1 Thessalonians 4:9-18

Title: The Quietly Victorious Life

Have you ever watched or been to a sporting even when nothing seems to be going right for your team? When it seems that every opportunity goes squandered and all the calls go against you? In those kind of games, the stadium can be fairly quiet. But then, just when everything seems hopeless, right at the end, a grand-slam or a miraculous touchdown, and Victory!  A quiet game ends with shouts of joy! That’s Paul’s encouragement to the believers in Thessalonica. They were discouraged because things didn’t seem to be going their way. The proclamation of the Gospel seemed to be drowned out by the noise of them mobs. Believers were dying, and they wondered when exactly Jesus was coming back. For they knew Jesus was coming back to deliver His people, but since they died was it too late for their loved ones? Why did Jesus seem silent? Were they going to start to fight back?

But Paul reminds them, and teaches us, not to mistake God’s quietness for unconcern. And don’t mistake living a quiet life as a sign of failure or insignificance. For our instinct is to fight in times of trouble, but Paul encourages them to persist in meekness. Our instinct in life is to try to make a name for ourselves, but Paul encourages the believers to be content to live the quiet life, for that is truly how we win.

I. Quiet Ambition in Life

Now in our passage from 1 Thessalonians, Paul says that our ambition should be to live a quiet life. In 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Paul tells this young pastor, “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”  This doesn’t mean we need to pray for leaders that agree with how we live, but simply a prayer that rulers would be content even to overlook us, so that we might live in a way that pleases God without negative attention.

And living a quiet life, does not mean living a lazy life. Paul encourages hard work. Starting in verse 11, he says, “work with your hands, ¹² so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” Work hard, but don’t make it your goal to make a name for yourself. Do the right thing, and be ok with little or no recognition or earthly reward. But if attendtion does come, continue to do the right thing even if you are vilified for it. Serve God in all you do.

Paul encourages this also in Colossians 3, beginning at verse 23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” In all things, we should work as if we were working for Jesus Christ himself. So the work we do, we should do it well.

On a couple different occasions, Jesus warns us not to measure our lives using the world’s standards. In Matthew 19:30, Jesus warns us, “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” God does not measure the significance of our lives the way the world does. The things the world values are often of no importance to God. And the things that God values are often mocked and ridiculed by the world. The world likes to be loud; it likes to try to drown out the good. It also tries to goad us into a fight on its terms and its ways, but Jesus tells us not to get caught up in the drama of the world. Keep your eyes on Him, so that you may live at peace even in times of chaos. Keep quietly going about your business, doing what the Lord has commanded. When the world tells you to hate your neighbor that you disagree with, serve them. When the world tells you have to fight, be a peacemaker. When the world tells you to shout for what you believe in, instead pray to the One you believe in. We need those quiet times of prayer to help separate us from the noise of the world.

For those quiet times of prayer teach us to rely on Him. We need to believe that if we simply do the things God has commanded us to do, that we can trust Him with the results. For the battle belongs to the Lord, and we, as His Soldiers, simply need to follow orders. Sometimes that’s hard when we can’t see the whole battlefield, but that is what it means to trust God. He knows what He’s doing.

And it doesn’t mean that our life will, or should be, boring. No, Paul certainly didn’t live a boring or unremarkable life. Martin Luther did not live a dull life, but they both lived a life of quiet ambition. They would’ve been content to simply proclaim the gospel in obscurity, to teach without controversy, but opposition found them. But they didn’t get dragged into a fight on the world’s terms, but kept running the race God marked out for them, with perseverance and patience, relying on the Lord to accomplish His purposes through them.

It is the quiet life of faith that will overcome the empty noise of the world and lead us to the Lord’s Victory.

II. Quiet Sleep in Death

However, the challenge of trusting in the quiet life is not just being willing to live in quiet hope, but Paul speaks of the biggest challenge to our faith in verse 13, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.”

When Paul speaks of the sleep of death here, he is not talking about our souls, but our bodies. For in death, by appearances, our bodies appear lifeless, asleep, and never to wake again, but faith teaches us something different. That in reality, our souls are still alive. And in this hope, we look forward to resurrection,  the return of the soul – and life – to the body!

Again, physically, it appears that death has won, for the voices of even believers lie silent in the grave. By what we can see and what we can hear, there’s no difference between believers and unbelievers who have died. And that can be discouraging. For we long to hear their joyful voices again, we long to hear their unmistakable laughter, but they are silent. And how difficult that is for us!

But yet, even in death, we have Hope. Sometimes it is hard to hear that hope through our tears, for yes, we grieve the separation we feel on earth, but in Christ, we know that this quiet sleep is temporary. We might wonder why can’t there be a distinct sign that shows us that they made it to heaven OK? Something we could see to differentiate the death of the believer from the unbeliever? But there is. For our Hope is based on nothing less than the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. God did give us that sign we could see. Our faith is based on something that was seen and heard by people on earth. And that testimony has been passed down to us in the New Testament.

Luke states at the beginning of His Gospel, and John at the beginning of his epistle, that their messages are based on what was seen and heard about Jesus. And His resurrection is the guarantee of our resurrection. So our hope, our faith, in the unseen – that we and our loved ones shall live on after death – is based on the seen. That Jesus did arise from the dead, and His resurrection was seen, heard, and attested to by many.  And Jesus has promised that those who have died in the faith are not forgotten. That He is with them, that they are with Him, and they are always first on His mind. For Jesus promised that when He returns, He will not come alone, but He will come with His angels, and He will come with all the Saints that have gone before us. And in that moment, the time for quiet faith will be over!

III. Shout of Victory!

The time for modesty, the time of meekness will be over. For when Christ returns it is time of loud celebration! ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Faith is no longer hidden, but revealed. Our Victory, and the Defeat of those opposed to God will be evident and obvious. It will be shouted throughout the heavens; the proclamation of the vindication of God’s people will be unavoidable. The voice of Evil and the noise of this world will be instantly silenced. So do not mistake the noise of the world as a sign that evil is winning or more powerful. For the noise of the world is not a sign of victory, it is a sign of desperation. The Devil is not advancing, instead he is frantically, desperately trying to buy time and drag as many people down with him as he can. For the reality is, unlike that game with the improbable ending, God has already won! And Satan’s fate, and the fate of all those who persist in opposition to God, is already sealed. And the reality is, unless people turn to Christ in repentance, they are doomed.

But they don’t have to be. For the moment a person turns to Christ, they are set free. They, too, are given the promise and the hope that on that day they will be set free from every enemy and hardship; the eternal reign of Christ is at hand!

We should live in that joy today, for that victory is just as real to us, even if it is cloaked in quietness! For the end has been declared from the beginning. On that last day, Jesus will stand as the Victor, and all those who follow Him, all those who are content to follow His game plan, will share in His eternal reward. And that celebration will have no end. Even if it is hard to see or hear now, in that moment all our prayers will be answered – prayers for healing, reunion, peace, forgiveness, and every blessing – all of it will be realized.

For, “we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another,” and be encouraged, “with these words.” Amen.