Real Life Relating: Ready, Come What May

[Message shared with the people of Friendship Church, November 13, 2005. It's part of a series inspired by the staff from Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Burnsville, Minnesota.]

First Thessalonians 5:1-11

The November 11 issue of The Week magazine had an article that caught my eye. It was called “How the universe will end.” It begins by presenting the views of cosmologists, some of whom theorize that the universe will die as the result of what’s called a “Big Crunch,” while others say it will be because of a “Big Chill.” But some, the article said, took what might be called a more hopeful view. They believe that even beyond either one of these cataclysmic events, which could happen sometime in the next 10- to 20-billion years, “sentient dust,” some form of intelligent life, will remain and perhaps reconstitute itself in a kind of “mental cosmos,” a cosmologist's version of a resurrection.

Pretty wild stuff! But the article confirms a simple fact: We are totally fascinated with discussions of the end of the universe.

And this fascination isn’t confined to those with an interest in science. The Left Behind series of books, loosely based on one interpretation of the Bible’s discussions of the end times, has sold more than 75-million copies since first appearing in 1995! (A fourteenth book is about to go to stores, making me wonder if the publisher intends to keep putting out books until the end times actually arrive!)

Interest in the end of this life in this universe isn’t new. According to scholars, first-century Christians in the Macedonian city of Thessalonica, immature in their faith, were bothered by two big questions: If a Christian died before the resurrected Jesus returned to the world to close the doors on this universe, were they going to miss out on a heavenly eternity? AND When exactly, they wondered, was Jesus coming back?

The preacher and evangelist Paul addresses these questions in his letter to the Thessalonian church from which today’s Bible lesson is taken. Paul assures the Thessalonian Christians who know that Jesus could return any time that all believers in Him, those who have died who will be resurrected and those still alive here at the time of His return, will meet Him.

Then, at the start of our Bible lesson, Paul says something that is so simple, we may overlook it. “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters,” he writes, “you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

Did you read about the young woman who has recently robbed four different branches of the Wachovia Bank in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.-area? Her mode of operation is deceptive. She walks into the bank, apparently chatting away on her cell phone. When she gets to the teller, she opens up a box or a bag containing a pistol and a note instructing the tellers to hand over all of their cash. While one can safely bet that this young woman will be apprehended soon, we can also see how she exemplifies the way thieves like to work. Unless they’re particularly bad at their jobs, thieves usually show up without advance announcement.

No matter what the cosmologists theorize or what stories religious writers create, the end of this universe and what will happen to all of us when it does, is not something we need to stew over.

This is essentially what Jesus said once when asked about the end times. “It is not for you [or for us] to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by His own authority...” He said.

And another time He told people: “But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father...”

The forecasters won’t be able to predict it. The preachers won’t know when it arrives. The end will come like a thief in the night.

For the person of faith in Jesus Christ, the question then becomes, how do we prepare for this event that could come at any time? Paul says:

“[L]et us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.”

Want to be ready for the inevitable end of this life? Stay vigilant. Keep following Christ. A story I’ve told before pictures Martin Luther working in his garden. “Brother Martin,” he’s asked, “what would you do if you knew the world were ending tomorrow?” Luther looked down at the hoe and his weeding and said, “Finish this row.”

The point? Whether we or this earth have a long time to live or short, those five purposes we talked about earlier this year and which I hope you review from time to time, remain the same: To worship God with our whole lives; to fellowship with God’s family; to become more like Christ; to serve others in Jesus’ Name; and to tell others the Good News about Jesus.

But how do we keep doing that in the face of life’s challenges? Just this past week, our congregation was impacted by the death of Jennifer's’ grandmother and by the stroke suffered by Mick. And every day, even as we sense God’s blessings and love for us, we also face smaller challenges: tight schedules and demanding deadlines; conflicts with co-workers; traffic jams; the legitimate needs of our families; and so on. How do we cope?

We cope, first of all, by remembering that the future is in God’s hands. All God expects of us is to be faithful today. That’s work enough for any of us.

Secondly, we cope by not just allowing life to roll over us. We ask Christ to be with us. That’s what Paul means by being sober, wakeful, watchful. On occasion, I counsel couples whose marriages are in trouble. They seem to have fallen asleep and put their marriages on auto pilot, failing to recognize that while marriage is a gift, it’s sustained by daily repentance, daily forgiveness, daily commitment, and daily communication.

There’s a third means of coping with the uncertainties of our futures, cosmic and personal, which Paul talks about in our lesson. He says, ““Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.”

I was feeling inexplicably bleak and overwhelmed yesterday, working on this message when our twenty-four year old son, getting ready for work, walked up to me, wrapped his arms around me, and said, “You are one of my favorite people.” I’m such a baby. I started crying. Because I was sad? No! Because I was happy. I was encouraged. I was built up.

Those are the very things that are meant to happen when Christ’s Church gathers together.

Whether it’s in the welcome we afford newcomers in our midst or the peace of God we share with old friends, whether with our listening ear or the prayers we offer on others’ behalf, we help one another cope with the uncertainties of life and we remind one another of the certainties of eternity when we do these things.

No church I know of encourages or builds others up better than this one. Real faith comes out in real relationships.

Dear folks of Friendship Church, in this business of encouraging and building others, keep doing what you’re doing. Keep getting better at it. Make it a major object of your life. It’s the Lord’s work for us and nothing is more gratifying!