Faithfull Encourage and Edify One Another (pt. A)

Date: April 24, 2022

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Theme: Faithfully Encourage and Edify One Another

Introduction: We have this week and next still in 1 Thessalonians and it has been such an encouragement to faithfulness. We’ve see how the Thessalonian church was used be God to be an example of faithfulness, how Paul faithfully served the Thessalonian church, and how the Lord’s sovereignty in our lives prompts us to be faithful. In the last two chapters of 1 Thessalonians, Paul gives some specific examples of what faithful living is going to look like. Today, I want for us to consider our need to Faithfully Encourage and Edify One Another.

Faithfully Encourage and Edify one another concerning the Day of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3)

The phrase “the times and the epochs” is associated with the “day of the Lord” as we see in v. 2 (v. 1).

This phrase refers to those events and circumstances that would precede the Day of the Lord and indicate its nearness.

Given Paul’s reference to ‘have no need of anything to be written to you’, Paul does not intend to rehearse these events.

Instead, Paul wants to elaborate on what will occur during this event.

First, Paul identifies that this Day of the Lord will come unexpectedly (v. 2).

What would prompt a thief to choose to undertake their activity at night?

At night, the normal expectation is that one is asleep.

Therefore, one’s expectation concerns rest, instead of being on the alert for danger.

We’re drawn to conclude that all expectations of this period leading up to the Day of the Lord will be unexpected by those that will go through this event.

Keep in mind that this does not refer to the Thessalonian believers or believers in general.

Why?

Because Paul already identified that the Thessalonians already knew full well.

This does not mean that believers know when.

However, we have God’s Word and His Spirit to understand that it is coming and, therefore, we expect it.

Also, we see the evidence in v. 3 of just how caught off guard everyone will be.

Who is speaking here?

‘They’

Paul is pointing to others outside of both himself and all believers (BKC).

Thus, this is a good argument that believers will not experience the circumstances of this event that he is referring to.

What is it that ‘they’ are saying?

Peace and safety.

Think about how radical a statement this is.

Has there ever really been a time when, generally speaking, there was actual peace around the world?

‘Safety’ gives the impression of security, that their positions and welfare are fixed.

How did this come to this observation?

They are the ones who made it.

Therefore it’s implied that they are trusting in their own observations.

Additionally, Paul identifies that it will come destructively.

Paul also notes that it will come suddenly.

Moreover, Paul highlights that it will come painfully.

Finally, Paul observes that it will be a day from which it is impossible to escape.

What is the purpose of the Day of the Lord?

That God would pour out His wrath on sin during the Tribulation.

Therefore, sin prompts the Day of the Lord.

Transition: The picture that we get concerning the Day of the Lord is pretty terrible for those that will undergo it. The question then becomes, how do we live in light of this news?

Faithfully Encourage and Edify one another to be alert and sober (1 Thessalonians 5:4-11)

We do this because we are ‘brethren’ or part of God’s family (v. 4).

Paul uses this term 19 times in total in 1 Thessalonians.

We read in 1 Thessalonians 1 how their status as part of God’s family came about (1:4).

God made this choice.

Therefore, God adopted them and all believers into His family.

We are further prompted to reflect on the graciousness of God’s act for, in reality, we deserve to face God’s wrath in the Day of the Lord.

Because believers are part of God’s family, that means they are now distinct from those in darkness (v. 4).

This can mean that the Thessalonian believers and all believers have understanding from God’s Word, they are not in the dark in the sense that they are not in the know about the Day of the Lord (BKC).

However, it more specifically means that they are not part of the group who would experience the Day of the Lord.

This is particularly significant in light of the additional reference to a thief.

This reference to a thief recalls the unexpected nature of the Day of the Lord for those that would undergo all that it entails in terms of judgment and destruction from God’s wrath against sin.

Therefore, those in darkness are those who undergo God’s wrath on account of their sin during the Day of the Lord in the Tribulation.

Notice that Paul uses the phrase ‘overtake’ in reference to how consuming this day will be.

This phrase is employed in Mark 9:18 to refer to when a demon completely seized a boy.

He was no longer in control of himself.

He could not prevent the negative things that would occur: being thrown in the fire, foaming at the mouth, etc.

Thus, the phrase implies what Paul had alluded to earlier in that no one will be able to escape.

Paul increases the distance between these groups by identifying believers as both ‘sons of light and sons of day’ (v. 5a).

The former phrase is used in John 12:36.

The emphasis here concerns belief in Christ so as to become ‘sons of light’.

Thus, this emphasis further points here to one’s relationship to Jesus Christ by faith.

In other words, ‘sons of light’ is something that one becomes by faith in Christ, not on account of anything that they have done.

Relatedly, light allows us to see things more clearly than if it were dark, so it also emphasizes the understanding of these events that one receives from the Lord (BKC).

In contrast to the phrase that follows ‘of night nor of darkness’, several further ideas surface (v. 5b).

Day implies the warmth of the sun and calls attention to the warmth of being in relationship to the Lord (BKC).

On the other hand, night is generally, though not always, associated with cold and underscores the undesirable nature of being out of relationship with the Lord, specifically in light of God’s wrath.

Day further alludes to the growth that is associated with plant life receiving sunlight and emphasizes how life and growth both come from the Lord in relationship to Him (BKC).

With the divide between both of these groups, Paul encourages us that we should be acting in certain ways instead.

Paul identifies that we should not sleep (v. 6).

While Paul has used sleep terminology before, specifically as a euphemism for death, he uses an entirely different term here.

Thus, Paul is not referring to death.

Instead, he’s referring to a sinfully lethargic attitude towards spiritual things (BKC).

This becomes clearer in light of v. 7.

Herein, Paul associates sleeping with ‘night’.

Paul has already referenced ‘night’ in the sense of those who are without Christ, still in their sin, and therefore subject to God’s wrath.

So what does this look like?

In light of the context, we don’t live our lives in light of the fact that the Day of the Lord is coming.

Remember, 1 Thessalonians 1:10 reminds us that we are anticipating the Lord’s return before the Day of the Lord.

Therefore, we should be living in a way that we recognize that every moment brings us closer to these events.

Notice as well another characteristic of this spiritual lethargy as implied by v. 7.

In the reference to drunkenness, in the most general sense, people get drunk because they want to.

In other words, Paul’s reference calls attention to being controlled by sinful desires.

This is a characteristic of those that are of the night and will experience God’s destruction in the Day of the Lord.

Instead, we are to be both ‘alert and sober’ (v. 6b).

When looking at v. 8, what kind of a person would traditionally use both a breastplate and a helmet?

A soldier

What is it that soldiers use these elements for?

War

Paul is implying then that this business of battling spiritual lethargy and our own sinful desires is a matter of spiritual warfare (BKC).

Consider, both of these tools are generally meant to provide protection.

Hence, these are to help protect us from spiritual lethargy and being controlled by our desires.

This breastplate of faith and love calls attention to how our faith in God and our response to others in love (BKC).

Further, the helmet of the hope of salvation draws attention to the need to protect our minds with this hope (BKC).

This hope is that, in the Day of the Lord, we will be saved from God’s wrath.

We can be tempted to neglect this hope through both circumstances and peer pressure.

“It’s been so long, will it ever come?”

“You really believe that?”

This truth from God’s Word concerning the hope of salvation then provides a corrective to our perspective concerning everything that happens in life.

Paul then transitions into a reminder of the Gospel message that serves as the justification for why we should engage in this personal, spiritual warfare (vv. 9-10).

With Paul’s phrase “For God has not destined us for wrath”, Paul is using language that contrasts the groups that we have looked at previously: believers and unbelievers.

Hence, this Day of the Lord is about God’s wrath being poured out in judgment and destruction on the earth against sin.

Here we see the sovereignty of God in withholding His wrath from us as believers.

However, this means that He had to pour out His wrath against our sin one Someone else: Jesus Christ.

Notice that Jesus is referred to again as Lord.

He is the authority that we obey and that all creation, including those in darkness of their sin will be accountable to.

He is the One through whom we have salvation.

‘Obtaining’ highlights for us that salvation is a dynamic process.

We’re saved in the present.

Our sins are forgiven.

We are God’s children destined to be with our Lord forever in the near future.

But there’s also a sense in which our salvation is future tense.

The Day of the Lord[‘s Wrath] has yet to come.

When it does, we will be saved from that Day also on account of Jesus’ sacrifice.

The v. 10 reference to Jesus having died calls attention to two items.

The price to secure our salvation - Jesus’ life.

His position as Lord is further vindicated by His perfect sacrifice - only the Lord Jesus could offer the perfect sacrifice that is acceptable to God for our sins.

Our hope is not only that we will be saved from the future wrath associated with the Day of the Lord.

We also have this hope that we will live with the Lord.

There’s a song that the Lord has used to remind me of this blessed truth called “The King of Love My Shepherd Is”.

I’d encourage you to find the recording on Dan Forrest’s SoundCloud account.

Or, I can provide the link to anyone who is interested.

We’re called not just to this spiritual warfare but to both encourage and build up others to do the same (v. 11).

Encouragement is such a big theme in this letter for these people were facing persecution.

We can recognize very quickly this idea of building up as associated with building anything.

What is the purpose of building a structure?

So that the structure would securely serve the intent of what the builder has in mind

If it’s for a house that those who would live in it would make it a home.

If it’s for storage, it’s going to have certain characteristics that it would include to be able to store things that are needed.

Are there any “building” references that the Scriptures might use to refer to the Church?

Yes, Temple

The idea, then, is that the building would be strong for the purposes for which the builder intended

So, what does it look like to ‘encourage’ and ‘build up’?

Prompting others to refrain from actions associated with those of the night that are going to face God’s wrath against their sin and being alert and sober instead.

Specifically, it looks like the content of vv. 12-28.

Why do we seek the Lord to help us to refrain from sin?

Because sin deserves God’s wrath.

Why would we engage with something that God has delivered us from?

Conclusion: