A Hopeful Church

Introduction

Well, good morning! I hope everyone had a great week. I hope you’re rested this morning. I hope you’re attentive as we get into God’s Word in just a moment. And listen, have your Bibles open, take some notes so that you can apply what it is we cover this morning. And do that so you can see truth for yourself. Amen?

But listen, before we do that, let’s recite our mission verse together. Remember, Matthew chapter 28, verses 19 and 20…this was Jesus’s command to His disciples…and its His command to us today. This is who we wanna be here at FBC…and so, if you’re ready…I’ll get us started:

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV)

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

[Prayer]

Alright, if you have your Bibles and I hope that you do, open ‘em up with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4…1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Our plan this morning, its to finish up this chapter and start to move a little faster through these two letters. But hopefully you’ve been able to kind of see the example these Thessalonian Christians left behind for us today. Hopefully, you’ve gotten a picture of how they faced their own culture and how, when we model their example, we can do the same exact thing in our world today.

Just like us, if not worst, these Thessalonians, they faced some very dark times. There was a ton of uncertainty about tomorrow. They didn’t know if today would be the day they would face persecution because of their faith. The culture around them, it was pagan…it was heretical…it was completely and entirely in rebellion against God. The people around them, they worshipped false gods and they sacrificed to these gods. Entire societies were built around these false gods. And these Thessalonians, not only did they have to live in this kind of culture, they had to obediently follow Jesus’s commands in this kind of culture.

And listen, as we read about them in these two letters that Paul writes, we see they did that…and they did it pretty successfully. Paul says they turned from idols and turned to God…they demonstrated the gospel…they proclaimed the gospel…He says they were reaching people all for the kingdom of God. And as we’ve looked at…these Thessalonians, they were an impacted church and a contagious church. They were a transformed church…an authentic and loving church…they strived to be a pure church…and ultimately they were a model of the gospel.

But guys, even though it seemed that these Thessalonians had it all together. They struggled…they struggled with hope…and they had questions, questions that were super important to their faith and how they were to face today. They had questions about death…and what comes next. They were a part of a culture in which things like resurrection was strange to them. In the thought of normal Greco-Roman society, life after death, it meant only a very vague and shadowy afterlife of the soul. Death for them, there was no full bodily resurrection. And so, for that reason, these Thessalonians, they wrestled with the afterlife…they struggled with the Christian doctrine of eschatology. They didn’t find much comfort or hope in Jesus’s return because honestly, they just didn’t understand it. And so, that’s why Paul addresses it here…because without hope, it’s hard to push forward when things get tough, right? Paul’s trying to show them that God’s promise about tomorrow, it will give them hope for how they face today.

Listen, you guys know I absolutely love Christmas time, right? I love the lights, I love the music, I love all the corny Hallmark movies. I love everything about Christmas. It just brings me joy. It’s a magical season…but let me share one thing I don’t like about Christmas. For about 15 years, I worked in the retail industry…and this part of the year, it was just chaotic. Everyone was out trying to get all their Christmas shopping done. There was all these deals and Black Friday sales. It was just crazy. And it seemed like every year, the Christmas shopping season, it came earlier and earlier. When I first started working in retail, it would start in like mid November…but then it was early November…and then October…and then finally before I left retail, the season was starting in like September. It was nuts.

But the problem with Christmas, especially in our society today, its that it comes so early now that it plays into the notion of our culture being one big holiday. We all live a life that allows us to get the things we want at any time. There’s no waiting…there’s no saving. We all have credit cards…we just buy things now and we pay later. But guys, that kind of mentality, it makes us worse Christians…and it makes us worst because one of the fundamental aspects of Christianity, its patience and waiting. We’re called to wait patiently upon the Lord to act. He doesn’t do things on our own time table. We have to wait for Him to fulfill His promises. And listen, we see examples of this from the very beginning of Scripture. This was always a virtue that God wanted to instill in us. I’m sure Adam and Eve, they wanted their seed to save them right away, right? I’m sure Noah didn’t wanna wait on the ark for over a year. I’m sure Abraham and Sarah, they wanted their promised son immediately.

Guys, the struggle, its that we rarely wait for anything. We’ve been programmed our whole lives to get what we want now or as soon as possible…and because of that, it’s had a direct impact on our faith. We might believe in the return of Christ…but like these Thessalonians, we might not actually be finding our hope and our comfort in Christ because we just don’t fully understand what He’s promised to us. His return, it means everything. It should be our hope, our security…it should be our comfort. And when we trust in His promises, it doesn’t matter what we face in our culture today, we’ll trust God more, and so we’ll do whatever it is He’s commanded.

We have to be a hopeful church if we’re gonna be a church without walls and a church that makes it their mission to make disciples.

And so, if you’re there with me this morning, let’s stand together as we read, starting in verse 13. It says this:

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 (ESV)

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. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Thank you, you can be seated.

Listen, as we dig into this text this morning, looking at what it means to be a hopeful church, there’s three things I want you to see about the return of Christ…number 1, it gives security…number 2, it brings clarity…and then finally, number 3, it provides comfort.

And so, with that, let’s dig into the first point.

I. The Return of Christ Gives Security (v. 13)

The return of Christ gives security.

Guys, I want you to just think about some the things that bring you security right now. It’s the things that comfort you when you’re sad…or stressed…or overwhelmed…when you’re anxious…when you’re scared. What is it that brings you security? Every one of us, we all have a security blanket. We all have things in our lives that that we feel protect us…and as long as those things remain, we’re confident…we’re happy…we’re mostly worry free…but remove whatever that thing is, and for most of us, our world, it comes crashing down around us.

Guys, in our society today, we have more people struggling with anxiety and depression than at any other point in human history. And listen, in our society today, we have more Christians struggling with those things than at any other point in history. If we were to take a poll of those struggling here today, those on medications for those things, I believe we’d see it’s an overwhelming majority of us. And listen, I’m not shaming you this morning. It’s a real, serious issue in our culture today…but I’m afraid that many of us that struggle, we struggle because we’re finding our security and our worth in all the wrong things. And what I’ve noticed, especially as a young pastor…its that we’re not teaching you what it is you’re supposed to find your security in. We’re not teaching you about one of the most important promises that God gives…which its that Jesus, He’s promised to return…He’s promised to raise us from the dead…He’s promised to unite us all together. And as we’ll see from Paul today, this is where all of our hope and all our security should be placed…And honestly, it’s really the only way we can be a church that walks obediently in our culture today. We have to be a hopeful church that finds security in Jesus’s promise.

Look back at verse 13 with me again. Paul says, “13 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.”

Listen, Paul’s saying…he doesn’t want them to be confused about the future. God’s been in control of history this whole time and He’s taking us all to a very specific goal. And the reason, I think Paul starts here when talking about this hope we have, its because we all know how the story ends. God’s already told us. We know what the future holds. But even with that knowledge…its hard to experience the effects of sin…it’s hard to navigate through things like death. Which is why Paul says I don’t want you to be uninformed…I don’t want you to be confused about those you love. Even those people…those that have experienced death…they’re all a part of God’s plan. And so, for that reason…while you might grieve…while you might experience sadness…while you might become angry at the idea of death…you can still have hope and security through all of it.

Look back at the verse again. There’s some pretty important words that Paul uses here to make his point…and this verse, it’s really a statement that I think many of us take for granted. Again, we care about context, right? And so, just imagine for a second that you’re a first century Christian, living in Thessalonica. It’s been about 20 years or so since the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. We’ve been told about all these things…maybe we believed all these things…and all of a sudden, your friends and family start to die off in the church…and they don’t see anything happening. Nothing’s different from when they didn’t know Jesus. They perform a funeral or whatever it is they did…they buried them in the ground…and it was all the same to them. It wasn’t how they expected the end to come. They’ve been told that Jesus was coming back to them…and listen, they were the first round of Christians. And so, for that reason, Paul writes this to kind of help them out. He says he does it so that they don’t have to grieve like others do…those that have no hope. And there’s two things that are important in that statement.

Number one, he says that its right for Christians to grieve…we should experience sadness and all the things that come with that. We should be angry at the idea of death. Why? Because death, it’s the result of sin…and as followers of Jesus, we hate sin. I believe that’s why Jesus wept when Lazarus died. He knew He was gonna raise him back to life…it’s just that death makes Him angry…He hates it…because He created us to have life…and have it abundantly…and so, as believers, we grieve because we hate that those we love have experienced the consequences of sin because we hate sin…and we grieve because of our love for one another. And Paul says its okay to grieve…but notice he says, we don’t grieve like everyone else. Our grief, it’s rooted in the truth of the gospel. In the midst of our grief, we have hope and security. And nothing, not even death, can rob of us of that.

And so, what’s the grounds for that security? Well, Paul says, “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.” The basis of our hope, it’s found in the work of Christ. It’s found in His death and resurrection. And what Paul’s doing here, he’s connecting the two. The first advent of Christ…or the first coming of Christ, it’s connected to the second…showing us that what He did for Himself, He will do for us. Since Jesus died and rose again, and since those who believe in Christ are in Him, though they die as well, they will be raised to life again. The first advent, it provides the basis for the hope and security of the second advent.

Listen, death might be a certainty for all of us…but notice the word Paul uses here to describe death. He says, “those who are asleep.” That word for “sleep” there, it’s obviously referring to those that have died. It’s actually the same Greek word to describe Jesus’s death in the gospel accounts. But the reason he uses this word its because this kind of death, its always temporary. And notice Paul’s using this word when referring to the physical body. When believers die, their physical bodies sleep, temporarily…but to be absent from the body, is to be present with Jesus. That’s what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, 8 and 9.

Listen, the idea of soul sleep, that’s just not present in Scripture…meaning that every single person created, there’s never a time where they cease to exist…or where they cease to be conscious of their existence. And this is true for both the believer and unbeliever. We were created to be eternal beings. And so, when we die, our bodies may go to the grave, but our spirits go immediately to either Jesus or a place where we’ll await judgement. But no where in Scripture does it say that we lose consciousness of where or what’s happening to us after we die. And so, at death, our existence, it just continues. Your physical body may sleep, awaiting the Lord…but our spirits continue to exist.

And listen, I’m spending a lot of time on this part because its a crucial element of the gospel. The gospel’s not just that Jesus died and rose again…it encompasses so much more than. And part of that, it’s finding security in the fact that Jesus is coming back. And listen, there’s all kinds of theology and doctrine on the return of Christ…and unfortunately we just don’t have enough time to go through all that during this series. But regardless of where you stand, you have to believe in the return of Jesus. You have to believe in a physical bodily resurrection of the dead. It’s crucial to your faith. And without it, you’ll have zero security…and at every turn, you’ll succumb to the culture around you without that hope…you’ll become ignorant to truth as Paul suggests here and become confused about things like death, and you’ll not be driven by Christian hope.

And so, that’s the first thing here…it’s that Jesus’s return, it gives us security as believers.

II. The Return of Christ Brings Clarity (vv. 14-17)

The second thing…and I’ll move a little faster…it’s that Jesus’s return, it brings clarity.

Again, when we begin to study what God’s told us about the future…the rest of the gospel, it begins to make so much more sense. In fact, without understanding Jesus’s future promise, it’s almost impossible to place our faith and trust in His past promise. You see His death, His resurrection, His ascension… it all points to His future promise.

When Christ died…as followers of Jesus, we died with Him…we were buried in death…but listen, when He raised three days later, we were raised to live with Him. What happened at the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ…it’s what He promises’ll happen to the Church…we will raise to meet Him in the air.

Look at what he says starting in verse 14, “14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 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. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

And so, in describing this hope we have, Paul, he lays out a sequence of events that’ll happen. He says at the coming of Christ, the Christians that have already died, they’ll be physically raised to life first. And then those of us still alive, we’ll ascend to meet Jesus in the air. You see how the example of His ascension in the Book of Acts is important? Everything that happened to Jesus, it happens to us who are found in Him. And listen, then Paul says, “After that…after we’re raised to life and after we meet Jesus…we’ll always be with Him.”

Listen, that clarity…it should strengthen our hope in Christ. Everything that happened to our Savior, it happens to us.

And guys, this isn’t just a spiritual resurrection…its physical. Because Jesus physically raised from the dead, the sting of death, its gone forever. He died so that those who trust in Him, death, its simply a portal into glory. Death might be scary, but because of Paul’s description and the words he uses, we see it’s not permanent. And so, when we face the death of loved ones or even or own death, we can be comforted by the fact that Jesus died, He was buried, and He was bodily raised again from the dead…and so if they place their faith and trust in Him, they’ll do the same.

And listen, the fact that we physically raise to life…the fact that Jesus gives us our physical bodies, it really demonstrates what eternity will be like. It demonstrates His purposes for us. Listen, a lot of times, we pastors give you this false impression of heaven. Our destination…while it might be heaven before the return of Christ, its not our home, its not where Jesus intends us to be forever. Revelation tells us that He’ll create a new heaven and a new earth…and He’ll reestablish the garden and His original intentions for man prior to the fall…which is why studying Genesis is so important because that’s where God’s taking us…back to the garden…where we’ll walk perfectly with Him. We’ll live the lives He’s always intended, working the ground…having perfect dominion over His creation…walking with Him.

Listen, eternity with Jesus isn’t about bowing down and worshipping Him 24/7…it’s about living out the life He always meant for us…it’s about the perfect relationship we’ll have with Him in the garden in our physical, resurrected bodies. That’s why He created us…for relationship. And guys, restoration…that’s what He’s restoring. And listen, that clarity…it should be bring you even more hope and security. Because this life that He’s leading us too…it’s truly gonna be so much greater than anything we could possibly understand.

And so, the return of Christ, it brings clarity…which is why its so important to continue learning about the gospel. The gospel’s not just about Jesus dying on a cross…it’s about so much more than that…and so, dig into this book that He gave us so that you can gain more clarity…because clarity brings security.

That’s the second thing.

III. The Return of Christ Provides Comfort (v. 18)

The third and final thing…its that the return of Christ provides comfort.

Look at this last verse with me again. Paul says, “18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

That word translated into “encourage” it’s another word for “exhort,” which as led some to translate it as “comfort” in this particular passage because Paul was talking about grief at the beginning. And personally, I believe that’s exactly what Paul’s getting at here. He describes the events at the coming of Christ because he didn’t want them to be uninformed…he didn’t want them to be confused…and so, he gives these details to ultimately comfort them.

Again, placing yourself in these first century Thessalonian shoes, the pagan culture that they knew, there wasn’t really any comfort for them in the face of death…and there wasn’t any comfort because there really wasn’t any hope. They lacked so much hope that one writer from this time period wrote, “Hopes are for the living; the dead have no hope.”

There’s another second century letter we’ve recovered that was written by an Egyptian woman named Irene…and Irene wrote to a grieving couple as they faced the death of their son. And after explaining they had done everything they could in those circumstances, she concludes her letter in this way: “But nevertheless, against such things one can do nothing. Therefore, comfort one another. Farewell.” Listen, she ends with the same exact words as Paul - comfort one another…but guys, what she’s talking about, it’s an empty comfort. It’s not grounded in hope. And everything Paul’s been talking about up to this point, it’s the gospel, its the only thing that can provide this kind of comfort…and it can provide comfort for the living because it shows us that the dead, those that have placed their faith and trust in Jesus, they have hope in the coming of Christ.

Guys, we live in a world where there’s few guarantees. Most of us, we’d admit that the only certainty about life, it’s uncertainty, right? For you music buffs out there, John Lennon, he even wrote a song about life’s uncertainties…and in one of those lines he says, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

I think James says it even better in his letter to the church. Chapter 4, verses 13 and 14:

James 4:13–14 (ESV)

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Guys, the Thessalonians’ uncertainty about their future and the fate of their dead friends and family, it had undermined their hope and it had robbed them of their joy. And Paul writes this because they needed assurance and they needed it quickly. And so, first he tells them in verse 17 that they’ll always be with Jesus…you might not know what your life will entail…but you can have assurance about tomorrow…YOU’LL BE WITH JESUS, ALWAYS.

And then he says, use that assurance to have hope for today.

Verse 18, it gives us a contrast to how the passage began. What begins with ignorance, and grief, and hopelessness, it ends with comfort and assurance. Only God can take the deepest human sorrows and in only six verses transform that into hope. That’s exactly what this passage is about…hope. Death doesn’t have the final word. The people around us, that try so hard to indoctrinate us with all this ungodliness, they don’t have the final word. Human speculation, it doesn’t have the final word. Even in the midst of our most darkest confusion, as believers, God shines the light of His truth…and He transforms our ignorance and our grief and our hopelessness into understanding, and joy, and assurance.

And guys, as we’re comforted by the return of Christ, we’re able to become a hopeful church…ultimately becoming a church that focuses only on Jesus’s glory, His kingdom, and His church.

Closing

Listen, as you reflect on this passage this morning…would you just bow your head and close your eyes with me?

I have two questions for you to reflect on this morning. Number one, do you find hope and comfort in Jesus’s promise to return for the church? Meaning, are you confident in that promise? Do you really believe He’s coming back for us…and not just that He’s coming back but that He’s gonna physically raise us from the dead. Do you believe those things?

And second, do you actually look forward to those things? Is that what you really want? Do you desire to walk with Jesus in the same ways Adam and Eve did…Do you desire a perfect world setting where Jesus is with us and where we live out in all the ways He originally intended for us at creation? Do you want those things?

Listen, because of the death, and resurrection, and ascension of Jesus we can find hope and security in what He promises about our future. We too will die and raise and ascend to meet Him. And nothing that happens now, nothing we face or do, no amount of persecution will change that. Those things will happen. And so, if you’re struggling, ask Jesus to give you the faith you need to be hopeful. Because without that hope, it’s hard to live out His commands.

But guys, if you’re not looking forward to our reunion with Christ…then either you don’t truly understand what eternity looks like and you need to study and dig into His Word…or you’ve not been filled with the Holy Spirit and so it’s impossible for you to desire those things.

Guys, if that’s you…the Bible tells us that we’re all sinners. Every one of us, we all fall short of God’s glory and His goodness…and that’s not God’s fault…He created us in the beginning to be good and perfect and it was our choice to fall…and guys, that fall, it separated us from God. And in that separation, we experience death, that’s the consequences of sin. But listen, in God’s love for us…He gave us His Son, Jesus…and Jesus, He came, He lived a live just like us…except holy and righteous, one without sin…all so that He could go to the cross…a cross met for you and me…and He took our place…He died in our place…and with His death, He took on our punishment. The very God that created us…became the very One to die for us. And the Bible says, He rose again…showing us that He had conquered life and death…and that everything He taught, it was true. And the best part about that message, it’s that He gives that to us as a free gift. We don’t have to do anything to receive salvation…except repent and believe…and He’ll do the rest. He’ll take up residence in you…He’ll give you His Holy Spirit…and He’ll begin to change you.

And so listen, I challenge you, take the next several minutes and just respond to that message. Repent and believe…place your trust and your faith in Jesus and let Him change everything about you this morning. And you can do that right where you’re at…you can come talk to me, I’ll be down front…but whatever you do, don’t leave today separated from Christ.

And so, these steps, they’re open if you need ‘em…whoever you are this morning…whatever you’re struggling with…whatever the Spirit’s placing on your heart…you take these next several minutes and just respond to whatever that is…and we’ll close in just a moment.

[Prayer]

Matthew 26:26 (ESV)

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”

Matthew 26:27–29 (ESV)

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”