The Coming of the Lord 1 Thess. 1:9-10 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
Every chapter in First Thessalonians has something to say about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. What is the benefit to us in looking for his coming? “Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” [1 Cor 1:7] improves our:
Service to God – 1 Thes 1:9-10 – because we are aware that he could come any day and so we are always ready and we are always involved in that thing we would want him to find us doing when he gets here – a teacher asked a friend of mine what he would do differently if he knew the Lord was coming in 24 hours – he answered, “Nothing.”
Ministry to others – 1 Thes 2:19-20 – because your hope and your joy is in seeing others in the presence of our Lord at his coming – so we minister to the lost to bring them to Christ – we minister to the saved to help them to grow and to reproduce.
Love of the brethren – 1 Thes 3:12-13 – we are to increase and abound in love one toward another [1 Thes 4:6-9] – when brethren love each other they will not defraud each other – when we love God, we will love each other – conversely, when we despise each other, we despise God – the anticipation of being together before the Lord as one encourages us to get over our differences here and to love each other the way we are going to love each other in the Lord’s presence, in true holiness.
Comfort in grieving – 1 Thes 4:13-18 – we don’t sorrow as others who have no hope because we know that our loved ones are at rest in Jesus and that we are going to see each other again in the future – we will be together forever with the Lord.
Sanctification of our spirit, soul and body – 1 Thes 5:23 – as in the case of our service to God, we are more concerned about our sanctification when we consider that Jesus could show up at any minute – learning about and anticipating the Lord’s return did more to help me start getting sanctified than any other doctrine in the Bible besides the judgment seat of Christ – and to this day this doctrine has helped me grow in sanctification.
Conclusion: this lesson covers five things in your life that are affected by looking for the coming of our Lord – perhaps one of these areas has been weak in your life and you will find that looking for the Lord will strengthen that area.