1 Thessalonians 4

People Get Ready

Posted on by Betsy

The recent solar eclipse raised a lot of interest in the apocalypse. Some folks thought that it might usher in the Second Coming, as Scripture talks about the world going dark just before Christ returns. As you can see by the fact that we’re all still here, that didn’t happen. My running partner and I were speculating about what might happen if it had. We decided that being ushered into the heavenly realm would certainly mean that we would be eternally located in our happy place, which for us involved being the caretakers of all the dogs who have gone to heaven before us. The idea of running a Celestial Doggy Day care was very appealing to us. People could drop their dogs off with us on their way to their choir practice and harp lessons. Doesn’t that sound heavenly??

In the fourth chapter of 1 Thessalonians, Paul addresses the Second Coming head on:

13 Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about people who have died so that you won’t mourn like others who don’t have any hope. 14 Since we believe that Jesus died and rose, so we also believe that God will bring with him those who have died in Jesus. 15 What we are saying is a message from the Lord: we who are alive and still around at the Lord’s coming definitely won’t go ahead of those who have died. 

16 This is because the Lord himself will come down from heaven with the signal of a shout by the head angel and a blast on God’s trumpet. First, those who are dead in Christ will rise.17 Then, we who are living and still around will be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet with the Lord in the air. That way we will always be with the Lord. 18 So encourage each other with these words.

Paul paints images of signals, shouts, head angels making proclamations, and trumpet blasts, which raise goosebumps on our arms and causes feathered hope to rise in our hearts. Not to be confused with Scriptures on the “rapture,” this passage falls in line with our expectations from the book of Matthew which describes it this way:

“Then the sign of the Human One will appear in the sky. At that time all the tribes of the earth will be full of sadness, and they will see the Human One coming in the heavenly clouds with power and great splendor. 31 He will send his angels with the sound of a great trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from the four corners of the earth, from one end of the sky to the other” (Matthew 24:30-31).

Paul clarifies that the Lord will come down at the sound of the trumpet and those who are dead will rise, joining those who are still living. This last bit of encouragement about the Second Coming was precious to the church, and it is precious to us as well.

Christ’s triumphal return is reminiscent of the royal processionals of earth’s great kings. Even in our lifetime, we experienced the pageantry and pomp of King Charles III of Britain when he took the throne in 2023. You may remember the tens of thousands of people who lined the street to welcome their new king that day as he was driven by eight white horses in a centuries old Gold State Coach surrounded by over 4,000 members of the Royal Navy, Royal Army, Royal Marines, the Tri Service Guard of Honor, and the Royal British Legion. It was spectacular and as some would say, “fit for a king.” How will we welcome our King when his time comes to return? Will it be a big and noisy spectacle of crowds cheering and trumpets blasting, or will we groan in sorrow because we aren’t ready? 

 Paul envisions Jesus coming from heaven to earth on a kind of celestial highway that will lead him straight to the graveyards in order to resurrect the dead. This offers a word of hope that when we die in Jesus we will arise in Jesus and never be separated from him. Matthew 25 explains what will happen next: 

Matthew 25:31-33 (Common English Bible)

Now when the Human One comes in his majesty and all his angels are with him, he will sit on his majestic throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered in front of him. He will separate them from each other, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right side. But the goats he will put on his left” (Matthew 25:31-33).

Understanding that the judging of the nations is coming should serve as a wake-up call to us today. Where will you stand at the end? If Jesus were to return tomorrow, would the church be ready? Are you living your life everyday with the expectation that Jesus’ return could happen at any moment?

People get ready! Jesus is comin’.

Celestial Highway by Michelle Robertson

Hang on to What is Good

Posted on by Betsy

How many of you meticulously follow the directions of recipes? I do on the odd occasions when I bake, but when I am preparing a meal, I have more of a “Oh, I’ll just wing it” attitude. I don’t bother with measuring things, but rather go by trial and error. My son-in-law asked me for my coleslaw recipe last week and I really struggled to guess the measurements and ratios of apple cider vinegar, monk fruit, Beau Monde, salt, pepper, and mayo. I hope I guessed right, and he wasn’t disappointed when he made it. (By the way, Beau Monde is my secret weapon. It is a Spice Islands product and hard to find. You can thank me later.)

We finish our look at 1 Thessalonians 4 today, and it doesn’t disappoint. It almost reads like a recipe at the end, where Paul is listing the ingredients for a harmonious and hopeful community. Put all these things together, he says, and you will truly have a “beautiful world.”

Final instructions and blessing

1 Thessalonians 4 (Common English Bible)

12 Brothers and sisters, we ask you to respect those who are working with you, leading you, and instructing you. 13 Think of them highly with love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are disorderly. Comfort the discouraged. Help the weak. Be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure no one repays a wrong with a wrong, but always pursue the good for each other and everyone else. 16 Rejoice always. 17 Pray continually. 18 Give thanks in every situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Don’t suppress the Spirit. 20 Don’t brush off Spirit-inspired messages, 21 but examine everything carefully and hang on to what is good. 22 Avoid every kind of evil.23 Now, may the God of peace himself cause you to be completely dedicated to him; and may your spirit, soul, and body be kept intact and blameless at our Lord Jesus Christ’s coming. 24 The one who is calling you is faithful and will do this.

Taking this last section and boiling it down to a list of ingredients, Paul is clear about his expectations of their behavior:

*Respect each other.

*Live in peace.

*Warn the disorderly.

*Comfort the discouraged.

*Help the weak.

*Be patient.

*Rejoice, pray, and give thanks in everything.

*Don’t ignore the Spirit.

*Avoid evil.

*Hang on to what is good.

This last thing is what I suggest to my church members when they are entering a time of troubled waters. Hang on to what is good. And what is good is knowing that you are not alone in this life or in the next. The promise and hope of the resurrection guarantees that the end of life here is just the beginning of life there, where we will all be reunited.

And that, my friends, is good.

Final greeting

25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. 27 By the Lord’s authority, I order all of you to have this letter read aloud to all the brothers and sisters. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.

Amen.

It’s All Good by Kathy Schumacher

Mind Your Own Business

Posted on by Betsy

There is a popular meme going around right now that says that if Paul were alive today, we all would be getting a letter. I laughed when I first saw that and wondered what he would say. His letters are filled with encouragements, exhortations, admonishments, admiration, and not a little rebuking. Each one was tailored to specific group and situation. Which topic would he choose for the modern day reader? Obviously the letters he wrote to Corinth, Thessalonica, Rome, Galatia, Philippi, Colossea, and to specific people contained issues and problems each recipient of that letter was experiencing. Which of the many issues facing modern Christians would Paul address if he were to write to us today?

1 Thessalonians 4 (Common English Bible)

4 So then, brothers and sisters, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to keep living the way you already are and even do better in how you live and please God—just as you learned from us. 2 You know the instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 God’s will is that your lives are dedicated to him. This means that you stay away from sexual immorality 4 and learn how to control your own body in a pure and respectable way. 5 Don’t be controlled by your sexual urges like the Gentiles who don’t know God. 6 No one should mistreat or take advantage of their brother or sister in this issue. The Lord punishes people for all these things, as we told you before and sternly warned you. 7 God didn’t call us to be immoral but to be dedicated to him. 8 Therefore, whoever rejects these instructions isn’t rejecting a human authority. They are rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

This chapter clearly gave instructions about sexual immorality, and Paul laid out an expectation that the people were to control their bodies in a pure and respectable way. He warned them against being controlled by sexual urges and placed a special emphasis on not mistreating or taking advantage of another person in this issue. While he never used the word “consent,” verse 6 clearly implies that lack of respect, lack of control over one’s urges, and taking advantage of someone without consent is immoral. At the heart of this teaching was the Gentile practice of taking on prostitutes, slaves, and mistresses. Paul implies that sexual relations outside the covenant of marriage are to be avoided. The Gentiles didn’t know God and they didn’t know any better. Paul sets a higher standard for his people.

I suspect this topic would make it into today’s letter as well.

And then in typical Pauline fashion, he flipped to the positive and talked about how they already knew how to love each other and praised them for performing loving deeds throughout Macedonia.

9 You don’t need us to write about loving your brothers and sisters because God has already taught you to love each other. 10 In fact, you are doing loving deeds for all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. Now we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do so even more. 

Then, in the midst of Paul already being up in their business, he said something startling in verse 11:

11 Aim to live quietly, mind your own business, and earn your own living, just as I told you.12 That way you’ll behave appropriately toward outsiders, and you won’t be in need.

Live quietly and mind your own business! Obviously this would result in people living in harmony and peace together, but I have to admit that in all the times I have read Paul’s writings, I don’t remember him saying to mind our own business!

How much better would things be if neighbors didn’t feel the need to report every little annoyance on Facebook? How much easier would church work go if people didn’t congregate at the coffee pot to gossip? What difference would it make in your child’s school day if the other students didn’t talk about them behind their back? What would your workplace feel like if everyone minded their own business and behaved appropriately toward each other? I think Paul is on to something here.

Then he ended with this beautiful promise of what is to come. The Lord will come down at the sound of the trumpet and those who are dead will rise, joining those who are still living. This last bit of encouragement about the Second Coming was precious to the church, and it is precious to us as well.

13 Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about people who have died so that you won’t mourn like others who don’t have any hope. 14 Since we believe that Jesus died and rose, so we also believe that God will bring with him those who have died in Jesus. 15 What we are saying is a message from the Lord: we who are alive and still around at the Lord’s coming definitely won’t go ahead of those who have died. 16 This is because the Lord himself will come down from heaven with the signal of a shout by the head angel and a blast on God’s trumpet. First, those who are dead in Christ will rise.17 Then, we who are living and still around will be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet with the Lord in the air. That way we will always be with the Lord. 18 So encourage each other with these words.

We will always be with each other. We will always be with the Lord. We can be encouraged by these words as we mourn and wait.

And in the meantime, mind your own business!

Be Encouraged by Kathy Schumacher