That’s a long night! I don’t know if you’ve ever
stayed up all night; you probably have. But there is a point when you become
overwhelmingly tired. It hits you in waves; now you’re awake, now you’re
asleep. When I’ve driven a long distance, and the sleepy wave hits me, I
have been known to stick my face out the window and yell as loud as I can.
You’ve done it too, haven’t you? I’ll bet some of you have. Surely I wasn’t
the first one to come up with this, because it works. If that isn’t enough
then I turn up my music so loud that it’s uncomfortable in my ears, or I
chew on carrots or beef jerky until my jaw hurts. I must stay awake because
my life depends on it! The doorkeeper is in the same situation. He doesn’t
know when his Master is coming. It might be after dusk, or at midnight, or
3:00 AM (when the rooster starts crowing), or it might be when the sun is
just peeking over the horizon. He must stay awake!
lest, coming suddenly, he find
you sleeping. (Mark 13:36)
This command wasn’t about physical sleep or it would be
easy to identify Christians…look for the bags under their eyes. This is
about spiritual alertness.
And it wasn’t just a teaching for the Apostles either…
And what I say to you, I
say to all: Watch! (Stay awake!) (Mark 13:37 with
emphasis)
Why did Jesus give us this command on the heels of such
a serious teaching about the end times? What does it mean to fall asleep?
It is a reference to complacency and compromise. The author of Hebrews
says:
Therefore we
must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we
drift away.
(Hebrews 2:1
with emphasis)
How hard is it to drift? It’s not hard at all. How do
you drift? Well, if you’re in a boat in the middle of a river, you just do
nothing.
In the same way, spiritually drifting in this world is
as easy as doing nothing. Nobody backslides at a dead run. The world
entices them, they give in a little bit (a little nap if you will), and
before long they are spiritually asleep. This is a tool of our enemy, with
the insidious purpose of destroying us.
The whole point of Jesus’ story in Mark 13:33-37 is
don’t spiritually sleep. Delilah tied Samson’s hands when he was
sleeping. When you sleep, your enemy is aware of it and gathers around you
just like he did to Samson. He doesn’t say, “Well he’s sleeping, so I’ll
take the day off.” Delilah wasn’t sleeping and neither was the crowd in her
room. Even in our second story Samson’s enemies stayed up all night while
he snoozed.
I followed this word
grhgorew (Stay awake)
throughout the entire New Testament, and I found that Paul used it to warn
the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:31. He said, “Men, don’t fall asleep. I
was up day and night with many tears. Don’t fall asleep!”
In Romans 13 Paul commanded
the Roman church to WAKE UP!!! Jesus is coming.
And do this, knowing the time,
that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is
nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at
hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the
armor of light. (Romans 13:11-12)
Other verses include:
Watch (Stay awake),
stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.
(1 Corinthians 16:13)
Continue earnestly in prayer,
being vigilant (Staying awake) in it with thanksgiving
(Colossians 4:2)
Therefore let us not sleep, as
others do, but let us watch (Stay awake) and be sober.
(1 Thessalonians 5:6)
To the church of Sardis
(Jesus referred to it as the dead church), He said, “Wake up!”. That’s the
word He used:
…I know your works, that you
have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful (Stay
awake), and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die…(Revelation
3:1-2)
If you would allow a large paraphrase:
“Wake up church of Samson!
Delilah is tying your hands. The enemy is killing you.”
In Revelation 16 the armies have gathered in the Valley
of Megiddo and the Great War of Armageddon is about to occur. After 13
chapters without red letters or exhortation from Jesus, He speaks a single
verse. Guess what He said?
Behold, I am
coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches (Stays awake), and keeps
his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. (Revelation
16:15)
1 Peter says it the best, and it most closely allies
itself with our Scripture in Judges.
Be sober, be vigilant
(Stay awake); because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8)
And when is he going to devour you? When you are
asleep! That’s why he says, “Wake up!”
Resist him, steadfast in the
faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood
in the world. (1 Peter 5:9 with emphasis)
This is what happens in the world. The world is
not neutral! It hates Jesus and is a tool of Satan, who desires to destroy
your life and kill you. That’s a Biblical fact. Don’t let your guard down,
thinking, “I’m going to coast through this world.” If you coast, you will
drift, and if you drift you will be consumed. Why else did Jesus tell us
seventeen times to stay awake? Why did Paul mention it to nearly every
church he wrote to? Why did Jesus say it to Sardis? Why is it proclaimed
from heaven right before Armageddon?
I am convinced that this is our greatest danger. It is
not persecution, for where there are persecutions occurring against the
church, you find thriving, living churches. Where there is no danger in
becoming a Christian, where the world is not openly killing you for your
faith, it is singing lullabies to entice you to sleep, to just “drift”
away. The minute you take a spiritual catnap, you will be surrounded. Paul
told Timothy in his last recorded letter, “Stay awake Timothy, be watchful!”
I charge you therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His
appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and
out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and
teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they
will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away
from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful
in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill
your ministry.
(2 Timothy 4:1-5 with emphasis)
With these words firmly planted in your heart, I want
to report some current statistics concerning our generation. The following
was compiled by the Barna Research Group and written about in an article
entitled Unbelieving ‘born-agains’ by Gene Edward Veith in World
magazine, December 6, 2003.
