Last Sunday
1
Thess 5:1-11
11/23/14
A number of years ago, I walked into
the furnace room that is at the east end of the church. I had something that needed to be locked up
in the heavy duty filing cabinet that we used to store important documents and a
little money. As I opened the door and
turned on the light, I saw that the cabinet was open and that there were items
scattered on the floor. The metal of the
bottom cabinet drawer had been wrenched apart and the drawer had been
completely destroyed. As I gazed at this
very unexpected scene, the first thought that went through my head was, “Well
that doesn’t look right.”
After the moment of surprise had
passed, I of course realized that the church had been robbed. You don’t expect to be robbed. It’s not something that you plan on
happening. And so it was the same sense
of surprise that I experienced a number of weeks ago when I talked on the phone
with Sue Linenberger and learned that the church had been broken into. Nothing had apparently been stolen, but a
window had been smashed in.
When I arrived at church and walked
into the sanctuary I saw that the window right there had been smashed. I must say that it had never occurred to me
that when a double pane window get broken, there is twice as much glass on the
ground. As I looked at the glass that
littered the floor and the jagged remnants still in the window the thought that
occurred to me again was, “Well that doesn’t look right.”
Both of these experiences were
unexpected. And in both cases, the
person or people who did it came at night.
Thieves and robbers don’t normally coming during the day. Instead they come at night when people are
gone; when no one will see them; when no one is expecting them.
In our text this morning Paul is
talking about the return of the Lord Jesus on the Last Day – what Paul calls
“the day of the Lord.” He says that it
will be “like a thief in the night” in order to emphasize the point that it
will be unexpected. His words here on
the Last Sunday of the Church year teachs us that we need to live as people who
are ready for our Lord’s return.
Many times, I have said that I
really don’t know how pastors in other Christian traditions do it. Because Lutherans embrace the catholic –
that’s a lower case “c” – the universal practices of the Church we have a church
year and a lectionary. Apart from the
range of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lesson assigned for a particular
Sunday, I don’t decide on the Scripture that will serve as the text of my
sermon. In essence, it has already been
chosen for me.
I simply can’t imagine what it would
be like – how hard it would be – to keep coming up with new texts and topics to
preach about every Sunday, year after year.
Instead, the lectionary is keyed to the church year. And as we move through the church year, it
provides the themes and topics for sermons.
Every year we walk through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Every
year together we walk through God’s salvation history. And every year when we arrive at the end of
the year, we focus our attention on the end – on the Last Day and the return of
Jesus Christ in glory.
Paul focuses upon this near the end
of his first letter to the Thessalonians because of concerns they had about
believers who had died before the return of Christ. The Thessalonian Christians had believed the
Gospel. Earlier in the letter Paul says,
“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of
God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as
what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” He reports that they “turned to God from
idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”
However, since that time some
Thessalonian Christians had died, and the Lord Jesus had not returned yet. What did this mean for them? The Thessalonians were concerned, and so just
before our text Paul assures them that death can’t rob the Christian of the
victory that Christ’s return will bring. He writes, “But we do not want you to be
uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as
others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen
asleep.” Paul assures them that the dead
in Christ will be raised first so that then, all Christian will always be with
the Lord.
Talk about the return of the Lord
leads Paul into the topic of today’s text.
He says, “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have
no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware
that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”
The apostle says that they know the
return of the Lord will be unexpected. We learn from our text that there are
two extremes that must be avoided. On
the one hand, anyone who tries to “read the times” and identify when Christ is
going to return is just stupid. Now
“stupid” is not really a word that we are supposed to use around the Surburg
house. But in this case I am going to
make an exception because it is just an accurate description of anyone who claims
to be able to do something that Scripture explicitly says can’t be done.
Yet there is another, more insidious
error that must also be avoided. Paul
goes on to say, “While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then
sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant
woman, and they will not escape.” The
apostle warns about being content and at peace with the ways of the world. And in our world today that is very easy
because we are told that nice people are accepting of everyone and
everything. Be tolerant. Be inclusive.
It’s all good.
The apostle says otherwise. He says
that sin has eternal consequences. It’s
a wrath thing – God’s wrath against sinners.
Like the Thessalonians you were once destined to receive that wrath. But
through the Gospel you have been called to faith in Jesus Christ who died for
your sin on the cross and then was raised from the dead by God. He is the One who delivers you from the wrath
to come.
Paul’s frame of reference is the
return of Christ. He began this letter
talking about Christ’s return. He ends
this letter talking about Christ’s return.
But the truth is that quite often it doesn’t function in this way for
us. Oh certainly we believe it will
happen someday, but it doesn’t really impact our present. It doesn’t really affect the way we think and
live. And that’s wrong. Paul contends
that it needs to do so.
He goes on to say in our text, “But
you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night
or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep
awake and be sober.”
Since we know that the Lord Jesus
will return at a time that is unexpected – like a thief in the night – we need
to live in ways that are ready for him.
We want to be found living as what Christ has made us to be. After all, as Paul says we are children of
the light and the day because of Christ, not children of the darkness and
night.
And so Paul says in our text, “But
since we belong to the day, let us be sober.”
He says that we need to be self-controlled, living as what Christ made
us to be. The way we do this is by “having
put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of
salvation.” Faith in Christ who
sacrificed himself for us is the thing that enables us to be self-controlled in
living as children of light. This faith
in God’s saving love for us rebounds through the work of the Spirit with love
toward others – for that is the love that Paul speaks about repeatedly in this
letter.
As we live life in this fallen
world, we are able to do this because we have the hope of salvation. Paul has just spoken about those in the world
who grieve at death because they have no hope.
But that is not the way it is for us. When Paul speaks about hope he is talking
about the timing of things, not whether they are going to happen. Our hope is anchored in the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because this
happened nothing can separate you from salvation and eternal life – not
even death itself. Paul says at the end
of our text, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or
asleep we might live with him.”
No matter whether we are physically alive
or dead our life is in Christ – it is with him.
And because Jesus rose from the dead, we know what we will too. Through baptism you have shared in Jesus’ saving
death – Jesus the risen One. And so Paul
told the Romans, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we
shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
There is no doubt about who we are
now. There is no doubt about what will
happen. It’s just a matter of when it
happens. This hope is eager
expectation of our Lord’s return and the resurrection he will bring.
It is this faith and love and hope
that we have in the present. It gives us
peace – real peace. Not the fake peace and security of the world that doesn’t
even realize it will fall under God’s wrath on the Last Day. Instead, we have the peace of knowing that we
are the children of God; that we are children of light; that we will share in
all the fullness of resurrection and eternal life. And because we know that
Christ is going to return, this faith and love and hope prompts to live as
children of light and children of the day in expectation of the Last Day.
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