Call To Sanctification And Comfort Of Christ's Coming

INTRO

When you’re grieving because you’ve lost someone, you want to know where they are. First Thessalonians 4 is considered the funeral chapter because you can find hope in the process of grieving, if you’re walking with the Lord. Remember, in 1 Thessalonians 3, Paul sent Timothy to comfort the believers at Thessalonica because they were being persecuted. In this chapter, Paul continues to urge them to get ready for the Coming Lord. Today we’ll talk about what it will look like when He comes.

TEACHING

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8: Paul wanted the Thessalonians to walk in holiness.¹ By following the commands given to them, by Paul through the Lord Jesus, they would please God (vv. 1-2). According to Wiersbe, the word “command” (v. 2) was a military term referring “to orders handed down from superior officers.”² In order to walk in holiness, we have to actually obey what God has asked us to do. The Great Commission doesn’t mean talk about it, put pictures up about it, write a vision statement, or change your mission statement. We have to actually do it.

Then Paul gave specific instructions. Thessalonica was a city where many people from many cultures traveled through, and it was a city of sexual immorality. Paul said they had to “abstain from sexual immorality” (v. 3) so they could experience the purity that pleases God. Paul called them to control their own bodies instead of participating in the lustful desires of the Gentiles,

who did not know God (vv. 4-5). When you walk in holiness, you do it to please God, to obey God, and to bring glory to God. Paul reminded them God will deal with His children when they sin (v. 6). Because God calls believers to sanctification, those who reject this instruction, reject God (vv. 7-8). Sanctification is the process of being sanctified or made holy. The only way that can take place is through the work Christ did on the cross—that work allows us to be cleansed, forgiven, and set free—to be removed from the sin of the past so we can come to the table clean. Holiness means set apart. Sanctification, holiness, and righteousness all have the same underlying principles. God has not called us to walk in the old way of doing things. He’s called us to be set apart and new in who we are in Christ. Peter wrote: “But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:15). We need to be set apart from the world and walk in light.

1 Thessalonians 4:9-10: Paul wanted the Thessalonians to walk in harmony.³ Paul heard some really good things about their loving care for others in Thessalonica and throughout the region in Macedonia (vv. 9-10). He encouraged them to do so even more. There are four words for love: eros, the physical, erotic type of love; storge, which is family love such as parents for their children; philia, which is “the love of deep affection, such as in friendship or even marriage” and can be described as brotherly love; and agape, “the love God shows toward us. It is not simply a love based on feeling; it is expressed in our wills. Agape love treats others as God would treat them.”⁴

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12: Paul wanted the Thessalonians to walk in honesty.⁵ Constable said by living a quiet life, you won’t disturb others; by tending to your own affairs you won’t mess with somebody else’s business; and by providing for your own family you won’t be a burden to others.⁶

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18: If we’re anticipating the coming of the Lord, we should be ready. Our house should be in order. When we talk about the rapture, we have to remember no one knows when Jesus is coming. People have predicted His return. People have prophesied His return. But nobody knows when He will return; therefore, the best thing we can do is to walk out our faith and always be ready.

According to Wiersbe, in verses 13 and 15 we have a revelation: we have God’s truth.⁷ Because we have God’s truth, we have hope. The phrase, “those who are asleep” refers to those who have died. In response, Paul said what he revealed to the

Thessalonians came straight from the Lord (v. 15a). Paul emphasized that Christ is coming back again. Practically speaking, Jesus is at the right hand of God in heaven. When Paul said Jesus would bring with Him those who have died, Paul implied that those who believed in Jesus and are now dead are with Jesus (v. 14). Therefore, we can have hope that we will again see believers who have died. Those who are alive when Christ returns have no advantage over those who have already died (v. 15b). The timing doesn’t matter since we are all going to be with the Lord. The revelation is that Christ is coming back. When He comes back, He’s bringing with Him those who have died before us. He will resurrect those who are dead. This passage is used at funerals because it gives us hope we will again see those who have died, if they have put their trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. We just don’t know when.

The Lord will descend from heaven with three sounds (v. 16). He will descend with a shout. We don’t know what that means, but we can surmise everyone will hear it. He will descend with the archangel’s voice, and we will hear that. There will be a trumpet sound, which is usually the sound for war. The battle is coming, and we had better get ready.

We will then see the rapture.⁸ Living believers will be caught up together with the dead in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (v. 17). This word rapture has excited so many people. We’ve had books written about the rapture. The word means to be caught up, to seize, or to carry off. Dr. Kenneth Wuest explains different meanings for this word. It could mean “to catch away speedily,” like when the Spirit moved Philip after he led the Ethiopian to Christ. It could mean “to seize by force,” possibly implying Satan may try to keep us from leaving earth. It could mean “to claim for one’s own self,” as when Christ comes to claim His bride. Other meanings could be “to move to a new place” or “to rescue from danger.” Those who take this final view use this verse to claim believers will be taken before the tribulation.⁹

Christian believers will be forever with the Lord.¹⁰ The coming of the Lord will allow all believers, whether dead or alive at the time of His coming, to be together.

CLOSING

Christ could come at any given moment, so please get ready. When does this rapture happen? Does it happen before the seven years of tribulation; does it happen in the middle, after three and a half years; does it happen after the seven years of tribulation? It doesn’t matter when it happens. We should not be caught off guard regardless of what our viewpoint is. Our view must be, if Christ is coming back, we have to get ready. Let’s walk in holiness, harmony, and honesty, because then He can recognize His children because they look like Him.