Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Have you ever been apart of something that made you feel like you were apart of something much bigger or part of your community?

These events make you feel like you belong.

I know we are past the Christmas season, but my mind automatically went to Christmas parades.

I’ve participated in the Warner Robins Christmas parade three times, sort of strange now.

One time I was marching a part of Civil Air Patrol carrying a flag the whole way.

Another time I was sitting in the back of a trailer playing a trumpet with my school band.

Another time I was in a float as a part of Oakland’s live nativity they had in the parade.

Each time it felt as though I was a part of this community, it felt good to be united around the celebration of the Christmas season.

A more recent time was when I in downtown Macon for the national day of prayer.

One of my students who participates in the praise team at school was selected to say some words.

It felt nice to feel a part of the community and feel united around prayer for our nation and local government and institutions.

It felt as though we were united around God for the betterment of our society.

When I went to the Southern Baptist Convention in 2021, I think, when it was in Nashville, I got a real glimpse of the immensity of the SBC and grew in appreciation of being a part of something so great.

The convention center we met in was enormous, and so was the amount of people meeting together and debating and voting on policy and so forth.

But I also remember the people outside on the streets preaching to us and telling us we were going to hell for being a part of the SBC.

The ancient city of Thessalonica had events which brought the people together as a community.

Their community though was united around Caesar.

Whenever Caesar would go to visit a city, the high up dignitaries and citizens would go out to meet him and welcome him into the city, almost like a parade in honor of the Caesar who made them a free city and bestowed on them other such honors for being so loyal to Rome.

Some cities would repave their roads to make them straight for the visit of the Caesar.

No amount of groveling was too low to honor their emperor.

“Caesar is Lord,” is what they would say.

Emperor worship was commonly used as a means to unify the empire.

Christians, however, saw through the propaganda and recognized the injustice that reigned in the empire.

Jesus himself taught Mark 10:42-45 “And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

But it shall not be so among you.

But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.””

The Christians lived for the hope of another king that would come to visit them, and that was king Jesus.

And because of this, they were seen like those people in the street outside the SBC screaming at us that we were going to hell.

Not that they were actively on the streets picketing or anything; however, not participating in the guilds, the parades, the accepted injustice, the accepted social order, and telling people about king Jesus is noticed very quickly.

The Christian movement became a thorn in the side of the Roman empire very quickly and the local rulers of Thessalonica recognized them as a problem as well.

Many in this Christian community were dying, perhaps as a result of the persecution.

And this led to a big problem in the mind of the Christians who remained: what will happen to them when Jesus returns?

Will they be able to participate in this welcoming parade?

Will they be going to heaven as well?

What is their fate?

Paul seeks to answer that question in our text.

The Fate of the Sleepers

1 Thess.

4:13-15 “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.”

Context

Paul transitions from the previous text about brotherly love.

And this completes the three major themes of 1 Thessalonians.

Paul proclaims the need for holiness in 1 Thess.

4:1-8.

And many of you know that when you attempt to live a life devoted to God in holiness that you face opposition.

Opposition from the world, the flesh, and the devil.

How do we face our opposers who are in our community trying to get us to fit in?

Do we shout, get angry, type out rude things on social media?

No, Paul says we are to respond in love and taking responsibility for ourselves in 1 Thess.

4:9-12.

And why is this our response?

What motivates us to live holy and respond to opposition with love?

And this is crucial, because if we get this wrong we will burn out quickly.

Our motivation is Christ, his death, resurrection, and return.

Explication v. 13

Paul makes a stronger transition by saying, “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers.”

So we know that he is addressing a new topic.

It is also true that he is responding to a concern that this church had expressed to him either through a letter or orally though Timothy’s account.

He addresses “those who are asleep” which is a euphemism for those who have passed away, for those who have died.

Paul exhorts them not to grieve as those who have no hope.

I think it’s significant that he does not say, “don’t grieve.

Period.”

Paul allows for grieving, but grieving of a different kind.

Application v. 13

And I think it’s important to take some time and meditate on this for a moment.

I was looking up the American Psychological Associations for suggestions in how to deal with loss and how to grieve.

Now, Paul tells us strictly not to grieve like those without hope.

And if we know anything about the institution of the APA, they represent those who have no hope.

They suggest to identify the the loss, identify the emotions being felt (guilt, sorrow, yearning, etc.), and encourage people to express their emotion.

And though all of this sounds nice and pretty, there’s no hope here.

Modern psychology offers as much hope as the roses on the casket: it looks nice, smells nice, but there’s no real solution there, the dead person is still in the casket.

(As dead as the roses will be the next week).

And I speak from experience.

I grew up in the nineties when the psychologists were saying the best thing young people need to succeed is self-esteem (they’ve now renounced this, by the way).

I remember after my parents divorce, I went through grief counseling at my school and recognized as a first grader that it was pointless.

I remember telling my friend who asked how it went, “I just talked about my feelings.”

It didn’t solve the problems, my family was still broken.

It didn’t define sin or identify any sin in my heart and offer a solution.

I remember when my grandmother died when I was in 10th grade.

My grandmother was the one who discipled me and had me memorize Bible verse, I was very close to her.

When I was first told she was not going to recover, I remember how it felt.

I knew I was going to sob, but I didn’t want to sob in front of her, so I got in my car and drove away.

No amount of psychoanalysis or discussing my emotions was going to stop her death.

There’s no hope there.

What gives me hope in the midst of loss is that I know that God reigns on his throne and he promises to work all things according for our good.

And I know that I often become far too abrasive to belabor a point, so let me try to be more clear.

I don’t think that all psychology and counseling is fruitless or pointless.

But I do know that when we try to ground our hope in something other than Jesus then it is a false hope.

And Paul’s point is clear, we are not to grieve as those without hope.

Which I hope reiterates the fact that we are not Christian just because we go to church, but every life experience and attitude and emotion should in some way involve Jesus.

Explication v. 14

In verse 14, Paul gives the basis of the hope, “For since we believe that.”

This phrase, “we believe that” is the formation of a creedal statement, probably formed prior to Paul.

The content of the creedal statement is “Jesus died and rose again.”

Which forms the very foundation of Christian teaching and dogma.

Jesus died, to we grieve that death?

We may remorse our sin and feel terrible about the cruelty of the death, but to we grieve the death itself?

No, because of the resurrection.