The Waiting Game: Sermon 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Sermon 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Preaching Paul

Brad Smith

Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the Scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Amen.

The name of my sermon this morning is The Waiting Game. I hate waiting. Whether it is in line at McDonald’s, the grocery store check-out line, or at the doctor’s office I do not like waiting for my turn. Perhaps it is because I am an only child and I was never forced to take turns and so I never really learned patience. I am the most impatient person I know. This is something that I have worked on and prayed about everyday but it does seem to stick. We do a lot of waiting as Americans. Even with our high technology and our instantaneous communication abilities we still are forced to wait. I noticed something the last time I had to wait at the doctor’s office. My doctor is a family physician taking care of both adults and children. The waiting room was divided into two sections one for adults and the other for the kids. The adult side had the typical leather chairs and tables with copies of Newsweek, Field and Stream, and Sports Illustrated. But the side for the kids was altogether different. There were toys, Legos, stuffed animals, and other things to occupy the kids as the waiting. It struck me because the kids did not sit idly by to wait the time; they were in constant action.

Advent is a time when we remember and celebrate the waiting for the return of Christ. Many churches have turned Advent into a sort of pre-Christmas time, but this is not the true meaning. In Advent, we remember and celebrate the fact that we are Advent people, meaning that we are people waiting for the return of their Savior. As Advent people we cannot, we must not spend our time idly standing by waiting for the return of Christ. We, like the children in that waiting room, must be always moving. We must be dynamic in our faith until the day that our waiting is over.

What can we do? How to we play the waiting game until the not yet becomes the right now? Paul gives us some answers in these verses from 1 Thessalonians. Paul is trying to sustain the church in Thessalonica. He writes to this community of believers in his absence to aid in the maintenance of the community. Maintaining a church, a community of believers demands proactive steps. Pastors and lay leaders cannot simply react to events and crises, but we must take preemptive steps in maintaining community cohesion. We talk a lot about growth in the Church. No matter what denomination or non-denomination you find yourself in I guarantee that the subject of church growth will come up sooner or later. However, we cannot focus so intently on church growth that we neglect church maintenance. I am not speaking about the physical building. Instead I am referring to creating and maintaining community cohesion.

As Paul concludes his letter to the Church of Thessalonica he provides the church with actions to take as they wait for the return of Christ. The first action is to rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances. This sounds like a simple action to take. Rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances this sounds easy, but it is not. The two words that make this task difficult are “always” and “all”. This means giving thanks and rejoicing wherever we are and in whatever situation we find ourselves and our situations are not always moments of joy and thanksgiving. I don’t have to tell you that we live in a broken world. I don’t need to tell you we live in a world where unnecessary wars are being fought and people are dying needlessly. That we live in a world where 30,000 children die everyday not from war or disease but from hunger. I don’t need to tell you that we live in a world in which we are poisoning God’s own creation. I don’t need to tell you that we live in a world where people are abused and exploited because of their race and culture. I can go on and on because the list is seemingly endless.

The question before us then is how do we rejoice, how do we give thanks in the midst of this broken world? How does one who lives in the slums of South America, Africa, or Asia give thanks and rejoice? How does one who lives under a bridge in the cold and rain in Nashville, Tennessee give thanks and rejoice? We rejoice and we give thanks in all circumstances and situations because we have HOPE. We have hope that this world is not the end. We have hope that those who hurt others will not have the final say. We have hope because one day injustice, violence, and hatred will cease to exist. We hope because one day pain and suffering will end. We have hope because love will ultimately prevail. Until that day comes, until our Advent becomes the present we have hope and that is why we can rejoice and give thanks.

Our hope is not static or inactive. On the contrary, the hope that we have demands action. The love and grace that are the source of our hope requires a response. Our hope is so great that we have no alternative but to act. Paul tells the Thessalonians to pray without ceasing. We use that verse a lot in the Church. What does it mean to pray without ceasing? I think that Paul meant that whatever we do in our lives we should do prayerfully. But what does it mean to act prayerfully? I believe in means that before making a decision, before taking actions we should ask “are my actions furthering the Reign of God or are they hindering it?” “How will my actions today help to build the Reign of God on this earth until the return of Christ?” We should also ask “am I helping or hurting my community by engaging in this behavior?” To pray without ceasing means to prayerfully think before acting. Remember that Jesus said to seek first the Kingdom of God and all things will be given to you. John Wesley put it another way in his General Rules of the Methodist Church, when he said “Do all the good you can.”

There is a flip side to that coin. Wesley said before doing good to do no harm and avoiding evil of every kind. Before we can avoid evil and do good we must know the difference between the two. We must know the difference by praying and acting prayerfully and by educating ourselves on the overt and covert evil in the world. We have to educate ourselves and see what seemingly benign actions we take everyday can adversely affect someone else. We have to take care that our actions, our purchases, or our speech do no harm to others. However, our responsibilities do not end there; we must also stand up and speak out against the evil we find in the world. We must be the ones to stand up for the least of these. We, as Advent people, must give a voice to the voiceless and a helping hand to those who need it. We have to stand for what is right and work to change what is wrong. This is what helps build and maintain community. Paul likened the Church community to the human body. This is a good analogy because what happens to one part of our body affects other parts. If our back hurts it has an adverse affect on the rest of our body. If one member of the Body of Christ suffers we all suffer with them. We are connected waiting for the coming season when the hope that we cling to becomes reality.

We are living in our own waiting room here in this world. One the one side we can be stagnant, just simply existing. We can be just going to through the daily motions and waiting for the inevitable end of life. We can be like those on the adult side of the waiting room just waiting the time. Or, we can be like the children in constant action. We can be living not just existing. We can be living each and everyday for God until that day comes when we are rewarded and reunited with those we have lost. We can be active in our faith; working until our last moments for God’s kingdom.

We are Advent people this means we are waiting for something greater. We are also Resurrection people that means our hope; our future is secure by the love and power of God. As Colin Greene says we are between the already and the not yet. Christ came down and became human that is the already. Christ promised that he will come again that is the not yet. Christ died upon the cross of Calvary that is already. Death is something that we also will not escape, that is the not yet. But Christ rose from the grave, defeating death that is the already and we will share in the Resurrection of Christ and live forever in peace and in love that is what is coming. We will dwell with God as friend with friend. That is the not yet. Our hope lies in the not yet, but we trust that the Advent will one day become the present.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.