A few months ago, I went to see the Odyssey. One of the oldest stories ever written, I’m sure that even if you have never seen the movie, most of you know the story. The story begins at the end of the trojan war. The Greeks have been battling with the trojans for 10 years with very little actual progress being made. There seems to be no end in sight until the Greeks play a trick on the Trojans and sail all of their ships away, leaving only a large wooden horse on the shore, a gift to the goddess Athena. The trojans come out to see no Greeks in sight and all of their ships gone into the sea. So the Trojans drag the horse up through the gates of the city and into Troy so that they can gain the favor of the goddess. The men of Troy celebrate that this bloody war that they have been unable to escape for 10 years is finally over. They throw feasts and drink skins of wine late into the night until they are so drunk and tired that they pass out and go to bed. It is only then, when everyone in Troy is asleep, that the Greeks, who had packed themselves into the horse burst out from the wooden statue and run to open the gates for their army that had sailed back in on their ships while the trojans were celebrating. The Trojans of the city were all drunk and asleep, so they were not ready when this attack took them by surprise. The Greek army was able to capture the city and burn it to the ground. The Trojans had believed that the war was over, so they let their guard down and let their enemy take them by surprise.
Just before the section of scripture, we are looking at this morning, Paul is writing to the Thessalonians about what is going to happen on the last day. They must have been worried that their loved ones who had already died were going to miss out on Jesus’ return. These people knew that Jesus was going to come back, and they seem to have even been excited about it. They might have expected that it would be during their lifetimes that they would get to see Jesus’ face and be reunited with him. But they were worried about those who appeared to have missed out on being here for the return. Paul clears up this issue by sharing the beautiful truth that on the last day the believers who have died will be raised up first, before those who are still alive are brought up into heaven.
Their next question, about when this is all going to happen, Paul addresses in this section. He writes, Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you. This answer feels like a little bit of a letdown. I’m sure that the Thessalonians were hoping that Paul would give them an exact date or a time when they could expect Jesus’ return, but Paul did not share any details with them. People love to try and guess or predict when the world is going to end. In the 1960s, physicist Heinz von Foerster predicted that due to exponential population growth, the world was going to end on November 13, 2026. He joked that people were going to be squished to death because we would not all fit on the globe. You’ve got until Friday I guess, so get your affairs in order. But Paul does not give them a date or a time that they can look forward to as the end of the world. What he writes instead is a warning for Christians centered around how we are supposed to prepare ourselves for the coming of this last day.
So what does a prepared Christian look like? Christians who are prepared, are awake. This does not mean that you cannot ever doze off and let your body get physical rest. It’s not healthy for us to try and stay up all night waiting with our ears alert in case trumpets start to sound. What he’s saying is that we should not let ourselves get too comfortable in this damaged world.
Paul tells us to remain awake because, people who are asleep, can be surprised. If I were to tell you that I can guarantee you that tonight someone is going to try to break into your home, I don’t think that you would go and lay down in bed and fall asleep. I would guess that you might lock your doors, find a weapon, and stand guard, waiting for any intruder that might try and break in. It wouldn’t be safe for us to be sleeping whenever the thief arrived at our home. Well, when Paul wrote to these Christians, he compared the end of the world to a thief. He writes, you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. Some people are not going to be ready when the last day comes. They are going to be like someone who is asleep in bed when a thief shows up. If the day of the Lord is coming like a thief, don’t let yourself get caught with your PJs on. Don’t let Jesus’ return take you by surprise as if you did not know that it was coming.
There can be temptations for us to fall asleep when it seems like the battle with sin has been won. When things have been going well for us and we start to get cocky, we might warm up some milk and pull our blankets tight. Like someone who is asleep, we can close our eyes to the message of the gospel and let ourselves get comfortable ignoring these warnings in God’s word. We become unprepared for the thief that is going to come knocking at our door. Our enemy can see when we have let our guard fall and have become sleepy towards the gospel message, and this is when he likes to attack.
Paul says we are children of the day, so be like children of the day, awake and ready to respond to the attacks of temptation. Keep your guard raised and your eyes open by remaining focused on Christ’s promise that he will return. Then, when he does, it will not catch you by surprise. We will be ready to sing songs of praise as he descends from the clouds.
However, just being awake does not make us prepared, we must also be alert. Paul writes, So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. Now Paul does not mean that we have been doing it wrong this whole time and we must stay far away from beer like the Baptists might say. Paul is using drunkenness as a stand-in for all of the sins of this world that can tear our attention away from the task that has been given to us. Those who don’t have faith, have no idea that there is anything they even have to be ready for. They are like the drunk soldiers of Troy, distracted by their celebration, who allowed their walls to be overtaken. If we let ourselves get distracted by the pleasures of this world, we will be just as unprepared for the last day as if we were asleep. Rather than having our eyes closed, it is as if we are looking the opposite direction when Jesus returns. We can be so impaired by our sin that we are not prepared for the resurrection. Jesus is not going to give us a time-out to get our act together when he comes on that last day.
Many people have thought at some point or another, “I’ll put this sin aside tomorrow, I’ve got plenty of time to turn my life around.” It can be tempting for us to let our hair down and run wild for a time when it’s been 2,000 years since Jesus left, and he hasn’t returned to bring us home yet. This is an extremely dangerous game to play. There is no time to waste in preparing yourself. If you let yourself live like the world and give in to your temptations with the world, you are going to be shocked like the world when our savior returns to judge. Don’t let your worldly desires pull your eyes away from the promised resurrection that is in store for us.
The last thing that Paul tells us that we need to be prepared for the last day is some armor. Even if a soldier is awake and alert, they are no good if they have nothing to defend themselves with. Jesus has given us the armor that we need for our defense, Paul writes about putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. The last day is not something that we have to be afraid of. As Christians, Jesus has armed us with a hope of salvation. The last day for us is a joyous day because we know we have been handpicked as heirs of the eternal kingdom. Those who do not know Jesus, don’t have this same hope that we have. The last day for them will be full of fear and trembling because they have ignored these warnings that have been given to us. But for those that are prepared, we wear faith and love as our armor because we are confident which side we are going to be on when the sheep are separated from the goats.
The way that we arm ourselves is with the truth of God’s word. It can be tempting for us to take off our armor because we might think we only really need it when we are in battle. Well, we might not always feel it, but the war is waging around us brothers and sisters. Do not remove yourself from the protection that has been given to us in the word of God. Make use of it always and you will be better defended from any attacks.
People don’t need armor unless they have something that they are defending themselves from. The Spirit has covered us in armor because we are in a battle, a battle with the devil and with temptation. Arrows are being fired at us from all sides and if there is one chink in your armor, the devil is a good shot and he will find it. If we “take our armor off” and remove ourselves from God’s word, it is like we have opened the door to our attackers and invited them in ourselves.
Paul does not give the Thessalonians an answer to when the last day will be. It could come at any time. But he has warned us that it is going to happen suddenly. Jesus is returning for us, to take us to be joined together with him forever. Many people will be distracted or asleep when it happens. As Christians, Paul warns us to keep our eyes trained on the heavens so that you will see it coming before it’s already too late. Through the Holy Spirit you are kept awake, alert, and armed so that when that day finally comes, it will not take you by surprise. Amen
