"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

ILLUS:

What would you rather have when the enemy might attack,

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 mens wives and girlfriends were WATCHING for them!" The difference
between waiting and watching was only too clear! Source Unknown

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!
2 Tim. 3:1-7

1 Thess. 5:1-3

Mark 13

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
Christs 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 selfcontrol, 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 Christs 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
boys 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 Christs 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!