June 3, 2007 Sermon

Live Like It’s Today
I Thessalonians 5:1-11

I Thessalonians 5:1-11 follows a tremendously important biblical passage and has two important points of its own to make. In that previous, critical passage, the Apostle Paul states that all who believe in Jesus as Lord will experience eternal life in His presence. Jesus will come again, Paul insists, and when he does those who belong to Him will enter heaven. Now he adds two points: we will not know in advance when Jesus will enter creation again, and we must therefore live every day as if it were the today.

Our problem is that we struggle to sustain our spiritual alertness. Time passes. Jesus has waited some 2,000 years to return. Plus, most of us live well enough that we are not entirely sure we want our world to end. Maybe we want to see more of our grandchildren. Maybe we have a job to do, a relationship to heal, a regret we have put off rectifying. Maybe we just want to take a boat out into the middle of a lake and sit in silence—with or without a fishing pole in hand. (Of course, now that our summer visitors have returned we’ll have to wait at least until Labor Day to fulfill that dream.) Most of us like the lives God has given us. Unlike most Christians today, and virtually every Christian the Apostle Paul knew, we do not long for a better world because we have it pretty good in this one.

When people feel strongly enough about anything yet to come, they wait for it seriously. Our nation continues to spend billions of dollars in the pursuit of security. We wait for the next attack, but we wait with a sense of purpose. In short, we prepare for it. Or how much time, money, energy and emotion does the average bride spend planning her wedding? According to an article in the May, 2005 edition of Money magazine, the average wedding costs over $26,000. And most married couples wake up the day after their honeymoon ends with precisely nothing of tangible value left over from that orgy of spending.

Or think of an athlete preparing for competition. Through our son Dan we have had the privilege of entering the world of cross-country. Like many other sports distance running has no real off-season. Track workouts begin in March. Track season runs from ice, through black flies, until muggy air that makes the boys, uh, regurgitate, during races. In summer they meet at 8:00 a.m. and run for a couple of hours five days a week. Average runners will put in 500 miles before school starts in September; top runners will far exceed that. Cross-country season starts in mid-August. At team camp the boys will put in about 75 miles in five days. The serious runners observe a strict diet year-round. And don’t forget going to classes, doing homework and projects, maybe holding down a job and even having a love life. All for about a dozen races in the fall of the year. Then, after a week or two off, most of the boys start running again around Thanksgiving. The next time you must drive around them think about the commitment to preparation that puts them on that road shoulder.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am all for national security, marriage, and cross-country running. But if we care enough to dedicate so much in preparation for these worthy things, why can we not dedicate more to our preparation for the return of Jesus Christ?

“You yourselves know very well,” Paul wrote to Christians then and now, “that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them.” The “Day of the Lord” is code language for the return of Jesus. The New Testament teaches that Jesus will return to creation on a day appointed by God. The most notorious picture of this Day of the Lord comes from the book of Revelation, but in I Thessalonians 4 Paul himself has just given a summary of his vision for it. Details vary in different versions, but they have common features. Evil will gain an ever-tighter stranglehold over humanity. God’s perfect justice will become ever more perverted by human government and culture. Christ will finally appear in a powerful burst of glory. God will judge all people, dead and living. Those who have not accepted Christ as Lord and Savior will enter eternal punishment; those who have faith will enter eternal life.

But though this great and terrible day will surprise all humanity, we need not be unprepared when it does appear. “For you are all children of light and children of the day,” Paul reminds us. He adds, “So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake.” The good attendance at our adult Sunday School class that studied Revelation this past year delighted me. Learning what the Bible teaches is one great way to stay awake to the working of God, now and in that wild and glorious future. There are other ways to stay awake. Last week I preached on the absolute necessity to gather with the church to worship Jesus every week. I preached this not because I live or die by the attendance numbers we print in our bulletins, but because I live or die by how well our congregation nurtures saving faith in its members and friends. No substitute exists for gathering to worship Jesus week after week. Worship keeps us awake to his eventual return. Worship renews our joy in the life he gives us now.

How else can we keep awake? How else can we live every day as though it were the Day? Paul completes this passage with this sentence: “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, as indeed you are doing.” Staying awake to the return of Jesus is not easy. Staying alert to anything over the long haul taxes us. Plus we American Christians do love this life that we are so blessed to have. That’s why this last point of Paul’s matters. We can try to keep awake to Jesus through worship and through Bible study, but without mutual encouragement most of us cannot stay spiritually awake. We need to prepare for the return of Jesus as though today were the Day. Therefore, encourage each other.

How much encouragement do we actually practice at Northern Lakes Community Church? I witness encouragement happening in small groups and youth groups, in conversations around the snack table, and in the care packages our Deacons send. But do we encourage each other enough? Can we encourage each other enough? Paul often wrote encouragement to the churches of the New Testament. His writing followed this pattern: I (Paul) hear you are doing (fill in the blank with a spiritual practice) extremely well. Keep it up—and do even more (fill in the blank with that same spiritual practice)! With Paul, then, I preach these words of encouragement to NLCC:

I see you praying together. Well done! Prayer connects us with God’s Spirit. Prayer brings healing. Prayer changes our life together as the church of Jesus Christ. Now—pray even more. No meal at which two or more Northern Lakes Community Church Christians gather should go unblessed. It shames me to admit that our Tuesday morning Bible study has fallen out of the habit of praying over our meal when it arrives at the table. I promise you this changes immediately. How much time do you spend praying for your church brothers and sisters on a daily basis? Our elders and deacons spend time in prayer at our annual visioning meetings. Why can they not spend more time praying together at their regular meetings? I can report with joy that our elders have created a spirit of unity and purpose at their monthly meetings. Though we have recently dealt with big issues regarding our worship service and the building addition, the meetings go very quickly. Why should we not take more time to pray together as elders? I encourage the elders to keep me honest about leading them in prayer.

I see this church reaching out to support many broken, hurting people. Well done! Let us do even more to mend the broken spirits of the literally hundreds of people God sends through our doors. Let the whole church become fierce in its determination to communicate the needs of all to our pastor and deacons. Tell us who needs support so we can do the ministry God has called us to do. Let us encourage one another in this way.

I see this church serving the hungry through the monthly collections for the food pantry. I see this church serving the homeless through our annual mission trips. Well done! Let us do even more to meet the earthly needs of the people we manage not to see despite the fact they surround us. Let the Mission Committee grow bold in its call upon us all to get our hands dirty, our backs tired, and yes, even our wallets lighter. Jesus did it. He called upon us to do it. Let us encourage one another to answer this call.

Worship, Bible study, prayer, ministries of compassion within and without our walls. So much to do, so little time. If we were to become the church God calls us to be we would have no trouble staying alert for Jesus. We would have only one problem: when he did return we would be so busy we would never see Him coming.

Oh wait—that’s exactly how it’s supposed to happen. Encourage one another. Stay spiritually awake. Today could be The Day.