Thoughts on I Thessalonians 4 & 5: What we do know about the end

I have no idea what I'm going to say when this devotional blog gets to the book of Revelations.  I really don't know what most of it means and therefore have very few thoughts on the matter.  The only thing I come close to certainty on is that what I hear most teachers on the "end times" say is probably wrong.

With that in mind, we come to the second half of chapter 4 and the second half of chapter 5, where Paul gives his readers a glimpse into what is to come.  Those who are already dead will rise when the Lord returns and those alive will meet them in the air.  When this happens seems to be unknown as it will "come as a thief in the night".  But we should not live as if we are in the night, but should be aware of what is going on as one who lives in the day.

Does this mean, since we are in the day, that we will clearly be able to tell when the end has come?  Based on my reading of church history and hearing too much Christian talk radio over the past thirty years, I sort of doubt it will be that obvious.  How many times have we heard predictions that the end was right around the corner?  The following are a list of "anti-Christs" I have heard in my relatively short lifetime: Reagan, Gorbachev, G.H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, three different popes, Saddam Hussein, Ayatollah...and the list just keeps going.  My impression is that we really don't know what's going on.

Is it possible that when the end actually comes that it will truly be obvious to most Christians?  Maybe.  But I tend to think that living in the day is meant to motivate us to live as if the end might be near because, frankly, we don't know.  So, what does it mean to live as if the end is near?  That is a good question and is worthy of some intense thought.

Thoughts on I Thessalonians 3: Caring about what matters most

In this third chapter, Paul expresses the concern he felt for the church in his absence.  He was concerned enough to send his trusted colleague Timothy to check up on them.  When Paul received the positive report, he "felt alive again". 

This is true care.  And it is valuable, I think, to see what drove the care.  He was concerned far more about their spiritual well being than anything else.  In fact, nothing else really gets mentioned.  This is, I believe, because their spiritual well being is what Paul thought was most important.

In the past few years I've been more involved with what I'll call the "Evangelical social justice movement".  The participants in this are quite varied, but what they share is a belief that Evangelical Christians in the US have, over the past few decades, ignored the importance of social justice as part of holistic Christian ministry.  I wholeheartedly agree with this.  My concern is that in focusing so much on social justice, the more important things have fallen to the wayside--namely spiritual health.  So, in the emphasis on creating a more holistic ministry, too many of these leaders ended up replacing on gap for another.  In their zeal to return to practicing social justice, they ignored spiritual health.  If one of the two has to be chosen (and I don't believe that to be the case), then Paul would focus on spiritual health.

Thoughts on I Thessalonians 2: Being worthy of immitation

In the first chapter, Paul emphasized the importance of the church imitating good sources so they could be a good example to others.  In the second chapter Paul spells out some of what is involved in being worthy of imitation.  To save time, I'm going to simply list a few things in the chapter that are worthy of imitation:

1. Not being slick salespeople.
2. Not being glory hounds.
3. Caring for others with the nurturing love of the mother of a newborn
4. Hard work in sharing the Gospel
5. Hard work in caring for their own physical needs
6. Living blamelessly before others
7. Suffering for Christ

That is quite the list, and, when I think about it, a hard one to emulate. 

Thoughts on I Thessalonians 1: Become an example by learning to imitate

In the first chapter of this interesting letter, Paul comes out with what I imagine was an intentionally odd thought: Become imitated by first imitating others.  In this case, the believers in Thessalonica became an example for other believers in Macedonia and Achaia (v. 7).  They were able to accomplish this because they imitated Paul, other spiritual leaders, and the Lord.

In the modern (at least Western) world, there is so much emphasis on being unique.  Children are encouraged to become their own persons (although I would argue that the encouragement is not consistent, especially among those most vociferous about it).  In academia, you are rewarded for being original, sometimes even if the original thing you say is ridiculous.  You see this in many areas of life.

But, there's a problem.  For a large percentage of the time, being original doesn't actually work.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that being original frequently hinders progress.  Why would you try to invent something new for every task when there are proven ways to complete that task already in place?  Isn't it smarter to simply imitate what has done before?

Now, I freely admit that there are problems with my argument when taken all the way and applied to all circumstances.  However, this passage does not apply to technological advancement, for example.  It applies to spiritual growth.  Why would you try to create a new way of doing things spiritually?  Well, it depends, I guess, on your motivation.  Is your motivation to please God or to please yourself?  If your motivation is to please God, it makes perfect sense to imitate those who have pleased God previously.  This is not an area where one wants to re-invent the wheel.