Thessalonians 4:13-18

The New Testament reading for this week comes from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

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.

Sleep. Its a weird state of being when you think about it. Its a daily occurence and a necessity. If we deny our bodies of it the body will take over your minds desire and make it happen to you. I don’t know how many of you have pulled all nighters whether in your school days or for work trying to get a last minute project done. Or maybe as parents of infants you have had many sleepless nights. You feel the bodies need for it and especially in the case of the new parent you come to view it as a gift. However, it is still odd. One moment you are lying in bed awake then next you are waking up again. Somehow you at times can feel some semblance of a passage of time but others, especially when sleep comes heavily on you, it is as a blink. The other odd thing is how when you go to sleep you can go to sleep with all sorts of worries, stresses, bad attitudes, ect. but then through this odd state of being you wake up as a new person! Maybe those worries seem less overwhelming, or maybe your short temper is gone now and you feel you can handle stress in a different way.

In this passage Paul is addressing the Church in Thessalonica. He knows these people personally having shared the Gospel with them and worked among them. He has even sent Timothy to minister to them and teach them. Timothy reports back to Paul of how much the Spirit has transformed these people and how the Church is doing well at loving one another in brotherly love. As Paul writes you see his fatherly heart towards this church. Encouraging them where they need encouragement and praising God where the work of the spirit is great in their lives. When we get to the passage we read today he has just been encouraging them to live Godly lives and to continue on in the brotherly love they have for one another.

Then he writes about this sleep of the believers who have passed away. Paul was only in Thessalonica for 4 weeks and as such was only able to teach them in so many topics obviously unable to teach them “fully”. That is part of why he sent Timothy there. Quite likely is that in Pauls short time with the church they probably didn’t have any deaths in their believing community so while Paul has preached new life he maybe hasn’t hit on the topic of what happens after death quite as hard. So on hearing a report from Timothy he offers them true comfort. A word of Promise delivered by Christ.

The Church was unsure what to do when someone died in their community. They, coming out of a pagan tradition no doubt leaned on their own understanding. In their own understanding they are unsure of what happens after death. So, they mourn like those who have no hope in death. This is where Paul seeks to teach them, Saying

"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.”

You can hear is heart for the Church. He gives them hope in that first sentence that they may no longer grieve as those who do not have hope.

Here we have the word from Paul acknowledges that people are dying/going to die before Christ returns. This is a word for us today. No matter how hard we try to

This sleep word is an interesting one that perked my ears upon reading it. While it isn’t a totally odd way to refer to those who have died it does beg the question of why use that word.