Rev. David Holwick ZR
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
December 26, 1999
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT
I. Everyone wants to know the secret stuff.
A. Jeb working in War Room of Pentagon.
1) Knew lots of things before they hit the papers.
2) Knew things that NEVER hit the papers.
a) If he told me, he would have had to KILL ME. (he says)
B. We want to know the plan of God for our world, for ourselves.
1) Takes away anxiety over future.
a) Will we have a recession in 2000?
b) Will there be a war?
c) Will my family hold together?
d) Will Jesus come back?
[40% of Americans expect him to, in their lifetime]
2) Solutions are popular with fringe groups.
a) Millerites in 1840's.
b) Jehovah Witnesses in 1970's, etc.
c) Recent groups that set dates.
C. Anticipation can lead to panic.
Charles Schultz's comic strip Peanuts will be ending this
year.
One of the strips began with a television on but there is
no one in the room listening to it.
The announcer is talking about a golf tournament that is
in progress.
He says: "Smith has to make this putt to win the
championship. There will be NO TOMORROW."
And just as he says, "There will be no tomorrow," in walks
Lucy.
She immediately goes into a panic and starts running around
and yelling to the other children:
"The world is coming to an end. They just announced it on
television!"
Her panic quickly spreads as we see all the peanuts kids as
they go wildly screaming about.
Finally in the last square we see all of the children
huddled on top of Snoopy's doghouse waiting for the end
of the world.
And Charlie Brown finally speaks up with a puzzled voice:
"I thought that Elijah was suppose to come back first."
#4732
D. Do we have something to look forward to?
1) People are debating whether transition to new millennium
has any significance.
2) Many sophisticates think all time is the same, and goes
on forever in endless cycles.
3) Christians believe otherwise.
a) God has a dramatic plan for the world.
b) The end will come with a bang. If not in 2000, then
sometime.
c) Critical question: Will you be ready?
II. Caught unawares.
A. The coming of Jesus will be sudden and unpredictable.
1) Like a thief. [Freund's car theft]
2) It will not be a gradual worsening in conditions.
3) "Day of the Lord" is not rapture (us going to him) but
Second Coming (he is coming to us).
B. Most people in world will think everything is fine.
1) Peace and safety - inner and outer contentment. 5:3
2) Rather than turmoil and anarchy, Second Coming may be
preceded by tremendous prosperity and peace.
C. Sudden destruction.
1) Like labor pains: swift and hard, but limited in duration.
2) No escape.
D. Passage often used to support pre-Trib rapture.
1) This passage said to demand a sudden, any-moment event.
2) But note his coming is not a thief to CHRISTIANS.
a) ONLY the godless are caught unawares.
b) It matters which group you are in.
III. Characteristics of sons of the night.
A. Superficial assessment of reality.
1) Peace and safety - oblivious to dangers.
B. Asleep - oblivious to God's thoughts.
1) Spiritual apathy is common in our age.
2) Many are religious, but careful not to "go overboard."
C. Drunk - no self-control.
1) Member who let it slip he bought booze on Christmas Eve -
he couldn't believe how packed the liquor store was!
a) Drunkenness often associated with spirituality.
1> "Getting the spirit" can be compared to drunkenness.
2> But more common to use drunkenness as a false form
of spirituality - feel high, no responsibilities.
b) Actual drunkenness is no joke.
1> Accident on Christmas eve?
2> Frank McCourt wins Pulitzer for "Angela's Ashes".
It is the true story of him growing up poor in
Ireland in the 1930's.
They were poor because his father drank all his
wages.
For months the family survived on charity and
even begging.
2) Broader application - living for pleasure.
a) Contrast between Orwell and Huxley.
1> Orwell expected cruel oppression, Huxley foresaw
pleasure dulling our senses.
2> If 1990's are the measure, Huxley was right.
b) We are in a pleasure-seeking world.
1> Many spend money on luxury.
2> Many spend their time on fulfilling desires not God.
IV. Characteristics of sons of the day.
A. No surprises.
1) Jesus' coming is NOT like a thief for us. 5:4
2) Therefore, "suddenness" is relative.
3) We are not in darkness about God's plans.
a) By using terms "you" and "us" he shows he is not
rebuking them. He considers them Christian.
B. Alert.
1) Aware of spiritual realities, and moral ones.
2) Do you care about morality and values?
C. Self-controlled.
1) "Alert" and "self-controlled" also combined in 1 Pet 5:8.
2) You have a handle on your passions.
No one wants to crash and burn.
On September 8, 1992, Air Force master pilot Don Snelgrove
was flying over Turkey in an F-16 fighter.
He was on a four-hour mission to patrol the no-fly zone
established over northern Iraq to protect the Kurds.
Even master pilots have to go to the bathroom.
He pulled out a plastic container, set his F-16 on
autopilot, and undid his lap belt.
As he adjusted his seat upward, the bucklet on that lap
belt wedged between the seat and the control stick,
pushing the stick to the right and sending the plane
into a spin.
As he struggled to regain control, the plane plunged
33,000 feet.
Finally at 2,000 feet altitude, he ejected from the
plane.
Moments later the F-16 struck a barren hillside and burst
into flames.
Neither the pilot nor anyone on the ground was injured.
But I'll tell you what: there was one very embarrassed
master pilot.
That F-16 burning on a hillside in Turkey cost United States
taxpayers $18 million.
Even inadvertent mistakes are terribly embarrassing.
How much worse are the mistakes and failures that result
from our weaknesses, flaws, and sins.
But we don't have to crash and burn morally.
We can develop godly character.
#3094
D. Protected with God's armor. Isaiah 59:17; Ephesians 6:14-17
1) Faith, love, hope (tied with salvation). 5:8
2) Belief and doctrines, genuine fellowship, expectation.
E. Confident of God's deliverance from wrath.
1) Christians may suffer, but they don't "burn."
a) No thought of purgatory in Bible.
2) Whether we are awake or asleep. 5:10
a) Spiritual or backslidden, we all get saved in end?
b) Most likely means "dead or alive."
1> Many parallels in Bible, especially 1 Thess 4:13-18.
[see article by Tracy L. Howard mentioned below]
V. You are one or the other.
A. We often see ourselves as having one foot in each camp.
B. In reality, we can only be one place.
1) If our life is not consistent, are we fooling ourselves?
2) Many who think they are Christians, are not.
C. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.
1) Prophecy often seen as "gloom and doom" escapism.
2) Second Coming holds out positive hope.
a) It is a motivator.
b) It is exciting to contemplate God's plans.
c) It gives us courage when the world seems to fall apart.
3) It warns us not to take time for granted.
=========================================================================
For a helpful article on the meaning of "sleep" in this passage, see
"The Meaning of 'Sleep' in 1 Thessalonians 5:10 - A Reappraisal," by
Tracy L. Howard; Grace Theological Journal, Vol 6 #2:337-348, Fall 85,
page 337:
"It has recently been argued that kaqeuvdw in 1 Thess 5:10 means
'spiritual insensibility.' However, the context indicates that the
word is used as a euphemism for death. This is within the semantic
range of the word and is supported by structural parallels between
1 Thess 4:13-14,18 and 1 Thess 5:9-11 in which kaqeuvdw is paired
with koimavw."
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#3094 "The Art Of Positive And Negative Preaching," by Craig Brian
Larson, Leadership Magazine, Winter 1995, page 83.
#4732 "Elijah," illustration by Rev. Brett Blair, August 18, 1999;
original "Peanuts" comic by Charles Schultz.
These and 5,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/illust.html
=========================================================================
