Amen. You may be seated.
Kids, you're excused to your King's Kids class.
!
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, sisters, about those who are asleep, Christians
who have died before the coming of Jesus.
That you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring
with Him those who have fallen asleep.
For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left
until the coming of the Lord, will not proceed those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an
archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.
And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will always be with the Lord.
Therefore, encourage one another with these words.
May God bless the hearing of His word.
There is a very good chance that we will be attending each other's funerals.
Have you ever thought about that?
You might be thinking now, Mike, you're just considering your own mortality given in your
bike accident recently.
Well, there's some of that.
But part of together following Jesus, we'll be walking through death together.
When a fellow Christian dies, how must we respond?
Imagine a brother in Christ, Stan, from our church who dies, widowing his wife, Charlotte,
of 50 plus years.
She too is a Christian who loves the Lord deeply, but his death has left her grieving.
Grief is the sting of someone's absence.
You attend Stan's funeral here in the sanctuary.
And after the funeral, you go downstairs to the fellowship hall for a luncheon.
There's a lack of chairs.
So you go into the side room to find some chairs.
And there you find Charlotte.
You're alone with her.
She's quietly weeping.
What do you do?
What do you say?
Oops.
So sorry.
And you take your leave.
Or you nod and you say, Stan will be missed.
You grab some chairs.
You put your hand on Charlotte's shoulder and you say, God is working all things out for the good.
Now I've got to grab these chairs.
Or maybe you say something like this.
You know, Charlotte, Stan is in a better place.
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5.8.
Which is true.
What would you do if you encountered a newly minted widow in a side room after her husband's funeral?
The apostle Paul, in writing 1 Thessalonians, is writing a fledgling church.
They had just been established.
And this fledgling church is also a church in grieving.
We pick it up in verse 13.
Brothers, sisters, about those who are asleep.
About those Christians who were church members of yours who have died.
They've been to the funeral services of a number of their members.
And they've been thrown by it.
A number of their church members have died.
They're grieving.
They've been rattled.
Because they don't know how to make sense of their fellow Christians who have died in Christ's return.
They don't have the information.
They're lacking information.
So Paul attends to it head on.
In verses 13 through 18, he addresses this in three moves.
The first move is in verse 13.
He addresses their hopelessly uninformed situation.
Hopelessly uninformed.
And then the second move, he gives hopeful instruction.
It's going to be the bulk of the sermon.
And then the third move, he closes with a hope-spreading exhortation.
Now here's the claim of this passage.
When fellow Christians die, we encourage one another with the hope of Christ's return.
Not just they're in the presence of the Lord.
But we go beyond that by pointing people, grieving brothers and sisters in Christ,
to what will happen when Jesus comes back.
So, let's look at this first move where Paul addresses these hopelessly uninformed Christians in verse 13.
And just to remind you, Paul loves this church.
If you just flip back in your Bibles to chapter 2, verses 19 and 20,
listen to what he says of this church.
For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming?
Is it not you?
For you are our glory and joy.
Now those are words of affection, of delight.
And this church came into being under very difficult circumstances.
In fact, if you want to read about it, you can read about it at the beginning of Acts 17,
where Paul, Silas, and Timothy, they got a split Philippi.
They show up in Thessalonica.
They start preaching Christ, and there is this response.
But there's also a response, not of faith and repentance, but of violence,
and of things getting out of hand in Thessalonica.
I mean, just read.
You can read about the thoroughness of their conversion,
of those who heard the gospel in chapter 1, verses 9 and 10.
For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you,
and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus,
who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Not only were they delivered from their sin,
they were looking forward to Christ's return.
These Christians were thoroughly, thoroughly converted.
And then, because things started getting out of hand,
Paul, Silas, and Timothy, they had to cut out of Thessalonica under the cover of night.
Now, could you imagine how this affected Paul?
He leaves this fledgling church in the midst of very difficult circumstances.
And so you can imagine, as the weeks and the months are going by,
he's just wondering, what is going on in Thessalonica?
What's happening in this church?
No word.
So what Paul eventually does, you can see it in chapter 3, verses 1 and 2.
Paul sends Timothy back to the church in Thessalonica to see what's going on.
And then Timothy brings back a report.
And to the great relief of everybody,
he comes back with a very encouraging report.
Chapter 3, verses 6 through 9.
You want to get a taste of what's going on?
Look at chapter 4, verse 1.
Finally then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus,
that as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God,
just as you are doing,
that you do so more and more.
The only reason why he knew that is Timothy's report.
That they are following Jesus together.
Look at chapter 4, verse 9.
Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write you,
for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,
for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia.
They are loving each other.
They are walking by faith.
And Paul is like, excel still more, brothers and sisters.
Press in.
Keep going.
They seem to be doing really well.
In chapter 5, verses 1-2.
Now concerning the times and the seasons of Christ's return,
brothers and sisters, you have no need to have anything written to you,
for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord,
the coming of Christ, will come like a thief in the night.
So they're well instructed.
Look at verse 11 of chapter 5.
Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up,
just as you are doing.
They're already talking to each other about the return of Christ.
This would have been a very encouraging report.
But this church was lacking something.
You pick up on it.
In chapter 3, verse 10.
Paul is praying for them,
as we pray most earnestly night and day,
that wait, we may see you face to face,
and supply what is lacking in your faith.
Despite all these good things going on,
Paul was aware that they were missing something.
They were missing some information.
And what was that information?
They knew what Christ had done,
death, resurrection.
They knew that Christ was coming back.
But given these recent deaths of their fellow Christians,
something got exposed in them.
They did not know what to think
about what would happen to these Christians
who had died before Christ's return.
What's going to happen?
They were, verse 13, uninformed.
Do you see that?
But we do not want you to be uninformed,
brothers and sisters.
That's not being misled.
That's not being mistaught.
That is their missing information
about those who are asleep.
That little phrase, asleep,
shows up a few times in this passage.
We see it in verse 13,
that you may not grieve as others do
over those who are asleep.
Look at verse 14.
It shows up again.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so, through Jesus,
God will bring with him
those who have, say it, fallen asleep.
Look at verse 15.
For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,
that we who are alive,
who are left until the coming of the Lord,
will not precede those who have, say it, fallen asleep.
So those who have fallen asleep, who are they?
Well, we're told in verse 16,
Scripture interprets Scripture, right?
Look at verse 16.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven
with a cry of command,
with the voice of the archangel,
and with the sound of the trumpet of God,
and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Those who have fallen asleep
are the dead in Christ.
Those Christians who have died
before the coming of the Lord,
that's those who have fallen asleep.
So Paul not only addresses this issue,
what about those who have fallen asleep?
He'll get there in a second,
but he also addresses the effect,
the effect on this Thessalonian church
of not knowing this information.
He doesn't want them to grieve
like those who do not have hope,
like non-Christians who do not have hope
in the face of death.
He wants to put hope in their hearts.
He doesn't want them to get pulled away
in their hopelessness of not knowing
what will happen to their Christian brothers and sisters
who have died.
You see, their lack of knowing
what would happen to them
was tempting them to a hopelessness.
They were missing information.
They were uninformed,
and it was having an unhealthy effect.
They were being tempted to hopelessness.
Grief is the sting of someone's absence,
and it can take over.
When grief is not tempered by faith,
it can take over.
It can rule you.
And so Paul here is not forbidding grief.
What Paul is doing is he's addressing
an uninformed grief
that results in hopelessness.
So the first move we see here
is the Apostle Paul
addressing these hopelessly uninformed Christians.
He knows their situation.
He's opening their hearts
to receive what he's about to tell them.
And that's the second move.
Paul gives them hopeful instruction.
He just doesn't let them
kind of just wallow in the mire of not knowing.
He addresses their situation
with hopeful instruction.
Has anybody seen a video?
This is point two.
Hopeful instruction.
Has anybody seen a video
of like a hurricane
or a tornado
that sweeps in
and it just picks up everything around it
and hurls it wherever it may go?
Just imagine like a trampoline in Oklahoma
and a tornado.
It just kind of scoops that baby up
and hurls it.
You know what I'm talking about?
Have you seen those videos?
Grief can be like a hurricane.
Grief can be like a tornado.
It can just pick you up and hurl you.
It can take over.
And that's why
if you have
trampoline in Oklahoma
you've got to anchor it down.
And that's why
the apostle Paul
in verses 14 through 17
gives very hopeful instruction
that is anchoring
this grief stricken church
into God's word.
and he does this
in three ways.
The first way
he anchors
this grieving church
with hopeful instruction
is in verse 14.
For since we believe
that Jesus died
and rose again
even so
through Jesus
God will bring
with him
those who have fallen asleep.
What we have here
is called a gospel promise.
It's a since then argument.
Since this is true
then this is true.
Let me give you an example.
Since Jordan Love
is better than Aaron Rodgers
then
the Packers beat the Steelers.
Do I have an amen?
It's a since then argument.
Here's the since then argument
in verse 14.
Since Jesus
died and rose.
Gospel.
Since that's true
in everything that comes with it too
like his return
since Jesus died
and rose
and will return someday
and we believe that to be true
since that's true
then
then in verse 14
even so
through Jesus
God will bring with him
those who have fallen asleep.
Since we believe
that Jesus rose from the dead
and he's going to return
then we also believe
that when Jesus returns
he's going to bring back with him
those whom he died
and rose for.
When he returns
just as we believe the gospel
we believe this promise
that he's bringing these people
back with him.
These are those who have died
and are now in God's presence.
They are disembodied souls
in the very presence
of the Lord Jesus.
This is what the apostle Paul
talks about in 2 Corinthians 5
when he talks about
being absent from the body
but being in the presence of the Lord
or in Philippians chapter 1
where he says
you know what would be better for me
if I were absent
you know away from my body
in the presence of the Lord.
It's this idea
that when a Christian dies
their soul goes to be
in the presence of the Lord.
These disembodied souls
are in the presence of the Lord now
and when Jesus returns
he's bringing them back with him.
And so what Paul is doing here
is he's anchoring grief
into God's truth
a gospel promise.
Here's another way to think about it.
These Thessalonians are like
what's going to happen
to our brothers and sisters in Christ
who have died when Jesus returns?
Paul's like
it's not like Jesus will forget
to bring those whom he's died
and raised him for.
Those whom fallen asleep
he's bringing them back with him.
And so this
this first
hopeful piece
of hopeful instruction
is that
the Apostle Paul
God
is grounding grief
it's anchoring grief
in this gospel promise.
The second
anchor
is in verse 15.
And it comes
by way of a word
from the Lord.
For this we declare to you
by a word
from the Lord.
Now
it's possible
that this reference
to a word
from the Lord
could be a reference
to something that Jesus said
that we
we have no record of.
It's possible
that's the case.
But I think
it's
it's much more likely
that what Paul
is referring to
is a prophetic word
that the risen Christ
spoke to him
or Silas
another prophet
New Testament prophet.
And it has to do
with the
sequencing
the procedural
sequencing
of Christ's return
and those who have died.
We see it in verse 15.
for this we declare
to you
by a word
from the Lord
that we
who are alive
who are left
until the coming
of the Lord
in other words
those who will be alive
when Christ returns
those of us
who will see Jesus
upon his return
on earth
we will not
precede
those who have
fallen asleep.
We will not
go before
in procedural
sequence
those who have
died in Christ
before his return.
And so what we're
being told here
this word
from the Lord
is
Paul saying
the risen Lord
told me
apostolic authority
we're to interpret
this with
Christ's full
authoritative word
that
when Christ
returns
those of us
who are alive
at his coming
we're not going
to go before
those who have
died before
his coming.
It's a very
simple
simple point
and the
specificity of it
the detail of it
the texture of it
it anchors us
in it.
It's truth
for us
to anchor
our hearts
when we are
affected by the
grief of someone
who has died
a Christian
who has died
this word
of the Lord
Paul's talking
about two groups
of Christians
those who are
alive
who are left
until the coming
of Christ
and those who
have fallen asleep
and he's
saying here
there's
a sequence
when Christ
comes back
there's a procedure
now I want to
point out too
in 1 Corinthians
15
the parallel
passage
to this passage
in your New
Testament
Paul says this
in verse 51
he says
behold
I tell you
a mystery
that's
revelation
talk
that is
making
something
known
that has
been
kind of
not revealed
this is prophetic
in that sense
behold I tell you
a mystery
we shall not all
sleep but we shall
all be changed
in a moment
in the twinkling
of an eye
the last trumpet
for the trumpet
will sound
and the dead
will be raised
imperishable
and we
who are alive
at the coming
of Christ
shall be changed
and so what we
have here
this word
of the Lord
is the
second
anchor
by which
we're being
anchored to truth
which gives us
hope
the third
anchor
is in
verses
16
and 17
it's the
third anchor
of this hopeful
instruction
and it's
actually an
expansion
of verse
15
but it
expands it
by way
of description
it expands
it by way
of prophetic
vision
it helps
you to
see
something
check it
out
for the
Lord himself
will descend
I hope
that you're
seeing that
in your mind
for the
Lord himself
will descend
from heaven
with a cry
of command
with the
voice of
an archangel
and with
the sound
of the
trumpet
of God
when Jesus
comes back
it's going
to be
a cacophony
it's going
to be
noisy
and you
might read
three things
there
cry of
command
voice of
an archangel
sound of
the trumpet
but there's
actually
two things
the cry
of command
is the
voice
of the
archangel
in Matthew
24
31
when Jesus
talks about
his return
when he
comes back
all of his
angels are
going to be
sent out
to the
four winds
of the
earth
to gather
all of
his blood
bought
and that
sending forth
of angels
tied to this
passage
will go by
way of a
cry of
command
from an
archangel
the only
archangel
named
in your
bible
is
Michael
doesn't
mean he's
the only
archangel
but he's
referenced
in Jude
9
something is
going to
happen
when Jesus
comes back
there is
going to
be loud
noise
it's
going to
be an
announcement
a cry
of command
and there's
going to
be the
trumpet
of God
that blares
not just
announcing
Christ's
return
but announcing
the resurrection
of the dead
it's going
to be a
holy
cacophony
of noise
and you
are to
be
visualizing
this
you
this is a
sensory
experience
right now
we're to
be anticipating
this
and then we
learn
of the
order
of the
sequence
and the
dead in
Christ
will rise
first
the
disembodied
souls
coming back
with Christ
they
will be
reunited
with a
resurrection
body
that will
happen
first
and then
verse 17
then
we who
are alive
who are left
the same
language as in
verse 15
we who are
alive who are
left
will be
caught up
together
will be
raptured
will be
raptured
with them
those who
have received
resurrection
bodies
who died
before the
coming of
the Lord
will be
raptured
with them
in the
clouds
just as
Jesus
went up
Acts 1
9
he's going
to come
back on
the clouds
the son
of man
returning
in glory
to meet
the Lord
in the
air
here's what
this last
prophetic
vision
adds
to all
of these
anchors
it's a
picture
of a
mid-air
reunion
all
of those
Christians
that you
miss
right now
who have
died
you
will be
reunited
with them
at the
coming of
the Lord
Jesus
Christ
if he
comes in
our
lifetimes
and we'll
be reunited
with them
in the
air
all of
us
being
radically
transformed
with
resurrection
bodies
but there's
no question
the dead
in Christ
are raised
first
they have
the priority
they will
not be
forgotten
and we
will meet
them
we will
meet
them
in the
air
now there's
a number
of different
positions
Christians
holds
regarding
the rapture
of the
church
I
personally
do not
believe
in a
secret
rapture
of the
church
I
believe
that
when
Jesus
comes
back
he's
coming
back
he's
going
to
set
up
shop
with
all
of
his
blood
bought
and that's
why
regardless
of
what
position
you
hold
in
terms
of
Christ's
rapturing
of his
church
that little
phrase
and so
we will
always
be
with
the
Lord
that
should
put
great
courage
and joy
into
your
heart
when
he
comes
back
from
then
on
out
we
together
all
of
the
blood
bought
who
have
been
given
resurrection
bodies
we
will
be
with
the
Lord
together
in
his
presence
so
we
will
always
be
with
him
three
anchors
here's
a
grieving
church
fledgling
church
they're
missing
some
information
they're
hopelessly
uninformed
and here
is
Paul
giving
hopeful
instruction
to
them
three
anchors
a
gospel
promise
Christ
will
not
forget
those
who
have
fallen
asleep
he
died
and
was
raised
for
them
there's
the
word
from
the
Lord
there's
this
procedural
sequence
those
who
are
alive
will
not
precede
those
who
are
dead
and
then
we
have
this
prophetic
picture
this
vision
of a
mid
air
reunion
all
of that
together
what
that
does
is
Paul
anchors
grief
into
the
truth
of
God's
word
resulting
in
hope
in
light
of
those
Christians
who
have
died
when
a
fellow
Christian
dies
we
encourage
one
another
with
the
hope
of
Christ's
return
did you
notice
how
all
of
these
anchors
they
have
Christ's
return
central
to
them
it's
not
just
saying
hey
he
or
she
is
in
the
presence
of
the
Lord
it's
that
and
he's
coming
back
and
when
he
does
we
will
be
reunited
hopelessly
uninformed
to
this
hopeful
instruction
point
two
and
now
Paul
doesn't
leave
it
there
he
closes
with
a
hope
spreading
exhortation
these
Thessalonian
Christians
they
are
they're
under
duress
they're
being
persecuted
they're
suffering
for
Christ
brothers
and
sisters
in
Christ
had
died
and
likely
more
were
to
die
just
as
likely
we
will
be
attending
one
another's
funerals
and so
Paul
urges
these
Thessalonians
and God
through
Paul
us
to
keep
these
words
these
grief
anchoring
into
truth
hope
giving
words
in
front
of
us
here's
the
exhortation
therefore
encourage
one
another
with
these
words
encourage
one
another
with
these
words
speak
these
words
brothers
and
sisters
anchor
one
another's
grief
into
the
truth
resulting
in
hope
speak
these
words
in
love
to
one
another
keep
speaking
these
words
this
gospel
promise
this
since
Jesus
died
raised
and
he's
coming
back
then
he
is
bringing
back
with
them
those
who
have
died
in
the
Lord
this
word
of
the
Lord
this
sequence
and
this
prophetic
picture
of a
mid-air
reunion
don't
be like
a
trampoline
that's
not
anchored
picked
up
and hurled
about
by the
the
gales
of
grief
don't
be
like
that
don't
grieve
as
though
you
don't
have
hope
no
God
is
God's
not
forbidding
grief
he's
exhorting
us
to
be
anchoring
one
another
in
these
words
of
hope
these
truthful
words
of
what
will
happen
when
Christ
returns
here's
what
this
means
when
we
walk
with
each
other
through
death
when
we
attend
each
other's
funerals
when
we
seek
to
comfort
the
spouses
of
those
who
die
it
means
we've
got
something
to
say
not
only
is
this
deceased
Christian
in
the
presence
of
the
Lord
if
we
are
alive
when
Christ
returns
we
will
be
reunited
with
them
and
Christ
forever
it's
the
greater
hope
when
we
all
are
encouraging
one
another
with
these
words
14
through
17
we
build
one
another
up
in
Christian
hope
brothers
and
sisters
you
can
do
!
brothers
and
sisters
you
must
do
this
when
fellow
Christians
die
we
encourage
one
another
with
the
hope
of
Christ's
return
so
here
you
are
alone
with
Charlotte
in
this
side
room
with
her
gently
weeping
what
do
you
do
well
here's
some
suggestions
you
say
can
I
give
you
a
hug
and
you
hug
her
as
long
as
she
hugs
you
and
if
you
start
feeling
the
warm
wet
of
her
tears
on
your
neck
or
working
through
your
shirt
you
hang
on
until
she
lets
you
go
you
hug
her
and
then
you
say
into
her
ear
Charlotte
if
we
are
alive
when
Christ
returns
we
will
be
reunited
with
Stan
and
Jesus!
and
after a
moment
when
she
finally
lets
you
go
you
ask
Charlotte
I know
we need to get
back to the
luncheon
but
would you
come over
for dinner
in a week
or two
we
want to
be
with
you
we
want
you
to
be
with
us
and
when
Charlotte
finally
comes
over
and
you
have
a
meal
together
maybe
you
don't
even
talk
about
Stan
you
walk
her
out
to
her
car
and
you
just
say
to
Charlotte
I
just
want
to
remind
you
that
if
we
are
alive
when
Christ
returns
we
will
be
reunited
with
both
Stan
and
Jesus
just
want
to
remind
you
and
then
a
year
later
it
Stan's
death
anniversary
because
you've
written
it
down
you've
remembered
you
reach
out
you
reach
out
to
Charlotte
you
bring
her
over
again
you
say
how
are
you
doing
and
you
say
I
just
want
to
remind
you
if
we're
alive
when
Jesus
returns
we
will
be
reunited
with
both
Stan
and
Jesus
it
will
be
good
that's
what
we
do
that's
how
we
love
one
another
that's
how
we
grieve
with
those
who
grieve
how
we
comfort
with
the
hope
the
unique
Christian
hope
now
this
is a
comfort
Christians
have
when a
fellow
Christian
dies
but it
may
raise
the
question
with
you
what
about
when a
non
Christian
dies
what
then
there's
no
way
around
the
sadness
and the
sobriety
of
realizing
that
this
person
who
has
died
apart
from
Christ's
death
and
resurrection
they
will
experience
God's
just
wrath
for
eternity
there
is
no
way
around
that
you
can't
reduce
that
you
can't
ignore
that
there
is
heartache
in
this
life
brothers
and
sisters
the
stakes
are
high
so
we
preach
Christ
we
preach
Christ
at a
non
Christian's
funeral
and at
a
Christian's
funeral
and
we
preach
Christ
to
those
non
Christians
who
God
gives
life
today
that's
how we
respond
to
that
Jesus
Christ
is the
difference
between
hope
and
hopelessness
in the
face
of
death
but
when
fellow
Christians
die
we
encourage
one
another
with
the
hope
of
Christ
return
let's
pray
together
Lord
Jesus
we're
so
grateful
that
you
are
risen
reigning
and
radiant
you
are
being
worshipped
by
innumerable
angels
and
by
countless
brothers
and sisters
in Christ
who have
gone
before us
and who
are in
your
presence
right
now
Lord
Jesus
we look
forward
to the
day
in
Revelation
21
when you
come back
and you
wipe away
every tear
from our
eyes
Lord
Jesus
you have
promised
I am
coming
soon
and we
say
back
to you
come
Lord
Jesus
come
would you
comfort us
in our
grief
and would you
make us
bold in our
evangelism
we pray this
in your name
amen
holy