The Difference is Hope

5/3/2002 and 5/4/2002

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 - Message Translation

1 Thessalonians 4

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.

14 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.

15 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.

16 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.

17 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 for ever.

18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.

(NIV)

Background/Sharing

Congratulations to those who were water baptized. That is a huge decision and I salute your courage and your decision.

I’m sure all of you know about Lisa’s death. I would be irrelevant to preach some unrelated sermon this weekend and not address what we are experiencing. Death is such a devastating thing to experience, even for those around the person. Lisa is a great friend and this is a huge loss for all of us.

I want to address this whole subject because it relates to us all.

Hebrews 9:27-WEB

27 Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,

Jesus addressed this whole area. It will bring healing to us as a church family to face it. The same way you bring your children around and say kids, this is what happened. Here is what the Bible says, here’s what we need to do. We also need to express our grief and loss. We need to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. I asked Lonnie to do the funeral in my place because that was a little too close to home. I really wanted to talk about this with the church family.

1. NO ONE IS EXEMPT FROM DEATH

Joshua 23

14 "Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.

John 11

25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;

26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

27 "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

-Notice Jesus promised us eternal life where we would never die but He also addressed the fact that we would still die.

-Someone said people have questions and someone else said what do you faith people believe now.

-What comes out of my heart is that NO ONE IS EXEMPT FROM DEATH.

-The second thing is that NO ONE’S EXPERIENCE CHANGES GOD OR HIS PROMISES.

-The third thing is WHO BELIEVES THAT WE OR THE BIBLE TEACHES YOU AREN’T GOING TO DIE.

-Death has lost its sting and the victory is in Jesus, but we will still die.

-A couple of weeks ago I was reading Psalm 49 personally and it just came alive to me. I preached it to my family. (Along with Psalm 62:9.)

-It talks about the mortality of us all. I was asking the Lord why He was making this so real to me. I was even looking at myself saying are you trying to tell me something.

-I even thought of that Kansas song “Dust in the Wind”. I thought about playing that to my kids.

Psalm 49

11 Their tombs will remain their houses for ever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after themselves.

12 But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish.

13 This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings. Selah

BUT

15 ¶ But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Selah

2. THE CURE FOR GRIEF IS HOPE

1 Thessalonians 4

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.

-I was reading this Scripture and it occurred to me that the difference between us and the rest of men is HOPE.

-What is our hope?

-Paul brings it out in this passage of Scripture.

-Jesus Christ is coming back. Our future is tied to His future.

1-We believe that Jesus died and rose again

2-God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him

-Our future is tied to Jesus and His return to the earth.

3-We will be with the Lord forever

1 Corinthians 15

51 ¶ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--

52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

-God has a great drama planned for the earth and you personally.

-I wouldn’t want to miss that for anything.

-We live in anticipation that the future is better than the pain of the present.

Romans 8

16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

17 ¶ Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope

21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?

25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

3. WHAT DO YOU DO NOW?

-You grieve, you miss her and you go on.

Pr 10:7 ¶ The memory of the righteous will be a blessing,….

EXAMPLE - “SHADOWLANDS” -C. S. LEWIS

-The little boy asks if he believes in heaven. C.S. Lewis offers no deep answer to the problem…he just cries. That was so meaningful to me when I saw it.

-Someone said grief has four stages:

1-DENIAL

2-ANGER

3-DEPRESSION

4-RECOVERY

-It is very normal and natural to grief. We just have God to bring healing.

-Part of it is that when we begin to recover we feel guilty for not being depressed.

-This is a time to ask God to do what only God can do.

-We are praying together as a church for healing and comfort.

-We believe for the family especially to be touched.