Sermon Snippet – Grief, Hope, and Hopelessness
INTRODUCTION – I Thessalonians 4:13-18 is a familiar passage about the promised return of God the Son, Jesus Christ. Today, let us especially focus upon verse 13: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them [who] are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others [who] have no hope.” I pray regularly for people who are grieving, and I think often of my own family members who have died. Such sorrow is a significant part of our lives.
1. WE DO GRIEVE
This verse does not mean that we do not grieve but rather that we can grieve differently. I do not adhere to the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) because we are complex beings and our sorrow cannot be divided into simple, separate levels. A strong argument can be made that grief is the strongest of our emotions. We remember the response of Jesus at the tomb of His friend Lazarus: “Jesus wept… Jesus therefore again groaning in Himself cometh to the grave” (John 11:35, 38a). Our Lord grieved even though He would raise Lazarus from the dead in just a matter of moments; He grieved because He knows the power of death in our lives. It is important to note that so-called soul sleep is not taught in Scripture. “Sleep” here is a euphemism for death. Philippians 1:23-24 presents an absolute disjunction for each Christian: “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” II Corinthians 5:8 also teaches that the Christian is either alive here on earth or with Jesus in heaven: “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” The larger context of today’s primary verse says of Jesus that He “died for us, that whether we wake or sleep [die], we should live together with Him” (I Thessalonians 5:10). We should also note the blessed expression “in Christ” in I Thessalonians 4:16, which means that we are united with Him. How could we be united with our Savior if the totality of who we are – the meaning of soul – were not with Him? A future resurrection body awaits each believer; in the interim, each believer is fully with Jesus, including in a recognizable body (Matthew 17:1-8 – Moses and Elijah are immediately known). This reality is comforting, no doubt. Yet we are currently separated from ones we love, and thus we sorrow. We must.
2. OUR HOPE IS BASED ON FACTS
Biblical hope is not a perhaps, not a maybe. It is a soaring certainty grounded in evidence. The Bible is not, strictly speaking, a history book: it is a grand revelation of the character of God. However, everything in it is historical. For example, I Thessalonians 4:14 directs us to the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus – the best-attested events in ancient history. We have ample historical verification for the existence of Jesus. Archaeology also always supports the Bible. For example, the well-known Ebla Tablets (discovered in 1974) list cities found in Genesis 14 – cities that critics of the Bible had previously called mythical. The Dead Sea Scrolls, found in 1947, demonstrate that our Old Testament is an accurate transmission of the original writings. Fulfilled prophecy is a most compelling reason to have Biblical hope: there are more than 2,000 Biblical prophecies that have come to fruition. One simple example is Jesus’ birthplace in Bethlehem, predicted in Micah 6:2 and fulfilled in Matthew 2:1-12 and Luke 2:1-7; it was the decree of the pagan Romans that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem from their hometown of Nazareth. Certainly such a fulfillment cannot be chalked up to coincidence. There are other convincing reasons to have this Biblical hope, including the intelligent design argument, which also includes the irrefutable concept of irreducible complexity. The transcendental argument (not to be confused with the false teaching of pantheistic transcendentalism) is also philosophically elegant, confirming that non-physical things such as numbers, music, and logic exist. Our hope is not wishful thinking, for all evidence points to the authority and absolute truthfulness of the Word of God.
3. STILL, WE STRUGGLE WITH HOPELESSNESS
We are rightly concerned about the spiritual lives of those we love (others, too, of course). We yearn for the certainty of their salvation – a certainty that is all too often elusive. Two Biblical references are particularly helpful. The thief on the cross was saved at the last minute (Luke 23:39-43). Anyone viewing his life – and even his death – would have assessed his chances of eternal life in heaven as next to nil. Also, Jesus taught of “faith as a grain of mustard seed” (Luke 17:6). It would be wonderful if all of us had the bold, open faith of a John Wesley or a Billy Graham. However, even the faith of the most effective Christians begins as the smallest of seeds. No one is hopeless, and perhaps the seed of faith has already begun to germinate.
CONCLUSION – Yes, we sorrow, but we “sorrow not, even as others [who] have no hope.” A personal faith in Jesus changes everything, from our present perspective to our eternal destination. May each of us trust in Him, and may we continue to pray for others to be gloriously saved. Let us pray in hope.