We Belong to the Day! 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Has anyone ever seen a vampire roaming around Hollywood Township during the day? Probably not, for two reasons: one has to do with light and the other with reality. Vampires, werewolves, and other mythical critters, are all creatures of the night.

In reality, they don’t roam the day nor the night, because they don’t exist. But the evil they represent does exist. There’s plenty of proof of that in the world.

Evil is not limited to the natural, but also encompasses the realm of the supernatural. To put it another way, all humans and some spirits are contaminated with evil, thus the evil in this world, and the evil in the next, which will be contained in Hell.

In the natural realm evil is in everyone, and impacts everyone. In the supernatural realm, evil is in only the fallen angels, or demons, not within the good angels.

In our Bible Study on angels, today we’re learning about the fallen angels, and discussing their very real impact in our world.

It was the fallen angel, the devil, who tempted humanity in the first place, and  brought darkness into the world; not physical darkness, for in the order of creation, God made the night as a necessary time for the world to rest.

Because the world is fallen, night can also be used as a time to conceal sin, and crime, and all sorts of evil that people do against each other.

Because of this, the Bible sometimes uses night or darkness as an analogy of evil, and day or light as an analogy of good.

Our Epistle says, for you are all children of Light, children of the day. 

God’s children exist to walk in the light of the Gospel, and reflect the light of His love in the world.

Through the waters of Baptism, the Light from Above shines on us, and in us, and through us.

Pure water is transparent, or translucent; the light shines through it. Dirty water, on the other hand, obscures the light.

Living in our Baptismal faith, we have the ability to let the light of the Holy Spirit shine in us, and to empower us to do good in this world, to add light to a world darkened by sin.

On the other hand, the old Adam in us, our sinful nature, darkens our souls, and obscures the light in us. It causes us to darken the world with our selfish ways.

Our Old Testament today teaches us that God holds us accountable for the darkness we add to this world. So we need to daily repent of our evil, and pray that God would replace the sin in our lives with goodness and love.

Still, in our weakness, we sin every day, but as we repent in our hearts, God washes away our sin for Christ’s sake. He cleanses our souls, and helps us to better shine the light of His love in the world.

Water also can wake us. When we get up in the morning, splashing cold water on our face helps us to wake up and face the day.

Likewise, Baptism wakes us spiritually.

Today’s Epistle reminds us, We are not of the night or of the darkness, so let us not sleep, as others do, but be awake and sober.

Last Sunday we talked about staying awake in faith. Tragic things happen when we fall asleep in our spiritual life; then we become vulnerable to powers greater than us.

Tragic things can happen if you fall asleep at the wheel, when you’re driving.

When I was about 14 or so, my family was on vacation in the Black Hills. We were in a RV, just coming out of a tunnel, when a truck came around the mountain and slammed into us head on.  The driver had fallen asleep.

Now some of the newer vehicles have anti-dozing technology; if you doze off and leave your lane, an alarm will sound. Some vehicles, using sensors, will steer you back into your lane.

God’s Word and Sacraments are anti-dozing technology, so to speak, for us as strive to stay awake in faith, and walk in light.

One of the functions of the law in God’s Word, the 10 commandments is to be a guide, to steer us in the ways of godly love.

The Gospel is our power to stay spiritually awake and alive.

The fellowship of God’s people, is the encouragement we need to stay awake.

When I was in college, we were going on tour to Portland and Seattle. I was driving the station wagon, loaded with equipment. And we had a rule that the person sitting by the driver in the passenger seat had to stay awake with the driver, and then those in back seat could sleep.

It was about 2 in the morning, pitch black, and I was driving through a forest in the mountains of Montana, coming around a curve, and all of a sudden the person beside me screamed, because there middle of the road were three horses. I hit the brakes, and got stopped in time, but it woke up everyone in the back seat.

It was good to have that person beside me to help warn me and help me stay alert. If I had been sleepy, I may not have reacted in time to get stopped.

In the same way we need others to help us to keep from dozing off spiritually, which is so easy to do. So God gives a fellowship to be a part of.

We support each other; and remind each other what we belong to: the day, not the night; good, not evil; Christ, not the devil; love, not hate; the Word, not the world.

We give each other a wake up call when it’s needed, and we all need it at times.

So we shouldn’t be mad at those who sometimes correct us, for a wise man accepts rebuke. Proverbs 9:8 says, Rebuke the wise, and they will love you for it.           

And a wise person knows how to give advice and correction in the right way: in a spirit of love and respect.

The fellowship we belong to also affirms us as we walk in the light. We need affirmation, just as much as we need correction.

In our Gospel, we heard the words of affirmation spoken to the faithful stewards: Well done good and faithful servant. Not perfectly done; only Christ has done that. And He has given us his perfect righteousness to count as ours for our salvation.

For Christ’s sake God calls us forgiven, but He also longs to call us faithful in our life and our service toward Him.

As His children, we long to hear Him say those words to us: Well done, good and faithful servant.

The truth is we could always do better in serving God, but thanks be to God that He loves to see us serve. He values and treasures our service in His name, imperfect though it is.  

Knowing this gives us the confidence we need to serve Him well, not only in doing  His work in the Church, the Ministry of the Gospel, which is what our parable is talking about, but also in all we do wherever we are, serving Him by helping one another, and by treating each other in the right way, as God treats us.

Remember that our Gospel teaches God holds us accountable for failing to walk in the light and serve Him faithfully with the Gospel we’ve been given, as did the wicked and slothful servant.

Since we belong to the day, our epistle reminds us, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for salvation, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.

So that we walk in light, now and forever, so that this may be our destiny, God arms us with faith and love, and gives us hope to live by.

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing, Paul says.

Remember to say to one another, Well done, good and faithful servant. You don’t have to use those exact words, but be fast to affirm the faithful.

The devil and the world are fast to affirm us for sinning and failing to serve God; let us be even faster to affirm one another for being faithful, and doing good.

And above all, let us be fast to praise God, for all the good we do comes from the Holy Spirit. To Father, Son and Holy Spirit be all glory and praise, for our Triune God does everything to perfection, including the peace He gives, which passes our understanding, and guards our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.