1 Thess. 5:6, Awake, Alert and Sober!

Let us meditate on the lifestyle of the Bride of Christ in these days.

1.     Negative: don't sleep.

a)    v6: don't sleep like unbelievers.

i)      "Sleep" is not used of physical as in Ch 4 but of spiritual apathy, ignorance.

ii)   Unbelievers are caught up in now, in their lives, in sinful passions, etc. and have no thought of God's perspective on the events of the day or their lives.

iii)            v7: the lifestyle of "night" people.  Drunkenness illustrates this "nightlife"... as the days of Noah.

2)    Positive (v6: both terms; v8: 2nd term only)

a)    Be awake/alert. 

i)      The Greek term has 24 NT uses.  13 times it is used prophetically generally in the context of Israel.

(1)Matt. 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord comes.

(2)Matthew 24:43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

(3)Revelation 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

ii)   But how are believers today to "watch"...  1Corinthians 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.

(1)With prayer...

(a) Matt. 26:38,40,41: Then said He to them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even to death: wait here and watch with me. 40 And he came to the disciples, and found them asleep, and said to Peter, What, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

(b)Col. 4:2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.

(2)With a critical eye for …

(a) (False doctrine) Ac. 20:31 Therefore watch and remember, that for three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

(b)(Satan) 1Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

(c) (Slippage) Rev. 3:2-3 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard, hold fast, and repent. If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon thee.

b)    Be disciplined/sober.  Under control, "dispassionate". Used 6 times inc. 1 Pet 5:8 with the term ‘watch’ in dealing w/Satan.  It is a quality that, in essence, defines the mature Christian!