#1
(The Church’s Stance While Awaiting Christ’s Return
Series)
"BE WATCHFUL!"
TEXTS: 1 Thess.
5:1-11 Mk. 13 2 Tim.
3:1-7
INTRO: There are many
Christians WAITING for the return of Jesus Christ -- but not that many who are
WATCHING for the return of Christ! The Bible doesn't teach us to wait for His return; we
are to WATCH for His return! What then is the difference between
WAITING and WATCHING?
ILLUS: A
bunch of navy men were returning from a long voyage in the seas, as the boat
approached shore the men were all looking for their wives and girlfriends on the
shore ... eager to see them again!
As the men looked over the crowd of women lined up the air of excitement
and expectancy grew. One man
however was all alone as all the other men found their wives and girlfriends and
they all embraced ... his wife wasn't there! Worried, he hurried home and found a
light on in his house. As he
entered he was relieved to see his wife, she quickly turned and said, "HONEY, I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU!"
His response showed his
disappointment however, "The other men’s
wives and girlfriends were watching for them!" The difference between waiting and
watching was only too clear!
– Source Unknown
ILLUS: What
would you rather have when the enemy might attack, someone on guard-duty who is
simply waiting for the enemy to
show up or someone on guard-duty who is watching to see if the enemy has showed
up? The difference between
“WAITING” and “WATCHING” here might mean the difference between life and
death!
– Source Unknown
PROP.SENT:
The Bible teaches us that we
are to be watching for the return
of Jesus, not just waiting for
it. Those who watch for it will keep themselves alert
and self-controlled; those simply waiting may slip into sloppy business
with other things and let their priorities slip!
I. NEED FOR WATCHFULNESS! 1 Thess.
5:1-3 Mark 13 2 Tim.
3:1-7
A. Momentum
1 Thess. 5:1-2 2 Tim.
3:1-7
1. Why do we need to have a watchful
attitude?
a. The momentum of fallen man will be
toward getting worse and worse if we are not on GUARD, we might allow ourselves
to slip slowly away from a firm commitment to Christ!
b. Paul's point in saying that Jesus
will come “like a thief in the night” is to emphasize how
those outside of Christ will be caught OFF GUARD!
2. The use of the illustration of a woman in labor is to illustrate the fact
that the return of Christ is a fact of certainty ... just as labor pains prove a
baby is soon to come, so will the rot of sin in increasing measure around the
world prove the soon coming of Jesus Christ!
a. And for unbelievers, they will be
caught off guard by Christ’s coming!
b. But for those watching for Christ's
return it will not be a great surprise!
3. Paul describes these "last
days" in his letter to Timothy:
a. “They will be
terrible times.”
b. “People will be
lovers of self, money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents,
ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control,
brutal, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of
God, having forms of godliness but denying its power” ... depraved
minds.
c. While Paul clearly meant the last
days to be from the time of Christ’s first coming until His second the Bible
indicates an increasing measure of these attributes of ungodliness as His second
coming gets closer!
4. Ironically, during those last days
people in the world will think things are really getting good, they will be
thinking “PEACE AND SAFETY!”
a. “While people are
saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them
suddenly,”
b. The Greek construction "SAYING" is a present subjunctive meaning they
will be saying “peace and safety” at the very moment that
doom comes upon them!
B. Mesmerized! 1 Thess. 5:3 Mk. 13
1. While the world is saying "PEACE AND
SAFETY" doom will hit them at that very
moment!
2. The world will be caught
OFF-GUARD!
3. According to Mark 13 we as God's people are called upon a number
of times in this passage concerning the future to be “WATCHING” ... “BE ALERT”
… “DON'T BE DECEIVED.”
a. Six times Jesus uses this phrase
when telling His disciples about the future time just before Christ
comes!
b. Christians should never be lulled
into complacency!
4. Be careful what you grasp onto,
what is important in life ... keep watching, don't just grab for this world and
lose the next!
ILLUS: A
young boy was found to have his hand hopelessly caught in a very expensive
vase. Try as they might they could
not get his hand free from inside the antique vase! Soap didn't work, nothing did. Finally in desperation they broke the
expensive vase only to discover the reason the boy’s hand would not come out was
because of a penny he was clutching inside the vase ... to the boy this was a
treasure, one he would not let go of! ... and because he continued to make a
fist to hold onto it his hand would not come through the opening, and so a
greater treasure was lost through the foolishness of a small
child!
– Source Unknown
5. Let us be careful not to clutch at
lesser treasures!
6. Those who are watching for Jesus'
return will be less likely to cling to the treasures of this world than those
merely waiting for
Christ’s return!
II. NATURE OF WATCHFULNESS 1 Thess.
5:4-11
A. Mental
1 Thess.
5:4-6a
1. “We are not in
darkness” (meaning without understanding!)
a. It won't be a surprise to those
watching for
Christ's return ... we expect it!
b. Because we are not “ASLEEP” like the world, we need to be
alert!
2. To be alert means to be mentally
sharp in this verse!
3. It is not a wise thing to have a
guard on duty that is not alert mentally!
4. This involves being knowledgeable
about the enemy, aware of the environment around him, understanding of warfare,
alert to dangers, planning for the future!
ILLUS: During
the Constitutional Convention in 1787 when it was proposed that the National
Army be limited to just 3,000 men; George Washington who was presiding made the
comment, "Then we should have another
article providing that no foreign nation with an army exceeding 3,000 men be
allowed to invade!"
–
Source Unknown
5. Those who simply wait for the future are
not alert to the issues of the day, those who are watching out for the
future however are alert to the needs now to be ready for
tomorrow!
ILLUS: Some
30+ years ago in east Tennessee there was an old man who had an unusual morning
ritual. He would fill a shoulder
sack with acorns and take a sharpened wood stick and head out each morning to
the forest area and the mountains.
Here and there he would poke a hole in the ground and place an acorn in
it, covering it with dirt with his shoes.
He did this every day for years. When asked about it he stated, "Someone has to think about the
future!" He was alert, seeing
the foolishness of policy back then already got him moving to prepare to restore
what was lost ... long before the environmental movement kicked in today! He wasn't just waiting for the future; he was watching it come ... and doing
something about it ... alert!
– Source Unknown
B. Moral
1 Thess.
5:6b-8
1. "Self-control" is the moral sense of this
verse.
2. Those that are really WATCHING and not just waiting are usually
those who are SELF-CONTROLLED!
a. They know the seriousness of the
coming future ... that is why they are watching and not just
waiting!
b. Note verse 7 and the illustration of "SLEEP" and "DRUNKENNESS."
c. This is to contrast the lack of
self-control to those who have self-control!
d. God's people need to be alert
mentally ... and we need to be MORALLY
SELF-CONTROLLED!
3. Morally
self-controlled here is much more than just sexual
stuff!
a. It is all behavior ... kept in
proper balances, not extremes!
b. It is the ability to not only know
what is right and wrong, but the ability to do what is right and avoid doing
what is wrong!
4. We need to be alert so as not to be
taken in by this world's system of values!
ILLUS: The
common law in nature is the "path of
least resistance." Electricity
moving through a circuit will always travel where it has the "easiest" route. Rivers run around mountains and down
slopes because it is easier than cutting through a mountain or going up
one! It is easier to learn about
relationships by watching TV than it is to develop real ones, it is easier to
complain about a worship service than to participate in one ... we must
constantly fight the battle to avoid the EASIEST WAY
– Source Unknown
5. Only those who are really watching will catch the
enemy trying to rob them!
ILLUS: Like
the bus in Chicago driven by a very alert man. The bus was full of people and had just
stopped to take on more. At one
street a woman and two men got on and immediately the watchful and alert bus
driver announced, "Everybody watch your
valuables, there are pickpockets on board." Women clutched their purses tightly and
men held onto their wallets ... all eyes fixed on the new trio that just entered
... they looked insulted and harassed, but they quickly made a retreat out of
the bus, the driver's watchfulness saved others from loss. They weren't watching, but he
was!
– Source Unknown
6. We must guard ourselves against the
moral influences of this world.
a. For many Christians they feel good
about not failing in big ways, but we must guard our hearts against the smaller
attitudes that can be just as painful and damaging as those big
sins!
b. We tend to be off guard against the
smaller things, yet they are the things that trip us
up!
ILLUS: Bobby
Leach, an Englishman, startled the world some years ago by going over Niagara
Falls in a barrel unscathed! ... A feat few have done! Some time later however, Leach was
walking down a street and slipped on an orange peel and had to be rushed to the
hospital with a badly fractured leg ... he wasn't as watchful on the daily road
as he had been with the big river and it cost him!
– Source Unknown
C. Motivation 1 Thess.
5:9-11
1. Why stay ALERT &
SELF-CONTROLLED!?
a. Because “we have not been
appointed for wrath!”
5:9a
b. “We are not
children of the dark ... but of light!”
c. God has prepared something better
for us than what we have now!
2. Why do guards stay alert on
guard duty ... because they know that eventually the war will end and those
alive will go home again! THERE IS A FUTURE WORTH STAYING ALERT
FOR!
3. We are not simply passing time, we
are watching for
our Lord's return by staying alert mentally and self-controlled morally!
4. Even if Jesus doesn't come in our
lifetime we need to leave the next generation a witness of having been on duty
during our lifetime!
ILLUS: When
Pompeii was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius there were people
everywhere that were buried by the ashes. Some were found in attics, others were in
cellars, obviously trying to find a secure place. Guess where one Roman sentinel however
was found? Standing at the city
gate where he had been placed by the captain with his hands still clutching his
weapon. There, while the earth
shook beneath him, while the floods of ashes and cinders covered him, he had
stood his post ... and even after a thousand years the impression of his body
still standing there unmoved gives testimony to others of his faithfulness
during his lifetime to his guard-duty!
– Source Unknown
5. When our children look back on our
lives will they see servants of the Lord that have been faithful to be watching or adults who
were running around waiting for the Lord but
passing time doing a thousand different things!?
6. Paul ends here with: “ENCOURAGE ONE
ANOTHER, BUILD EACH OTHER UP.”
a. Those on guard-duty can encourage
and be encouraged!
b. There is peace among the soldiers
when they know they have good guards on duty!
CONCLUSION:
Are you just killing time waiting for Jesus to
return, or are you really making time productive while watching for His
return? One role of the church
awaiting Christ's return is that of a sentry! We are to be "Watchful" or "On Guard" duty. We are to understand the days in which we
live. A good guard is alert
mentally and disciplined or self-controlled. The church is moving closer to the day
Christ will come ... be on guard saints!
BE WATCHFUL!