When Fellow Christians Die

Amen. You may be seated.

Kids, you're excused to your King's Kids class.

!

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, sisters, about those who are asleep, Christians

who have died before the coming of Jesus.

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.

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left

until the coming of the Lord, will not proceed those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an

archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.

And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds

to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we will always be with the Lord.

Therefore, encourage one another with these words.

May God bless the hearing of His word.

There is a very good chance that we will be attending each other's funerals.

Have you ever thought about that?

You might be thinking now, Mike, you're just considering your own mortality given in your

bike accident recently.

Well, there's some of that.

But part of together following Jesus, we'll be walking through death together.

When a fellow Christian dies, how must we respond?

Imagine a brother in Christ, Stan, from our church who dies, widowing his wife, Charlotte,

of 50 plus years.

She too is a Christian who loves the Lord deeply, but his death has left her grieving.

Grief is the sting of someone's absence.

You attend Stan's funeral here in the sanctuary.

And after the funeral, you go downstairs to the fellowship hall for a luncheon.

There's a lack of chairs.

So you go into the side room to find some chairs.

And there you find Charlotte.

You're alone with her.

She's quietly weeping.

What do you do?

What do you say?

Oops.

So sorry.

And you take your leave.

Or you nod and you say, Stan will be missed.

You grab some chairs.

You put your hand on Charlotte's shoulder and you say, God is working all things out for the good.

Now I've got to grab these chairs.

Or maybe you say something like this.

You know, Charlotte, Stan is in a better place.

To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5.8.

Which is true.

What would you do if you encountered a newly minted widow in a side room after her husband's funeral?

The apostle Paul, in writing 1 Thessalonians, is writing a fledgling church.

They had just been established.

And this fledgling church is also a church in grieving.

We pick it up in verse 13.

Brothers, sisters, about those who are asleep.

About those Christians who were church members of yours who have died.

They've been to the funeral services of a number of their members.

And they've been thrown by it.

A number of their church members have died.

They're grieving.

They've been rattled.

Because they don't know how to make sense of their fellow Christians who have died in Christ's return.

They don't have the information.

They're lacking information.

So Paul attends to it head on.

In verses 13 through 18, he addresses this in three moves.

The first move is in verse 13.

He addresses their hopelessly uninformed situation.

Hopelessly uninformed.

And then the second move, he gives hopeful instruction.

It's going to be the bulk of the sermon.

And then the third move, he closes with a hope-spreading exhortation.

Now here's the claim of this passage.

When fellow Christians die, we encourage one another with the hope of Christ's return.

Not just they're in the presence of the Lord.

But we go beyond that by pointing people, grieving brothers and sisters in Christ,

to what will happen when Jesus comes back.

So, let's look at this first move where Paul addresses these hopelessly uninformed Christians in verse 13.

And just to remind you, Paul loves this church.

If you just flip back in your Bibles to chapter 2, verses 19 and 20,

listen to what he says of this church.

For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming?

Is it not you?

For you are our glory and joy.

Now those are words of affection, of delight.

And this church came into being under very difficult circumstances.

In fact, if you want to read about it, you can read about it at the beginning of Acts 17,

where Paul, Silas, and Timothy, they got a split Philippi.

They show up in Thessalonica.

They start preaching Christ, and there is this response.

But there's also a response, not of faith and repentance, but of violence,

and of things getting out of hand in Thessalonica.

I mean, just read.

You can read about the thoroughness of their conversion,

of those who heard the gospel in chapter 1, verses 9 and 10.

For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you,

and how you 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.

Not only were they delivered from their sin,

they were looking forward to Christ's return.

These Christians were thoroughly, thoroughly converted.

And then, because things started getting out of hand,

Paul, Silas, and Timothy, they had to cut out of Thessalonica under the cover of night.

Now, could you imagine how this affected Paul?

He leaves this fledgling church in the midst of very difficult circumstances.

And so you can imagine, as the weeks and the months are going by,

he's just wondering, what is going on in Thessalonica?

What's happening in this church?

No word.

So what Paul eventually does, you can see it in chapter 3, verses 1 and 2.

Paul sends Timothy back to the church in Thessalonica to see what's going on.

And then Timothy brings back a report.

And to the great relief of everybody,

he comes back with a very encouraging report.

Chapter 3, verses 6 through 9.

You want to get a taste of what's going on?

Look at chapter 4, verse 1.

Finally then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus,

that as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God,

just as you are doing,

that you do so more and more.

The only reason why he knew that is Timothy's report.

That they are following Jesus together.

Look at chapter 4, verse 9.

Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write you,

for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,

for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia.

They are loving each other.

They are walking by faith.

And Paul is like, excel still more, brothers and sisters.

Press in.

Keep going.

They seem to be doing really well.

In chapter 5, verses 1-2.

Now concerning the times and the seasons of Christ's return,

brothers and sisters, you have no need to have anything written to you,

for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord,

the coming of Christ, will come like a thief in the night.

So they're well instructed.

Look at verse 11 of chapter 5.

Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up,

just as you are doing.

They're already talking to each other about the return of Christ.

This would have been a very encouraging report.

But this church was lacking something.

You pick up on it.

In chapter 3, verse 10.

Paul is praying for them,

as we pray most earnestly night and day,

that wait, we may see you face to face,

and supply what is lacking in your faith.

Despite all these good things going on,

Paul was aware that they were missing something.

They were missing some information.

And what was that information?

They knew what Christ had done,

death, resurrection.

They knew that Christ was coming back.

But given these recent deaths of their fellow Christians,

something got exposed in them.

They did not know what to think

about what would happen to these Christians

who had died before Christ's return.

What's going to happen?

They were, verse 13, uninformed.

Do you see that?

But we do not want you to be uninformed,

brothers and sisters.

That's not being misled.

That's not being mistaught.

That is their missing information

about those who are asleep.

That little phrase, asleep,

shows up a few times in this passage.

We see it in verse 13,

that you may not grieve as others do

over those who are asleep.

Look at verse 14.

It shows up again.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,

even so, through Jesus,

God will bring with him

those who have, say it, fallen asleep.

Look at verse 15.

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,

that we who are alive,

who are left until the coming of the Lord,

will not precede those who have, say it, fallen asleep.

So those who have fallen asleep, who are they?

Well, we're told in verse 16,

Scripture interprets Scripture, right?

Look at verse 16.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven

with a cry of command,

with the voice of the archangel,

and with the sound of the trumpet of God,

and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Those who have fallen asleep

are the dead in Christ.

Those Christians who have died

before the coming of the Lord,

that's those who have fallen asleep.

So Paul not only addresses this issue,

what about those who have fallen asleep?

He'll get there in a second,

but he also addresses the effect,

the effect on this Thessalonian church

of not knowing this information.

He doesn't want them to grieve

like those who do not have hope,

like non-Christians who do not have hope

in the face of death.

He wants to put hope in their hearts.

He doesn't want them to get pulled away

in their hopelessness of not knowing

what will happen to their Christian brothers and sisters

who have died.

You see, their lack of knowing

what would happen to them

was tempting them to a hopelessness.

They were missing information.

They were uninformed,

and it was having an unhealthy effect.

They were being tempted to hopelessness.

Grief is the sting of someone's absence,

and it can take over.

When grief is not tempered by faith,

it can take over.

It can rule you.

And so Paul here is not forbidding grief.

What Paul is doing is he's addressing

an uninformed grief

that results in hopelessness.

So the first move we see here

is the Apostle Paul

addressing these hopelessly uninformed Christians.

He knows their situation.

He's opening their hearts

to receive what he's about to tell them.

And that's the second move.

Paul gives them hopeful instruction.

He just doesn't let them

kind of just wallow in the mire of not knowing.

He addresses their situation

with hopeful instruction.

Has anybody seen a video?

This is point two.

Hopeful instruction.

Has anybody seen a video

of like a hurricane

or a tornado

that sweeps in

and it just picks up everything around it

and hurls it wherever it may go?

Just imagine like a trampoline in Oklahoma

and a tornado.

It just kind of scoops that baby up

and hurls it.

You know what I'm talking about?

Have you seen those videos?

Grief can be like a hurricane.

Grief can be like a tornado.

It can just pick you up and hurl you.

It can take over.

And that's why

if you have

trampoline in Oklahoma

you've got to anchor it down.

And that's why

the apostle Paul

in verses 14 through 17

gives very hopeful instruction

that is anchoring

this grief stricken church

into God's word.

and he does this

in three ways.

The first way

he anchors

this grieving church

with hopeful instruction

is in verse 14.

For since we believe

that Jesus died

and rose again

even so

through Jesus

God will bring

with him

those who have fallen asleep.

What we have here

is called a gospel promise.

It's a since then argument.

Since this is true

then this is true.

Let me give you an example.

Since Jordan Love

is better than Aaron Rodgers

then

the Packers beat the Steelers.

Do I have an amen?

It's a since then argument.

Here's the since then argument

in verse 14.

Since Jesus

died and rose.

Gospel.

Since that's true

in everything that comes with it too

like his return

since Jesus died

and rose

and will return someday

and we believe that to be true

since that's true

then

then in verse 14

even so

through Jesus

God will bring with him

those who have fallen asleep.

Since we believe

that Jesus rose from the dead

and he's going to return

then we also believe

that when Jesus returns

he's going to bring back with him

those whom he died

and rose for.

When he returns

just as we believe the gospel

we believe this promise

that he's bringing these people

back with him.

These are those who have died

and are now in God's presence.

They are disembodied souls

in the very presence

of the Lord Jesus.

This is what the apostle Paul

talks about in 2 Corinthians 5

when he talks about

being absent from the body

but being in the presence of the Lord

or in Philippians chapter 1

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

where he says

you know what would be better for me

if I were absent

you know away from my body

in the presence of the Lord.

It's this idea

that when a Christian dies

their soul goes to be

in the presence of the Lord.

These disembodied souls

are in the presence of the Lord now

and when Jesus returns

he's bringing them back with him.

And so what Paul is doing here

is he's anchoring grief

into God's truth

a gospel promise.

Here's another way to think about it.

These Thessalonians are like

what's going to happen

to our brothers and sisters in Christ

who have died when Jesus returns?

Paul's like

it's not like Jesus will forget

to bring those whom he's died

and raised him for.

Those whom fallen asleep

he's bringing them back with him.

And so this

this first

hopeful piece

of hopeful instruction

is that

the Apostle Paul

God

is grounding grief

it's anchoring grief

in this gospel promise.

The second

anchor

is in verse 15.

And it comes

by way of a word

from the Lord.

For this we declare to you

by a word

from the Lord.

Now

it's possible

that this reference

to a word

from the Lord

could be a reference

to something that Jesus said

that we

we have no record of.

It's possible

that's the case.

But I think

it's

it's much more likely

that what Paul

is referring to

is a prophetic word

that the risen Christ

spoke to him

or Silas

another prophet

New Testament prophet.

And it has to do

with the

sequencing

the procedural

sequencing

of Christ's return

and those who have died.

We see it in verse 15.

for this we declare

to you

by a word

from the Lord

that we

who are alive

who are left

until the coming

of the Lord

in other words

those who will be alive

when Christ returns

those of us

who will see Jesus

upon his return

on earth

we will not

precede

those who have

fallen asleep.

We will not

go before

in procedural

sequence

those who have

died in Christ

before his return.

And so what we're

being told here

this word

from the Lord

is

Paul saying

the risen Lord

told me

apostolic authority

we're to interpret

this with

Christ's full

authoritative word

that

when Christ

returns

those of us

who are alive

at his coming

we're not going

to go before

those who have

died before

his coming.

It's a very

simple

simple point

and the

specificity of it

the detail of it

the texture of it

it anchors us

in it.

It's truth

for us

to anchor

our hearts

when we are

affected by the

grief of someone

who has died

a Christian

who has died

this word

of the Lord

Paul's talking

about two groups

of Christians

those who are

alive

who are left

until the coming

of Christ

and those who

have fallen asleep

and he's

saying here

there's

a sequence

when Christ

comes back

there's a procedure

now I want to

point out too

in 1 Corinthians

15

the parallel

passage

to this passage

in your New

Testament

Paul says this

in verse 51

he says

behold

I tell you

a mystery

that's

revelation

talk

that is

making

something

known

that has

been

kind of

not revealed

this is prophetic

in that sense

behold I tell you

a mystery

we shall not all

sleep but we shall

all be changed

in a moment

in the twinkling

of an eye

the last trumpet

for the trumpet

will sound

and the dead

will be raised

imperishable

and we

who are alive

at the coming

of Christ

shall be changed

and so what we

have here

this word

of the Lord

is the

second

anchor

by which

we're being

anchored to truth

which gives us

hope

the third

anchor

is in

verses

16

and 17

it's the

third anchor

of this hopeful

instruction

and it's

actually an

expansion

of verse

15

but it

expands it

by way

of description

it expands

it by way

of prophetic

vision

it helps

you to

see

something

check it

out

for the

Lord himself

will descend

I hope

that you're

seeing that

in your mind

for the

Lord himself

will descend

from heaven

with a cry

of command

with the

voice of

an archangel

and with

the sound

of the

trumpet

of God

when Jesus

comes back

it's going

to be

a cacophony

it's going

to be

noisy

and you

might read

three things

there

cry of

command

voice of

an archangel

sound of

the trumpet

but there's

actually

two things

the cry

of command

is the

voice

of the

archangel

in Matthew

24

31

when Jesus

talks about

his return

when he

comes back

all of his

angels are

going to be

sent out

to the

four winds

of the

earth

to gather

all of

his blood

bought

and that

sending forth

of angels

tied to this

passage

will go by

way of a

cry of

command

from an

archangel

the only

archangel

named

in your

bible

is

Michael

doesn't

mean he's

the only

archangel

but he's

referenced

in Jude

9

something is

going to

happen

when Jesus

comes back

there is

going to

be loud

noise

it's

going to

be an

announcement

a cry

of command

and there's

going to

be the

trumpet

of God

that blares

not just

announcing

Christ's

return

but announcing

the resurrection

of the dead

it's going

to be a

holy

cacophony

of noise

and you

are to

be

visualizing

this

you

this is a

sensory

experience

right now

we're to

be anticipating

this

and then we

learn

of the

order

of the

sequence

and the

dead in

Christ

will rise

first

the

disembodied

souls

coming back

with Christ

they

will be

reunited

with a

resurrection

body

that will

happen

first

and then

verse 17

then

we who

are alive

who are left

the same

language as in

verse 15

we who are

alive who are

left

will be

caught up

together

will be

raptured

will be

raptured

with them

those who

have received

resurrection

bodies

who died

before the

coming of

the Lord

will be

raptured

with them

in the

clouds

just as

Jesus

went up

Acts 1

9

he's going

to come

back on

the clouds

the son

of man

returning

in glory

to meet

the Lord

in the

air

here's what

this last

prophetic

vision

adds

to all

of these

anchors

it's a

picture

of a

mid-air

reunion

all

of those

Christians

that you

miss

right now

who have

died

you

will be

reunited

with them

at the

coming of

the Lord

Jesus

Christ

if he

comes in

our

lifetimes

and we'll

be reunited

with them

in the

air

all of

us

being

radically

transformed

with

resurrection

bodies

but there's

no question

the dead

in Christ

are raised

first

they have

the priority

they will

not be

forgotten

and we

will meet

them

we will

meet

them

in the

air

now there's

a number

of different

positions

Christians

holds

regarding

the rapture

of the

church

I

personally

do not

believe

in a

secret

rapture

of the

church

I

believe

that

when

Jesus

comes

back

he's

coming

back

he's

going

to

set

up

shop

with

all

of

his

blood

bought

and that's

why

regardless

of

what

position

you

hold

in

terms

of

Christ's

rapturing

of his

church

that little

phrase

and so

we will

always

be

with

the

Lord

that

should

put

great

courage

and joy

into

your

heart

when

he

comes

back

from

then

on

out

we

together

all

of

the

blood

bought

who

have

been

given

resurrection

bodies

we

will

be

with

the

Lord

together

in

his

presence

so

we

will

always

be

with

him

three

anchors

here's

a

grieving

church

fledgling

church

they're

missing

some

information

they're

hopelessly

uninformed

and here

is

Paul

giving

hopeful

instruction

to

them

three

anchors

a

gospel

promise

Christ

will

not

forget

those

who

have

fallen

asleep

he

died

and

was

raised

for

them

there's

the

word

from

the

Lord

there's

this

procedural

sequence

those

who

are

alive

will

not

precede

those

who

are

dead

and

then

we

have

this

prophetic

picture

this

vision

of a

mid

air

reunion

all

of that

together

what

that

does

is

Paul

anchors

grief

into

the

truth

of

God's

word

resulting

in

hope

hope

hope

in

light

of

those

Christians

who

have

died

when

a

fellow

Christian

dies

we

encourage

one

another

with

the

hope

of

Christ's

return

did you

notice

how

all

of

these

anchors

they

have

Christ's

return

central

to

them

it's

not

just

saying

hey

he

he

or

she

is

in

the

presence

of

the

Lord

it's

that

and

and

he's

coming

back

and

when

he

does

we

will

be

reunited

hopelessly

uninformed

to

this

hopeful

instruction

point

two

and

now

Paul

doesn't

leave

it

there

he

closes

with

a

hope

spreading

exhortation

these

Thessalonian

Christians

they

are

they're

under

duress

they're

being

persecuted

they're

suffering

for

Christ

brothers

and

sisters

in

Christ

had

died

and

likely

more

were

to

die

just

as

likely

we

will

be

attending

one

another's

funerals

and so

Paul

urges

these

Thessalonians

and God

through

Paul

us

to

keep

these

words

these

grief

anchoring

into

truth

hope

giving

words

in

front

of

us

here's

the

exhortation

therefore

encourage

one

another

with

these

words

encourage

one

another

with

these

words

speak

these

words

brothers

and

sisters

anchor

one

another's

grief

into

the

truth

resulting

in

hope

speak

these

words

in

love

to

one

another

keep

speaking

these

words

this

gospel

promise

this

since

Jesus

died

raised

and

he's

coming

back

then

he

is

bringing

back

with

them

those

who

have

died

in

the

Lord

this

word

of

the

Lord

this

sequence

and

this

prophetic

picture

of a

mid-air

reunion

don't

be like

a

trampoline

that's

not

anchored

picked

up

and hurled

about

by the

the

gales

of

grief

don't

be

like

that

don't

grieve

as

though

you

don't

have

hope

no

God

is

God's

not

forbidding

grief

he's

exhorting

us

to

be

anchoring

one

another

in

these

words

of

hope

these

truthful

words

of

what

will

happen

when

Christ

returns

here's

what

this

means

when

we

walk

with

each

other

through

death

when

we

attend

each

other's

funerals

when

we

seek

to

comfort

the

spouses

of

those

who

die

it

means

we've

got

something

to

say

not

only

is

this

deceased

Christian

in

the

presence

of

the

Lord

if

we

are

alive

when

Christ

returns

we

will

be

reunited

with

them

and

Christ

forever

it's

the

greater

hope

when

we

all

are

encouraging

one

another

with

these

words

14

through

17

we

build

one

another

up

in

Christian

hope

brothers

and

sisters

you

can

do

!

brothers

and

sisters

you

must

do

this

when

fellow

Christians

die

we

encourage

one

another

with

the

hope

of

Christ's

return

so

here

you

are

alone

with

Charlotte

in

this

side

room

with

her

gently

weeping

what

do

you

do

well

here's

some

suggestions

you

say

can

I

give

you

a

hug

and

you

hug

her

as

long

as

she

hugs

you

and

if

you

start

feeling

the

warm

wet

of

her

tears

on

your

neck

or

working

through

your

shirt

you

hang

on

until

she

lets

you

go

you

hug

her

and

then

you

say

into

her

ear

Charlotte

if

we

are

alive

when

Christ

returns

we

will

be

reunited

with

Stan

and

Jesus!

and

after a

moment

when

she

finally

lets

you

go

you

ask

Charlotte

Charlotte

I know

we need to get

back to the

luncheon

but

would you

come over

for dinner

in a week

or two

we

want to

be

with

you

we

want

you

to

be

with

us

and

when

Charlotte

finally

comes

over

and

you

have

a

meal

together

maybe

you

don't

even

talk

about

Stan

you

walk

her

out

to

her

car

and

you

just

say

to

Charlotte

I

just

want

to

remind

you

that

if

we

are

alive

when

Christ

returns

we

will

be

reunited

with

both

Stan

and

Jesus

just

want

to

remind

you

and

then

a

year

later

it

Stan's

death

anniversary

because

you've

written

it

down

you've

remembered

you

reach

out

you

reach

out

to

Charlotte

you

bring

her

over

again

you

say

how

are

you

doing

and

you

say

I

just

want

to

remind

you

if

we're

alive

when

Jesus

returns

we

will

be

reunited

with

both

Stan

and

Jesus

it

will

be

good

that's

what

we

do

that's

how

we

love

one

another

that's

how

we

grieve

with

those

who

grieve

how

we

comfort

with

the

hope

the

unique

Christian

hope

now

this

is a

comfort

Christians

have

when a

fellow

Christian

dies

but it

may

raise

the

question

with

you

what

about

when a

non

Christian

dies

what

then

there's

no

way

around

the

sadness

and the

sobriety

of

realizing

that

this

person

who

has

died

apart

from

Christ's

death

and

resurrection

they

will

experience

God's

just

wrath

for

eternity

there

is

no

way

around

that

you

can't

reduce

that

you

can't

ignore

that

there

is

heartache

in

this

life

brothers

and

sisters

the

stakes

are

high

so

we

preach

Christ

we

preach

Christ

at a

non

Christian's

funeral

and at

a

Christian's

funeral

and

we

preach

Christ

to

those

non

Christians

who

God

gives

life

today

that's

how we

respond

to

that

Jesus

Christ

is the

difference

between

hope

and

hopelessness

in the

face

of

death

but

when

fellow

Christians

die

we

encourage

one

another

with

the

hope

of

Christ

return

let's

pray

together

Lord

Jesus

we're

so

grateful

that

you

are

risen

reigning

and

radiant

you

are

being

worshipped

by

innumerable

angels

and

by

countless

brothers

and sisters

in Christ

who have

gone

before us

and who

are in

your

presence

right

now

Lord

Jesus

we look

forward

to the

day

in

Revelation

21

when you

come back

and you

wipe away

every tear

from our

eyes

Lord

Jesus

you have

promised

I am

coming

soon

and we

say

back

to you

come

Lord