Eager for the baby...

Peace and Security for Children of the Day

(1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, November 17, 2013)

[5:1] Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. [2] For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. [3] While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

There are many who do not take seriously the promise of a coming resurrection age with the return of Christ and all of the heavenly host of people and angels. This question of the coming resurrection age is not some small matter that we can safely ignore. The announcement of a coming new world secured by the blood of Christ is the message of the Bible. The future resurrection age was the hope of Israel and the hope of the entire Old Testament. The message of the resurrection was what Paul preached when He went to Thessalonica. Many think that it is extreme or unstable to have daily thoughts about the Lord's return. Paul was not among them.

For those who live moment by moment in hope of that Day, it is natural for us to wonder when this will take place. The apostle provides us with important instruction on this question. He says that for the world in general, this expected day of the Lord will be a day of judgment that will take them very much by surprise, like a thief in the night. (See also Matthew 24:43) While people are living in what they consider to be peace and security, suddenly the signs of Christ's return will be felt by them like a woman feels serious labor pains and knows that she is ready to give birth. Imagine a situation where a woman has an unwanted pregnancy and she convinces herself that she is not pregnant at all. Then suddenly she has hard labor pains and is forced to admit her true situation in despair. That is the illustration used by both Paul and Jesus about the resurrection-challenged who seem to have a mental block about the coming Day of the Lord.

[4] But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. [5] For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. [6] So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. [7] For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. [8] 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.

We who live in the light of the Lord are looking forward to the arrival of the new world like a mother is eager to greet the baby that has been moving within her. Yes, the onset of labor pains still signal trouble, but beyond the pain is the joy of new life. The children of the darkness imagine that they have peace and security without any need for a redeemer to solve the problem of sin for them. We are not deluding ourselves that way. We have received the Redeemer. We have a true basis for our eternal peace and security in Jesus.

Because of Jesus we live in joyful hope of the coming resurrection. Even now we are engaged in all kinds of works that will find their fulfillment in God's new creation. Others might receive the Day of the Lord as a shock, since they were trying to avoid something. We greet the day with hope as those who have heard the words of 1 Peter 4:7-8, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

We are children of the Day. The Day of the Lord should not be a shocking thought to those who celebrate the Lord's Day every week by gathering together for worship. Let others drink or sleep away their lives. We are soldiers of the Lord who want to stay awake. We have a mission to accomplish. We have the armor of God, and we are working for the King.

The future day of salvation protects our thinking. The faith that we sing about together and that is expressed in our commitments of love guards our heart.

[9] For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, [10] who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. [11] Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.Our destiny together is not God's anger, but the salvation that will come to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. The world was made through Him, and He entered into the world to bring salvation through His blood. Through His resurrection a new world beyond sin and death has already begun. That new world has been planted in us by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and we are eager to see the fullness come of what we have just begun to taste.

Jesus died for us, therefore we do not need to live in fear of death—our death or the death of others who die in the Lord. Whether we live or die, we live with Him. We are not trying to deny this pregnancy. We want to feel the baby move and we are looking toward the coming day of birth, trusting that God knows exactly the right time to bring that effectual pain that will signal the full birth of a new world.

We can be honest about our hopes. We can speak about these matters with each other. Yes, we wonder when this new baby will be born as any mother would, but we are not in a panic. Something new and strong is already alive within us and we are glad. We do not need to engage in escapist behavior in order to avoid the future.

Yet many are stuck in patterns of drinking, sleeping, and more. So many are filling their minds with what will never really work as a way of escape from the pain and boredom of daily life.

Paul, Peter, and Jesus all make a striking connection between drunkenness and denial of the return of the Master. Luke 21 is all about the Day of the Lord, and Jesus says in Luke 21:34, “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.” We have already seen that Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:7 that “the end of all things is at hand.” Just prior to that in 1 Peter 4:3 he writes, “For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.” This same connection between mindless escapism and the day of the Lord is in the Old Testament prophets.

Do you want to just escape? What is your behavior of choice to bring that about? Do you see that some forms of escape only lead to more pain? Why not give some serious consideration to the coming Day of the Lord instead?

It is not inherently unstable to think about heaven and Christ's return. The danger that the Bible warns us about is our self-medicating to avoid thinking forthrightly about the coming Day of the Lord. We should be seeking God for the arrival of that Day. We should join the Apostle John in the last words of the Bible from Revelation 22:20-21, “He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.”

But when will that Day dawn,

When will the faith be sight,

For soldiers of our risen Lord,

The children of the light?