CMLC 2023-11-19 Sermon

Howdy. So one of the things that you know in thinking about first

Thessalonians 5 and one of the things that stands out is this idea of being

ready because Jesus is coming and one of the things that always stood out to me

about that was what it was that I was always worried about being ready for as

a child and for me that was whenever dad came home. See there are different stages

of life where at different times you might not be sure what to expect when

dad gets home. You see whenever you're really really little and you're excited

that dad's gonna get there because you can play you can go do things together

it's gonna be great but then you get older and you start realizing that the

trouble that you've caused isn't quite as cute as when you were a little kid and

then you start to think well dad's getting home oh no what was I supposed

to get done before he got here. So you're starting to think okay is this when I

needed to have my room clean is this whenever I needed to get the laundry

done or help mom with some dishes and so of course you know at that point you're

trying to last minute make sure that everything gets put away as quickly as

you can and you never knew how quickly you could get the toys in the box you

didn't realize that you could shove all the laundry into the machine really

really quickly and you also realize that you know maybe those dishes if I at

least put them in the sink and then at least looks like I'm partway done with

it right or even more than that is also asking is there any reason why I might

be in trouble when he gets home because that's never a good thing so of course

I'm thinking to myself well is there anything I did to my sister that I know

I'm gonna be in trouble for when he gets here and so then the whole time I'm

kind of wrecking my brain thinking oh no was there anything and then pausing and

saying well maybe if she did something to me then it'll all balance out and it'll

be okay so then of course you have to go back and make sure that you tease your

sister and get her to end up doing something to you before your dad gets

there he's on his way okay how can I tease my sister just enough the thing is

is that whenever we think about being ready for the arrival of our father is

that also oftentimes we miss out on the reason why that comes up so much with

Jesus is this idea of being held accountable being held to a standard of

saying what is it that I'm going to be expected to do when Jesus returns and

one of the things that we talked about last week is that you know with it is

whenever we think about how we live out our lives today we're thinking about

what I do with my body my mind my spirit everything that we do with ourselves is

a testimony to who God is and so last week in the first Thessalonians passage

we were talking about things like sexual immorality which is a very difficult

topic but more than anything was trying to focus on the fact that what we do

with ourselves including our body matters to God because everything is a

gift from God but even more than that is that there were people that had passed

away that were like before Jesus had come back again and people wondered well

Jesus hasn't come back yet what's gonna happen to those who already died and so

Paul is trying to point out to them that when Jesus comes back the dead will rise

along with us and the thing with this is in looking at the passage that we have

from chapter 5 is that it's really coming out of this idea of not to be

distracted and not to be so drawn by everything else that we miss out on what

God is calling us to today how many opportunities are there in our lives

today not only to serve God but also to speak of his salvation to others but

we're so distracted with every hobby every idea everything that can end up

pulling us away but you see even more than that is that we can oftentimes take

what we think about for the end times and we can end up coming up with all

sorts of ideas about it so I wanted to make sure I explained a few things here

you see passages like this are oftentimes taken to come up with many

different ideas about what's gonna happen when Jesus returns now a lot of

these you may have seen different books different movies and the like we grew

up in this fundamentalist Christian home and it was funny my sister sent me a

meme and was like you know why is it that you know fundamentalist Christian

children have all these different emotional issues and it's like shows all

of the books the Frank Peretti series and the left behind series and anything

and everything in between and it's like every single moment is there something

else that we were supposed to be afraid of as a child I was told don't get a

credit card that's probably the mark of the beast we were told at one point to

be careful about microchipping your dog that that somehow was leading down that

path or cell phones that cell phones were going to be the the end times of

everything no matter what happened I even had to be careful about what cartoons

that I watched at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came up oh that got banned

after about a year I would oftentimes try to hide whatever new cartoon I was

watching because I was always afraid it was gonna become another one that got

banned shortly thereafter because you'd be amazed at how much speculation there

is that whatever's about to happen is somehow the beginning of the end of the

world but you see there are four main schools of thought that come up in

regard to the end times I just want to try explain them quickly because they

help to kind of show a bit about some of our strengths and our weaknesses about

what we think and what we know regarding Christ coming back again so for

example historic pre-millennialism that was one of the main schools of thought

that has existed since Jesus had risen up into heaven and people were waiting

for his coming this idea says that the second coming of Jesus is gonna come

after the tribulation so it's this idea that the world is going to get worse and

worse we're going to go through a lot of suffering and then Jesus is gonna come

back and inaugurate his reign he's gonna have this thousand-year reign that's

going to make everything better and then all things will be made new the heavens

and the earth and everything else that's historic however less than about two

centuries ago there was a different way of thinking called dispensational

pre-millennialism this is the idea that the rapture and the second coming were

not the same thing the rapture would take all the Christians away then you'd

have the tribulation then you'd have a second coming and then the millennial

rule so with that that's become very very popular in today's American and some

you know other countries way of thinking but that way of looking at it has

become actually what it is in the last two centuries but another way of looking

at the end times happened also same time but go back and forth between

pre-millennial and post-millennial post-millennial is the idea that the

events that are listed in scripture the things that we were looking for already

happened so for example the idea of you know the fall of Jerusalem and looking

at Nero as being you know potentially the Antichrist at the time and you know

Antiochus Epiphanes IV and everything else is looking at events that happen

in scripture as something historical that has already occurred and then with

that looking that the millennium the reign of Jesus will happen in this world

that it's going to become a place that's going to be better and better the way

that God desired and then everything will be made new with the second coming

but a similar one to that is a millennial everything in scripture is

connected to events that happen throughout history there's not just one

single person that we look back and say that is the Antichrist but rather any

one and everyone who rejects Christ or denies his lordship is the Antichrist

there have been all sorts of speculations from Nero to the Pope to any sort of

leaders that we've had in the last century all sorts of speculation but on

millennial it's not saying that there is no millennium but rather is the idea

that when Jesus said on the cross it is finished that that was the beginning of

his reign when Jesus said it is finished that was the beginning so not to be a

literal thousand years but rather an extended period of time and that someday

he will come again now as you're looking at these different things it might end up

being kind of like oh great my eyes are crossing and I'm not sure what in the

world about any of this and why does anybody care sometimes but what's

amazing about each one of these is that they end up affecting how a church

considers its place in the world and what its purpose and mission is supposed

to be see when we look at the first three verses of first Thessalonians 5 and

it shows what are the things that we actually know notice it 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 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 what ends up

happening among the Thessalonians is to create this idea that they were safe

and secure in the Roman Empire that they lived in at that time that things were

okay that as long as they were living in a sense of security and that everything

was going the way it needed to that was the point that was the goal but the

problem was is that they were getting so complacent they were getting to a point

of thinking that nothing that they did really mattered anymore they were just

going back to their everyday life so as we end up seeing this we end up seeing

there is peace and security but then sudden destruction will come upon them

because oftentimes isn't it the times whenever destruction happens around us

whenever something goes wrong when we're the most likely to wonder did Jesus

forget me did Jesus lose track of me why is it that he has not come back for me

yet we end up seeing over here this whole idea that we come up with all sorts

of ideas on theology based on something where Paul was just telling people stay

focused on Christ and whatever may come he has not forgotten you see that's one

of things about this is that all these different philosophies and ideas on

things they end up having different strengths and weaknesses now some of

the strengths and weaknesses are a little bit clearer than others so for

example whenever we look at the premillennial point of view it's a way

of looking at specifically what is happening in the world around us and

realizing that we are living in the world that Jesus spoke of the things that

happened around us but also the things that happen in us and through us matter

in the scheme of what God's plan is but here's the downside of it see the way

that we oftentimes look at it is this idea of I'm waiting for all these signs

to happen and then I know that I'm going to get what it was that I wanted from

God we look at world events and it's like we're counting off little check

marks little checkboxes and so instead of pausing and saying what am I supposed

to be doing in the world oftentimes it can become like a spectator sport this

idea of just waiting and pointing and seeing hey I see everything happening

around me well it's great and then not asking how am I supposed to be a part of

Christ's kingdom in it with all the things that happen over in the Middle

East today is that so many people are just pointing and staring and saying oh

hey see this is another thing off of the end time so don't worry Jesus is

coming back for us soon but then the very same people forget that we're still

supposed to be bringing the gospel to everybody over there this isn't something

where the Jewish community somehow doesn't need to have the message of Christ

they need the message of Christ like we do as do all of those around them who

are their enemies as well by spending so much time apart from it what we end up

doing is we turn people into numbers or characters on a page instead of knowing

that each and every one of them is meant to be heard to hear the gospel post

millennial the strength about that one is the idea that the work that we do in

this world on to God can actually make a difference what we're doing here and

now is meant to be a part of the kingdom of God this is why it was so popular at

times like the Gilded Age the the roaring 20s and the like is the idea that

if we're making the world better isn't that something that God would be happy

with downside is that it ends up making everything about God's transformation

about our efforts and it ends up making us into the ones who are instituting

God's kingdom instead of Christ doing so but on the Amillennial side which a lot

of Lutherans fall into the strength of it is realizing that God's work and God's

will God's kingdom is meant to be lived out today this isn't something where we

just look for the world to come no we're meant to live out who we are in Christ

today he is changing the world today through us we are his kingdom at the

downside we're the ones who get complacent like the Thessalonians and

it's not just Lutherans there are other churches that do the same thing we get so

caught up in taking everything from Scripture and just making symbolism out

of it that we stop focusing on what Christ is calling us to in our world today

we somehow don't seem to think that the stories and the scriptures in there

actually affect our lives today we so easily get caught up in the imagery that

we forget about the reality see that's the thing about this each one has its

own strength and its own weakness the question is what do we actually know

from all of these together well in conclusion stay alert and sober for the

record all you Lutherans yes you are still allowed to have your beer it's

okay but rather is to be able to say are you actually focused on what Christ has

called us to today do you actually believe that he is coming again for you

for me for us are you actually looking toward what he is on his way to restore

because the thing is is that what whichever of those boxes may be right

and it's probably somewhere in between Jesus is coming back so we follow him

today we put it off so often you know like we make sure it's like well okay

we baptized our kids and we confirmed our teenagers and well I mean they're

probably gonna just get distracted for the next 10 15 years but hopefully

they'll come back when they have their own kids and it'll be alright instead of

realizing that wherever we are each and every day now is the day to follow Christ

but more than that is that all people need Jesus and his grace today whatever

may be happening whether we're thinking about things that are happening

overseas or even in our own nation today it's so easy to just pick certain

people as either the enemy or certain people as well that's that's the real

mission field over there it's everyone everyone is meant to hear the gospel and

if we have missed any particular people group then that means our job is not done

but third and finally is that we can be filled today with hope for tomorrow see

that's the whole point of what Paul was even writing this about this wasn't

trying to give you a secret clue if you could figure out when the end of the

world is coming that specifically said in in first Thessalonians 5 you're not

gonna know the day of the time that's not for you this is not why I'm writing

this to you but rather is that there are times when we see the world around us

falling apart we see the struggles we see so much that needs to be changed but

when those things happen that doesn't need to take away our hope we haven't

been lost by God he is still working in this world through us and he is still

yet to come so for this day for today what is God calling you to do how is he

calling you to live out the gospel and how is he causing you to share with

others thanks be to God