What does it mean to be sober-minded?

"Soberly." This word occurs five times in the Authorized Version of Titus. On one occasion it is the translation of a word which means watchful or vigilant (Titus 2:2). The other times the word used denotes temperance, prudence and general loudness of mind. The word "sound" also occurs five times, and is the translation of a word which has the sense of "healthful," which we have imported into our own language as "hygienic." The epistle to Titus may well be called the epistle of spiritual hygiene and sobriety.

The force of "soberly" turns in upon oneself. It does not so much define one's attitude towards God or one's neighbour, as one's own personal mental poise. A sober man is one who has learned his own nothingness in the presence of God. He has been brought down from all those high and lofty thoughts of self which lie at the heart of every child of fallen Adam, and consequently he sees God in His true light. This being so he has learned to estimate himself and people and things in something of their true value, and is not imposed upon by mere appearances. This imparts to him a solidity and weight, the very opposite to the fickleness, instability and levity which are so natural to us all. Let us so live in the light of eternal things that we do not waste our lives over the passing frivolities of the hour.

Let us then enquire what should be the moral influence of this knowledge upon our souls. To answer the question we will not, on this occasion, travel beyond the scripture at the head of this paper. Peter then says, "Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer," or, as it really is, prayers. By "sober" is meant that quietness and gravity of mind, that solemnity of feeling, which is produced by the Spirit of God in the hearts of those who enter into the character of the approaching end of all things. It is, on the other side, a mind freed from the intoxicating influences of this scene, and thus marked by an absence of all levity, and by the possession of that subduedness and reverence which flow from walking before God in the sense of the shortness of the present period, and of the coming judgments. The Lord's own words may be cited in the same connection: "Take heed to yourselves," He said to His disciples, "lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. … Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." And it will be noticed that the Lord, even as Peter, presses constant prayer upon His disciples. In Peter it is "prayers," showing, we cannot doubt, that he had the united prayers of the saints in his mind. How much need to remember his exhortation! Valuable as teaching or exhortation are in their respective places, in the prospect of the end of all things, if realized in the soul, prayers would be felt by all to be more suitable. It would be so f the end of life were before us, and much more will it be so in the contemplation of the dissolution of all things. We may well ask ourselves if we watch sufficiently unto prayers, watch against every hindrance to our being together for this end, and watch to lay hold of every opportunity for pouring out our hearts together in the presence of God.

Soberly refers to the inner circle of one's own heart. It simply means with inward self-government — a most comprehensive expression. The grace that saves me teaches me to exercise a holy government over self. I am to govern my thoughts, govern my tongue, govern my temper — govern them, not in order to be saved, but because I am saved. The One who teaches me to exercise this government has saved me before ever He commenced His course of instruction. It is as a saved person that I submit my whole moral being to the wholesome control of my heavenly Teacher. The law could not teach me to govern my nature. It condemns me, root and branch, throws me overboard and leaves me there. Grace follows me, saves me and endows me with a new nature, and seals me with the Holy Spirit so I can exercise myself in self-government.

Further, he was to be "temperate," an expression much narrowed and so far misapplied in our day. Self-control not in one respect but in all is its real meaning. It is the quality of having every way and expression of feeling, or inclination, checked in the Christian by his sense of God's presence, grace, and fear.

Being sober is not being gloomy, but using wise discretion. And vigilance is watchful awareness. These things are of vital importance, for the devil, a determined adversary, As constantly on the move, ready to attack the unwary, and as a roaring lion to frighten them into a state of helpless paralysis. Let us not be caught. It is Satan's devouring character here seen, not his subtlety as a serpent. He was using persecution with the object of intimidating souls, and they needed the courage of firm faith to protect themselves from this.

"Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind." In view of so great and precious a revelation, let our minds be all attention, no loose ends, but with undivided concern for knowing this salvation in its fulness. ""Be sober," that is, having wise discretion, no light, flippant outlook as we serve a rejected but glorified Lord. "And hope to the end." It is not a questionable hope, for it is positively stated that grace is to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ; but it is maintaining a fresh, real anticipation of this undimmed in the heart, no allowing of it to become a mere doctrine put on the shelf for possible future use. It is not the coming of Christ for His saints that is here spoken of, but His revelation in glory later, when His grace will be displayed marvelously in His own.

Hence the same apostle exhorts the saints that were in Ephesus to guard against exciting causes. "Be not drunk with wine whereby is dissoluteness, but be filled with the Spirit." Where He becomes the source and power of all within us, acts outward should be according to God's mind. Our singing even is meant to be so characterised that it may please Him Whom we praise, in no way carried away by sweet sound, but with the spirit and with the understanding also.

Hence then "being sober" is laid on us as a continuous duty. It is a figure naturally drawn, as all admit, from keeping clear of all intoxication; which for the Christian means the avoidance of everything apt to excite the flesh or spirit. Young Thessalonian believers are thus exhorted, "So then let us not sleep as do the rest, but let us watch, and be sober [the same word as here]. For they that sleep sleep by night, and they that drink drink by night; but let us, being of the day, be sober, having put on a breastplate of faith and love, and hope of salvation as helmet." In 1 Peter 4:7 the word, in view of the end of all things having drawn nigh, is "Be of sound mind therefore, and be sober unto prayers." (So also in 1 Peter 5:8). Here it is not constant habit that is involved in the form of the phrase, but the soul's attitude due to so solemn a fact. Both appeals have their importance. The call in our verse 13 is grounded on known redemption as our portion, whilst we journey through a wilderness world, with an expectation worthy of what God has already given us in Christ.

1 Peter 5:8 gives us a second reason: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour.” We find the same principle at work in worldly matters. The soldiers who guard a camp, hourly expecting an attack, do not sit down, laughing, joking, and amusing themselves. We find every sense on the alert, and complete sobriety, in order to detect the least movement on the part of the enemy. So we, as Christians, should be in a similar condition in a spiritual sense. Our enemy is more subtle than a natural one, and we are more ignorant of his devices than of those of an enemy of flesh and blood. Christians may say they don’t want to become misanthropes. I would say to such, The word of God should be our standard in these matters, and should judge and correct our ways. The sobriety of Scripture does not allow us to conduct ourselves in a light, frivolous way, but it admits of true joy and rejoicing, as Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”

The servant of the Lord, on the other hand, is to keep steadily on with his ministry. He is to "watch" or rather "be sober" in all things: the word used means, "that sober clearness of mind resulting from exemption from false influences — not muddled with the influence of what intoxicates." A very important word this for all of us, for there is nothing that so intoxicates the mind and muddles the perceptions as the false modernistic teaching to which we have just alluded. Further he is to be prepared to suffer, for he cannot expect to be popular, either with the purveyors of fables who stand in the pulpit or with the consumers of fables who sit in the pew. Timothy was to do the work of an evangelist and so fill up the full measure of his ministry.

"Be sober," or self-restrained. What a truly needed word is this! How many there are who know deliverance from their sins, and deliverance from this scene, but who know not practical deliverance from dominant self. Self-allowance is closely akin to self-assertion. On the other hand, self-judgment is the parent and the power of self-restraint. Every germ of self-allowing or self-asserting is in principle disloyalty to Christ. The true heart loves to confess there is no word more true and few more comforting than this, that we are not our own, but bought with a price.

Hope on, perfectly or steadfastly. Diligence and sobriety are here followed with confidence. Hope unto the end signifies fully, perfectly, the full assurance of hope (Heb. 6:11); hope which maketh not ashamed. Be it remarked that the New Testament sense of hope is never uncertainty, but immature or deferred certainty. Confidence, therefore, characterizes it as much as expectation; and thus, instead of being in doubt and uncertainty, in quietness and in confidence is our strength. The world has its hopes, but they are so steeped in uncertainty that the word hope has become almost synonymous with doubt; whereas the believer is so confident as to that which constitutes his hope, that he can say, "If we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." (Rom. 8:25.) "The grace that is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ" we surely see not. With patience then we wait for it, because our hope is steadfast and blessed. He will surely come, He will not tarry; and oh, what tides of blessing will His presence usher in! "The grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."