Vigilant Watchfulness in Anticipation of Christ's Return

Are we living in the light, fully prepared for what's to come, or are we stumbling in the darkness of complacency? This pressing concern is at the heart of our latest Young America Podcast episode, where I dissect the profound call to vigilance found in 1 Thessalonians 5:5-8. It's more than just a scholarly discussion; it's an urgent summons to spiritual awareness, challenging every believer to examine their state of readiness for Christ's return. I tackle the apostle Paul's striking delineation between those who are awake and those who slumber, and the critical importance of adorning ourselves in the spiritual armor of faith, love, and hope.

This week, I walk you through a spiritual checkpoint: Are you donning the breastplate of faith and love? Is your head guarded by the helmet of the hope of salvation? We explore what it means to be children of the day, actively watching and sober, contrasted with the perils of spiritual sleep that befall the children of the night. Without a guest to distract, the focus is solely on what these verses mean for us today, how we can fortify our lives against the deceits of darkness, and live in a constant state of preparation for what we most ardently await. Join me as we confront these questions head-on and equip ourselves for the vigilant life we're called to lead.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome back to the Young America Podcast. This is Joe, and I will be doing the 5 minute Friday this week and today I'm going to be in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, in verses 5 through 8, which say Ye are all the children of the light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober, for they that sleep sleep in the night and they that be drunken are drunken in the night, but let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and, for an helmet, the hope of salvation. So this is talking about Paul, and he's writing to the Church of Thessalonica and they know that Christ is coming, and basically he's just telling them that we need to be prepared, as Christians, for the return of Christ. So the central idea of the thought is Paul contrasts the lives of the believers and the unbelievers. We'll see that when we get down to the whole thing. So that leads me to my proposition, which is we should be prepared for the coming of Christ. So we, as Christians, should be prepared for the coming of Christ. We should be ready for the coming of Christ. So that leads to the question how do we prepare for the coming of Christ? How does that go about? And so, first of all, if we look in verse 6, it tells us that, therefore, let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober. So the first thing that we see is that we are to be watchful, we are to watch, so we're watching. So what are we watching for? We're watching for the return of Christ, we're watching for something, we're being diligent and we're watching for the return of Christ. Okay, and then, if you continue to verse 6, it says watch and be sober. So the second thing is to be sober, so watch and be sober. And then it tells us that's what children of the light do, children of the day do. They watch and they're sober. Okay, and then we go to the next verse, in verse 7. It says for they that sleep, sleep in the night and they that be drunken or drunken in the night. So it contrasts, you know, the believers, they watch and they're sober. And then it contrasts in verse 7, the children of the night. They are asleep and they're drunk, so they are not watching, they are not being sober. And it contrasts the two. It's like okay, so we as Christians are supposed to watch and we're supposed to be sober, okay Now, if you're not sober, you're not thinking. If you're not, if you're asleep, you're not awake, so there's nothing going on. That is, you know, in your brain. Nothing is working in your brain.

Speaker 1: 2:34

And so we go down to verse 8, which says but let us, who are of the day, be sober. Okay, so we're of the day, we're children of the light, we're God's children. Let us be sober, put it on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. So this is saying hey, we, because we are sober, because we are children of the light, we are to put on the armor of God the breastplate of faith and love. I believe it is yes, the breastplate of faith and love. Okay, and then for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

Speaker 1: 3:04

So this is saying because we are sober, because we are children of God, we are to protect ourselves, we're to take precautions to protect ourselves. And so what are we protecting ourselves from? It would be the children of the night. It would be the temptations of the children of the night, or the temptations of the devil which would be going to sleep, which going to sleep isn't a literal okay, you're falling asleep. It's. It's figuratively saying you're not paying attention, you're not watchful. That's what it means. So we're not. We are to be sober. We're supposed to be watchful because we're children of the light, we're children of God and so we're to do these things to protect ourselves as children of God. And so just some application. Are we being watchful? And we get the.

Speaker 1: 3:51

You look at the word watchful and it's like, okay, I'm just sitting here watching, and that's not necessarily true. We get the idea of we're just sitting here waiting for something to happen. And that's not the case. We're watching, we're doing diligence, we're, we're watching for the Lord, we're waiting for him to come, but we're doing the most that we can as children of God to watch for him. And then, secondly, are we being sober? Are we thinking about the coming of Christ? Are we thinking about the consequences of leaving in sin? Are we thinking about believer or unbelievers going to hell and dying? And are we thinking about all these processes? And then, finally, are we protecting ourselves from the temptations of the devil? Are we protecting ourselves from these things that like the things of not being sober and being asleep, and so let me just encourage you guys just to think about that, because it's very important. We need to watch for the Lord and he is coming, we know that. So we need to watch for the Lord, we need to be sober and we need to protect ourselves.