1 Thessalonians 5:4-7 - You are all children of the light

5:4,5

The previous statement about “coming like a thief in the night” applies to unbelievers, those living in darkness. Paul tells us that we are not in the dark. Now this does not mean that we know the date! The human way of wanting to prepare for the return of Christ, the end of this world, is to want to know when and how it will happen. And sadly many Christians also go down this route. If we think this is a good road to go down there are two points we should consider. First, no one has got it right yet! It is a manifestly failed approach. Secondly, what good has it done, what good would it do if somehow we got it “right”? Knowing the date is not the Jesus approach. The Jesus approach is to live life in a godly way, as we will see the following verses. If we do that then whenever the Lord does return we will be ready.

5:6,7

Israel wanted a king because they wanted to be “like other nations” (1 Sam 8:20). There is a tendency in most of us to want to be like everyone else, not to stand out too much. But we are called to be different. God’s ways are not man’s ways, so when we choose to follow Jesus we will be different, we will stand out.  We are not to be like the world. Instead we are to be like Christ, we are to be sober and awake. This applies both in the sense of not being drunk or intoxicated, but also in being awake to what is going on in the world. Paul has been talking about living in darkness and living in the day. More deeds of evil are done in the dark than in the day. Most drunkenness occurs at night, and people sleep at night.