Sermon Tone Analysis

! The Next Chapter of History

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

 

/Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.

We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Therefore encourage each other with these words/.

| T |

he knowledgeable Christian reading the daily newspaper or watching the daily newscast may well be seized with a sense of/ /*deja vu*.

The drama unfolding before our watching eyes appears startlingly familiar as we literally watch Bible prophecy fulfilled before our eyes.

As event follows event there is a feeling of unease, however, since we are uncertain as to the timing of prophetic fulfilment.

There is a sense of imminence about prophetic fulfilment; the proximity creates a growing sense of dread.

Though we cannot know the timing of events we do know the sequence of events at His return.

We may encourage our hearts through instruction in this glorious truth concerning Jesus' Second Coming, for He has promised and He shall come again.

Let's learn together so that we may encourage each other with these words [*verse 18*].

For Some, The Next Event Is Sleep [*verse 13*].

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.

What a quaint term Paul uses as he writes of those who fall asleep.

With this term the Apostle refers to death.

On the strength of this passage some well-meaning teachers have concluded that the soul of the believer sleeps in the grave.

That some may be confused is understandable, for the Bible does compare death to falling asleep in several places.

Job, voicing his complaint after the trip hammer blows of satanic adversity had hammered him mercilessly cried out that he wished he had never been born.

Why did I not perish at birth,                               

and die as I came from the womb?

Why were there knees to receive me                      

and breasts that I might be nursed?

For now I would be lying down in peace;             

I would be asleep and at rest            

with kings and counsellors of the earth,                

                     who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,

with rulers who had gold,                                     

who filled their houses with silver.

[*Job 3:11-15*]

 

You will recall that Jesus on at least two separate occasions spoke of the dead as sleeping, first in reference to the daughter of Jairus [*Matthew 9:24*] and again instructing His disciples as they journeyed to the home of Lazarus [*John 11:11-13*].

Dr.

Luke, writing of the martyrdom of Stephen, stated that as he was being stoned he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

When he had said this, he fell asleep [*Acts 7:60*].

Luke probably learned this view from Paul who clearly favoured the euphemism, as is evident in *Acts 13:36*: For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed.

It is equally possible that the euphemism was commonly employed among the populace of that time and that Dr. Luke simply reflects the common usage.

What is clear is that the euphemistic reference to death as sleep was well established by the time Paul wrote.

Both through the instructions he provided concerning observance of the Lord’s Supper and with the teaching related to the resurrection given the Corinthians, Paul spoke of the Christian dead as those who had fallen asleep [*1 Corinthians 11:30*; *15:6,18,20*].

He knew they were dead, but he spoke euphemistically as a means of encouragement to those who grieved.

In addition to the multiple references found in our text, Paul also equated sleep and death in *1 Thessalonians 5:10*: [Christ] died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.”

We should not be surprised that the Apostle spoke euphemistically of death.

We enlightened souls in this age also try to obscure the mystery of death, as have all peoples throughout the history of the race.

In this day we speak of those who have *passed away* or of those who have *crossed over*.

Other argots employ euphemistic terms to mask the unpleasantness of death.

Pilots speak of those who crash as *having bought the farm*.

Our mortality leaves us ill at ease and we seek to divert attention from our frailty in the face of the last enemy by refusing to even use of the word *death*.

There is in the Apostle’s language, however, that which rises above the mere desire to hide from the unpleasantness of death.

Paul is intent on teaching believers about life and the consequences of the Fall and the intervention of Christ to rescue us from death.

That is why he begins by saying: Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.

The Apostle sought to dispel ignorance and to deliver saints from hopeless grief concerning those who fall asleep.

As we look upon our dead they have a look of peace as their body lies in quiet repose, their bodies awaiting the resurrection.

They appear to us as though they were sleeping!

How apt the choice of words!

As sleep is followed by an awakening so death will be followed by resurrection, just as Daniel states in *Daniel 12:2*: Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

Bear in mind that it is the body which sleeps; the soul is ever conscious.

Two passages in particular among the many which Paul wrote address the issue of what lies beyond for those among us who shall be called to pass through the chilly waters of death.

In *Philippians 1:21-24* we witness the incarcerated old man of God musing for the benefit of his readers.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me.

Yet what shall I choose?

I do not know!

I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.

How powerful the affirmation: to live is Christ and to die is gain!

I desire to depart and be with Christ betrays no hesitation, but rather confidence.

On the one hand is the desire to *loose anchor* [literal meaning of the verb].

When this is accomplished Paul will be with Christ.

As one action is completed the other is accomplished; as one event concludes the other begins.

By use of the infinitive ei

ai [kai; su;n Cristw'~/ ei

ai (*verse 23*)] the Apostle makes the strongest possible case for a momentary transition between one state and the other … between the mortal condition and immortality.

The second passage to which I invite attention is that found in *2 Corinthians 5:6-9*.

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.

We live by faith, not by sight.

We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.

Again we witness two distinct situations: at home in the body and away from the Lord, or away from the body and at home with the Lord.

There is no room for an interval between the two conditions.

Should the former be accomplished, then the latter must immediately prevail.

The two are by their very nature mutually exclusive.

Is death so awful?

If all we anticipate is extinction and if all we have lived for is found in this life, then death is awful, a terrible tragedy.

If, however, exodus from this veil of tears means arrival on a fairer shore, then death is but another minor event leading to eternity.

If I have lived for another world, if I have store[d] up treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal, then I will find my departure from the realm of the mortal is no hardship, but that it is rather a source of joy.

Throughout the years of my ministry I have enjoyed the sermons of Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Tucked away in one sermon is a remarkable statement.

Spurgeon trusted that he would die and not be raptured, for then he would be permitted to know the fellowship of sharing in [Christ’s] death.

He wanted to know the same experience as his Lord.

There is a courageous truth in that aspiration.

Instead of making every attempt to avoid pain and unpleasantness, ought we not anticipate that we also may go the way of all the earth in tasting death?

Anticipating this momentary burden, ought we not to redirect our focus to that which is eternal and to that which cannot be shaken?

Any reference to death makes some people uneasy.

I preached of death on one occasion, commenting that some needed to die in order to live, making it plain that I spoke of death to self that Christ might live through us.

One woman was quite upset and demanded that I resign because I said some people needed to die.

When she confronted me she blustered that we preachers were always talking about death.

“Ma’am,” I replied, “if you people would quit dying we preachers would quit speaking about death.”