Sermon for November 8, 2020 – Just Waiting

Today’s readings have a common thread: Waiting. As Christians, we wait with hope, knowing the Kingdom of God is coming and is at hand, but our waiting is no excuse to withdraw from the world.

Here’s my sermon on Amos 5:18-24 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 from Pastor Daniel Flucke, for St. Peter Lutheran Church in Greene, Iowa on November 8, 2020. Thank you to the National Lutheran Choir for permission to include their recording of “When Peace Like a River” in our online worship service video. The hymn is in the public domain. Find more from the choir at their website.

I found helpful this commentary from Jane Lancaster Patterson and this one from Margaret Odell, both at Working Preacher. 

Grace to you and peace from the One who was, who is, and who is to come, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

There’s a common thread about the theme of waiting running through all of our readings today, so as I was working on this sermon, I’ve been trying to come up with some example of waiting, some sort of illustration of the need for patience and what it feels like to wait, some great example we could all relate to, maybe something we were involved in but then once our part was completed, it took much longer than we hoped it would to find out the results.

I don’t know, but maybe you can think of something. Keep this idea of waiting in mind.

This First Thessalonians reading would have been a great lesson last weekend for All Saints Day, right? As usual in Paul’s letters, we get to listen in as Paul writes to a specific audience about a particular problem. Today, the problem at hand seems to be that Jesus has not come back yet.

The Christians in the early church had seen Jesus be killed and then rise from the dead on Easter, so they knew he had defeated the power of death, they knew he’d won the victory, but now they were waiting.

After Jesus ascended into heaven, they figured they had a little time to spread the good news and build the church, and in fact, the church had been growing quickly. The book of Acts tells us about the church’s witness and how more and more people were constantly being added to their number.

Now, these early Christians in Thessalonica expected Jesus to return soon in glory and get this whole kingdom of heaven thing kicked off. Jesus had said the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and they knew he was the king, so where was he?

And they waited, and they waited, and they waited. And years passed. And then a few decades. And these young, excited early Christians started to get a bit older, and some people in their congregation were even dying, which is not what they were expecting.

It’s not so much that they’re losing faith or giving up on Jesus, but they are concerned about their loved ones. What if Jesus comes back tomorrow? Will Grandma not get to be part of God’s kingdom because she died last week? For obvious reasons, this is distressing!

So in this letter, Paul gives some encouragement for their waiting, for this in-between time we’re still living in today. As he says, he doesn’t want them to be uninformed about those who have died, so that they may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

I love that verse, because I can’t imagine what it’s like to grieve with no hope. I truly don’t know how people process the reality of death without having faith in some sort of afterlife. Death and suffering are hard enough for us as Christians to cope with, and we have the promise of life beyond death. Our grief is real and it’s tough and it’s sad, but there’s always an element of hope for Christians. There’s always the promise of resurrection to cling to.

But these Christians, even though they believe in Jesus, they’re still wondering about their friends and family who have died already. So Paul writes to them and says, “Since we believe Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.”

God will bring along those who have already died. Death isn’t an obstacle for God. We who are alive—and of course, looking back two thousand years later we know they all died too, but Paul’s point’s still valid—we who are alive will by no means precede those who have died. You don’t get a head start into heaven if you’re still alive when Jesus comes back—and Jesus is going to come back.

It might be tomorrow, it might be another few years, it might be centuries or millennia, but Jesus is coming back to earth. The kingdom of heaven is coming. We know what we’re waiting for. We have hope and a promise to sustain us.

Paul ends this section by saying, “Therefore encourage one another with these words.” And I wonder, what kind of encouragement are we to provide? Because this can be read a few different ways.

Sometimes people interpret this passage and this idea of Jesus coming back to say something like, “Don’t worry, it’ll all work out in the end and we’re about to fly away anyway so who cares? Just get over your loss. I know this person you loved died and you’re sad, but cheer up! Jesus is coming back so it’s fine.”




If you’ve ever lost a loved one, you’ve probably gotten sympathy cards that hopefully aren’t quite so blunt, but that lean that direction, as if grieving somehow goes against Jesus’ promise to come back. A true statement intended to be faithful can be the opposite of encouraging. When you’re grieving, it’s not helpful when someone says, “Just get over it.”

We Christians are not called to belittle other people’s suffering and grief; as I feel like I’ve been saying for several weeks now, we’re called to keep perspective. Grief is ok. “Jesus wept” might be the shortest verse in the Bible, but it’s in there.

Going a step further, this passage has also been applied on a wider scale to other problems in the world. Some Christians don’t worry about climate change or pollution or following that first command to care for creation because after all, this planet is only our temporary home. Or, we don’t need to worry about providing food and vaccinations for everyone in the world, because if they die, at least they’ll be with Jesus. Passages like this have even been used to justify slavery, because after all, the suffering is only in this world, not the next.

What kind of encouragement is that? What kind of hope is that? Where’s the good news?

Our job is not to stay steadfast and faithful as the world gets worse and worse around us until Jesus swoops in to take us away out of the world. That might be a tempting theology, but it’s not biblical.

By the way, this First Thessalonians reading is one of the passages that’s been twisted into the idea of the “Rapture” the idea that before he comes back, Jesus is going to suddenly transport the faithful, pure Christians out of the world into heaven, and the rest of the world will be “left behind.”

But although that rapture theology is a good excuse for giving up on the world, it’s not what the Bible says. God so loved the world, enough to enter into its brokenness, not to abandon it.

When you find yourself tempted to fall into that trap of discounting whatever suffering or pain or injustice is happening in the world because it’s only temporary, put that in tension with the first reading from Amos.

The prophet Amos is clear: Our job in this time of waiting for God’s kingdom is not to gather in a holy huddle and shut out the bad things in the world and just worship God while the world falls apart. Instead, God in Amos says, “I despise your festivals and solemn assemblies and offerings.”

The issue is that the people of Israel were assuming God was on their side and would rescue them because they were saying the right words in worship, even though they’re ignoring the needs of the world around them.

They’ve looked around at the injustice around them, at the pain and the suffering in the world, and they’ve decided it’s not their problem. Better to just wait for God to take care of it.

God doesn’t like that idea. Instead, God says, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an overflowing stream.” God cares about justice. God demands we care about justice, about this world, about our neighbors.

There’s an old saying, “Don’t be so heavenly minded that you’re of no earthly good.” The encouragement I see from Paul to the Thessalonians and to us is that we don’t need to worry about the future.

Hold on to the promise that Jesus is coming back. Hold on to the promise that your citizenship is in heaven and this world is not all there is. But then use those promises as fuel to live in this world.

Faith sends us into the world, knowing our future is secure.

While we wait for the fulfillment of God’s kingdom, we’re told to keep awake, to not get paralyzed by the brokenness around us in the world. Instead of withdrawing and waiting, engage with those who are in need, with our neighbors who suffering or grieving.

Be with each other as Christ is with you. Serve. Love one another, as Christ has loved you. Encourage one another with these words.

And may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen