1 Thess 5:1-12 Series

This week we start the second oldest book in the New Testament as recorded in its publishing. We began with James on our year-long journey chronological study of the New Testament. Hence the reason we are calling this message series Chronos. It's a word that means “time.” We will be journeying through time back to the start of the early church. For the next few months we will be walking through the books written to those in Thessalonica.

Today, we open to the second chapter of this amazing letter to the church plant in one of the main travel junctions in all the Roman empire. A city of around 300,000 with some upper class but a great deal more working class people. The city was made up of Romans, Greeks and a powerful group of Greek speaking Jews.

The leadership collective (Paul, Silas and timothy), who had a relationship with this new church plant, were together reviewing the Christian movement and were sending this letter to the new church plant in Greece as encouragement and to correct some issues that had arisen.. Although Paul had only spent three to four weeks at this house church, he was impressed with the willingness of Thessalonians to live the mission when others would not.

Last week, we discovered that a witness for Christ must try everyday to express the hope we have within our hearts

We pick up the scriptures in 1 Thessalonians 5:1. Before we begin, let me remind you that we don’t have all the correspondence between the new church plant leaders and Paul. However, we have enough to understand the issues at hand.

Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

Last Sunday we left off with Jesus’ reminder of the timing of the final days. No one knows the timing of the end of the world. The term “the day of the Lord” can refer to a 24 hour day or to a longer period of time whereby God accomplishes some special purpose. For example in Genesis 2:3 it means 24 hours, in Genesis 2:4 it means a week of creation. The day of the Lord in this context refers to the time when God will judge the world. If you don’t like the word judge, think of it as a time when He decides what to keep and what to repurpose. God created everything so God gets to decide what to or whom to keep.

In the scriptures, the timing of this event will happen when the world is complacent with itself or ignorant of God’s intention to return. Paul has been simply reminding everyone of the truth and of the suddenness of the final days. He was encouraging them to live with an urgency.

Wait a minute Pastor. Why would Paul tell them to live with an urgency? Aren’t we supposed to live in peace and calm because our future is assured?

Urgency is defined as: importance requiring swift action or an earnest and persistent quality; insistence

Have you noticed how much more productive you are right before you're getting ready to go on vacation? There is no better way to establish a priority of what has to be done and what can wait than the 24-36 hours before leaving on a vacation. There is a limited amount of time so you’re forced to decide what has to be done versus what you’d like to get done.

Paul is establishing this same priority in the Thessalonian Christ followers. Paul is asking them to prioritize their days by what is truly important to God.

Let’s take a listen…

4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.

Paul uses the word sleep or asleep a number of times in these last few versus. It refers to the attitude of those who do not know Jesus or who have rejected Jesus. The word itself does not mean death but refers to moral indifference and carelessness about spiritual things or the spiritual life.