To Be Blameless At The Advent

To Be Blameless at the Advent

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

Advent is a time of reflection. Most people spend the season of Advent contemplating the birth of Jesus Christ. We tend to concentrate on the Baby Jesus in the manger. We wonder why He came to such an awful place as earth, a world filled with violence, selfishness, and hate. We take time to contemplate how the Eternal Son of God could become flesh and live among humans in this world. He did this because He loved us. We might further contemplate His life on earth and wonder at what He taught about the Kingdom of God. We are amazed at the miracles and signs He performed. We think of how He died on a cross for our sin. We confess that He was raised from the dead on the third day and ascended into heaven. Most Christians think on these things at Advent. It is good to think about what Christ has done for us.

However, the season of Advent originally contemplated another event — the second coming of Christ. Advent was celebrated long before Christmas was. So let us take a little time to contemplate the return of Jesus and how we should live in the present while we await His return.

In this morning’s text, we encounter the second coming at the end of the selection in 1 Thessalonians 3:13. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to return with all His saints. All the teaching in this text is oriented to this event. Paul is writing to the church in Thessaloniki. He had started this church on his second missionary journey in about 49 AD. He was instructed by the Holy Spirit to evangelize in Macedonia through a man he had seen beckoning him to come in a dream. The first place he stopped was at Philippi. He started a new work with a few Jewish women he met on the bank of the river. When he cast a python spirit out of a slave girl there, he was arrested and badly beaten with Silas. He was delivered at midnight through an earthquake through which the jailor and his family became Christians. He was thrown out of the city the next day before he could establish the work there. So he next came to Thessaloniki and started a church there from the synagogue. After some initial success, the Jews started a riot, and Paul had to leave in haste. From there he went to Berea and suffered the same fate. He was then mocked at Athens. Finally he came to Corinth and started a work there. Even though trouble arose there as well, Paul was able to stay some time there to establish a church there. But Paul had kept the church at Thessaloniki in mind. He sent two epistles to them. Scholars are divided whether he sent 1 Thessalonians first or 2 Thessalonians. At any rate, 1 Thessalonians is among the earliest of his epistles.

From his letter, we learn that Paul had sent Timothy to Thessaloniki to establish the church in the faith because he was unable to come in person. Timothy’s report back was very encouraging, fir which Paul was overjoyed. Joy and thanksgiving abounds throughout the epistle, even though he had to deal with a few issues there. We learn from 1 Thessalonians 4 that the return of Jesus was one of these issues. Some there had felt that those who had died would miss out on the second coming and were, therefore, lost. Paul emphatically insists that this was not the case. Chapter four is set up by the end of chapter 3. When Christ returns, He is returning with His saints. What we can see is that the church and I think Paul also expected the imminent return of Jesus.

What was the church to do in the light of His soon expected return? Jesus had admonished his disciples on several occasions. He says in Luke 19:13 that His servants are to occupy themselves until He returns. The Greek word behind “occupy” means that we should conduct the business of the Kingdom. 2 Thessalonians 3 seems to indicate that some of them had quit work and were mooching off others. Paul responds by saying that those who do not work should not eat either (2 Thessalonians 3:10). This is one of the errors that occur when one acts on the idea that the Lord was just about to come and establish the Kingdom. Jesus indicates that His return would not occur nearly as soon as many thought. There was going to be time to conduct the Lord’s business.

The other error which wrongly affects Christian conduct is that the Lord’s coming is way in the future. People with this expectation fall into the trap which Jesus warns in Matthew 24:48-51: