Marks of Maturity - Part 9
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[Read 1 thess. 4:13-18]
Some say that “Ignorance is bliss”, but when it comes to eternity ignorance is very bitter.
Paul’s stated purpose was to make sure that the church understood how the resurrection was going to happen.
1 Thessalonians 4:13
But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
Thesis Statement: Mature believers understand the resurrection, which provides confidence despite sorrow, the condition based on Christ, and the chronology which provides comfort.
We must understand the doctrine of the resurrection in order to experience true, biblical hope.
Paul’s plea right from the start is our overarching theme for this part 9 lesson: “I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren...”
I. Understanding Our Resurrection Confidence
I. Understanding Our Resurrection Confidence
1 Thessalonians 4:13
But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
I. Understanding Our Resurrection Confidence
A. The World’s View of Death is Shades and Shadows
Many ancients viewed death as annihilation (cease to exist)
Or they believed in some kind of shadowed, dreary netherworld
So their sorrow was not just for their own loss, but also for the horrible fate of the one that passed away.
They would also perform idolatrous practices on behalf of the dead, which God warned the Israelites against:
Leviticus 19:28
You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.
Ephesians 2:12
that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Pagans saw death as eternal sleep
“Of a man once dead there is no resurrection.” (Aeschylus - Greek author)
“Hopes are among the living, the dead are without hope.” (Theocritus - Greek poet early 200BC)
“Suns may set and rise again but we, when once our brief light goes down, must sleep an endless night.” (Catullus - Latin poet)
For those without Christ, there is no hope after this life.
The biggest difference between the unbeliever’s sorrow and the Christian’s sorrow is that the unbeliever sorrows for both himself and the dead…but the Christian sorrows only for himself.
I. Understanding Our Resurrection Confidence
A. The World’s View of Death is Shades and Shadows
B. God’s View of Death is Simply Sleep
1 Thessalonians 4:13
But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
To describe burial sites, early Christians started using the word translated into english as “cemetery”, which meant “dormitory”, or a place to rest.
The Bible often uses the word “sleep” to mean “death”. (…and so do we: “laid to rest”)
It is a euphemism, which is when we use a more polite word in place of a potentially offensive word. (i.e. - “Adam knew his wife...”)
But the use of sleep in place of death is more than a euphemism…there is something more important happening here.
We know this for a couple of reasons:
The Bible DOES use death and dying without apology (even in this passage)
There is an important theological truth that this word helps us to understand:
Describing physical, clinical death as “sleep” is the perfect way to describe death from God’s perspective.
God is eternal, existing outside of time, and knows the end from the beginning.
From our perspective, when someone dies, we know we will not see them again in this life, but to the eternal God, their body is just taking a nap…just resting....they are simply “asleep”.
And the resurrection is God simply “waking them up”.
Jesus used this same wording during His earthly ministry:
Luke 8:40-42
40 So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him.
41 And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him.
Luke 8:49-56
Luke 8:49–56 (NKJV)
49 While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher.”
50 But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.” 51 When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. 52 Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.” 53 And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.
54 But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Little girl, arise.” 55 Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat. 56 And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.
From Jesus’ point of view, this 12 yo girl was simply sleeping and needed to be woken up.
This is how God sees our physical death…we simply go to sleep for a while and then He wakes us up!
John 11:1-4
1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
John 11:11-15
11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”
12 Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.
14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”
John 11:39-44
39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
When we die physically, in this life, we are simply asleep from God’s perspective.
I. Understanding Our Resurrection Confidence
A. The World’s View of Death is Shades and Shadows
B. God’s View of Death is Simply Sleep
C. Our View of Death is Sanctified Sorrow
1 Thessalonians 4:13
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
The word “as” is a conjunction, and an adverbial comparative”, meaning it is a subordinating conjunction that denotes a relative comparison
This phrase “as others who have no hope” is a comparison subordinate clause (as others who have no hope)…that is being compared with the main clause (“lest you sorrow”)...meaning that Paul is not saying that they will not (or should not) sorrow…just that the believer should not sorrow to the same degree as an unbeliever sorrows.
Mourning is not a sign of spiritual weakness
To truly mourn is to grieve a loss, which ultimately brings healing
Matthew 5:4
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
C. Our View of Death is Sanctified Sorrow
Jesus loves us
3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
The word love in verse 3 is “phileo” - brotherly love!
Lazarus was not just another person who needed to be healed, he was Jesus’s friend!
They were like brothers!…very close and shared a special bond of close friendship
(by the way…we can go through sickness and other trials and know that God still loves us!)
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
This family was very close to Jesus…they shared a close friendship and Jesus “agaped” them very much!
But what about us…we aren’t part of that family
Mark 3:31-35
31 Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. 32 And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.”
33 But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” 34 And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”
Jesus loves us so much!…just as much as He loved Lazarus, Martha, and Mary!
(Jesus loves me, this I know…)
B. Our View of Death is Sanctified Sorrow
Jesus loves us
2. Jesus mourns with us
John 11:32-33
32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.
Notice where Mary is right now…she’s not at the tomb, but has fallen at Jesus’ feet.
Have You Been There???…Throwing yourself down at Jesus’s feet…asking Him “Why Lord?!?…If only You would have intervened like we asked you to do!..If only you would have come, my brother would be alive, my dad, mom, child, friend…Where were you?!?”
Have you been there?
Jesus looks down at her weeping at His feet (NOTICE JESUS DOES NOT REBUKE HER FOR HER GRIEVING!)…and He sees all the Jews that are wailing
Jesus’ emotions are being strained.
Jesus’ was forced to restrain His emotions, but was deeply troubled and agitated by the emotions of the mourners
John 11:34
And He said, “Where have you laid him?”
They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
Jesus wanted to see the place…not just because of what He would do there…but because He knew how much it meant to the sisters.
He wanted to mourn with them…to be with them in their grief…just like He wants to be with us on our grief.
John 11:35
Jesus wept.
This was not a single tear rolling down Jesus’ cheek
This was a shedding of tears…a clear showing of emotional distress
Jesus cried in sympathy for the people around Him and the strong emotion of the moment
It was not just a sadness for His loss of a friend, (for He knew what He was about to do)…it was a sadness for those around Him…an empathy of genuine grief for others’ loss
No words were sufficient to comfort…sometimes all we can do is weep with those who weep.
Romans 12:15
Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
And this is exactly what Jesus was doing in this verse.
Allowing Himself to feel the pain of others’ loss in addition to His own pain, to experience sorrow on behalf of others in addition to His own sorrow
And Jesus does this for us still today:
Hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus says to us, “I know exactly how you feel and exactly what you are going through, and I am weeping with you.”
38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
Once again, Jesus is forced to restrain His emotions when He arrives at the tomb of Lazarus
Jesus knew that He was about to raise Lazarus up from the dead, but no one else knew that.
The gravity of the situation for Mary and Martha and all the rest was not lost on Jesus…He felt their pain despite the impending resurrection!
When we experience loss, Jesus also experiences that loss. When we grieve, Jesus grieves with us. When we weep, Jesus weeps beside us.
Jesus knows that in eternal heaven there are no tears. But that doesn’t stop Him from weeping with us now, in time.
Isaiah 53:3-4
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
Whatever we go through in this life…no matter how hard, how much grief, pain, or sorrow, Jesus has also been through that. And He says to us, “My friend, I know exactly what that feels like. And I am right here beside you, weeping while you weep, grieving what you grieve. And I love you so much.”
We can have confidence in our resurrection because God sees death as sleep and our sorrow is anchored in hope!
1 Corinthians 15:55-57
55 “O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
II. Understanding the Resurrection Condition
II. Understanding the Resurrection Condition
1 Thessalonians 4:14
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
A. The resurrection is a conditional resurrection
John 11:17-30
17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
20 Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him.
1 Corinthians 15:17-20
And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Understanding the Resurrection Chronology
Understanding the Resurrection Chronology
Understanding Our Resurrection Comfort
Understanding Our Resurrection Comfort
Word Study:
“ignorant”: agnŏĕō (ag-no-eh´-o) - not to know, lack of information
“sorrow”: lupĕō (loo-peh´-o) - distress, grieve, heaviness
“weeping”: klaiō (klah´-yo) - to sob, wail aloud
“groaned”: ĕmbrimaŏmai (em-brim-ah´-om-ahee) - (lit. to snort with anger); to restrain oneself