Word of Salvation – Vol.41 No.19 – May 1996
Comfort One Another
Sermon by Rev. B. Hoyt on Lord’s Day 22 & 1Thessalonians 4:13-18
Scripture Readings: 1Thessalonians 4:9 – 5:11
Suggested Hymns: Psalter Hymnal 261; 175; 363; 22; 305:6-7
Beloved Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord our God is the God of all comfort. Not only does He speak words of comfort to us, but more importantly than that, He does mighty works which bring us comfort. He especially has given His only begotten Son, to destroy the very cause of all our misery, to destroy sin and to remove it from us and thus to bring us out from under its curse.
As Christians we are realists. According to the teaching of God’s Word, we take life very seriously, and we face life as it is. Not that we have great strength in ourselves enabling us to be realists, but the Lord our God teaches us, and in His grace sustains us, so that we might look at life as it is – so that we might see it in all of its ugliness and misery and, at the same time, be encouraged to live for the Lord in the joy of His blessings and salvation.
When we are faced with the reality of sin’s curse and with the misery of sin, we, by the grace of God, do not run and hide. We do not try to escape, but rather, we turn to our Lord again. We look to Him for our strength, as the Psalmist repeatedly instructs us to do. In the depths of sorrow, in all kinds of troubles and difficulties, the Psalmist turns to his Lord and is strengthened by his God. Even when his own soul bothers him, even when he has doubts about his own faith, he speaks to himself, directing himself to look to the Lord again. “O my soul, why are you disquieted within me?” “Hope in God,” he says.
So, when we are faced with difficulties and trials in our life, when, as a congregation of the Lord, we consider our present difficulties and our present sorrow, we might ask ourselves, “What is it that will give us comfort? How shall we be comforted?”
It is natural and proper for us as God’s people to look for comfort from the Lord. It is also proper that we should try to give comfort in loss and in trials. But as soon as we do that, we realise how unable we are in ourselves to comfort one another. What can we say? What can we do? We seem helpless; and yet, the command of the Lord is quite plain, “Comfort one another!” It’s not a suggestion, but a command! “Comfort one another!”
This command is given in the context of the grief and sadness of death. The apostle Paul writes to the Thessalonians, some of whom have lost loved ones; who are grieving because of their loss. They are grieving partly because of ignorance. As a result their grief is not as it should be. It is grief like that of the world. For this reason the apostle is concerned about them and writes to them so that they won’t grieve as the rest who have no hope. He writes so that their grief might be replaced by the hope of a Christian whose trust is in the Lord.
- We ought not to grieve as do unbelievers.
When the apostle commands us to comfort one another, he gives us what we need to comfort one another. He gives us the words to say. He tells us what we should set our minds on, so that we might be comforted. And therefore, he is able to tell the Thessalonians that they need not grieve as do unbelievers. That’s the first thing we should see from the text. “We do not want you to be uninformed, brethren.” It’s as though he says, “Why am I writing this? Why am I telling you this? So you won’t be ignorant. So that you won’t grieve about those who are asleep, as do the rest who have no hope.” We need not grieve as unbelievers do.
Now, that is not to say that it is wrong to be sad. No, not at all! The apostle doesn’t reprove them for being sad; but he instructs them so that they won’t grieve as do unbelievers. Their sadness is to be of a kind that recognises what God has done. It’s to be a sadness in which there is also joy.
Their grieving arose from a loss, the loss of members of the congregation whom they loved. In their ignorance they thought it was a permanent loss. They seemed to have the idea that since the Lord hadn’t returned they were gone forever! Therefore Paul instructed them so that they would know better and not grieve this way like unbelievers do, so that they would realise that the separation which death entails is only temporary, that the Lord’s victory means that the separation of death will be ended one day, that we will all be united with our Lord as His people and then our joy will be full.
Those who are in unbelief have no hope like that. They therefore cannot be comforted. Their grief is one which lasts and is never removed. It’s a grief that cannot be comforted because of the terror of God’s judgment, which all men know but which unbelievers try to deny.
The grief of unbelievers is a grief that results from the fact that they can’t face separation because it seems to be so final; it comes from their belief that death ends everything. To the unbeliever there is no explanation for death, no cure for it, and yet it is so wrong. These things lead the unbeliever to the kind of grief that allows no comfort, a grief which cannot be eased or removed. It leads the unbeliever to consider life as meaningless.
But the apostle Paul writes so that they will not grieve as do those without hope. The Christian is not one who says, “What’s the use?” No, he is one who turns to his Lord as he faces the separation of death. For that is what death is for the Christian. It is not final. Death does not have the last word. It only has a tiny little voice left. The apostle Paul is able to cry out against death and say in effect, “Death, where is your victory? You have no sting! You have only a tiny little voice left, for Christ has been raised from the dead. He is our Redeemer and we belong to Him.”
- The believer’s hope arises from Christ’s resurrection.
That’s the point of the apostle: “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.” Christ, the Anointed One, was sent by God to fulfil the great promise which He gave ages before in the garden of Eden – the promise that the seed of the woman would come to crush the serpent’s head. Bound up in that crushing was the defeat of sin and its curse, death.
There was no doubt amongst the Thessalonians that Christ was the seed of the woman. They believed that Christ was the Anointed of God, and they believed that His death defeated Satan and obtained for them eternal salvation. Their faith was in Him. But they didn’t understand all that this implied. Paul instructed them further, so that they would realise that not only does the death of Christ mean something for them. The resurrection of Christ means even more for them. It means that they, too, shall be raised in due time, that death has been defeated, and that the separation of death is temporary.
If Christ had not been raised, then, as the apostle says in another place, “…we would of all people be most miserable!” There the apostle says of himself, as a preacher and a witness of the resurrection of Christ, “…then I would be a liar and a false witness!” But no, Christ has been raised. And the apostle argues on that basis with the Thessalonians. There’s no question in their minds but that Christ has been raised. Christ is triumphant, the grave could not hold Him, and Paul wants to bring the implication of that home to them in order that they will not forget, in order that the application which he draws from it will be ever more firmly held by them.
We ought to consider, when we think of our Saviour, when we think of His death and of His resurrection: for whom did He die? Why did He die? Was it not to obtain salvation for that uncountable multitude of His chosen people, for all of His sheep? Did He die pointlessly, to no effect? No! He died in order actually, to obtain their salvation, to deliver them from sin and all its consequences, even death itself.
Consider, who is it that is justified by His resurrection? Is it not all who trust in Him? All who believe in His Word and rest their case in His hands? If we rest our case in His hands, do we not have the greatest hope that our case rests with the great Advocate who stands before God – with our great High Priest who cannot fail?
Will He let one of His own perish? Perish such a thought! No, He Himself said, while He still walked on this earth, “I am the resurrection, and I am the Life. All who believe in me shall never perish.” This He said just as He was about to work that mighty miracle of raising Lazarus.
Another time He spoke of Himself as the Bread of Life and of the implications this has for us. “All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that of all that He has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son, and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I myself,” — I myself, He says – “will raise him up on the last day!”
In John chapter 10 He speaks about Himself as the great Shepherd who cares for the sheep and who gives His life for the sheep. There He says, “I didn’t do this in vain!” Listen to His words. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish.” Consider the implications of the death and the resurrection of Christ. It means eternal life for us, who rest our case in His hands.
The proof that we shall be raised in due time has already been given in the resurrection of Christ – in the triumph of our Saviour over death. There is proof, certain and sure, that we, too, shall be raised!
Now I am very thankful, as a pastor, as a Christian, as one who is concerned about the things of God, that the resurrection of our Lord is recorded so plainly for us to read in Scripture. I am thankful that there are so many witnesses to it. Christ wasn’t raised in a corner. The resurrection of our Lord has many witnesses.
The apostle Paul, in that great chapter on the resurrection, 1Corinthians 15, names a long list of people who are witnesses of the resurrection of Christ. As the apostles went out through the world and bore witness to the resurrection of Christ, their witness was not denied, not even by those who denied its implications. They couldn’t deny the fact of the resurrection. Christ had indeed been raised from the dead.
Our faith, you see, is grounded in this great work of God in Christ. Our faith rests on the solid foundation of an historical act of God, something that God really did in our midst to obtain our salvation. Our faith is not the kind of faith which those in false religions would call us to have, faith in the words of some dead prophet or priest, which sound nice to the ear but don’t last. No, our faith rests in the work of God in history.
I want to caution you because it is possible for you to use this fact wrongly as you argue and persuade men concerning the faith. I’ve read the arguments of some who argue for the faith in this way, “If you can prove to me that Christ did not rise, then I will give up my faith.” Such a person no doubt meant to say, “my faith is as certain as the resurrection of Christ.” But in saying what he did, he exalted human reason above the truth and work of God.
You see, if someone can prove to you that Christ did not rise from the dead, you should not lose your faith. You should begin to question your own reason and his argumentation. Our minds are not to be set up over the work of God and the Word of God. We are called to believe the truth, to believe what God has done, and to rearrange our faulty logic when it gets mixed up.
The apostle Paul is not afraid to say, however, that if Christ had not been raised our faith would be in vain. But he doesn’t say, “If you can prove to me that Christ did not rise from the dead, then I will give up my faith.” No, he says, “Christ has been raised!” There is no doubt about it.
Let us not be ashamed to confess the Name of the only living Saviour, who has been raised from the dead. All the religions of the world have some kind of saviour, and every one of them but the true religion has a dead saviour, or one who will soon die! We serve a living Lord, who has triumphed over the greatest evil, death, the curse of sin.
- With the words of this hope we comfort one another.
It is with these words that we are to give comfort to one another. In our sadness of separation the words of comfort which we speak are like this: when Christ returns and when our time of service is done, then we shall all be raised and we shall always be together with our Lord.
We are to look at the Christian life, not through dark and sombre glasses, only seeing death as the end of everything. No, not at all! We are to look at life as service to a living and risen Christ. We are soldiers and the battle has in essence been won; and we are called to serve for a time and to remember that service as soldiers calls for separation.
During a war there are times of separation, the soldier has to leave home, and he has to go through many trials and much suffering to serve his commanding officer. God calls us to be soldiers and to endure separation for a time also. When our service is done, then there will be a great reunion. In the resurrection from the dead we shall all be gathered together and shall always be with Him.
Those are the two things we are to believe concerning the resurrection. Firstly, that we shall be with Christ our Lord forever. Is that your great hope? Is that what you long for and wait for? Lord, come quickly! Do you long to be with your Lord? May it be! May your service be to Him and may you count your separation from Him in the flesh a great burden, but one that you will bear only for a short time.
It is good that our Saviour is gone from us in the flesh. He said that Himself. “It’s better for you, that I go, for when I go I will send the Comforter and He will be with you, and He will lead you into all truth.” And, of course, it is as Christ poured out the Comforter upon His church that the church was filled with the power of God to be servants and soldiers, effectively extending God’s kingdom and destroying the works of Satan.
It is good that our Lord is in heaven, sitting at the right hand of God. It is good that He is absent from us in the flesh for a time. But it is not to be forever. For one day He shall return and we will be united with Him. We shall walk and speak with Him and never again will there be such a separation from our Lord.
That’s the first thing the apostle says that we are to believe as an implication of Christ’s resurrection. A second goes together with it: that we all, as God’s people, shall be gathered together with our Lord in the resurrection.
Yes, God calls us in the difficulties and trials of life to serve Him. And that often involves separation from those we love. It is appointed unto men once to die. But that’s not something we face with fear. That’s something we recognise as very temporary. We know it is part of the calling which the Lord has given us as His servants. And therefore, as Christians, as believers who have this great hope, we are not to grieve as those without hope. In our sadness and in our separation we are to rejoice that God has called us as His servants. Comfort one another with these words.
We are soldiers. One of the great tasks that Christ gives His soldiers, His church, is to take captives for Christ from Satan’s kingdom. To pluck branches, as it were, from the fire. As we comfort one another with these words, our thoughts are surely directed to unbelievers around us with whom we have contact, our unbelieving neighbours and associates, our unbelieving friends and relatives. For though we speak to them, as long as they remain in their unbelief, we are not able to give them comfort. They cannot receive comfort in their unbelief.
Let us plead the mercies of God for them. Let us plead that God may open their blind eyes and that, as we bear faithful testimony to His Word and to His grace, He may soften their proud hearts.
Let us ask God that He may humble us, that we should not fear men but that our eyes should always be upon our risen Lord and Saviour, and that we should bear that glorious message, that Christ has been raised from the dead, that death is defeated and has power no longer over God’s people.
So may we boldly proclaim these words of comfort. “We believe that Jesus died and rose again; even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus… and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
Amen.