1 SERMON: "PRISONERS OF HOPE" SCRIPTURE: 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18 DATE: NOVEMBER 16, 2014 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NIV) 13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. A tourist driving through West Texas stopped at a gas station and observed a piece of rope dangling from a sign labelled "Weather Forecaster." "How can you possibly tell the weather with a piece of rope?" the tourist wanted to know. "It's simple, sonny," was the droll answer. "When the rope swings back and forth, it's windy, when it gets wet, it's raining, when it s frozen stiff, it's snowing, and when it's gone...tornado!" Fourteen years ago, in some Christian circles, there was a great deal of chatter that predicted the Second Coming of Christ at the turn of the century. As we all know---it didn t happen!
2 In some ways the forecasting of Christ's return borders on the silliness of the Texas Weather Forecaster. A few years ago London's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported a new webcam had been set up to show pictures on the Internet. Twenty four hours a day one can go to a site and see what is happening at the Eastern gate of Jerusalem. The purpose of the camera is to take a picture of Christ when He returns. The camera is called the Messiahcam. Many people who hear such things become fearful. The idea of Christ's return, and with that the end of the world, fill lots of people with deep anxiety and dread. We don't want the world to end. Two thousand years ago the Christians of the early Church saw things with completely different eyes. It would appear that many in the early Church, including the Apostle Paul, expected Christ's return to take place within their generation. They thought that those who had seen and heard the Lord when He was alive on earth would see Him come back. Their view of the Second Coming was filled with hopeful expectation. It couldn't come soon enough. It was something to really look forward to. They would see the Lord again. Their sufferings, in the midst of the trials and tribulations of this world, would soon be over. One of the favourite expressions in the early Church was "Marantha which means Come Lord Jesus, Come!" Things have certainly changed in 2000 years, as they are apt to do. The early Church assumed that Christ would return when they were alive. Today, we assume He won't. Our society has become used to living without reference to Christ's return. It will happen but it's already been so long, surely it will be a lot longer still. We don't usually think about it---until something like the year 2000 brings out the
3 headlines and prophecies that shake up our settled assumptions or some televangelists start beating the drums to get more people on board with their ministries. Our Scripture lesson, written at a time when Christ's return was considered imminent, has important things to say to we who are uncertain about God's timetable. Paul wrote to the Church at Thessalonica to offer them comfort and hope around this issue. They had become fearful, but not for the same reasons we moderns worry. The Thessalonians looked forward to Christ's return but He hadn't arrived as anticipated. Worse than that, members of their small, very close Christian community had died. This shocked them. They expected everyone to be alive to greet the Lord again. They were distraught over the loss of loved ones and friends and worried about whether their deaths would mean their loved ones would somehow miss out when Jesus arrived in majesty and triumph. It was a fear, not of Christ's return, but of who might miss it. Paul sought to speak to their concerns: Verse 13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. Paul sought to offer them hope---a unique hope---christian hope. Simply put, Paul told them that when Christ returned those who had died would not miss out in anything, in any way. Those who were alive, at the time, wouldn't have any advantage. As Jesus had been
4 resurrected to new and eternal life, so would all who had died in His name. Christians who had died would be reunited with their loved ones and friends. They would all share in the joy of being with the Lord. The Second Coming would bring about a reunion with others and with Christ. There was nothing to fear. Bearing this good news, Paul told the Thessalonians to encourage one another as he had offered encouragement to them. Today, whenever the Second Coming makes the news, we sometimes have fears and concerns---but they don't relate to those who have died before us. We are used to that. Our concerns relate to anxiety about our own lives. Paul's encouragement speaks to us as well, even though 2000 years of circumstances have changed. Paul's encouraging message to the Christians at Thessalonica had to do with hope. Hope based upon the power and faithfulness of God. The Lord has promised new and eternal life with our loved ones in His full and wondrous presence. This was the promise that came true to the believers in Thessalonica. This is the promise that stands firm for us. When the Lord returns a whole new existence will be realized for our world and for us. This earth will pass away and a new earth will come into being. Ultimate truth will be seen and ultimate justice will be delivered. There will be the promised reunion of all believers with the Lord.
5 In that sense the Second Coming is not to be feared. It will bring us to a new life that will make this one pale by comparison. In the meantime we, who live and die before the Lord's return, still have the promise of heaven after death. We, like all those believers in Thessalonica, who didn't see what they expected by way of a Second Coming---we still have the knowledge that, after death, we will be with our loved ones and the Lord. There will be more to come when time and history are all wrapped up but either way---whether we die before or live until the Second Coming, we win! There is absolutely nothing to fear in death or in Christ's return. In an interview with Christianity Today (October 5, 1992), Desmond Tutu, 1986 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, was asked if he was hopeful about the future. "I am always hopeful," he replied. "A Christian is a prisoner of hope. What could have looked more hopeless than Good Friday? There is no situation from which God cannot extract good. Evil, death, oppression, injustice---these can never again have the last word, despite all appearances to the contrary." "A Christian is a prisoner of hope." What a remarkably special and moving way of putting it! A woman was diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. As she was getting her things in order, she contacted her pastor and asked him to come to her house to discuss
6 some of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at her funeral service, what Scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. She requested to be buried with her favourite Bible. As the pastor prepared to leave, the woman suddenly remembered something else. "There's one more thing," she said excitedly. "What's that?" said the pastor. "This is important," the woman said. "I want to be buried holding a fork in my right hand." The pastor stood looking at the woman, not knowing quite what to say. The woman explained. "In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork.' It was my favourite part of the meal because I knew something better was coming---like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. "So, when people see me in that casket with a fork in my hand and they ask, 'What's with the fork?' I want you to tell them: 'Keep your fork. The best is yet to come!'" The best is yet to come because we are prisoners of hope. I suspect that the Second Coming is still a long ways off. I suspect that eventually we will all be part of the group Paul speaks of as falling asleep as the world continues on for many more generations. If I am correct we will have every right to be buried with that fork. And, if I am wrong and the Lord returns before we die---we will greet the Lord as prisoners of hope---that same fork in hand. (1463) The Rev. Dennis Cook, St. Timothy s Presbyterian Church, Ajax, ON, Canada