit: Behavior Follows

I thought that’s a very good quote. He talked about our tattling priorities. What we are most interested in and are consumed by, that often tattles on us as to what our real priorities are. Now, this lesson has been a success. If we walk out of here this morning and we think about these six things this week, we’ll be sober if we do this. Now, two more passages in 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. I mentioned the one in chapter 5, verse 8. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary of the devil, I want you to see what he says in verse 13 of chapter 1. Therefore, gird your minds for action. Keep sober in spirit. Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

And so, as we see sobriety as something more than just refraining from alcoholic beverages, sobriety is involved in our assembly for worship. We’re focused on spiritual things, and that in turn affects our behavior. Because fellowship is the key to everything. I want you to now flip over to 1 Peter chapter 4. What he has said earlier.

Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Fellowship is the key. Sobriety will lead you to pray. Cast all your cares upon him. And he says that right before he talks about the devil and being sober about him in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 7. He says, cast all your anxiety upon him because he cares for you. And then this follows, this sobriety. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. Be servants of one another, he says in verse 11. Behavior follows. Now, I want to give you something else you can take with you. I want to end with an acrostic this morning. Maybe this will help you to remember the importance of being sober as we go out and live our lives.

Conclusion

And I’m going to do something that Chris Emerson told me on Thursday, you absolutely can’t do. He said, Tony, you can’t do an acrostic when I told him when I was planning. You can’t do an acrostic and start with a third letter. But I told him I was going to tell you that he said that. Because I’m going to start with a third letter. Because sobriety is the result of believing. Your confidence and trust in God and his word is the key to sobriety and the kind of sober thing. You won’t be sober. You’ll be drunken with all the cares and pleasures of this world, drunken with yourself, drunken with wine. You’ll be drunken with all sorts of things and not have the spiritual alertness that you need to have unless you have sufficient belief in God and his word.

That’s where it all starts. And as a result of that, sometimes actually the word that is found sober in some contexts in the New Testament is translated by other translations as the word sensible. It’s about just being sensible. Spiritually sensible about your life. It’s about ordering your life after the precepts of God’s word. It’s about an enthusiastic response to God. If you believe sufficiently, you’re going to respond enthusiastically in his service. And if you’re sufficiently sober, you’re going to be ready. You’re going to be ready to meet the Lord when that day comes. So this lesson needs to end with are you sober? Are you ready to meet him? Are you fully aware of your transient nature and your inevitable interview with God and your need your need to order your life accordingly?

Are you listening to God’s word and responding humbly in obedience? And if there’s someone in this audience who needs to put on the Lord in baptism today, we make this opportunity available to you. We sing a song of encouragement. Let’s stand and sing together.