Eternity in the Everyday - 1 Thessalonians 5 - Waiting Well

What's up Mercy Hill? Hey, my name is Pastor Bobby, and we are going to be in our very last week of this sermon series in 1 Thessalonians. So let me welcome you if you are at one of our campuses today. So last week, as you know, we talked about, hey, what does it look like to deal with grief in light of eternity? And today in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, we're going to continue to talk about eternity and continue to talk about heaven. But what we're going to talk about is how do we live today, right now, how do we live today in light of eternity?

And here's the big idea for today. Live every day with eternity in view. Live every day with eternity in view. And what do we mean when we say live every day with eternity in view? We basically mean that we need to catch a vision for eternity, that we're able to see it out there, and that's actually going to affect how we live in the day-to-day. You see, vision is basically just a picture of a desired future.

And I think a lot of us understand this in a general sense, right? You can have a vision for a lot of things, like you can have a vision for where you want your marriage to go, you can have a vision for your kids, you can have a vision for your business, and when you have a vision, it's basically just the ability to look into the future and say, okay, that's where I want to go, I can see that, and then you capture that, and then you bring it into how you live today. And so today we're going to be talking about that, but we're going to be talking about that having a spiritual vision of eternity, and a spiritual vision of heaven, and then how does that work itself into how we live today?

But here's the problem. Here's the problem right on the front of the sermon, because I know we have all experienced this no less than 10,000 times, that because of our sin, because of our fear, because of our humanity, because of sickness, because of whatever it may be, our vision many times of the future of what God is going to do ends up getting clouded by today's circumstances. I don't even have to give examples, because we have all experienced the cloud of today's circumstances that keeps us from seeing into the future and seeing what God is ultimately going to do in our lives. And what happens many times is instead of our vision for eternity, for heaven, for what God is going to do, instead of that informing our daily circumstances, our daily circumstances when we look out and we look forward end up informing everything else. And you see many times, what we're going to talk about here in 1 Thessalonians 5, many times as human beings we do exactly the opposite of what this chapter actually talks about, okay?

Let me give you sort of a light-hearted example to open this up. So I've realized with my preaching that I've done so many illustrations about my own ultra running and adventures and mountains and running. I got a little self-conscious about it and so whenever I don't, I've realized I have more people come up to me to ask me why I didn't talk about some example from running.

So I'm just going to go ahead and give the people what they want now, okay? So I remember six years ago when I was going to go and do my first 100 mile race. It's a race called Hellbender 100 out around Asheville, out around Mount Mitchell. It's a hundred miles through the woods, over the mountains, goes up to the top of Mount Mitchell and you know, I had done a bunch of races, but I've never done a hundred miles before. I had watched a lot of YouTube videos, you know, what it's going to be like and a lot of times in these hundred mile races, you know, they'll start very early in the morning to allow you to get as much running or hiking or whatever you're doing during the day, right? And so what ends up happening is you get to the furthest miles of the race, and it's also just like the worst time, you know? You get to like mile 70, mile 80, and it's like the darkest of dark.

It's the middle of the night. You don't feel good, and I remember in this race I had just got through mile 80 and I had never run this far before. And now I found myself on this gravel service road right outside of Old Fort, North Carolina and you know, I have my headlamp and when you're running at night with a headlamp, you can't see beyond the headlamp. And that just becomes your reality. And I remember thinking at that time, because I couldn't even stay awake, I was running and I was falling asleep as I was running, I just remember thinking to myself, the rest of my existence is going to be running on this gravel road in Old Fort, North Carolina.

I couldn't imagine, seriously. That's the thing about ultra running. It makes you so present in what's happening.

I could not imagine a scenario where I wasn't going to be with that little six-foot radius headlamp running on this gravel road. And that's such a good example for what happens in our life, right? There's a diagnosis, there's a sickness, there's a child that's wayward, there's something that's going on in our life, and it feels so present, and it feels so overwhelming. It's like we can't see beyond that little circle right there in front of us. And I had watched enough YouTube videos about running 100 miles that I actually did learn one thing. When I was at the absolute worst of the worst and the darkness is, hey, you're going to hit these low moments at night, and don't quit at night. At least give yourself the chance to watch the sun come up. Because when you're in that little radius and you can't see beyond it, it's going to play all these tricks with your mind.

But if you can just give yourself the chance, and I remember in this race, finally the gravel road turned into a trail and it was basically going up to cross the Blue Ridge Parkway. And finally the sun came up, and I was up near the parkway, so I was probably at like four or five thousand feet, and my vision just opened up, you know? Like I now could see, I now could see beyond this little thing right here in front of me, and it just radically changed the way that I felt. And so my prayer for the sermon today is that if you can't see beyond this little thing right here in front of me, my prayer for the sermon today is that this text in 1 Thessalonians 5, you know, that's talking about heaven, that's talking about eternity, that's talking about how we bring that vision to now, will really help somebody today. Because I just know there's people today that's just going through life because of whatever's going on, and you just, all you could see is that little six feet in front of you, and Paul is going to give us some very, very helpful things from God's Word to help us, to help lift our eyes beyond just our current circumstances.

And here's the three things he's going to talk about for us to focus on, so I'll just give them to you right here on the front end of the sermon, and then we'll really walk through these. Three things, three helpful ways to live today in light of eternity, and the first one is to know our identity. Know who we are, know who God has declared us to be. The second one is to know our purpose.

Like, wake up and know why we're here. And the third one is to know our destiny, know where we're going, and the promises that God has made about that. So let's go ahead and jump into 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, I'm going to read verse 1 through 4. It says, Now concerning the times and seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. So I'm kind of thankful he says this, because I know some people, I'm probably preaching, and some people are like, hey, you have a PhD, you're going to tell us all the times and seasons and charts, and when everything's going to happen, and he says, no, we're not talking about that today.

You got no need to know of that stuff. Here's what you need to know, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord, it's going to come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, hey, there's peace and there's security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains comes on a pregnant woman, and they are not going to escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief, for you are children of light, children of the day, we are not of the night or of the darkness. So the first thing that Paul reminds us here is the identity that we have in Christ. So this whole thing, you know, going back to verse one and verse two, it's all about like this day of the Lord coming, right? Where for some people that's going to be darkness, for some people that's going to be judgment, and then he basically just says, hey, but not for you.

Like you don't have to worry about that in the way that others have to worry about that and why. The first thing he appeals to is our identity, who we are. Look at verse four and verse five again. Every human being on the face of this earth fits into these two verses, but you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief, so you have some who are in darkness. Verse five, for you are all children of the light, children of the day, we are not of the night or of the darkness.

He's basically talking about two different identities here. Two different people here in this verse, and we all fit into these categories. One is children of the light, who he says, hey, they're not going to have to worry about the day of the Lord. Like they're not going to have to worry about judgment. To them, that day is not going to be like a thief in the night. And then there's another crowd, those who are walking in darkness, they absolutely are going to have to worry about the day of the Lord. I want to talk for a moment about these two different identities, because when you think about it and you think about the rest of scripture, one of these identities is earned, and one of these identities is given.

When you think about Romans 6 23, this is the verse that I use to explain the gospel to my kids. The first part of this is about an earned identity. For the wages of sin is death. Is a wage a gift or something you earn? It's something you earn.

So when you work and you have a wage, you're owed that. And so if we're going to have an earned identity because of our sin, it's not going to be a good situation. The earned identity is going to be one of death and wrath, right?

Like man, if God is going to judge us on our merits, none of us have done good enough. And so the earned identity is going to be one of wrath. The second part of that verse, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Do you earn a gift?

No. It's given to you. It's free. You've done nothing to actually earn it. And that's the difference between these two identities.

One is earned, one is a free gift. And so the question is, have you ever experienced the gift of a new identity? And honestly, this is really the difference between religion and the gospel. Because religion is, hey, I'm going to work hard enough to try to get to the point where I can earn this identity of being a child of God. Like if only I can do good enough, then I'm going to be a child of God. The gospel is the exact opposite. That because of what Jesus has done for us, the perfect son of God, he was willing to die for us, to live for us, to be killed for us, to be resurrected for us. And through faith, he's willing to trade his righteousness for our sin and death and the wrath that he's going to incur from God. And so, man, what a difference religion and the gospel. And this is what this is talking about. Man, you are children of light.

That is a given identity. And so I know all across our church and all across our campuses, there are people here today that are continuing to try to earn that favor with God. They're continuing to try to become a child of light, to become a child of God, and that's only a gift that we can receive.

It's not something that we can earn. And here's the thing. When we realize and when we accept this, what God declares over us, it's this powerful thing that's happening from the future, and it's coming back to today.

Let me explain it like this, because here's the reality, right? If you are in Christ, you are a child of light. But I know my heart, and I know your heart, and I've been in ministry long enough to know that some of the children of light still do some kind of dark stuff, if we're all honest. And so there is some reality about being a child of light that that reality is declared and it's real, but it's still working itself out. It's something that we will become if we are in ministry. It's something that we will become, and it's something that we are ontologically the way God views us, but we're still kind of working these things out. And the only way that we are going to actually become that in practice, a child of the light, a child of God, is when we realize what God has declared about us.

One way to think about it is this. In the Gospel, God declares over you before you actually act like it, you know? Like He declares this is what you are, this is who you are, and that's actually the thing, that new identity being declared over you, that's actually the thing that can begin to actually change your behavior from the inside out. You know, I heard a story recently, I don't know if it's true, but I heard it on a podcast, so it's about this guy who, you know, he just came from a super bad home, single mom, they struggled, no dad in the picture, didn't have much money, and they just struggled. You know, and growing up, he struggled. Like, he didn't do good in school, and so of course he didn't want to go to school, he skipped school, he missed school, you know, people said, you're dumb, he's like, I am dumb, you know, and it just was sort of a downward spiral. And finally, his mom said, hey, she basically forced him to take the SAT, and he goes and he takes the SAT and he scores a 1450 on the SAT. And I don't know how they score it now, but I know like when I took the SAT, it's out of 1600, so 1450 was like, hey, this is a life-changing sort of score on the SAT. And so it actually goes on to change his life. He goes to this incredible college, he makes incredible grades, he is extremely successful, he goes and starts multiple companies, one of them ends up being, like, extremely successful. So 15 years later, he, his wife now, she gets a letter in the mail, and I guess this is a pretty common thing for, I don't even know how this works, the SAT board or whoever, they go back and they look at all the tests and they look for errors or whatever, and that year when he took it, probably thousands upon thousands of people took the test, but his test was one of 10 errors. And what the letter said is he actually scored a 725, not a 1450.

But you get the point. You know, when he no longer believed he was stupid, he started believing something different about himself. All of a sudden, he's going to the good school, he's wanting to start the business, he's wanting to be more successful. Look, I don't even know if the story is true, but what is true is what God declares over us. God declares that, hey, you are a child of God and you're becoming a child of God, a child of the light, and that has such power to change us if we allow that to break through. Because the issue is, many of us, if we're just honest, we have these other identity narratives that are still kind of just rolling around in our head.

And we may be a child of God, and we may be a child of God, but the most powerful narrative in our mind, in our heart, may not be child of God. You know, it may be something like, man, you're worthless. You know, you're just an adulterer. Like, you're just an addict.

You're just a victim. Like, you just are your worst sin. We may have some sort of identity narrative like that rolling around. And so in some sense, it's like, hey, it don't matter what God declares about us if we don't actually take it in and believe it. This is why Colossians 3 2 says, set your mind. Make it a practice to set your mind on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

It's a daily practice we have to do. I'll just share this with you all because I just think it relates to this idea of declaring these things over ourselves. So at the beginning of the year, I was just feeling, hey, there's a lot of things the Bible says about me that I'm just struggling to believe. You know, it's like, man, I'm a pastor, I'm married, I have kids, I seemingly have success, and there's just doubts. You know, there's just doubts about who I am and what God has called me to be. And so at the beginning of the year, I just made a list of things I was literally gonna say out loud in the morning over myself informed by the Bible.

You may think this is weird, that's totally fine. I'll just share them with you because they may be helpful. I've been reading these over myself almost every single morning for this entire year. Just to remind myself, the first one is I'm a child of God. This is my core identity. My identity as a child of God leads to my actions. I'm an Ephesians 5 husband to my wife. I rejoice in the wife of my youth.

My kids think that one is a little awkward. Eli, Everett, and Jude, they are a heritage from the Lord. They are arrows in my hand.

I am a godly dad to them. My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. I am an image bearer of God.

Daily I renew my mind. That's what it looks like to remind ourselves of who we are, right? Because there's this declared identity of who we are, but then it's actually taking it in to who we actually are.

And so that's kind of the first thing that Paul wants us to understand. Hey, if you're gonna live in light of eternity, you've got to believe and you've got to have the vision to be able to see who you're becoming. Like you are becoming who I have declared you to be. Let's look at verse six through eight. So let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. The second thing he reminds us of is we've got to understand and know our purpose. When you wake up and open your eyes in the morning, why are you here?

Why do you exist in the first place? What is purpose? Purpose is the aim of something.

Purpose is why something exists, the goal of something. You see, it could be a little confusing, these verses, right? It's like, you're of the light, not of the darkness. We're talking about drunkenness and not sleeping and not sleepwalking and just kind of all of this stuff. And so what is it getting at? Like what?

Because a lot of people can dive into like, we're talking about alcohol here. Like that's not really the point. Here's the point of this whole thing. You basically have two separate pictures of ways to live. He's giving us these two images, right? You have two identities that we looked at a second ago, right? The children of light and the children of darkness.

Now you have two separate ways to live, two different ways that people are out in the world living. The first one is the children of darkness. You know, they're just kind of sleepwalking through their life. They're spiritually sleepwalking through their life. They're walking through life like they're just drunk and it's at night. Like they may actually be drunk or they may not be drunk.

That's not really the point. The point is they're walking through the darkness, through the night, like they're drunk, and that's how they're approaching life. They're just sleepwalking on the life that God has given them. They're in spiritual darkness.

The other group, they're not spiritually sleepwalking. The other picture is like living with extreme amounts of purpose, flowing through your veins. Extreme alertness, sober-mindedness, in the daytime, all in and knowing exactly why they are walking through the earth. And the helmet and the breastplate, like just having gear, it just reminds them, anytime you put on a helmet, you're like, okay, I'm in a pretty serious situation here. Like you can't just be like chilling and have a helmet on.

And I think that's the point. Like there's just a seriousness that comes with having gear on. And that's people that know their purpose in life. Like they're just filled up with what God's doing.

Kind of a funny example of this, some of you guys know Jonathan Yarbrough, he's one of our executive pastors of Sending, and if you've ever been around Jonathan, he's just filled up with life. Like normally I love it, but like if you're with Jonathan in an early morning meeting, it's just like sometimes he comes in the room and it's just like you just like slow it down, man. Just like, just chill out a little bit.

Like it's not even lunch time, just like pack it up. But that's the image I get in this verse of somebody that is just so alert, so sober-minded, they know exactly why they're here on this earth. And they're just like ready to go. Like they know their purpose. They know the purpose is like, man, making disciples, loving God, that's why I'm on the earth, loving others, glorifying God, being on mission for God.

And this life of living on purpose, it should be marked with joy and excitement and just like ready to go. And the gear I think really pictures it, right? Like you could just imagine, right? Like if you're a soldier and yeah, maybe you can like take a break in the barracks or whatever, but when you got the gear on, like you're probably not just like chilling. Like when you got the gear on, it just, any of you that have ever played football, it's the same way. Like you're sitting on the, you strap the helmet on and you got the chin strap on, like it may be joyful, it may be fun, but you realize like, man, I got this thing on for a reason.

Like there's just a seriousness that comes along with it. Our executive team, we had the opportunity recently to go zip lining and I'm not a huge fan of stuff like that. I'm not afraid of heights, but like I just imagine, man, Google zip lining accidents. I just know some stuff will come up, right? And so when they were strapping the gear.