All right, let’s have another word of prayer.
Lord, we are ever grateful for all Your goodness and mercy to us. Lord, thank You just for that fresh reminder as we open today—Lord, of the kind of unimaginable, unspeakable agony and choice, and all that You went through.
But we are thankful, Lord, that out of a heart of love, You did see that joy set before You. You knew Your Father’s heart. You knew His purpose. You knew what it was all about. Even though You gave Your life, we behold You today. You looked upon it as not about You, but about the Father’s will.
And Lord, we today want to give ourselves to You, that it not be about us, but that it be about You and all that You have for us, all that You desire to speak. We commit the time into Your hands, thankfully declaring that You are Lord and King over this time. In Thy name we pray. Amen.
I want to read, to start with, two familiar passages. Well, there are two passages; I do not know how familiar they are or not. But what you will note is that there is a similarity between these two passages, and that is what we want to start off by considering.
The first is from 1 Thessalonians 5:8-11. Paul is talking about the coming of the Lord here:
But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.
For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us,
so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.
Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.
Now another passage from Hebrews 10. We will see a little parallel here:
Let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Now we are going to read these again. We have kind of brought them to our attention, and we are going to read them again and look at the similarities between them.
Notice that in both passages you see faith, hope, and love. It says, “But since we are of the day, let us be sober,” having the breastplate of faith and love. That is guarding our hearts. The helmet of the hope of salvation is guarding our minds.
And praise God, He has not destined us for wrath. That is what we remembered this morning, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we live together with Him.
Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. There is encouragement there concerning the relationship we have with one another and the responsibility we have for one another.
Then we see the similarity as we come to Hebrews. Hebrews 10 is a wonderful set of encouraging verses. We are just looking at a couple of them, but we are thankful because of all the Lord has done. We can draw near with a sincere heart, with full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
He encourages us, because of that position we have in Christ and all He has done for us, to hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. In the days we are living in, holding fast the confession of our hope without wavering is getting challenged, particularly in these last days.
We do not want to be those who faint. We do not want to be those who let go, losing our hope. But because of all He has done, because of this table we just took, we have a hope that is sure and steadfast.
We want to consider how to stimulate one another—again, our relationship and responsibility to each other—to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
We see one of the tactics of the enemy in these last days is to try to separate the brethren, just to divide, and even spread division, trying to attack the preciousness of being together.
Now, when it talks about assembling together here, to me there are two words in that. One is forsaking. That is making a choice. You do not realize the value, the preciousness. But the word that is even more critical in my heart is the word habit.
We are not going to be able to make it to all the meetings, but we do not want it to become a habit. That is something you are doing all the time. We see how things come up. You cannot be at every meeting, and you are not condemned for that. But we do not want it to become a habit.
We want in our lives and our hearts the desire to be together whenever we can, that we can encourage one another. How vital it is.
So why did I really read these two passages? They are really talking about living in light of the Lord’s return. If you look at 1 Thessalonians, it is Paul’s first letter, and it is basically written to new believers.
If you look at Hebrews—and for the sake of today, I am going to say Hebrews was written by Paul, even though I do not believe that; but for the sake of this, I will avoid any controversy—we are going to say it was one of his last letters. So we say that is written to encourage older believers.
But we see all throughout Paul’s ministry, throughout his life of sharing and encouraging one another, he always had this burden upon his heart of the Lord’s return. It was always in sight. It did not matter whom he was encouraging or writing to; there was always a purpose and an end in view concerning the Lord’s return.
What is the significance of this? To me, the significance is that if you are a new Christian, or if you have been one for a while, this basic truth of the Lord’s return is for all of us. We can think at times, “This is a higher teaching about the Lord’s return.” No. Paul shows us, as he writes to these new believers in Thessalonica, that he shared with them much about the Lord’s return.
Regardless of how long we have been walking with the Lord, regardless of how much history we have with Him, this message, this truth of His return, is critical and vital for all of us.
I appreciated a quote from Brother A. B. Simpson. Many of us know him and have been encouraged by him. He had a note in his commentary on Thessalonians:
The fact that the letters to the Thessalonians were Paul’s earliest epistles, and the subject of the Lord’s return is so prominent in both of them, makes it very plain. The doctrine of the Lord’s coming is not an advanced truth that can only be understood by deeply spiritual Christians. It is one of the primary doctrines of basic gospel truth, or foundational teaching, and is the very essence of the gospel of the kingdom and is for all believers.
Today, as we are talking again about preparing for the coming of the Lord—which we have been hearing a lot lately, over the years—some of us will sit back and say, “Oh, here we go again, just hearing about preparing for the coming of the Lord.”
But may we never grow weary of it. I want to just wake you up there. I am not a Star Wars fan—but anyway, we see—huh? Star Trek. Star Trek, that is right. I am not a Star Trek fan either, but here we go again. We are going to hear again today about the coming of the Lord. May it not grow familiar to us.
Because I appreciated Simpson’s quote, I will read it again too. You are going to say, “Mac, you are going to read everything twice.” Well, yeah, you learn as a teacher sometimes you have to say things a couple of times.
The fact that the letters to the Thessalonians were Paul’s earliest epistles, and the subject of the Lord’s return is so prominent in both of them, makes it very plain that the doctrine of the Lord’s coming is not an advanced truth that can only be understood by deeply spiritual Christians. It is one of the primary doctrines, or foundations, of the basic gospel truth. It is the very essence of the gospel of the kingdom and is for all believers.
Praise God. Would we come into seeing this? The basic truths—we can call them foundational truths—really apply to everybody. Whether we are talking about faith, hope, love, salvation, or the table, they are for all. So is His return. It is one of the basic truths that we have for everybody.
An example is the call of God that He has upon all of us. Look at Peter’s life. What is the first recorded command that the Lord said to Peter? “Follow Me.” What is the very last thing He says at the end of the Gospel of John? “Follow Me.”
It did not get more complicated as Peter got to know the Lord more. It was like the standard was not changed. Sometimes it is like they change the goal line. You go along, and then the goal changes. No, it is simply a call to follow Him.
That is really a principle related to all of the foundational truths of God. There is a simplicity there that we love to get away from and make things more complicated. But God wants us to stay in that place of simplicity in Him.
Why is His soon return such a motivator to us? Because His return, the reality of that, relates to why we are here. Why are we here today? Are we just here in the moment for today? There is a goal in view.
Even when it speaks about the Lord’s table in Corinthians, we are doing this with His return in view. What are we living for? Where are we going? What are we doing? Is it just to escape this world? His return is in view, and it governs our life.
How do we press through difficult times? We see these Thessalonians. They were persecuted from the very beginning. They are noted for enduring through persecution. How can we endure persecution in these days? One of the ways the Lord encouraged those in Thessalonica—and encourages us—is to keep that goal in view. Keep His purpose, keep His end in view, and we will be able to go through it.
That is why it is so simple, yet so critical, for us to know what is the goal. Sadly, throughout Christianity there is a self-centeredness we find today. But it is not self-centered; it is Christ-centered. It is a shock to some to say, “It is not about me.” They do not even realize it.
But we see it is not about us. As you look at all of the teachings of our Lord, His parables on the second coming, He is working in us to change our perspective. He wants us to lift up our eyes, as we are encouraged so often in prayer meeting. Lift up our eyes so that we can see Him. It is about Him. It is not about us.
He is coming back because His Father has had a purpose in His heart throughout eternity. It is a glorious and wonderful purpose. His Father is so desirous of this, and in His love for us, He lives this out for us and continues to call us into that.
His return is about Him, not about us. It is about a bride for His Son. This is what the Father is jealous for: that His Son would have that eternal companion and that corporate expression of His life.
It is so vital for us to see this in this hour and in this time. It is an amazing thing that God chose us—the failures, the weaknesses, the inabilities, even those rebelling against Him at times, rejecting Him and neglecting Him. I started trying to say those together: rejecting, neglecting, and you get them all backwards there.
But anyway, it is amazing. He has chosen us, put His life in us, and is conforming us to His image. This is what it is about. This is what He is calling us to. May we never grow tired of that.
As we have kind of set the tone, let us look at some background and setting for this letter to the Thessalonians. Obviously, they lived in the city of Thessalonica. It was an important commercial and political city.
Commercially, it was on the major trade route between what is today called Istanbul and Rome. That is kind of like the I-95 of those days—the trade route, everything that went up and down, all the trucks that are on there. There was a major highway that connected everything: the good and the bad.
You see cities along I-95 and the influence for good, the influence for bad. That is why it was so critical. It was also a major political center, a capital, and because of that it had a very diversified culture.
Obviously, they were mainly Greek, but there were ones from every background and every culture. There were Jews there because there was a synagogue.
We are first introduced to Thessalonica after Paul comes from Philippi. We know that in Philippi, the first time Paul came to Europe through that vision, he was imprisoned—thrown in prison in Philippi. The Lord did a marvelous thing, and afterwards Paul was forced to leave. That is in Acts 16.
After he was forced to leave Philippi, he came to Thessalonica. That is Acts 17. He went to the synagogue to share there, which was his normal custom. Because he declared the glorious gospel and opened the eyes of many who were blind, many were saved there.
It is interesting how it says both the Jews, the Greeks, and this third category called “leading women.” Jews, Greeks, leading women. Now, do not ever underestimate the power of women, you know. They got all the Jews, the Greeks, and then there is this whole other category: leading women. They are leading us everywhere.
Paul taught there for an unknown amount of time. We are not sure how long he was there, but because of his success, the Jews there became really jealous. They created this huge uproar, and Paul had to be sent away by the believers at night.
He soon ended up going over to Corinth, but he was concerned about these new believers back in Thessalonica. So he sent Timothy. Most people think Paul was so well known that it would have been dangerous for him to go back. Timothy was more in the background. They did not recognize him.
He could go in, you know, as a special-ops operator, sneak in, not be recognized, assess the land, and come back and report. Praise God, Timothy was able to do that. He came back to Paul, who was in Corinth now, and shared an encouraging word: they were still pressing on in the Lord; they were going on.
He also said they had some questions about the Lord’s return. So Paul wrote this first letter to those in Thessalonica to clarify and encourage them, and also to clarify some questions they had about the Lord’s return.
It is good to remember that between Paul’s first visit to Thessalonica and when he wrote this letter, it was less than two years. You cannot exactly nail down the time, but everybody knows it was roughly less than two years. So these were young believers.
The burden Paul writes to them about, the overall burden, is related to the Lord’s return. Paul had shared with them about His return, and they had some questions about it. They were worried about those who had died. What if they died before God comes back? What is going to happen to them?
Paul reassures and comforts them that those who live and those who die will be together with the Lord. He also encourages them because he hears about their wonderful faithfulness in spite of the persecution they had been going through.
Those Jews, when Paul left, did not stop. There was continued persecution that they had to live under, and there was going to be more future persecution. So he was trying to encourage and comfort them.
This is why these two letters to those in Thessalonica can be so encouraging for us in the last days. The persecution we are going through is very slight now, but it is going to get worse. We know many are suffering severe persecution. The comfort these letters offer us, and the encouragement these letters offer us, become very relevant to us in these days.
Now, we are not going to go into specific details or the sequence of events of His return. We are just sticking with the principle that everybody can agree upon—well, most everybody. There are some ones out there in the far left that do not—but He is coming back. I think we can all agree on that.
We can have different interpretations on when and the sequence of events and all that, but the principle, the foundational truth, is that He is coming back. Praise God. This is what Paul encourages them with.
Paul starts this letter to encourage them. We can look at 1 Thessalonians 1. There is tremendous encouragement in this letter because it both encourages and shares the testimony of the Lord’s life in these dear believers.
Paul was in Corinth:
Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.
We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers;
constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the presence of our God and Father,
knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you.
We give thanks to God always for all of you—not just some of you, all of you—making mention of you in our prayers. They were chosen by God. He made that choice. They were chosen. They were special. We are chosen. We are special because He chose us. Praise God.
He continues:
For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.
The Spirit really moved upon them and captured them. There was a solid and sure salvation. Remember that little phrase: Paul is saying how they proved themselves as they were among these dear ones at Thessalonica. There was an approving testimony as they came in, respecting them.
Thank the Lord, Paul was not trying to prove anything on his own. It was the Lord’s life in Paul that testified to these ones in Thessalonica of everything he was saying.
As a result:
You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
They were going through tribulation. Ones were persecuting them, but there was a joy. There was a reality that had captured their hearts and brought about joy. They were suffering with a purpose. It was like Hebrews when it talks about the Lord going to the cross: there was a joy set before Him.
That is why it is so vital for us to see beyond the immediate, into what God is after.
Then we skip down to 1 Thessalonians 1:10:
To wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Praise God, there is wrath to come, but we have been delivered from that.
Earlier, we compared Thessalonians to Hebrews. Let us look again at Hebrews, keeping these verses in view for a moment. Think of what Paul testified concerning them: their work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope.
In Hebrews 10:22, it says to draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith—having that faith, a work of faith. Then, holding fast the confession of our hope, that steadfastness without wavering. Then, stimulating one another to love and good deeds.
Thank the Lord for the testimony of those in Thessalonica. Remember, these were young believers. Sometimes we can lose track of that. Whether it is the encouragement in Thessalonica or the letter to the Hebrews, who had a little more history, it is the same encouragement. It brings them back to Christ.
Sometimes it is written to ones who have walked with Him more, but praise God, it is written for all of us, because that is the foundation upon which He works and what He builds on.
What is this work of faith that they are talking about? It is a living faith expressed in their lives. Look at the testimony in 1 Thessalonians 1:8:
For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth.
Praise God for the testimony they had, not just among themselves, but radiating throughout Macedonia and Achaia, the regions there. They were impacting others.
When the life of the Lord captures one, you find out it is not just in you. There is a radiating forth. When a brother or sister gets saved, or has an experience with the Lord, and you are around them, you find yourself encouraged also. It radiates from them.
His life just wants to burst forth in a greater and fuller way from each one of us.
Verse 9 says:
For they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God.
The faith they had in Him turned them away from the idols they had lived under and worshiped their whole lives. God opened their eyes, and in faith they put those behind them and turned to serve the living God.
Praise God, it changed their lives, but it also impacted others. We talk about the testimony of Jesus. This is a testimony of Jesus: when His life radiates from us, individually or together, and impacts others. There is the testimony of Jesus. It is about Him.
Then you have the labor of love. Paul encourages them in 1 Thessalonians 1:6-7:
You became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
I do not like that word imitators. It almost carries the sense of an outward imitation. That is why I put followers; it is a little more something from the heart. You are really relating with them.
They received the word in much affliction. There is that persecution again, with joy in the Holy Spirit. They became an example to all who believed in Macedonia and Achaia.
This word labor, if you look at it a little bit in the Greek, speaks of pain. It speaks of weariness in spite of circumstances. There is a working through. There is a laboring.
They came in and were serving. There was this labor of love within them. Paul was jealous for them. When we think of this labor of love, we can also relate it to Galatians, where he says, “I labor until Christ be formed in you.” Praise God for that.
Again, we see the impact on others. Then you come over to that steadfastness of hope: waiting, waiting, that hope they had.
To wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
That steadfastness, that patience, that enduring, the constancy of it—hope in His return. It is a tremendous testimony of Christ in these young believers.
Even though they were suffering through persecution, there was a reality of His life, and they were able to press on very faithfully. That reality was expressed to others also.
As the reality of Christ kept these ones through difficult times, may that reality of Christ, and everything that is upon His heart, impact us also in the times that we have. May that impact our lives together and our individual walks, to strengthen us for what lies ahead.
This is how, daily, as we are walking with Him, we are preparing for His return.
A little while ago, one of the verses said that Paul proved himself. How did Paul prove himself? What does that really mean? He simply gave himself to them.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:8, it says:
Having so fond an affection for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.
Yes, Paul preached the gospel to them, but he did not stop there. He and the ones with him shared their lives with them. Sometimes we can focus and put too much emphasis on the message. Now, the message is very important—do not forget that.
But what validates the message? The character of the messenger. It is not just an academic teaching, but there is a character in the messenger. The life in the messenger validates the message.
What these ones saw as Paul shared with them was that they saw him living it out. He was not sharing theory with them. He was sharing life with them. As he walked through that life and taught, they could see the living examples of Christ in him, leading him this way and that way.
The testimony of the Lord was a reality there. Because of this relationship, Paul was able to establish relationships with them. They were brought into a relationship together.
It is interesting, the next couple of verses speak about the character of this relationship. I love how it is described, because first Paul is described as a mother. In a minute, we are going to see how he is a father. The very nature and character of each comes forth through him.
It says he was gentle as a nursing mother tenderly caring for her own children. The word mother is not in the original Greek, for you Bible scholars. It is just the nursing one. Why people insert mother there is because she is caring for her own children—the motherly care.
At times, Paul needed to be gentle and very tender with ones: a comforter, one who has understanding. That motherly heart cares and comes in tenderly.
But then, as ones have gone through a crisis or gone through things, there is also that encouragement from the mother: “Okay, you have had your little”—these are my words, not Paul’s—“you have had your little pity party. That is okay. Now it is time to stand up and go on.”
If the mother really cares for the ones to go on, she is not going to let them just stay in their little pity party. Maybe they have a right. Maybe something really bad happened. It is okay. But if you really tenderly care for one, you have to help them get out of that and go on with the Lord.
That is where the loving tenderness of a mother can come in, because the father just comes in and says, “All right, get up, get over it, go on.” Well, that does not usually work. There is that combination.
Paul, by the Spirit, had the life in him that came forth with motherly tenderness at the right time among those believers. He also came as a father.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:11, it says he was exhorting, encouraging, and imploring as a father. At times he needed to be a little firmer: correcting, disciplining, redirecting.
The key is that Paul had relationships with them. They knew that he loved them. They knew that he had their best interests at heart. He had established trust within them, so that when he spoke into their lives, they listened.
Oftentimes people try to speak into our lives, but because they do not have any relationship with us, we do not really pay a lot of attention to it. But somebody who has proven themselves to you, who you know loves you and cares for you—when they say something, even though it might hit you a little hard at first, you listen to that.
This is why, in these days, there is so much encouragement to care for and encourage one another through the relationships we have.
We have to be clear, because there is a lot of relational Christianity out there today. But the foundation for the relationships we are talking about is Christ. The relationship is not just because you and I have a lot in common. No, the relationship is Christ.
We lead ones back to Christ, and Paul could speak into their lives not just in words but in life—not only love coming forth in word, but in deed.
As we mentioned earlier, it is similar to Galatians 4:19, where it speaks of them as children:
My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.
There is that intimate relationship with his children. This is how Paul was able to come in and encourage them. He was in agony. As it mentions labor in Galatians, it talks about travail. There was an insatiable desire for them to know Christ in a greater way.
Paul was in agony, suffering for ones. He loved them so much. He was as that mother and father. He was in agony for his children, that they would grow up in Christ.
They were not just numbers on a roll, or numbers to draw attention to. I saw in the news that some churches in California wanted to baptize thousands of people in one weekend—one day—throughout California.
That is great, but are they believers? The goal is not numbers. The goal is life in Christ. Praise God if they could baptize ten who really came to know the Lord, who could stand for Him and go on.
This is what Paul was desiring: that they be conformed to the image of Christ as that father who has that heart. We have heard from Dana and Jim about the great need in these last days for fathers and mothers.
They can be the ones who comfort with tenderness, but also have the spiritual wisdom to know when to come in with a little correction and challenge ones in love. This is the life of Christ within us. It has that and can do that. Are we allowing Him to do that?
We are thankful that as Paul encouraged them as a father, they responded to him. They had responded to his gospel. If you look in 2 Thessalonians, they continued on even through much suffering and persecution. I was trying to say “suffering and persecution.” Sometimes it is tough to talk up here. It is tough for me to talk in general.
Why was Paul challenging them like this? Remember, they had a glorious testimony. Everybody was praising them. Macedonia heard about them. Achaia heard about them.
Paul knew that young believers, old believers—any believers—when you get praised too much, can become content. You can become complacent. You can start to think, “Oh, we have arrived.”
But Paul transitions in his letter to exhort them, wake them up, and press them on in two different ways. He has two exhortations for them. Exhortation has a double meaning. It is not only to encourage someone, but also to warn them. Beware of this. Yes, you are doing this, but beware of this.
The first relates to their own personal relationship with the Lord, their walk with the Lord, and how they were pleasing to Him. The second exhortation concerns their relationships with one another.
For the sake of time, we are just going to look at the first exhortation today, because I know we all want to have our breakfast and eat our granola and yogurt. I snuck in and saw all that stuff.
In this first exhortation Paul is focusing upon their personal relationship with the Lord, because that is the foundation. Before you can go on and talk about relating with one another, you have to have that clear foundation in Christ.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:1, we see this first exhortation:
Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you excel still more.
Notice a couple of things in this verse. He commends them for how they are walking and pleasing God. “You actually are doing it.” Praise God, you are doing it. They have this personal relationship with Him.
But he does not stop there. He says, “I want you to excel still more.” Excel still more. That is a great call for us. He is requesting; he is begging them, beseeching them, to excel still more.
He continues with this. A lot of the rest of the chapter is on the necessity of sanctification. I do not need to go into that because Kenny has already taken care of that, so I do not have to worry about sanctification.
His concern is that the praises of men could make them unconsciously think they are doing okay. Because you have so many at your meeting, because you have this kind of teaching, because you have such a nice worship time, because you have such good children’s work, because you have this or that, unconsciously you can think you are doing okay.
But no, he is saying, “I want you to excel still more,” leading them not to be content or complacent.
Excelling still more is vital because it is similar to what Paul wrote to those in Philippi. He does not say “excel still more,” but what does he say? “Press on. Press on.”
You have done all this. You have a great history. You have got this. Praise God for the blessing, but you have to press on. Excel still more. Keep going on. In spite of what experiences you have, in spite of what you have attained, press on.
Sadly, the age we are living in is characterized by contentment. The age we are living in is referred to scripturally as the age of Laodicea. What is Laodicea’s testimony? “We are rich and have need of nothing.”
They are satisfied with themselves, but the Lord is outside. They are going through all the outward motions. They probably have great meetings. They have this and that. Their treasuries are full and all of the things.
But do not be content. Do not be satisfied. Press on. Repent and keep going on. Enter into more and more.
How does Paul encourage them to prepare for His return? How does he encourage them to excel more in preparing for His return? Through the daily personal walk with the Lord.
He reminds them, as we read earlier, that they are of the day. They are not in the night, but they are in the light. Since they are in the day, 1 Thessalonians 5:6 says:
So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.
There are three things there: do not sleep, be alert or watchful, and be sober.
What is this, “Do not sleep”? “I am not sleeping. I am just resting my eyes.” Some of us can think that we are not asleep, but are just resting our eyes.
The Spirit is speaking here of spiritual laxity, moral laxity, lethargy, indifference, or carelessness. You are really just letting things go on, que sera, sera.
You could maybe think it—I am not sure if you would say it to others—“Oh, I am not worried about the Lord’s return. He is not coming now. We do not have to worry. I am just going to do what I want to do.” Then we are caught off guard. We are asleep.
Remember, there were some virgins who did not have that extra oil. They were not prepared. But praise God, He is calling us not to be asleep, to wake up, to walk in the day, to be alert in Him. He is calling us to be alert and watchful.
You have to watch. You never know when something is going to hit you. But watchfulness is really staying in touch with Him. It is abiding. It is not being distracted, but listening to the warnings, listening to the Scriptures, listening to what is going on, and being aware of the times we are in.
It is being conscious of His soon return. There is a spiritual and moral alertness—watching what is going on. That is like some of those virgins: they were prepared. They had that oil. They had been watching. They had listened. They knew there was a necessity for extra oil, and they got to know Him in a greater way.
Why are we watching? We are watching because of the uncertainty of the day of His return. We do not know when He is coming. He does not tell us. Nobody knows. He is going to come like a thief. We do not know when He is coming. That is why we are watching.
We are watching for the signs and everything that is going on. We are also watching because we are aware that there is an enemy out there. We need to be on the alert. We need to be aware of the tactics of the enemy.
We need to watch so that, as we gather together for prayer, we will have some insight into how to stand against the tactics of the enemy. This watching is not only seeing His return and the signs; it is also having discernment about how you stand against some of the tactics of the enemy.
Realize also that the Lord gives signs of the times. When He gives these signs, are we aware of them? Are we alert? Do we see what is going on? There is a lot going on in the world now, a lot going on in Israel now.
Praise God, there are many who are watching. Nobody is really clear exactly what is going on, but we know something is going on. We need to be alert and watchful to see what He is going to reveal of His heart and His desire.
The third thing was to be sober. Now, it does not mean you cannot drink. Sober really means being self-controlled. It sounds kind of odd when you talk about being self-controlled, but really, your self is controlled by the Spirit. The Spirit has the ascendancy in your life.
If you cannot read that, it says that the final test for police dogs is self-control: a cat walks in front of them, and they are there, disciplined.
It is interesting as you look at some of the other descriptions related to this matter of being self-controlled, being sober. Some commentator or expositor said you are not overly excited, nor are you indifferent. There is a balance in your life.
You can get so excited at times that you mess up. I remember from playing sports, the coach would always remind us: one play ends, the next one goes on.
You can be so excited about the pass you caught or the block you made that you are totally caught off guard. You make a great tackle and are standing there boasting in yourself; the next play, the guy runs right by you.
There is a watching, being sober, and being alert—being balanced. There is being calm, steady, sure, and faithful in daily things.
I appreciated how one brother described it: one who does not live by their senses, but by the Spirit. Not living by your senses, your feelings, but by the Spirit.
How are you feeling? Your feelings can lead this way or that way, but being led by the Spirit—that is the conforming work. It is natural within us to be led by our senses, but as we allow that conforming work of Christ in us to form Him in us in a greater way, we start to learn to be led more by the Spirit of the living God.
Paul, in his encouragement to them, drew a great contrast between night and day. In the night, he talks about sleepiness and drunkenness. In the day, you are watchful and sober.
We are thankful, Lord, that we are of the day. We are of the light. The light has come to us. It has shone upon us, and we need to walk in this way.
It was interesting: Friday night at the Bible study, we did 1 Samuel 9. There was a great contrast manifested in that chapter—the contrast between Samuel and Saul, for those of you who were not there.
In 1 Samuel 8, Israel said, “We want a king.” God said, “Okay, we will get you a king.” In chapter 9, they find the king who met all the desires of the people of God: the man of the flesh, Saul.
He looked great outwardly. He was respected and had certain good natural characteristics. They said, “This is our king.” They were going to anoint him king.
But in contrast, you see Samuel in this chapter, who was so different from Saul. Samuel, even though he had been rejected by these people in the chapter before, continued to serve the Lord and serve the people.
He was devastated, but God came in and said, “Do not worry about it, Samuel. They are not rejecting you. They are rejecting Me.” Samuel was able, in the midst of rejection, to continue serving the Lord and serving the people.
Because he had that living relationship with the Lord, he kept in touch daily. His heart and eyes were open. He could hear the Lord. One translation says, “The Lord spoke to him in his ear.”
He had an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying. That is what we need in this hour.
The great contrast with Saul was that Saul had no relationship with God. He did not even know Samuel existed. He was blind. He was just led around by circumstances. He could not hear, even when ones were trying to speak to him.
That is the natural man. But God wants us to be those who are Spirit-led, having that relationship with Him.
This brings me back to one of my favorite verses in 2 Corinthians. To me, all of this brings us back to how the Lord is calling us to return to the simplicity and purity of our devotion to Christ.
That is the call in the last days: staying in that simplicity and purity of our devotion to Christ—Christ.
By His grace, may we be those who are excelling still more. May we be those who are pressing on. Praise God for the work of faith He has done in our lives, the work of faith He has done in your life. But press on for more.
Praise God for that labor of love you have shown to Him, but there is still more He wants you to experience. Thank the Lord for how you have held up through trials of life and persecution and been steadfast. You have had that steadfastness of hope, but come to know Him in a fuller and greater way.
Press on, excelling still more. Thank the Lord, we are of the day. We do not want to be those who are sleeping. We want to be watchful and sober, really able to know, “Thus saith the Lord.”
There are many voices in this hour, many voices going around. Do we have that personal, daily relationship with Him to know His voice when the Spirit speaks?
Praise God, as it says in Revelation, may we be those who have an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. This is the call that we have in these last days before He returns.
We talk about being prepared for the coming of the Lord. What encouraged me the most was looking at these dear ones in Thessalonica, who were young believers. Being prepared for the coming of the Lord is not an advanced teaching. It is a simple, basic walk with Him.
Daily walking by faith, daily walking in love, daily having that relationship with Him, and daily allowing Him to build upon that and establish us not only solidly in Him, but also in relationships with one another—all for His glory and for His honor.
May the Lord do that in our hearts and in our lives in these days, as we desire to press on. Let us pray.
Lord, we are ever grateful for Who You are. We are ever grateful, Lord, for this great work that You have done. We are also thankful that what is impossible with man is possible with God.
Lord, it is impossible for us to conform ourselves into Your image. But we are thankful for the price You have paid. We are thankful for the life that is within us, that is abundantly able to conform us into Your image.
Lord, help us to be those who are willing to excel still more, to have a willingness and a desire to press on, to know You in a fuller and greater way, all for Your glory and for Your honor.
Settle it in our hearts that it is not about us; it is about You—You receiving the glory, You receiving the honor that is due Your wonderful name. In Thy name we pray. Amen.