This sermon was preached on Sunday morning September 21st, 2003 to the Evergreen Church by Scotty L Killingsworth
The text for the message is taken from 1 Thessalonians 4
The sermon series is part of the “Ready” series
The sermon title is: I wish we’d all been ready
In 1971-2 I recorded a song on the American Artists label written by Larry Norman, entitled, “I wish we’d all been ready.”
The lyrics: Life was filled with guns and war and everyone got trampled on the floor. I wish we’d all been ready. Children died the days grew cold a piece of bread could buy a bag of gold. I wish we’d all been ready. There’s no time to change you mind the Son has come and you’ve been left behind.
Man and wife asleep in bed she hears a noise and turns her head—he’s gone
I wish we’d all been ready. Two men walking up a hill one disappears and one’s left standing still. I wish we’d all been ready. There’s no time to change you mind. The Son has come and you’ve been left behind.
There’s no time to change your mind. How could you have been so blind?
There is coming a day when life ends. It may come for you at death or for all of us in one fell swoop at the end of this age. When it comes is irrelevant. It is coming and it will divide humanity into two groups. Group one, those who were ready and group two those who were not. Matthew describes this end time experience like this:
Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. . . . 41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘De part from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
All humanity is divided into two categories. Matthew’s Gospel calls them sheep and goats. Baptists call them two categories saved and lost. Paul’s writings call the differences spiritual or carnal. He also talks about an inner man and an outer man.
God loves both categories and died to save both, but one group believes that and the other doesn’t.
There will be a final day event where the two different kinds of people are forever divided up. The faithful, believing group will live forever in the presence of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The faithless and unbelieving group will live forever separated from God.
In that final day being ready will mean more than anything else ever has.
I wish we’d all been ready!
In today’s text we have a clear description of these events from the believer’s point of view. Final event lessons:
#1. This Jesus, who died, was buried and rose again, returned to heaven and one day will come again. When he comes the dead in Christ will come with him. V. 14
#2. In fact the dead will come out of their graves before living believers are changed and translated into God’s presence. The time delay is described as a wink of the eye. The rapture events are nearly simultaneous.
#3. It all begins with divine noise:
A loud shout (command) will signal the beginning of the end
The voice will be originate with an Arch angel
The trumpet call of God will sound out
These are the sounds and signals for war, but in this case the war has been won already.
The new believers were worried that their dead would miss the resurrection. They asked Paul about the order of the final departure from earth and he assured them they will not miss it. In fact they will be resurrection an instant before we are changed and removed.
When these final events overtake us there is not enough time to get ready. All preparations must be made before we die or are translated.
When God destroyed the earth with a flood in the days of Noah he first closed the door of the Ark before he poured out his wrath. Once the door was closed it was too late to change.
In Matthew 25 a story of 10 young ladies (called virgins) were waiting for the bridegroom and five of them ran out of oil. When they left to get more he came and they missed the whole event.
You have to be ready now. You can’t get ready for God later.
Being ready to meet the Lord is the most pressing issue in life. Readiness must become our highest priority.
What does a “Ready”, life look like?
4:1-2 A ready life is a life lived under the authority of the Lord Jesus
Authority is always a big issue with people. “Who is in charge around here?” is one of the first things that come to mind when we encounter an organization. “Who is boss?”, is a life-long struggle in some marriages. In military applications it can mean life and death for combatants. For a church we must all fit together in the body with Christ as the head or confusion and chaos results.
The Old Testament book of Judges describes what life was like when authority was abandoned. “And everyone did what seemed right in his own eyes.” Authority is huge for a ready life.
Sometimes the best way to understand something is to see what it is not. In this case the option for not living under the authority of the Lord Jesus is living under the authority of someone or something else. In most cases this authority is self. Self is the rival god and everyone has to sort out the truth and apply it.
Those who have moved under the authority of the Lord Jesus believe the Gospel.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4. The definition of the Gospel is: “. . . Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
A “Ready life”, is a life built on no other foundation than this.
Paul instructed them in 1 Thessalonians 4:8 that rejecting this instruction in the Gospel is rejecting God and not just Paul. Don’t reject the authority of the Holy Spirit in your daily life.
This authority will manifest itself in several ways. The next discussion points will highlight how this issue plays out. To live a ready life you will want to —
4:3-8 A ready life is a life live with sexually purity.
Reproduction is hard wired into our main frame. Thoughts about sex flash through the male mind once every two minutes were told by those who study human sexuality. How does a person live sexually pure with that kind of sexual drive? Is it impossible to ever be sexually pure the way we have been designed?
The answer is, “Yes”, but it is not easy. We have to begin with honesty. Sex is God’s idea. Our bodies were designed in such a way that we are flooded in hormones that rage like a forest fire out of control. To deny our sexuality and our sexual drives will not help. We have to realize God made us this way.
Secondly, we have to get a grip on the fact that sex is not an ugly thing that should never be discussed among believers. If the church does not ramp up a Biblical understanding then believers are left with what the world thinks about sex.
Third, God is pro-sex. Within the right boundaries it is a gift from God for a man and woman to celebrate in a life commitment called marriage. Sex within marriage is to be celebrated as a gift from God.
The problem with sex is that too often it is experienced out from under God’s plan. When people are sexually active without the benefit of marriage they destroy something beautiful and live with shame and guilt.
Sexual purity is paramount for readiness. Sexual purity implies Godliness.
The problem with our world is we have not placed a high enough value on sex. We devalue it when allow it to control us. Godliness demands sexual control.
Sanctification means committed to one thing. Not double minded. This means we can not just talk good about this issue on Sunday, but we must be honorable on Saturday night and all week long.
Sanctification means we learn to control our own body in honorable ways. Not like people who do not know God.
We do not take advantage of a brother by stealing his spouse for sexual activity.
A strong warning accompanies this verse in 6. “The Lord will punish men (and women) for sexual sins and adultery.”
The Christian calling is to purity and holy living. If you reject this teaching you are not rejecting me or the church, but God who gives you his Holy Spirit.
He gives the Holy Spirit to help us control our bodies and inner sexual lives.
So people who are ready are people who have allowed The Lord Jesus to be boss of our lives and have made a commitment to live sexually pure. There is more –
4:9-10 A ready life is a life that is committed to growth in brotherly love
A Christian that does not love is a paradox. It is like saying I have some water that is not wet. Love is a given in the Christian life.
The Thessalonians were famous for their love, yet Paul instructed them to do it more and more. Love each other in and increasing manner through out life. That means we are to love each other more today than we did yesterday. That means that if your love has reached a plateau it is sub-normal Christian love. We can never love enough.
Peter tells us in his general epistle to the churches that love covers much.
Love is not necessarily like. Some people are so easy to love and others are difficult to even like, but for Christ followers we have to love even if we don’t like.
Extroverts at times just bug introverts silly and vice versa. Detail people are ticked off at big picture people and vice versa. My son is a night person. I am a morning person. Try as we might we never could understand each other. Baptists love Sunday School and Pentecostal people come to church to worship. Liturgical people don’t feel as if they have worshipped unless they take communion. On a given Sunday morning I will have people tell me we have too much music and the next person I meet tell me we have too little. It is too hot in here and the next one will say it is too cold. Believe this or not, I have even had people tell me I don’t preach long enough!!!!
We have to grow in love or were sunk. 1 John 2:9 “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.”
How do you grow in love?
It helps when you understand that growing love is expected. Loving all kinds of people is possible when you see them as God sees them. When you know that God loves them and you love God you get the idea that maybe you should love them also.
So, ready lives are lives under authority, sexually pure and committed to growth in brotherly love. All of these combined life qualities produce a final, “Ready”, way to live.
4:11-12 A ready life is a life of Christian influence
Paul describes three lifestyle qualities that, “Ready”, believer’s exhibit:
The first is the value of living a quiet life. I repeat my oft spoken caution to modern believers when I say that most of us are too busy for our own spiritual health. Ready believers have their calendars under control. They also have conquered their soul that demands more and more stimulation and entertainment.
The second is the value of minding your own business. This Christian value speaks to our human tendency to nosiness. We have an insatiable desire to manage everyone’s affairs. Busy-bodies love to spread gossip and meddle in things that can destroy lives as well as peace of mind.
The third “Ready-value”, is being gainfully employed so you will not be dependant.
There are times and circumstances when we are blind-sided by events we cannot control. There will always be poor people among us Jesus said. What Paul is trying to get ahead of was a practice in this church of not working because they were expecting the immediate return of the Lord. Paul said being ready does not mean we stop providing for our families and for the poor in our midst.
Are you a “Ready” Christ follower?
Not being ready is simply no option for anyone.
I wish we’d all been “Ready”
Ready to series – 1 Thess. 2:1-13
Ready to live the best way
What is the best way to live for Jesus?
In total faith and hope
1You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. 2We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition.
Openly and honestly before the Lord
3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. 5You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.
Live with the kind of love that is willing to sacrifice
As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, 7but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. 8We 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. 9Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.
Aware of the power of your life witness
10You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
Trusting in the power of His word
13And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.
