The Need To Be Sober-Minded

<1 Peter 4:7>: The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.

<2 Ti 4:5>: But you, keep your head in all situations (ESV: always be sober minded), endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

“To be sober” first has a spiritual meaning.

• The spiritually dead cannot be sober absolutely.
• For the Christians, it is to be be spirit controlled, instead of giving in to flesh.

<1 Ti 3:2-3>: Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. (ESV)

 <2 Ti 4:3-5>:  For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head (ESV: always be sober minded), in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

What is “not sober”?

It means that that person has his mind being easily drawn by experiences, sensorial activities, worldly ideas, cleverly invented beliefs, man’s opinion, whatever is popularly accepted now, or by anything that is carnal, except by the truth of God.  

 <1 Cor 15:34>: “Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame” (ESV).

<Eph 5:17-18> says: Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

 “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers” <Gen 47:9>.

Does sober-mindedness mean a dull and joyless Christian living?

<Acts 2:46>: Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.

<Acts 5:41>: The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.

<Acts 15:30-31>: So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message.

• Actively pursue those joy and meaning as Christians, so that we could be sustained.

Sober-mindedness leads to?

<1 Peter 4:7>: The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

1) Always conscious of the End

2) Prayer

3) Loving each other deeply

Reflection

1. In what ways do you see the insobriety of believers in the church today?
2. Do you realize how insobriety caught you at times? Where do you think the problem really lies?