When my brother was about five years old, it was difficult to wake him up, when he walked in his sleep. My parents could call him by name, shake him, help him to his feet, and point him toward his bed, but he only wanted to lie back down. However, once they got him going, he’d stagger toward the bedroom. When he was within about three feet of the bed, he’d throw himself on it and drift back into deep sleep.

Similarly, most of us can identify with remaining in a sleepy stupor until we’ve had our morning coffee. If this sounds familiar, it may be easy to identify with I Corinthians 15:34. Here Paul wrote to believers saying, “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” These words were given in the context of discussing a coming resurrection. Everyone, both saved and unsaved, will be resurrected after death, just not to the same place. Daniel 12:2 tells us this, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Paul explained to the saints at Corinth the certainty of their resurrection to eternal life, but he scolds them for their lack of effort to rescue lost souls from being resurrected to eternal punishment.

Believers at Thessalonica had been fervently sharing Christ with others. Through their efforts in evangelism, virtually everyone in their part of the world had heard the gospel. However, the saints at Corinth had not been very diligent in sharing the good news of salvation. They were, in effect, spiritually sleepwalking in a sinful lifestyle, and calloused to the looming, eternal destruction of others. They lived next to, worked beside, and had friends and family who were still unsaved. Many did not know Christ because the believers at Corinth never shared with them the good news of eternal life by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul told them, “…some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” Paul was seeking to awaken them to their need to share the gospel with others.

Through I Corinthians 15:34, the Lord is seeking to awaken us today to our need to share the gospel. Which unsaved person can you share the gospel with today?