Those fulfillments seem to span before, during, & after the Tribulation period & before, during & after the millennium.

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1 Knowing Jesus Still Matters 1 st Thessalonians /14/2014 Copyright by Mark Vaughan 12/2014 Keywords end times, day of the Lord, Rapture, love, relationships As I ve mentioned over the past few weeks, I m striving to give you a quick, general overview of Paul s letter we call 1 st Thessalonians. It s hard to skip over details to breeze through chunks of truth to help you see the big picture & the broad applications. It was particularly overwhelming this week to try to squeeze in what I wanted to say about 1 st Thessalonians 4-5. I chose to overview 1 st Thessalonians because I wanted to remind you of the future promises in chapters 4-5. We need to see the timeliness of these truths for the hopeless grieving of lost souls & the obsession with peace & security in this present life. And I do appreciate your prayers as I dive into the final book of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, for our next series. In preparing for that study, I thought a quick refresher on the Rapture of the church be profitable since Revelation barely mentions it. If you ve read our doctrinal statement, you may recall that we teach a Pretribulational Rapture as the best way to understand all the prophetic passages & to answer questions & objections. That means we teach that there will be a future 7-year tribulation period spoken of in Revelation & in Daniel & generally described in OT & NT passages on the judgments of the Day of the Lord. Before that Tribulation period, Jesus will return for His church to rapture or catch us up to Him & remove us from the earth. That s the first phase of the future resurrection & other future prophecies that seem to have fulfillments stretched over future phases. Those fulfillments seem to span before, during, & after the Tribulation period & before, during & after the millennium. The millennium is the future 1000-year presence of Jesus Christ in His resurrected body on earth with His resurrected saints ruling with Him. As we saw in our recent study of Malachi, prophecies often have both near & far fulfillments. We saw that with the promises of Elijah s coming that pointed both to John the Baptist & also to another future Elijah. Christ s 1 st Coming & 2 nd Coming are often bunched together in texts that looked far off into the future. And that can also be true in NT prophetic passages where faithful Christians may disagree about the timing of future events like the Rapture of the Church. So today my goal is not to give you an extensive theological explanation of that topic or a thorough defense of what we teach, but merely to expose you to a chapter that mentions it. And I want to set a tone for how we think about eschatology, which is the study of end times. The tone the Scriptures set for our future is exuberant hope with passionate holiness & serious purpose. The reason for teaching about end times is never to win time-chart arguments nor is it to speculate endlessly to decipher current events. God tells us enough about the future to show us how to live in light of it, but His goal is always transformation. So as we overview 1 st Thessalonians 4-5, our goal is transformation in response under the title that Knowing Jesus Still Matters. 1

2 As we approach the celebration of Jesus birth because that s what Christmas Day marks we need to be reminded that Jesus coming really did matter & still does matter. Even though Christmas celebration is now clouded in a vague holiday terminology for a whole month of shopping & winter break, we can still seize this month to talk about Jesus. We can still ask others what they are doing for Christmas as a way to start conversations about the difference Jesus makes. The truth of Christ s 1 st Coming to earth leads to mention of His 2 nd Coming & the stages of that coming foretold in 1 st Thessalonians 4-5 have a profound impact on us. To start us moving toward those truths, turn with me to 1 st Thessalonians 4 & let s start reading. As you are turning there, I want to challenge you to really ask yourself if your claim to know Jesus really does matter. Some of you know the right answers about Jesus & Christianity but I challenge you to ask if it makes a difference in your life. Do you really know Jesus? If so, how does it show? How does it show in your decision making & in your ups & downs & in your fears & passions? I pray our look at 1 st Thessalonians 4-5 will help you answer those questions in ways that comfort & encourage & challenge & maybe even save you today by God s grace. We re going to make 4 broad applications of how knowing Jesus still matters as we overview 1 st Thessalonians 4-5. Read with me in 1 st Thessalonians 4:1 to get started. [READ] Recall from last time how Paul outlined this letter with thanksgiving followed by defense of his concern for them & expression of his love & his reasons for writing. Then chapters 4-5 are the final section of exhortations & explanations on various topics where this church needed help. The overall purpose of what Paul was going to teach them was that they would excel still more in their walk with God. That would happen as they responded to God s revealed will from His Word that He gave through Paul & all of Scripture. Read verses 2-3 next to see that. [READ] As a 1 st general application from the 1 st half of chapter 4, note how knowing Jesus gives clear direction for life. Point #1 knowing Jesus gives clear direction for life. Knowing Jesus still matters today because, #1, knowing Jesus gives clear direction for life. These Thessalonians were Christians, established by faith in Christ as those who knew Jesus though they had not seen Him. The influence of that relationship with Jesus had lasting effects because it meant they had clear authority over their lives. That authority from Jesus came through His Word in Scripture & in the writings of the Apostles of that time like Paul was doing here. So in verse 1 they were exhorted in the Lord Jesus & verse 2 couched commands to them by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 2

3 Then verse 3 made clear God s will for their lives. We don t have to wonder what God s will for us is He has revealed it in His Word. We can t know the specific plans He has for our future & He has never told us to try to figure out the future in making decisions. That is so freeing & so different from mystical pursuits of seeking to know the future before we make decisions in life. God s planned will is what He planned to do in eternity past & He will do that & He doesn t tell us ahead of time the specifics of that. What He wants us to focus on is His prescribed will His prescriptions for how to live which He gave in His Word. We don t need to read tea leaves or throw out fleeces or seek any other spiritualized methods to know the future when God has given enough in His Word to direct us into the purposeful freedom He intends. He has given enough clear commands & instructions & principles for life to guide us in His revealed will in His Word. That is stated generally in verse 3 for Christians as our sanctification, our continually & increasingly being set apart to God for holy living. Sanctification is that process of becoming more conformed to God s ways, of growing more like Christ. That follows & flows from first becoming right with God by His grace through faith in what Jesus has already done for us. We cannot make ourselves holier or like Jesus to get to God. We can only become right with God by trusting in what Jesus has done in His perfect life & His sacrificial death & His victorious resurrection. Then with that right relationship with God in Christ, we begin to live His will & we grow in holiness to be more like Christ. That post-salvation growth process is summed up as sanctification. And that s how knowing Jesus gives clear direction for life. If you know Jesus, you have a book that reveals what you need to know about God & yourself & others & relationships & priorities & decisions & much more. You have clear direction for life & what to live for. Most basically that includes turning from self-trust & sin to faith in Jesus Christ & then following Him by faith to become more like Him. Paul defined sanctification in the specific area of purity next in 1 st Thessalonians 4 so now read verses 4-8. [READ] Abstaining or fleeing or keeping away from sexual immorality involves more than merely running from it. It involves understanding how to manage your body in a way that is honorable & pure & self-controlled. It also involves understanding how sexual sins steal the purity & privacy of individuals & marriage partners. If you sin sexually by pornography or physical action, you steal what only rightly belongs in the private pleasures of marriage. In fact, a possible interpretation of the vessel in verse 4 can be a man s wife as a married couple properly cares for & enjoys each other. God takes marital intimacy seriously & He wants it protected with purity & not publicly paraded with immodesty or lust or the immorality & abuse that are rampant in our culture. 3

4 That gives clear direction for how we think about our bodies & how we dress & carry ourselves & relate to others. And God is clear & serious about this because to reject this, verse 8 says, is to reject the God who gives His Holy Spirit. So don t listen to the voices of our times that say purity is no big deal. Knowing Jesus still matters in His clear direction for life. Read verses 9-12 to see more clear direction. [READ] Knowing Jesus influences our love for other Christians & the way the Spirit awakens that supernaturally in our hearts. Knowing Jesus also influences our work life & priorities & providing for our own needs & having a good testimony with unbelievers. That small, simple section of commands could do wonders for clarifying how Christians live & for cleaning up the testimony of Christ in our culture. So we dare not overlook or under-appreciate such basic faithfulness in the normal habits & marriages & jobs & ministries of many of you. I ll let that suffice for explanation & simply repeat my 1 st overall point that knowing Jesus gives clear direction for life. I thank God for how knowing Jesus matters in so many of your lives & as we breeze over these truths, I urge you to excel still more. 2 nd ly note that knowing Jesus gives comforting hope for death. Point #2, knowing Jesus gives comforting hope for death. When Christians face death for themselves or for other Christians, we have a totally different perspective & response. We can have hope & even joy in grieving the sorrow of losing a loved one when we know they knew Jesus. Read Paul s point on that in 1 st Thessalonians 4: [READ] This is one of the clearest NT passages describing the Rapture, which is a word taken from the Latin word for being caught up in verse 17. The term in the original Greek gives a picture of being seized by Christ, brought up to meet Him in the air somehow. It s Jesus welcome of His church into glorified presence with Him. This section only mentions those in Christ, believers who know Jesus, whether they had already died or they were still alive. Sleep here is a metaphor for death & the point is that all who knew Christ in life will be welcomed to Christ at the Rapture. And this section is bracketed by verse 13 & verse 18 both mentioning the purpose of hope & comfort. What we re to take away is first the hope & comfort this section gives when a Christian passes from this life. We gain perspective on death as only a temporary separation of Christians until we all meet the Lord again in the Rapture. Dying first will lead to rising first for those who died knowing Christ. This will be a Rapture of the church, a first phase of the future resurrection of all people into bodies for their eternal destiny. Unbelievers will be raised later than this in a resurrection of judgment that is distinct & separate from this special reunion of believers. This passage s focus only on believers being raised to Jesus is one of the reasons supporting a Pretribulational Rapture. 4

5 And again, that means this Rapture, or taking up of the church, is before the times of greater judgment on earth called the Tribulation. This is certainly a picture & promise distinctly for Christians whether they were alive in Paul s time & are still alive today. Paul was expecting & teaching that Christ could come at any moment to receive these believers to Himself. That further instructs us that the Rapture can come at any time whereas the Tribulation will have clear signs & judgments taking place within that time. So Christ s imminent coming for the church seems to precede, or come before, the Tribulation & the events prophesied to happen during the Tribulation in numerous OT & NT prophetic texts. That expectancy from Acts 1 to Revelation 22 that indicates the NT writers thought Christ could return at any minute also lends support to us expecting a Pretribulational Rapture. And again, recall the purpose of knowing these truths they are further proof that knowing Jesus still matters today. If you ve traveled to different cultures or attended unbeliever s funerals in this culture, you can surely see a difference between those who have comfort & hope & those who don t. For Christians who know that death is not the final victor, we can view it as temporary & only pointing to a better triumph. Point #2 knowing Jesus gives comforting hope for death. Now let s move into chapter 5 to find a 3 rd point that knowing Jesus gives convicting purpose for the future. #3 knowing Jesus gives convicting purpose for the future. Not only does knowing Jesus give clear direction for life & give comforting hope for death, but knowing Jesus also gives convicting purpose for the future as we ponder it & live in light of it. Read 1 st Thessalonians 5:1 to start seeing that. [READ] As you may recall from last week, the words that start this verse peri de in the Greek, now concerning or now as to in English are the marker for another of the issues Timothy had reported to Paul about. So this is another area where Paul was answering a question or addressing an uncertainty that this local church had. That s important to see because it is a separate issue distinct from the question of Christians who died & the promise of the Rapture. Chapter 5 moves on to address the times & epochs or seasons, which refer to future events & how they flow. But it s interesting how Paul contrasted blind surprise by unbelievers on the day of the Lord with readiness by believers for what s ahead. Read 1 st Thessalonians 5:2-11. [READ] A thief comes in the night so that he is not expected & that s the way the Day of the Lord will come with judgment on the earth. The Day of the Lord is a phrase used in the OT to describe God coming most often to bring wrath. And that s how it s adapted into NT use as well as it looks forward especially to a time of cataclysmic earthly judgment from God. Like those judged by the flood of Noah s day, unbelievers will not be ready for the future judgment because they will be living to secure peace & safety in this present life. 5

6 1 st & 2 nd Peter repeat Jesus own warnings not to be surprised by trials & troubles in this life though repeatedly they said that unbelievers sadly will be surprised because of their unbelief. But it should not be that way for believers who know Jesus. Jesus promised that in this world we would have trials & the whole of Scripture repeatedly prepares us for suffering. But unbelievers chase a dream of peace & security in life on this earth & that is nice because we don t want war & danger. But as Christians we should realistically know that we live in a fallen, sinful world & part of the curse on sin is the selfishness & wickedness of every heart such that trouble is part of the human experience. So our ultimate rest of peace & security is only found surely with Christ in His promises for a new heavens & new earth. That means we live toward that final home, with serious readiness for Christ s return with faith & love & hope from our salvation. As believers who know Jesus, verse 9 reminds us that we were not destined by God to face wrath from His hand. So we re looking forward to being saved from the final wrath to come. And verse 9 may also include reference to being saved from the earthly wrath of the Tribulation period. The impact of these future promises is to bring us mutual encouragement & edification as fellow Christians. Verse 11 brings that convicting purpose for the future into view in relationship with other believers. When we know the future realities of the Rapture & earthly judgments & of heaven & hell, we should be motivated to seek to win the lost & to strengthen the saved. What difference would it make in the things we do each day if we really believed that Jesus could come back that day, today even? What conversations would you have & what people would you pursue if you knew you only had a month left to live? In those ways & more, 1 st Thessalonians 5:1-11 show us how knowing Jesus gives convicting purpose for the future. Knowing Jesus gives (1) clear direction for life, (2) comforting hope for death, & (3) convicting purpose for the future. Now consider 4 th ly & lastly that knowing Jesus gives character commands for everything. #4 knowing Jesus gives character commands for everything. That s a broad way of describing the truths of 1 st Thessalonians 5:12-28 as they address relationships with church leaders & fellow church members & with unbelievers & with God & His Spirit. This last section gives commands for Christian character in difficulties & literally in all things always. Follow along with me as I read 1 st Thessalonians 5: [READ] Rebellion & disrespect & secrecy & deceit are the natural bent of the human heart & they are often accepted as cool & normal. But verses teach that knowing Jesus changes that. In contrast, the warnings of verses 2-3 for unbelievers should convict us with the purpose of warning them. Such evils are replaced by love & honesty & appreciation & honor for those in spiritual authority over us. 6

7 Similarly, gossip & slander & grumbling & clamor are the natural bent of the heart & the accepted norm of our day. But verses teach that knowing Jesus changes all that. Such evils are replaced by peace in relationships & dealing directly with problems & encouraging comfort & timely help, all with patience & goodness, not vengeance. So in everything we face with other people, we have biblical commands that shape how we are to respond. We may think the Bible doesn t say anything about the kind of people we have to deal with or the unique problems of our times, but in fact God s Word is always freshly applicable. Read verses for more such commands. [READ] Always, unceasingly, in everything, we have at least 3 clear commands rejoice, pray & give thanks. And we also always depend on the Spirit s rule discerned by His Word to determine what is good & what is evil so that we can respond accordingly. Paul knew that we would face difficult people & difficult circumstances & he had faced far worse than we have. So his words were not pie in the sky, unrealistic expectations. They were applications he had made in real experiences like being in jail yet singing songs of praise to God. He could ve brewed over injustices or plotted revenge, but Acts 16 describes Paul & Silas as joyful in jail as they waited for God s next opportunity for ministry with the jailer. Much of that flowed from a heart rooted in prayer as another attitude & discipline for every situation. Prayer is what we find him closing with in verses Read 1 st Thessalonians 5:23-28 to see that ending. [READ] Notice how Paul prayed the promises of God back to God. He appealed to God to preserve the Thessalonians in the faith because God was faithful to keep His promises to do so. God s sure plans were reason to pray, not excuses to skip it. So he prayed God s promises & plans back in requests to God in dependence on God with expectation of grace from God. Then he asked for prayer from others for himself & he closed with a wish of prayer for God s grace toward them. And in the midst of that, he encouraged the affection appropriate in relationships within God s family as we greet one another. We could expand on each of those verses in more detail, but overall they direct us in how to respond in a far-reaching variety of circumstances with a wide range of people. So suffice it to say from verses that knowing Jesus gives character commands for everything. These commands are the response called for from those who know Jesus, who have turned from self to follow Him by faith. We don t have to be like the confused world chasing after definition of who we are & what cause we should attach ourselves to. We don t have to waste away in empty pursuits with no meaning in life & nothing that will last beyond our days. 7

8 In knowing Jesus, we have a lasting purpose because know the eternally lasting Person of God who has come to rescue sinners. He came as a baby to show His humanity like us, then lived perfectly to show He was so unlike us in our sinfulness. Yet He died for us to pay the penalty for our sins if we trust Him. So trust Him & find life in Him. Find that knowing Jesus gives (1) clear direction for life, (2) comforting hope for death, (3) convicting purpose for the future, & (4) character commands for everything. Don t be confused or lost or purposeless or hopeless anymore. Find eternal life in Jesus Christ & live with all the hope-filled clarity of reasons for living that we enjoy in Him. Be encouraged that knowing Jesus still does matter. I thank God for the ways knowing Him obviously matters in you. Pray with me that we will all excel still more in following Him. 8