What to Do ‘Til Jesus Comes: I Thessalonians 5:12-15

What this episode covers

I Thessalonians 5:12-15 Completed Outline Scroll to 13:17 for the sermon 1st Thessalonians 5:12-28 All right, we’re going to read some scripture this morning, and 1st Thessalonians chapter 5, we’re going to read verses 12 through 15. This is from the New Living Translation, and so you can follow along as I read these four verses from Paul to the church there in Thessalonica. Here’s what he wrote, Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work, and live peacefully with one another. Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy, encourage those who are timid, take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. See that nobody pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all. All right; well, we’re in 1st Thessalonians chapter 5. So, we’re in the last chapter, and we’re going to look at verses 12 through 15 this morning. And so just to remember some background of 1st Thessalonians, Paul’s writing to this church that he established, and he had to leave very suddenly for his own protection. And so now he’s writing this letter back to encourage the believers. He taught about the second coming of Christ, and what had happened is that some of the people in the church, their loved ones had died, and they’re thinking, oh no, they’re going to miss the second coming. And Paul corrects that error in thinking in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4. We said that the theme of 1st Thessalonians is to be ready, to be ready for the second coming of Christ. It’s mentioned in every chapter in 2nd Thessalonians. So just as Jesus came the first time, and we celebrate that at Christmas, the Bible says over and over and over again that Jesus is coming back someday. And we’ve looked at that in the last several weeks. We believe in a twofold return. 1st Thessalonians 4:13 through 18, Paul writes about the rapture, and we studied that a couple weeks ago. And here’s the order. First of all, Paul talked about revelation. This isn’t Paul’s idea. He says, I got this from the Lord. Revelation, Jesus returns, and then there’s a resurrection of the dead in Christ, and then there’s a rapture of those who are alive and remain, and there’s a reunion in the air. That’s the rapture of the church. And Paul says, I want you to encourage one another with these words. So, if you know some believers, some family members that are in Christ and they’ve died, and you’re a believer, the encouragement is you will see them again someday, and that gives us hope. And then we looked at 1st Thessalonians 5, and we thought about this concept of the day of the Lord and the fact that there’s a judgment day coming. And so, in the order of our eschatology, we believe the rapture is the next event on Jesus’ prophetic calendar. It could happen at any time. Then there’s seven years of tribulation. That’s Revelation chapter 6 through 19. And then Jesus comes back to the Mount of Olives and returns. And so, we talked about this concept of the day of the Lord, and Paul wrote about it in the first 11 verses here. Now, when we come to 1st Thessalonians 5, beginning of verse 12, the little subtitle in my Bible says, Final Instructions. And so, Paul wants to give some final instructions to these believers at Thessalonica. He wants to give them some last words. Paul doesn’t know if he will ever see them again, and so Paul wants to give them some final instructions. And we’ve entitled this, What to Do Till Jesus Comes. So, we know that Jesus is coming again, so our question then should be, like, well, what are we supposed to do till Jesus comes? And that’s what we’re going to think about this Sunday and next Sunday. I’ll tell you what not to do. Don’t be like the Millerites. I don’t know if you know who the Millerites are or were, but let me j

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