Participants: Jon Paulien & Jon Ciccarelli
Series Code: TBOTB
Program Code: TBOTB000008A
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00:21 Welcome to Books of the Book, we're looking at
00:25 1 Thessalonians, and today in particular we will be looking 00:29 at 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. 00:32 My name is Jon Paulien and with me as my 00:35 Pastor, Jon Ciccarelli. 00:37 Jon tells a little bit about the passage 00:39 we are looking at today. 00:40 Well Jon here we are in Chapter 4:13-18 and Paul is 00:45 really wanting them to be knowledgeable about something. 00:48 Specifically when Christ comes again and what happens 00:51 in those last times. 00:52 So let's not waste any time and move forward. 00:55 Alright, this passage is grounded in a whole series of 00:59 passages in Chapters 4 and 5 where Paul is trying to 01:03 correct them in some practical areas. 01:05 At the beginning of Chapter 4 he talks about sexuality, 01:09 work ethic in verses 9 to 12. 01:12 Then he shifts to the second and coming, about the 01:16 knowledge they need to have about the second coming. 01:20 In Chapter 5 moves on to perhaps the attitude that they 01:24 have towards second coming. 01:25 Then he gets into some leadership issues and then even 01:29 talks about prophecy in Chapter 5. 01:32 We will come to those passages later on. 01:34 But here in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 he is trying to 01:39 correct some misunderstandings that they have about the 01:43 second coming and somehow, some people have died in the 01:47 church, it has already been six months and already 01:50 they have had some deaths in the church. 01:52 These deaths really threw them for a loop. 01:55 It seems that somehow they believe that Jesus coming 01:59 was so soon that they would all just join Him together. 02:04 Now why would it bother them, that 02:08 some of the people had died? 02:09 Aren't they going to be resurrected? We know that. 02:12 Evidently they did not. 02:13 In Judaism there was a theory, and Thessalonians perhaps 02:18 we're thinking along these lines. 02:20 That people who were alive when Jesus comes would be taken 02:25 up to heaven, but those who died would stay here on earth. 02:29 If that is the case, that meant that throughout eternity 02:33 you would be separated from your loved ones, 02:35 if they died before Jesus came. 02:37 So in Judaism you had this idea, this confusion about the 02:41 resurrection and maybe the Thessalonians applied that 02:44 to the Christian faith. I think the bottom line here 02:48 is that belief does matter. 02:51 There are a lot of people who see doctrine is not 02:53 important, it's just about our relationship with Jesus. 02:55 That is so important, that is really the critical thing. 02:59 But doctrine is important too, what you believe matters. 03:02 I remember one of my daughters, when she was young, 03:05 we didn't know about this until later, but she believed 03:08 there were monsters under the bed and that they are 03:11 confined under there unless it is totally dark. 03:15 So she would ask for the door to be left open, or a light 03:18 to be left on and we could never understand. 03:19 She would not tell us why she was asking. 03:21 Beliefs matter and they affects the way you live. 03:25 There are some people in today's world who love Jesus, 03:28 they have a relationship with Him, but their beliefs about 03:31 the second coming I think Paul would find problematic. 03:35 So brings us back to the purpose of prophecy. 03:38 This is a practical text, Paul isn't talking about the 03:41 second coming just as an intellectual. 03:44 There is a real issue in the church and this knowledge 03:47 is going to help them deal with that problem. 03:50 It is so important, I think that beliefs matter. 03:53 I think it determines also how we behave, right? 03:56 As you said, the whole idea, I think I had the same 03:58 monster under my bed. - Yeah? 04:00 So what we believe really does impact us. 04:04 It's like when I talk with my wife and we talked about 04:07 raising our children, we said it is important what we 04:09 teach them, but discipleship is more caught than it is 04:12 taught, because what we believe is what we really live. 04:14 We can say we believe in things, but what we believe is 04:17 how we really live our life on that. 04:19 You know I had an experience once when I was going to 04:23 College and studying theology. 04:25 One of the things we had to do was to go out with an 04:29 evangelist and do visitations and so forth. 04:32 And there were some good visits, but I remember one visit 04:35 that I was really disheartened by. 04:37 There was a disagreement between someone who is attending 04:40 the meetings and this evangelist. 04:42 They weren't agreeing with our views of prophecy. 04:45 And I saw this conversation escalate right before my eyes 04:49 and it was like the love left the room, the compassion 04:52 left the room and it was just about being right. 04:56 The person I was with was determined that I'm going 04:59 to win this argument. 05:00 The idea seemed like a redeeming and reconciliation 05:05 which was gone, but that is why there is redemption and 05:08 reconciliation because Jesus is coming back again and 05:12 we want everyone to be there. 05:13 But sometimes our beliefs, our doctrine sometimes they 05:17 need to impact how we live our lives in a great way. 05:21 That is right! Well lets see what Paul has to say in 05:25 Chapter 4:13 and I will mention again that the translation 05:29 of 1 Thessalonians are my own so that we can bring out 05:33 some of the nuances of the Greek, the meanings of certain 05:36 words, sometimes the grammar can affect the way we look at 05:40 the passage, it doesn't always show up in translation. 05:44 Translation sometimes is thinking more about how it flows 05:48 in the English, so sometimes the sentences is 05:52 changed a little bit in the translation. 05:54 Verse 13 says: 06:07 Now he doesn't say died, he says they are asleep. 06:09 But in the ancient world sleep was a common metaphor for 06:14 death, you see! A lot of times we talk about things 06:20 in metaphors and analogies and spiritual life, 06:23 that is true, the fruit of the Spirit, that is an analogy, 06:27 it is a metaphor and it helps us to get 06:32 a handle on some things. 06:33 Now Paul had spent only three weeks in Thessalonica. 06:37 These people had a pagan background and evidently some 06:41 things were missing. 06:43 There was a scholar named Adolf Deismann who collected 06:46 some ancient letters, I talked on an earlier program about 06:49 digging up ancient letters. 06:51 Would you read us one of those letters from 06:55 an ancient Greek person to a friend? 06:57 Sure I would be happy to, this letter reads: 07:29 Impressing! - Yeah it is! But you know it is really 07:33 not too unlike the way we experience it today, in today's 07:38 society, and you know my experience with people, 07:41 in our world today there is this lack of hope. 07:44 And the sadness, especially when it comes to death and 07:47 dying, it's like well if you don't believe in God it's 07:52 like well do what you can but you just get through it, 07:56 but just this sadness and this grief. 07:59 In the United States we are entering for the first time 08:03 a post-Christian society, where there is a gap between, 08:07 the generations of people who do not and have not attended 08:12 church so there is a growing lack of hope I think in our 08:16 society because the message of Christ so needs to be 08:20 heard in the hope of His resurrection. 08:22 The whole circle of life thing, and environmentalism, 08:25 everything is just cycling through where there is really 08:29 no future, it's just more of the same. 08:31 Think a lot of that, Paul's concerned that Christians 08:35 should grieve differently. - A hum! 08:37 He is not saying Christians shouldn't grieve, he is 08:41 saying Christians grieve differently because they 08:44 know some things that take the sting out of it. 08:47 you know I am glad that he said that in this 08:51 sense because our theology is really no good unless 08:54 it impacts how we live. 08:56 I love astronomy, I love looking at the stars and the 09:00 planets, and when I was looking for a telescope to buy 09:04 I went to the store that was supposed to be the biggest 09:08 showroom of telescopes in North America. 09:10 I was on that showroom floor and there were so many 09:13 telescopes to look at and I finally asked the gentleman, 09:16 I said knowing my price range, and I narrowed it down 09:20 to about three, I said which is the best telescope 09:24 for me would you say? 09:25 He said there is only one answer, the best telescope is 09:29 the one that gets used. 09:30 So he said, which one are you going to use the most 09:33 because that is the best one for you? 09:35 I think the best theology is the one that gets used. 09:38 So when we look at this, the hope of Christ coming back 09:42 it ought to impact how we live our lives. 09:45 And yes, we can grieve, we can be sad for the loss of 09:49 someone, but it is not without hope. 09:51 There is that grief of loss, we should be sad that we 09:56 lost someone very close to us, but yet underneath that grief 10:00 there is hope, we are going to see them again. 10:02 We are going to be with them again. 10:04 Just like I mentioned in a previous episode telling my dad, 10:06 I will meet you by the tree. 10:07 There is that hope that we are going to see each 10:10 other again, so it is okay to have joy and loss 10:13 at the same time. 10:14 You know there are some natural stages also to death 10:18 and dying that we can be aware of. 10:20 Just real simply, the first one is denial, 10:22 no this is not happening. 10:24 We don't accept it, we have shock. 10:26 And then, and then we become angry at the situation and 10:29 maybe even angry at God in that. 10:32 Then we move from anger to a bargaining stage, okay God 10:36 maybe if You do this, I'll do this and we can work this out. 10:39 We try to make bargains with God and then maybe we slip 10:43 into some depression as well about the situation. 10:46 And finally, finally there is acceptance. 10:48 But I think the passage we are looking at today, Paul 10:52 gives us that hope to remind us that remember, this is 10:56 not the end of the story, there is more to it. 10:59 Well I remember when my mom died, and that was a very 11:03 traumatic moment in many ways. 11:05 But she donated her body to science so we didn't have a 11:08 memorial until a month later when everybody could come in. 11:12 It was amazing, it was almost like a roast. 11:16 I mean we were telling funny stories and stuff that she 11:20 had said, some of the little quirks and so forth. 11:22 For two hours we were celebrating somebody 11:26 who have brought us so much joy. 11:28 I thought wow, that is different than a lot of funerals 11:32 and it is all because of this passage that we can grieve 11:36 but grieve in a way that there is joy, there is 11:41 celebration, it is simply different. 11:43 Funerals are different when you grasp Paul's message here. 11:47 Verse 14 is where he brings in the solution. 11:50 We want to really catch this before the break. 11:53 1 Thessalonians 4:14: 12:09 I put that in twice in my translation because it is 12:12 unclear what the through Jesus is about. 12:15 Scholars have debated back and forth, but the point 12:18 I want to make right now, and we will come back to 12:21 that after the break. 12:22 The point I want to make right now is this. 12:24 Paul says our view of the resurrection, our view of the 12:31 future hope is all about Jesus. - Yeah! 12:34 It's all about the resurrection of Jesus, if Jesus died 12:38 and rose again, then we too, like Him, if we die, 12:44 we will rise again. - Amen! 12:46 He was assuring the Thessalonians they will see 12:49 these folks again, they will come back and that God is going 12:55 to bring them just the way Jesus was brought out of the tomb, 13:00 God will bring them out. 13:02 And he makes the same point in 1 Corinthians 15:22 13:06 We will look at the King James version on this one. 13:21 So this is the promise that the resurrection of Jesus 13:25 guarantees the resurrection of God's people, you see! 13:28 It isn't a maybe, it isn't boy I hope so. 13:31 The Christian hope is more than hope, the Christian hope 13:34 is a certainty that what happen- ed to Jesus will happen to those 13:38 who love Jesus. - That is good news. 13:41 That was the difference in my mom's funeral, and that is 13:45 the difference when Christians are grieving because 13:48 they know what Jesus has done, and what He will do. 13:52 That brings us to our break, we thank you for watching. |
Revised 2023-01-25