Living in the Light of Christ's Return

I. What time is it?

Vs 1-5

Vs 1 — This is obvious

The Thessalonians were well taught about the return of Jesus and other prophetic matters.

Paul taught them about the times and the seasons regarding the return of Jesus.

They had an idea of the prophetic times they lived in, and they could discern the seasons of the present culture.

Jesus criticized the religious leaders of His day because they could not discern the signs of the times (Matthew 16:1-3).

We should also study the Scriptures, and look to the world around us, so we can be aware of the times and the seasons.

Vs 2 — The day of the Lord is going to surprise some

Who?

The day of the Lord so comes:

With this phrase, Paul quoted a familiar Old Testament idea.

The idea behind the phrase the day of the Lord is that this is God’s time.

Man has his “day,” and the Lord has His day.

In the ultimate sense, the day of the Lord is fulfilled with Jesus judging the earth and returning in glory.

The Thessalonians knew, and had been taught, that they couldn’t know the day of Jesus’ return. That day would remain unknown, and come as a surprise, as a thief in the night.

A thief does not announce the exact time of his arrival.

God warned this day would be unexpected, but He wants His people to be prepared for the unexpected.

Vs 3 — people think they are ok like they are

The unexpected nature of that day will be a tragedy for the unbeliever.

They will be lulled to sleep by political and economic conditions, but they will be rudely awakened.

They will hear the frightening verdict “they shall not escape.”

Those who are unprepared for Christ’s coming, the unbelievers, live in false security.

The phrase labor pains suggest both inevitability and unexpectedness.

It is something that is going to come — no stopping it

Asking an expecting mother is she ready? — Yes and no

Vs 4 — we are not like the lost

We are in the light

We can see what is happening

In addressing their behavior, Paul first simply told the Thessalonian Christians that they should be who they are.

God has made us sons of the light and sons of the day.

The time when we were of the night or of the darkness is in the past.

So now we simply have to live up to what God has made us.

Vs 5 — we are different

Paul uses the metaphors of “night” and “darkness” to emphasize that believers have been transformed.

They have been moved from darkness to light; they are new creatures in Christ.

Paul means that this should not happen for the believer who lives according to their nature as a son of light and son of the day.

They will be ready for the return of Jesus Christ.

In some respect, the coming of Jesus will be a surprise for everybody, because no one knows the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36).

But for Christians who know the times and the seasons, it will not be a complete surprise.

No one knows the exact hour a thief will come, but some live in a general preparation against thieves.

Those who are not in darkness, who live as they are all sons of light and sons of the day, these are ready for the return of Jesus.

But if we are in darkness — perhaps caught up in some of the sin Paul warned against previously in this letter — then we are not ready and need to make ourselves ready for the return of Jesus.

II. It’s time to wake up

Vs 6-10

Vs 6 — It’s not time to sleep

Paul continues to use sleep imagery—or rather its reverse.

Believers are not to “sleep”—in the sense of becoming dulled to what is going on in these last days.

They are instead fo be “awake” and “sober,” metaphors for being spiritually alert and vigilant.

The unexpectedness of Christ’s coming must not produce in believers a complacent dullness.

Therefore let us not sleep:

Because we do not belong to the night nor of darkness (I Thessalonians 5:5), our spiritual condition should never be marked by sleep.

Spiritually speaking, we need to be active and aware, to watch and be sober.

Paul used a different word here than for the sleep of death mentioned in I Thessalonians 4:13. The word sleep is here used metaphorically to denote indifference to spiritual realities on the part of believers.

It is a different word than that in 4:13-15 for the sleep of death.

It covers all sorts of moral and spiritual laxity or insensibility.

Watch — be alert/on guard — Vigilant

Sleep speaks of so much that belongs to the world (the others), but should not belong to Christians:

Sleep speaks of ignorance.

Sleep speaks of insensibility.

Sleep speaks of no defense.

Sleep speaks of inactivity.

In a sermon on this text titled, Awake! Awake!

Spurgeon showed the folly and tragedy of the sleeping Christian with three powerful pictures:

A city suffers under the plague, with an official walking the streets crying out, “Bring out the dead!

Bring out the dead!” All the while, a doctor with the cure in his pocket sleeps.

A passenger ship reels under a storm and is about to crash on the rocks, bringing near-certain death to the hundreds of passengers — all the while, the captain sleeps.

A prisoner in his cell is about ready to be led to execution; his heart is terrified at the thought of hanging from his neck, terrified of death, and of what awaits him after death.

All the while, a man with a letter of pardon for the condemned man sits in another room — and sleeps.

Paul is warning the church that the day of the Lord is coming — And the ones with the answer is sleeping

Christians are not the answer but they know the answer — Jesus

Be awake and warn!

Sober — serious — not controlled by outside influence

Sober doesn’t mean humorless.

It has in mind someone who knows the proper value of things, and therefore doesn’t get too excited about the things of this world.

The person who lives his or her life for fun and entertainment isn’t sober.

In commanding sobriety, Paul didn’t have in mind the sort of people who stamp down all enthusiasm and excitement for Jesus, promoting what they think is a more balanced way to live.

Paul himself was an enthusiastic follower of Jesus and accused of religious fanaticism.

The Roman official Festus thought Paul was mad (Acts 26:24), and the Corinthians thought he was beside himself (II Corinthians 5:13).

Vs 7 — nature of those that are lost is to sleep

Be alert because of who we are

Because of Whose we are

The opposite of spiritual watchfulness is spiritual sleep.

The opposite of spiritual sobriety is to be spiritually drunk.

As Christians we are of the day, and so we must watch and be sober.

Believers are not to sleep or sit in a stupor, for they belong to the day, the time during which work must be done.

Vs 8 — Putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation:

Paul has an aorist participle (putting on), which suggests the taking of a decisive, once-for-all step.

Armor —

Breastplate of faith and love

Paul used the images of a soldier’s armor to illustrate the idea of watchfulness.

A soldier is a good example of someone who must watch and be sober, and he is equipped to do that with his armor.

Faith and love are represented by the breastplate because the breastplate covers the vital organs.

No soldier would ever go to battle without his breastplate, and no Christian is equipped to live the Christian life without faith and love.

The hope of salvation is represented as a helmet, because the helmet protects the head, which is just as essential as the breastplate.

The mention of vigilance suggested the idea of a sentry armed and on duty

Once again we meet the great triad of faith, hope and love, and again hope comes last with a certain emphasis, which is natural in a letter that puts such stress on hope.

Faith —

Reliance upon God

Love —

Affection, love, or charity

Hope — a sure and certain expectation

Salvation — We have salvation — Deliverance

Although we can experience salvation in the present, it remains but a foretaste of salvation yet to come.

“The hope of salvation” means hope for final deliverance at the end of the age—deliverance from the wrath to come (1:10).

Vs 9 — God has saved us

No longer appointed to wrath

New appointment

We are appointed to obtain salvation

Before we had the hope of salvation (1 Thessalonians 5:8), we had an appointment to wrath. We no longer have an appointment to wrath, but now to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Wrath: It is important to understand that Paul means the wrath of God.

We are saved from the world, the flesh, and the devil.

But first and foremost, we are rescued from the wrath of God, the wrath that we deserve.

Paul’s whole context here is the believer’s rescue from the wrath of God.

Our appointment to wrath was appointed in two ways.

First, because of what Adam did to us and the whole human race, we are appointed to wrath (Romans 5:14-19).

Second, because of our own sin, we are appointed to wrath.

When Jesus died on the cross, He stood in our place in our appointment to wrath and reschedules us with an appointment to obtain salvation.

As believers, when we think we are appointed to wrath, we show up for an appointment that was cancelled by Jesus.

Who died for us:

The idea is that Jesus died in our place.

Not simply that Jesus died for us in the sense as a favor for us; but that He died as a substitute for us.

Vs 10 — we are alive because of Him

Wether dead or alive — we are ALIVE

Together — Partnered with Him

Having obtained salvation through our Lord Jesus, we will always live together with Him.

The promise of unity with Jesus can’t be broken; no matter if we live or die (wake or sleep), we will always be with Him.

He died for us… whether we wake or sleep:

Jesus’ death isn’t softened by calling it sleep, but our death can be called sleep.

His death was death, so that ours would only be sleep.

III. So what do we do?

Vs 11

Paul’s words about the parousia come to a close with an exhortation to help one another

Encourage

With this great truth

We aren’t dead

We aren’t in darkness

Edify/build up

Build up with truth

Therefore comfort each other:

Paul again tells us not to take comfort, but to give comfort.

If all Christians have a heart to comfort each other, then all will be comforted.

And edify one another:

To edify means to build up.

To build another up is to help someone become spiritually strong.

Every member of the church has a responsibility to help other members grow and become mature.

The idea is of a church full of active participants, not passive spectators.

“It is clear that in the primitive churches the care of souls was not delegated to an individual officer, or even the more gifted brethren among them; it was a work in which every believer might have a share.” (Hiebert)

Just as you also are doing:

It wasn’t that there was no comfort among the Thessalonians, or as if no one was edified.

But they had to continue to comfort others, and to do it more and more.

Because the day of the Lord is coming

Wake up — live in light of Christ’s return