So great to be back.
The church, thank you very much that I receive and my family gets to receive each year a few weeks off, and other people are willing to preach, and it's a break for me from just kind of the repetition every week of studying and preparing and preaching and then pastoring and leading and thinking constantly and just kind of all that gets to shut down and reboot.
And so we spent time at the beach and time in the mountains.
And I do this weird thing and I don't recommend it.
It's not a recommendation of a spiritual discipline, but I do this weird thing where I don't read my Bible.
So I don't recommend it.
It's not like a pastoral recommendation, but it's what I do to sort of like break that pattern for me because I actually spent a lot of time in the Bible because of preparing sermons plus any personal devotion.
So I sort of do this weird thing where like the first week or 10 days, like I walk a lot and I pray a lot and I read a little devotion, but I sort of don't read my Bible for a little bit of time.
And it's it's so refreshing to miss the Bible.
Like I just love that when I get to the point where then I miss it, and I miss studying it, and I miss preparing in that process of what it does for me.
And so I'm excited to be back because I missed the Bible and I missed that study and getting to talk to you about what I learned during the week.
And so I got back and Sam Rapp assigns me 1 Thessalonians 5.
So welcome back, preach on judgment day.
So there's a great welcome to come home to preach.
Um, I might be a little rusty.
I think I'm sweating more than normal, just to let you know.
Um I might stutter a little bit, there might be some, but we'll we'll work our way through it.
Let's can we pray?
Let's pray real quick.
Um, God, thank you that we get to open up this book.
And uh these people have learned a lot more in the last few weeks than I know about 1 Thessalonians, and so help me as I just come into chapter 5 that your truth would speak more than some opinions I might have.
So forgive me for my bias and forgive me of uh all my shortcomings and uh forgive all of us for the ways that we uh bring all of our uh imperfections of our opinions about really difficult topics like judgment and heaven and hell and eternity.
Um help us to come closer to what your heart is for us and what is true about life and true about um our future.
Uh Lord have mercy on us, especially the one who speaks.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
So, first Thessalonians 5, 1 through 3.
So if you haven't been here, we do the scripture reading, and then as we teach our way through the passage, we'll read it again.
It's good for us.
Uh now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
While people are saying there's peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
So Paul is writing to the church in Thessalonica.
We know the story, Jesus died, he resurrected, he ascended, and there's this promise.
So there's this promise of a return, a redemptive conclusion to the world where all is made right.
And these people, of course, they want to know when.
And they they kind of think it's during their lifetime.
So they're not just longing for that day, they want the control of knowledge, the control of certainty, which we certainly know about that.
And Paul shuts them down.
He just doesn't have room for that way of approaching this topic, right?
Verse 1.
Now, concerning the times and seasons, you have no need.
You just don't have a need for that.
It's not it's not of help to you, is what he's saying.
Now, maybe you've been with someone who's passed away.
Maybe like you were actually there.
And maybe that person was older and it was a sweet moment, even though it was sad and grieving and emotional.
Then maybe the person was younger and it was an incredibly traumatic moment.
But if you've ever been there in that moment, what becomes extremely clear in that moment is they are no longer there.
One moment they're there and their body is there, and then the next moment they exhale.
The body's still there and they're not there.
And maybe you've been there with that person and you've experienced that.
Their soul is gone.
The core of who they are is gone.
And the Bible teaches about a place, heaven, that a place we can't fully understand.
Okay, so let's just go ahead and embrace some mystery here with this.
But it's an existence where there's no fear and there's no tears, where we come into fullness and wholeness and joy.
And this is as Tim Keller he teaches about it.
He he calls it a forever integration of the person.
And the Bible also teaches about hell a disintegration of the person.
C.S.
Lewis interprets all the biblical language on hell.
He says this we must picture hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives the deadly, serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment.
So I think Lewis is saying hell is what we desire when we desire independence from God.
So wanting distance from God is hell.
It's a disintegration of the soul, and we can put the worst words and images on it, and we can still come up short.
Because experiencing a disintegration of the soul, wanting and getting independence from God, that's the worst hell we can imagine.
Now, point number one is this coming into thinking about this church and then wanting to know a time when the return.
Our desire to know the future is a vain reach for control.
So, this idea of the day of the Lord or judgment, this is something that was taught throughout the Old Testament.
A judgment to be prepared for.
And these people wanted the day.
Give me the day, give me the time.
Right?
Because if we know the time in the day, then a lot of other issues don't have to become as important, like faith or mystery.
We can live in certainty, and certainty can be an idol.
The problem with certainty, of course, is that you're never certain enough.
And certainty can become our own false God, our own idol.
Fortunately, faith actually is enough.
I did some research on fear of death this week.
In the medical news today, uh, I learned most of us are afraid of dying.
Okay, so we just go ahead and all join together on that.
Some good news.
Good news coming at you today.
Now we don't think about that, right?
Like we don't sit around thinking about our immortality or our fear of it, like we just kind of entertain ourselves out of that.
I did that yesterday, started my Olympics viewing.
I watched a thrilling handball match.
Didn't know about that, didn't know it was a sport.
Um, tried to figure it out.
And then I flipped over to what my television said equestrian.
So I click over to that.
There's a jockey on a horse in an arena, and you know, it's a horse.
I'm I'm like, man, this horse is about to bust out.
He's gonna run, he's gonna jump some stuff, and and then like the horse starts dancing.
Like, did you see it?
It was it was embarrassed.
Like I was embarrassed for the horse.
Like I couldn't, just a little too much redneck in me.
Like a horse shouldn't do that, like it shouldn't dance.
Like, did some like little prancing footstep, like horse should run, should round a barrel, horse should like jump stuff, like cool stuff, preferably.
So I flip back to the handball match, just entertain myself.
Not I definitely wasn't gonna like think about my fear of dying, right?
Like anything.
I watched handball over doing that.
Now the research also says most of us would rather die than preach a sermon.
So thank you, Brian and uh Brad and uh Sam for the last few weeks uh for facing uh death.
And it also means that you would rather die right now than come up here.
Like that's what it means.
Like right now, you would rather just die.
Just it's all be over than come and do what I'm doing right now.
That's what the research shows, real research.
Uh young people are also uh likely to experience death anxiety as much as elderly.
Didn't see that coming.
But I can remember growing up and being sitting and being in some churches where uh you're kind of beaten up by death, fear of death, heaven, hell, where are you going?
Um like forced to question my faith even after I had faith.
Like it's good to question faith because maybe you don't have faith and you need to place faith in Jesus.
But like forced to question your faith after you have faith, that doesn't even make sense because you're questioning that which you already have, which is a very odd thing to put on people to do.
Um but maybe you've sat in that, like a real like kind of fear-based thing.
It's like, did I really, do I really believe 100%, or is it like 97%?
And can I like make up for that?
Like, did I really surrender?
Or do I need to like really, really surrender?
Or really, really, really surrender?
How many really do we need to do there?
And I take such relief when Jesus says that faith, like a mustard seed, is enough because he's enough for us?
I mean, that's like fresh air to like fear-motivated spirituality.
And so just a little pastor talk here, because maybe you don't go to our church or you're here with somebody else, and very possible you'll end up in another church during your lifetime, and it's not probably won't end up here for the next 50 years.
So just a little pastor talk.
Uh, whether you remain in our church or go somewhere else, uh, if we hear fear motivation enough, we'll eventually be afraid.
But if we hear security in Christ enough, we'll eventually move toward security in Christ and the peace that passes all understanding in him.
I think that's where Paul takes us.
Like even in a passage on judgment, watch where this passage goes.
Listen where Paul takes us as we continue in it.
Now, thinking about heaven, we think about judgment, we're gonna think about heaven, we think about hell, we think about these things.
Uh, what I learned this week is the most common counterpart to heaven in the scriptures is not hell, it's actually earth.
So the words heaven and earth appear together over 200 times in the biblical story in the same verse, because the story from the beginning to the end is one of a good earth that's been torn by the destructive power of sin, death, and hell.
And sin, death, and hell are intruders into God's good world.
And the redemptive story is that God is on a pursuit of his creation, displaying grace and love, and through Christ redeems us back into a new creation where there's no division between earth and heaven.
This is the new creation that the Bible speaks of after our deaths, that God is not just redeeming us to himself, yes, but also redeeming the world for healed souls, healed land, and healed bodies.
Listen to Revelation 21, 1 through 4.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven, and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
Pastor and author Josh Butler, he says this God is on a mission to get the hell out of earth.
Not in a sense to get us the hell out of earth, he's actually on this redemptive mission in Jesus to heal and restore us from the destructive power of sin and death and hell that we've given ourselves over to.
And the good news of the gospel is that Jesus is not sitting there asking, Hey, are you good enough to get into my kingdom?
So Jesus is asking us, the invitation is him asking us, will you let me deliver you from your sin, from your moralism, from trying to be good enough or have enough faith?
Will you just place faith in me?
Have relationship with me.
The gospel declares us good and righteous and beloved based on his work for us on the cross, not our word for him.
Then we become places where heaven and earth are reconciled, right?
We become, as the scriptures talk about, temples and ambassadors of good and holy.
And that brings us back to Thessalonians 5.
Because Paul responds to this question about time, and he takes it to the issue of your identity.
They want to know times, and he wants to talk about whose they are.
1 Thessalonians 5, 4 and 5.
This is the response.
But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
So first he says, hey, there's no need for you to know what day.
And by the way, let's talk about who you are.
You're not in darkness.
For that day to surprise you like a thief, for you are all children of light, children of the day.
We are not of the night or of the darkness.
So point number two is this living in this world and for the next world always begins with our identity in Christ.
Paul is telling them who they are.
He corrects them into their identity.
Priest and author Robert Capin, he says this.
He, Christ, is the love that will not let us go.
If anybody can sort it all out, he can.
Trust him, therefore, and trust him now.
There's nothing more to do.
Capin also says this: nobody goes to hell because he has a rotten track record in the world any more than anyone goes to heaven because he has a good one.
Both heaven and hell are populated entirely and only by forgiven sinners.
Hell is just a courtesy for those who insist they want no part of forgiveness.
See, it's the relationship with Christ, taking part in that which God has already earned for us, placing faith in Him.
That's such relieving news that heaven is not our goodness.
The judgment is not our goodness.
That's Christ's goodness for us.
Verses 6 through 11.
Because of all that, they have this question about certainty and the time of judgment, and how it's going to work out.
And Paul's like, ah, let's just talk about who you are.
Verse 6.
So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.
For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.
But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love.
And for a helmet the hope of salvation.
For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with Him.
Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you're doing.
So point number three is this being in the light is to be people of secure identity in Christ and ongoing encouragement to others.
Verse 6, so then, right?
So it builds off of one through five.
The passage is this perfect illustration of what we talk about in our church that the imperatives, what we should do as Christians, are rooted in and come out of the indicatives who we are.
It's indicated to us we're the children of light because of Christ.
And because of that, hey, here's what you should do: live in encouragement to others.
Now, a drunk person or a sleeping person has no awareness.
Right?
No awareness to reality.
Have you ever been around somebody who's had too much to drink?
They think they're a little funnier than they are.
They think they're smarter than they are.
Like their opinions all of a sudden have a lot more weight and validation.
They think they're better looking than they are.
You can stop nudging each other at this point.
That's just what happens when we have too much to drink, much less if you go all the way into drunkenness.
Just not aware.
Right?
Just awareness is gone.
Disillusioned, disillusioned to reality until the next morning.
And Paul calls us, he uses that illustration, that metaphor, to say, hey, live in as much awareness as possible to what is true.
About your identity as children of light.
About your need of Christ, about our hope in heaven and how that is sealed in Christ and not ourselves.
And then Paul takes us, because of that, verse 11.
Because of all that good news.
Verse 11.
And I read it this week, worded as live in mutual uplifting to one another.
That we would all just be trying to uplift each other in encouragement and care.
Here's the incredible news for those who trust in Jesus.
The news is this there's no fear in judgment.
And there's no fear in death.
Now you may feel fear or have some fear, but you don't have to.
You don't have to.
Not if you've trust in Jesus.
There's only security and peace and joy and worship for you to move toward.
Because any and all judgment due on you and me for sin or rebellion or recklessness or religious kind of like pride and all that, like whether you're reckless or religious, whatever you are, all of that, all that imperfection, it's already been judged.
It's already been judged in Jesus.
You've already been judged.
So your judgment is secure.
My judgment is secure.
And that's the good news for this morning.
That we get to joyfully worship in our judgment.
Because our judgment is secure in Jesus.
That we are his beloved, righteous children who he has affection and acceptance for.
Let's pray together.
God, thank you.
That in your grace to us, we are fully enough for you.
That all sins are forgiven.
All imperfections forgiven, forgotten, and we are fully righteous.
More righteous than we could ever imagine, as righteous as you are yourself in Christ.
Thank you for the secure standing we have, that we have a secure judgment.
Not one with fear, but one filled with joy and celebration and worship.
That as we trust in Christ, we have a peace that passes all understanding when it comes to thinking about the mystery of the unknown after death.
That is not based on our record, it's not based on our ability to overcome the recklessness we lived in or how good we are in our religious manners, but it's based in your work for us, your goodness, your righteousness, the work of the cross, where our sin is taken care of, and we are declared holy and righteous forever.
In Christ's name we pray.
Amen.