Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2004 : November 7, 2004
How Do You Spell Relief?
2nd Sunday of End Time -- The Last Judgment
Five or ten years ago a company came out with a slogan: "How do you spell relief?" Does anyone know what company that was? It was Rolaids. And how did they spell relief? R-O-L-A-I-D-S: Rolaids. What kind of relief would you get? Relief from indigestion or heartburn. Now, many suffer from those problems, and I'm sure that many of them did find relief eventually in that Rolaids antacid. But it would take a while to take effect, and the waiting could be horrible. It's like taking a Tylenol for a headache -- sometimes the suffering becomes worse after you take the Tylenol because you're waiting and waiting for it to take effect. And often it takes much longer than you want.
This Sunday we are looking at what the Bible has to say about Judgment Day, and what we do as we wait for it to come. Christians have been waiting for that Day for almost 2000 years. Jesus tells us to be ready for that Day because then we will find relief -- eternal relief for our souls. From Paul's words we find that Judgment Day spells two very different things for two different groups of people: it spells RELIEF for believers, and it spells PUNISHMENT for unbelievers.
Think about the following situation and see if it applies to you. You are 15 years old and still have to be driven everywhere by your parents. Well on one Saturday afternoon, you want to go to the mall, so you ask your father if he would drop you off there for a while to look in some stores. Your father agrees and drops you off. And as you are closing the door of the car he says, "I'll be back to pick you up soon, so be ready." You get your shopping done and go to the place where you agreed to get picked up. And you wait, and you wait, and you wait. Eventually, after waiting for a long time, you think that maybe your father has forgotten about picking you up. But then your fear gives way to anger and you think, "Boy am I going to give him an earful when he finally gets here!" Have you ever been in that situation? It's not very fun, is it?
Jesus basically said the same thing to us, didn't he? In Revelation he says, "Behold, I am coming soon!" Do we await his coming with eager expectation as if it will come the next moment, just as the psalmist did when he said, "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope"? (Psalms 130:5) Or do we sometimes think that maybe he's forgotten about us and will never come, or at least that he won't come anytime soon, probably not during our lifetimes?
We often fall into the second category, don't we? Well, then the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit has some words for you today just as he had for Christians years ago. The Church then was waiting for Christ's second coming, and the Church today is still waiting for Christ. You might be able to imagine the struggles and persecutions that many of the early Christians went through. The Jews hated them because the Jews thought that the Christians were following a new, false religion that taught that some no-name from Nazareth was actually the promised Messiah. How ridiculous! The Gentiles looked on Christians as some cult out to take over their way of life. So, from every side, Christians were looked down on; they were despised; they were many times even killed for their faith in Jesus as their Savior. But Paul reminded the Christians at Thessalonica that though their lives could be filled with misery upon misery, they still had hope. Their hope was in Christ, who would return to bring relief to his saints.
When Paul founded the congregation in Thessalonica, things got pretty ugly. Some believed. But the Jews who didn't believe formed a mob and started a riot to do away with Paul and his companions. When they couldn't find Paul, they turned on those Christians who had welcomed Paul and his companions into their homes. They took these believers in front of the city officials and shouted, "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus." (Acts 17:6-8) The Christians were being falsely accused of following another king instead of the Roman emperor. So Paul and Silas had to escape and leave the Christians in Thessalonica to face the persecution alone. Only months later was Paul able to find out what had happened to the Christians there who had just come to faith. They were being persecuted terribly for their faith, but they remained believers. So Paul wrote them this letter encouraging them to wait patiently for Christ. Christ would bring them relief from their troubles and sufferings.
The Thessalonian Christians suffered for the gospel. Paul even held up the congregation in Thessalonica as a great example of how Christians endure under persecution. Paul says in the verse before our text, "Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring." Instead of these persecutions destroying their faith, it was used by God to strengthen their faith. How? With no one to rely on in the world, these Christians had to rely on God to help them.
Do we suffer for the gospel? Do you think that Paul would commend us in this congregation? Sometimes it's not easy to stand up for the truth. The Bible condemns homosexuality as sin. We've lost visitors because of it to other churches. The Bible says there is a real place called hell to which every unbeliever will go. That's not a popular teaching. The Bible tells us we shouldn't just join together with every Christian church because they don't believe everything the Bible says. That doesn't make us look very inviting when we explain that to others, including when we don't invite everyone up for communion because we aren't united in faith and it might prove harmful to them if they don't know what they're receiving. That's definitely not a popular stance on Scripture. What's the result? We are looked on as the ones who are dividing up the church. Certainly we don't like it when people look on us in that way, but that is one persecution that we deal with. When you are accused of being old-fashioned and ultra right-wing and close-minded, do you make excuses for your faith and back down from your position, or do you make a clear testimony to the truth? Really, when we are looked down on for our faith, we are doing the same thing as the Thessalonians -- suffering for the gospel. But that's a good thing. The world might hate us and persecute us, but that is what we can expect if we follow Christ. John told Christians in his first letter, "Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you." (1 John 3:13) And Jesus himself said, "All men will hate you because of me." (Luke 21:7) If we aren't being hated and persecuted and get along with everyone in the world, maybe we aren't distancing ourselves from the world enough.
Sometimes we might think that all this suffering for the gospel might become too much for us. That is why Paul reminds the Thessalonians and us that all our suffering will stop when Christ comes at the end of the world. Jesus said, "Behold, I am coming soon!" 2000 years ago. That might not seem very soon to us. But we need to see that if Jesus told Christians 2000 years ago that he was coming back soon, then we are 2000 years closer to the end of the world than they were. And really, that is what we wait for -- that day when Christ will come again. Paul encouraged Christians this way: When Jesus comes he will "give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels." Luther said that he often thought of his existence as only two days -- This Day and That Day. This Day is today -- the day that God has given us to live for him and tell others about his message of salvation before That Day comes. That Day is Judgment Day -- the day when Christ will come back and take us to be with him forever. What a glorious day that will be for the Church. And we as members of the Church wait for that Day and Christ's second coming with joy.
But that day of judgment will not be glorious for everyone. And that is what Paul also reminds the Thessalonians about as well. Christ will bring relief for the saints, but he will also come bringing punishment for those who don't believe the gospel of Christ. Verses 8 and 9 read, "He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power." Those who don't obey the gospel, in other words, don't believe the gospel, will be shut out of God's presence for eternity. That is the essence of hell. The first thing unbelievers will say when we tell them about Judgment Day is, "I don't want to believe in a God who wants to punish people in hell." And actually they have a point. God doesn't want to punish people in hell. But he must because he is a just God. "God our Father wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth" are words that Paul wrote to Timothy. God wants all people to be saved, but many people will reject Jesus who is the only way to be saved. Therefore, their sins will remain on them when Christ comes again, and they will be judged according to their sins and will spend an eternity away from God and away from his presence. That is a harsh judgment. But not unjust, because it shows just how terrible our sins are to a holy and righteous God. It makes us get on our knees and yell out, "What a wretched person I am!"
We are sinners. Think of just one of the sins you committed this past week. That one sin, whether it was a thought, word, or action, was enough to send you to hell for eternity because you aren't perfect as God demands of you. But how can we rejoice on Judgment Day then? Because of what God did for us to save us from an eternity away from him. He sent his own Son in human flesh to take all of his holy anger against our sin onto himself. He became the focal point of God's holy wrath against sin -- every sin of the whole world. God forsook his own Son because of our sins. Ours sins sent him to the cross. But that is also where he paid for every one of those sins. The whole world's sins are forgiven, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:19, "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them." But Jesus said, "Those who do not believe [that Jesus is their Savior] will be condemned." Only by God's grace did he call us to faith and spare us from eternal damnation. And for that, we will praise God and be about his business of saving sinners until he comes again.
On Judgment Day God's eternal qualities will be revealed for the whole world to see. He is just, condemning unbelievers of their sins, but taking us to heaven because he punished our sins in his own Son. God's glory will be seen as well. "This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. [Unbelievers will be] shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed." We will marvel at God goodness and power and glory forever, not because we are worthy of it, but because he has counted us worthy through Jesus' blood.
As members of the Church, you wait for Christ's second coming. As you wait, you suffer for being a believer in Jesus and in following everything Jesus says, which the world and even other Christians ridicule. It's been a long wait, and it will be a little longer. So how do you find relief? Based on what we've learned from the Apostle Paul this morning, how would you as a Christian spell relief? J-U-D-G-M-E-N-T D-A-Y. Remember that Christ is coming soon and your labor for the Lord and your suffering for his Word are not in vain. Come, Lord Jesus, we are ready for your return. Amen.
