Scripture reading: Zephaniah 1.

Sermon text: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11.

No one really saw it coming. The “prophets” had warned for years that terrible destruction loomed over the city, but nothing had ever happened. Every time disaster loomed, the city somehow escaped, to the point the citizens came to believe that nothing would ever happen — until it did.

We all remember the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in August 2005.  Many people surmised that New Orleans would never recover, that the city as a cultural center of the South would disappear beneath the flood waters of Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River.

The Old Testament prophets knew well the feelings of the meteorologists and other scientists who tried to warn New Orleans. Prophets such as Zephaniah, a descendant of King Hezekiah who prophesied c. 620 B.C., had long preached that judgment loomed on the horizon. After a while, everyone felt about the prophets as the townspeople in the story of the boy who cried “wolf.” Everyone tuned out the prophets and forgot that God didn’t ignore their sins. Judgment crashed into Jerusalem beginning in 605 B.C. with the death of King Josiah and culminating with the city’s destruction by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.

Today, the Church stands in the place of the prophets, but with better news than what the prophets brought. Yes, God will judge the world at Jesus’ return. However, the Church can also tell the world about the good news of salvation brought through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Last week, I challenged you to stop wondering when Jesus would return. Today, we learn St. Paul’s instructions to the Thessalonians and to us as we wait for Jesus to return to judge the world and reign as King of Creation.

Sermon

Today’s sermon passage makes better sense if we remember that St. Paul didn’t include chapter breaks (these were added in the thirteenth century). We should read the sermon passage as a continuation of St. Paul’s teachings on the resurrection of the dead.

After St. Paul’s comforting words regarding the resurrection, he then instructed the Thessalonians, “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” St. Paul had already taught the Thessalonians about the return of Christ in his short time there. The Thessalonians remembered his teachings regarding Jesus’ words to His disciples in Matthew 24 (“if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into”). As Jesus had told the disciples, His return would come suddenly and unexpectedly.

While they could not worry about the “when” of Jesus’ return, St. Paul did give the Thessalonians a vital clue. “While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

When I read this sentence, I find myself wondering about those people today who think the world will continually grow worse but who yet claim to expect Jesus’ return. How can anyone claim “peace and security” in a world of uncertainty and danger? It puzzles me that in my lifetime, I vividly remember people looking for Jesus’ return in the 1970’s, the decade of my life that seemed far more troubled than any other, including our present decade. St. Paul told the Thessalonians that Jesus’ unexpected return would surprise everyone because the judgment would seem so far away.

Thus far in post-resurrection history, few times would have qualified as times of certainty and security. On the other hand, I would counsel anyone who fears peace and security to read the rest of St. Paul’s instructions.

St. Paul told the Thessalonians, “But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.” When we are born again, St. Paul said, we become “children of light, children of the day.” St. John said of Jesus, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). Jesus later said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). Because we live in Jesus through our confession of Him as Lord of our lives, we see the signs more clearly than others in the world. We remember that Jesus promised to return to His rightful place as King of the world.

We should also remember another saying of Jesus. Jesus had also told His disciples, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Jesus expected His people who live in light to bring light to others. If we receive the light of salvation, we must let that light shine in our lives. St. Paul told the Thessalonians, “So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.” We cannot affect the world if we sleep through everything that happens. Nor can we positively affect the world if we do not remain alert to events. “For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” Jesus expects us to live protected by faith, love, and salvation. In this way, others will see us living out our salvation in Christ.

Here, though, we find a major deviation from the prophecies of doom such as Zephaniah’s. In Zephaniah’s time, believers and unbelievers alike would suffer the effects of God’s judgments. Although wicked Jews suffered during the warfare and deportations of the 6th century B.C., godly Jews suffered as well. Godly men such as Daniel and his friends found themselves over 1,000 miles from home in exile. Zephaniah wrote about idolatrous priests, but godly priests such as Ezekiel endured exile as well.

St. Paul comforted the Thessalonians, and his words bring us comfort today. “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.” Notice those words: “God has not destined us for wrath.” While the Church may suffer persecution for our confession of Jesus as Lord, we will not suffer from God’s judgment on the world. The Church will suffer for our stand; believers have suffered since shortly after Pentecost in A.D. 33. However, we will not suffer the same fate as the wicked and ungodly.

As St. Paul told the Thessalonians, so we should take comfort in his words: “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” St. Paul didn’t want the Thessalonians worrying about Jesus’ return. They knew what to expect when it occurred. Instead, he wanted the believers to “encourage one another.” Anyone in our congregation should leave feeling better about his faith than when he came.  We should “build one another up;” we should help each other grow in our faith as we pray for one another. The Thessalonians already live this way: “just as you are doing.” We should do the same today.

St. Paul’s words still speak to us today.

First, we should remember that events in the world will always bring uncertainty. The past few months have witnessed the fall of even stalwarts in the business world, and many predict the fall of other corporations that have stood our entire lives. These uncertain times may trouble many, but they should not shake our faith in Jesus as Lord of our lives. Instead, we should take caution when someone — anyone — tries to proclaim that the world can bring peace. Jesus alone reigns as the Prince of Peace.

We should also remember St. Paul’s admonitions to stay “awake” and “sober.”  This instruction does not refer to physical conditions. We must remain alert to events in the world, but we should not allow them to shake our confidence in Jesus’ control of our lives. Jesus calls us to His work and then expects us to remain constant in our obedience regardless of world events.

We also need to insure that we live our lives as lights in the world. St. John wrote, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). The darkness will not overcome the light in our lives. Others need to see light, and they’re looking to us to see it. This also applies to another critical facet of our witness in the world. Light appears in darkness even when those in the darkness don’t look for it. You may think that no one in your life wants to see your light, but you must let your life shine anyway.

Church history records numerous examples of people not looking for the light, but few match the story of Robert Robinson, author of “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” According to his testimony, in 1752, Robinson attended a revival meeting where George Whitefield was preaching. As recorded in the book Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions:

Robinson went for the purpose of “scoffing at those poor, deluded Methodists” and ended up professing faith in Christ as his Savior. Soon he felt called to preach the gospel and subsequently became the pastor of a rather large Baptist church in Cambridge, England. (p. 343)

Jesus will come like the proverbial “thief in the night,” but we’ll be unsurprised. Until He comes, let your light shine, encouraging one another in faith and love.