I Believe: Our Returning Saviour (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)

Hello, listeners.

This is Pastor Creighton.

Thank you for tuning into Newsong's Sermon Podcast.

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As we worship, grow, and serve.

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Today we continue our sermon series, I believe, the Apostles' Creed in the Christian Life, with our returning Savior.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be always pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

Amen.

Please be seated.

How is it going to end?

That's the question that usually captures our imagination.

It's often the question that causes us, well, some, to read the very last page of a book first before they read anything else.

We want to know where it's all going.

It's a question that captures our imagination, perhaps in bestsellers.

Maybe we've read things like Left Behind, a particular interpretation of what the final things will look like.

Maybe it captures the imaginations of, well, folks we meet downtown holding up signs saying the end is nigh, often dressed in some kind of toga made out of bed sheets.

At least that's been my experience.

It's a question, though, that I've heard come again and again in one form or another, especially over this last year.

I mean, it's hard not to go through a global pandemic and start wondering these kind of questions.

They belong to all of us.

How is it going to end?

It's this question that we find in this particular article in the Apostles' Creed.

We've been journeying together through these neighborhoods of doctrine, the neighborhoods of our biblical faith.

And today we arrive, well, at the doctrine of the last things.

The technical theological term is eschatology, those things that belong to the final things, to the end times, so to speak.

How's it going to end?

Brings up this phrase, the day of the Lord, which is a very deep theme that runs through Scripture, runs through the Old Testament, runs especially through the prophets, a day of reckoning, where evil is going to be finally and completely answered by our holy God.

This day is going to be the day where our present age, characterized by sin and corruption and decay, is going to come to a close.

And it's a day where the age to come, an age of eternal life in Christ, is going to come to be.

How literally do we take this so-called millennium in Revelation chapter 20?

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

Are you premillennialist, a post-millennialist, an a-millennialist?

A professor of mine identified as an aha millennialist, which is to say, when we get there, we're going to go aha, that's what it means.

Is Christ's return one event, or is it multiple stages?

Is it all at once?

Is it one sweeping event?

Is there a secret rapture that captures up God's people before the tribulation?

These are all important questions we ought to ask.

We need to acknowledge there's many different ways we can interpret this text, and I think we need to be careful to interpret scripture with scripture and not let one passage take control necessarily, or maybe one particular series of fiction take control of our imagination.

We also need to consider that there is a profound consensus across our faith.

From denomination to denomination, we together confess that Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead.

We together confess his return.

We together confess his final judgment, and we are all together called to keep watch and stay vigilant and look forward to that day.

This is what brings us to our key text this morning from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

Paul is partly writing this letter, probably about 15 years or so after Christ's crucifixion, resurrection, to this small church in Thessalonica, partly to reassure them about things to come.

Questions have come up in this community, much like questions can come up in our own community, about what the final things are going to look like.

And so in chapter 4, verse 13, Paul writes this.

Paul says, We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, those who've passed away, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

And from this, Paul launches into his teaching on what the final things are going to look like.

See, the final things, the last page of the book, so to speak, is meant to give us hope for the present.

In fact, we ought to be encouraged to think of what will come.

That's what Paul writes twice in chapter 4, verse 18, and in our passage this morning, verse 11.

Our future with Christ gives us present hope.

Our future with Christ gives us present hope.

That was true for the Thessalonian Church.

That's true for New Song in 2021.

So there's three questions I'd like for us to explore this morning, three questions I think Paul is wrestling with through his letter to the Thessalonians, and that's these questions.

Number one, when we consider how is it all going to end, we ought to ask, what will happen?

The second, when will it happen?

And third, how should I live in the present?

There's good news for us this morning as we consider things to come.

It's not about speculation, it's not about decoding.

It's that we can have present hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We do not have to live in this present age as those without hope.

We don't have to grieve as those without hope either.

So let's dive into our passage this morning.

If you have your Bibles or you have your readings handy, we're going to be looking at 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

Paul begins by saying this.

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.

Paul brings up the day of the Lord, the day of Christ's return.

What's going to happen?

Well, Paul has clearly done some preaching in the Thessalonian church already.

He's made known to them, he says, in fact, I really don't need to make you aware, because you've already been made aware of what's going to happen.

So we need to start inferring from Paul's letter to the Thessalonians.

What has Paul instructed them about things to come?

Well, first we see that Christ will return.

What will happen at the end?

Number one, Christ will return.

In chapter 3, verses 12 and 13, and especially in chapter 4, Paul writes this, beginning at verse 16, that the Lord, Christ himself, will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with a voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet sound 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.

Paul wants to see at the end of it all, Christ will return.

He'll return in glory.

And that's why Paul includes this threefold announcement of his return: a cry of command, a voice of the archangel, the sound of the trumpet of God.

This is the heralding of the return of a triumphant king.

This is the return of the king.

And it's being made known to all people.

Paul says we'll be caught up with him in the clouds.

Christ's return suggests the glory of God made manifest.

I don't think Paul's talking about rain clouds.

He's talking about the kind of clouds we see in the book of Exodus, the kind that surround God in his glory as he's leading his people through the wilderness, the kind of clouds we see manifest in the tabernacle where God's presence is made known.

This is a glorious and triumphant return of the king.

And Christ is going to return with his saints.

The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive.

This is why we say Christ's return, this final thing, will be joined together with a general resurrection and with life everlasting, to which we'll return in the future.

Paul says we'll be caught up with him, which gives us uh, well, the Latin translation is caught up for is raptura, which is where we get this English word rapture.

If you've hung around the church long enough, I suspect you've heard this word rapture before, perhaps especially connected with something like left behind, which is sort of a secret and sudden stealing of God's people up to heaven before a time of tribulation that leaves kind of clothes and gold fillings and things kind of scattered around and cars going off the road, et cetera, et cetera.

I don't mean to make light of this interpretation, but I do think we need to weigh it very carefully.

And I think we need to catch Paul's original intention here.

It's true that this word in Greek suggests a sort of snatching away, a sort of sun and getting caught up in, but it's really connected more closely to a sort of triumphant return of a conqueror.

See, when Caesar would go out and conquer his enemies, conquer a particular territory, he'd be returning back to his home, back to his throne.

But he wouldn't just return in secret.

He'd, the people would go out first and they would meet Caesar along the road.

They would herald his return, they would celebrate his return, they would make it known.

They would get caught up with Caesar on his way back to his throne.

This is what Paul is saying is that we, God's people in Christ, will actually get caught up in the celebration ourselves.

This is why I think this so-called rapture is not something that's going to be secret.

We're not going to be left wondering what just happened.

Christ's return will be manifest, it will be for sure, it will be obvious.

There's nothing secret about it.

And we will always be with the Lord, is what Paul says.

This is the realization of the age to come, and it's a glorious thing, and we'll be caught up in it.

Christ will return, that's what's going to happen.

And Christ will return to judge.

This is what Paul writes in chapter 1, verse 9.

He writes of the Thessalonians this you turn 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.

One translation says Jesus delivers us from the coming judgment, the day of the Lord.

So Paul has likely preached this to the Thessalonians already.

He's made known to them what the coming judgment is going to be like.

It's for us Christians to see what this coming judgment is going to look like through passages like Revelation chapter 20, which was our first reading this morning.

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

John's vision of this final day is as follows: I saw a great white throne, and him who is seated on it, the exalted and returned Lord Jesus.

I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened, which is to say, this day is going to be a day of accounting.

It's going to be a day of reckoning.

Then another book was opened, which is the book of life.

And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Christ, we see will return.

He will return to judge.

Christ is the executor of God's wrath in this passage, which I suspect for many is a very troubling thought.

After all, isn't Jesus supposed to be gentle and lowly in heart?

Some would eject God's wrath altogether as a category.

It's too uncomfortable, perhaps, or maybe it seems inconsistent with what we know to be true of his love.

If God is love, how can he execute wrath?

Well, for biblical Christians, I want to suggest this: that God's wrath represents his final answer to evil.

Can God be truly good?

Can he be truly loving to leave evil and suffering unaddressed, unreckoned with, unanswered?

The Bible's clear that God will answer evil on the last day.

He will not leave it unaddressed.

The day of the Lord will put away the evil that has corrupted this present age since the disobedience of our first parents, and it will bring about a new and glorified age in Christ.

Unless we feel nervous to approach our coming judge, we need to remember that this Jesus who executes God's wrath is also, Paul says, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Jesus comes as judge.

Jesus comes as deliverer of God's people.

See, God's deepest longing is not to punish sinners.

We read in Ezekiel chapter 18 this rhetorical question: Do I take pleasure in the death of the wicked?

Ezekiel 18 · chapter mention

Rather, I'm not pleased.

Pardon me, rather, I am pleased when they turn from their ways and live.

God's delight is not in punishing sinners, but rather to deliver sinners from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light in Christ.

So what does all this mean?

Our future with Christ, his coming return, and his judgment should give us hope.

In Christ we will share in this glorified age where evil and suffering and death have been finally and completely reckoned with.

Now this passage of Paul's brings up a second question.

What will happen?

Jesus will return and Jesus will judge, but when will this happen becomes Paul's concern.

The day of the Lord, Paul says in verse 2, will come like a thief in the night.

While people are saying there's peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.

They will not escape.

See, Paul doesn't give any definite time for this return, but rather he gives a comparison.

It's going to come like a thief in the night.

Our Lord Jesus is going to come suddenly.

If you've ever been burgled, you probably have a very tender and personal identification with what Paul's saying here.

I had a bike stolen in college, and I was not happy about it, mostly because it wasn't my bike either.

It was borrowed.

And it was a very nice bike.

I popped in to pick up a quick package and thought I could tuck it in my friend's backyard, and sure enough, it was gone by the time I got back.

And I spent that long walk home kicking myself for thinking, why did I think I had nothing but peace and security?

Maybe not my words, but there's the idea.

Paul says that his coming is going to be as sudden as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, which for us might not be something too shocking.

We've got a general sense of when a woman might go into labor, but in the first century world, that was something that might catch you off guard if you weren't otherwise prepared for it.

And what we know to be true of labor is that, well, the world is going to change quite quickly.

And it's going to change without warning.

Jesus' return will happen suddenly.

That's what we're told here in this passage.

The closest we get to any kind of definite answer to this, we see in Mark chapter 13.

Mark 13 · chapter mention

Jesus will return when the Father wills it to happen.

Concerning that day, Jesus says, or that hour, that hour when the Son of Man will come in the clouds with great power and glory, the day of the Lord, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

See, it's remarkable to think that not even the Son could give you a definite answer of that return.

That belongs to the Father to know.

So I guess what I want to say is this maybe this is a call for some humility and discernment on our part.

It seems that, well, it's not ours to know the day or the hour, except that we know that there is a day and an hour appointed by the Father.

We ought to be careful, even with Christian bestsellers, that market themselves as some kind of decoding of the end times, some kind of calculating Christ's second coming.

We should instead invest greater trust in God's word than in human speculation.

God's word tells us quite plainly, Christ will come suddenly when the Father wills, and our future with Christ, whether it's his sudden second coming or at our own death, is sufficient enough to give us present hope.

We don't have to peer behind it.

We simply have to trust the word of the Lord, which we know will come to pass.

What will happen?

Jesus will return for his saints, and he will return to judge.

When will it happen?

It'll happen suddenly, when the Father wills.

And so now we turn our attention to, I think, Paul's most pressing question, which is this how should I live in the present?

And Paul answers, You are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief, you are all children of light, children of the day.

We are not of the night or of darkness.

Paul says, Live as children of the day, live as children of light.

And what does that mean for us to live as children of light?

I want to suggest two things.

We should live expectantly.

We should live expectantly.

Let us not sleep, Paul writes in verse six, as others do, but let us keep awake and sober.

For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.

Stay awake, stay sober, which is Paul's way of saying, don't sleep, don't slip into a sort of spiritual lethargy.

Don't slip into a sort of spiritual disengagement.

Rather, stay alert.

And Paul says, don't get drunk, which I think has a lot more to do than just alcohol.

This is the passage that often gets roped into this debate.

It's not that it doesn't mean that, but I think Paul means more broadly, don't practice a sort of self-indulgence that clouds your thinking.

Instead, keep a clear mind, because your mind is set clearly on Christ's return at all times.

Christians ought to live presently, as though their Lord will return presently.

If Christ returned today, maybe we want to ask ourselves, would he find me living with a present expectation of his return, or would I be caught off guard?

Live expectantly, live awake and sober, live vigilant and ready for action.

Since we belong to the day and not the night, Paul writes, let us be sober, alert, and self-controlled, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

This is obviously a military image.

Might remind us of Ephesians chapter 6, the armor of God.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Paul is calling us to live as a sentry on guard duty, armed and equipped with our present hope in Christ for the future.

This is why Jesus can say again in Mark chapter 13 to his disciples, stay awake, keep watch, stay alert.

Mark 13 · chapter mention

You do not know when the master of the house will come.

And so, generation to generation in the church, we keep watch for our returning master.

Two thousand years might seem like a long time.

It's been about two thousand years since these words were first spoken.

We might start to wonder: is he going to return at all?

We need to keep in mind that the Lord's relationship with time is not ours.

And if we take seriously what Peter says in 2 Peter 3, 8, that a thousand years is like a day and a day is like a thousand years for our God, then really he's been away for something like two days.

We need to keep in mind that time does not make the difference in terms of the certainty of God's promise.

God's committed himself to return.

He will certainly return.

And now he asks us to stay.

Vigilant and stay expectant.

J.I.I.

Packer counsels Christians to say to themselves every day, every day is one day nearer.

Every day is one day nearer to our being caught up with Jesus.

So maybe the question we need to ask ourselves is do we spend time?

Do we spend that time anticipating that day, looking forward to that day when we will see our Savior face to face, when we'll be caught up in his kingdom.

Here's where I'd like us to land this morning.

How should we live in the present?

We should live expectantly, we should live confidently.

I want to read the New Living Translation for a bit of a different flavor for verses 9 and 10.

Paul writes, God chose, he destined, he appointed to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us.

Christ died for us so that whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever.

We should live confidently in anticipation of that day.

And I say that because Christ's second coming is often a point of anxiety and trouble for Christians.

We might be worried that we'll be found lacking.

We might be found, well, we might not measure up, so to speak.

But we should live confidently with the full assurance that that day will be a day of our salvation and our full acceptance because God chose to save us.

God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ.

See, our final salvation, Paul says, does not depend on our best efforts, but on his divine initiative.

It's his choice to save us well before it was ever our choice.

He is purposed to save his people in Christ, who delivers us from the wrath to come.

See, his will for you is not your destruction.

His will for you is that you would be delivered from the corruption of this present age and into his glorious kingdom at Christ's second coming.

Christ chose to save you, that should give you confidence, and Christ died for us.

Salvation is wholly God's doing, and the cross is proof that it has been accomplished.

Here Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 2 that God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

By grace you have been saved and raised up with him, and seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your doing, it is a gift of God.

Christ God being rich in mercy, when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive in Christ, so that in the coming ages we can enjoy his everlasting grace.

Trusting in Christ, we have good reason to live confidently in the present in light of that day.

Our verdict has already been delivered in Christ.

We are made alive, we are accepted, and at the final judgment, Christians will be found out for what they really are.

Christians.

As surely as Christ died, he has paid the penalty for your sin and mine, and satisfied God's righteous wrath.

As surely as Christ rose on the third day, he offers us new life with him forever.

And as surely as Christ is seated at the Father's right hand, we are kept secure.

Saints, as surely as Christ will come again, we will live with him forever.

This is reason for us to release our fear, release insecurity, release anxiety about this last coming day.

This is not a day to be terrified of, but rather a day we ought to look forward to with great expectation and with confidence.

I suspect this will be a day of tears, even for us.

If the books are open and our sins are called to account, we will perhaps grieve them as we never have before.

But keep in mind that in Christ we will not be forsaken.

This day will be a day where every tear is wiped away from our eyes, in the eyes of all forgiven sinners.

So we live presently as children of the light, in great expectation and with great confidence in that day.

It will be the day where we become part of the age to come in Christ.

So therefore, Paul writes, encourage one another, build one another up just as you are doing.

Like the small church in Thessalonica, our small church here in Port Perry is meant to be a place where we are encouraged and where we encourage one another.

Our future with Christ gives us present hope.

Christ will return in glory and gather us to himself, evil will finally be put away, and the day is drawing ever nearer.

We are called right now to live hope-filled, expectant, and confident lives.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

He does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life.

Hear his word, saints, and come with confidence.

Amen.