Bible Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 | Preacher: Pastor Christian Preus
I don’t want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep. St. Paul had brought the Gospel to the Thessalonians just months before. They were worshipping false gods when he met them. They were without God and hope in the world. But a great number believed in Jesus when Paul preached Him in Thessalonica and so the Jewish leaders got jealous and they started a riot in the city. They went to a man named Jason’s house, where the Christians were having church, trying to find Paul, couldn’t find him, and so dragged Jason out into the street and charged him and Paul of teaching that there was another King besides Caesar. Jason had to post bond in order to remain free and that night the Christians sent Paul out of town, because they thought it was too dangerous for him. So Paul wrote this letter to them, 1 Thessalonians. In it, we learn that Paul was very worried about them, because they were being persecuted, he was worried that they would give up and deny the faith. They were young Christians. So he reminds them that this is what we can expect as Christians, that Christ Himself, our King and our Lord, was betrayed and persecuted and slandered and crucified, and the disciple is not above his Master. Paul had sent Timothy back to them, because he was so concerned, and Timothy came back to Paul with the news that the Christians in Thessalonica still clung to the faith, still held on to Jesus, still met for church and ate and drank the body and blood of Christ. And Paul is overjoyed. Because he loves them. And so Paul shows what a pastor should be and do toward the people God entrusted to him.
That’s why he says these beautiful words to them. I don’t want you to be uninformed, brothers. He doesn’t want them to be ignorant of Christian doctrine. That’s what he’s saying. Jesus says the same thing – if you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
Why do we learn doctrine? There are many supposed leaders in the church who say that it’s wrong to focus so much on teaching doctrine. They say it divides. They say it makes people arrogant, engenders an I’m right and you’re wrong judgmental attitude. They say that what we need to do is focus instead on loving one another, on agreeing with one another. And of course, our Lord Jesus has not called us to contentiousness, to fighting about uncertain things. When the Corinthians were arguing about whether they could eat meat sacrificed to idols, St. Paul scolded them and told them that knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And that is a warning that we who have the pure truth and care about it need to take to heart. We don’t learn doctrine, we don’t learn the truth, to puff ourselves up and boast that we know more than the other guy. St. James reminds us that even the devils know doctrine. Knowing doctrine isn’t impressive. It is the demons in Mark’s Gospel who are confessing that Jesus is the Son of God even before the disciples themselves know it. If I have all knowledge, St. Paul says, and have not love, I am nothing.
But doctrine not only matters. True doctrine is everything, so long as we receive it in faith. Because true doctrine teaches us the love of God for us. I don’t want you to be uninformed, brothers, means I want you to know the truth. Jesus says the same thing in our Gospel, warns us that false christs and false doctrine will arise, and He tells us strictly, because He loves us, not to believe it.
Why? Why learn and know the truth?
So that you may not grieve as others who have no hope. So that you can face the final judgment with confidence and look forward to it. That’s why you learn Christian doctrine. It’s not to pass some test. It’s not to know more than the other guy. It’s so that you can stare down every pain and adversity in your life, you can stare death itself in the face and have hope and know that that hope will not disappoint you.
A recent study showed that most Christians don’t know the basics of Christian doctrine. The overwhelming majority of evangelical Christians who responded to the survey said the Bible is the Word of God, and that’s great, it is, but when it comes to the content of the Bible, uffda, they don’t know it. Some seventy percent of surveyed evangelical Christians said that they believed the Son of God was God’s first and most powerful creation. Almost fifty percent agreed with the statement, “Jesus Christ was a great teacher, but He was not God.” Again, even the demons know that Jesus is God. Christians need to know it. Knowledge isn’t enough, but without it we have no hope. Nothing for us to hold on to. This is why we confess it every Sunday, Jesus Christ is God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made. Because this God, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man and was crucified also for us. Jesus will judge those pastors who don’t teach the truth, who turn church into entertainment and therapeutic self-help sessions. Christ’s sheep need to hear the truth.
So, no, we don’t learn the true doctrine to mock those who don’t know it. We learn it because we need hope in the face of sin and death. We learn it and love it because it shows us the God who gives us hope. Hope, in the Bible, is not some fickle thing, like, I hope the Packers win the Superbowl. They might, they might not, and what does it matter in the end, really? Hope in the Bible is a sure expectation of what will happen, most certainly. And this hope has to do with eternal life, with your relationship with God, your Creator. Are you right with Him? Does He love you? Why? What will happen to you when you die? What will happen to your Christian husband or wife or mother or father or child or brother or sister? And we know the answer. The future is clear as day in Jesus Christ. It’s why Luther has us say again and again in the Catechism, “This is most certainly true.”
If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. Our hope is certain because Jesus already did it. Our God has so loved us already. He has died our death. He has taken our curse on Himself. That’s what death is. It’s God’s righteous judgment against our sin. We have turned, every one of us, to our own way, served ourselves and our pride instead of our God and our neighbor in his need. You die because you sin and the payment God must give is death. So death is this horrible decree from the holy God that He will judge sinners and that means you.
This is why Paul won’t even say here that Christians die. He says Jesus died, that’s emphatic. But he says Christians fall asleep through Jesus. Because the curse has been removed from us. It’s been placed on Jesus. He died. The judgment of God landed on Him. And if He died, if He took the curse, then who will bring any charge against us? And since He rose from the dead, what will separate us from the love of God? Paul is not using a euphemism here, when he says Christians fall asleep. He is speaking reality. If death is a curse, and it is, then we don’t actually die. Christ died. He took the curse. We sleep.
This sleep refers to our body, not our soul. Our soul goes immediately to heaven to be with Jesus when we depart this earthly life. There’s a false teaching out there called “soul sleep” that our soul goes unconscious when we die and then wakes up at the final resurrection. That’s not what Jesus says. He says, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” St. Paul says, “I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is much better.” Our souls don’t sleep. Your Christian loved ones who have left this life are enjoying the presence of God in pure bliss right now.
But our bodies do sleep. It’s a sleep because our bodies will rise, and they’ll rise refreshed, like after a good, long sleep. The Judgment Day alarm clock will be the cry of Jesus’ command, the voice of an archangel, the sound of a trumpet. And it will be the most beautiful noise we’ve ever heard. Our body that was sown in corruption will be raised incorruptible. This mortal must put on immortality. It is a necessity. That’s what we need to understand. Christ died our death and He lives forever. We were joined to that death in our Baptism, and so we share in His resurrection. He has fed us with the body and blood that live forever. Those who trust in Him will never be put to shame.
And so we will always be with Lord. We are with Him now. Lo, I with you always, even to the end of the age. Jesus said those words after telling His disciples to teach doctrine. That’s why He is with us and we know it. Because we hear His voice. Because we hold to the truth. Because He teaches us true doctrine. So cling to it and He will cling to you and never let you go. You will always be with the Lord. And you will see with your own eyes His glorious face. Amen.