Keep Up the Good Work – 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

A text – 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

5:1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you.
5:2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
5:3 When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!
5:4 But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief;
5:5 for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.
5:6 So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober;
5:7 for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night.
5:8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
5:9 For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
5:10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.
5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.

A reflection:

Paul’s letter to the new Christians in Thessaloniki was written, I have been told, before any of the gospels. It is one of the earliest writings to a community outside Israel about the life of a community of faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus promised he would return, and in this letter we see Paul encouraging the Thessalonians to live as though that return was coming soon yet at an unknown time. It takes diligence to keep up good, faithful behavior and solid spiritual disciplines so that the community would be found ready at the moment of Jesus’s return. But Paul was encouraging just that.

We belong to God. We have been deliberately saved from eternal death by the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul says. We don’t have anything to fear. God always keeps God’s promises. We just owe the world an image of what living with that certain knowledge ought to look like. It’s not a “Who cares? The end is near anyway” attitude. It is more about sharing the gifts we have, edifying one another, and encouraging good loving behavior among ourselves and the watching world.

In a sense, Paul is encouraging this community to keep up the good work. Are there ways we can do the same, and thus edify others around us, encouraging them to be their best and help the most? I want to look for ways to live out this calling to encouragement this week. I wonder what opportunities I will find, if I’ll just keep my eyes open for them?

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for giving us your promise of eternal life because of Jesus’s sacrifice for us. Remind us that we are the ones who can encourage hope and peace for our friends and family. Help us to see chances to share this encouragement wherever we go.  Amen.