In God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: Grace and
peace to you. Amen.
1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 13We do not want you to
be uninformed, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you do not
grieve in the same way as the others, who have no hope. 14Indeed, if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, then in the same way we also believe that God
will bring with him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. 15In fact,
we tell you this by the word of the Lord: We who are alive and left until the
coming of the Lord will certainly not go on ahead of those who have fallen
asleep. 16For the Lord
himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an
archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise
first. 17Then we who are
alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them, to
meet the Lord in the air. And so we will
always be with the Lord. 18Therefore,
encourage one another with these words. (EHV)
Comfort
for Christians—we are always with the Lord
Dear Christian friends,
It is often
said that the only sure things in life are death and taxes. Yet, there are circumstances where it appears
that taxes are not so certain, for some people seem to avoid them, either by
being exceptionally sly in avoiding tax, or more likely, simply having no
income, property, or purchases to be taxed.
On the other hand, death remains a certainty for every person who ever
walks on this earth. That means that at
some point or another, every person you know will be taken away from you; every
person you love will be called out of this world; and you and I, too, will certainly
die.
It appears that this truth had begun
to trouble the Christians at Thessalonica.
They had gladly abandoned the false gods they previously served to
believe in the salvation and eternal life offered through faith in Christ. Yet, death didn’t stop. Even though they had received the Gospel with
gladness, death was still calling people out of their lives. So, those new Christians were troubled and wondered,
are only those believers still alive at Jesus’ return going to be saved to live
with Him in heaven? They might even have
begun to wonder whether Christianity is any better than what they had
before?
The Apostle Paul hadn’t had much
time to teach the new believers there before persecution forced him to flee for
his life, so the Thessalonians, like all believers, needed further
instruction. They needed the comforting
knowledge that Christianity wasn’t intended just for the first few years after
Jesus lived, died, rose, and ascended to heaven. Instead, Christian faith gives believers
everlasting life in the heavenly realm where Jesus lives, now, and
forever. Therefore, Paul tells us, receive
this Comfort for Christians: we
are always with the Lord.
My friends, not a day goes by that
death doesn’t touch us. Daily we hear of
tragic deaths: senseless killings, accidental deaths, deaths by disease or war,
and death simply from old age. But, in
each death, no matter how young or old the deceased, whether tragic or
expected, grief fills the hearts of those who knew and loved the person who has
died, and the constant report of death puts fear in those of us still living. The world has always grieved death, and
always will, so Paul wrote, “We do not want you to
be uninformed, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you do not
grieve in the same way as the others, who have no hope.”
First, notice what Paul doesn’t
say. He doesn’t tell us not to
grieve—that would just be cruel. Grief
is unavoidable in this world. Each death
is a reminder of the curse that sin has put us under. Each death is a reminder of the sin-caused
separation between God and mankind. And
at each death, we mourn our loss of the blessing that person has been in our
lives.
Throughout the Bible, deaths were
mourned, so we know that the Holy Spirit doesn’t deny or reject our grief. Even Jesus wept at the death of His friend,
but we need to know that the death of a Christian is something far different
than any other death. Therefore, our
sorrow can also be far different. The
person who dies without faith in Christ Jesus dies hopeless. That person has no more chance ever to
live. The truth is that the unbeliever
was spiritually dead before his body ceased its earthly life, and when a
spiritually dead person dies, that death becomes everlasting. That spiritually dead person will suffer
eternal separation from God’s love.
There is no hope for that person and no comfort for those left behind. The grief for that person should be extreme,
for it is too late to help or change that dead person’s eternity. And that is the harsh reality of dying
without faith in Jesus.
On the other hand, the death of a
Christian, while still bringing sorrow to the loved ones, also comes with the
sure confidence that while the body lies sleeping in the ground, the believer’s
soul is already enjoying eternal life in heaven. So, the sorrow we feel when a Christian dies
is very real, but also very different.
While we also mourn for our loss, we rejoice for that person’s wonderful
gain. The believer’s death means
entrance into perfect reunion with our Creator and Savior in Paradise, and we
could want nothing more, or better, for anyone no matter how long or short the
life here on earth.
St. Paul assures us that unlike the
unbeliever, for whom death is the worst kind of end in hell, the death of a
Christian is not the end, but rather the beginning of true joy. Paul writes, “Indeed,
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then in the same way we also
believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep through
Jesus.”
In these end times in which there is
so much trouble and sorrow, God gives us comfort. Though we still face death all day long, all
Christians will be reunited at the Lord’s return. Paul explains that because of Jesus, we can
be confident that our believing loved ones will be coming back with Jesus when
He returns in judgment upon this world.
The Thessalonians may have been
afraid that those who died would miss out on Christ’s return, or even miss out
on His salvation, but Paul assures us, “In fact, we tell you
this by the word of the Lord: We who are alive and left until the coming of the
Lord will certainly not go on ahead of those who have fallen asleep.” We
won’t have anything over those who fell asleep in Jesus. The sainted Christian believers have already
been resting in Jesus’ loving arms, already enjoying eternal life with Him in
heaven, and they, too, will join in judging the world with Jesus at His return,
even judging angels just as the Holy Spirit promised. (1 Corinthians 6:2-3)
So, if we won’t have anything over
those who have been asleep in Christ, will they have something better than what
we will experience? Not at all. Paul wrote, “For
the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice
of an archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will
rise first. Then we who are alive, who
are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them, to meet the Lord
in the air.” St.
John was given a vision of this second Ascension Day, and he said, “I looked, and there was the Lamb standing
on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and the name of his Father
written on their foreheads.” (Revelation 14:1)
On the
last day of this world, all true Christian believers of every age and place,
from Adam until the last baby baptized before Jesus’ return, will join in that
throng of believers removed from earth before its final destruction. It really doesn’t matter when the believer
lived, whether in Old Testament times, or if he walked this earth with Jesus,
or at the time of Martin Luther, or today, or centuries from now; we have the
comfort of knowing that all those who trust in Christ for forgiveness and
salvation will be among this great assembly of believers rising in the air with
their Savior.
Paul says “The dead in
Christ will rise first.” Some have argued that this resurrection will
take place some time before Christ’s return, but the Scripture is very clear
that when the graves are opened and the dead rise, the end has come, and those
Christians still living on earth will not die, but will immediately join their
Lord to live forever along with those whose bodies had lain sleeping in the
earth. “We who are alive, who are
left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them, to meet the
Lord in the air.” Which ones of this
picture will we be? Doesn’t really
matter, does it? In the end, all
faithful Christians will be with their Lord and Savior forever.
Now, our Lord wants you to know and
believe that as Christian believers, we are united with Him not only just at
the end of the world, but right now, and nothing can separate us from Him. Just before His ascension to heaven, Jesus
promised, “Surely I am with you always until
the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20) Through Paul’s letter to the Romans, the Holy
Spirit assures us, “neither death nor life, neither angels nor
rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, neither
height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39) Here in our sermon text, we are again
reassured, “We will always be with
the Lord.”
You and I, who live and walk in
faith, believing that we are sinners whom Jesus has cleansed with His perfect
life and with His holy precious blood shed at His innocent sacrifice on the
cross have another sure comfort. We are,
by faith, already united with Christ Jesus as His holy body. That doesn’t change at our physical
death. We remain united with Him for
time and eternity. That is why St. Paul
calls the death of a Christian merely a sleep.
He wasn’t using this phase as a euphemism or to give false comfort. Rather, God explains that we continue to live
even though our bodies must die. For the
body in the grave, it will be no different than when we lie down in our beds at
night. Each night, we put our heads on
our pillows fully expecting to wake up in the morning, and that is the way the
Christian enters death—fully confident that on the last day, our bodies will
awaken and rise from their rest refreshed and reunited with their souls to live
forever in the bliss and joy of heaven.
Our sermon text closes with the
simple phrase, “Therefore encourage one
another with these words.” Just a
few phrases earlier Paul said that he and his fellow writers were speaking to
the Thessalonians “by the word of the
Lord.” The Word of the Lord is our
comfort and strength. Through God’s holy
Word, you and I were brought to faith in His Son. Through that same holy Word, God promises that
you and I have forgiveness and life everlasting. Thus, the more we hear and read and meditate
on God’s Word, the more we can live in this troubled, sorrowful world with comfort,
confidence, and joy, knowing that our lives do not end in death. Rather, we live forever with Christ.
In the letter to the Romans we are
told, “Do you not know that all of us who
were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him by this
baptism into his death, so that just as he was raised from the dead through the
glory of the Father, we too would also walk in a new life. For if we have been united with him in the
likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united with him in the
likeness of his resurrection.” (Romans 6:3-5)
The
message of the Bible is this: that through faith in Christ, you and I have been
delivered from death into life everlasting.
No one, and no thing can ever take that away. Our comfort and joy is to hear, again and
again, God’s promises of love, forgiveness, and salvation for the sake of His
own Son, Christ Jesus. Hearing those
promises again and again until He takes us home, we are strengthened in faith,
comforted in trouble, and carried by the power of the Spirit to live in Christ
all the days of our life, so that we never wander away from Him or throw away
the great gift of love we have received.
Dear
Christian friends, our individual sinful natures were put to death at our baptisms.
There also, we were made alive through faith in Christ. So, whether we physically live or die, we
live forever with Jesus. Therefore,
whenever we see Christian death in this world, or when we must face our own, we
have great comfort and joy, for whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord
giving us this sure and certain Comfort for Christians: we are always with the Lord. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the
Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall
be, forevermore. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment