Someone suggested that today’s service is bit like a funeral, or at least a memorial service and the passage we’re looking at today might reinforce that idea. But I hope that’s not how you see it. This is meant to be a celebration of good ministry that’s happened over a long period of time and that’ll continue, albeit under a new name and with some additional players.
And in fact the passage in 1 Thess 4 isn’t addressed to a time when someone has died, though it does answer one of the questions that people often ask at that time. On the contrary it’s about issues that need to be thought about while we’re alive and kicking. It’s about being wide awake, working for God’s kingdom and being prepared for whatever Satan may throw at us.
One of the questions Christians often ask is the one Paul addresses in 4:13. Where is my friend who’s died. Are they in heaven already? Are they still lying in the ground where they were buried? Does it matter that they were cremated? These Christians in Thessalonica seem to be were worried that Jesus hadn’t returned in time to take their loved ones with him.
Do you remember from last week how they had such a strong belief in Jesus’ imminent return that some of them had even stopped working? They were waiting for him to return and take them to be with him in heaven. And now some of them have died. So what’s happened to them? Did they miss out?
So Paul sets out to reassure them, to set their minds at rest, first about their Christian friends and then, at the end of the passage, about themselves, about their own future with God.
Hope
Notice that he sets out to ease their minds by using their minds. He says "we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters." In so many situations despondency arises as a result of ignorance. Not knowing what’s going to happen is a major contributor to stress and depression, particularly when there are all sorts of possibilities you can think of, some of which are not very good.
So he wants them to use their minds even while they’re grieving. Notice he doesn’t say we shouldn’t grieve. I know there are some Christians who think it’s unspiritual to grieve. I remember a man in a previous parish whose wife of some 40 or so years had died and he refused to allow himself to grieve over her because that would be unspiritual. So he just didn’t mention her at all. I think that was a fairly unhealthy way to be.
But at the same time Paul says he doesn’t want them to grieve the way those do, who have no hope. There’s great sadness when a loved one dies and there’s no need to lessen the sense of loss being felt at their death but there’s also a certainty for those who die in Christ that heaven awaits.
Hope for a Christian is not something that’s uncertain. It’s not like our current situation where we’re hoping that St Andrew’s School will be able to buy the land on Burwood Hwy but it’s completely uncertain until we hear that a contract has been signed. No, our hope for the future is already signed and sealed because of what we find next.
Basic Christian Truth
"14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died." I know there are some Christians who deny the historical reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection. They’re happy to talk about Jesus’ resurrection as a spiritual experience of the disciples but deny the possibility that he physically came back to life. But, sadly, that leaves them without a firm hope for themselves and their loved ones. Our hope of resurrection stands or falls on Jesus’ resurrection. Because we have a firm belief that Jesus rose from the dead, we’re also firmly confident that we will rise from the dead.
Jesus’ Coming
He reminds them that Jesus has promised that he will return and will bring with him those who have died already. The Christians in Thessalonica were waiting eagerly for Jesus to return. We continue to wait with longing for him to come and take us to be with the Father. But our hope isn’t just for ourselves. Our hope, our confidence, includes those who have died as believers in Christ.
So Paul assures them that not only will Jesus return as he promised, but when he does it’ll be a cataclysmic event: the archangel will cry out, God’s trumpet will sound, Jesus will descend from heaven and those who are dead in Christ will rise from death. Then those who are still alive will be caught up with Jesus in the clouds. Can you picture it? Trumpets ringing out; Jesus shining from the clouds; the dead rising to meet him. It’s mind-blowing, isn’t it? It’s the sort of thing that Hollywood might try to capture but would never quite manage. John in Rev 1 puts it like this: "7Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail." No-one will miss it. No-one will be able to hide. At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow. So don’t be disheartened at the fact that some of our Christian brothers and sisters have died. Their fate is as certain as ours. They’re simply waiting for the day of the Lord, just as we are. The word that’s translated "have died" there in v1 is actually the word for "are sleeping". They’re just resting from their labours until Jesus comes to awaken them to their new life with God.
So, he says, encourage one another with these words. Living in a world that’s opposed to Christ and trying to be faithful to him, to do his will, we need encouragement from time to time. The trouble is, I think we’ve shied away from the promise of eternal life as a way to encourage one another over the past 20 or so years. There was a time when Christians were criticised for being so heavenly minded that they were no earthly use, but now we seem to be not at all heavenly minded. In fact the danger now is that we’re so focussed on this world that we forget the future dimension of our life with God altogether. We forget that we’re strangers in a foreign land, waiting for Jesus to come and take us back to where we belong. And when we forget that then we begin to lose the motivation for living faithfully for God day by day.
A Future Perspective
So Paul warns them, and in so doing warns us, of the danger of becoming complacent, of forgetting God’s future and so getting immersed in the concerns of the world.
He says "2For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3When they say, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!" It’s a great illustration isn’t it? I remember a friend of ours who was pregnant and we were talking one day about when she was going to get around to packing her bag so she’d be ready to go to hospital; and we were saying how there was plenty of time, she wasn’t due for two or three weeks. Well, of course you can guess what happened. That night her waters broke and off she went to have her baby with her husband having to go home and work out what she might need while she was in hospital.
That’s what the day of the Lord will be like, only more so. Don’t think you’ll have time to prepare then. Don’t think you’ll be able to catch up on all the things you were meant to do and haven’t got around to. I don’t mean the things that’ll become irrelevant when he appears: like painting the lounge room or buying that new plasma TV. I mean the conversations you’ve been meaning to have with your next door neighbour or your brother or sister. I mean the letter of apology you’ve been going to send to someone you’ve hurt in the past. Or the letter of thanks to someone who’s been a great encouragement to you. Or, more importantly for some, the final decision to make Jesus Lord of your life; to acknowledge him as the ruler of everything.
It’s interesting how human nature never changes. The very thing he warns them of is exactly what people today are in danger of: that is, of thinking that all is well, "There is peace and security." Nothing can upset my peaceful existence. I’m fit and well, my children are happy, my wife and I are getting on well. What could spoil all this? But God’s warning is loud and clear: don’t be fooled, don’t be presumptuous, don’t be complacent. It’s not just about the journey, history is moving to an end. And the end is just around the corner. And if you haven’t seen enough examples of people who are caught out by sudden changes of fortune you haven’t been listening to the news lately. So be ready!
It’s interesting that the people of Thessalonica were asking about times and dates. People are still trying to work out when Jesus will return. It was going to be at the turn of the Millennium wasn’t it? But before that it was going to be some time in the 40s. There’s a place on Sydney Harbour, that I think is still there, where there’s a lookout set up for people in the 40s to watch as Jesus came through the heads. Well, he didn’t, but still people try to second guess when it might be.
But that’s all a waste of energy; energy that should be spent staying alert, working for God’s kingdom.
Working while it’s Light
He says: "4But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; 5for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. 6So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; 7for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night." He’s echoing some of Jesus’ last words to the crowds who followed him around: (John 12:35-36) "Jesus said to them, ’The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. 36While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.’" He’s saying the time is short. The light is only with you for a while longer. So get on with it.
So how are we to work in a world that’s so strongly opposed to the gospel? Again, he gives them and us sound instruction: "8But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation." You may remember that he commended them at the start of the letter for their work of faith, their labour of love and their endurance inspired by hope. Well now he encourages them to take those same Christian graces and use them as their defence against the attacks of the evil one.
I was watching the latest Harry Potter movie the other day where Harry starts lessons in Defence against the Dark Arts for his friends. Now in that fictional world those on the side of good need spells to fight evil. But notice what the Christian is encouraged to use against evil here. It isn’t spells is it? There’s nothing magic about it. It isn’t even particularly clever. No, do you see how we’re to fight evil? With ordinary old faith and love. Faith that trusts God to do what he promises, to be with us until Jesus returns, faith that believes that Jesus will return, faith that believes that even if we die before he returns we’ll be raised to be with him on that great day. Love that drives out fear; love that brings God’s comfort to people who are suffering in this fallen world; love that shares our faith with people who have the same need of God that we do. And our helmet is our hope of salvation. Again, a firm and certain hope based on the historical reality of Jesus resurrection; the sort of hope that can deflect the attacks of the evil one as he tries to discourage us and make us give up on our work for God and that motivates us to work while we have the light, to live lives that are pleasing to God, as we saw last week.
The Foundation of our Hope
Finally he reinforces the foundation of our Christian hope whether we’ve died or are still alive. He says: "9For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him." Notice that the grounds for our faith have nothing to do with our own success as a Christian. Rather it’s entirely dependent on what God the Father has done and on what Jesus Christ has done.
A. What God the Father has done
The Thessalonians may have been worried about the judgement that would come with the parousia, with Jesus’ second coming. But that’s to misunderstand God’s plan for them from before the beginning of the world. God has a plan for us, for you and me. His plan is that we’ll obtain salvation. The judgement at the end of time is for those who reject Jesus in this world. For those who accept him as their Lord there is no judgement, no condemnation. Why? Because of what Jesus has done.
B. What Jesus Has Done.
The grounds for our confidence before God is this: our Lord Jesus Christ has died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Jesus’ death and resurrection not only assures us that we will rise again, but that we’ve been made right with God. The relationship with God has been restored. The dividing wall of hostility has been removed. Now we can meet God face to face without fear.
So, he says, encourage one another and build up each other with the reminder of this great foundation of faith. Twice in this passage Paul says "encourage one another": at the end of ch4, and again in 5:11. What we’re to encourage one another with is the greatness of the hope that is ours. This hope is so great that it’s all we need to motivate us. It’s a hope that will keep us from the fear of death, keep us from despair, because it promises God’s power to be with us moment by moment enabling us to follow him; and it’s a hope that will lead us, motivate us to please God and in the end promises to take us to be with him forever.
For more sermons from this source go to http://www.stthomasburwood.org.au
