Coffee With The Lord

Among Christians some of the biggest fights and angry disagreements have been over “eschatological issues” – especially over the timing of the “rapture” (the “catching away of Christians” to be with their Lord). It’s tragic really!

On that issue, my Bible reading today included an “authoritative passage” that deals with that subject. Apostle Paul declared that he “did not want the Thessalonian believers “to be uninformed” and what he was sharing with them was “a word from the Lord!”

Based upon what that passage teaches, Christians can be sure of this… DEAD OR ALIVE AT THE COMING OF THE LORD WE WILL CAUGHT AWAY TO BE WITH THE LORD FOREVER! What a wonderful hope and expectation!

Here it is right out of the Bible…

“This we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, AND SO WE WILL ALWAYS BE WITH THE LORD. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (From 1 Thessalonians 4:15–18 ESV)

We don’t know the precise timing (the “day or hour” – cp. Matthew 25:13) of His coming – that’s up to the Lord (but the indicators it is near are everywhere)! But we can know and can be confident of the result of His coming – dead or alive! And upon that Christians ought to be able to agree! And I intend to stay alert and prepared for “the sound of that cry of command, the archangel’s voice, and the sound of God’s trumpet!” With my Lord forever – imagine that!!! My response? Hallelujah… a thousand Hallelujah’s!

What God is able to do in the lives of rebellious, disobedient, and wayward people!…

I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God! … I will make a covenant of peace with them.  It shall be an everlasting covenant with them… My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (From Ezekiel 37:21-28 ESV)

Practical stuff for those who call themselves “Christians” this morning from my Bible reading…

Apostle Paul’s gave these instructions to the Christians in Thessalonica about “HOW TO LIVE IN ORDER TO PLEASE GOD” … “instructions, he said, given by the authority of the Lord Jesus!” (1 Thessalonians 4.1-13). 

As I read them over this morning, I was convinced they could just as well have been written to Christians anywhere today… August 2, 2022!!  Paul urged followers of Jesus over 2000 years ago to give their obedient attention to three major things (and they are certainly immediately applicable to Christians today!)…

1. AVOID SEXUAL IMPURITY – LIVE MORALLY PURE LIVES IN A SEXUALLY ORIENTED CULTURE

He told them “It is God’s will that you should be SANCTIFIED [set apart from sin to God’s will]: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God… The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins… for God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.  Anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you His Holy Spirit.”  Wow!  What important instruction for Christians today who live in a permissive, sex-crazed world where “anything goes!”

2. LOVE ONE ANOTHER IN A SELF-GIVING, SELF-SACRIFICIAL WAY

He continued, “Now about your love for one another…you have been taught by God to love each other.  And in fact, you do love all of God’s family… yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more!”  The Bible is clear on this issue!  The strength of our testimony in our world today according to Jesus is, “They will know you are My disciples by your love one to another!”

3. And finally, Paul urged Christians in the 1^st century to LIVE OUT A POSITIVE WORK ETHIC IN A WORLD SO OFTEN FILLED WITH “SLACKERS”

He urged them, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anyone.”

Seems to me this is practical guidance – important instruction – serious stuff for anyone who calls themself a “Christian” …in the first century in Thessalonica … and anyone who claims to follow Jesus in our world today, August 2, 2022)!