Pastor's Ponderings: Tuesday Bible Study on Paul’s letter, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 (May 13, 2025)

May 13, 2025:  Tuesday Bible Study on Paul’s letter, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Good morning, dear friends in Christ.

Please continue the prayers which I asked for yesterday at the start of the Monday Bible Study. Today is Melody's birthday. We were born 368 days apart, me in 1950, and Melody in 1951. When we were babies our mothers would pass on the downtown street, yes there was only one, so when we started dating in high school, that was early high school, our parents had a pretty good idea about who the person and family were.  Our town only had about 9000 people during the non-summer season. So, we were married this year for 54 years in December, but we had dated steady for 6 years before that including our engagement. That's right we have been together for 60 years! Well, that's enough of my meandering about our lives being well-lived with both great times, and some pretty difficult times too. And that is my way of moving into the letter of Paul to the Thessalonians this Tuesday morning.

In this letter of Paul, and it was one of his earliest, Paul wants to offer guidance to the Thessalonians with regards to the nature of what it means to be a child of the Light of Christ in the face of the world which surrounded them.  The strong possibility existed that these new Christians might face persecution on two fronts, from disgruntled Jews, and from Roman soldiers and their leaders. Of course, there was even more darkness than that. Wars continued to rage, men were pressed into military service in the name of keeping the Roman peace around its domain, and of course I am certain that the upheaval in Israel continued to be a thorn in the side of the Roman occupiers. In addition to all this external darkness that surrounded the lives of these new Christians, there was the one which is most likely the one to which Paul is referring, the darkness of sin, suffering, and death! We may not have all the other ones which were so prevalent in Paul's time, though I think we still do, the last ones have never changed. Sin, suffering, and death continue to be the darkness which surrounds all of humanity from birth to death. The Christians in Thessalonica had questions too. So, Paul talks at length, not unusual for Paul, about what it really means to be living in this broken world as children of the Light of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. First of all, it should mean that in the face of the surprise of destruction, while others are beating their chests with no hope of any kind, Christians must remember that though they might share in that very same suffering, they are, and we are, the people of Christ's Light, and Truth, and Love, learning to always be prepared for whatever comes our way, because we are held in the arms of Christ's forgiveness, life, and Salvation, none of which can be stolen away from us because we live in the steadfast promise of God to always be with us.  This promise of God through Christ is for now, and for the future, whatever it may bring. We can never be separated from the Love of God in Christ Jesus Our Lord! This is the comfort of every faithful Christian, facing the unknowns of the future because we are not, nor will we ever, be left to face even the trouble of our own sin, without the merit of Christ's suffering and death, accomplished so that we can always be right with God, and share in Christ's Resurrection.  In this passage Paul uses several different analogies to talk about the problems of sin and death without hope in Christ. He even says that the Romans uses an evening and sleep statement meant to bring comfort in the Roman peace to all who are under Rome's thumb. Here the words are translated peace and security. But in the face of the world's sin and brokenness, there is no hope in the Roman's peace, and with a few short decades the loss of that peace and security would find their world without any comfort or peace at the hands of Rome. To find peace and comfort, a person must let Christ and the Spirit fill their life with faith, hope, and love. And of course, we know that the greatest of these which draws us to Christ is Love. There is no greater power! In this entire passage Paul is attempting to say that when Christians hold on to the Gospel message and its truth in Christ, then we will always have the comfort and strength that we need in the face of any negative thing that comes our way!

God Bless you today my good friends in Christ, Pastor Kim