I Thessalonians 4:13-18 – “We Know”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹³But I am not wishing you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning the sleeping ones in order that you may not be grieving just as also the rest, the ones not having hope. ¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and rose up, thus also God will bring the sleeping ones through Jesus with Him. ¹⁵For we say this to you by [the] Word of the Lord, that we, the living ones, the ones left behind into the coming of the Lord, absolutely shall not preceded the sleeping ones, ¹⁶because the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven in a loud command, in the voice of an archangel, and in [the] trumpet of God, and the dead ones in Christ will rise first, ¹⁷then immediately we, the living ones, the ones  left behind, will be caught up together with them in [the] clouds into meeting of the Lord into [the] air and thus we will always be with [the] Lord. ¹⁸Therefore, comfort one another in these words.

This of course is one of the “glorious” passages of the New Testament. We call Jesus’ Return “the Blessed Hope.”

The truths presented in these verses are so familiar to believers they can be almost cliché. “Of course,” someone may say, “We all know all of that.” But that is precisely what I’d like to comment on. Before I do that, let me say that every single line of this passage has been studied and exegeted and commented on by hundreds, if not thousands of speakers and authors. I would also like to suggest that the truths presented, if they are taken at face value, are so clear there really is little room for any variety of honest interpretation. It just says what it says. So I have found little value in making any exegetical comments of my own.

But back to our idea of “cliché.” Today, even amongst unbelievers, everyone says at funerals, “He’s in a better place.” We fail to realize that throughout most of earth history and in most cultures of the world, death holds no such comfort. There have been the “Happy Hunting Grounds” and “Nirvana” and such, but too many people have held there is no resurrection at all, no afer-life, and when they did, it was either something less desirable (like being re-born as a cow), or something totally uncertain (the grand “hope-so” of human afterlife).

Again, here we are in 21^st century America and even unbelievers have this hope of a blissful after-life. Its likelihood is even promoted by the plethora of accounts of people who say they died and returned – the Near Death Experience people. But where did this certain, hopeful, blissful view of eternity come from? At least in our culture, I think I can say it is almost entirely Christian in origin, and may I add … much of that certainty and hope comes directly from the words before us in the little book of I Thessalonians. No other passage – even in the Bible itself – presents such an array of hopeful truths like this one.

Back to the problem of cliché – stop and think for a minute, what if this passage were not in the Bible? What if it simply wasn’t there for you and me to read and cling to? Would that not be an unthinkable loss?

For myself, my studies of the passage have been somewhat of a rebuke, for letting its truths settle into the quality of cliché, for letting myself take them for granted, for not pausing to thank God for such unspeakable kindness, that He should draw back the curtain of our future – specifically for that purpose that we ourselves might be comforted and that we might be properly prepared to comfort one another.

He didn’t have to do that.

But He did.

I love how Paul inserts (v.15) that he is saying these things, “by the Word of the Lord.” In this world of uncertainty, where no one really knows anything for sure, we Christians enjoy the unspeakable gift of God’s inerrant Word. We enjoy this Rock. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God shall stand forever” (Isa 40:8). And of all the subjects we might ponder, can I remind us that death is the one that absolutely defies our scientific observation. Science requires the analysis of observed data, but we have no eyes to see beyond the grave. I know someone will insist the Near Death Experiences are a form of scientific observation, and perhaps they are, but the whole matter depends completely on people’s anecdotal testimonies and as such they are subject to considerable and justifiable skepticism. I’m not saying they’re not true, I’m just saying they’re pretty thin science. My point is only that even those stories bear no such unassailable certainty as our “Word of the Lord.”

We too easily take for granted that, as believers, we get to spend all day every day in the calm assurance that we “know that we know that we know.” We know that our deceased loved ones in Christ are with Him in glory. We know He is coming again. We know they will be raised and come with Him. We know that we will meet Him together in the air with them, and all of us together with be with Him forever.

We know.

Thank you, Lord, for so kindly sharing with us these blessed truths and allowing us forlorned sinners to actually live in hope, to face death with hope, to live life with hope.

I Thessalonians 4:11,12 – “Shhhhh”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

… But we are urging you, brothers, to abound more and more, ¹¹and to make it [your] ambition to be quiet, and to mind your own [business], and to work with your hands, just as we commanded you, ¹²that you might walk becomingly toward those outside, and [that] you might have need of nothing [or no one].

I have moved on and am studying vv13-18, the great Rapture passage, but my mind is still swirling with this idea of quietness. So while I’m studying the next few verses, I’d like to record some of the thoughts still going through my head.

This has sure been a much more pleasant way to live life – quietly. As I’ve related before, I’ve always been an incorrigible worry-wort and didn’t know any way to work except in a froth. In the last year, the Lord finally helped me to put away the worrying and just trust Him. Then in studying verse 11, He finally taught me that I can work hard – even very hard – but stay quiet inside. Wow, what a different world!  When something happens or some thought troubles me, I’m learning to tell myself, “Shhhhh.  Be still, my soul.”

When I’ve stilled the “froth” problem, one of the first things I’ve noticed is that there is a lot of other “noise” going on in my soul. I think the worry and froth has always been so loud, I didn’t even hear all the other noise going on inside of me. But having stilled those sounds, suddenly I’m very aware of the other “noises” of things like discontent, fear, displeasure, and so on. I am enjoying telling those noises “Shhhhh,” as well. Back to the old Kung Fu television series, Master Po asked young Caine, “Do you hear the grasshopper at your feet?” Caine replied, “Old man, how is it you hear such things?” Po replied, “Young man, how is it you do not?” I’m also reminded of when my grandmother got a hearing aid. I asked her, “Can you hear a lot better?” She replied, “Oh, yes. But what I notice most is the little sounds I haven’t heard for years – like a the ticking of the clock. I didn’t even realize I didn’t hear it anymore.” I would suggest there is much to “hear” in this world but the other noises of life drown it out.

Which brings me back again to this simple little thought, “Make it your ambition to be quiet.” As I’ve been pondering this and enjoying exercising it in my life, a number of other passages in the Bible have stood out to me.

In contrast to our American model of endless insanity – even in church ministry – Elijah had to learn that “God is not in the tornado.” In I Kings 19:11,12, we read, “The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” “A gentle whisper.” The “still, small voice.” God is not in the tornado. We imagine that if we can just get enough activity going on, if we just didn’t have to sleep, we’d see glorious accomplishments. But God is not in the tornado. It’s like the old Amish saying, “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.” Tornados and earthquakes and raging fires may all seem very exciting, but, as Elijah (and us) needed to learn, “The Lord is not in them.” I wonder how much we actually do not get done living in our self-made tornadoes – how much we perhaps miss the things that were really important? I would suggest we’ll never know the answer to that question until we learn what it means to “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Speaking of that verse, yes, it is in the Bible. Psalm 46:10. “Be still and know that I am God.” “Be still.” That is exactly what I’ve been learning. God has it all covered. He can handle it. I don’t need to worry because I know who’s running it all. But then I notice this same thought comes up over and over. Jesus called people saying, “Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt 11:28-30).

And back in Isaiah, He told us, “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, …’” and “The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest” (30:15 & 32:17,18).

“The fruit of righteousness will be peace.” “In quietness and trust is your strength.”

I’ve never noticed how much the Bible talks about quietness.

That’s probably because of all the tornadoes I created.

This is sure a whole lot more pleasant way to live!

One last crazy thought bouncing around in my head – I wonder, if we learned to quiet our own souls, would we start to hear the noise in other peoples’? I’ve noted for years how the Bible calls us to “Rejoice with them that rejoice and weep with them that weep” – and thought to myself, “That means we need to realize they’re rejoicing, realize they’re weeping” – and then wondered how much of that I just simply miss.

“Old man, how is it you hear these things?” “Young man, how is it you do not?”

Shhhh. Be still, my soul.  

I Thessalonians 4:11,12 – “Better”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

… But we are urging you, brothers, to abound more and more, ¹¹and to make it [your] ambition to be quiet, and to mind your own [business], and to work with your hands, just as we commanded you, ¹²that you might walk becomingly toward those outside, and [that] you might have need of nothing [or no one].

Without a doubt, this idea of quietness is the bombshell I’ve learned from this passage. As I look at the rest of vv11,12, I think everything else these two simple verses say is of monumental importance, but nothing more jumps out at me personally right now. I didn’t catch this helpful idea of quietness the first time I studied through this book, so probably if I live long enough to ever study through it again, something else will be particularly helpful. Even though nothing else jumps out at me personally, before I leave the passage, I’d like to record some thoughts that might be helpful to my grandchildren or anyone else who might stumble across these feeble scratchings.

“Mind your own business.” What a simple, almost cliché thought, yet, if people took it seriously, it would transform the world overnight, would it not? Somehow, early in my Christian life I learned to constantly ask myself, “Yes, but what are you doing, Don?” Everywhere one looks, at work, at home, at church, it is so easy to see everything everyone else needs to change. “Yes, but what are you doing, Don?” “Mind your own business.” The truth is every one of us has more than enough to do if we’d just mind our own business – be what we should be, do the things we should do, get done the things we should get done. It is a waste of our energy to spend any time at all stewing over what everyone else should be doing. The Bible often condemns people who are meddlers and gossips and tersely informs us, “So then, every one of us shall give an account of himself to God.”

“Work with your hands.” Some people think this is some kind of call to “manual labor.” I’d like to suggest otherwise. I would like to suggest that, no matter what you do, you use your hands. Even the wealthiest CEO makes phone calls, signs papers, etc., etc. I would even suggest it is almost always true that, if we’re working, our hands are probably doing something. People who are doing nothing with their hands probably are doing nothing. Nothing any good, any way. One could almost ask the question, what has the Lord given my hands to do? And then make sure I’m about doing it. I think about the verse in I Cor 7:24 where we’re told, “Each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.” The issue in that context is whether people are slaves or free, but I think it applies in general, that we are where we are, doing what we do, because that is what the Lord has given us. The point then is, when a person is saved, most likely they should just continue doing whatever they did before, only now of course do it for the Lord. The question for each of us is “What is that?” “What is it I do?” Once again, it will be one way or another something that engages my hands – and the Lord would tell us, “Get busy doing it.”

I very much like the verse in Col 3:23: “And whatever you do, do it with your whole heart, as for the Lord, and not for men.” “And whatever you do.” “Whatever you do.” One of the wonderful things about Biblical Christianity is that it ennobles every man’s occupation. The king on his throne and the garbage collector alike can read Col 3:23 and know that what they do is important to God. And if it is important to God, then it is important to do it well. It matters.

“Just as we commanded you.” In Paul’s short time at Thessalonica, he had instructed these young believers about the importance of their work. It’s too bad the subject doesn’t even get mentioned from the pulpit today. Which leads into the first thought in v12:

“That you might walk becomingly toward those outside.” The NIV translates it, “So that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders.” There is only one thing the Bible specifically says “adorns” the Gospel, and that is our work. In Titus 2:9,10, it says: “Teach workers to be subject to their bosses in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.” The old KJV put it, “… that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.” Based on this Biblical admonition and my own personal observations, there is nothing that either commends or disgraces the Gospel like believers’ work. I would suggest it’s true that people may care nothing for Heaven or hell, may care nothing about morality or truth, but they will highly value a person who simply does good work.

It is an interesting observation that, even in the most debased cultures, still the principles of good work are Christian principles. Everything a worker should be is something any thinking Christian should be: hard-working, honest, dependable, obedient, considerate, etc., etc. With or without the Bible, everyone knows those are the things a good worker should be. When, then, a person calls himself a Christian and isn’t those things, it brings the Gospel into great disgrace. On the other hand, when a person is those things and others see it, it often gives them pause. I heard once how, during one of the Roman Christian persecutions, a commander was ordered to execute his soldiers who were believers. “But they are my best soldiers!” he objected. I heard once how a church in the old Soviet Union wanted to build a building but could not get a permit since they weren’t an “approved” church, so they went ahead and built anyway. A local magistrate was asked why he didn’t stop them and he replied, “They are the best workers in our community. If they want a building, I certainly won’t stop them.”

That is the effect God wants our work to have – that it should “adorn the Gospel” – that it should gently, quietly break down people’s opposition to Jesus’ message and make them willing to at least give it a hearing. That is the effect it would have, if only believers everywhere could just quietly go to their jobs and do good work.

“…and [that] you might have need of nothing [or no one].” This is an interesting twist. We’re so used to the Gospel being about helping people, we probably don’t think enough that Jesus actually puts a premium on each of us being people who don’t need help! I have found in life one of the difficult lessons to learn is the grace of receiving – of being willing to let people help me when I do need it. But I don’t know that I’ve ever thought much how it is actually God who wants me to live in such a way that I don’t need others’ help, that that should be my intent. It’s very American of course to be independent and not want others’ help, but that is not what we’re talking about. This is God stuff. In God’s world, it’s like “Okay, if you do need help, be humble enough to let others help you, but, in general, be a good worker, manage your own life, and be a person who doesn’t have to depend on others." I think if we let it be a God-thing, then we’ll have the humility to accept needed help while at the same time being people who are sincerely trying not to need it to begin with. That thought is probably worthy of a few hundred applications, but perhaps having said it is enough for today.

What an awesome two verses. No one but our God could pack that much genuinely helpful, practical guidance into two simple verses. I pray that somehow, having pondered them, they’ve infused something of God’s truth into my heart and made me better.

I Thessalonians 4:11,12 – “Learning Quietness”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

… But we are urging you, brothers, to abound more and more, ¹¹and to make it [your] ambition to be quiet, and to mind your own [business], and to work with your hands, just as we commanded you, ¹²that you might walk becomingly toward those outside, and [that] you might have need of nothing [or no one].

Wow has this been a fun week. I have really enjoyed doing my work while trying to stay quiet inside. It is DIFFERENT, for sure. In some ways I feel like I just stepped out into air. On the other hand, it is a very secure, confident thing, knowing this change was drawn from the wells of grace. The same Lord who tells me to be quiet also says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart.” As always, His truth comes with a very sweet sense of balance. It doesn’t make us cuckoo. It makes us better.

I hope it’s not true that I just happened not to be that busy this week. I don’t think that’s the case as I had days where, as usual, work seemed to come in faster than I could do it. But this week I just tried to stay quiet inside and keep pulling out the next thing, working on it as much as I could or as much as I actually needed to, then moving on to the next thing. I believe I was able to leave on Friday with things under control. I was able to “get things done” while I think I really did manage to stay quiet inside most of the week.  Time will tell, but my heart tells me this is real, that it is a grace change.

The wonderful thing is when changes like this really do come from the Lord. As I mentioned above, He really does keep things in balance. I recently happened upon some clips from the old 70’s TV show “Kung Fu” with David Carradine. I was reminded how he portrayed how orientals typically value a quiet spirit. Being “quiet” inside or “serene” is of course very oriental, being taught in things like Yoga and Transcendental Meditation, etc. Carradine’s character Caine was a Shaolin monk and always stayed very calm, even when he was karate chopping some bully or thug. I am thinking we all find this oriental idea very attractive, but we never quite know how to pull it off and still get anything done. We can’t see how to accomplish the balance. I guess what I’m saying is that I feel like that is exactly what the Lord has taught me – how to do both. So maybe the next time I am karate chopping some bully or thug, I can do it quietly(!).

I have very deeply enjoyed reading the comments of the old Reformed pastors. Today’s commentators just rush by these verses and see little to comment on. The old guys went on for paragraphs! There was a time when the church valued the quiet hard work of common people and, when they came across verses like this, they had much to say to commend them. It is sad that we have so totally lost that. It is interesting to me too to read the thoughts of people who lived in a culture that could see through our American fascination with frenzy. One old guy was discussing how this very resolve to hard-working quietness leaves one balancing between “idleness” and “busy-ness.” Surprisingly, he said, “I’d rather err to the side of being idle than of being too busy.” That statement itself almost caught me off-guard. It is down-right unsettling. “Err to the side of being too idle???” Ye gads, Heaven forbid! We can’t risk the possibility of letting 20 seconds slip by without cramming it full of busy-ness, can we??? … or can we? Maybe he’s right. Maybe in our mad rush, we end up doing less than we really could have. Maybe we miss the things that really should have been done. Maybe we miss what really mattered after all.

I’m reminded of Louie L’Amour’s words, “The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you miss everything you’re traveling for.”

Another quote comes to mind, “Time is significant, but the realization it is unimportant is the gateway to wisdom.”

My daughter Esther spent two or three weeks in England recently as part of a sort of mini-exchange student situation. She is actually a teacher and was one of the adults taking a group of middle-school students to England to actually attend their school and see how they do things. One of the things that amazed Esther was how they are always taking breaks. Always. Constantly. Several times a day. She observed that their culture simply isn’t in a hurry. I remember hearing that, thinking to myself it is probably a far better way to live, but not knowing how to be like that and still get anything done! With the teaching of I Thes 4:11,12, I think I am beginning to understand.

As I’ve studied, I even ran across a quote from a most unlikely source, The Advanced Textbook of Geology:

Here, then, [in the quiet action of wind and waves] we may observe great effects produced without fuss, and we may easily observe, in the phenomena of social life, that there are plenty of illustrations there of the same principle. The whirlwind of revolutions and hurricane of insurrections have no doubt produced startling consequences. But the influence of noble ideas, spoken by undemonstrative men, or embalmed in unpretending volumes, and of pious lives lived in seclusion, has produced a far greater effect upon the civilization of the world than all the blustering storms of war raised by kings and factions and reverberating through history.

That obviously is not an American textbook!

Such good truths to learn!

God is not in the tornado. I’d like to write a book with that title.

All very, very interesting to me.

This is fun!

I Thessalonians 4:11,12 – “Quietness and Minding My Own Business”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

… But we are urging you, brothers, to abound more and more, ¹¹and to make it [your] ambition to be quiet, and to mind your own [business], and to work with your hands, just as we commanded you, ¹²that you might walk becomingly toward those outside, and [that] you might have need of nothing [or no one].

Interesting here that the Lord tells us to “make it our ambition” to be quiet and to mind our own business. It is a good thing with the Bible to pause over words and ponder them. In this case, I’m looking at this word “philotimos.” “Make it your ambition” is a good modern translation. The old KJV translated it “study.” The word expresses the idea that I have set my heart on some goal and that, with determination, I steadily work toward it. It almost always has a positive connotation.

What if we were to do a “fill in the blank?” What if we asked ourselves, or a whole group of Christians for that matter, to fill in the blank, “God wants us to make it our ambition to __________.” What would you write in there? Would we not all be surprised to hear that the correct answer was “to be quiet and mind your own business?” Really? I can almost hear the “Yeah, buts.” No “yeah, but.” That is God’s answer.

Looking at this verse, I ran across an interesting quote from an old English minister, H. J. W. Buxton: “In religious work preeminently we are called upon to be quiet. There are some Christians who make a great noise. Their religion seems to be formed on the model of the earthquake, and the whirlwind, and the fire, and knows nothing of the ‘still small voice.’ They have to learn that in ‘quietness and confidence’ lies their strength. In these hurrying excitable days this is more important than ever.” Note he says, “Their religion seems to be formed on the model of the earthquake.” Would that not be a fitting description of typical “ministry” today? “Hurrying and excitable days.” I remember one older minister I knew who had seemingly lived his life like a tornado, supposedly because he was so ambitious for the kingdom of God. Yet he confided to me one day, “We have neglected prayer … and it shows.”

As Buxton quotes, God says, “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength” (Isa 30:15). I’m drawn once again to Martha and Mary. Martha was the living embodiment of Christian “ministry” today: busy, busy, busy, to the point she even told Jesus, “Make my sister help me!” Yet what was Jesus’ answer? “Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.” Mary “sat at His feet, listening to what He said.” In Martha’s eyes, her sister was indolent. “How can we get all this done, just sitting at His feet like that?” It made no sense to her – just like it makes no sense to us today. If something’s worth doing, then we need to be busy at it, even frantic – that’s how we’ll “get it done.” Yet God says, “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” “Be still and know that I am God.”

I can still hear the “yeah, buts.” I’m sure Martha was full of them.

Can I say at this point, this is exactly why I study the Bible? Martha’s mentality makes perfect sense – to all of us, I think. And that is what we honestly think is right. Yet, if we pause over the Bible and actually ponder what it says, we find it teaches quite the opposite. As Elijah had to learn, “God is not in the tornado.”

I’m sure, for myself, this is part of my problem – why, even at work, I think I have to live in such a froth. I think the way to get “a lot” done is to go at it like a prairie fire. I think of the words of F.W. Farrar: “Let us remember always that the world is in God's hands, not in the devil's, and not at all in ours.” “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” “For without Me, you can do nothing.” I’m reminded of Martin Luther who was reported to have said, “I am so busy today, I think I’ll spend three hours praying!”

“Be quiet and mind your own business.”

Yeah, but …

Sorry. No “yeah, but.” The Lord Himself tells us to make it our ambition to be quiet and mind our own business.

As I am trying to actually practice “being quiet,” one of the challenges I see is that other people expect us to live in a froth. Whether it is at church or at work, if you’re “really doing your job” you should be living at full tilt, busy from morning to night, feverish, even frantic. Being “quiet” runs the risk of appearing as if you’re doing nothing. Of course some people might say they’re being “quiet” when in reality they are in fact just lazy – but that isn’t what we’re talking about. I think it is a matter of learning how to stay quiet inside even as I do get done the things I must do. God still says, “And whatever you do, work at it with your whole heart, as working for the Lord and not for men …” (Col 3:23). God still wants us to be hard workers – again, I think the challenge is to learn to work hard while staying quiet inside. Working hard apparently doesn’t have to mean working frantically.

And of course there is the “mind your own business.” That is probably worthy of eight or ten posts of its own. But, for now at least, I feel like that is something I’ve been working on for years – to keep my focus on what I am or am not doing and not get frothed about what others might or might not be doing. I’m sure there is a great deal more for me to learn, but for now, and for myself, I know I really need to work on the “being quiet” part of this verse.

As I’ve said earlier, for me this last year has been a much more pleasant life, not worrying myself sick over every little disaster. But now, adding this element of “being quiet” has made these last few days even more pleasant. Can I say that these last few years I feel like I’m finally learning the things that really matter to God and the things that really change me very deeply from the inside out. The Lord is so good. As one young man exclaimed, “When the Lord got me, He got ripped off!” … Yep. Pretty much. But thankfully His name is Jesus, for “He shall save His people from their sins.” “He who begun a good work …” It is amazing to me how knowing Him, drawing near to Him, learning from Him doesn’t so much mean big, loud activity in my life, but rather the very slow, very kind, very gentle changing of the very depths of who I am, and changing me in ways that I myself am very thankful for – taking away my ridiculous immaturities and self-destructive habits. I only hope somehow I really am His message to the world written “not on stone but on the fleshly tablet of a human heart.”

He is soooo good. I wish everyone could know Him. Guess I’d better get busy “being quiet and minding my own business!”