A preacher stood up on Easter Day and announced: “Let me take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And I look forward to seeing you all again next Easter!”
The Italians, have a custom. As midnight on New Year’s Eve approaches, the streets are clear. There is no traffic; there are no pedestrians; even the policemen take cover. Then, at the stroke of 12, the windows of the houses fly open. To the sound of laughter, music and fireworks, each member of the family pitches out old crockery, detested ornaments, hated furniture and a whole catalogue of personal possessions which remind them of something in the past year they are determined to wipe out of their minds.
- I am the New Year.
- I am an unspoiled page in your book of time.
- I am your next chance at the art of living.
- I am your opportunity to practice what you have learned about life during the last twelve months.
- All that you sought and didn’t find is hidden in me, waiting for you to search it but with more determination.
- All the good that you tried for and didn’t achieve is mine to grant when you have fewer conflicting desires.
- All that you dreamed but didn’t dare to do, all that you hoped but did not will, all the faith that you claimed but did not have — these slumber lightly, waiting to be awakened by the touch of a strong purpose.
- I am your opportunity to renew your allegiance to Him who said, “Behold, I make all things new.”
With the New Year come new opportunities to make new goals. Have you resolved to do anything different this year? Have you resolved to accomplish any goals or objectives this year?
While there may be some honorable and admirable reasons from making resolutions, the Christian’s purpose for making resolutions should be to the glory of God.
It doesn’t matter what your resolution is, your goal or aim to achieve success should be the glory of God. For example:
- If you want to lose weight like me, it should be for the glory of God. (Some do it for the glory of girls or guys; some what to attain six pack abs or buns of steel)
- If you want to stop a habit, like smoking, snuffing, drinking or even biting your nails, it should be for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17 – Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.)
- If you are resolving to stop hollering at your kids or your spouse, it should be for the glory of God. (Ephesians 6:4 – And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.)
- Perhaps you are indulging in a cycle of immorality such as sleeping around, pornography or even fanaticizing about an illicit relationship. (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 – It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God…)
- If you are one who has resolved not to steal anymore—you know, how some “borrow” items from their job or are not completely honest with the IRS… The Christian resolving to break this cycle of stealing does so out of a conviction from Scripture. (Exodus 20:15 – “You shall not steal” or Ephesians 4:28 – Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.)
Whether it be eating smarter, spending less, driving safer, spending more time with the family; whatever it is, the Christian’s purpose for making resolutions should be to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Therefore…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, Paul encourages his readers to live in a way that would put them in a state of preparedness for the Lord’s return. He encourages his audience to live in a way that pleases Christ so that when He returns they don’t experience shame—this is living that glorifies God.
In 1 Thessalonians 4 there are five resolutions you and I can make as we begin this year. If we are successful in keeping them, not only will we feel good about it, God will be glorified.
- Resolve to live in purity
- Resolve to live with the proper love for insiders
- Resolve to live with the proper concern for outsiders
- Resolve to live with a confident expectation for the Lord’s return
- Resolve to live with encouragement and comfort in Christ
Resolve to live in purity
The first point that Paul makes is that his readers should resolve to live in purity
(1 Th 4:1 NKJV) Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God;
- There is nothing more important in the Christian life than to please God.
- There are no issues more important than the Christian’s responsibility to please God.
- There is no agenda more important than the agenda that has pleasing God as its core policy
- There is no item on your list of priorities more important than the priority of pleasing God.
- There is not one person on earth more important to please than God.
Two life goals for the Christian: to know God, to please God.
When you and I stand before God He is not going to say, “Well done thou good and faithful Pro Athlete, Stockbroker, Corporate Executive, Doctor, Lawyer, Politician, Fireman or Police Officer. He is going to commend the Christian on how well we pleased Him.
Paul was urging his readers that they should abound more and more in the business of walking with and pleasing God, then he proceeds in teaching them how they might fall in line with God’s will.
(1 Th 4:3 NKJV) For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality;
One of the most frequently asked questions by new believers is “What is God’s will for my life.” I can tell you at least one thing that is the will of God for all Christians: your sanctification..
Paul writes, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” Then he goes on to elaborate on what he means by the words, “your sanctification.” It is the will of God, or God’s desire or purpose for you that you are sanctified.
Sanctification, from the Greek word hagiasmos, hag-ee-as-mos is also translated holiness, is viewed in three aspects in the NT:
- The Christian has been sanctified – A position of being set apart to God, which every believer has at the moment of his salvation (1 Cor. 6:11)
- The Christian is being sanctified – A progressive holiness of life that ought to be true of every believer (here in v. 3)
- The Christian will be sanctified – Our condition in heaven, in which we shall be “without blame” (3:13).
As Paul begins to elaborate on what he means by the word sanctification and the first thing that comes to his mind is the Christian’s responsibility to abstain from sexual immorality.
(1 Th 4:3 NKJV) For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality;
Paul was writing to believers living in the city of Thessalonica. Thessalonica was well known for its sensuality and sexual propensities. It was very possible that some of his readers were saved from this sort of background and were experiencing problems in this area.
“Sexual immorality” at the end of verse three translates a Greek word, which speaks about a broad spectrum of sexual indulgence, both illicit and unnatural. The term would include practices such as premarital sex, extramarital sex, homosexuality, lesbianism, sodomy, incest, and bestiality.
Paul is reminding his readers that God’s plan of one man and one woman united for a lifetime in marriage has never changed. Any deviation from this pattern (excluding the gift of celibacy) constitutes sin.
Just like in Paul’s day, Christians need to hear the words of Paul. We are living in a time when every form of sexual perversion known to man is practiced.
You don’t even have to be looking for sexual immorality; it comes looking for you in the form of TV commercials, sitcoms and dramas. It comes to our homes in newspapers and magazines. It is taught to our children in the schools in the guise of “sex education.”
When I was a boy, we had to hide dirty magazines (they were called dirty). Now parents ignorantly and sometimes knowingly pipe pornography (soft or hard) into their homes for their kids through cable TV and the Internet, or allow them to have unfettered access to it through a cellphone.
(1 Th 4:3 NKJV) For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality;
(1 Th 4:4 NKJV) that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
Possess his own vessel. This means either mastery over one’s body, keeping it pure (1 Cor. 9:24-27), or refers to an honorable marriage (vessel = wife, as in 1 Peter 3:7).
(1 Th 4:4 NKJV) that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
(1 Th 4:5 NKJV) not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
In order to drive home his point about sanctification, Paul reminds his Christian readers that the ones who are commonly know for their passionate lust are people who don’t know God. Throughout Paul’s letters he constantly reminds his readers that since they’ve trusted in Christ they have become different.
(1 Cor 6:9 NKJV) Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
(1 Cor 6:10 NKJV) nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
(1 Cor 6:11 NKJV) And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
(Eph 2:1 NKJV) And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
(Eph 2:2 NKJV) in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
(Eph 2:3 NKJV) among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
(1 Pet 2:9 NKJV) But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
(1 Pet 2:10 NKJV) who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
Back in our text Paul is reminding Christians that we are different. We are the redeemed ones. We are the blood-bought ones. We are the born-again ones. The price has been paid, we have been set free. However, with this freedom comes the responsibility to possess our vessels in sanctification and honor.
You see, when we let passionate lust reign and rule our bodies we run the risk of defrauding our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is what Paul refers to in 1 Thessalonians 4:6:
(1 Th 4:6 NKJV) that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.
In this context (vv. 3-8), the reference is to sexual conduct. But this conduct isn’t necessarily limited to illicit sexual activity. You defraud someone by creating in the person certain desires that can’t be righteously fulfilled. It is tempting someone to step outside of God’s righteous boundaries. It is cheating someone of a righteous life.
- Sisters, you can defraud a man by wearing inappropriate, suggestive clothing..
- Brothers, you can defraud a woman by inappropriately touching her.
- You can defraud someone with flattering words or even a look (Proverbs 6:24-25; 7)
Paul warns that when you defraud your brother (or sister) in this matter, you take advantage of him and the Lord is the avenger of all such who are defrauded.
Paul continues in 1 Thessalonians 4:7 and writes:
(1 Th 4:7 NKJV) For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.
There used to be a commercial that shows a woman with a nose strip that is supposed to clean all the dirt and oil from the pores on you nose and at the end of the commercial she says the brand-name of the device followed by the words: “Clean. Honest.”
The whole point of the commercial is that their product grabs the dirt and grime that is deep down in the skin. This is why they can say, “Clean. Honest.”
Paul is saying in 1 Thessalonians 4:7 that the Christian should be able to say, “Clean. Honest.” with respect to sexual purity for “God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.”
Brothers can you look a brother in the Lord in the eyes and say, “Clean, Honest?”
Sisters can you look a sister in the Lord in the eyes and say, “Clean, Honest?”
You see, 1 Peter 4:17 says, “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God…”
And if you don’t like what Paul is saying in verse 8 of our text, Paul writes further, “You are not rejecting man, you are rejecting God who has given us His Holy Spirit.”
The word “reject” in verse 8 means to “treat lightly” or to “disesteem.” In other words, when you reject this exhortation to abstain from every form of sexual immorality and treat lightly the words of Scripture, you aren’t pooh-poohing man; you are disregarding God Himself.
Remember, one of the reasons Paul is writing this letter to the Thessalonian believers is to encourage the new converts to stand against the temptation and the pressure to revert to their former pagan standards. (vs. 1, 5)
So, Paul is warning us here not to go back to behaving the way we did when we were unbelievers.
In other words,
If you were flighty when you were unsaved, you’re different now.
If you were “hot to trot” before coming to Christ, you’ve been delivered.
If you were a gigolo, a Casanova, a Don Juan; a “to know me is to love me” kind of guy–well, all that has passed away, you are a new creation in Christ.
If you used to consider yourself the “Queen of Sheba”, an ebony princess, or “hot stuff baby this evening,” you were washed; you were sanctified, and were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
In view of the Lord’s return, lets resolve to live in purity this year.
(2) Resolve to live with the proper love for insiders
The second point that Paul makes is that his readers should be resolve to live with the proper love for insiders.
An insider is one who has trusted Christ. If Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior you are “in.” You are in His body, the Church and are afforded all the benefits of being a child of the King. I used the word “insider” because it is a biblical term found in 1 Corinthians 5:12:
(1 Cor 5:12 NKJV) For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?
Here Paul is saying the church should leave the judgment of unbelievers to God and concentrate on setting its own house in order.
In our text, Paul reminds his readers in verses 9 and 10 that one of the first things that they were taught by God on becoming a Christian is that they should “love one another.” While they were indeed loving one another, Paul wrote that there was always room for improvement.
(1 Th 4:9 NKJV) But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;
(1 Th 4:10 NKJV) and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more…
I thank God that the church I gather with each week is a place where the love of God is evident. I praise God for testimonies that support this but also can say with Paul, “we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more…”
(3) Resolve to live with the proper concern for outsiders
(1 Th 4:11 NKJV) that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,
(1 Th 4:12 NKJV) that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.
Paul uses the word, “outsiders” to refer to those who are non-Christians.
As we consider the fact that we are experiencing an economic crisis and we are seeing people losing their jobs and experiencing difficulties, what should be the proper Christian response toward outsiders?
Paul said that even in the midst of problems that we, as Christians, “should aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind our own business, and to work with your own hands, and that we may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.”
This may sound like he is encouraging his readers to be isolationists, but he isn’t. Paul is reminding his readers of the spirit of the early church who, according to Acts chapter 2, lived in harmony with one another, and shared their possessions with anyone in the body who had a need and even ministered to those who were outside of the body. As a result, the power of God was evident and instead of being called hypocrites by unbelievers, it was said of them, “O how they love one another.” Instead of turning people off, their love and support for each other was turning people on and bringing people in.
What are you doing to turn people on for Christ? Is your love for fellow believers contagious? Is there an unbeliever in your circle of influence wanting what you’ve received in Christ?
The current economic situation may give the church plenty of opportunities to show the love of Christ.
Now as the Thessalonian Christians were being heavily persecuted and some of them were being killed for the faith, some of them began to wonder about the prospects of their loved-ones that die “in the Lord.”
They knew of the promise of Christ that He was going to prepare a place and would come back to receive them to Himself they knew that “in the Father’s house there were many dwelling places…”
They remembered the angel’s comforting words to the disciples after Jesus’ ascension back to the Father–“This same Jesus who is ascending will come back in like manner.”
But they wanted to know, “What would happen to Uncle John, or Aunt Sally who died before the Lord’s return?” “Is Mom or Dad going to share in the glorious reign of Christ if they have died before He returns?”
Paul addresses these and other questions, which brings us to our final point.
- Resolve to live with a confident expectation for the Lord’s return
The fourth point Paul makes is that his readers should resolve to live with a confident expectation for the Lord’s return.
This point as with the prior three has to do with the context of this chapter, even the entire letter of 1 Thessalonians. Paul is answering the question, “When the Lord returns, what happens to the people who have died in the Lord?” In verses 13-18 Paul answers this question.
(1 Th 4:13 NKJV) But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
The body (not the soul) of the believer who dies is said to sleep during the time between death and resurrection. For the Christian, there is only two states, it is to be here on earth or to be with Christ in glory.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:8, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
The world has conditioned us to see death as a dreaded monster but for the Christian, death brings us immediately into the presence of Christ! There is no soul sleep and no purgatory in between life and death. When the Christian dies, he or she immediately is taken into the presence of Jesus!
Back in our text of 1 Thessalonians 4:13, Paul writes, “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.”
Continuing…
(1 Th 4:14 NKJV) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
The expression, “if we believe,” is better translated, “since we do believe.” The certainty of the fact that the Christian will live beyond the grave is based on the fact of Christ’s resurrection.
(1 Th 4:15 NKJV) For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
Paul is just emphasizing that those who have died in Christ are with Christ. You see, Paul is answering some concerns that had been addressed to him from the Thessalonian church. They weren’t afraid of dying as much as they were grieved over the possibility of missing the return of the Lord if they died before He returned.
Remember the return of the Lord was a great and majestic event that had been promised to the church even while Jesus was still on earth.
When Jesus left, one of the last things the disciples were told was that He would come back. The return of the Lord was such a big deal to the early church because they thought that Jesus would return during their lifetime or generation. He wanted us to live as if He might return during our lifetime, if not at any moment.
Jesus said in Matthew 25:13, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”
Jesus passed on the expectation for His soon return to His disciples and from them to each successive generation. Listen to the Apostle John’s words concerning this:
(1 John 3:1 NKJV) Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
(1 John 3:2 NKJV) Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
(1 John 3:3 NKJV) And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
The word “purify” comes from the Greek word hagnizo, hag-nid’-zo which means to make clean, i.e. (fig.) sanctify (self).
In other words, our expectation for the imminent return of Christ should spur us on to live pure lives.
When I got home from school when I was a boy, my mother would sometimes have a list of things that needed to be done by the time she got home from work. One of the major items on the list was having our room clean. Sometimes we wouldn’t know when she was arriving because she often worked overtime or would stop at the market on the way home. So, it behooved us to clean our rooms and not risk having mom return home finding our bedrooms were dirty.
Is your “room clean”? Is your hope in the eminent return of Christ motivating you to live a purified life?
In the last chapter of the last book in the Bible Jesus says three times that He is “coming quickly.”
In the third occurrence of this promise – Rev 22:20, Jesus says, “Surely, I am coming quickly.” Verse 20 also gives the believer’s response to this promise as, “Do come quickly, Lord Jesus!”
Now if 2000 years ago our Lord said that He was coming soon, this present “soon” is closer that the “soon” that He described 2000 years ago.
Back to our text…
It is clear from Scripture that the Thessalonian believers had come to believe in and hope for the reality of their Savior’s return (cf. 1:3,9,10; 2:19; 5:1,2; 2 Thess. 2:1,5). They were living in expectation of that coming, eagerly awaiting Christ. 1 Thess. 4:13 and. 2 Thess. 2:1–3, indicates they were even agitated about some things that were happening to them that might cause them to miss it.
Paul take great pain in presenting the details of this event so as to comfort their hearts (vs. 18)
(1 Th 4:16 NKJV) For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
I like the way Paul begins the verse, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven…”
Years ago, my baby sister was around 4 or 5 years old she was hit by a car as she was escorted across the street by an irresponsible teenager. The girl got distracted, Bonnie was struck by a car, and her little body was hurled into the air. Miraculously, she only had a few bruises.
My point is that Jesus isn’t trusting the escorting of believers to Heaven to anyone but Himself. Paul says, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven…”
Paul continues in verse 16 writing that He is coming from heaven with a shout, that is, with the voice of an archangel. The voice of the archangel is the voice of none other than the angel Michael who is the only archangel named in the Bible (Jude 9).
The trumpet is reminiscent of the trumpet of Ex. 19:16–19, which called the people out of the camp to meet God. It will be a trumpet of deliverance (cf. Zeph. 1:16; Zech. 9:14).
Now verse 16 concludes with saying that the “dead in Christ shall rise first…” and verse 17 continues Paul’s thoughts:
(1 Th 4:17 NKJV) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
After the dead in Christ rise, then believers who are alive at this time will be caught up. Some call this event “the Rapture.” The term “rapture” comes from the Latin for the expression “caught up.”
The rapture, or catching up of believers, described in verse 16 and 17 involves both those who have died and those who are living when the Lord comes. Also note that Paul tells his readers in verse 17 that the coming of Christ is in the air, not to the earth. There will be a time in prophetic history where Christ actually returns to the earth. (Zech. 14:4)
In our text, He “snatches away” His church to meet Him in the clouds. Paul describes it another way in 1 Corinthians 15:
(1 Cor 15:51 NKJV) Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed;
(1 Cor 15:52 NKJV) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Maybe you’re at work one moment, and in the twinkling of an eye, you’re with the Lord.
You might be at the supermarket or driving your car; a passenger on an airplane—the trumpet sounds and you are with the Lord!
One moment you’re on your sick bed, experiencing excruciating pain–the trumpet sounds and you’re with the Lord.
Perhaps you’re in the midst of arguing with your spouse; then you are with the Lord.
Is your heart is sorrowful? Are you feeling lonely or rejected? Paul says we shall all be changed!
Were you born with a birth defect? Do you have a terminal illness? If you know Christ, you will be changed!
Romans 8:18 says, “…the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
(1 Th 4:16 NKJV) For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
(1 Th 4:17 NKJV) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
In verse 17, Paul writes, “thus we will always be with the Lord.”
It is interesting to know that many of the passages of Scripture which speak of the Lord’s abiding presence assures the Christian that he or she will “never be separated from the Lord” or “the Lord will never leave us or forsake us.” So we have the confidence that the Lord will always be with us.
In verse 17, Paul writes, “thus we will always be with the Lord.” We will always be with Him!
So far we have seen that Christians should:
- Resolve to live in purity
- Resolve to live with the proper love for insiders
- Resolve to live with the proper concern for outsiders
- Resolve to live with a confident expectation for the Lord’s return
- Resolve to live with encouragement and comfort in Christ.
There is one more point that Paul makes. The fifth point that he makes is that his readers should resolve to live with encouragement and comfort.
We find these thoughts in verse 18:
(1 Th 4:18 NKJV) Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Paul doesn’t say “terrify one another with these words” because he is writing to Christians. The appearance of Christ in the clouds to rapture the church is to be an event that evokes hope because it is at this time when Jesus is going to take His own out of the world.
- It is at this time that the bodies of the dead in Christ will be raised, changed and reunited with the spirits of our departed ones!
- It is at this time that those alive in Christ will be caught up together with those who have died in Christ.
- It is at this time that all in Christ will meet Him in the air.
- It is at this time that we will always be with the Lord.
Paul says “comfort one another with these words.”
The word “comfort” is the Greek word parakaleo, par-ak-al-eh’-o which means to call near, i.e. invite, invoke, beseech, call for, (be of good) comfort, desire, give exhortation, entreat, pray.
In other words, Paul is saying that Christians should comfort one another and instruct one another and exhort one another and talk about the things of the Lord’s return. We should be “psyching” one another up as it were—getting one another excited about His appearance—He is coming soon!
There is a word that reveals the expectant hope the early Christians had as they watched for the imminent return of Christ. It is the word maranatha and means, “our Lord come.”
When they were being mocked and ridiculed for their faith, they would encourage one another with “Maranatha!”
When they were persecuted for living for Christ, they would encourage one another with the word, “Maranatha!”
When a loved one went to be with the Lord, they would encourage one another with “Maranatha!”
One pastor I was heavily influenced by as a young preacher would always say, ‘Keep looking up!” Another Bible teacher I grew up listening to used to encourage his listeners with the statement, “Perhaps today.”
We have learned that Christians should:
- Resolve to live in purity
- Resolve to live with the proper love for insiders
- Resolve to live with the proper concern for outsiders
- Resolve to live with a confident expectation for the Lord’s return
- Resolve to live with encouragement and comfort in Christ
The Koreans have a curious New Year’s custom. Desiring to forget unpleasant things and make a fresh start, each person determines what bad habits he would like to eliminate and what past deeds he wants forgiven. Then he writes the names of these evils on a kite and flies it high into the air. When it is almost out of sight, he cuts the string. As the “paper bird” takes a nose-dive and disappears from sight, he thinks that all his faults and previous transgressions are forever removed.
What he doesn’t anticipate is someone finding his kite and returning it to him. It is going to take more than flying a kite or wishful thinking to rid a person from sin.
I am so glad that God has taken care of our sin problem.
Psalms 103:12 reads, “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
Micah 7:19 says, “He will…have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.”
If you are a Christian, pray this along with me. “Father, give me a heart-felt resolve to live in purity and with the proper love for insiders and concern for outsiders. Help me to live with a confident expectation for the Lord’s return and to be ready to encourage my brothers and sisters with the same.”
If you sense the need to repent or turn away from your sin and trust Christ today as your Savior and King, pray, “Lord Jesus, I have sinned against you. I have been trying to run my own life according to my own rules. I believe that you died to take my sin away. I trust you now as my Savior from sin and the Boss of my life. Amen”
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