Pastor Daniel Slaughter

Saint’s Triumphant

11-14-21

Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-14

Theme: Sure Hope

• The hope that you have
• The hope you share

Isn’t the word “hope” something we say quite often? I hope to see you next week. I hope I will be able to make it to your basketball game. I hope that I can get a job promotion, or I hope I will get that bonus this year. Or to quote Star Wars rogue one, “We have hope, rebellions are built on hope.” The thing is all these examples have a degree of uncertainty behind it. I hope to see you next week, but there is a possibility I won’t be able to make it. I hope to go to your game, but things pop up. I hope to get job promotion, but you never know who will get it. When we use the word hope it often expresses a degree of uncertainty.

Why do I bring up the topic of hope on Saints Triumphant? It is because that is precisely what Paul gives the Thessalonians and us in our lesson for today. Paul gives hope to people who are grieving the loss of friends and family who died in Christ. This hope is vastly different than how we commonly use the expression. The hope Paul gives expresses certainty. It is a fact, not wish. He gives the sure hope to people who are grieving, to people who are uncertain about what happens after we die. Our theme is the Sure Hope, the hope that you have, the hope you share. 

            The Thessalonians were all too familiar with grief. Paul praises them the first two chapters because they received the gospel with such earnestness that they remained steadfast in it despite suffering and persecution. But what comes along with persecution? Not only suffering but also death. The Thessalonians knew grief as they watched their brothers and sisters, their family in Christ suffer and die for the sake of the gospel. But they had a question. They knew that Jesus was coming back, and they thought he was coming during their lifetime, What happens to those people who die before Christ returns in glory? Would they be lost because of this?

So Paul answers their question by pointing them to the hope that they have. Paul says, “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.” The hope we have is so simple and yet so profound. We believe that Jesus died and that Jesus rose again. The Thessalonians knew this. They believed that Jesus died and rose again. The Thessalonians were not only willing to die but actually died for the sake of Christ.  But they were uncertain of what happens after they die.

And really, who could blame them. I think that the thing that scares people about death is the uncertainty behind it. They don’t necessarily know exactly what heaven will be like. There are descriptions in scripture but we have not experienced anything like it. The Thessalonians were uncertain about what happens after they die, weather Paul just did not have the time to teach them before he was run out of town, or they misunderstood what Paul had told them about life after death whatever it was they were uncertain about what happens after death.

Just think about what that uncertainty would do to them. There they are suffering persecution and their friends and family are dying for the sake of Christ. I wonder if those who remained behind were filled with grief. Was it worth their suffering? Will I ever get to see them again? Are they suffering now? Are they saved? Is there nothing after death? Can you imagine the grief they must of felt?

Have you ever felt grief before? Today we remember the saints who died in Christ in this past year. Grief has touched the lives of those family members, of those friends who lost loved ones,  The families/friends of Doris Carter, Yvonne Woestehoff, Janice Schense Herman Luedloff, Greg Manthe, Wilmay Karnitz, Arlene Manthe, Bill Schultz just this past year.

When we experience grief, we can feel pain, loneliness, sorrow, despair, and even anger. And really grief is different for each person and each situation. Some people grieve longer then others. It seems like each person handles grief in different ways.

People seek comfort by reminiscing on old fond memories. Other people find comfort by going to grave. Some seek solitude and others seek to surround themselves with other people.  If that is all we had. If we only had memories to comfort us, those memories fade away with time, If we only had sought comfort from the grave, then it serves as a constant reminder of the one we lost but really does not give us comfort. If the only comfort was solitude or comfort of other people, we may be just trying to run from the grief.

Paul acknowledges grief. He acknowledges the grief that the Thessalonians felt and he acknowledges our grief as well when he says, “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.” Paul does not deny grief. He does not say, “ You are a christian, you should not be sad” Instead he says “so that you do not grieve in the same way as others, who have no hope”

The hope of a Christian is unlike any other. The hope of a Christian is found in Christ and Christ alone. Christ died. Christ rose. Death is sad. We were not meant to experience death because death is a result of sin. So our sinless Savior came to take our sin upon himself and died for us. He has forgiven us. But Christ did not remain in the tomb.

Yes, Jesus died, Yes Jesus rose again. But what does that resurrection mean for us? How does that make a Christian’s grief different then the worlds? Paul says, “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. Because our Sure hope is Christ, By his death our sins are forgiven and  by his resurrection,  we know that we will be with him forever.

For a Christian, death is not end. Paul describes death as falling asleep in Christ. He says that not to avoid the word death. But because that is what it actually is. When a believer dies it is like their body sleeps and the their soul goes to heaven. Until the last day where The Lord will himself will come down from heaven. Raise the dead and reunite their souls with their bodies. Paul says 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. And so we will always be with the Lord.”

The Christian does not grieve like the rest of the world who has no hope. The rest of the world there is no hope of salvation, only the pain of the loss. To the rest of the world there is no hope of a blessed reunion, there is only past memories. The christian is different, Yes we grieve. Yes we may be sad But we have something that the rest of the world does not have. The comfort of the resurrection the comfort in knowing that one who sleeps in Christ is with him for all eternity. What can be more joyous for a Christian then to be with their savior for all eternity? We do not grieve like the rest of the world because we have the Sure hope of Jesus and the Sure hope of the resurrection.

The sure hope we have in Jesus, the sure hope we have in the resurrection gives comfort to the grieving and the assurance of salvation. At very end of our lesson Paul says, “Therefore encourage each other with these words.” For those of us who have experienced the death of a loved one, For those of us who have experienced the comfort found in the hope we have in Christ and his resurrection, Paul tells us to encourage each other!

You probably have heard this before during my Vicar year (that is my intern year), we found out that my mother had cancer and she died relatively quickly. God allowed me to experience grief and the comfort of the hope we have in him in a very personal way. It gave me a whole new perspective of ministering to the sick and dying and to their families. Especially to two particular kids who were in 8th and 9th grade. Their Dad had cancer and died while I was out there. I had the opportunity to share the comfort I had in the hope of Christ with them.

Paul says in 2 Co. 2:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” We are to take that hope that we have and share it with others. It is not just the pastors job. We all are to take the Sure Hope we have in knowing Jesus and his resurrection and comfort others with that message!

My Family in Christ The hope of a Christian expresses certainty because of the one we place our hope in. Jesus paid the ultimate price for our sins and rose to assure us that hope is real. Those who died in Christ are in heaven, a far better place then this sinful world.  We are to take this hope we have in Christ and encourage each other whether sick and suffering or grieving. Our hope in Christ is real. Our hope in Christ is forever.