INTERSECT | Unexpected Arrival

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

If you knew company would arrive at your house today, it would probably change your plans. At our house, the arrival of company means straightening up around the house, buying extra groceries, and making sure the guest room is ready. When you know company is coming and the approximate time they will arrive, you can plan your preparation for the visit. But we have all had visitors show up unexpectedly, and that’s a different story. We simply have a different feeling when you open the door to an unexpected guest.

The Bible reminds us that one day, an unexpected arrival will catch much of the world completely off guard. The aim of the Bible as a whole, and of 1 Thessalonians 5, is to prepare us for the return of Jesus. The day of the Lord is used throughout the Bible to refer to the final day when Christ brings salvation to His own people and judgment to those who have rejected Him. This phrase day of the Lord was also used throughout the Old Testament. After the coming of Jesus, His sacrificial death on the cross, and His resurrection from the grave with His ascension into heaven, the New Testament authors used the phrase as shorthand for His return.

Being ready for His return is the theme of 1 Thessalonians 5, which shares three important reminders.

1. Jesus will return suddenly (verses 1-3). Teaching on the return of Jesus is found throughout the New Testament as the next unfolding event in salvation history (2 Peter 3:10; Hebrews 9:27-28; Revelation 22:12-13). How should the uncertain timing of His return impact us personally? Change the way we live?

First, the passage is aimed at believers, but for those who are not followers of Jesus, know the day of the Lord will come unexpectedly. The time to prepare for His return is now. The descriptions of judgment and wrath for the ungodly in that day are unmistakable. In verse 3 of this chapter, Paul used the phrases “sudden destruction” and “they will not escape.”

Recently, escape games and escape rooms have gained in popularity. Participants are placed in a room with clues about how to escape within an allotted time. But it is just a game with no real pressure because someone will let you out eventually. What we are considering here is no game, and there is no other door, no escape. When this day comes, the unrepentant will discover it is too late to repent. As Scripture reminds us, today is the day of salvation. Now is the appointed time.

2. Stay awake spiritually (verses 4-8). Verse 4 describes Christians as children of light, or of the day, not children of darkness. This is our identity as Christians. Obviously, Paul was using light and darkness as metaphors. This is true of various passages in the Bible. For instance, 1 John 1 proclaims God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. Then John urged Christians to walk in the light as He is in the light. This is who we are as Christians. And then he urged believers not to “sleep” and to be sober.

Obviously, he wasn’t describing sleep in a physical sense because we all need sleep, and the reference to sobriety here is more about your entire life. Let’s stay awake spiritually and keep our heads about us. We must not “fall asleep at the wheel,” so to speak, and must keep our wits about us—unimpaired in our spiritual life.

It is comical to watch people fight sleep in church. When I first started preaching, it bothered me more than it does now. Today, I understand that age, work, events at home, fatigue, and more result in a person getting drowsy at church—perhaps the first quiet break they have had in a week. From a physical standpoint, it really is not a big deal if you fall asleep at church. The danger is when we are lulled to sleep spiritually speaking.

Are you kicked back in a comfortable recliner, listening to the lies of the devil, and slowly growing numb until you are not awake and sober? Paul warns us to live awake and alert, and he repeats this same warning in various other places in his epistles.

As a boy, my mother and father had very different approaches to waking me up. Mother was soft and tender: “Barry, it is time to get up.” Dad was anything but soft and tender. He did anything from yanking me out of bed to shouting, “Bear, it is time to get up!”

God, in His infinite grace and wisdom, sometimes uses people to whisper and at other times uses people to shout this important command—wake up!

I take this as a reference to the previous section in chapter 4 where Paul discussed believers who die in the Lord. Here, he emphasized the need to be awake and alert. The point? Whether we are alive or have “fallen asleep” (died) in Christ, the purpose of the atonement was so we might live together with Him. This is why Paul could state boldly in Philippians 1:21: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

3. Build each other up continually (verse 11). The simple admonition at the end of this passage is clear: considering Paul’s warning, we should encourage and edify one another. Every Christian needs a church and other Christians to help us stay awake and spiritually sober. We need a community of brothers and sisters who encourage one another to walk with God, to build each other up in the faith.

No matter what our culture tells us, we need the church more today than ever. And by church, I don’t mean buildings. Our beautiful church buildings are fine, and we ought to be thankful for them, but our buildings are only where we meet. The real building is within the people. You and I were not meant to live in isolation but in interdependence. Being connected in a local church helps us live out our identity. It helps us stay on track; it helps us stay awake.

Don’t get caught up in speculation regarding the exact time and date of Christ’s return, because Jesus said no one knows the day or the hour. Instead, focus on the fact of His sudden return. Stay spiritually awake and sober. Keep your head in a world that has lost its mind. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Put on the whole armor of God to wrestle effectively against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places.

Stay connected—vitally connected—to a local body of believers and forge relationships that encourage, build up, and hold one another accountable.

He’s coming back. Will you be ready?

About the Columnist: Dr. Barry Raper pastors Bethel FWB Church near Ashland City, Tennessee. He also serves as program coordinator for ministry studies at Welch College. Barry and his wife Amanda have five children.