The Comfort of Hope
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ILLUST: What brings comfort (dry socks)
A known future comfort (sofa, rest, “hard work, walking beans - this will be done”
The Relationship Between Believers and Hope
The Relationship Between Believers and Hope
1) Grieve with Hope
1) Grieve with Hope
(v. 13)
Let me speak truth to you…
Everyone has reason to grieve, to mourn
We were created with emotions
A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance.
Mourning is appropriate, understood
We don’t “brush it off” or “get over it”
In Thessalonica, loved ones had “gone to sleep” (died, physically)
Death brings sadness
So, everyone mourns, grieves
Some grieve without hope
Believers grieve WITH hope - big difference
The Thessalonicans, worried that their departed loved ones, believers, would miss the excitement of Jesus’ return
They were acting as though uninformed, seemingly ignorant, and Paul reminds them of the knowledge they have
“those who are asleep” - great word choice, why?
we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
The body is “asleep” when the soul/spirit leaves it - we call that death
But there is a conscious presence of being with the Lord - “soul sleep” is false teaching
(SDA, JW)
The soul of the believer is alive, with the Lord
Awaiting the body to rejoin, be renewed, glorified
Do not grieve as one with no hope
Departed believers are with the Lord
Believers are IN CHRiST
And Christ is not dead, neither are the souls of believers who have departed
You who have hope - don’t grieve without it
2) Basis of Hope
2) Basis of Hope
(vv 14-17)
IF - IF we believe…
If we believe Jesus resurrected - which He did (said He would)
Then He will resurrect the bodies of those who have fallen asleep (said He would)
IN JESUS!
They have not ceased to exist - they are with the LORD
And God will bring them, with Him, physically
This is the reason for the hope
but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
You have hope, because of the certainty of the resurrection
Because of the certainly of Jesus’ own resurrection
He resurrected to show death its defeat, and to show us what we can hope in
BIG QUESTION - What will happen next - prophetic “Calendar”
According to the prophetic Word of God, shared with them, and us
First to be bodily resurrected - believers who are “asleep” - physically dead
Next to go - we who are alive and remain physically alive
(Paul writes this as it is imminent in his lifetime, very true)
See…here’s what will happen (any time)
The Lord descends
SHOUT - VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL
TRUMPET
And those bodies of deceased believers rise
Then we, alive believers, “caught up together” to meet the Lord
He is bringing them, and us, with Him (see v. 14)
And we shall, SHALL, always be with the Lord, ALWAYS
This did not happen in Paul’s lifetime
He wrote as though he believed it would
Does not mean Bible is wrong
It means Paul was ready, knowing it could happen…any…time
Don’t fault Paul for not knowing, and for not promising a date
“But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
“Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.
The date, the time, is not important
The FACT that it WILL happen, is…important
You want to be with all those believers, trust me (no, trust the Word)
I want you to be with all of us believers
3) The Words of Hope
3) The Words of Hope
Comfort each other with these words, with this Word
God’s Word
This is not isolated to this letter, either
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
COMFORT…one another with these Words
Comfort = ease, relaxation, freedom from anxiety
Compare this world with eternity - where you believers are eternal citizens
World - hard, stressful, temptation to anxiety
Eternity - ease, relaxation, with the Lord
No more sorrow, tears, pain, anxious ways
How do believers endure this world?
By living for the next…
How can I possibly find comfort here?
Focus on the eternal life to follow
to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
If anyone needed this comfort, it is PETER!
(Notice, after John 21, Peter restored, hsi denial of Jesus is never mentioned again)
Peter knows the hope, lives with this hope leading the way
HOPE is a powerful motivator
How can you have this hope? This eternal hope of eternal salvation through Jesus?
Stop expecting to find lasting comfort and ease of life here
He is returning to bring you with Him - WITH HIM - to let that faith become sight
But you have to trust Him with your life
You have to trust Him with your very eternal soul
The Words of Hope - the source, THE source, of Hope
Because of the Resurrection of Jesus
He died, physically, really
Your debt is paid
If you trust Him with all of you
Though your body may die, He will resurrect and glorify it, forever
The resurrection is true - if it is not, then our faith is useless
ILLUST: We told our boys every year we’d go to Hershey Park
(not the date, just in case, but they new)
(We never threatened NOT to go in order to coerce behavior)
And every year we did
They trusted that, and if it was not true, that trust was useless
The resurrection is true - if it is not, then our faith is useless
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised;
and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
BUT
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.
Jesus already won
He already overcame this world that stresses us out
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
Be comforted
Those beloved believers, who died IN CHRIST
Will be resurrected
And you will be gathered together with them - WITH them
And share eternity with them and with Jesus
Do not act or live as though you are uninformed
know the Word that has been provided you
And when you grieve the loss of a believer - grieve with hope
And share with others the reason for that hope
We have a powerful Savior, alive, just waiting to come bring us home!
