Tanner UMC

Continue building each other up

Daily Scripture & Reflection from Cor.org

1 Thessalonians 5:9-11
9 God didn’t intend for us to suffer his wrath but rather to possess salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 Jesus died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him. 11 So continue encouraging each other and building each other up, just like you are doing already.

Reflection Questions

Remember Paul’s statement of core Christian faith in 1 Thessalonians 4:14: “we believe that Jesus died and rose”? God’s intention for us, he said, has always been “salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And how did God act to make that possible? We can write massive volumes analyzing all the dimensions of God’s action, yet Paul summarized it in the simple phrase “Jesus died for us.” Jesus already fought and won the crucial battle against hatred, evil and death. The issue now is not can we defeat evil—Jesus already did that. All that remains is for us to choose whether we wish to be “in Christ” and share in that victory. And we get to do that together, “encouraging each other and building each other up.” Then, whenever Jesus comes, “we will live together with him.”

Scholar William Barclay movingly shared Paul’s closing message in this section: “[People] were anxious to know when that day would come. Jesus himself bluntly said no one knew when that day or hour would be, that even he did not know and only God knew (Mark 13:32; cp. Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7). But that did not stop people speculating, as indeed they still do, though it is surely almost blasphemous that men should seek for knowledge which was denied even to Jesus …only [one] who lives in the dark and whose deeds are evil will be caught unprepared. The Christian lives in the light and no matter when that day comes, if he is watchful and sober, it will find him ready. Waking or sleeping, the Christian is living already with Christ and is therefore always prepared…. The [person] who has lived all his life with Christ is never unprepared to enter his nearer presence.”* How are you living, and helping others to live, prepared to meet Jesus?
Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank you that the Christians in Thessalonica asked Paul about your coming. 2000 years later, his answers speak to my heart, and help me know how to meet you trusting in your goodness, not my own. Amen.

* William Barclay, The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians (Revised Edition). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975, p. 206.