Our Hope Sermons at St. Dunstan's

Paul begins this morning’s reading by saying, “we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep.”




But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
1 Thessalonians 4:13 (ESV)



By “those who are asleep,” he means “those who have died in Christ,” and this is an immediately relevant topic for all of us. We all want to know what it is that happens when we die, and this type of musing is given increased energy when we are faced with the death of a loved one or friend, as all of us have been with the passing of Deacon Bill.



What I find amusing is that while Paul says that he does not want us to be uninformed about God’s plan for those who have died in Christ, many Christians today speak about what happens when we die in vague and incomplete terms that often sound much more like Plato than Jesus or Paul.



So let’s set the record straight this morning. Let’s talk about what happens to those who are asleep both now and when Christ comes again.



Those Who Sleep



Surprisingly, given what Paul says in the opening verse, he tells us almost nothing about the current state of those who have died in Christ. There is a reason for this, and it gets to the problem of most Christian thinking about life after death. The reason Paul says almost nothing about our state of existence when we die is that his focus, as should be the focus of all Christians, is not on the in-between but on the end of the story.



Paul is not so much concerned about life-after-death as he is concerned about life after life-after-death.



Life after Life-After-Death



He writes:




For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
1 Thess 4:14



But this “even so” is a questionable translation. The word is οὕτως. It means “in this way” or “in this manner”. And the preposition “through” probably goes with the verb slept, so we end up with something like:




For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way also, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep through the Messiah.
1 Thess 4:14



Paul’s very first point about those who have died in Christ is not to discuss their heavenly existence but to state clearly and unambiguously that God will do for them what he did for Jesus Christ, namely, they will rise again.



This is the first thing we have to get right. When Christians die or when we think about the afterlife, the first thing we should be talking about is resurrection. The first thing that we should say is that God intends to do for us what he did for Jesus of Nazareth. But we’re getting a little bit ahead of ourselves.



One thing to note here about our existence between death and the resurrection is that while Paul doesn’t say much, he does imply clearly that we are safe with God. The metaphor he uses is one of sleep. Maybe he means that we have no conscience existence between death and the resurrection, like we were just napping. Maybe it’s just a metaphor, and all metaphors fall short. Either way, what Paul believes about our loved ones who have died in Christ is that they are safe with God, and just as importantly, when Jesus Christ comes again, he will bring them with him.



That’s the now for those who have died in Christ. They are safe with Christ in God. In Philippians, as Paul considers that his death might be imminent, he writes:




My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
Phil 1:23



Your loved ones, Deacon Bill, and you, when your time comes, will be safe with Christ in God. He will hold you securely in his embrace until that day comes when Christ returns, and he brings the dead in Christ with him.



So that’s the now. But what about the end? What about the last great day? What about the next event on the eschatological timetable