EPISDOE 780 – THE BELIEVER’S SOBRIETY 1

THE BELIEVER’S SOBRIETY 1

“Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.”

1 Thessalonians 5:6 (KJV)

One of the practical ways every believer can be watchful (as discussed previously) is to be sober-minded.

Being watchful is like a soldier in a military or defence duty on a city wall. The soldier must look on with vigilance to ensure the city is not under any possible threat of siege. It is like a shepherd who watches over the flock.

There are divine treasures and inheritance dispensed unto the Church, and every believer must be watchful to guard all the riches of Christ.

This must be done with sober-mindedness.

The believer’s sobriety is a great treasure which keeps him from losing focus among this corrupt and perverse generation.

The apostle Paul was clear on his instructions to the brethren in Thessalonica;

“Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.” 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 (KJV)

1 Thessalonians chapter 5 is such a loaded chapter in the Bible. It serves the saints with all that is needed as we behold the coming of the Lord. Anyone who loves the appearing of Jesus must love to glean further verities dispensed in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. It shapes your mind and heart to function consistently as one who is of the light.

The word “sober” is from the Greek word “nēphō”, meaning to completely abstain from wine, wineless, or unmixed with wine.  Relatively, it also means to be discreet or to have temperance. It is to remain resolute not to be intoxicated.
It is in the sense of having total freedom from the influence of intoxicants.

Its figurative meaning is basically to be free from every intoxication of your being (mentally and spiritually).  

This doesn’t mean to be soberly minded is to be empty headed.

A believer is not empty. As believers in Christ we have the Spirit and live in the Spirit. Thus, to be sober is not just to be calm and collected in the Spirit; it is also to be possessed by the Spirit. This is how to experience self-control.

To exercise self-control is to live according to the influence of the Spirit and the Word of God. It is a part of the fruit of walking in the Spirit.

Being sober minded doesn’t begin with your self-effort but with the saturation of the Holy Spirit in your heart. When a man is saturated and full of the Holy Spirit, he will be sober (well-balanced, clear headed, circumspective, free from evil passions and desire, and fully enabled by the Spirit to have self-restraint)

Most believers become discouraged in their walk with God and nurture distractions, easily get tired in the walk of faith, feel pressured and mentally drained because they refuse to live in the reality of their sobriety.

You find them praying, attending Church meetings, demonstrating commitment, but all of it can be swallow efforts when they are centered on their own ability. Whatever we do as believers must first be rooted in the Spirit. We must have the mindset of Spirit or God dependence and not self-dependence.

This is how to demonstrate true sobriety in the faith as we behold the coming of the King of Glory.

Hallelujah!