Letters to the Thessalonians | 5:1-11

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Alright, hey, so I'm gonna speculate what it would be like if I showed up to work in a couple different uh forms today, and I want you to help uh project this for me.

So I've got some images that I'm gonna share on the screen to you, and I think we've got them sequenced in a way that will help us uh tell a story today.

So uh suppose I walked up and I showed up to church today, prepared to come and minister to you today, and I walk up to the front of the building, and this is what how I looked.

Give me this first picture.

Yeah.

What would this suppose about what I expected of the time at work today, the time that in church today?

I'm preparing to travel somewhere.

I got a cycling helmet on in this image, and so I'm prepared to travel, I'm prepared to maybe exercise to work out, right?

So there's there's uh an expectation that comes.

If you see somebody wearing a bicycle helmet, there's an expectation of a behavior that's going to follow.

What about this picture?

Give me the next one.

Yeah.

I'm gonna put my hands to work with a hard hat, right?

I'm gonna I'm going to an unsafe space.

I need to have to take precaution.

I need I'm gonna build something, I'm going to prepare something, or I'm gonna rip repair something.

And so there's the expectation that this, I mean, the the shirt and pants don't really match the helmet at this point.

We're pretty clear on that, but um the helmet would indicate that there's some kind of work to be done.

How about this next picture?

Would this accomplish the same intention of the previous two?

Would I be able to effectively go on a bike ride with a scrooge hat on?

Would I be effectively be able to go into an unsafe con construction area with my Scrooge cap on?

Does anybody sleep with one of these?

It's really hard to find.

Do you think if they brought these back, people would wear them?

Yeah?

Like do you just get them at your local Target?

Like there's a display at Target for your own different colors.

You probably have characters on them, right?

So the thing is that in these in these images, these images are meant to depict the understanding that we can prepare ourselves by what we wear, what we dress ourselves in.

And what we're gonna look at in this passage of scripture today is that Paul's gonna use a similar illustration to depict this in understanding how we prepare ourselves for what we intend to accomplish.

I was talking to my wife this week, there's kind of this ongoing punchline at her office.

My wife is an audiologist, and this last week she had a uh a corporate, like a like a professional gathering event.

They were together and they were doing a mixer for audiologists in the DFW area.

And uh so everybody comes from work from seeing all their patients to show up and to network with uh equipment representatives and other colleagues and doctors and things like that.

And one of the people there showed up having just left the gym, dressed like she had just left the gym.

I don't know how detailed do I get about this?

She was not wearing appropriate attire.

One of Allison's coworkers said, could she at least put on a t-shirt?

If that puts perspective on how she was dressed at this event.

You're not getting it.

She was in a sports bra at a corporate event, and it was not appropriate for the attire.

And so she was dressed incongruently with the way that the moment called for.

Okay?

And so, likewise, Paul uses this kind of illustration in this passage in Thessalonians to help us understand how we need to think about our spiritual walk and what is to come.

Last Sunday, my wife spoke and she uh addressed this concept of the end times and what Paul has to say about how the end times work.

And today, we're gonna continue that as he continues this thought in 1 Thessalonians.

In verses 1 through 3, this is what we're gonna look at.

We're gonna look at Christ's unexpected return and how it's not meant to be predicted, folks.

His return is unexpected, and it's not meant for us to understand or anticipate or know how it is happening.

And then we're gonna continue on and looking at the next section, verses four through eight.

And Paul is gonna specifically talk about how we are going to be prepared, how we need to prepare for his return, how Christ is going to return and how we can prepare for those things.

What we're gonna do today is we're gonna read uh these different sections.

We're gonna start with verses one through eight, and what you're gonna find is that they're gonna have a little bit juxtaposition.

They're gonna have compare and contrast that takes place.

The first three verses are gonna address the promise of Christ's return, and then the next section is going to have a compare and contrast feature, and this is what I want you to look for when we read through this.

If you'd like to read along, it'll be up on the screen.

You can read along in your Bible, you can read along on your phone, however you want to read along.

I just want you to be involved as we move through this passage of scripture.

We're gonna be in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, starting in verses 1 through 3.

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

It says, this is the Apostle Paul.

He says, Now concerning how and when all of this will happen, the return of Christ, dear brothers and sisters, we don't really need to write you, for you know quite well that the day of the Lord's return will come.

How unexpectedly, like a thief in the night, when people are saying everything is peaceful, everything is secure, then disaster will fall, and then suddenly, as a pregnant woman's labor pains begin, and there will be no escape.

So this is meant to paint this unsettling picture that Jesus is gonna come back, he's gonna come back abruptly, unexpectedly, he's gonna come back when we feel like everything is safe and secure and calm and peaceful.

But really, what he's saying here is that you already know this.

You've already heard this story, you already have been told about the promise of Jesus, and all of this is gonna happen because Jesus has declared that it will happen, he has promised that it will happen.

So you already know all this.

I'm just reminding you of what you already know.

Let's look at verse 4 now.

Paul says, but you aren't in the dark.

Remember, look for compare and contrast.

It's gonna happen here.

You are not in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won't be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief.

For you are children of the light and the day, and we won't belong to darkness and night.

So be on your guard, not asleep like the others.

Stay alert and clear headed.

Night is a time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk.

But let us who live in the light be clear headed, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our what?

Helmet, the confidence of our salvation.

Wearing as a helmet the confidence of our salvation.

We have imagery that Paul is giving us here.

The compare and contrast, are you seeing the compare and contrast in this passage of Scripture?

We see the compare and contrast of light and darkness, day and night, and the activities associated with each one.

If somebody shows up to a construction project wearing a sleeping cap, are they appropriately prepared for the work at hand?

There is a calling that comes with belonging to Christ, and there is a clear-headedness involved in that calling.

There's an alertness, there's a preparedness that is associated with that calling.

Here's the big idea that I want us to get today.

This is what I want you.

If you're going to write something down, this is where you start.

That Christ's return prompts us to ask, not when, but am I ready?

It prompts us to ask, not when, but am I ready?

So let me tell you three reasons why when is the wrong question to ask.

Why when is the wrong question to ask?

The first reason is that asking when is insistent rebellion, folks.

Is that too harsh?

I just think it's true.

It's insistent rebellion.

If you look at Acts chapter 1, or Jesus himself says in response to Jesus, when are you coming back?

Acts 1 · chapter mention

When are you establishing your kingdom?

Jesus says, look, folks, it is not for you to know.

It is only the Father's responsibility to know.

He sets the time and date.

So when we actively try to hunt down and project when the end times, when Christ's return will come, we are insistently rebelling against like clear instructions that Jesus gave to that very question.

And we really wrestle with this as Christians.

Like we really feel like it's our responsibility to know.

If we know the Bible, then we gotta know when Jesus is coming back.

You're off the hook, folks.

I'm letting you off the hook because Paul let you off the hook.

Jesus left you off the hook.

The first thing that Jesus said about this when he was asked is, look, don't worry about it.

It's not your responsibility to know.

Stop hunting the answer.

Stop looking for the what answer to the one question, because only the Father knows the answer to the one question.

Really, it's the wrong question to be asking.

The right question is what?

Am I ready?

So the first reason that one is the wrong question is because it's insistent rebellion.

The second reason is because it's only a concern for the godless.

If you love Jesus and you are devoted to him, then your promise is already sealed.

It's already given to you.

And when Paul speaks about the unsettling description in the first three verses in this passage, in this chapter five, he's talking about how the godless will be abruptly affected by the fact that Jesus comes unexpectedly because they aren't prepared, because they're living a worldly life.

They're living a life that is celebrating selfish, motivated, worldly things.

And those are the individuals who have to be concerned with the return of Christ.

And when this promise is given, it's actually meant to be a little bit disruptive and unsettling and concerning.

It's meant to turn people away from godlessness towards Jesus so they can have the peace knowing that they're in good standing.

And then it doesn't matter if Jesus comes before the sermon is over, if he comes in 2,000 years from now, it doesn't matter because I know that the promise has already been given to me.

That's what it's meant to accomplish.

It is intended for the godless to be unsettled so that they can turn back.

So we don't have to concern ourselves with when because it's only a concern for the godless.

The third reason, that when is the wrong question, is that it evades the call to daily faith.

Because we can so easily get our minds fixed on the eventual of what is to come that we lose sight of the fact that Jesus has called us to live a certain kind of life here and now in this moment, to live a life that is practical and tangible and filled with love and compassion today, to wake up every morning and to say, Jesus, I trust you.

Jesus, I depend on you.

Jesus, you are my provider today.

And we could easily set our minds on anticipating the future and feeling like that is a way of us to have control to anticipate what is to come.

But it's not meant for us to have control.

It's our job to live by faith, to walk by faith.

Okay, you hearing me today?

When is the wrong question?

Let's ask a different question.

Paul is challenging us to ask a different question.

He's challenging the Thessalonians to ask a different question.

Let's look at verses seven and eight again, all right?

Because there's a the this compare and contrast that we see in verses seven and eight.

I want us to take another look at.

Let's read it again.

Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk.

But let us who live in the light be clear-headed, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as a helmet the confidence of our salvation.

These are great words.

This right here we get from the Apostle Paul is an instruction for spiritual life, for each of our spiritual lives.

Paul is encouraging us to love living in the light.

To not love living in the darkness.

The thing is about darkness, is a lot of times we live in the darkness and we don't even realize that's where we're living.

But to love living in the light is an intentional pursuit.

And Paul is encouraged encouraging us to love living in the light.

To accept this, we have to understand what living in the dark looks like.

So let's compare and contrast these.

I think there's a way of framing this for us to understand what it means for us to live in the light and live in the dark.

And there's two very similar concepts that we live by, but our motivation can determine whether or not we're living in the light and living in the dark.

Let me tell you what those are.

And that's if we are living to seek restoration in the way that we live, or if we're seeking an escape.

Seeking restoration versus seeking the escape.

It can be, these two things can have very similar practical experiences, but have two completely different internal motivations.

And so I want to talk to you about what the difference is between seeking restoration in the spirit from Jesus and seeking an escape from the realities in which we live.

Which of these do you think is light, folks?

Which of these is darkness?

The will of God, let me tell you, is to restore, not to hide, not to cover up, but to bring rejuvenation, to bring renewal, to bring restoration.

But often we choose escape instead of restoration.

We choose to hide, we choose to cover up, we choose to conceal, we choose to numb instead of being restored.

So let me tell you what escape might look like.

These are just some examples.

This is not a comprehensive list.

A cold beer or a glass of wine to take the edge off of a hard day.

That's escape.

That's not restoration.

That doesn't, we don't come home at the end of the day to medicate in that way in order to be restored.

That is an escape.

Or perhaps it's a weekly round of golf or a spa day just to dodge the tension that you find in home.

Instead of dealing with it and restoring the tension at home, we can run away from it.

Or maybe, I see this a lot, folks.

It's multi-generational, I'll tell you.

A few hours of video games at the end of a day of adulting.

It's an escape.

All I need to, I had a really hard day.

I just need to hide in an alternative reality.

It's an escape.

There's nothing restorative about that.

Or how about this?

Maybe this is too close.

1800 or 1900 swipes of social media to get your mind off of life's challenges.

It's about an hour and 20 minutes.

That's about how many swipes it takes.

You run the math.

Is that something we intentionally plan to do at the end of the day?

Or is that just something we do to try to get out of the hardness that comes with life?

None of these activities, folks, are restoring your soul.

Do you hear me?

They are not restorative.

None of these activities are causing you to become clear-headed in the way that you live.

What is restorative then?

If these things are escape, what is the restorative alternative?

Here's some examples.

A 30-minute walk.

A phone call to your brother can be restorative.

Reading a book, playing an instrument, exercising in some way is restorative.

Reading a couple of psalms can be extremely restorative.

Writing down a prayer, a personal prayer, is restorative.

Encouraging a friend is restorative.

And I'll tell you, this one is probably the most dissonant of the list.

It's counter to our instinct.

To act, to provide an act of service in love.

I'll tell you that you're going to be more restored by mowing your elderly neighbor's lawn than any of the alternatives of escape.

You're going to think, but it's like 197 degrees outside.

Yeah, try it.

So watch what happens when you go and do something hard for somebody else and see how it restores your soul more so than scrolling on social media.

See how that works.

I'm promising you that the Lord will restore your soul by serving others in compassion, more so than if you feel like you need to do something to pull away, to cover up the difficulties and challenges of life that you're facing.

To live in the light is to seek anything that calls upon faith, love, and confidence of our salvation.

That's what those are the words that Paul uses in this letter.

Those are the things that we are meant to do, to put on the helmet, to put on the attire, to prepare us to live in a life.

Not to live in the darkness, not to hide away, not to escape the challenges of life, because that's what puts us in an unprepared state.

That Jesus is going to come back, folks.

In fact, he is already given you a calling.

You're not waiting for that calling to show up.

He's already given you a purpose.

He's already giving you meaning and an identity.

And there is a life that you have been given to live.

And when we choose to live in the darkness, when we choose to live in a place that's clouded rather than a place that's clear-headed, then we are forfeiting that calling and that opportunity that Jesus has given to us.

Let me tell you that leisure.

Leisure is not inherently evil.

I think sometimes in the church we think that we're not supposed to have fun, we're not supposed to enjoy ourselves.

There's a lot of things that God delights in, and that He has bestowed upon us the desire to find delight.

But he asks us to find delight in the things that he finds delight in, not in the things that the world promises.

In fact, the things that the world promises are going to give us delight, all they do is make us crave for more of it.

You know how it works?

It just, here, you have a little bit, it'll make you feel better.

But then the next time, it's like, yeah, you did good last time.

Here's a little bit more this time, a little bit more this time, until we're completely saturated in the worldly activities that actually never delivered on their initial promises.

But Jesus says, I want you to delight, I want you to rest, I want you to be restored in the right things, in things that are going to bring restoration to your soul, not things that are going to cloud your world so you feel less.

Leisure is not inherently evil.

When leisure becomes an escape, it becomes evil, though.

When it becomes our escape, when we escape into leisure, when we escape into an indulging expression of how we use our time and resources and execute our desires, then it becomes an evil thing.

I'm gonna pick back up at seven.

We're gonna read through the end of the chapter because there's more to this.

In verse seven.

Let's pick up there.

It says, Night is a time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk, but let us live in the let us who live in the light be clear-headed, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.

Verse 9, for God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us.

Man, that's a good verse all by itself.

Verse 10 Christ died for us, so that whether we are dead or alive, when he returns, we can live with him forever.

That we can live with him forever.

So encourage each other and build each other up just as you are already doing.

Right.

Verse 10.

Can you go back to verse 10 for me?

Verse 10.

We can live forever.

We can live with him forever.

Folks, forever is what clear headed, light living is for.

It is forever.

It is not for nemal.

I think that's really where we get mixed up sometimes.

It's that we have a hard time seeing forever through the NEM.

Did you back with me?

Does that make that make sense?

We have a hard time seeing forever through the NEM.

Right, Nim, I feel like I need X, Y, and or Z in order to be satisfied or refreshed or renewed.

But the reality is that forever is promised to us.

And if we lose sight of forever, all we have left to look on is what's in front of us right now.

But forever.

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

Forever.

Forever is what clear-headed light living is for.

I want you to think about this.

Maybe you thought about this before, maybe you haven't.

I want you to think about where you were when Jesus first saw you.

Where you were when Jesus first saw you.

I'm not asking you to think about where you were when you first saw Jesus.

But where were you when he first saw you?

Let me tell you, you were in the dark, folks.

You were in your sin.

You were in the lies.

You were in rebellion when he first saw you.

And his response says, I want them.

I want that person hiding in the dark.

I want that person that has not experienced the light.

I want them forever.

Christ's response is, I want them for whatever forever costs, is what I'm willing to pay.

You hear me today?

You know what Romans 5.8 says?

Let me show you what Romans 5.8 says.

Romans 5.8 says, but God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us.

While we were still sinners.

Whew, that's that is an important verse, isn't it?

While we were still sinners, while we were still in the dark before we understood what it meant to live in the light and to be clear-headed.

While we were still sinnered, God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die.

But he said, I've got forever in mind for this person, and I see them in the darkness, and I want forever for them, and I will do whatever it takes, whatever it costs me, even if it means my life, I will lay it down so that they can have forever.

You hear me today?

So often we either forget this or we don't believe it.

And we live in the shadow of the darkness, either that we're currently living in or that we once lived in.

We believe that Christ can restore, undo, make right, justify whatever language you want to use, but yet we still let the narrative of the darkness that we once lived under, the shadow of that, to define us and think that we'll always be part of who we are.

And today I want you to understand that Jesus saw you in the darkness and he didn't ever intend for you to stay in the darkness.

He intended for you to live in the light all the time, to belong to the light and to experience forever.

Here's the truth about forever, folks.

Forever is eventually, but it is also right now.

It is also in this moment.

You're living in forever.

You're living in part of eternity.

That's hard for us to understand sometimes.

We often think that eternity is something that is far off, that is something that is experienced after this life, something that is intangible to us.

But the thing is that once we encounter Jesus, eternity has begun.

Forever has begun.

That you are experiencing, if you are walking with Jesus, if you are responding to the invitation to live in the light, it's not just an eventually, it's also a now.

Jesus has a blessing for you every day.

When we live in the light, we live clear-headed.

The faith, the love, the confidence of salvation.

That is something we experience here, now, in this moment.

And that's my call to you today.

My call to you is to prepare yourself for the unexpected return of Christ.

But I'm going to put it another way.

I'm going to put it another way.

If I can make it a little bit more simple, my call to you is to get out of the dark.

Just to get yourself out of the dark.

Jesus has already done the work for you to get out of the dark.

And so all we need to do is exchange these, this spiritual sleeping cap, which did not arrive in the mail on time.

Otherwise, I would have worn it for you.

But to put on the helmet instead.

And be ready.

Be alert.

Be clear-headed.

Because there is work to be done.

There is a call.

There's an experience that Jesus has for you today.

That He wants to do a work in you.

He wants to do a work through you, but He wants to share in you a forever.

And we can't do that if we're sleeping on the day.

And if we're making our day into the night, and we're living if we're in darkness instead of in the light, then we're not experiencing the forever that Jesus has called us to.

That He has promised us, that He's intended for us to share.

I recognize today that some of the examples and some of the sightings that I'm referencing today might be part of the way that you live right now.

And I'm not here to condemn, I'm not here to heap any kind of guilt on you.

All I'm saying, though, is if your motivation is to escape your reality, then you're not living in the light that Jesus has promised and intended for you to possess.

That is not part of this life.

That is not required for the life that God has for you.

Do you hear me today?

And the goal isn't to get that stuff out of your life so that you can experience the life.

It is to experience the life so that that is replaced by something better.

It is something virtuous that takes its place today, folks.

Jesus does not require the things of this world to medicate us in order for us to experience the light that He has promised us to live in.

And so today, if you're if you are depending on those things, I want you to be prompted today by the Holy Spirit to let your heart be open to receive the light that He has for you.

To be able to surrender those things and say, I don't want to live in those things anymore.

I don't want to depend on those things anymore.

Instead, I want to live a surrendered life so that I can have everything that you promised me about forever.

So what I'm gonna do now, I want to give you just about 60 seconds of personal prayer time to allow Jesus to minister to you.

Because I believe that if we just allow silence in our life without distraction, without influence, without stimulation, and we we can just let Jesus speak to us, then he's gonna speak to our heart about things that we need to hear, maybe things that we don't actively seek, but that he wants to impart to us.

And so I'm just gonna give you a few moments here, just about 60 seconds of silence.

And I'm gonna challenge you today that you would seek Jesus and let him reveal the forever that I've talked to you about today.

The forever here, if you want to meditate on this passage of scripture, this is how we do it.

We meditate by letting the forever promise that we see in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 be something not we just we cognitively understand, but something that we experience spiritually, internally.

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

It affects our mindset, affects our emotions, affects our attitude, affects our identity.

And at the end of that, I'm gonna invite you to respond.

We're gonna worship.

But for now, let's allow the Holy Spirit to minister us personally.

You've been living in the dark, if you have been living in this darkness that Paul speaks of in this illustration that he gives today.

If you've been living in escape, if you've been living in an alternative to the promise of forever, or if you've been living in the shadow of the past darkness and feeling like that's always gonna be a part of your narrative, your story, your identity, I'm gonna invite you today to respond to live in the light, to take a stand, to live in the light.

And so I'm gonna pray for you today.

At the end of the prayer, I'm gonna invite you to make a decision for yourself personally to seek the light and to forsake the darkness, to turn away from it, and not turn to an escape to medicate through the challenges of this world, but instead to hold tightly to Jesus and his promise of forever.

The question is not, when will Jesus return?

We know that he will.

The question is, will you be ready?

Will you be in the light when he comes?

There's there's experiences that I have every day that are the result of living in the light.

I'm gonna tell you that.

And if I if I chose to live in the darkness and in the escape, then the joys of being a husband and a father and a minister, and to cherish every aspect of life, from when I wake up in the morning to when I go to sleep at night, there's blessing in every single moment if I will take it.

Because that's what it looks like to live in forever now.

But if I'm choosing escape, if I'm just trying to bide my time to get to the, to get through the next hard thing, to through the next hard thing, through the next hard thing, then I'm constantly putting my sleeping cap on spiritually, and I'm laying in the darkness, and I'm missing the blessing that comes in every day.

Folks, God has a blessing for you every moment of the day if you will live in the light, and that's what it looks like to embrace the call to the light.

To escape the escape, so to speak.

So I'm gonna pray for you today.

I'm gonna invite you to stand in a moment, to live in the light.

God, I thank you that you have promised us forever.

Thank you that you have given us a blessing that is meant to be experienced every day.

Thank you, that you have given us the opportunity to not have to bide our time through this world and hope for a time when you're gonna come back at the for sometime in the near distant future, but instead that we can truly experience the promise by being ready now.

That there is no fear and that you will return.

There's nothing unsettling about it because we can stand here and receive the promise of your light.

God, I pray for those who are here today, who are living in the dark, or who have lived in the dark and seem to find a difficult time escaping that darkness.

God, I pray that you would give them the courage today to seek the light, to turn away from the darkness, and to be prepared for the life that you have for them.

And I pray that we would all be able to experience the promise of the new life and be able to celebrate together as one body as we live in the light together, God.

We want to honor you today.

We thank you, Jesus, for laying yourself down and seeing that we were in the dark, we were still sinners, and you came for us.

That you have not required a prerequisite for us to receive the light, but you have done the work for us even before we can experience it.

God, we bless you today.

Bless us.

It's in your name that we pray.

Amen.

Today I want to invite you.

If you want to stand in the light, stand with me today.

Stand with me.

We're gonna worship.

Yes, we're gonna worship in just a minute, and we're gonna stand and believe that God is promised us forever.

And if you're here today and you are still wrestling with the darkness, then we don't want you to walk through that alone, folks.

I recognize that there's some real heavy things that we have to carry that causes us to try to escape into the darkness.

And that's not something that anybody has ever intended for you.

The Lord does not intend for you to experience that alone.

And so we want to be available for you today.

And so what I just kindly ask you to do is there's a little prayer card in the seat back in front of you.

If you're wrestling with something, we want to know about it.

And you can bring that to me, you can bring that to one of our staff, you can bring that to our welcome desk, you can put it in the offering box if you want.

You want to be discreet, but we want to be able to follow up with you and be able to pray with you and support you and take the next steps for what it looks like.

We don't want to just call you to it and then not support you through it.

We want to do it together.

Because we believe that that's how Jesus is intended for the body to work together.

But I'm gonna bless you once more, and then we're gonna worship.

And we're gonna call our spirits to live in the light today.

May the discipleship of Jesus inhabit your life richly.

May the light of his gospel shine through you brightly.

May the world around you encounter him sincerely, and may his faithfulness bless you abundantly.

Amen.

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