Stay Awake

I'm an early bird by nature. When I was a kid, I was always the first one to sleep at the overnighter. As soon as the lights went down and the movie came on I was asleep (I'm actually still that way). This meant my evenings with friends were cut short, I missed out on a few of the fun times, and I was also the prime target for the shaving-cream-to-face prank. As I got older, I started drinking coffee at night to keep me up - more time with friends, more fun, and less shaving-cream-to-face nights.

When we get to Matthew 24, Jesus is painting a similar picture about his second advent (ie - arrival).

³⁷ As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹ and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

All throughout scripture we see that the patriarchs, the heroes of the faith, and even Jesus is a fan of eating and drinking, marrying and ginving in marriage, parties and celebrations, laughter and joyous times. So what is Jesus saying here? Is Jesus trying to suck the fun out of the room?

In reality, Jesus is simply making a comment about our state of being awake. In the times of Noah, the people of the earth had allowed themselves to be lulled to sleep (made numb if you will) by carrying on the with motions and getting inoculated by entertainment. This food and circus stuper caused them to forget God.

Jesus is warning his disciples to not allow the good things of the world (food, drink, celebration, and entertainment) to become the primary things of their world and as such cause them to forget God.

Jesus wants his people to eat, drink, and be merry.

However, not at the expense of being alert and awake to His second advent (or arrival) into the world.

This is oneo of the reasons why the church is so important. The church continues to gather God's people around the world to eat and drink together, celebrate and party together, but more imporantly to keep one another alert and awake to His presence.

That's what worship does, that's what prayer does, that's what scripture does - it awakens us from our propensity to become drunk on entertainment and forget God.

The local church continues to be a place where people are awakened to the presence of God so as to not forget God, his goodness, and all the good things that come from Him.