DAY PEOPLE AND NIGHT PEOPLE (1 Thessalonians 5:4-11)
INTRODUCTION:
Happy Mother’s Day to all our mothers and grandmothers here today. We honor you on this day. However, if you came this morning hoping to hear a Mother’s Day message, I am sorry to disappoint you. We have been making our way through 1st Thessalonians since January 1st and two weeks ago we began the final chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, and I want to continue our study of this book this morning. When it comes to Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, I really struggle with preaching a message to just a select group of my congregation. God’s Word is for all of you whether you are a mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, son, or daughter. If we take the truths of God’s Word and apply them to our lives then we will be living the life of a godly mother, or father, or grandmother, or grandfather, or son, or daughter.
Two weeks ago, as I said, we began the final chapter of 1st Thessalonians. We only looked at the first three verses where Paul was answering the concern of the Thessalonians about the Day of the Lord. Their concern was caused by some false teachers who were telling them that the Day of the Lord had already come, and this was alarming to them, and they wanted to know if this was true or when it would be. Paul reminded them that the Day of the Lord would come upon unbelievers unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. Destruction would come unexpectedly and suddenly, and no unbeliever will be able to escape from it. As we come into verses 4-11 Paul makes it clear that there are only two kinds of people in the world. Those two kinds are believers and unbelievers, or the redeemed and the unredeemed. In this passage, Paul contrasts Day People (Believers) from Night People (Unbelievers). Night people are associated with darkness, sleep, and drunkenness. Day people are associated with light, alertness, and soberness. Paul’s purpose in contrasting the saved and the unsaved in this passage was to comfort the Thessalonians and to assure them that they would not go through the Day of the Lord that they would not face God’s wrath which will begin in the Tribulation and culminate in the Day of the Lord. In contrasting Day People and Night People, Paul looks at three characteristics that set these two groups of people apart. Those three characteristics are their nature, their behavior, and their destiny. Let’s pray and then get into our passage for this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to 1st Thessalonians 5:1-11, I am going to read the whole passage, but my message will begin in verse 4. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
1st Thessalonians 5:1-11,
“Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1–11, NASB95)[1]
THE CONTRAST OF NATURES (1st Thessalonians 5:4-5)
Paul begins verse four with the words, “But you, Brethren…” (1 Thessalonians 5:4a, NASB95)[2] These three words introduce a contrast with verse three, where Paul used the pronouns “they” and “them” to refer to unbelievers who will not escape the sudden and unexpected coming of the Day of the Lord. By again calling the Thessalonian believers brethren Paul emphasizes his point that this is a contrast with verse three. The Thessalonian believers as the children of God would not experience the Day of the Lord, because as Paul writes here, unlike unbelievers, God’s children are not in darkness. As God’s children they possess an entirely different nature. They do not walk in darkness, they do not belong to the night, they are not a part of Satan’s kingdom of darkness.
When we speak of the spiritual darkness of unbelievers, it must be understood that this darkness is both intellectual and moral. Intellectually it is the darkness of ignorance and morally it is the darkness of sin. Spiritual darkness is not knowing what is true and not doing what is right. The Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, invaded the sin-darkened world but tragically most people chose and still choose to remain in the darkness. John said in John 1:5 concerning Jesus, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:5, NASB95)[3] Jesus explained to Nicodemus in their nighttime meeting in John 3:19-20, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” (John 3:19–20, NASB95)[4] Paul told the Ephesian believers in Ephesians 4:17-18, “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;” (Ephesians 4:17–18, NASB95)[5] Unbelievers are in spiritual darkness not only because they do not know the truth, but also because they love wickedness.
But as those who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are not lost in this darkness of ignorance, sin, and rebellion. John 8:12 says, “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.’ ” (John 8:12, NASB95)[6] Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 said that His followers were the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). Believers are not in intellectual darkness because they know the truth; nor are they in moral darkness, because they practice the truth.
Paul writes that because we are not in darkness, because our nature is distinct from those whose natures are spiritually darkened, we do not need to fear that the Day of the Lord would overtake us like a thief. The Day of the Lord is often described by the prophets as a day of darkness. The prophet Amos wrote in Amos 5:20, “Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light, Even gloom with no brightness in it?” (Amos 5:20, NASB95)[7] The Day of the Lord is for night people, day people do not need to fear that day; they will not be a part of it.
Paul in verse 5 describes believers as sons of light and sons of day. This phrase “sons of” is often used in Hebrew as an idiom describing the dominant influence in a person’s life. For example, the Old Testament uses the phrase “sons of Belial” several times to describe worthless men who are by nature children of the devil. Jesus nicknamed James and John “Sons of Thunder” because of their unpredictable and aggressive personalities. The name Barnabas literally means “Son of Encouragement” denoting the gentle, encouraging nature of Paul’s companion in the first missionary journey. For Paul to describe those who have come to faith in Christ as sons of light is to say that the Light is the dominant influence in their lives. Adding the parallel phrase “sons of day” reinforces Paul’s point, because we associate light with day just as we associate darkness with night.
Paul then seeks to make what he is writing very clear by emphatically declaring that believers are not of night nor of darkness. As believers we live in an entirely different realm than those who will not escape God’s wrath on the Day of the Lord. Paul’s encouragement to the Thessalonians was that they do not have to worry about missing the Rapture, they do not need to worry about being caught in the Day of the Lord or of experiencing any of God’s wrath and condemnation. As believers we live in a different kingdom, the kingdom of light, where God’s wrathful judgment will not and cannot come, because any wrath we deserve was poured out on Christ at the cross.
THE CONTRAST OF BEHAVIOR (1st Thessalonians 5:6-8)
Paul uses the phrase “so then” to show us the inseparable link between a believer’s nature and their behavior, a truth that is clearly taught throughout the New Testament. What people are determines how they will act, as day people believers should act accordingly. Knowing this truth Paul urged the Thessalonians, “…so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.” (1 Thessalonians 5:6, NASB95)[8] Paul did not need to urge them to be day people, because their nature was permanently fixed by the transforming, regenerating power of God in salvation. But because our new nature is housed in fallen, sinful human flesh it is possible for day people to do deeds of darkness. The apostle’s urging is that they live and behave in such a way that is consistent with their new natures. Paul uses the present tense of the verbs to tell the Thessalonian believers that they were to be continuously awake, alert, and sober.
The term sleep that Paul uses here is a different word than what he used in chapter 4 when referring to those who were asleep in Jesus, those believers who had died in Christ. The fact that he uses a different word adds another dimension to Paul’s portrayal of night people, the “others” he refers to in verse six. Because they are children of the night and children of the darkness it should not come as a surprise to find them asleep in spiritual indifference, living as if there will be no judgment. No wonder the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night and destruction will come suddenly like labor pains on a woman with child. Paul goes on in verse seven to complete his portrayal of those who are night people that they are not only asleep, but that sleep is because they are drunk. Tragically, though they are asleep to spiritual reality, night people are wide awake to the lusts of the flesh. As believers, as day people we have been delivered out of the dark night of sin, ignorance, rebellion, and unbelief.
Living in such a way that is consistent with our new nature provides believers with comfort, because living a righteous, godly life brings assurance of salvation. When day people walk in darkness, which happens when we listen to our old flesh rather than the Spirit of God, we give up that assurance and become fearful of God’s judgment. Even though it is not possible for day people to be caught in the Day of the Lord, it is possible for sinning day people to lose assurance and fear that they might be.
Where sleep is the natural condition of night people, Paul urges day people to be alert and sober. The word “alert” means to be awake and/or watchful, to be able to rightly assess what is happening in the spiritual realm. Alert day people are seeking to “be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,” (2 Peter 3:14b, NASB95)[9] as Peter says in 2nd Peter 3:14. In contrast to the drunken stupor of night people, Paul urges day people to be sober, which means to be free from the influence of intoxicants. A sober person is self-controlled, lives a serious, balanced, calm, and steady life and knows how to set boundaries and what to prioritize. To be sober is to be alert. Just as sleep and drunkenness define a night person’s insensitivity to spiritual truth, so alertness and soberness describe a day person's sensitivity to spiritual truth.
Paul makes the self-evident remark in verse seven when he writes, “For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.” (1 Thessalonians 5:7, NASB95)[10] Both sleeping and getting drunk are normally done at night. Sleeping refers metaphorically to passive indifference, getting drunk to active sin. Paul goes on in verse eight to contrast us with those who are sleeping and getting drunk, and writes, “But since we are of the day, let us be sober.” (1 Thessalonians 5:8a, NASB95)[11] Since Paul repeats this need for them to be sober suggests that their fear of being in the Day of the Lord was a major concern and the false teachers were causing uncalled for fear. This is such a major concern that Paul must address it a second time in 2nd Thessalonians. Here he is again stressing that day people would have no part in the Day of the Lord. Both their nature and their behavior set them apart from the night people on whom the Day of the Lord will descend without warning.
Paul uses an example of a soldier to show what he meant by being alert and sober. A soldier on duty would be both alert and sober, having put on his breastplate which protects his vital organs, the area of his body that was most vulnerable. The breastplate was like the bullet-proof vest of our day. The helmet was to protect the head from blows and injury. The breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation equip the Christian soldier to stand firm against the schemes of the devil and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Faith, love, and hope make up the supreme triad of spiritual virtues. These three form a formidable defense against temptation. Faith is trust in God’s power, promises, and plan. It is the unwavering belief that God is completely trustworthy in all that He says and does. First, believers can trust God’s Person. He will never deviate from His nature as described in the Bible. Second, as believers we can trust in His power, nothing is too difficult for him. Third, believers can trust God’s promises, He will always keep them. And fourth, believers can trust in God’s sovereign plan, which can neither be halted nor hindered. Faith provides a defense against temptation, because all sin results from a lack of trust in God. Because of this faith is an unpierceable breastplate, protecting the heart from temptation. To put it on, we must read, study, and meditate on God’s Word so that we learn of God’s nature and then translate that knowledge into action in our lives.
If faith forms the hard, protective outer surface of the Christian’s breastplate, then love is its soft inner lining. To be in love with God is a delight and we must be completely devoted to Him as the one and only object of our affection. This kind of love is also a powerful deterrent to sin since all sin involves a failure to love God. Jesus said the greatest command that summed up the Law and the prophets was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. Paul wrote in Romans 13:10 that love is the fulfillment of the Law. If we truly love God in this way, then we will not do what grieves and offends Him. Love and faith form an impenetrable barrier against temptation. It is only when one or both are lacking that the believer falls to temptation. Prefect trust in and love for God leads to obedience.
The second piece of armor that Paul mentions is the helmet of the hope of salvation. The salvation that Paul speaks of here is not the past aspect of salvation when we were saved from the penalty of sin (justification), nor is it the present aspect of salvation where we are being saved from the power of sin (sanctification), Paul is speaking of the future aspect of salvation when we will be saved from the presence of sin through our glorification. This salvation will be when the Lord Jesus Christ will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory as Paul wrote in Philippians 3:21. When we focus our hope on the eternal glory that awaits us, this too protects us against temptation. John described it like this in 1 John 3:2-3, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:2–3, NASB95)[12]
Only when we keep the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of the hope of salvation firmly in place can we resist the onslaught from the forces of darkness.
THE CONTRAST OF DESTINIES (1st Thessalonians 5:9-11)
As we come to these final verses of this passage, we must realize that the most sobering truth in Scripture is that God will judge the wicked and sentence them to the lake of fire, where they will be eternally separated from God and be tormented day and night forever. But for the believer, the day person, our destiny is a blessed truth that Paul gives us here in verse nine, he writes, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9–10, NASB95)[13] Day people’s future destiny sets us apart from night people, we are not destined for wrath, and the reason is salvation. Paul is again speaking of the fulfillment of our salvation, our glorification, but all our salvation, past, present, and future are all due to the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, our faith in this truth means that we are saved from God’s wrath that will be poured out on all night people. This wrath will begin with the Tribulation as God judges the wicked and purges Israel to prepare the nation for the return of their Messiah, God’s wrath will climax when Christ returns to set up His thousand-year kingdom on earth and will culminate at the end of the thousand-year kingdom when God sentences the wicked from all of history to the lake of fire for all of eternity.
The glorious message of the gospel is that the Lord Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death paid in full the penalty for believers’ sins and because of this, believers will not face God’s wrath in judgment. Jesus said in John 5:24, ““Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (John 5:24, NASB95)[14] Paul declared in Romans 8:1, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1, NASB95)[15]
Christ’s death on our behalf sets all day people, both those who are awake and those who are asleep, apart from night people. The marvelous reality is that all believers will live together with the Lord Jesus as He promised. I do want to bring your attention to something in verse 10, Paul writes that we will all live together with Him, whether awake or asleep. Many say that Paul is referring to those believers who are still alive at Christ’s return for the church, those are the ones who are awake, and those who are asleep are those who have died in Christ before the Rapture. This is true, but Paul does not use the Greek word that he used for those who are asleep in Christ back in chapter 4:13-18, instead he used the Greek word that he used here in this passage to describe those night people who were asleep in spiritual indifference. Why does Paul use that word here for believers? I believe God knows each one who belongs to Him, some will be awake, alert and sober serving the Lord and seeking to be obedient to His Word up to the moment that they are snatched from the earth, others who truly trusted in Christ but whose faith is weak, whose love has grown cold, and who have lost hope and have fallen into temptation and are living more as a night person than a day person. This is the reason that Paul repeatedly tells us to be alert and sober because we are in a constant battle between our new nature and our old fallen, sinful human flesh. Paul wants us to know that if we have repented of our sin and put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then we are not destined for wrath but for salvation no matter what state we are in when Christ returns for the church. Those who are asleep when He returns will be ashamed and will need God to wipe away their tears.
Paul ends this passage telling the Thessalonian believers to encourage one another and build up one another with this truth. Remind one another that you are not destined for wrath, but to be of good courage and stand firm in the faith and be faithful to the end. Encouraging one another to put on the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of the hope of salvation so that you can stand against the onslaught of the forces of evil. So that you are not asleep when Christ comes. Remind one another that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
CONCLUSION:
Paul encourages the Thessalonian believers that they will not face the Day of the Lord because of the new nature that they have in Christ, which should cause their behavior to be different from that of night people and finally because they have a different destiny then those who have not put their faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross. Their destiny does not include any of God’s wrath, but it does include their future glorification when the Lord Jesus Christ returns for us, and we live together with Him for all eternity. Knowing this truth let us be alert and sober standing firm with the breastplate of faith and love firmly in place and the helmet of the hope of salvation on our heads so that we can stand against the onslaught of temptation from this dark world.
One of two possible destinies awaits every member of the human race. What is your eternal destiny? If you stubbornly and rebelliously remain in spiritual darkness, then you will fall under God’s wrath that will ultimately end with you being cast into the outer darkness of the lake of fire. But if you repent and through faith in Jesus Christ come into the light of salvation, then you will “…share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.” (Colossians 1:12b, NASB95)[16] You will live forever in God’s presence where John writes in Revelation 22:5, “And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 22:5, NASB95)[17]
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[15]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[16]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[17]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.