WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.259 Well, good morning, church. Would you turn with me to the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:09.779 if you have a Bible with you? We're going to look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, 00:00:10.300 --> 00:00:17.519 verses 13 through 18 this morning. As Pastor Matt mentioned in his pastoral prayer, 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:24.719 many of us are grieving this week. We held the funeral for our brother in Christ, 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:31.399 Kevin Jang here at Trinity Yesterday. So we're going to pause this Sunday from our sermon series 00:00:31.399 --> 00:00:37.899 in John, and we're going to look at a passage that points us to the hope that we have in Christ. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:45.539 1 Thessalonians is a letter by the Apostle Paul to a church in a city called Thessalonica. 00:00:46.480 --> 00:00:53.060 And this church that Paul writes to, they had lost some of their loved ones, and they were shocked, 00:00:53.060 --> 00:01:00.060 and they were grieving as well. And so Paul writes to them about our hope in Christ. 00:01:01.480 --> 00:01:08.500 And God in his good providence has preserved this letter for us to continue to give hope in each 00:01:08.500 --> 00:01:15.620 generation. You see, God in his great love for us speaks to us in the Bible often in the most direct 00:01:15.620 --> 00:01:20.719 and relevant ways. And here's a passage written to a church living some of the same experiences that we 00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:27.200 are. It speaks right to us in our need. How do we face the loss of a loved one, of a friend, of a fellow 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:33.539 church member, of a parent? And what difference does it make as we face the reality of death? What 00:01:33.539 --> 00:01:43.159 difference does it make to know Christ? So why don't we read Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians, 00:01:43.159 --> 00:01:48.299 and we'll find out. And before I read for us, let me pray. Let's pray together. 00:01:50.700 --> 00:01:57.219 Our Father in heaven, we pray that your Holy Spirit would come now and give light to our minds 00:01:57.219 --> 00:02:03.979 and give light to our hearts, that we would be able to hear and receive the message that you have 00:02:03.979 --> 00:02:10.639 inspired for us in your Word. Jesus, you tell us that the Holy Spirit's ministry is to take the 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:16.859 things that are yours and make them known to us. So we pray that the Spirit would be at work to take 00:02:16.859 --> 00:02:22.559 the hope that is you and make it known to us. Lift our hearts to you again, Father, we pray in Jesus' name. 00:02:22.839 --> 00:02:29.839 Amen. All right, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 13 through 18. Let me read for us. 00:02:31.119 --> 00:02:38.019 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that is those who have died, 00:02:38.020 --> 00:02:45.420 that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and 00:02:45.420 --> 00:02:50.480 rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 00:02:51.760 --> 00:02:57.620 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the 00:02:57.620 --> 00:03:02.920 coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend 00:03:02.919 --> 00:03:07.899 from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of 00:03:07.899 --> 00:03:14.119 God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up 00:03:14.119 --> 00:03:21.179 together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. 00:03:22.179 --> 00:03:26.399 Therefore, encourage one another with these words. 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:36.259 Well, in the face of loss, what do we do? And there are three things that the Apostle Paul is 00:03:36.259 --> 00:03:42.280 telling us to do in the face of loss. He's telling us that we must grieve, and we must hope, and we 00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:48.580 must encourage one another. The Apostle here gives us the permission to grieve, he gives us the deepest 00:03:48.580 --> 00:03:55.099 ground for hope, and he gives us a call to encourage one another. So this morning, let's look briefly at each 00:03:55.099 --> 00:04:03.000 of those three things that we can and must do in the face of loss. First, we must grieve. Look again, 00:04:03.079 --> 00:04:07.840 if you have the passage there, look again at verse 13. Paul says, we don't want you to be uninformed, 00:04:08.019 --> 00:04:12.219 brothers, and by brothers he means brothers and sisters. We don't want you to be uninformed about 00:04:12.219 --> 00:04:16.860 those who are asleep. Again, that means those who have died. Why doesn't he want us to be uninformed? 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:23.360 So that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. Now listen closely to what Paul is saying here. 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:30.060 He's not saying, I don't want you to grieve at all. No, he's saying, I don't want you to grieve as 00:04:30.060 --> 00:04:37.199 others do who have no hope. In other words, Paul's assuming that they will grieve, and he wants to 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:43.439 write to them so that they can grieve with hope, so that they can grieve well. So you see, Paul 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:50.259 acknowledges and affirms their grief and ours. When we lose someone we love, it's expected, 00:04:50.259 --> 00:04:57.939 it's natural, it's right that we grieve. After all, in doing so, in grieving, we follow the example 00:04:57.939 --> 00:05:03.060 of none other than Jesus himself. When his friend Lazarus died, what did Jesus do? 00:05:04.620 --> 00:05:11.939 Jesus wept at his tomb. Do you remember? And Jesus didn't just weep. The apostle John tells us that he 00:05:11.939 --> 00:05:17.980 got angry. He raged. He sighed deeply in his soul at the ravages of sin and death in God's good world. 00:05:17.980 --> 00:05:24.700 So grieving a loss isn't just right, it's Christ-like. It's following in the steps of our Savior. 00:05:26.140 --> 00:05:30.939 And in fact, as Christians, when we're thinking and we're feeling rightly, you know, we ought to 00:05:30.939 --> 00:05:38.300 grieve more deeply than anyone else. There's a kind of depth to Christian grief. Why is that? 00:05:39.420 --> 00:05:46.420 Well, because we know that death is not the way it's supposed to be. God created the world for life. 00:05:46.420 --> 00:05:52.120 God created you and I in his image to live in fellowship with him forever. It's not natural 00:05:52.120 --> 00:05:59.060 that things die. It's very unnatural. It's because of sin that death has entered God's good creation. 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:04.400 In fact, in 1 Corinthians, in another one of Paul's letters, he will call death an enemy that's invaded 00:06:04.400 --> 00:06:10.600 God's good creation. So it's right to grieve and it's right to grieve deeply because this isn't how 00:06:10.600 --> 00:06:16.460 it's supposed to be. This isn't what God created us for. And that means Christians are not sort of 00:06:16.460 --> 00:06:22.180 stoics. We don't simply bite our lip and say, well, we just have to move on. We don't say death is just 00:06:22.180 --> 00:06:31.480 the natural way of the world. No, we grieve. So friends, let us grieve. For those of us who have lost 00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:38.840 loved ones in this life, let us grieve. And if you have lost a loved one, you know that kind of bitter 00:06:38.840 --> 00:06:48.300 sting that separation of death brings. C.S. Lewis once wrote that when one of his friends died, 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:57.280 what he lost wasn't just his friend, but he also lost what only his friend could bring out in other 00:06:57.279 --> 00:07:05.539 people. He writes, speaking of his friends, he says, I'll never see Ronald's reaction to a 00:07:05.539 --> 00:07:11.399 specifically Charles joke. Now that his friend Charles was gone, he was never going to see that 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:17.859 particular smile, that particular laugh in his friend Ronald again that only Charles could bring out. 00:07:19.319 --> 00:07:23.819 And don't we experience that when we lose loved ones? We don't just lose them, but we lose everything 00:07:23.819 --> 00:07:27.939 that they could bring about, everything that they could draw out of us and of others. 00:07:29.659 --> 00:07:35.279 We lose so much in this life when we lose those that we love. So friends, let us grieve. 00:07:37.620 --> 00:07:42.600 But our text doesn't just leave us there, does it? It doesn't end there. We grieve, yes, 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:46.879 but we don't grieve as those who have no hope. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:54.920 Grief isn't something that just takes us down and leaves us there for the Christian. 00:07:56.980 --> 00:08:00.860 And that brings us to our second point in our passage. First, yes, we grieve, but second, 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:08.060 we are to hope. And Paul's description of our hope is found in the long kind of central section 00:08:08.060 --> 00:08:14.279 of our passage this morning, from verse 14 all the way to verse 17. Paul here gives kind of a 00:08:14.279 --> 00:08:20.059 thumbnail sketch of the Christian hope. And you see right away in verses 14 and 15, again, 00:08:20.119 --> 00:08:26.139 if you have it there before you, that hope for Christians isn't merely just wishful thinking. 00:08:27.359 --> 00:08:33.100 In other words, hope for Christians isn't just a verb, I hope this will happen, I hope that will 00:08:33.100 --> 00:08:40.399 happen. No, hope for us is a noun, it's a substance, it's a thing, it has shape and form and content and 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:50.840 reality. Hope for Christians is planted firmly in reality in the event of Jesus's own life, 00:08:51.259 --> 00:08:58.240 death, and resurrection. What God did in history through Jesus's Son, this is the bedrock of our hope. 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:09.319 In Hebrews chapter 6, our hope in Jesus is described as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:15.060 If you've ever seen an anchor, you know, this summer we were at a seafood restaurant, 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:18.760 and do you see this sometimes? Outside of seafood restaurants, they'll like throw these old anchors 00:09:18.760 --> 00:09:22.440 for decoration. But it was kind of cool, it was the first time I'd ever like been up and close with an 00:09:22.440 --> 00:09:28.480 anchor, right? And they're huge, and they're weighty, and they're solid, and my kids were climbing on them. 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:33.480 It was something that they didn't have to hold on to, it was almost holding on to them, 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:40.860 it was so big and weighty, so real and firm. And Hebrews says, that's what we have in Christ. 00:09:41.080 --> 00:09:47.159 We have an anchor of the soul that keeps us stable in the storm. That's our hope, 00:09:47.379 --> 00:09:51.420 not wishful thinking, but a thing with weight and depth. 00:09:51.419 --> 00:09:57.819 So look again at verse 14. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, 00:09:58.419 --> 00:10:03.919 even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 00:10:05.719 --> 00:10:12.219 I want us to notice in this verse the deep connection between Jesus and his people, 00:10:12.319 --> 00:10:18.339 between Jesus and all who trust in him. In his incarnation, in his death, in his resurrection, 00:10:18.340 --> 00:10:27.340 Jesus took hold of us in our humanity. God took hold of our humanity, and he dealt with our sin 00:10:27.340 --> 00:10:32.920 so completely that our fate now is utterly tied to his. 00:10:35.800 --> 00:10:39.060 Again, the book of Hebrews in chapter 2 puts it like this. Hebrews says, 00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:42.320 since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, that's you and me, 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:51.120 Jesus himself likewise partook of the same things, that through his death he might destroy the one 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:56.460 who has the power of death and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong 00:10:56.460 --> 00:11:03.560 slavery. We're enslaved to fear and to death, but Jesus took a hold of our flesh and blood, 00:11:03.820 --> 00:11:08.460 went down into death for us to liberate us from that fear of death and from death itself. 00:11:08.460 --> 00:11:15.060 In other words, what Jesus did, he did for us. He died our death that our death may die, 00:11:15.160 --> 00:11:17.080 and he rose to life that we might live. 00:11:19.639 --> 00:11:24.379 Later on in the Gospel of John, we'll hear this in our John sermon series. Jesus himself will say, 00:11:24.540 --> 00:11:30.220 I'm the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:36.800 So friends, the Christian hope, first and foremost, is all about him. It's all about Jesus. 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:44.259 Jesus. And it's a firm and weighty anchor. And this hope that we have in him, as the Apostle Paul 00:11:44.259 --> 00:11:52.859 unfolds for us, it kind of unfolds in two stages. Our hope in Jesus has kind of two parts, two chapters, 00:11:53.240 --> 00:11:59.599 one now and one to come. And we need both of these chapters to kind of understand the fullness 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:06.779 of our Christian hope. Chapter one of this hope that we have in Christ is this, 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:15.240 that all who die in Christ at the moment of death are with the Lord. Notice in 1 Thessalonians, 00:12:15.540 --> 00:12:20.080 Paul will say, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Those who have 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:25.420 fallen asleep in Christ are with Jesus. Paul will make that clear again in Philippians chapter one. 00:12:25.419 --> 00:12:30.240 He says that for the one who trusts in Christ to depart from this life is to be present with the 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:34.799 Lord, to be with him in glory. Again, in 2 Corinthians chapter five, Paul will say, 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:40.860 to be away from the body is to be at home with the Lord. And that's the first stage. That's the first 00:12:40.860 --> 00:12:48.279 chapter of our Christian hope, that right now the saints departed are with Christ in glory. Their 00:12:48.279 --> 00:12:54.219 sorrow's gone. Their afflictions relieved. Their faces beholding the face of Jesus. They are, 00:12:54.220 --> 00:13:02.620 as Paul says, at home with the Lord. And so when we grieve, we grieve with hope that our loved ones 00:13:02.620 --> 00:13:12.800 are not lost. They are with the Lord. But that's not the end of the hope. That's just chapter one. 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:19.220 There's an even greater climax to come. There's a second chapter. There's a second part of our 00:13:19.220 --> 00:13:25.120 Christian hope. And what is this part two of Christian hope? And that's what Paul describes 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:31.600 here in detail in 1 Thessalonians. He lifts our gaze to the completion of God's promises to come. 00:13:32.160 --> 00:13:38.100 And he says, in summary, if I can summarize it, he says, there's coming a day when the King will return, 00:13:38.820 --> 00:13:46.620 when all of our bodies will be raised, there will be a great reunion, and we will reign with Him forever. 00:13:46.620 --> 00:13:54.440 I couldn't resist the alliteration there. Return, raised, reunion, and reign. That's our hope. 00:13:55.740 --> 00:13:59.879 That's our hope in full. So let's look at that together as we look at chapter two of our hope. 00:14:00.299 --> 00:14:06.120 In verse 16, Paul writes about Jesus' return. He says, for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven 00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:11.460 with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. 00:14:11.460 --> 00:14:22.580 What Paul is describing here is the return of Jesus Christ. It is the royal arrival of the world's true 00:14:22.580 --> 00:14:33.259 king in glory, God coming to earth in splendor. You see, friends, Jesus' first coming was a coming 00:14:33.259 --> 00:14:42.879 in humility. He arrived quietly in a manger. But His second coming will be a coming in glory. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:50.939 And it will be loud. It will be unmistakable and unavoidable. Paul in here, Paul in this passage 00:14:50.939 --> 00:14:57.740 kind of piles up these auditory images to make a point. There's a cry. There's a voice. There's a 00:14:57.740 --> 00:15:03.659 sound of a trumpet. In other words, you're not going to miss it. Christ will return. The king will 00:15:03.659 --> 00:15:13.320 arrive. And that's good news. That is good news of hope. The psalmists say that when the king 00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:20.620 comes to reign, when the Lord comes in glory, the trees will clap their hands. The hills will sing for 00:15:20.620 --> 00:15:27.840 joy. Creation that has been groaning for God to come. The king, the Lord will liberate it from its 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:37.720 death and decay. And yes, God will come. And when God comes, it will be in the person of Jesus in glory. 00:15:39.379 --> 00:15:46.360 Now, perhaps we find the bodily return of Christ a little strange. But consider what that means. 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:54.659 Consider what the bodily return of Christ teaches us. It means that the one who took hold of us in 00:15:54.659 --> 00:16:04.519 His incarnation has not ever let us go. When God came the first time, He took on flesh. And if He is 00:16:04.519 --> 00:16:12.039 to come again, He will come in that same flesh still united to us. He has not abandoned us. When He took up 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:16.799 our humanity, He has taken it up for all time. So when He returns, He will return in the same body 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:23.740 that loved us and died for us and was risen again for us. Christ will return in glory and the king will 00:16:23.740 --> 00:16:31.559 come. And when the king comes, when He returns, verse 15 of 1 Thessalonians tells us what will happen. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:40.439 Verse 15 says, the dead in Christ will rise first. Paul here is speaking about the resurrection of the 00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:45.620 body. Christ will return and the saints will be raised. The dead will be raised. The resurrection 00:16:45.620 --> 00:16:50.880 of the body. Now, I wonder if you've spent much time thinking about what that means, the resurrection 00:16:50.880 --> 00:17:00.120 of the body. Do you realize that the ultimate future that God has for His children is not merely one of 00:17:00.120 --> 00:17:08.120 our souls in heaven, but of our very bodies remade and perfected and transformed in glory? 00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:15.659 Just as Jesus emerged victorious over death in His body, the same will be true for all who trust in Him. 00:17:17.679 --> 00:17:22.599 And this makes Christianity very different from nearly every other kind of religion or every other 00:17:22.599 --> 00:17:28.439 sort of source of hope that we look for. One person who noticed this was the French philosopher 00:17:28.439 --> 00:17:34.119 Luc Ferry, who himself is not a Christian. And he made this observation talking about the belief in the bodily 00:17:34.119 --> 00:17:39.679 resurrection. He wrote this. He said, the Christian response to mortality, that is the resurrection of 00:17:39.679 --> 00:17:45.599 the body, is without question the most effective of all responses, other sort of ways we can deal with 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:50.739 death and look for hope. He says, it would seem to be the only version of salvation that enables us 00:17:50.739 --> 00:17:58.459 not only to sort of transcend our fear of death, but he says, but also to beat death itself. 00:17:58.460 --> 00:18:10.720 Now, do you see what he's saying? He's saying that the resurrection of the body means that God ultimately beats death. 00:18:13.720 --> 00:18:19.299 Death is not the last word. The separation of body and soul that death brings will be undone. 00:18:19.299 --> 00:18:28.720 God, in the resurrection, will give us back all that sin and death have stolen. 00:18:30.279 --> 00:18:37.119 And this ultimately is the Christian hope, especially in the face of tragedy. 00:18:38.579 --> 00:18:44.639 When tragedy strikes, where do we turn? When we're asking God, why do these things happen? 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:52.400 To what or to whom do we look for answers? Well, ultimately, we turn to Christ. 00:18:54.020 --> 00:19:00.080 And in Christ, we see first, we see first Christ's crucifixion. Here's a God who knows what it's like 00:19:00.080 --> 00:19:04.720 to experience the depths of human evil and suffering and injustice. God is not far off, 00:19:04.820 --> 00:19:12.160 but near to all those who suffer and who mourn. We first see his crucifixion, but in Christ, 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:21.600 we then see his resurrection. God overturning the evil and death and injustice. God giving us back 00:19:21.600 --> 00:19:30.480 life in its full. We grieve because death separates us from the ones we love. We grieve because death 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:35.240 separates us from the embraces that we should have had with that loved one, from the dances that we 00:19:35.240 --> 00:19:41.720 should have danced, from the laughter that we should have laughed. But the resurrection of the body 00:19:41.720 --> 00:19:49.660 beats death and gives life back to us. It gives back to us the lungs that laugh and the feet that 00:19:49.660 --> 00:19:58.180 dance and the arms that embrace. God will make them new. And our regrets will be undone, and our sadness 00:19:58.180 --> 00:20:05.320 will be swallowed up, and our guilt will at last be cleansed. And on that day, we will meet face to 00:20:05.320 --> 00:20:11.160 face the very bodily presence of Christ and the ones we love in Christ. 00:20:13.820 --> 00:20:18.340 And this leads us right into the third part of this hope that we have. Chapter two of our hope, 00:20:18.440 --> 00:20:25.960 return, resurrection, and then reunion. Verse 17, then we who are alive, who are left, 00:20:25.960 --> 00:20:29.539 will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. 00:20:30.120 --> 00:20:35.480 And so we will always be with the Lord. You see, when Jesus returns, when he transforms our corruptible 00:20:35.480 --> 00:20:41.160 bodies into incorruptible ones, putting death behind us once and for all, on that day, the church in heaven 00:20:41.160 --> 00:20:47.779 and the church on earth will be reunited forever around Jesus as he comes to reign. 00:20:49.380 --> 00:20:55.059 In other words, there's a great reunion that awaits us. When Christ comes to make all things new, 00:20:55.059 --> 00:20:59.819 we will embrace one another again. Every brother, every sister that we have had in the Lord, 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:04.579 not one will be lost, not one will be left out when Jesus comes to reign. 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:13.779 And together, Paul says, we will always be with the Lord. Not just me, but we. 00:21:13.779 --> 00:21:23.759 Paul says, we'll meet the Lord in the air. And the image there is that we meet him as he's coming down. 00:21:24.099 --> 00:21:29.960 And when he comes down to reign, we reign with him. As Revelation chapter 22 says, 00:21:30.399 --> 00:21:37.519 we will see God face to face and we will reign with him forever and ever in a healed, perfected, 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:44.680 cleansed, cleansed creation. So friends, this is our hope. The return of the king, 00:21:45.339 --> 00:21:51.039 the resurrection of the body, the reunion of the saints, and the reign of God in a healed creation 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:58.420 forever. Now, at first, this can seem a little too good to be true, can't it? Maybe a little hard 00:21:58.420 --> 00:22:08.300 to wrap our minds around. But as we sit with it for a second, doesn't it speak to that deep longing 00:22:08.300 --> 00:22:15.620 in our souls? That longing that we have, not just for some sort of otherworldly afterlife, 00:22:16.500 --> 00:22:21.100 which doesn't usually sound all that appealing when you think about it for a long time. 00:22:21.099 --> 00:22:28.759 What we long for is the healing and restoration of this creation. We have a longing for God to 00:22:28.759 --> 00:22:36.619 overturn the ravages of sin and death once and for all. Not just to ignore them or to sort of give us 00:22:36.619 --> 00:22:45.019 a consolation prize, but for God to overturn the wrong and to undo it. We have that longing for 00:22:45.019 --> 00:22:56.039 justice, for tragedy to be reversed and undone. And that longing that we have in this life, 00:22:57.259 --> 00:23:04.680 the longing that we have that life right now is not in vain, that it's not just a waste, 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:11.819 all these things, the Christian hope, the return, the resurrection, the reunion, the reign, it fits 00:23:11.819 --> 00:23:18.299 those longings so well, doesn't it? It fits the deep desires of our hearts so well that, 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:26.059 friends, it must have come from the one who created us to begin with, the one who knit these 00:23:26.059 --> 00:23:31.259 desires in our hearts from the beginning, the one who continues to kindle these desires for healing 00:23:31.259 --> 00:23:34.939 and justice and life in our hearts, even though so much seems stacked against them. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:39.679 These desires have come from the one who loved us with an everlasting love. 00:23:39.680 --> 00:23:45.259 The love of God that was deep enough to send His own Son to rescue us. 00:23:49.560 --> 00:23:55.860 And again, this hope, as Hebrews says, isn't some mere flight of fancy, but an anchor for the soul. 00:23:56.560 --> 00:24:04.340 We can lean into it. We can hold on to it. And we will find that it holds on to us. 00:24:04.339 --> 00:24:10.679 He will keep us steady when the waves of sorrow and when the tides of trouble come. 00:24:12.599 --> 00:24:18.639 So let me ask us this morning, let me ask you, do you have this hope? 00:24:20.119 --> 00:24:23.500 Or are you anchorless? 00:24:23.500 --> 00:24:30.799 When sorrow comes, what have you tied yourself to that will hold you fast? 00:24:34.420 --> 00:24:38.440 The opening of the Heidelberg Catechism, which is an old summary of what Christians believe, 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:42.599 begins with this question. The very first question it asks, it says, 00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:45.339 what is your only comfort in life and in death? 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:48.299 Sort of gets right to the point, doesn't it? 00:24:48.299 --> 00:24:54.559 What is your comfort? What is your strength? What is your hope? What is your stability in life and in death? 00:24:57.220 --> 00:24:58.919 And the Catechism gives this answer, 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:01.139 that I am not my own, 00:25:01.919 --> 00:25:03.740 but belong, body and soul, 00:25:04.359 --> 00:25:05.339 and life and in death, 00:25:05.859 --> 00:25:08.319 to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. 00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:11.680 Can you say that today? 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:16.259 Can you make those words your own and place yourself, body and soul, 00:25:16.380 --> 00:25:17.259 and life and in death, 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:20.019 into the hands of your faithful Savior, Jesus Christ? 00:25:20.940 --> 00:25:23.460 Jesus has come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, 00:25:23.620 --> 00:25:25.140 and I will give you rest. 00:25:26.740 --> 00:25:30.799 And this hope stands open and ready for all 00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:33.440 who turn and take Christ for themselves. 00:25:35.700 --> 00:25:37.060 Do you have the hope? 00:25:37.059 --> 00:25:41.139 If not, take hold of it today in Christ. 00:25:42.399 --> 00:25:45.480 Or rather, realize that He is taking hold of you. 00:25:47.419 --> 00:25:49.279 And give yourself into His hands. 00:25:51.899 --> 00:25:53.579 And if you do have this hope, 00:25:54.539 --> 00:25:57.379 if this is the hope that's kindling in your soul as a believer, 00:25:57.639 --> 00:25:59.200 then the application for us is this, 00:25:59.240 --> 00:26:01.759 and this is where our passage in 1 Thessalonians ends. 00:26:02.039 --> 00:26:03.599 First we grieve, next we hope, 00:26:03.700 --> 00:26:05.859 and third and last we encourage one another. 00:26:05.859 --> 00:26:06.740 Verse 18 says, 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:09.399 Therefore, encourage one another with these words. 00:26:10.859 --> 00:26:11.740 Encourage one another. 00:26:11.839 --> 00:26:14.919 You see, grieving well and hoping well, 00:26:15.139 --> 00:26:18.500 these things can't be done alone, by ourselves. 00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:20.139 We need one another. 00:26:21.299 --> 00:26:23.699 All of this is a community project. 00:26:24.479 --> 00:26:26.639 We need to encourage one another to grieve well, 00:26:26.679 --> 00:26:28.799 and we need to encourage one another to hope well. 00:26:29.479 --> 00:26:30.599 So how do we do that? 00:26:31.479 --> 00:26:32.879 How do we encourage one another? 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:37.980 First, I think being present to one another is the best start. 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:41.600 To be with one another, to spend time together, to be in fellowship. 00:26:41.780 --> 00:26:45.640 Now, of course, the pandemic has made that very challenging, hasn't it? 00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:47.220 To be present to one another. 00:26:48.980 --> 00:26:51.160 But many of us have found ways to do it. 00:26:51.820 --> 00:26:55.180 Whether over Zoom, whether over the live stream on Sunday, 00:26:55.440 --> 00:26:58.560 or taking walks together outside, or making a phone call. 00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:02.700 We can continue, and we must continue, to be present to one another. 00:27:03.319 --> 00:27:06.399 So we can encourage one another to grieve well and to hope well. 00:27:08.119 --> 00:27:10.039 And next, we can pray for one another. 00:27:10.139 --> 00:27:12.339 We can encourage one another by praying for one another. 00:27:12.419 --> 00:27:15.240 We can take our cares and concerns to our Heavenly Father. 00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:19.299 We can thank and praise God for our hope in Christ. 00:27:19.299 --> 00:27:24.019 We can thank and praise God for the lives of the loved ones that we've lost, 00:27:24.180 --> 00:27:26.259 for what they've meant to us, for what we'll miss. 00:27:26.859 --> 00:27:32.319 We can pray and thank God for that great reunion that we look forward to when Christ comes. 00:27:33.639 --> 00:27:37.299 So we encourage one another, we strengthen one another by praying for one another, 00:27:37.399 --> 00:27:38.619 praying with one another. 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:45.379 And last, we can remind each other of Jesus' love for us. 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:48.720 We can speak of the great hope that we have in Christ. 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:51.920 Paul says, encourage one another with these words. 00:27:53.640 --> 00:28:00.680 So we're present, and we pray, and then we can, and we must use words to encourage one another. 00:28:01.640 --> 00:28:04.180 Sometimes we feel kind of awkward when we're with one another, 00:28:04.259 --> 00:28:05.880 trying to grieve and trying to hope, don't we? 00:28:05.900 --> 00:28:07.120 We don't really know what to say. 00:28:08.600 --> 00:28:13.920 But you know, when the time is right, the Spirit will give us words to encourage one another, 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:19.000 to lift one another up, to speak to each other about the great love of Christ. 00:28:20.039 --> 00:28:22.300 That Christ has loved us even in our sin. 00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:24.920 That Christ has conquered our death on the cross. 00:28:25.180 --> 00:28:28.000 That he's rose again and will return to make all things new. 00:28:28.940 --> 00:28:32.600 That God is faithful and will not leave us or forsake us. 00:28:32.599 --> 00:28:41.679 To grieve well and to hope well, we have to keep these words alive for one another. 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:46.439 And keep speaking them and reminding each other of them. 00:28:47.159 --> 00:28:48.939 And not be afraid to speak them. 00:28:48.940 --> 00:28:54.420 So brothers and sisters, this is the message of our text today. 00:28:54.860 --> 00:28:55.920 That we would grieve. 00:28:56.779 --> 00:28:58.059 And that we would hope. 00:28:58.980 --> 00:29:01.360 And that out of that grieving with hope, 00:29:01.620 --> 00:29:04.440 we would encourage one another with these words. 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:06.880 Amen. 00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:07.680 Let's pray. 00:29:12.759 --> 00:29:14.860 Father, we thank you for the hope that we have in Christ. 00:29:14.859 --> 00:29:19.459 God, we ask that you would be near to all who mourn today. 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:21.859 May they find comfort in you, Lord Jesus. 00:29:23.219 --> 00:29:26.119 And help us as a church to encourage one another. 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:28.559 To grieve well and to hope well. 00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:32.759 We do look forward to your return, Lord Jesus. 00:29:33.419 --> 00:29:35.679 We look forward to the reunion of your church, 00:29:35.819 --> 00:29:38.119 all our brothers and sisters who've gone before us. 00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:42.599 May your sure and steadfast promises 00:29:42.599 --> 00:29:47.699 continue to be that anchor for our souls in the days ahead. 00:29:48.639 --> 00:29:49.799 In Christ's name we pray. 00:29:50.559 --> 00:29:50.899 Amen. 00:29:52.819 --> 00:29:53.519 Amen, friends. 00:29:53.579 --> 00:29:56.639 Well, we've said that Christ is the center of our hope. 00:29:56.699 --> 00:29:59.240 So let's stand and let's sing about the hope 00:29:59.240 --> 00:30:00.659 that we have in Christ alone. 00:30:00.659 --> 00:30:00.740 Amen.