To Be Blameless at Advent

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

1 Thessalonians 3:9–13 NKJV

For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God, night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect what is lacking in your faith? Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

Advent is a time of reflection. Most people spend the season of Advent contemplating the birth of Jesus Christ. We tend to concentrate on the Baby Jesus in the manger. We wonder why He came to such an awful place as earth, a world filled with violence, selfishness, and hate. We take time to contemplate how the Eternal Son of God could become flesh and live among humans in this world. He did this because He loved us. We might further contemplate His life on earth and wonder at what He taught about the Kingdom of God. We are amazed at the miracles and signs He performed. We think of how He died on a cross for our sin. We confess that He was raised from the dead on the third day and ascended into heaven. Most Christians think on these things at Advent. It is good to think about what Christ has done for us.

However, the season of Advent originally contemplated another event — the second coming of Christ. Advent was celebrated long before Christmas was. So let us take a little time to contemplate the return of Jesus and how we should live in the present while we await His return.

In this morning’s text, we encounter the second coming at the end of the selection in 1 Thessalonians 3:13. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to return with all His saints. All the teaching in this text is oriented to this event. Paul is writing to the church in Thessaloniki. He had started this church on his second missionary journey in about 49 AD. He was instructed by the Holy Spirit to evangelize in Macedonia through a man he had seen beckoning him to come in a dream. The first place he stopped was at Philippi. He started a new work with a few Jewish women he met on the bank of the river. When he cast a python spirit out of a slave girl there, he was arrested and badly beaten with Silas. He was delivered at midnight through an earthquake through which the jailor and his family became Christians. He was thrown out of the city the next day before he could establish the work there. So he next came to Thessaloniki and started a church there from the synagogue. After some initial success, the Jews started a riot, and Paul had to leave in haste. From there he went to Berea and suffered the same fate. He was then mocked at Athens. Finally he came to Corinth and started a work there. Even though trouble arose there as well, Paul was able to stay some time there to establish a church there. But Paul had kept the church at Thessaloniki in mind. He sent two epistles to them. Scholars are divided whether he sent 1 Thessalonians first or 2 Thessalonians. At any rate, 1 Thessalonians is among the earliest of his epistles.

From his letter, we learn that Paul had sent Timothy to Thessaloniki to establish the church in the faith because he was unable to come in person. Timothy’s report back was very encouraging, fir which Paul was overjoyed. Joy and thanksgiving abounds throughout the epistle, even though he had to deal with a few issues there. We learn from 1 Thessalonians 4 that the return of Jesus was one of these issues. Some there had felt that those who had died would miss out on the second coming and were, therefore, lost. Paul emphatically insists that this was not the case. Chapter four is set up by the end of chapter 3. When christ returns, He is returning with His saints. What we can see is that the church and I think Paul also expected the imminent return of Jesus.

What was the church to do in the light of His soon expected return? Jesus had admonished his disciples on several occasions. He says in Luke 19:13 that His servants are to occupy themselves until He returns. The Greek word behind “occupy” means that we should conduct the business of the Kingdom. 2 Thessalonians 3 seems to indicate that some of them had quit work and were mooching off others. Paul responds by saying that those who do not work should not eat either (2 Thessalonians 3:10). This is one of the errors that occur when one acts on the idea that the Lord was just about to come and establish the Kingdom. Jesus indicates that His return would not occur nearly as soon as many thought..There was going to be time to conduct the Lord’s business.

The other error which wrongly affects Christian conduct is that the Lord’s coming is way in the future. People with this expectation fall into the trap which Jesus warns in Matthew 24:48-51:

Matthew 24:48–51 NKJV

But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So we see that either extreme concerning the return of Jesus is fraught with dangers. So it seems to me that the middle ground is the safest. The Nicene Creed affirms that Jesus Christ will return at the and of time. At that time, we can expect to be raised to be with Him. This is a real hope by which we must conduct our lives. At the same time, we must continue to do the Lord’s work. It is reported that a man came to St. Francis who was doing the hard work of sowing wheat in his field. He asked Francis what he would do if he knew for sure that the Lord was coming that very day. His reply was that he would finish planting the wheat until that time. We all want to speculate when the Lord will come and establish the Kingdom. The disciples did the same. Many theories have been put forth, those which believe in some sort of “rapture” which is separate from the Lord’s return, in which the church will be taken up. What if one got the time right, not necessarily because of his speculation but because there are so many theories, someone is bound to get it pretty close to right. But what if that person who got the time right was not ready to meet the Lord? What profit would that be? On the other hand, what if the person who is obedient and doing the Lord’s work which he has been given and is surprised when the Lord comes? Would not Jesus say to that man: “Well done, good and faithful servant. enter into the joy of the Lord.” so the best way to prepare for the return of Jesus is to be busy at the Lord’s work.

Paul was most thankful that this is just what most of the Thessalonians were doing. Both Paul and the church had suffered much for the sake of the Gospel. But the church had the testimony of faith, faith that the Christian communities everywhere had heard. Considering how recently the church was founded, that was quite a testimony. (1 Thessalonians 1:6-8). Paul prayed for the opportunity to come and add to their faith. They had come a long way under the circumstances. But there was always room for improvement. Paul wanted to fill the areas where their faith was deficient.

In 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13, Paul prays not just for the opportunity that he might come to them, but in the interim that they would abound even more in their love for each other. He prayed that their hearts be “blameless in holiness.” All this was to prepare them that they might be found without spot or wrinkle in the Day of Jesus Christ. God has already provided this. What the church is to do is to become what God has separated it to be.

So when we come to Advent, we need to assess the condition of our hearts, the condition of the local churches, as well as the condition of the Church as a whole. Can what was said of the Thessalonians apply to us as well. I think that an honest assessment of the situation is that we are as a whole quite deficient in this area. There is a difference among believers.Some are more prepared than others. The same can be said of local congregations. But there were deficiencies in even a good church like the Thessalonian church. Paul wanted to come and remedy this. Who will rise up in the local churches to build up the church’s faith that it might be blameless in holiness when the Lord returns. Advent has been called a “little Lent” by a Lutheran pastor friend of mine. Let us pray that the Lord would send teachers and pastors to the churches to equip them. the Lord is coming. It is no time to be lazy.