Staying awake!
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11New International Version (NIV)
The Day of the Lord
5 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.
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. 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.11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
New International Version (NIV)
Wakeup!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do you remember that time in the garden of Gethsemene when Jesus is in the most intense prayer perhaps of his whole earthly life – what we wouldn’t have given to be there with him to support him to just be part of this grand moment in human history but Luke tells us 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. 45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
They missed it!
One thing I have noticed as a Grandfather and that is if you pretend that you are asleep and your little Grandchild is next to you they will yell in your ear at full volume – Wake up Granddad!!!
If you pretend to still be asleep it is possible that you may increase the need for hearing aids in New Zealand by one.
The scripture this morning screams at us – Wake up!!! Wake up Christian!
Recently when New Zealand was defeated by Peru in Peru the seismic measuring equipment employed to record earthquakes recorded an earthquake, it wasn’t - it was simply the peoples reactions to the victory. If New Zealand only had a medium interest in the events in Peru this week the Peruvians were off the scale to the degree of causing seismic sized celebrations.
The scripture this morning has passion and intensity beyond most normal modern Christian reaction!
1 Thessalonians chapter 5 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.
This scripture looks forward to a day – a day that will change everything.
This day will be a day for both celebration and mourning.
A day is coming when there are massive changes coming on earth that will completely change everything.
To the sceptical we can say – Who would have thought that God would part a sea to rescue a nation – or who would have thought that God himself would come to earth in the person of Jesus simply to rescue his people. Who would have thought that all of world history would have been changed by Jesus – forever – God “wrote” hope in history and nothing has ever erased it neither the philosophies of men nor the blood of wars.
The Bible declares that there is a day coming and nobody knows when the day will come like a thief in the night. So guessing and speculation simply will not work – The seventh day Adventists tried that in 1844 with predictable results. Jesus didn’t return at that time.
But one thing we do know – Just as the coming of Jesus was prophesied in scripture and eventually happened exactly as the Bible predicted – so a day is coming when Jesus will return coming on the clouds in a way that is both awe inspiring and totally changing the paradigm of life itself.
Captain Scott O’Grady was shot down over Bosnia on June 2, 1995. He pulled the ejection lever and parachuted into enemy territory. For six days, he hid under bushes, ate bugs and drank rainwater. To make himself less visible, he covered his face with mud. Sometimes enemy soldiers passed within a few centimetres of his hiding place, but they never found him.
What O’Grady didn’t know was that from the moment his ordeal began, intense preparations were being made to rescue him. He was wondering, Do they know I’m alive? Are they going to come for me? Do they care? And all the while the United States military was mobilising to come and get him. They had 40 aeroplanes looking for him. They were using satellites. They were getting help from other nations. And O’Grady was wondering, Will they come for me?
We need to understand that even though we are living in a war Zone here on earth Jesus is coming again to rescue you. Stay awake!!!
As it says in Revelation 22:7-21New International Version (NIV)
7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.”
8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9 But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!”
10 Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near. 11 Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”
Because Jesus is coming soon Paul has critical instructions for the church at Thessalonica.
The book of 1 Thessalonians is a personal and affectionate letter to the church, Paul’s own words confirm this, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us (2:8). The main themes that run through 1 Thessalonians is living holy and sanctified lives and being self-controlled and alert waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus.
So we are encouraged to live the way we live because things are going to change – Jesus is coming again.
How then does our reading this morning encourage us to live?
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
The Day of the Lord
5 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.
2 cultures – one looking forward to the Lord’s coming the other saying peace and safety.
Christianity is counter culture. Christianity has always run counter to the culture it is in.
A W Tozer “I am Thy servant to do Thy will, and that will is sweeter to me than position or riches or fame and I choose it above all things on earth or in heaven.”
If we just say we are counter culture – it sounds a bit bland or even boring – but if we say we are so excited about the fact that Jesus is coming again and things that are wrong here and now will be put right we can get pretty excited. As it says in Revelation 21 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. 4He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.” 5And the One seated on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”
I believe that when we keep in mind that we belong to a different world we live more boldly and our faith is lived more clearly.
An example of this would be The story of Telemachus is the story of extreme courage in the face of evil. Telemachus was a Christian monk who, in 391CE, went on a pilgrimage to Rome. While there he noticed crowds flocking to the Colosseum to see gladiators do battle. He followed them in, only to witness a sight that repulsed him.
Emperor Honorius was celebrating his triumph over the Goths. Gladiators armed with spears and swords reenacted the battle. After their reenactment the bodies of the dead were dragged from the arena and its bloodied surface covered with a fresh layer of sand.
Telemachus watched with horror as people died, battles raged and the crowds cheered. Prompted into action, this bald headed, robed figure found his way onto the arena floor. He ran toward two gladiators locked in battle, grabbed one of them and pulled him away. He exhorted the two gladiators to abandon their murderous sport. He appealed to the crowd to not to break God’s law by murdering.
The response was anything but favourable. Angry voices drowned out Telemachus’, demanding that the spectacle continue. The gladiators prepared to do battle again, but Telemachus stood between them, holding them apart, urging them to reconsider. Driven by the anger of the crowd and their rage at Telemachus’ interference, the gladiators cut Telemachus to the ground, as the crowd threw missiles at him. Telemachus was killed.
But his death was not in vain. In 405 Emperor Honorius declared gladiatorial battles were to end at the Colosseum. Tradition tells us that it was Telemachus’ brave protest that helped move him to do so. Source: Reported in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
That is countercultural living with heaven in mind.
1st point is live like there is no tomorrow!!!! “knowing very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”
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. 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.
2. Stay awake in your faith.
Staying awake means using the tools God has given you to live as you should in a broken world as Paul says here and expands for us in Ephesians chapter 6 , putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. We are in a war zone and we need to dress for it.
Our enemy though is not people Ephesians 6 verse 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Whoever heard of someone in a war zone living as if there were not a war on but many Christians today live like that and victims are everywhere.
It used to surprise me that people who want to live neutral in the world end up backsliding and worse. It doesn’t surprise me any more. We need to stay awake in our faith. That means confronting the evil with in ourselves and the evil in the world.
Nobel prize winning author and Russian dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, says.
“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.”
? Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956
In some respects that is the problem with rampant abortion and homosexuality legislation inflicting curses on the practitioners and society into the future. But we need to stay alert.
Jesus said – Mark chapter 13 English Standard Version
And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” Counter culture Christianity can sometimes look a little untidy - John chapter 2 …14In the temple courts He found men selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers seated at their tables. 15So He made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle. He poured out the coins of themoney changers and overturned their tables. 16To those selling doves He said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn My Father’s house into a marketplace!”
Before you get all wreckless and self righteous though remember the sin in your own heart and balance a passage like this with the extreme mercy Jesus shows with the woman caught in Adultery
John chapter 8 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
11 “No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
“If we obey the Lord, He will compel our adversaries to see that His blessing rests upon us. … It is for saints to lead the way among men by holy influence: they are not to be the tail, to be dragged hither and thither by others. We must not yield to the spirit of the age, but compel the age to do homage to Christ.” —Charles Spurgeon
Thirdly - Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Remember the importance of Christian community. I continue to meet people who maintain that they can live a good Christian life outside of the Christian community. This of course is nonsense. Because the church is a people of God together – each person in the church has a hard time of it living out the Christian life it is as we have said, a battle – But together we become much stronger.
Hebrews chapter 10 A Call to Persevere
…24And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds. 25Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 26If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains.
It is spring and the time for gardening and one thing spring does is it insists that we remove the weeds from our garden – When you live in a family then somehow the collective conscience about the garden gets to you after a while and the same with the Christian life. When you live with each other eat and pray together like the early church you tend to deal with the weeds much better.
The thought that Christianity lived in isolation is better fails to take into account the need to tend to the weeds in the human heart.
“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains ... an unuprooted small corner of evil.
? Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956
Florence Littauer has a wonderful little piece in her book Silver Boxes: the Gift of Encouragement.
Do you know someone who has:
A song waiting to be sung?
Some art waiting to be hung?
A piece waiting to be played?
A scene waiting to be staged?
A tale waiting to be told?
A book waiting to be sold?
A rhyme waiting to be read?
A speech waiting to be said?
If you do, don’t let them die with the music still in them.
From sermon by Steve Andrews
Several centuries ago, ancient China wanted to secure its borders from its northern invaders. They had an ingenious plan. They built a great wall to protect the border. It was so thick that no one could knock it down. It was so long that no one could get around it. They posted soldiers at different places. It was built wide enough on the top for chariots to patrol. If they heard of an attack at distant location, they could easily get to it. They were up high giving them a superior advantage over their enemies. They knew that they had protected their borders sufficiently against all enemies.
But, in the first 100 years of the Great Wall of China, the nation was invaded three times. How? An enemy bribed the gatekeeper and entered into the land undetected.
When we diminish the importance of unity in the body of Christ, we risk being invaded by the enemy. God has called us to divine fellowship. That fellowship is one of the most powerful tools of witness to a lost and dying world. If we don't protect it, strive for it, and do everything we can to promote it, we open the gate to the enemy. The enemy will attack your family and your church, causing ineffectiveness and destruction.
