1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Am taking a read through of 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11.

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

Some people believe the rapture (gathering together of believers who are alive) is the first event in a series of events in "the day of the Lord."

They cite the idea of the rapture being like "a thief in the night" event which is sudden and stealthy. I haven't read the Left Behind series of books but that the concept of a sudden rapture is the first event that sets in motion a series of events told in action adventure novels.

Suffice to say, not all theologians agree with that particular line of thought. It is an intramural debate that has been going on for a very long time and I'll not be solving this issue in this blog post!

However, I'll describe the questions I have in my mind when I think about the possibilities. Regarding "the rapture," my questions are: is it really a "secret" event? And is it necessarily the first event in "the day of the Lord?"

My other top question is this: certainly at the time of Paul writing to the Thessalonians, Paul did not believe "the day of the Lord" had arrived yet. However, between that time and now, has "the day of the Lord" began?

The reason I pose this question is due to Acts 2:14-21. Peter cited Joel 2 in his sermon. The sequence of events is thus:
(1) I will pour out my Spirit
(2) Wonders in heaven, sign on earth, etc ...
(3) Sun darkened, moon appears bloody
(4) Great and glorious day of the Lord

The pouring out of the Spirit occurred at Pentecost.

If you run a search of "signs" and "wonders" in Bible Gateway you find a few hits in the New Testament suggesting that item #2 has occurred.

So has item #3 occurred?

Some say, yes. They take the idea of item #3 as a shorthand and symbolic way of saying an event that is so dramatic that it essentially signals "the end of the world as we know it." They would say that the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 AD qualifies as such a significant event.

I would suspect some might even go so far as to say that we are now living in item #4

Some would say item #3 has not yet occurred.

Regardless of whether #3 or #4 has happened, how are we supposed to live?

But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

In our modern world, the distinction between day and night isn't so great. But in the old days, what you did in the day was very distinct from what you did at night. In the day, you worked the fields if you were in an agrarian community which most people were. But even if you didn't make your living working the farmland, you most likely worked in the light of day in various crafts.

Today, you can flip on a light switch and keep working. But in the old days, it probably wasn't realistic to fire up enough light to do much work at night. I suppose if your work involved a big fire like metal working you might be able to work at night. But the point is that we are children of the day and there were good works associated with the day and we are to refrain from the bad sins that were associated with the night.

Paul also brings in an military armor metaphor with a breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation.


image source:
http://www.niximperial.com/npics/2151.jpg

Faith, hope and love are the prime Christian virtues. The breastplate covers the torso which contains the vital organs and a helmet protects the head which is the most vital organ! Thus, these virtues in abundance protects the believer. Paul revisits this idea more expansively in Ephesians 6:10-18.

UPDATE: As I contemplate the imagery some more, I'm not sure if protection is the key idea. I think perhaps it is identity? When you look at the breastplate there are markings on it. Also, the helmet has a distinctive shape. Is it possible that in the Apostle Paul's mind, he sees the Christian as having a breastplate marked by faith and love and a helmet marked by hope? Thus, just as certain insignia might say, this is the 9th company of the 11th battalion of the Roman Guards, the markings of faith, hope and love marks someone as a Christian?


image source:
http://www.swordsandarmor.com/images/H13_Roman2.jpg

Lord, whether the day of the Lord is here or not, I don't know. But what I do know is that you want me to be a child of the day and of light doing the good deeds that manifest faith, hope and love. God forgive me for the many times I am not living up to this kind of life. Give me strength to put on the breastplate and helmet so I can do battle in this world with good deeds that point people to YOU. Amen.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 is one of the passages that theologians get the rapture (gathering of living believers) from. Here are articles on the subject from a Catholic, a Protestant and an Agnostic perspective. There are many other pages on the topic, just Google it.

So what does the passage actually say?

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

The Apostle Paul appeared to want to address the concerns of the Thessalonians who were wondering what happens to those who had already died. Paul's bottom line message is: don't worry, we will all be reunited when Jesus comes back. Makes me think of John 14.

Much energy has been spent by some theologians on the question of when and how the Coming of Jesus will happen.

One of the pastors I heard preaching on the subject said, I'm a pan-millenialist. It will all pan out in the end.

UPDATE: [ed. note - I shouldn't assume everyone knows what Millennium theology is about. One aspect of the theology of the return of Christ is what is the nature of the millennium? The idea ranges from it being a literal 1000 year (millennial) kingdom to it being a symbolic kingdom]

Indeed, I think we need quite a bit of humility when it comes to this particular theological question. My own views on the subject are subject to change but at the moment, I'm sympathetic to the view that the rapture (gathering of living believers) will be concurrent with the return of Jesus and the resurrection of believers who had already died. That appears to me to be the simplest reading of this text.

So does this mean, Christians just gather into a holy huddle and wait for this to happen?

Some skeptics view Christians as arrogant as an exclusive club. May it not be so!

Instead, we are to interact with the world and show Christ to the world. As one of my friends once said to me, we, as Christians, need to be humble realizing we are sinners before a holy God. We are to be beggars telling other beggars where to find food.

Lord, this Christmas, may people see your love in what you did in sending Jesus. When you return is up to you. In the meantime, help us who believe to be lights in the world pointing to you with humble truthfulness and extravagant love. Amen.

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

Let's take a look at 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12.

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

I suppose it is passages like this that have led to the "Protestant work ethic?"

One wonders if the Apostle Paul were around today, would he have some sympathy for the Libertarian political party?

Now, I don't think when Paul said we should mind our own business that we ignore what is happening around us. For instance, as we live our life, we may come across someone who has a need and at that point, Jesus' Parable of the Good Samaritan should leap to our minds and we should respond.

Also, we should note, Paul mentioned, win the respect of outsiders. Paul used the word outsiders on three other occasions. Therefore, as Christians we do live within a distinct minority community but we don't retreat from the society at large. We still interact with the rest of the world and it should be our goal to interact in a way that wins respect. Now, if in doing good deeds and loving people and telling about Jesus in a honorable way fails to garner respect then we have done our best and must leave the rest in the hands of God.

Lord, help me to live in a way that reveals you to those around me. Thank you that I have a job that provides for my needs. Help me to use some of that provision for others who have needs. Help me to be wise in how I treat people outside the family of faith. Please guide me today. Amen!

1 Thessalonians 4:9-10

Am looking at 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 today.

Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.

We often think of love as a feeling. For some people of my age, the iconic film on romantic love, love as a feeling, would be West Side Story. That feeling is probably best captured in Tonight:

Tonight, tonight,
Won't be just any night,
Tonight there will be no morning star.
Tonight, tonight, I'll see my love tonight.
And for us, stars will stop where they are.
Today
The minutes seem like hours,
The hours go so slowly,
And still the sky is light . . .
Oh moon, grow bright,
And make this endless day endless night!

However, when we think about love more carefully, we realize there is a lot more to love than emotion. After all, God commands us to love. One cannot command an emotion. Emotions simply are.

I confess to having some of the most selfish impulses that often leave me wondering if God is truly changing me.

But I suppose God is changing me because in addition to the selfish impulse is now the impulse that follows that says, you shouldn't be so selfish. At that point, I have to decide which impulse will I act on. In this way, love becomes an action and a choice and not mere warm fuzzy feelings.

May the Spirit of God bring to the fore more impulses that are less Rene centered and more God centered! And may the Holy Spirit strengthen my will to action when prompted. Amen.

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

Taking a look at 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 today.

Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

How do we decide what is the right and wrong thing to do?

Those with a religious conviction will cite some source as guidance. Every religion has some text that embodies their beliefs. Obviously in the theistic religions where God is more interactive, the texts are more defined as in the case of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In the non-theistic belief systems (Hinduism and Buddhism) where God is less interactive or polytheistic or pantheistic there is a larger number of texts and even the texts that are regarded more highly do not appear to rise to the same level of authority as the theistic systems.

I was listening on the radio on the Dennis Prager show and his guest was a academic studying moral impulses. It was an interesting discussion about the traditional evolutionary psychology position that morality evolved from individuals who do good providing survival benefit for the community of at large. I'm not sure if the guest was completely behind that position because he made a distinction between the moral impulse versus the moral act. In other words, he wanted to test the "gut reaction" people had to a given scenario and not what they would actually do in the circumstance. His research group found the impulses are fairly universal regardless of religious background.

He did go on to acknowledge that how people act on the impulse can vary. He seemed to admit that it is possible that religious people might choose to act differently than non-religious people despite having the same impulse.

He also made the observation that sociopaths appear to have moral impulses but for whatever reason those impulses are completely disconnected from their actions.

Why this seemingly disconnected journey down this rabbit trail?

The next part of the passage:

It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

Yes, it is about sex. There is no question that the sex drive is a part of the human experience.

During the UCLA vs. USC football game, the fans in front of me spotted a television personality and called out her name: LINDSAY SOTO!!!


Fox Sports News Reporter Lindsay Soto
image source http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages/sports/2005/06/0610soto.jpg

She flashed her megawatt smile and waved to her adoring fans!

I would guess that 99 out of 100 guys first reaction was: WOW, she's HOT!

After that initial reaction, reality sets in and other thoughts like these will enter a guys mind:
(1) while she's hot, I'm not and though she might be a nice person and give me the time of day if I asked her that would probably be as far as it would get
(2) perhaps she is married already or with someone so I really shouldn't get my hopes up
(3) I'm married and should not keep thinking about somebody other than my own hot smokin' wife
(4) and yes, there is probably 1 in a 100 guys who say, nah, she's not hot and has no struggle with lustful thoughts for the lovely sideline reporter in this example.

All this to say, the guest on Prager's show might be onto something separating moral impulses from moral actions.

Certainly, in the sexual impulse realm there is a separation. The Biblical guidelines on sexual morality are quite clear. Thus, in practical terms, the hot blooded single male has impulses but his moral requirement is celibate singleness. For the hot blooded married male the impulses to stray are constrained by the moral requirement to monogamous marriage. And yes, for the hot blooded Christian male who has homosexual impulses, he is constrained just the same as the heterosexual male.

The single Christian heterosexual male has the possibility that he might meet and marry the woman who becomes the love of his life and those impulses will have fulfillment in holy matrimony. The married man who stays faithful in loving his wife is rewarded with a companion until death do they part. The homosexual male who is committed to Christian morality has impulses that cannot be fulfilled. That is a huge burden and should he fail in resisting, he is no more and no less in need of correction and restoration as the single man who sleeps around or the married man who commits adultery.

In the animal world, I heard that elephant seals practice one male to multiple females. The alpha male beats up any other males that try to encroach on his harem. At one time, that was a common practice in human societies as well though the encroaching human male probably wound up dead as opposed to being a pummeled elephant seal.

Thus, does impulse = moral? It would seem not.

Lord, help me to live a holy life. Help me to guard my thoughts. Lord, thank you that you have created women to be beautiful. Thank you that you have brought good women into my life to bless and challenge me to grow as a man of faith. Help me to honor, care for and love them in a way that is appropriate to the relationship I have with each one thus bringing honor to you. Amen.