Allowing the extraordinary to become ordinary.
1Thes 5:1-11
1 Thessalonians 5:1-3
1 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.
Jesus is coming again.
Are you tired of waiting? How long will we wait until the anticipation wears off? Jesus is coming again. Amen Now if I said I met Tim Tebow and convinced him to come to service with us this week, would we be excited? Is it not more exciting to know Jesus is coming? But has the anticipation dropped off a little bit and just a bit more as time wears on. Twenty five years ago I preached a sermon I called Tired of waiting. It was about the same subject. Has anything really change in the twenty five years since my first sermon? Is it possible that as time has passed we begin to take our relationship with Jesus just a little to casually? We spend too much time singing what a friend we have in Jesus, Instead of “Our God is an awesome God.”
Do we let the extraordinary become ordinary?
Remember those days just after you accepted Jesus when almost every moment was spent, praising Jesus, helping others, and working in the church. As time goes on do we start taking our relationship a little too casually? Imagine this scenario, you come home from work some evening and find Jesus sitting in your living room. What would your reaction be? Would it be hay Jesus glad to see you. Want some chips and salsa. Can I get you a Pepsi? And by the way I have a pain here if you can take a look. I don’t thinks so. As the excitement of a relationship with Jesus passes through time has the awesomeness of it become common place?
Is this scenario similar to your prayer life? Our prayers are a face to face talk with Jesus. I notice often when I pray it consists of just two elements. Thank you and gimmie. You and I both know that if we came face to face with Jesus that the first thing we would do is fall on our knees. I believe that all I could think about is how unworthy I am. After I got over my shock I would confess my unworthiness, my sinfulness. I would then just shut my mouth. I would listen to what he had to say. I think it would be a long time before I felt comfortable to speak of my needs or concerns and then only if he asked me to speak up. I heard someone say one time that God created man in his image, and man promptly returned the favor. We think of Jesus as someone just like us only better. Have we let his deity slip away? This is not a sermon on prayer. But there is one thing I must say about private prayer; it should always include time for a two way communication.
When I read Exodus I get mad at the Israelites. They saw plagues rain down on Egypt and then didn’t trust God when they got a little hungry. They walk through the Red Sea on dry land then make a golden calf just a few days later.
I realize that I am no better than Israel. God does wonderful things in my life and shortly thereafter I forget to trust him the next time things get tough. If we are to keep the glory of God in perspective we must remain in the light.
It seems to be the nature of man is that, after some repeated exposure to the extraordinary, that it then becomes the ordinary.
Donna and I bought a house 18 years ago and it was a dream come true. It was so much better than what we had, for the first few weeks I almost danced from room to room. After time passed it just became the place I lived. New cars have been the same way for me, wonderful and then just average. Sadly we let the extraordinary relationship we have with our God, fade to ordinary.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-3
1 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.
The lost of the world are like the child who closes his eyes and puts his fingers in his ears and sings lalalala If they don’t see it or hear about it, they can pretend it is not real. Sometimes adults can be more childish than children.
Recently I invited my brother to spend time with me at a car show, (I have an old car I like to work on.) we had a great day together. On another occasion I invited him to come hear me preach, he could not say no, fast enough. I think he was afraid that he may hear something that he could not ignore. He could not possibly come; it would be too embarrassing for a 58 year old man to have his fingers in his ears singing lalala.
V4 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
Even if we have let the excitement slip just a bit, we will not be surprised when Jesus comes. Those who do not believe in Jesus, say to themselves and each other, everything is fine, we have nothing to worry about. So Paul says they are in the dark, as if asleep. They live their lives in dream world not facing reality. Or like the drunk whose reality is always distorted. I think most of them know what is true. They are just trying to convince themselves that being negligent is ok.
Jesus is the light, we are his children. We are not living as in a dream world. The sun, moon and stars are just the reflected light of God.
The book of Revelation says that the Sun and stars will be wiped away and yet we will have light. The light of Jesus will be all we need. We will no longer need reflected light.
Math 5:16 we should let our light shine before men. We have no light of our own. We must walk in the light before we can reflect any.
Let me tell you about my actions soon after I became a Christian. I read the Bible at least twice a day. Sometime I just opened it up just for fun. I would go to morning and evening services on Sunday. I went to Tuesday night Bible study. I found a church that had a Wednesday night worship service. Back in 1976 there was a ministry that supported a venue for Christian bands and there was some kind of performance every week. Once a month First Nazarene had Saturday nights in Denver, I never missed one. When I had free time I talked constantly about Jesus. I was obnoxious. I was about Jesus Christ all the time.
After three years passed, God called me to mission service in Israel. Prior to March of 1975 I lived in darkness. I did not know Jesus or the word of God. It wasn’t until I was preparing for this message did I realize what was happening in those first three years of my Christian life. God was giving me the light. Before I could let my light shine, I first needed to get some light in my own life. I was cramming myself full of light. God was getting me ready for the mission field. I could not give away what I did not have. God was filling me with light.
My prayer partner pointed out that the reflected light of God is not just a New Testament occurrence.
Exodus 34:29-48
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the LORD had given him on Mount Sinai.
33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the LORD’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over
When we spend time with the Lord we shine too. We do not shine the same way as Moses did, but we shine. Moses needed to be seen by all of Israel. But we shine in our own way and we are seen. I am sure that many of you can attest, those people who need a word from the Lord find you. Years ago I worked on a large high rise construction site. There were hundreds of people working there. I can not tell you of the number of people who sought me out at coffee break and lunch because they needed someone to talk to. When they needed some light of the Lord they seek me out. I am sure that you experience this kind of thing as well.
We can choose how much light we walk in. The more we walk in the light, the more we shine. Unfortunately sometimes we allow the extraordinary joy of spending time in the light fade to the ordinary.
Earlier I mentioned the scenario of having Jesus in your very own living room. This actually did happen once. God was not in this living room for just a few minutes but for 40 years. This man let that extraordinary experience fade to ordinary.
Please turn to 2 Samuel chapter 6
First a little background, 40 years before the time of King David, the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines. The Philistines found it to be too hard to handle. They had such a difficult time that they voluntarily returned it to Israel along with gifts of gold. The Israelites had no place to store it, so they decided to put it in the house of one of the priests by the name of Abinadab. The Ark of the Covenant housed the very presence of God. We just spoke of how when Moses visited it his face shone for all of Israel to see. Now Abinadab had the honor of it in his own home. It remained in his house for 40 years. It was then that David decided it was time to move the ark to Jerusalem.
Abinadab had two sons Uzzah and Ahio. I do not know much about ancient home design but I can make a few guesses. You had to be royal or very rich to have a home of more than just a few rooms. It is amusing for me to imagine that it sat in the living room and everyone had to squeeze around it just to get from one side of the room to the other. Maybe they shoved it into a closet but I think that is doubtful. Two special priests in addition to Abinadab were appointed to care for the Ark while it was there.
When the time came to move the Ark to Jerusalem, it fell to Abinadab and his sons to supervise the move.
2 Samuel 6
1 David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. 2 He and all his men went to Baalah[a] in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name,[b] the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it,[c] and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with castanets,[d] harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.
6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.
How could someone who spent 40 years with the Lord make such a mistake? These three men should have been the greatest living experts on God of that day. They allowed the extraordinary to become ordinary. We don’t know what happened in that house. Was the Ark in the living room or shoved into a closet? I don’t know. But they must have had their eyes closed, fingers in their ears and were singing lalala. There is no mention that Abinadab’s face shone like Mosses.
For those of you who are not familiar with this story, this is the problem. God refuses to be treated as baggage. He ordained exactly how the Ark and his presence was to be carried. He is too holy to be touched by human hands. Touching it was well known to be instant death. The Ark had gold rings on the sides of the box; wooden poles were to be fit through the rings and then the poles were to be carried on the shoulders of the priests. The whole world was to see how God is honored by Israel.
The ark was taken from Abinadab’s home and put onto the cart. It is apparent that the people did know how to handle it. They managed to get it out of the house without a problem. They let the extraordinary become ordinary.
Forgive me for being a little long winded here. The point I am making is that complacency among the believers is an ongoing problem. It happened in Moses day, it happened in the time of David, Paul warns against it and we face it today. Fortunately Paul had advice for the Thessalonians that is good for us as well.
v8 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.
Let us be sober refers here to being alert and aware. Don’t let your attention drift from the light. Put on faith and love as a breastplate. The breastplate protects the heart. Your heart will stay in the light two ways. First through faith, faith is your continued allegiance, trust and loyalty to the Lord. Your faith is your reliance that God will always be there for you. Faith is the start of interaction with him. I was thinking about this when I read through to the end of Thessalonians. I found that V23 clarifies verse 8
5:23
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
He will do it. Keep faith with the Lord and he will keep you in the light. Guard your heart with faith and he will keep your spirit, soul and body blameless. What a deal, you keep the faith and he does the hard part. So, Faith is your interaction with the Lord.
Love is your interaction with others. If you practice faith and meet the needs of others in love, you will be living in the light.
John 21: 16
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
Paul says wear the hope of salvation as a helmet. I think we have lost the accurate definition of hope. I know that I think of it as synonymous with wish for. As in I wish for a million dollars. It is not going to happen, but I sure want it to. This if not the definition of hope.
The dictionary defines hope thus
( To cherish a desire with anticipation, to expect with confidence)
So put on your cherished, expected, confident, helmet of salvation.
The first thing you think of with a helmet is protection. It is protection for your head and mind. Keeping your mind on your salvation will prevent it from being filled with worldly things. A helmet is also an identifier. In the time of Paul the helmet identified you. What nation you represent, your rank, and your job. Putting on your helmet of salvation tells everyone you are a Christian solder.
vs 9
For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.
We are saved from hell by the work of Jesus Christ. It does not matter if we are alive or dead at his coming. We will all be gathered up with him. He is coming for you. Won’t it be great when he comes for you that he finds you walking in the light.
Walking in the light should be easier today than any time in history. Technology makes it easier every day. If you need a little light infusion in your life your options are limitless.
Christian music can be had for free on many radio stations.
MP3 players can give you hundreds of uninterrupted hours of music.
Modern communication devices mean you can have fellowship with brothers and sisters next door or around the world.
Did you know that you can Google any verse and receive hundreds of sermons in a blink of an eye. You may not depend on the quality of sermons this way so I recommend a website called sermoncentral.com
With all these wonderful things nothing is better than one on one fellowship. Get a prayer partner. My prayer partner and I have been together for over 10 years. He builds me up when I am down. He knocks me down if I get too full of myself. He gives me advice, without sparing my feelings. He knows my weaknesses, my temptations, and my sins. He makes walking in the light is much easier because he walks there with me. Never in my life will I ever be without a prayer partner again. He is as essential as my Bible. If you do not have a prayer partner you need to get one. I believe my Christian walk would suffer greatly if I did not have him.
Finally
V11
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Pastor Rick mentioned last week how proud he is of all of you. You in this church lives verse 11 daily. That is a verse I am sure I do not need to expound on for you.
