Hope in Death, Sobriety in Life / 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11

Church, it is good to see you this week. If you are a guest with us, I want to welcome you to the Well Community Church. My name is Shay Sumlin, and I’m one of the teaching pastors here. I’d love to invite you to turn with me to the letter of 1 Thessalonians in your New Testament. We are continuing along in our series on this letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica, and we’re going to dive into a message on hope this week.

Statistically speaking, the average human can go about forty days without food, about three or four days without water, maybe four minutes without air—but we can’t go four seconds without hope. The fact is, all of us at some point in our lives experience times of hopelessness, emptiness, and despair. But perhaps none is greater than the kind of hopelessness that can come with the death of a loved one. If you’ve ever lost someone through death, you know what that pain and that sting feels like. There’s something about death that brings a crippling grief in the absence of the one who has left us.

Those moments of death serve as an opportunity to sober us up. They sober us up about the realities of life. They make us rethink our relationship with God and our relationships with people. They make us reevaluate everything that is precious to us. As a pastor, I’ve had the opportunity to officiate and attend many different funerals in this life. The one thing that is consistent across all of them is that there is some aspect of grief involved. Even when celebrating the longest, most faithful life, there is still a sense of grief that we have lost them. But there is a massive difference between a funeral marked by grief accompanied by hope, and a funeral marked by grief without hope. There is an eternal difference between those two, and hope is what changes everything.

Shaken Faith in Thessalonica

That brings us to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. In the previous section, the apostle Paul began instructing this young, persecuted church in a number of areas of concern. We saw how the gospel plays out in sanctification and spiritual growth in three specific areas: our sex lives, our love lives, and our work lives. But now, the scene radically shifts. Paul begins addressing concerns that are intensely personal and deeply eschatological—a word for how the end times will play out. Paul addresses how we live in present sufferings in light of a future hope.

It is almost as if the camera pans and we find ourselves attending a funeral in 1 Thessalonians 4. An unexpected death of a loved one has occurred. We don’t know the exact circumstances—perhaps someone was martyred under persecution, or perhaps someone died unexpectedly. But that death began to shake the faith of this young church, causing them to lose stability in two primary areas.

First, it brought confusion concerning future salvation at the return of Christ. Their assumption had been that Christ would return imminently, and that no believer would die before He came back. But now someone has died. So they wondered: What happens to a Christian who dies before Jesus returns? What happens beyond the grave?

Second, they experienced confusion about the future judgment coming with the return of Christ. How should a Christian live in the meantime against the backdrop of an unbelieving world that mocks the idea of a returning Savior and a coming judgment? How do we live as light bearers in the midst of a dark day?

Paul steps in like a faithful shepherd to guide and instruct them on what needs to happen for the Christian to experience two things: hope in death, and sobriety in life.

Hope in Death

Listen to the first half of this passage in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NASB)

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of [the] archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

There are two critical things we need to understand about the hope a Christian has in death based on this passage.

First, a misunderstanding or ignorance about the reality of life after death leads to unnecessary hopelessness and despair. In verse 13, Paul stresses that he does not want us to be uninformed about those who have fallen asleep, so that we do not grieve as those who have no hope. Three times in three straight verses, Paul uses the phrase “fallen asleep.” That is not a reference to “soul sleep”; it was a common euphemism in the ancient Greek language for physical death.

Grief is universal when we lose someone we love. But Paul is addressing a specific kind of grief: grief without hope. That is the despair felt by those who do not know Jesus Christ or who have no certainty about what lies beyond the grave. In the third century BC, the Greek poet Theocritus summarized the ancient worldview by writing, “Hope is for the living; the dead have no hope.” In other words: our only hope is in this life, because we have no idea what happens after the grave.

Our modern culture asks the exact same questions. What happens after death? Do we just disappear into nothingness? Do we become angels with wings and halos, like a Precious Moments figurine? Is it reincarnation? Do we become energy, or a Star Wars Force ghost? When you don’t have clarity on what happens to the soul and the body after the grave, it produces an unnecessary hopelessness that weighs heavily on the soul. It inevitably leads to grief without hope.

Paul says, “I do not want you to be uninformed.” For the Christian, we are not left to speculate because God has given us revelation. We know what happens to the believer in Jesus Christ after death. We will grieve, but we grieve with hope.

That leads to the second reality: an understanding of life after death brings full assurance of hope, even in the midst of grief.

1 Thessalonians 4:14 (NASB)

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

Paul roots our hope entirely in the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is the most crucial verse in the passage. The reason you and I can have hope in the midst of death is because we know someone who went into the grave and came out on the other side. What is true of Him will be true of every believer who is in Him.

That phrase “in Jesus” is Paul’s heartbeat. Because of the fall, we were separated from God. We were intended to live forever, but because of sin, death entered the world—and the human death rate is still holding steady at one hundred percent. But in His grace, love, and mercy, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to conquer sin, Satan, and death. When we take the trust we previously placed in our own self-sufficiency and transfer it to Jesus, resting in His finished work, we are united with Him. When we practice baptism, we symbolically demonstrate that our old selves have been buried with Christ and raised to walk in newness of life. If you are in Christ, not even physical death can sever that union. Just as He died and rose from the grave, so too will all who put their faith in Him.

Paul goes even further in verse 15, showing that those who have died in Christ take priority when Jesus returns.

1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 (NASB)

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of [the] archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

That phrase “the coming of the Lord” translates the Greek word parousia. Every Roman citizen understood that word. It referred to the official visit or arrival of an emperor, senator, or military conqueror. When a dignitary approached a city, trumpets would sound to announce his arrival. The noble citizens of the city would walk out beyond the gates to meet him on the road and escort him back in a grand procession, followed by the rest of the citizens celebrating his arrival.

Paul uses that exact imagery. When Jesus Christ returns, the very first people to meet Him will be every Christian who has ever died. The dead in Christ rise first. Your godly grandmother who went on to be with the Lord will be raised first to join Christ in His royal procession. Then, those who are still alive on the earth will be caught up together with them in the clouds. The Latin word for “caught up” gives us the word rapture—to be snatched up and united with Him.

As Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15, our corruptible, mortal bodies will be transformed into incorruptible, immortal bodies. We will be joined with the Lord forever. The Thessalonians worried that their deceased loved ones would miss out on the grand celebration of Christ’s return, but Paul assures them they won’t miss it at all—they will be at the front of the line.

1 Thessalonians 4:18 (NASB)

Therefore comfort one another with these words.

What Happens When We Die?

Let me settle a couple of foundational biblical truths about what happens the moment a Christian dies.

First, God is good and in sovereign control of the day we die. Death was never part of God’s original design; it is an intruder brought about by sin, and it comes with painful grief. But biblically speaking, no one dies “early.” From our human perspective, every death feels too early. But Scripture teaches that God holds our days in His hands.

Psalms 139:16 (NASB)

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained [for me], When as yet there was not one of them.

Hebrews 9:27 (NASB)

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this [comes] judgment,

Job 14:5 (NASB)

’Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.

Job 12:10 (NASB)

In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?

God does not have the word “oops” in His vocabulary. He has not dropped the ball. He is sovereign over our lives and our deaths.

Second, God is absolutely sovereign over what follows after we die. The moment a believer breathes their last, the soul separates from the body and goes immediately to be with the Lord. You have a body, but you are a soul.

2 Corinthians 5:8 (NASB)

we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

When Jesus spoke to the thief on the cross, He made this abundantly clear.

Luke 23:43 (NASB)

And He said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.’

Jesus said “today”—not thousands of years from now after an unconscious sleep, and not after spending time in purgatory. The moment you die, your soul is in the presence of the Lord. When Christ returns, our souls will return with Him, our bodies will be resurrected and transformed into glorified bodies, and we will reign with Him for all eternity.

Revelation 22:5 (NASB)

And there will no longer be [any] night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.

At the funeral of a Christian, we do not have to despair in speculation because we can rest in God’s revelation. The promise maker is a promise keeper.

Sobriety in Life

In chapter 5, Paul turns a corner. If the destiny of the believer who dies in Christ is sealed and secure, the real problem is those who continue to live in rejection of Christ, assuming He will never return in judgment.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 (NASB)

Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.

The “Day of the Lord” refers to that culminating period in human history when Jesus will return to make Himself known to all creation, judging the wicked and consummating the salvation of those who trust in Him. It brings joy for the believer, but judgment for the unbeliever.

Paul warns that the unbelieving world lives under a false sense of security, saying, “Peace and safety.” In Roman culture, the Pax Romana gave citizens a false confidence that Roman power would always protect them. Paul says living without Christ and assuming judgment will never come is like being aboard the Titanic, declaring it an unsinkable ship. Destruction will come suddenly, like an iceberg in the Atlantic or labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape.

1 Thessalonians 5:4-8 (NASB)

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of [the] day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

Paul warns us not to be lulled into spiritual apathy or mission drift. The world lives in a drunken stupor, chasing the cravings of the flesh while spiritually asleep to God. But we are children of the light. We know what is coming, so we must live like it.

Ephesians 5:15-17 (NASB)

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

We must put on the armor of faith, love, and the hope of salvation, remaining alert and sober-minded.

1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 (NASB)

For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

Living in Light of His Return

This is the balance of the Christian life: hope in death, and sobriety in life. We do not need to fear the grave, because King Jesus has conquered the grave for us. But we must be watchful not to live like the dark world around us, denying His return through our lifestyles.

If you were to die today, do you know where you would go? Do you know what awaits you on the other side of the grave? Only the person and work of Jesus Christ provides full assurance of hope beyond death.

1 John 5:13 (NASB)

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Jesus absorbed the wrath of God on the cross so that we could have true peace and safety. If you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ, transfer your trust to Him today. Lay down your self-sufficiency, your pride, and your own good works, and trust in His finished work.

For those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus, let this blessed assurance fuel us to live set-apart lives for His glory. In Psalm 90, after forty years of leading Israel through the wilderness and burying an entire generation, Moses penned these words:

Psalms 90:12 (NASB)

So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

May that be the testimony of our lives. May we understand why we are here, live in light of Christ’s return, and finish our race with hearts of wisdom.

Let’s pray.

Father, we thank You for this text. We need to be reminded of the living hope we have in Jesus Christ. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes that it is better to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting, because death is the destiny of every person, and the living should take it to heart. Help us to take this message to heart. Remind us that our present sufferings are not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us. Sober us up, Lord, so that we might boldly herald the good news of the gospel to a world that desperately needs hope. We pray this for Your glory and for the good of Your church. In Jesus’ name, amen.