A little while ago, I produced a verse by verse series in Philippians. I really enjoyed that exercise and have been wondering if I should take on another book. Well it turns out that 1 Thessalonians is the victim of my machinations, and hopefully, the thoughts produced by this fantastic book will edify and encourage the reader.
As with Philippians I am going to limit each post to one verse, and hopefully produce a short, succinct read for my friends who follow.
1 Thessalonians 5:6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.
Paul has just affirmed what believers are not in – we are not in darkness – and what we are – we are light.
He described us as those not in a certain situation, that is, in darkness, and then spoke of believers as a source of light, presumably within the darkness.
As he reminded the Thessalonians and ourselves, we are the light, he was not afraid of somehow puffing up the Thessalonians, as if they were better than others in the society they lived in. His intent, as I understand, was to provide them not only the state of their lives, but but a responsibility to live out this truth.
In summary he not hesitate to lay responsibility on the believers by identifying them as a source of light. His emphasis was identifying who was light in the society they lived in.
He continues in our verse this morning with a specific, expectation of this truth. If we are the day, sleep is not the anticipated activity for the believer.
Now before we go super literal, this verse does not condemn a nap in the afternoon. As you know I love a good nap, and in earlier days, found this verse to trouble my conscience. Of course, the Word is to trouble our conscience if we understand and seek to obey, but I see my previous understanding to be a bit too literal.
I don’t understand Paul as micromanaging believers in regards to napping on a Saturday afternoon. Of course if the napping becomes habitual, extended and a way to avoid responsibilities as opposed to recovering from a period of work, I think Paul may have something to say about that!
2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.
2 Thessalonians 3:11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.
Paul is speaking of sleeping, not in the physical sense but in the spiritual sense, as we relate to the life we are to lead. We are not to be ignorant, blind as it were, to the environment we are in – darkness – and the responsibilities – to be light – we have accepted as we follow the Lord.
Paul adds the idea of soberness to this verse, a seemingly specific add on to general pictures of light/darkness and sleep/awakeness in the passage. He will speak of this again in another two verses.
As a teenage alcoholic and one who was rescued from a life of destruction, when I see sober in the Word, my first association is the absence of alcohol in my life.
The mercy of Jesus took this desire to be drunk and high completely from me over 4 decades ago. To be accurate, He replaced a dependance on alcohol and drugs for surviving this life, with a joy and desire to make Him happy. If you are experiencing the empty life of one dependent on substances to survive life, bend the knee to Him, submit to His Lordship and will. Resist temptation, and follow after His desires.
For the Thessalonians, when they saw this term, they understood it as a restriction to the abuse of alcohol, but the term also carried with it a description of a life of calmness, being collected in spirit, temperate, dispassionate, and/or circumspect. (See Strong’s Dictionary for more information.)
This term makes sense as we have spent the last four chapters watching Paul settle the believers in a number of topics. In chapters 2 and 3, Paul encouraged the believers in relation the the persecution they were experiencing.
1 Thessalonians 2:14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews,
1 Thessalonians 3:3 that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.
As we saw in chapter 4, Paul was calming the fear of the believers regarding the brothers passing on before the Lord’s return.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
In chapter 5 Paul was addressing the believers acquired uncertainty (due to false teaching) and the resultant anxiousness, in relation to the coming of the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 5:1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.
1 Thessalonians 5:2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
Paul was seeking to develop in this body of believers, a group of souls that were steadfast in truth, resulting in a calmness of spirit, a people temperate in their thinking. Believers are to be controlled by the Spirit of God, exhibiting the fruits thereof.
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
In summary, let us remember that soberness, whether related to the absence of a physical or a spiritual intoxicant, is synonymous to self control. The only influence in our lives that is to guide us is the Spirit of God directing us in the Word of God.
May we be sober in these days, exhibiting faith in the One who is in control.
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