Jump Start # 1851

1 Thessalonians 5:2 “For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.”

There was a day coming—Paul was telling the brethren about that. We all anticipate certain days. School is just about over for the year. I was with a bunch of our teens on Sunday and I asked when is school out? Boy, they knew. They had the day counted. Expectant moms anticipate the due date of their babies. They count down those final weeks, hoping and anticipating. Those who are nearing retirement do the same. They count down just a few more weeks and they won’t have to get up, fight traffic and go to work. They anticipate that day. For me, I anticipate Sundays. I love Sundays. Everything is different on a Sunday. I wish everyday was a Sunday.

Our passage is talking about the day of the Lord. That would not be something that only a few experienced, but everyone. The expression, “Day of the Lord,” has varied meanings. In the O.T., it often refers to God’s judgment upon a nation. God would bring destruction. Because of that, some believe Paul is talking about the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the Jewish system by the Romans. Others believe this passage is talking about the coming of the Lord before the end of the world.

As this section unfolds, there are two main thoughts.

First, they knew and understood these things. How? How did they know about these things? This is not something that just “comes” to a person. It wasn’t something that was just assumed or was obvious. They knew because they had been taught. That reminds us that we need to be teaching and we need to be “knowing.” I wonder how many sitting in the pews on any given Sunday have only a vague and shadowy concept of what we are doing and what Christianity is all about. How many would know what these Thessalonians knew? That is something that leaders of the church ought to be concerned about. How effective is our teaching? How good of a job are we doing? In schools there are ways to monitor how well a student does, we call them tests. People would run in panic if we had tests in “church.” And, I really doubt that Paul gave tests to these Thessalonians. We never see Jesus telling the apostles to take notes. They had the Holy Spirit to help them, but there must be and there ought to be a way to get folks to know and understand.

Second, based upon what they “knew,” there came some practical conclusions. Their behavior was based upon what they knew.

The text states:

• Let us be on the alert and be sober (6)
• Let us put on the breastplate of faith and love (8)
• Let us put on a helmet of hope (8)
• Therefore encourage one another and build one another up (11)

Their knowing led to some real actions on their part. Could it be that we sometimes try to teach the actions, without first showing and telling them what they ought to know. The actions came as a result of what they knew.

These two simple principles are found throughout the N.T. The wise man, at the end of the sermon on the mount, built his house upon the rock. He did so based upon what he knew and understood. The foolish man didn’t. He didn’t understand and so, he didn’t build on the proper foundation.

Hebrews 11 is another great example of this two step process of knowing and doing. By faith, that’s the knowing part. By faith, Noah built the ark. Why? He built because he understood. His faith led him to do what God said. The actions followed what he understood and knew.

So superficial, fussy understandings is not going to produce the godly results that we are seeing in the Bible. We can preach louder and harder, but until that knowledge level grows, the results will be the same.

Teachers need to teach and students must want to learn. That’s the key! That’s the combination that will bring the right results. When students, including us adults, sit in Bible classes because we have to be there, bored, mind wandering, disconnected to the topic being taught, worried about other things, we will not “know full well,” as the Thessalonians did. So effort must take place on both the teaching side and the student side.

Learning builds faith and confidence. It drives out fears and worries. It answers questions. It assures us that we are on the right path. And from this, we build a life and a walk with the Lord.

This chapter of Thessalonians begins, “Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you” (1). Why? Because they knew. They got it. They understood.

The question is do you? Do you understand? Do you get it? Is it showing in your life?

Roger