1 Thessalonians 5 Discussion

The phrase “like a thief in the night” gets quoted a lot, but it rarely gets handled with the mix of clarity, disagreement, and practicality it deserves. We open 1 Thessalonians 5 by asking what Paul means by the Day of the Lord and how Christians should think about readiness without living in fear. Along the way, we compare our end-times frameworks, including premillennial pre-tribulation rapture language versus an amillennial or postmillennial approach, and we keep pulling the conversation back to what the text actually calls us to do today.

Then we hit one of the most actionable parts of the chapter: God’s will. When you’re hunting for guidance about a job, a move, or a relationship, Paul’s answer can feel almost too simple: rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in everything. We talk about why obedience to the obvious commands often unlocks wisdom for the harder decisions, and why a life marked by grumbling and anger tends to drown out spiritual clarity.

We also dig into what healthy church life looks like in Paul’s short, punchy commands: admonish the idle, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. We connect faith, hope, and love to spiritual armor, talk about God’s commitment to our sanctification, and work through “do not quench the Spirit” alongside “test everything” so we stay both open and discerning. And yes, we finally go there: “greet the brothers with a holy kiss,” what it might mean now, and how embodied brotherly love fits Christian community.

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Transcript

Welcome And Chapter Roadmap

Pastor Plek 0:10

And welcome back to a chapter day. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Plek. That's Pastor Holland. We're talking First Thessalonians chapter 5. We're going to outline it and we're going to observe it. We're going to interpret and then we're going to apply it so that you could be fully equipped to take on the darkness today. All

The Day Of The Lord Debate

Pastor Plek 0:25

right. So 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 1 through 11 talks about the day of the Lord and readiness. And then verses 12 to 22 give specific instructions to the church. And then the final prayer and benediction, verses 20 through 28. And that's where we get another holy kiss option for the brothers. All right. So what do you see here for your observations?

Pastor Holland 0:50

The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. So which day is this? The first return of Jesus or the second? That would be the first. Okay.

Pastor Plek 0:59

Thief of the night. Okay. Yeah. But it also to everybody else, it'll feel like a thief of the night when Jesus comes out from heaven and just wrecking shop.

Pastor Holland 1:07

Oh, okay. All right. So you're in the two-parter in your your stance. What's your stance called again? Uh, it is the premillennial.

Pastor Plek 1:16

Premillennial Rapture Dispensation. Okay. Pre-tribulation. Pre-tribulation. Rapture. Rapture. Pre-tribulation rapture. Pre-mill, pre-tribulation, rapture. Dispensation. Pre-millennial dispensation. Yes. All right. What's your position?

Pastor Holland 1:30

I am in the ah-mill slash post mill. Oh, pick aside. There's a lot of overlap. Basically, they're very, very, very similar.

Pastor Plek 1:39

They are very similar.

Pastor Holland 1:40

And uh, but it's that there is not a two-parter return of Jesus. Yeah, you guys are definitely on the seven years of tribulation.

Pastor Plek 1:48

You already think the tribulation happened, right?

Pastor Holland 1:50

The tribulation is happening right now, but there will be a final kind of tribulation just before uh and around the time of the final Antichrist, which we're gonna get into.

Pastor Plek 2:00

But we have a whole Christian culture to develop for you guys, like that the whole world's gonna be reigning by Jesus.

Pastor Holland 2:04

There will be much progress, in my view, that the gospel makes in converting whole cultures and nations to Jesus Christ and seeing great gospel transformation in the world before the day of the Lord. The day, by the way, not the two days.

Pastor Plek 2:21

I believe one day of the Lord. Yeah, it is one day of the Lord, which you know could be like a little season of the day. All right. Let's talk about uh what other observations?

God’s Will For Daily Life

Pastor Plek 2:32

Um, how about this? Just like we get in Paul writing here gets into God's will a bunch. So chapter four, yep, the will of them was their sanctification. Here, let's look at what is chapter five.

Pastor Holland 2:43

Rejoicing and being thankful.

Pastor Plek 2:44

Yeah, rejoicing and praying and being thankful, which I think is just awesome. So he's like if you're wondering what is God's will for my life. Rejoice, constantly pray, and in everything give thanks.

Pastor Holland 2:54

Yeah. Now there may be something more specific, obviously. That's usually what people mean. Like, should I go move to this city or should I take this job?

Pastor Plek 3:00

But if you're not doing the things that are clearly written out in God's will, exactly. How could you know the secret things that are in God's will? Exactly. So look, well, here's what I mean by that. If you're a person who's always angry and grumbling, then you're probably not gonna know God's will. Can I I can I go out on a limb and say that?

Pastor Holland 3:15

Yeah, and you know, before God wants you to do some special calling, He you need to do the general stuff.

Pastor Plek 3:20

Yeah, like um rejoicing and praying and giving thanks. Uh, don't extinguish the spirit, don't treat prophecies with contempt, examine all things, hold fast what is good, stay away from every form of evil. If you're not doing those things, then how is God gonna be like, here's what job you should take? Yeah.

unknown 3:36

Right.

Pastor Plek 3:36

Or here's who you should marry, or how many kids you should have, or should you buy the house or not buy the house?

Pastor Holland 3:42

Why would he give you more special instructions through the prompting of his spirit when you can't obey what he put right here? Yeah, I specifically told you, this is my will for you. Just saying. Just gotta do this stuff.

Pastor Plek 3:52

Like it's like it's like one of my kids says, if I say, go clean your room, he's like, Daddy, I just really want to know what you want me to do. Clean your room. No, no, not that. I want you to know. Yeah. So anyway, um, I digress. All right, so let's let's talk about uh what else do you see here, observation-wise?

Admonish Help Encourage With Wisdom

Pastor Holland 4:11

Uh, the instructions that he gives in verse 14 admonish the idle, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak. Different people, depending on their spiritual condition, their spiritual maturity, require, you know, different kind of ministry. Um, so he says, be patient with them all. Always got to be patient with people. Um, but if someone is idle, they don't need to be encouraged. They need to be admonished, they need to be corrected, rebuked, challenged, right? If someone is weak, they don't need to be admonished, they need to be helped. So, like, you see what a he he gives these different categories and he says, like, be like a good shepherd, you know, care for people spiritually in the way um that they really care.

Pastor Plek 4:57

Yeah. I think this kind of is like a parenting technique as well. Like, definitely. If you have the one kid that's you know stubborn, he needs a lot of admonishment. You have the one kid who's just like, I'm just the worst ever. He needs a lot of encouragement. Yeah.

Faith Hope Love As Armor

Pastor Holland 5:08

Uh, one other observation, he talks about um the three theological virtues here. Um these came up in 1 Corinthians 13, faith, hope, and love. Faith, hope, and love. Where do you see them? And in verse 8, he says the breastplate of faith and love. So there's two of them. And then for a helmet, the hope of salvation. Oh, so you get faith, hope, and love. Hope and love. Right here in spiritual armor imagery.

Pastor Plek 5:32

I love that. Um, okay, yeah. I love the imagery there. I I also like he is so remember in in chapter four, God's will for you is that you you would be sanctified. Yeah, look in chapter five. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. Yeah. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus. What do you think the difference there is between you keep yourself like here's God's will for you, and here's what God's gonna do.

Pastor Holland 5:59

Yeah. Ultimately, God is the sanctifier. He's the one who makes us holy. Um, we receive that by our obedience to the means of grace that he provides for us, of reading his word, of prayer, of corporate worship and life and fellowship in the church. Um, and so we essentially put ourselves in these streams of God's grace and sanctification, but he's the one who does the sanctifying. I like it. And I love that he is committed, he he commits himself to our sanctification. Nice. Um, so like he wants you to be sanctified and he's gonna make it happen.

Pastor Plek 6:37

Yeah, and if you kind of yield to him, it's way more fun. Yeah, than if you just like yield. That is the Christian life. Yield yield to the Lord, and sometimes the yielding is where you bow the knee, and sometimes he breaks your knees. Okay. All right, what about uh just man? Oh, you got another

Holy Kiss And Brotherly Affection

Pastor Plek 6:56

observation? Well, I was gonna say the the greeting brothers with a holy kiss. Here it is again. Again, what is up with all this kissing?

Pastor Holland 7:02

Man, that's uh how many times is this now? Is this like five times? Uh, this might be that it's come up. Is it no? I think this is only the second time. Hold on, let me count. Let me do a little search feature right here. Yeah. Romans 16, holy kiss. Oh, yeah. 1 Corinthians 16, holy kiss. 2 Corinthians 13, holy kiss. 1 Thessalonians 5, holy kiss. All right, so this number 4. The fifth one comes with Peter, where he calls it the kiss of love. Oh, wow. So number four in in uh a command from an apostle to greet brothers with a holy kiss.

Pastor Plek 7:34

Wow.

Pastor Holland 7:35

What do you think about that? I I've now, as people have been listening to this podcast, I've now become like holy kiss guy.

Pastor Plek 7:41

You are holy kiss guy. And I've gotten a lot of holy kisses from the people that you've inspired, which I'm so happy for you. I'm not angry about it, but it's just it's uh uh I'm not sure how to receive it all. I need to come clean and be transparent here. I haven't kissed back, okay? I just I just receive it and I'm like, I'll do the the hug with the pat pat and like one of those. There you go. The holy hug. The holy hug. It's it's only it's just right underneath the holy kiss.

Pastor Holland 8:06

You gotta work your way up. Um, I I gotta come clean in that like this is not something that I do all the time. It's something that I bring up because I go, here it is in the words, but right here. Could you call yourself a hypocrite of holy kiss? I don't say that I'm growing. I don't think I'm a hypocrite. I think I'm someone who's trying to be submitted to the word of God. Okay. This is uncomfortable for me. All right, fair enough. And something that I'm not used to. But some people, some podcast listeners have started greeting holy kisses. I do know that. So I've been given the holy kiss back, and honestly, I I gotta say, it's a you know, it's a it's a form of brotherly love that that I think I think is a really great blessing. It's a it's a blessing. It's like on the head or on the cheek or on the, you know, uh I've gotten a lot of like the back of the head right here. And I'm like, you know what? That is a little weird. No, back to the back. You give a hug and it's like boom, right there.

Pastor Plek 8:56

Oh, like because that they're front hugging, but they're feet not back. I just thought you were like, come here, boy.

Pastor Holland 9:04

No, we don't do that. All right. I I I will say, like, I feel I feel like, you know, a closeness with dudes when you're just like, hey, let's give each other a hug and a holy kiss. Okay. I'm I'm not ashamed to say it.

Pastor Plek 9:16

He's not ashamed. It's right there in the word. Right there. He's just obeying the obeying the word, which I appreciate. You know that you know, I think that the gospel offends all cultures everywhere. This is definitely offensive in many ways, but I'm not I'm not anti-holy kiss. I'm just not quite there in the holy kissing. I'm I'm with you. I'm not doing holy, you know, physical affection. Okay.

Pastor Holland 9:37

Here's my conviction. I don't want to have anything in the word where I'm like, yeah, I don't do that, or yeah, that's weird. I go, if it's in the word, it's for us, and we need to we need to love it and own it and do it. All right.

Pastor Plek 9:48

Listen, if there's one thing that you are, it's that. So I appreciate that. All right, let's get into nature of man. What do you see here about the nature of men? We need holy kisses. Okay, we de How about we need physical affection? I can go there. All right, there you go. We need physical affection. We we need other dudes to wrap their arms around us, give us a holy hug, or in Holland's case, a holy kiss, or maybe the Bible's case, a holy kiss. All right, all right, listen, listen. Did they not have to sort of put a like a uh not a smack down on the holy kissing, but in the early church, there what did get a little bit of impropriety when everyone was making out in church?

Pastor Holland 10:24

Well, so I don't know what you're referring to there. If you have like some historical event that like the great early church makeouts of 200 AD or something. What I do know is I there are some like uh church um like book of church orders where they do say, hey, and like some commentary is where they say, Hey, this is for men with men and women with women. Right.

Pastor Plek 10:48

So Yeah, that's where because it got it went, yeah.

Pastor Holland 10:51

But I don't know of any events where they're like, hey, we gotta lock the we gotta like um you know crack down on this.

Pastor Plek 10:57

Yeah. So I think there let me I I'm gonna know that I don't know I I you know the next time we get down to the holy kiss, I will have my early church fathers research before we get to first people. I will get there. It'll be the the church father crackdown on the holy kissing that was just too much.

People’s Needs And Pastor Authority

Pastor Plek 11:12

Okay. All right, let's get nature a man.

Pastor Holland 11:14

All right, we also tend to be idle and faint-hearted and weak. Um, and we need the ministry of other people to either admonish us or help us or um encourage us.

Pastor Plek 11:26

Yeah. How about um we can respond to others with care or harm if someone is faint-hearted and we admonish them, it might crush their little souls. Yeah. And so there is a pro souls. There's an appropriate way to care for people. And they're sweet little souls. Uh what about um what else you got for nature, man? I don't have anything else right now. I'm stuck on the little souls. Well, I mean, if you get a faint-hearted person and you just like you keep whipping them with some like you know, verbal jujitsu of like all the things he's doing wrong, like, I know. And then what else do you want from me?

Pastor Holland 12:05

And then yeah, well, I mean, what did Jesus Jesus say he did not um he wouldn't uh break a reed? Break a bruised reed. Yeah. So I feel like that's related to this. Yeah. Um, okay, we need prayers too. Verse 25. Brothers pray for us. Yeah. Hey, I you can't do the Christian life without prayer.

Pastor Plek 12:20

How about the fact that the elders of the church needed some respect around there? Oh, that's really good, honestly. That's something that people don't like to talk about. Yeah, like, hey, we ask you, brothers, respect those who labor among you and are over you in the world.

Pastor Holland 12:32

So there's some hierarchy. This is authority. Pastors have actual authority over the people in the church. This reminds me of you respect my authority. Yeah, right. And esteem them very highly in love because of their work. This the work of pastors is very important work to teach, to feed, guide, and guard God's people according to his word. And it ought to be esteemed, respected.

Pastor Plek 13:00

And uh October is pastor appreciation month, okay. If you didn't know that. Oh, yeah, very good, very good. All right, uh appreciate your pastors. Okay, what about character

Quenching The Spirit And Testing Words

Pastor Plek 13:10

God here? What do you got?

Pastor Holland 13:11

Uh, verse 23, the God of peace. Um, he and uh this is the one who will sanctify you. And so he's a God of peace, and he's a God, he's a holy God who sanctifies his people.

Pastor Plek 13:22

Okay, what about um uh this might be more nature of man, but character God, don't quench the spirit. Is it possible for the spirit to be quenched? And what does that mean? What is what is quench?

Pastor Holland 13:33

Like I think of like quench my thirst. Quench my thirst. It means to like put out something, right? Yeah, to say put out my thirst. I I drink some water. Yeah to quench the spirit is to put out the spirit is to Yeah, yeah, um, to close yourself off to what the spirit might have to say to you. I think of times like in the book of Acts where they're praying and fasting, and the Holy Spirit it says, you know, said to them, set apart Paul and Barnabas from the spirit.

Pastor Plek 14:03

Being like, no, just don't acknowledge that.

Pastor Holland 14:05

Yeah. Or like the spirit, you know, you like the spirit leads us, prompts us um to go and share the gospel with someone sometimes. Yeah. Or to go and pray for somebody, or to send somebody out, or um, you know, whatever that is, and to resist that prompting of the Holy Spirit, I think that would be quenching the spirit.

Pastor Plek 14:27

And so he says he gives the first initial thing of do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophecies.

Pastor Holland 14:34

I think those two things are also related.

Pastor Plek 14:36

Uh we I don't want to say, Yeah, yeah, because I think the prophecy here is it could be singing, it could be um in Revelation, it talks about the prophecy is a testimony of the Lord Jesus. Um and so I whatever prophecy is, it's like don't stop someone in the middle of them sharing the good news of the Lord. Um, but at the same time, test everything. And so if they say something a little wonky or weird, don't despise all prophecy, uh, but uh question it, test it to see if it lines up with the scripture.

Pastor Holland 15:12

Yeah, that's where you get like the Bereans in Acts 17, who you know it says they were more noble than the uh believers in Thessalonica, right? Reading First Thessalonians now. In in Berea, it says that they tested what they heard to see if it was in the scriptures. That's good. And so that's how you test.

Pastor Plek 15:31

Um, how about uh character of God? Uh we already talked about how the character of God sanctifies us, right? Yeah.

Pastor Holland 15:38

Um verse 24 He who calls you is faithful. That's the character of God. He's a faithful God, he keeps his word, never breaks a promise. Um yeah, just grateful that God is.

Pastor Plek 15:50

I know this is super simple. Verse 9 for God has destined us not destined us, has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with him. I I love that just like that's God's character. He wants us to live with him. Um okay, uh, how about God likes to surprise like surprises? What do you mean? Well, uh, but you're not in darkness, brothers, for the day that day to surprise you like a thief. But you are children of the light. So he's the God's gonna surprise the the darkness, the dark world when he's like, surprise, I'm here. Okay. Yeah. But not uh believers. That's right. Well, believers will be surprised in a good way. Oh, okay.

Pastor Holland 16:42

Yeah. All right, how about there is there is a sense, you know, he talks about um labor pains coming upon a pregnant woman.

Signs Versus Imminent Return

Pastor Holland 16:49

Yep. She's not totally surprised.

Pastor Plek 16:53

Okay, right. There's gonna be wars and rumors of wars.

Pastor Holland 16:56

Yeah, like she knows it's coming. Obviously, she's like any day now, but she doesn't but she doesn't know exactly when. So in the same way, I think we'll be able to know, like, we'll be able to say, like, man, I I think it's coming soon. I don't know exactly when, but uh, because the the scriptures, especially when we get into 2 Thessalonians and Revelation, lays out some things where you go, this is all gonna happen when the Lord returns. So I think we should be able to see the signs and know it's coming soon, even if we don't know exactly when. Yeah. What do you think about that?

Pastor Plek 17:29

I think that there's this doctrine of immincy that Jesus can come back at any time. Now, now, now. And all those things would happen like super fast. Uh that they would just go and would just happen like immediately and bam, he's there. So you wouldn't have any time to prepare. Like, oh, I see that sign. Oh, now it's time to start getting ready. It's like he's already come, raised from the dead, and he's given us his word, and you always have wars and rumors of wars. You're always gonna have people rising up saying Christianity is evil and it's dark and wicked, and uh from Jewish people rejecting Jesus to uh Islam people saying he's just a prophet or whatever. You're always gonna have that aspect. Let's kill off all the Christians.

Pastor Holland 18:11

You don't always have the well, we'll get into this in 2 Thessalonians of like this antichrist figure that has like deceived so many people into thinking he is, you know. Have there been many antichrists? Indeed, but has there been any that have uh to the point that 2 Thessalonians talks about?

Pastor Plek 18:31

We'll get there at 2 Thessalonians. Let's get into some application on 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 before we get to 2 Thessalonians on the next day. My bad.

Commands To Obey And Promises

Pastor Plek 18:39

My bad. Yeah, so let's get into application. So application is uh sin to confess or avoid, a promise to claim, an example to follow, command obey, or knowledge to believe. How about um I don't know if I can say this as a command obey. I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. This was a circular letter, and so but uh which it was intended for that letter to be read to all the Christians um in Greece and beyond. But also, this is a letter that we're reading to you now because I still think it's fully to be circulated uh even now.

Pastor Holland 19:09

Yeah, amen. Uh, another command to obey, um keep awake and be sober. Verse six.

Pastor Plek 19:20

Um how about command to obey, encourage one another and build one another up just as you're doing, which I appreciate. He's like, hey, you guys are already doing this, keep doing it.

Pastor Holland 19:30

Yeah, um, go ahead. Uh there's a bunch of commands to obey here at the end. Just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, one after another. Some good scripture memory for you. And you're like, I need to memorize a verse. Rejoice always.

Pastor Plek 19:41

There you go. Done. Uh yeah. How about stay awake and be sober? Which I thought was kind of the sexual morality of the previous chapter.

Pastor Holland 19:51

I literally just said that one like five seconds ago. You know, I was I I'm saying it clearer. You were just looking at one, you didn't even hear me say it. You were trying to find yours.

Pastor Plek 19:59

I just was saying stay awake and be sober, in contrast to chapter four, or maybe in addition to chapter four, which was like the sexual morality part. Here in chapter five, the sobriety is like of a drunkenness, right? And an alertness.

Pastor Holland 20:12

Yeah. Yeah. Alertness and a spiritual form as well.

Pastor Plek 20:16

Yes. Vigilance, of being ready because you just don't know when he might show up like a thief in the night.

Pastor Holland 20:22

And I I do love that he points out um, see that no one repays evil for evil. Seek to do good to one another and to everyone. I think the one another is to the church, and the everyone is include like to the surrounding world as well.

Pastor Plek 20:35

Uh I I like this one. Just abstain from every form of evil evil. Like, let me just make sure we got all our bases covered.

Pastor Holland 20:40

If I didn't mention it and it's evil, don't do it.

Pastor Plek 20:44

All right. Um, how about uh promise to claim God hasn't destined us for wrath but for salvation? I think that's something to lean into. Amen. Uh anything else? No, I think that's that's good. Okay. Hey, thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you next time on a chapter a day.