I Thessalonians 4-5: The Sanctified Life (Friday's Reading!)

Holiness in a Hedonistic World – Don’t Expect it to Get the Popular Vote! (4:1-12)

When the Wesley’s wanted to help people developed a disciplined and growing Christian faith when they were at Oxford, they were mockingly called “the holy club.” And while there are many sanctimonious Christians, most of the time those who make the “holier than thou” accusation are living self-centered lives. There is a natural aversion people have to being “holy,” because it means denying some of our impulses.

For me, it is striking how much the moral/social climate parallels the USAmerican situation. The themes are “gratifying lust is normal and good” (Roman hedonism) and “holiness is restrictive and unhealthy.” “Meeting individual desires is paramount” (self-gratification modeled by Nero himself) while “the common good” is secondary or even lower that that. Dividing into “winners and losers” (the triumphant marches of Roman conquest) is more important than finding better right answers that benefit a greater number of people. The “wide world of sports” (the gladiator arena) is more important than the world of education and challenge of global survival and communication. To live in holiness and brotherly/sisterly love stands out against such an environment. It is characterized as weak and even absurd (watch a little MTV, VH1, etc).

Dying in Hope – One Look at the Second Coming of Christ (4:13-5:11)

When I started a new church, I had mainly young families and I did one congregational funeral in three years. When I served a 125-year-old church in downtown El Paso, I did 40-50 congregational funerals a year, with as many as three in a day. The new church in Thessalonica must have been experiencing its first deaths and wondered what that meant for them and their loved ones.

Paul’s teaching here describes what many call “the rapture.” Like most descriptions of the afterlife in scripture, each writer describes it differently, depending on the purpose of the sharing. This passage is clearly connected to Matthew 24 from Jesus (often called “the little apocalypse”). Jesus’ emphasis is clearly on the surprise, while Paul’s is more about encouraging these loved ones that there will be a great reunion (“we will be caught up together in the clouds” – I Thess. 4:17) and on living holy lives (5:4-11).

Paul expected the second coming to happen in his lifetime. Every generation since has done the same. What does the second coming mean to you? How has it given you hope and strength in difficult times?

The first letter closes with exhortations to holy living, short phrases that are easy to memorize and difficult to follow. Sorry about the late arrival of this column - lots going on this week!