Encourage and Build One Another Up
“Encourage one another and build one another
up, just as you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
If
you’ve watched any amount of religious programming on TV, you know that the
majority of what many televangelists preach about is Judgment Day and the signs
of the end times. They are forever exploring, interpreting, and guessing about
what some of the more obscure prophecies about the future might mean, as they
study the books of Daniel and Revelation and apply them to the headlines of the
day, overlooking what Scripture says about “times and dates.”
God has not chosen to reveal the time when
Christ will come nor the reason that He planned it for when He did. Anyone who
says he knows the time contradicts Jesus’ clear words: “No one knows about that
day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father”
(Matthew 24:36). Thereby he also reveals himself as a false prophet (Matthew
24:23).
If they would just listen to St. Paul in our
text, those prophesy preachers would have to give it up. Perhaps they would preach
about something more important, like Christ and Him crucified for our sins. Perhaps
they would preach of our risen Savior who brings us eternal life. Perhaps they would
preach of our ascended Lord who intercedes on our behalf, and who will one day
return to judge the living and the dead. Sin and grace and Christ is what
Christian preachers need to preach a whole lot more than trying to peer into a
future known only by God.
When is the end of the world going to come? When
is Jesus coming back? “Stop asking,” is St. Paul’s basic answer. The important
thing for us to know about Jesus’ return is that He will return, and it
will be sudden and unexpected, “like a thief in the night.” It’s ironic, but
the by-product of so much seeking into the future is that it inevitably leads
some people to say, “It can’t be now.” They come to believe in their own
interpretation of the signs and convince themselves of “peace and safety.” And
while they’re thinking they are safe, “sudden destruction will come on them…
and they will not escape.”
Like a trap snaps shut on a mouse, the end will
come upon these people. And just as a woman who is in labor pains can’t escape
those pains by changing her mind about being pregnant, so they will have no
chance to turn back. The Lord’s appearance will be announced in a flash and a
twinkling of an eye by the voice of the archangel and a trumpet’s blast. Once
this begins there can be no preparations by unbelievers to escape their ruin in
God’s judgment. It will be too late.
But Christians need not obsess about Jesus’
return. St. Paul writes: “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” (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5). The people who say, “Peace and safety,” are the
ones in “darkness.” They really don’t know what is going on. They have a false
sense of security and peace. They ignore the fact that their sins make them
enemies of God. They don’t realize that their unforgiven sin must bring God’s judgment
upon them.
But the Thessalonians are not in the dark about
Jesus’ return, because they are “children of the light,” “children of the day.”
They have learned the Gospel and are so active in spreading it that they surely
are not people who know nothing or care little about the Lord’s coming. It is
unthinkable that the Last Day will find them unprepared like those who live in
the darkness of ignorance and unbelief.
What will that mean for those who believe? Well,
St. Paul says: “So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep
awake and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:6). We are different from those
unbelievers who are asleep, those who are self-absorbed and self-deluded,
thinking that they won’t ever have to answer God. They are not ready to meet
their Creator, any more than you are ready for school or work if you’ve slept
through your alarm clock and wake up an hour late. Let’s be awake and be in
control of our appetites and attitudes and actions. That’s the way to be
children of the day who are ready for Jesus to appear at any moment.
Paul moves on to use a different picture, that
of a drunk. Sometimes people try to drink their problems away. The alcohol dulls
their senses, and for a time they become totally unconcerned about those
problems. Of course, that only works for the short-term and then the problems get
worse. The alcohol that masked the problems initially, starts to feed the
problems, and then ends up magnifying them.
In the spiritual realm there are people who have
some inkling of the consequences of the Lord’s coming. They know they have a
spiritual problem. But their solution is to dull their consciences with some
homemade religious moonshine or with the wine of the world’s pleasures. This
does not solve the problem. It only allows them to forget about it for a while.
And when they finally wake up, they’ll realize that their problems are much
worse than a nasty hangover.
Paul urges us to “be alert and self-controlled.”
Rather than being unaware like one who is asleep, Christ wants us to be on the
watch for His return in glory. Instead of being unconcerned like one who is
drunk, Christ wants His followers to await His coming in full possession of
their senses. The believer knows all that the Last Day means for him, and he
knows it will be a great day for him. So, he is eager and always alert and
ready.
But how can we be always alert and
self-controlled? Satan is constantly attacking our faith with all his might,
trying to make us even more sluggish, trying to get us to take our eye off the
goal. We are spiritually weak and tired. We are worn out and battered and
bruised and discouraged. It seems so easy for Satan to draw our minds
completely away from Christ’s return! We spend our time concentrating on the
journey more than on the journey’s goal. Life’s problems and pleasures, trials
and treasures, sorrows and joys consume our interests.
How, then, can we keep from falling into the
spiritual sleep or drunkenness? We can be alert and self-controlled by putting
on our God-given armor. “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” (1 Thessalonians 5:8).
Roman soldiers of Paul’s day were well
protected from the enemy’s arrows, spears, and swords only if they put on armor.
The breastplate and helmet protected the most vital areas—the heart and the
mind. God has provided His believers with similar protection for our hearts and
minds. God gives us faith, love, and hope as our armor against the spiritual weapons
that Satan and his cohorts hurl at us.
Faith is the confidence that God will do
whatever He promises. Love is faith in action, living each day as an expression
of thanks to God for all He has done for us. The hope of salvation is what
sustains our faith and love and encourages us to grow. Without the certain hope
that we will be raised from death to live eternally in glory, our faith would
be meaningless (1 Corinthians 15:17-19).
How does this God-given armor help us to remain
watchful for our Lord’s coming? It surrounds us with the Lord’s strength, so we
can take our “stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:11). It clothes
us with the Lord Jesus Christ so that we “do not think about how to gratify the
desires” of our sinful nature (Romans 13:14). It enables us to “demolish
arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of
God” (2 Corinthians 10:5). It shields us with God’s power from despairing amid
“all kinds of trials” (1 Peter 1:6). This God-given armor supplies us with all
the spiritual strength we need. When we stand in the power of God, not our own,
we won’t fall into the spiritual sleep of the world.
Paul adds: “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” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11).
God did not “destine us for wrath.” It was not His
will or plan that sinful men should be sent to hell and there suffer eternally
the punishment of His wrath. No, God wants to rescue us from the terrible consequences
of our sins. And God wants us to receive this salvation as a gift of His mercy.
All this He accomplished “through our Lord
Jesus Christ.” He paid the penalty we deserved for our sins when He died for us.
His precious lifeblood was the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole
world. Jesus did this, Paul says, both for believers and unbelievers—those who
are “alert” and those who are “asleep” in regard to Christ’s return. What a
waste it would be if we were found asleep, unprepared for the Lord’s coming. Then
we would lose all that Christ has won for us. Therefore let us put on the
spiritual armor that God had given us.
A war rages for the soul of each man, woman,
and child. Satan would love to lure the “children of light” and “day” away from
God. His attacks are relentless. He uses persecution to weaken our defenses. And
he causes dissension and discouragement among the members of the congregation. This
is why we must “encourage one another and build one another up.”
What are some practical ways that Christians
can do that? First of all, we can make sure that Satan no longer uses us to
discourage one another. How often do we criticize one of our fellow Christians
rather than praying for them? How often do we tear one another down, rather
than build them up? How often do we bring discouragement rather than
encouragement to our fellow Christians, especially those we’ve entrusted with
leadership positions in our congregation?
Encouragement comes in many ways—through notes or letters, through
e-mails, private conversations, and sometimes through something as simple as a
reassuring touch or pat on the back. But the only truly effective form of
encouragement to stand against the devil’s schemes is to share the Word of God
of with one another, corporately and privately.
Surely as members of a Christian congregation,
we treasure the family of fellow believers with which God has blessed us. What
a gift it is to gather for worship and to encourage one another in our faith! Together
we confess our sins and receive Christ’s absolution. We study the message of
Christ our Savior together. Together we sing the words of the liturgy and hymns.
We pray for one another. We join in the fellowship of Christ’s very body and
blood.
What a comfort this is as we go through
difficult times! What a blessing to know that our brothers and sisters in
Christ are with us through the trials and troubles of life! And what a comfort
it is in time of bereavement to have this spiritual family! Our fellow redeemed
remind us of the hope that is ours even as we lay into a grave the body of a
loved one who has fallen asleep in Christ!
“Therefore encourage one another and build one
another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). We have such a
glorious comfort to share. We share the hope of our Lord’s coming. We need to
remind one another of this hope, lest we fall asleep and be caught unprepared! We
need to remind one another of Christ’s work of salvation on our behalf. We need
to encourage one another to gather frequently to receive Christ’s means of
grace. For in this Word and Sacrament we continue to hear this Good News: You
are forgiven for all your sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Unless
otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English
Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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