“Living Out of Hope”

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

It’s interesting that today we surround this text with an apocalyptic text from Luke, and an Old Testament text that prophesies the return of God’s people to Jerusalem, after they have been banished to Babylon. Of course, part of the reason this text ends up here is just the way the lectionary is constructed – while the Old Testament and Gospel readings are tuned to the day of the liturgical calendar, our Epistle texts aren’t – they are generally consecutive readings, reading through the selected Epistle from beginning to end.

It is interesting, however, how often the Epistle lesson fits in with the other texts, and that is certainly the case today. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is telling the disciples that there will be signs in the heavens and on earth that will be profoundly troubling, so that many will lose heart and lose faith. In the light of all the problems they will face, they are to remember that these are merely birth pangs of the kingdom of God. When things get really bad, it only means that he is that much nearer.

The Old Testament text, from Jeremiah, puts a little more flesh on the promise part of the Gospel lesson. In the Gospel lesson, it is the hope of the fulfillment of God’s promises in Christ that sustains us. Jeremiah talks about that hope. He says:

" 'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

15 " 'In those days and at that time
I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line;
he will do what is just and right in the land.

16 In those days Judah will be saved
       and Jerusalem will live in safety.
       This is the name by which it will be called:
       The LORD Our Righteousness.'”

Our Epistle lesson today answers the question: “Then how shall we live, as people of hope. What does that mean for us in our gathered life?”

As Paul writes to the Thessalonian church, he speaks to a church that is very aware of Jesus’ promise that he will come again, soon. In fact, Paul spends a goodly portion of this letter talking about the hope these new believers have in him, that will find its ultimate fulfillment when he comes again to receive them to himself. In fact, a lot of millenialists focus on this letter as the center point of their theology. What they miss, is this other important teaching – how we are to live in light of the hope we have in Christ.

After expressing the joy he has in their new-found faith, Paul says:

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.

As people of hope, in other words, our hope is first expressed in love for one another. For those who have no hope, life is every man and every woman for themselves. For the person that has no hope in Christ, that believes they are an orphan in this world, or a result of fate, there is little purpose in loving others. To love another is to put their interests above ours, their needs before ours. For the person who thinks they are living in a “dog eat dog world,” that seems like foolishness. And they are right – it is. It is a foolishness that has meaning only for those who believe that this moment is not all there is to life, who have the hope of continued life in Christ.

He goes on to say:

May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

In other words, in this in-between time, we need not only to live in hope, and live that hope out in loving one another, but we need to strengthen our hearts in love so that we might be “holy and blameless” in the presence of God. “Holy” and “blameless” go back to the same root as “righteous,” meaning “that which fulfills the demand of a relationship.” The word, “holy,” describes that relationship in regard to God – we are his “set apart” ones, those whom he has created for a relationship with him. The demand of that relationship is love – it is the life lived in love that makes us “blameless” and “holy” before him. The two sentences above go together. He is saying, “As our love is increasing and overflowing for you, let yours increase and overflow toward each other and everyone else, for that is what makes you blameless and holy in God’s sight. And as you practice this love, your heart will be strengthened even more in love.”

What is it that makes a Desmond Tutu – a person so full of love that you see it in their face, in their walk, in their words, in every fiber of their being? A person who has no hope must see such a person as foolish indeed, and their life as a waste of time, even if it makes theirs a little better. But to the person who lives in hope, that is the only kind of life that makes any sense. They are already living in the coming kingdom, making it present in their actions and attitudes.