1 Thessalonians 5:6–8

Privilege that the believer knows and enjoys is the very hinge and motive of responsibility, and so the apostle goes on to urge them. If we are children of God, that is a deep spring of joy in Christ and of thanksgiving to our Father — but how immediate and unbreakable is the call to walk in keeping with that relationship! So here, if we are sons of light and of day, sleep — indifference to the will of the Lord — does not suit us. Watchfulness and sobriety do, as those who draw their life from Him Who is the one true light.

First, he says, "Let us not sleep, as others do." A sleeping man is untouched by everything around him, and unaware of it. The world has no idea where it is drifting, how useless all its efforts are, or that its doom is coming. Believers must beware of falling into a spiritual apathy that drifts on, like the world, indifferent to the day of the Lord.

Sleeping and walking do not go together. Where divine things are real, the mechanical motion of sleepwalking is unknown. We are not saying that the children of God never sleepwalk. Sadly, there is a great deal of formalism and going through religious motions that fits that description, and any religious observance can turn into formalism. Let us make sure we are real. Because we do not belong to the night, let us not sleep as others do.

It is translated "watch" in verse 6 and "wake" in verse 10, but it is really the same word… In this passage what is commanded is watching in a moral sense. Verse 8 shows it clearly: conduct that suits the Christian as belonging to the day, and not to the night. They were to be marked morally by watching rather than sleeping, and by sobriety… In verse 10 "watching" and "sleeping" mean being alive at the Lord's return, or having fallen asleep before it.

Third, we are told to be sober. This stands in contrast to the state that drunkenness pictures, where a man comes under an evil influence. We are to beware of coming under the intoxicating influences of the world. In relation to Christ, and His day, we are to watch; in relation to the world we are to be sober.

We are to watch, as in the parable, because we do not know the day or the hour. So we are always expecting the Bridegroom. While we watch — and in fact so that we can watch — we are to keep "that sober clearness of mind which comes from being free of false influences." We are not intoxicated with "wine," but governed and shaped by the truth in the power of the Holy Spirit. You may well ask whether these marks are found in many Christians. That is why it is such an advantage to judge ourselves in the light of this exhortation.

The moral darkness of the world, in which people sleep and get drunk.

Sleep suits the night, and so does excess: people naturally do in the dark what they would not like to do in the light. This verse sets before our minds the common and undeniable practice of people.

We belong to the day, and so that day cannot come upon us like a thief. The apostle applies this difference of position to the character and walk of the Christian. He is a child of the light, so he is to walk as one. He lives in the day, though all is night and darkness around him. Nobody sleeps in the day. Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. These are the works of darkness.

The world is in darkness. The world is asleep. The world is even drunk, intoxicated with influences that come from below. This has never been more obvious than it is today, when countless means of communication spread new ideas and influences at great speed.

Thirdly, we are exhorted to be sober, in contrast to a condition set forth by drunkenness which brings a man under an evil influence. We are to beware lest we come under the intoxicating influences of the world. In relation to Christ, and His day, we are to watch; in relation to the world we are to be sober.

The picture is drawn, as everyone admits, from keeping clear of all drunkenness. For the Christian that means avoiding everything likely to excite the flesh or the spirit.

There we see the wise and the foolish alike forget the blessed hope that first filled their souls when they went out to meet the Bridegroom. They came under the influence of passing things, and they all slumbered and slept. That is, they lost the expectation of their returning Lord. They settled down among the things around them, carelessly forgetting the hope they once treasured, and forgetting their own character as virgins. And what about us? Are we asleep, even with the truth on our lips?

In every age the enemy has managed to attract and intoxicate crowds with the perishing joys of a world that lies under the curse of God and waits for the fire of His judgement. "Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night." But the morning is at hand, and then the wine — a fitting symbol of this world's joy — will have completely evaporated.

Sudden destruction, like a thief in the night, does not come upon him... The judgement on the feast held no terror for them, because they were not at the feast. They had already judged it. Their separation was not sleep. But they were not indifferent to it, any more than they were enjoying it.

As sons of day, they already belonged to the day of glory, and its light filled their hearts with radiant hope… They were told to be clear and open in motive and in movement, alert, and marked by self-control and wakeful activity.

Third, we are urged to be sober. The opposite is the state pictured by drunkenness, which brings a man under an evil influence. We must take care that we never come under the intoxicating influences of the world. Toward Christ and His day, we are to watch. Toward the world, we are to be sober.

So the believer is called to be armed as well as watchful and sober. But the weapons here are not for attack. They are for defence only, since it was young Christians who were being addressed. They are the three marks of their life here below: faith, love, and hope.

The breastplate covered and protected the vital organs. It covered the heart, the centre of life and the seat of the affections. It also covered the breathing organs, which supply the breath the life of faith needs… The helmet, peri-kephale, means literally "round the head," not just "on" it. It is the hope of salvation. It covers and protects the mind from the wanderings of human wisdom and from the dark, subtle suggestions of Satan.

To escape the world of sight we need faith, for faith is not ruled by sight. It lives in the light of what is unseen. To escape the lust of the world, love must rule us. To escape the world's empty plans for the future, with their trapping prospects and empty hopes, we need "the hope of salvation".

But have you thought it through, my soul? Our "helmet" is a salvation we know we have. It is much more than merely hoping to be saved at last. The enemy would soon knock a helmet like that off your head. Is it not right, then, to hope for salvation? True — but in 1 Thessalonians 5 the apostle is speaking of the hope of the Lord's coming, not of our forgiveness and acceptance.

Two things can be seen here. The "putting on" means clothing ourselves inwardly, so faith, love, and hope are to be the marks of our spiritual life… Salvation is used here in its full and complete sense. It includes the resurrection of the body, and being for ever with the Lord… That assurance makes us fearless, whatever dangers we have to meet, for this is a helmet no weapon of the enemy can pierce.

In Ephesians we are in conflict with enemies… So there the breastplate is practical righteousness, which we must have if we are to fight Satan successfully… In Thessalonians the armour is one part of our life with God, seen in its final result as a matter of hope. It is the active energy of that life with God in faith, love and hope, lived out in a sober walk among the dangers and enemies down here.