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Throughout the New Testament, we're reminded that this world is not our home. We live out our days in the shadowlands, a mixture of darkness and light. In Today's text from 1 Thessalonians, we'll consider the sort of armor that we need to survive in this difficult world and the hope that we have for the next.
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As we begin this morning, let me remind us of the context of this passage. We're diving into 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5. That means there was four chapters ahead of time in which Paul's writing to the church in Thessalonica, telling them important stuff. Now, the church in Thessalonica, this was in Greece. He's writing in the first century. It's a dark and disturbed time. The church is brand new, so to speak, in that era. And because the church was brand new, because it was young, because it was immature in matters of faith, there was Christians in places like Thessalonica that didn't understand theology. They didn't understand matters pertaining to their own future. And so they had questions. And among the questions was something like this. What happens when I die? Among the questions were things like, when is Jesus going to come? Has he already came? And if he hasn't already come, is it going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, next year? You and I at some point have asked questions like this, Is there a God in heaven? And if there is a God in heaven, and if he sent his son once, and if his son said he's coming back, then when's it going to happen? The people in Thessalonica had a lot of questions like this. Now, many of them were fretful about death. They said, I don't want to die, and I don't know what it's going to be like when I do. At the end of chapter four, Paul wrote some words that I trust were very encouraging, not only to them, but to us. Let me quote briefly what he said at the end of chapter four to set the table for what we're looking at in chapter five. At the end of chapter four, he's reminding people what happens when you die and what happened to your loved ones who already died. And this is what he says. He says, on that day, we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means proceed or go ahead of those who sleep, those who are dead. For the Lord himself will descend with a shout and the voice of an archangel with a trumpet of God. And then, then the dead shall rise first, and we who are alive, meaning who are alive at that time, and who are remaining shall be caught up together with them, with our loved ones in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. So at the very end of chapter four, he says, a day is coming, and it's a great day. A day to look forward to. Dear heavens, I wish it was today. It's that sort of day. What does the very end of Revelation say? The second to last verse in the book of Revelation says this. Come, Lord, Jes. A good day to look forward to. And Paul writes it that way. But. But here in chapter five that we're looking at this morning, he says, it's a great day. Presuming what? Presuming that when Jesus comes back, you are found in him, presuming that you were of the faith. If you were not of the faith, it will not be a good day. And that's what he's going to explain. Verses 1 through 11. Let's return now to verses 1 through 3. Let's take this a few verses at a time, work our way through as time allows. Verse 1. So concerning the times and the seasons, concerning when it's going to happen, concerning the times and the seasons. Brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. They wanted to know when it's going to happen. When is it going to happen? Paul? And he says, concerning the times and the seasons, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord will come. Will come as a thief in the night. For when they're saying peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. All right, let me ask you a question. It's an easy question. When thieves break in. When a thief breaks into a house, does he phone ahead somewhere? On your calendar for the months ahead, do you have a calendar date for a thief to break into your house? Of course not. Of course not? Why not? Because that's not the way that this works. Some circumstances, some occurrences, some happenings don't give you advance warning before they happen. There's some things that will happen to you that you will not know is coming until the moment that it occurs. Well, in today's text of verse two, Paul's using the same analogy to describe the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He says, it's going to be like a thief in the night. It's going to be something that the secular society around us are not prepared for. When he returns. Everyone's going to be saying peace and safety. They're going to be doing the things that people do. They're going to be living the lives that they were previously living. What's going to happen? Jesus is going to return and they will not see it coming. Sun destruction will come upon the impenitent, even as we who believe will rejoice to see his arrival. So in verse 2 he says Christ's return. It's not something that you can write a book at and sell conferences for and put on the calendar. You know the stories you've been around for the past 20, 30, 40, 50 years. You've got a little bit of gray up top. How many date setters have there been? How many people have gone on the interwebs and written down and said the end is coming here? Remember Harold Camping? I don't know, it was what, 15 years ago, man alive. The amount of people responded to that thinking Jesus is going to return on the exact day because that guy said so. Well, that guy may have said so, but Paul, Paul says you're not going to know it when it happens. There's no date that you can ascribe, brothers and sisters, concerning the dates and the times and the seasons and the very moment of Christ's return. You have no need that I should write to you. And the reason I shouldn't write to you is because I don't know, neither do you. And you shouldn't live as if you do. Your life day to day should not be vested on whether he's going to return next week, next month, 100 years from now. You should operate as if he's going to turn. Now you live in the light. Don't hang out in the shadows and then jump into the light when you think he's going to show up. Live in the light right now. Now something interesting. This idea of a thief in the night, that's an interesting phrase to use. However, it is not simply Paul who does so. Jesus himself on the Olivet discourse there in Matthew 24, he uses the same phrase. Jesus said this. Matthew 24, he says, if the master of the house had known what time the thief would come, he would not allow his house to have been broken into. Therefore you also should be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect. Now Peter, we've had Jesus, we've had Paul. Let's listen to what Peter has to say on the matter. Second Peter 3 he says this. He says, the day of the Lord will come as Guess what? As a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, the elements will melt with fervent, fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burnt. Interestingly, every one of them, Peter, Paul and Jesus. That's a good trifecta. Those are good sources. They all tell you the same thing. When Jesus comes, it's going to be like a thief in the night, something you cannot plan around. And when he comes, for a fallen secular society, sudden destruction comes with it. Now, we talked a couple weeks ago, we talked about Christ's return in judgment in 70 AD over Jerusalem. When we said that was horrific, that was bad, sudden destruction came in a way that the people were not ready for. Well, that was a microcosm of what is one day going to happen in the Macro. Now, before we look at the next verses, let me suggest something to you. When you think of Christ's return, it has a positive. A positive implication and a negative implication. The positive implication I trust and hope that you share as a believer. Your great desire should be that Jesus should return post haste, as soon as he can. That would be very desirous. Why? Because when he returns, all the evil stops. When he returns, the brokenness is repaired. When he returns, tears are wiped away, not shed. We should be desirous of Christ's return. It's going to be a good day when it happens. So when you read the text about the day of the Lord, when you read these things, don't be freaked out, it will be good. All the loved believers who have passed on in times past, you're going to rise up, meet them in the air, and you'll forever be with them. And Christ, this is a good day, a day of positive expectation. But here, here and in other places, like Matthew 24, Jesus, Paul and Peter, they all take pains to say, hey, it's going to be a good day for we who believe. It is going to be a bad day for those who don't. It's going to be a bad day for those on the outside of this equation. All right, let's look at verses four through seven now. But you brethren, remember he's writing to the church in Thessalonica. You are not in darkness. You're not the secular world. You're not in darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief. It will overtake some is the thief, but not you. Verse 5. For you are sons of light, and you are sons of the day. We're not of the night. We're not of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch. Let us be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. All right, what's going on here? Well, in verses four through seven, Paul's saying this much. He's saying that the day Lord is coming, and it's going to sneak up upon the secular world that is not prepared. Remember, Time magazine once wrote this title. I think it was in the 1960s. Is God dead? Was the title. Well, I don't know if they believed it when they wrote it. Is God dead in the 60s? But the whole world's been acting that way for a very, very long time. Is God dead? Most of the world shrugs his shoulders and says, maybe if he's not dead, he's not close, he's not near. He's in the distance, he's aloof. He's somewhere far off. He's not present in our circumstances. And because he's not present in our circumstances, I can do what I want to do. If God is somewhere a million miles out in the cosmos, not paying attention to me right here, then I can live the way I want to live, and it won't make a difference. So that's what people do. However, in verses four through seven, even though we see that some operate this way, some operate as if it's darkness and shadows and God isn't paying attention. Paul calls him out and says, no, no, no, no, no. He says, the light, the light has come. You are sons of the light. Act. Act accordingly. You are sons of the light. You're sons of the day Again. What does this. What does this mean? If there was a time in your life when you came to faith, maybe it was last week, maybe it was 70, 80 years ago. If there was a time when you came to faith, that faith came about because God came to you. He came to you when you were a rebel. He came to you when you were in the darkness. He came to you when you lived your life in the shadows. And he said, I'm calling you out of the shadows into my marvelous light. And I will do so by changing your heart. I'll do so by coming to you and taking the heart of stone. I will turn it to a heart of flesh. You will be born again. You know, in our culture, we think being born again is the day you decided for Jesus and you walked down a path. You came to revival and you said, I'll be born again now. Thank you. No, you were Born again. When your heart was regenerated at the time when you were born again, you were a rebel up until that very moment. And God came calling. Just like he came to Saul of Tarsus in Acts chapter 9. He comes to impenitent rebels like Paul. When he was Saul, he was breathing out threats and murder on the road to Damascus. God comes to him and says, you are mine. He changes a heart of stone, turns it to a heart of flesh. At that moment we're born again. And thereafter we begin to act accordingly. Well, this is what Paul is saying. Paul is saying, hey, hey, hey, hey. If your heart's been changed, your son's a light. This isn't simply a new philosophy that you bought into. Like I'll choose this religion this week and a different religion the next week. No, no, no, it's not an intellectual assent you gave. Your whole nature was just changed. Spiritually speaking, you're not what you used to be. Praise God. Praise God. You're not who you used to be. You're not who you want to be. Maybe just yet, but thank God you're not who you used to be. Well, this is what we see here. Paul is saying, hey guys, you're sons of light, sons and daughters and family of God. You're not like them, so stop living like them. You've been called out into his marvelous light. You shouldn't have to worry what day he's coming back. You should live as if every day. He's in your presence right now, because he is. So this is what he's implying, suggesting right here. However, however, at the same time, there's that positive expectation for you and I. There's also again the negative implication for the worlds around us. When Christ returns, if you'll pardon the braise, most people will be caught with their pants down, so to speak. When Christ comes back, he will encounter a generation doing the very things that he hates. He'll encounter a generation immersed in darkness like drunken men engaging in things in the shadows. He will find an entire culture. He'll find an academic world. He'll find an institutionalized world. He'll find a political world. He may even find some, in the guise of religion, doing things that they ought not do. They've been told what's right and they reject it. And many are living their lives as if they're daring God to do something about it. Dear heavens, what a terrible idea that is. There are many in the culture around us who are doing things they know are wrong. Perhaps you've been that individual Doing things you know are wrong. There are people in the world around us who do things that they know God hates. They know it. They know it. Why? Because the moral law is tattooed on their hearts. We come into this world with the moral law inscribed on our hearts. We know it's wrong to murder, steal, lust, covet, all that sort of stuff. And yet some people engage in these things with such wild abandon, it's as if they're daring God to do something about it. They don't understand the grace that is being given every moment of the rebellion by which he's calling them to change and repent and turn to Him. They taunt him, and they don't understand that someday the music will stop. Matthew 24. Jesus Himself said this. He said, who is a faithful and wise servant whom his Master made ruler over his household. Blessed is the servant who his Master, when the Master comes, finds him so doing. But if the evil servant says, in his heart, my Master is delayed in his coming, and he begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the Master will come in a day that he's not looking for him, at an hour that he's not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. And there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Will that happen at someday when Jesus ultimately comes back? Yes. But here's the thing. You may go to him first. One way or another, you have an encounter with one who made you. How will that encounter go? Well, it's not going to go on the basis of how you might think it would go, that he will take your good deeds and your bad deeds and sort of offset the two. Because when we do that, when we look in the mirror, we're generally pleased with what we see. And we think that he will be too wrong when we stand before him on that day, whenever it should be, whether he comes now or we go to him, when we stand before him. We dare not stand before him with the idea that I can horse trade with him. I did this bad thing, but I did these two good things. Isn't that enough, Jesus? That's not the way it'll work. Why? Because a singular sin was enough to condemn humanity. In the garden, one sin functionally biting a piece of fruit, the entire created realm fell into chaos. Adam and Eve were evicted from the garden, which was a type of heaven. One sin, the wages of sin singular, is death. How many times have you sinned? More times than you can count. So what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about things you've done wrong? So many have the idea that what I'll do is I'll go before God and I'll tell them, yes, I did that wrong. I admit it. I admit it. Admit it. I did those wrong stuff, but I did this good stuff, too. And I'm better than the guy down the street. I'm better than my neighbor. I'm better than my co worker. I'm better than Hitler. You know, for a lot of people, hell has one guy, Hitler. That's what we got. We think that only the worst of the worst, the most villainous people, maybe Ahab and Jezebel are there too, but only the most villainous people are there. And we think that the rest of us will skate by. The Gospel says, no, the wages of sin is death. And either you're going to him or he's coming to you. And what are you going to do on the day you stand before him? Well, on the day you stand before him. The mistake you could make is to point inward and say something you did merits. You're standing before him. The wise thing to do is you point past yourself. You point to the one on the throne. You say, because of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because of who he is, because what he did, I have hope and I have standing. I deserve your wrath. But in Christ, I have life and I have hope. All right, let's look. Now let's look at verses 8 through 11. So Paul has redirected the question about timing. He's redirected this question about when's it going to happen? And he says you should be living accordingly right now, irrespective of when he comes back. Because, news flash, he didn't return in the lifetime of the Thessalonians. He may not return your lifetime either. Whatever the case is, he's redirected it and caused us to focus on today. And let's see how he wraps this up in verses 8 through 11. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet to the hope of our salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we should wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Therefore, comfort one another and edify one another. Just as you are doing. Just as we are doing this morning. All right, let's. Let's stop For a moment, let's remember the historical context for these verses. So at this time, this is the first century Thessalonica in Greece at this time, there are Roman soldiers occupying this land as the Empire had expanded. Roman soldiers. If you lived in Thessalonica, you looked around, what did you see? You saw soldiers. How were they dressed in armor? Now, why were they dressed in armor? Well, because the danger of the day was very real. Swords and spears and these sort of things could afflict you if you were not covered in armor. So the soldiers walked around wearing the armor. And that's why it is an analogy that not only Paul uses in Ephesians and here in Thessalonians, but also Christ himself used when he talked about armor. Everyone knew what it looked like. Now, there's a lot of contexts in which wearing armor, real, literal armor is a good plan. There's a lot of places that are dangerous. But here's the thing. 99% of us have never been in such an environment. 99% of us have never had a need once to worry about being stabbed or speared. And yet these verses still apply how? Because these verses are not talking necessarily about physical armor, but about spiritual armor to protect us from spiritual attacks. When you go to your car, there's no one out there with a spear. I sure hope not. But no one's out there with a spear. But many of us will immediately turn on our phone. And what awaits on our phone? A world of iniquity. Conceivably creational goods. Remember, they can be used in any manner of different ways. With that said, there are spiritual arrows that are directed at your heart and your eyeballs and your soul that you will encounter within 10 minutes of leaving this room. Even if you don't face a single bullet, spear or sword, you will encounter threats to your soul. Outside, you will encounter threats to your soul. This day, you'll encounter threats to your soul. This week, your children encounter threats to their soul regularly, consistently. That's why this particular VBS is so helpful for children as well as for all of us as adults to study these things, because the dangers of this world are real. There is an enemy who prowls around like a lion, seeking those that he can devour. There's all manner of spiritual wickedness out there that has you in the crosshairs. What are you going to do about it? Well, here we see the answer. Put on the breastplate of faith. Put on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of salvation. Ephesians 6 gives a number of other examples. You and I, we need to be prepared for the harm and dangers that await us. But here's the thing. You've probably gone most of your life not prepared in the slightest or at the very least, being exceptionally vulnerable to that which seeks to destroy you, thinking that you're safe, thinking that you're strong. As we wrap up this morning, remember, as an analogy we shared at different times, Scripture calls you and I sheep, right? We're sheep. God's a good shepherd, right? Now, this isn't a pejorative, this isn't a negative. It's a good thing. It's a good thing to be a sheep. Why? Because we have a shepherd. But here's the thing. Even though we can talk about the good shepherd and we can affirm that we are sheep and the like, even though this is true, a lot of times we go out into this world, we go to colleges, we go to far off places, we go just to the job site, or we turn on our phone and we think, think that yes, I'm a sheep, and yet I'm a commando sheep. I'm a ninja sheep. I am the Arnold Schwarzenegger of sheep. I can go out in these worlds and encounter the evils, and I am strong, fuerte. I can handle the things outside these doors. Wrong. Dear heavens, wrong. Spend 10 minutes in pastoral counseling with some of the sin issues that exist. Spend 10 minutes being introspective about what's in here and you understand. You're not commando sheep. You are the most vulnerable sheep around. Act accordingly. Avoid that which is dangerous. Put on armor, spiritual armor that will protect you. Wield a sword that can defeat the darkness that would otherwise take you in. These are not just poetry that Paul and the others in Christ and Peter phrase just to make us feel a little bit better as we go through day to day life. It's not poetry. This is the nature of the battle we're engaged in. It's the nature of the battle. In closing, let me mention this. The battle component of what we're engaged in, our day to day lives, we tend to overlook entirely. Scripture regularly talks about swords and shields and breastplates and all these sort of things. We just kind of dismiss that we don't understand that we live out our lives in a war zone. A number of years ago, Anne and I, at this time, we were living in Centerville, Virginia. Well, actually we were living in Hernia, but there was a restaurant in Centerville. And in this restaurant there, there were all sorts of paintings and Murals around the entire restaurant. It was kind of a hoity toity place, but there's all these painting murals all around the restaurant. And all the paintings and murals depicted all manner of battles that had occurred across, you know, the past several hundred years. All these different battles. And it was fascinating to look, you know, American Revolution, all this different stuff on the walls to check this in. So Ann and I went to this restaurant a number of times, and each time we did, it was interesting to look at all the paintings and see these murals depicting these battles. You know what I noticed? You know, I noticed as I look at all these battles depicted from all these different eras of American history, I noticed that when I looked at the soldiers in the war zones, that none of them were laying down, none of them were sleeping, none of them were taking a nap. Every soldier on the battlefield was doing exactly what you would expect a soldier on a battlefield to do. He was battling. Why? Because his life was at stake. Every soldier depicted in these murals was fighting for his life because his life was at stake. Scripture says, hey, hey, hey, Christian, guess what? Your life, your soul is at stake, too. There's a spiritual battlefield, a spiritual war zone that you live out every day of your life within. Now we think we're going to carve out utopia in the midst of the war zone. Scripture doesn't say that. Don't try to carve out utopia here. It's honest with you. It says this is a dark, dank, hard place, and if you live here long enough, you'll know it. If you're honest with yourself, you know how many scars this world has laid on your back? Well, how many more scars do you want or need in order to avoid these scars? We need, A, to turn to Christ, and B, we need to live as Christians. We need to turn to Christ, and then we need to pattern our walk after His. That will not insulate you from every hardship on this planet. It will not insulate you from a whole number of things, and yet it will insulate you from all manner of evil and wickedness that you would otherwise dive your head into like a pig into a trough. God has called you to something far more than where you may be living out your life right now. He's called you to attitudes, actions, and affections that are different from the secular world. And if you make choices that are different than the world is making, the world will notice and it will not like you for it. But that's okay, because this is what you're looking forward to. A day when Christ returns a day when a trumpet sounds, and a day where you rise to meet him, and a day where he looks at you and says, well done, my good and faithful servant. Let's pray.
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