Ephesians 5:14: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead.” This verse is often spoken to sinners, but it was not written to sinners. Ephesians was never written to sinners. It is not a message to sinners at all, but a message to one of the best churches in the New Testament. Yet the writer says, “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Some of the Ephesians were in a somnolent condition; that is, they were morally good but unenlightened. They were religious but unanointed.

It is perfectly possible for a good, faithful, loyal church member to be spiritually asleep–being in a spiritual state that parallels natural sleep. When your husband, your wife, your child, your relative, your friend or you go to sleep tonight, the fact that you are unconscious and out of the running for a while is not bothering you…