Why does the Second Coming of Christ matter?

First Thessalonians, chapter 4, my brothers, beginning with verse 13. On Friday night in the original sanctuary we said goodbye to brother Gustavo Ortiz, we have said goodbye to several brothers and sisters, some elderly, others young, even babies we have watched in that sanctuary. Pastor Gregory opened the funeral service by reading this very text. Declares the word of God:

“…Neither do we want, brothers, that you be ignorant about those who sleep so that you do not become sad like the others who have no hope, because if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, God will also bring with Jesus those who slept in him, therefore which we say this to you, in the word of the Lord that we who are alive, who will have remained until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who slept, for the Lord himself with the voice of command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God will descend from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord, therefore encourage one another with these words."

Chapter 5 continues, “But about times and occasions you do not need me to write to you, brothers, because you know perfectly well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, that when they say, peace and safety, then it will come. sudden destruction upon them, like pain to a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers, are not in darkness for that day to surprise you like a thief because you are all children of light and children of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness.”

Why does it matter to us in the 21st century, in the year 2016, why is it important that we preach, that we believe, that we constantly remind ourselves that Christ is coming? They believe in the rapture. And perhaps what we know, what we should know and what is not known about the rapture, about the second coming of Christ.

The third question that we are going to investigate this morning is in the light of this doctrine, in the light of the coming of Christ, how then will we live? How are we expected to wait for Jesus? Why do we care about the rapture? Why do we still care about the second coming today?

You know, my brothers, it's weird, I really don't remember the last time I heard it apart from some very specific contexts, very Pentecostal, you can imagine. But other than that context I don't remember the last time I heard a message dedicated to the rapture, dedicated to the second coming of Christ. I don't think that's an accident. It is rare to hear messages these days about the rapture.

Because? Well, first, like the subject of prosperity, the Rapture and Second Coming of Christ is one of those Biblical truths that has been abused and misused, and some have even gone so far as to announce final dates for the Rapture. In other words, at 10 pm, on July 24, in the middle of the barbecue at my house, we will celebrate the kidnapping. And leaving some disappointed when the rapture doesn't come at that time, and they have made the evangelical church itself look ridiculous.

And also, hey, it's been over 2000 years so where's the rapture? This question is not unique to the 21st century, 20 centuries ago, in the first century even back then they were asking, and where is the rapture? The Apostle Peter writes in Second Peter, chapter 3, “knowing this first, that in the last days scoffers will come – will there be scoffers in our community – walking after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his advent? For from the day the fathers fell asleep all things remain so, as from the beginning of creation."

In other words, since it has not happened in 2000 years, this feeling, this attitude is not unique to the world. Many in the church, indeed, in the secret of their hearts, many preachers have grown cold and frightened. I myself frankly struggled, I confess to the Lord and to you, I struggled with the Holy Spirit before bringing this word. It was not the word I had in mind for this congregation this morning. He had something much safer, a message about tithes and offerings. I have that saved.

But look, what happens. Let's do this experiment. Take away for a moment, imagine that the doctrine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a house, let's remove the beam from the doctrine of the rapture, imagine from the house of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we can remove one of the beams from that doctrine, that this be the second coming of Christ. What does he leave us with? It leaves us, first, with a church, which first focuses only on this world. What happens when we ignore this message? What is the impact? Why do we care? Because it leaves us with a church, first, that focuses only on this world, only on what is here and now. I don't want to take poor brother Joe Losting off every so often, but he's used to it.

One of the best-selling books of the title is, “Your best life now.” "Your best life now." I believe that the Lord prospers us now, but I don't believe that my best life is here and now. And if so, the Gospel is indistinguishable from countless self-improvement programs, indistinguishable... for that we have a 12-step program or yoga or Buddhism or whatever, it's just another program.

Second, without the doctrine of the second coming we are left with a church without a sense of accountability, without a sense of responsibility to God, without a healthy fear born of the reality that one day we will see it, without the reality that a day we will render an account to the Lord. There is nothing that encourages us to internal personal purity.

Why does it matter what I think? Why does what I do with my heart matter if no one is going to judge me on that level? There is nothing that calls pastors and preachers to respect Biblical doctrine. What does it matter what I preach as long as the people like me and they come and tithe? There is no sense of responsibility to God.

Third, a church without this doctrine is a church with a weak Gospel. So that? Why receive Christ as your savior? Well, for you to live a better life, for you to do better, for your grades to go up in college or to improve your relationship with your spouse a bit, but I can get that from this program or from this other book. What does the Gospel matter?

Fourth, we begin to believe that in our secret as well. We begin to share the depression and despair of this world. We forget the reason for our joy. We forget the source of our hope, as Paul opens here, "neither do we want you, brothers, to be ignorant about what sleeps so that you do not become sad like the others who do not have hope."

And we have reached the point where the church and the world are practically indistinguishable in their appearance and their relationship to God. And I think a lot of that has to do with numbing and ignoring this doctrine, because on his part Paul, and indeed the church, for centuries believed in the rapture to the bone. In this passage read it as you would read a newspaper, read it in Spanish, read it in Portuguese, read it in your language, read it in the original Greek and you will see that Paul is incontrovertibly clear in how he describes this event. He describes it as a fact, not a theory like so many others for him, it was a fact, it was a quote, it was a date.

Christ comes for his church. Spot. And then he writes, “therefore encourage one another with these words,” we are expected not only to believe this doctrine but to remind ourselves every time that Christ is coming, encourage ourselves with those words, nail them to our hearts, and make them our own. hope. That is what is expected.

Pablo is being insistent here, my brothers, share this word with each other every time, encourage yourselves, encourage those who are broken and saddened. If you can't find anything else to say, to that broken life, that life without hope, tell it at least, Christ lives, knows you and comes for you. Encourage each other with these words. It is one of the most consistent and coherent doctrines in scripture.

It's amazing how much this is talked about in the word and how consistent the doctrine of the second coming of Christ is throughout the word. It is born of Jesus himself, for example, as Paul says, "for this reason we say this to you in the word of the Lord," we believe it because Jesus preached it and promised it in each one of the Gospels, as we are going to explore right now. Likewise, the Old Testament prophets, Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, etc. all pointed to this day.

Acts, chapter 1, the birth certificate of the church. Angels announced to the disciples that they had just seen Christ ascend to heaven, that in the same way Christ would return for them. He tells them, “Men of Galilee, why are you looking at the sky? Our hero, our Messiah, left us, we saw him disappear into the clouds. Why are you looking at the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back just as you have seen him go into heaven.”

Paul, by the way, Peter, especially in his second letter and in Revelation Jesus promises, "behold, I am coming quickly and my reward with me," indeed, the scriptures conclude with these words, "he who bears witness to these things I am surely coming." soon, amen Yes, come Lord Jesus."

The last breath of the word of the Lord is come Lord Jesus. And until the 21st century, the second coming of Christ was one of the incontrovertible truths of church doctrine. Have you heard of the advent celebration? The Catholic Church, the Anglican Church celebrate the advent, not just the birth of Jesus, his first coming, the incarnation at Christmas time, but many do not know this. At the same time the advent celebrated the promise of the second coming of Christ. The Christians of old concluded the year by saying, come Lord Jesus. How nice, when midnight arrived and when announcing a new year, our brothers and sisters of yesteryear invited the Lord to return.

Satan has stolen this treasure from us. And it's time to claim it. It is time to return it to the people of God. What do we know and what is not known about the rapture? In this letter from Paul to the Thessalonians we learn at least 5 key principles about the Second Coming.

First, beginning with verse 14, we know that the dead in Christ will rise, they will wake up first. One of the first key principles about this doctrine. This is a reminder of this doctrine for many of us who haven't heard it in a while. Paul writes, "because if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, God will also bring with Jesus those who slept in him," that is, they will come from somewhere, "for which we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who live that we will have remained until the coming of the Lord we will not precede those who slept.”

In other words, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the precedent for our own resurrection. It is the hope that we too will be raised from the dead. Pablo explains that the dead in Christ, like my brother Gustavo, like my mom, like my dad, like our loved ones, like every funeral of every believer you have attended, sleep. Mommy sleeps. Daddy sleeps. We cry because we miss them but at this moment there is a separation for the moment between their spirits and their bodies. For now their spirits are in the presence of the Lord, in paradise as Jesus promised the thief on the cross.

Now, I am not going to go into details if it was heaven or another place, what matters is that we are with the Lord. I don't care if I'm in the basement of the state house if Jesus is there. I can spend forever in the bathroom, as long as he's there. Being with the Lord is what matters. Their inert bodies meanwhile sleep waiting for another body, a body, as the word declares elsewhere, incorruptible.

At the coming of the Lord, those who sleep will receive the great eternal alarm clock, because the Lord himself with the voice of command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God will descend from heaven and the dead in Christ are the first to wake up.

Second principle, then we, that is, the ones who still live will meet with Jesus and with them in the clouds. We who survived them, who lived to the moment of that awakening, will meet them in the clouds.

Verse 17, “then we who are alive and remain will be caught up – say caught up – together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord.”

A new chapter begins. Our eternity begins at that moment. The word that is here translated uproot, can also be translated as grabbing, uprooting, uprooting, or pulling someone out by force, saving their life. Come, hard-headed boy, come. I'm still in line for the cupcake. Come, boy. Grab it at that moment. It was also used in this context, claiming something or someone for one, that's mine, that's my mule. This is my son. This is my daughter. This is my church. In Latin this word is translated raptus. The word used for snatch here is translated raptus and from there we get the word rapture.

And how will that be? perhaps the one who best explains it is Jesus himself. He describes in Matthew 24, “then there will be two in the field, one will be seized, taken, and the other will be left; two women will be grinding at a mill, one will be taken and the other will be left.”

How did you leave the soap opera last night? Well, look, at that moment... And where did Josefa go, where did she go? Taken. "Therefore, keep watch because you do not know what time your Lord will come, but know this, that if the father of the family knew what time the thief would come, he would watch and would not let his house be broken into."

Interestingly Peter writes "but the day of the Lord will come like a thief." Paul also uses precisely the same illustration as Jesus - there is an incredible consistency in the word - "But concerning the times and the occasions, verse 1, chapter 5, you do not need me to write to you, brothers, for you know full well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

That is the third principle, we do not know the day. We don't know the time and that's the idea. That is precisely the idea. Like a thief in the night, is what the word says over and over again. No thief leaves a note on his door warning, "Tomorrow at 3 in the afternoon I am going to climb to the window of the basement of his house and I am going to take him to the dog." No thief does that. There we would be waiting maybe with a guard next to you or the broomstick waiting for you, welcome! But they don't advertise. We don't know the day, we don't know the time.

It is the best kept secret in the universe. I believe that date is written on a piece of paper with invisible ink locked in a safe next to the Father's throne and only he knows the combination. Jesus said in Mark, chapter 13, "because of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels who are in heaven." Neither the Son knows that hour, but the Father. The most we know is that it can happen at any moment, that it would be better if we watched.

By the way, my brethren, churches attract thieves like flies to a roast. That is why we use cameras and watchtowers like Luis Campo and Frances Devaris, why? We know when someone will arrive to… he knows that once they took us to the cameras. Watching. It's not a joke, it's true.

Fourth principle, why watch. Because things will get worse, before they will get better. This we do know, this does warn us that things will get worse before they get better. The word says, Paul continues in First Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 3, "that when they say peace and safety then sudden destruction will come upon them like the pain of pregnant women and they will not escape."

Peace and security. I am old enough to remember that 20 years ago, when the Soviet Union collapsed, a world of peace and security was expected, the end of wars. But never have we felt less secure than now, never have we lacked more peace. Death can surprise us today anywhere, even on vacation in France. France, who would have ever thought? Orlando, Disney, and you can kill yourself. Wherever.

Sometimes I am afraid to think what it will be like to be a 12, 13, 14 year old growing up in this environment. How to process 50 died here, 80 died here, 120 died here. In the city of Somerville we have a flag that is lowered in half as a symbol of mourning in times of disaster and it occurred to me last week when I saw that flag in the middle that I don't even know what disaster they were watching over. Which of the many? Baton Rouge, Dallas, Minneapolis, which one? Nice, Turkey, Munich? That flag for weeks has been maintained week after week in the middle announcing one more disaster, one more duel. That's the world of 2016.

When is the last time you felt totally safe or at peace out there? And that is why the Lord reminds us, "you will hear of wars and rumors of wars - Matthew 24 - be careful not to be disturbed, people of God, because it is necessary for all this to happen but it is not yet the end." And that brings us to the fifth principle that we explore about the coming of the Lord.

Don't be disturbed. Let's see what we see, those who wait for Jesus and long for his coming are children of light. You listen, nation against nation, people against people, when you hear of disasters and wars and rumors of war, remember, take a deep breath, first of all I declare about you, I am a child of God, covered by the blood of Christ, my Messiah warned me . See the cradle of your children, lay hands on them wherever you are, you are a child of light, in this house we are covered by the blood of Christ. If you are already an adult, you already have your family, you have your home, you have your children, take out your cell phone, in the time of intercession, look at those photos of them, of their grandchildren and in the name of Jesus, Lord, the I cover them with the blood of the lamb, I cover them, they are children of light. We will not be disturbed. We are not of this world.

Instead of being disturbed, we are moved because we know that our redemption is near. But as children of light we watch and be sober. Verse 6 continues, “…therefore let us not sleep like the rest – this is another type of sleep, this is a sleep of lack of vigilance. The dream of the church in many ways is not to look, to long for the coming of the Son, that is a type of dream. Not longing, the church not announcing the coming of Jesus, the church not longing for the coming of Jesus is a type of the sleeping church and the word tells us, "let us not sleep like the rest, but let us watch and be sober, for those who those who sleep at night sleep, and those who get drunk at night get drunk, but we who are of the day let us be sober and having dressed ourselves with the breastplate of faith and love and with the hope of salvation as a helmet.”

Let us arm ourselves with the word of the Lord. Let us arm ourselves with this faith. Let's arm ourselves with love. What is Paul saying here? instead of getting upset when you hear these things, make this your instinct. Ah, thank you for reminding me Lord, you are coming, you are coming soon. The next time CNN sends you an ad for one more disaster, or you see another demo, or you see politicians taking off their chants and a lack of leadership... a desert of leadership in this country, remind yourself, Samuel, that's right, it's true, Christ comes. And it matters how we live. If so, how do we watch? How should we live in light of the coming of Christ?

We conclude this message with at least 3 ways in which Paul and the scriptures suggest that we live if we are watching for the coming of Christ, what should you do? How should we live?

First, live in holiness. Live to please God. Live to please God. Make that your obsession. First Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse 1, “May you continue to progress in the way of life that pleases God,” and then in verse 3, “God's will is that you be sanctified.” That is the translation of the New International Version.

I am moved by what the Apostle Peter writes in Second Peter, and this is using the translation of God speaks today, in Second Peter, chapter 3, verse 11, he writes, "since everything is going to be destroyed in this way, with how much holiness and devotion should you live? Wait for the arrival of the day of God and do what you can to hasten it.”

Interesting. We may not know the day or the hour but here Peter implies that the church in a mysterious way has the ability to hasten the coming of the Lord, living in holiness, dedicating ourselves to holiness. Certainly in First Thessalonians Paul writes at the beginning in the context of guarding against fornication and sexual impurity, we see that in verse 3 and 5, but he also exhorts us in verse 6 "that no one wrong or deceive in anything," it says there , in nothing, that is, swindle, lie, seize, get away with his brother. "For the Lord is an avenger of all this, as we have already told you and testified."

Living knowing, one of these days... the idea of the Apocalypse of the church without stain, without wrinkles, purifying itself, preparing for the day when we will see Jesus eye to eye, face to face and rendering an account of how we treat each other the others, and in light of that this second suggestion, how we watch.

Let's love each other. First of all, let's live in holiness, translation, respect God, respect his word, live to please him. Get out of your comfort zone to please your God, number 1. Number 2, love your brother, love your sister, let's love each other.

Verse 9, “But concerning brotherly love you do not need me to write to you, for you yourselves have learned from God to love one another.” As Paul says, it should be obvious, right? But he is not talking about feeling love as an emotion, this is about living waiting for the coming of the Lord. Love is our mission in life, it is an obsession. It's not something we feel, it's something you've dedicated yourself to doing. I am going to dedicate myself, while I am on this earth, while I have the opportunity to expand the Kingdom of God, I will take care of loving actively, remarkably, with words, with deeds, with generosity. They will know me for one who loved, who loves. It's an obsession.

How can I be light and uplift those around me? Think then, brothers, in concentric circles, first your family, your wife, your spouse, love them. What is your wife's love language? What is your children's love language? How can you be a representative of the love of Jesus Christ, a conduct of the love of Jesus Christ to them? From there the circle expands to the church, to your brothers, to your pastors, how can I love more? Instead of merely being a receiver, someone with great needs, how can I love those around me?

And that expands, brothers, now to work, now to your neighborhood. In the meantime, the entire city is converted... whoever has not experienced this is losing their life. This is like a thread that one pulls and pulls and when one realizes it has a hand of mercy that begins by loving, simply loving those children, loving those young people, they become bonds of love that began merely by praying, broken hearts for them. And one loves them and loves them and God gives you more, and God gives you more, and God blesses you more and the more you love, and the more you serve, the more God gives you the capacity to love, the more God expands your horizon. Jurc, starting with 40 youth in 1999 and now reaching nearly 2,000, and new public schools. But what is the secret? They are missionaries that we send there to love those schools. The Lord expands.

Alpha Agency, brothers, the secret of these ministries is love, then the king will say to those on his right, come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world because I was hungry and you gave me to eat I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, I was naked and you covered me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to me. You will never get tired of loving.

And finally, let's not cling to this world, my brothers. First Thessalonians, chapter 11 and here I will read it in the Latin American Bible. “And that you have for your ambition to lead a quiet life – in English it translates, live a quiet life – and mind your own business – in English, mind your own business – and work with your hands as we have commanded you , so that you conduct yourselves honestly towards those outside and have no need for anything.”

Now this seems like a contradiction. A quiet life doesn't sound like an ambition, does it? And that is the point, while we are on this earth, brothers, do not worry, do not waste time in case they recognized you or if they gave you a raise or if they became your friend, or if they remembered you before leaving this world . If that happens, amen, but love tranquility, what God has already given you, what God has already entrusted to you. Take better advantage of this time loving them and what is radical is this, if you say, "You know, I am not of this world, my treasures are in another place," and you dedicate yourself to that, to calmly live what God gave God took away, blessed be the name of the Lord. If today we have tortillas and eggs, amen, if tomorrow cakes and tripe, amen, if the next day we have to call the Chinese, amen. Every day God provides. Be diligent, be reliable.

Do you know what you become in that moment? You become a magnet. People even if they don't know Christ will come to you. They want to be around this guy who always sees him calm, this bomb exploded over there, this other thing explodes over there, but you always have a word of love, your eyes resemble the eyes of Christ and if they can trust no one else They can entrust that task to you because they know you as someone sober, serious, reliable, a person of integrity and they want to be close to you.

And they will ask you, but come here, David, why are you different? And you can answer, "Look, if I live I'm fine, if I sleep I'm fine, at the end of the day I win, at the end of my story I'm with Jesus forever." That is indelible. Isis can't erase that. No politician can erase that. The securities account can't erase that. The Boston Globe can't erase that. You can kill me, they can break me into a thousand pieces, the sooner I am with the Lord. I mean, they can't take away this life, this hope.

What happens to a life that lives like this? A mind that makes that his focus, someone who goes to work either with his backpack or with his tools or with his junk, to get on the train, look at the skies for a moment before starting the day, look at the skies looking for the sign of the Son of man, I wait for you Lord. I have my agenda for this day, but you have full permission to come find me on this day, Lord.

Come Lord Jesus. Lower your faces. If this makes sense to you, do you remember the day you gave your life to the Lord and asked, “Lord, cover me with your blood.” Today in the name of Jesus I remind you why you did it and what we expect and what is at stake. Now in your spirit, perhaps as you haven't done in a while, look at the Lord and say, come, come Lord. Come Lord.

I wait for you as always I wait for you every day, I hope your presence, I hope you keep me, I hope you prosper me, I hope you protect me, I hope you heal me, I hope you accompany me, I hope you give me wisdom when I am troubled. Give me peace, Lord, when you see me challenged. You know what I mean, Lord, I invite you Jesus in the way you want on this day, come, come to me. Come Lord. Come Lord. This church says, come. At this moment in Boston we need you more than ever, in this country, in this world, come Lord.