Well, you may have the feeling that at the moment you are just trying to get through the day. Or perhaps you've had that feeling before. You are just trying to get through the day. And perhaps when that happens for you, your solace is, your hope is that if you can make it to this evening, you get in your home and close the door, you can just breathe. Perhaps that's you. Perhaps it is if you can get to this evening, get through the day today and be with friends tomorrow, that will be your solace. Perhaps it is your hoping that just whatever's going on will be over and tomorrow is new. We just often want to get through the day. Many of us are weary and many of us are hurting. We said before in times of trial and suffering here at church, especially in this season of the pandemic, we just want to get through the day or this year. When it came to the pandemic for us, I think 2020 was a time when we thought if we got to the end of 2020, then things would be better. Then we'd have hope, peace, security, things like that. perhaps we thought 2021 would bring better days but it's been just as difficult for me and I know for you I think for us as humans for us as image bearers of God what helps us have hope is knowing there is an end date to suffering for some of us don't have end dates to that not immediate ones, but even when it came to the pandemic, for us, if we just knew there was a day when they said it would be over, a day when they said all restrictions are gone, the disease, the virus doesn't exist, a day when we could return to what it was like in 2019. We often live with hope if we know the future. It's hard to have hope when you don't know the future. It's hard to have hope when you don't have a day that you just need to get through so you can look forward to that day. God gives us that day in 1 Thessalonians 5. In 1 Thessalonians 5, as we walk through this letter written to the church at Thessalonica, written to us, God is speaking to us here in this book. God gives us a day that we can say, I'm just looking forward to getting through the day to that day and it is called the day of the Lord. As we read there, as Ryan read for us and you read along, we saw it there in verse 2 that we are fully aware of the day of the Lord. There is a day coming when all suffering trials, pandemics will be over. And today, let's hear God speak about it, let's talk about it. We need to encourage one another as we talk about this day. In the Old Testament, the context of the Day of the Lord was a day of judgment. So if you read through Amos and Jeremiah and books like that, the Day of the Lord was a day of judgment for not just the nations who were against God, but for Israel, for Judah, who had disobeyed God again and again and again. The prophets were sent and the Day of the Lord language was used to say, this can't go on forever. Evil is not allowed to have free reign forever. The day of the Lord is coming. The day of the Lord of course in the Old Testament also had a whisper. It had a whisper of rescue, a shadow of something to come and that points forward to the New Testament where we read Jesus' words in Matthew 24 that Amy read for us earlier. Where we read 1 Thessalonians 5, the day of the Lord language is picked up. It's picked up by Jesus, it's picked up by the Apostles, it's picked up here by Paul and it says for the church, through all times but particularly through times of suffering and the Thessalonians are asking because their family, their friends, their church members are dying. We saw last week they are, what Paul says, asleep. Dead to the world, yes, but asleep waiting a resurrection but now he talks about people who are asleep not because they're dead but because they're just not aware of that there is a day coming when God is going to make all things new, the day of the Lord. So when Paul writes these words, you have a look there in chapter 5 verse 1, he writes to a people who are hurting. He writes to people like us. God is speaking to us who are hurting and he says, concerning the times and seasons brothers and sisters, you have no need to have anything written to you for yourselves are fully aware the day of the Lord will come. He will come. See in verse 1, the times and seasons of the Lord, we don't really need to keep... Reading or writing anything about it, Paul says, because you know about it, although he will write, ironically enough. It's what he's done before. He says, before, he's written about love. The church, you know you want to love one another, right? Like, I don't need to write about it, but I'm going to, ironically enough, because it's good to keep reminding one another and encouraging one another. But he says here, you have no need for anything to be written to you, for you yourselves are fully aware. You're fully aware. How? Because if you've been listening to Jesus' words, we of all people reforming church are fully aware the day the Lord is coming. Thessalonians didn't have the New Testament as we know it yet. They didn't have the gospel accounts. They had the oral preaching of Christ's words. But we have the whole Bible, 66 books. And friends, you can't go through the Bible without stumbling across some sort of awareness of the Day of the Lord. Some sort of awareness that this is wrapping up. Our call to worship from Revelation 22 The last words of the Bible, if you've got no time to read the full Bible, and look, we still have time, you've got no time, just want to point out the last words of the Bible are, Jesus is coming soon. He's coming soon. We are fully aware, friends, when Paul writes like times and seasons, we are aware, you know, you're looking at the seasons or the times, when is this going to happen? Well Jesus says himself and Paul picks up the same language, he repeats what Jesus already said, it's like a thief in the night. In other words, you can't predict the exact moment. Often in the pandemic you kind of had to work out, can I go to Bunnings today? That's been a real big thing for many people. I know this because when I go to Bunnings, many people are at Bunnings. The car park is full of them reforming, non-pandemic season. It's just so full. But often I'm just like, can I go to Bunnings today? I'm just not sure if they're open or can I order food at that cafe or do I need to book ahead? And so what do you do? You Google it, right? And you Google it and you look for the opening hours. But no one Googles the opening hours of a thief. No one can go, what was the time that thief was going to rob me of that thing? Because you can't predict when that happens. I've only ever had one thing stolen from me in my life. Well, cancel out the school stuff when they used to steal my recess, but that's another story. But a legitimate thief in the night, and it was simply an aerial on my ute when I was 21. I woke up the next day, someone had cut the cord, going to the effort of every single layer being cut, that's quite an effort, I don't know why they did it so neatly, but they did, took it. Someone's stolen something from me. I've spoken to people who have had their homes broken into and it's a very invasive experience, it is unpredictable, it is awful, it is quick. Jesus says himself, Paul picks up the language like a thief in the night. You can't predict it. He also says, Paul writes, it's like labor pains that come on a pregnant woman. You know they're coming. When you meet someone who's pregnant, you know what is coming. There is a day coming when there'll be pain. But to predict the exact moment that happens, you can't. What is the point? The point is, verse 3, people might be saying peace and security, peace and security. People will plan their lives. But Paul's point is this, all the planning in the world needs to account that Jesus is returning to the world. The very words of Jesus himself mean we are fully aware friends. The point is this, You don't need to have it written to you because we, when we walked into church this morning or tuned in online, we of all people, believers in Christ, are fully aware Christ we will behold again. He is coming back. Now people may assume or presume we'll be ready. We may assume that we'll know when he'll come. Jesus himself says in Acts 1 verse 7, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, the language of Paul picks up here, that the Father has fixed by his own authority. We're not supposed to know those times and seasons but oh we love to entertain it don't we? Now it's good to think about absolutely and encourage one another, much needed, but to predict the time, the exact time and day and season that Christ will come is fraught with problems. There's a story that happened many years ago in Australia. There was a cult a cult is a following usually of someone that is unquestioned. That's what happens in a cult. So a church is different. A church is not a cult because the church is full of people that are different and disagree. We don't follow a single spiel or a line. You're able to have different opinions and we do it by all, including myself going to Jesus and seeing what he says in his word. But a cult is a dangerous place to be for a human being. It's a following that you cannot question. And so there was a cult in Sydney, where the cult leader predicted that Jesus Christ would return on this certain day. Now, if you know the words of Jesus and you're fully aware, you know there's going to be problems before we even hear the rest of the story, right? But here's what happened in the rest of the story. The cult leader predicted Christ would return. when these things happen of course the rest of us at the church we feel a bit awkward about it because you're talking about our Lord and Saviour and you're saying things that you shouldn't say but anyway he said that which attracted a lot of media attention and as the days went on and the cult stayed in their building selling all their possessions waiting for Jesus to return the days crept on and the number of journalists outside grew they waited and waited as cult followers left the building each day that Jesus hadn't returned. Oh the date was updated, it was tomorrow and then it was tomorrow, it was the next day and finally as all the Australian journalists waited, finally it was days later the cult leader walked out the door to leave the building and famously an Australian journalist walked up to him and As the cult leader cried and wept for his prediction didn't come true, the Australian journalist put his arm around the cult leader and said, cheer up mate, it's not the end of the world. Predicting the return of Christ, Jesus says, it's not for you to know. Can we please hear that and hear what is for us now? What is for us is to be ready for whenever that is. It's far better to belong to the day ahead, waiting for the day. rather than predicting the day. Belong to the day now. For the danger of predicting the day is, I'll wait until next week. I'll wait until 2012 when the end of the world will come. Of course, if you're waiting for 2012, it didn't work out that way. Who could have predicted we were going to have a worldwide pandemic and be in this situation now? We belong to the day, friends, verses 4 to 8. Look at verse 4. Paul is saying, we're not in the darkness, we're not like the world, which means we're not in the dark about this. We, of all people, know the great reality of the last day. Paul writes to reassure and comfort the Thessalonians. God is comforting us, Reforming Church, with two things. One, we will not be surprised. And two, because we are blood bought by Christ, born again by the Spirit, we, friends, are adopted by the Father. We're children of light. And what do children of the day, children of light do? We stay awake. We are ready for Christ's return. And notice this in verses 6 and 7. Look at verse 6. Look at how this is plural language. It's not individualistic. It's not for the individual Christian. It's for community. It's for the church. Verse six, for you are all children of light, children of the day, we are not of the night or of the darkness, so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night, but we belong to the day. Look at the language there, it's plural, it's community in contrast to verse 8. Verse 8 is about drunk people. What's the difference there? I'm not sure if you thought about this but it's something that I've been reflecting upon about the difference between being drunk or under influence of drugs or some other loss of self-control compared to community. Here's what I notice in my friends and perhaps even wider family circles. People who get drunk are the most individualistic people in the world. They're anti-community. Now, you might argue, but I get drunk with my friends. And that's where I really love each other. I say, I really love you because I get drunk and I have lost all my inhibitions. But actually, drunkenness is a very individualistic enterprise. It's about forgetting who you belong to. It's about forgetting who you really love or what you really hate. Drunkenness is such an individualistic experience of just losing self-control and forgetting and just trying to deny reality and deny community. Drunkenness actually sends us away from one another. It's self-isolating. And so when Paul writes, we're not like that. We are community. Let us stay awake. Let us be sober. And we can be friends. And we can be ready for the coming of the Lord because we belong to the day. And in verse 8 we have this contrast with people who are drunk and their head in the sand avoiding reality to those of us who are sober and awake who are putting on the armor of God. Notice the language there, it's very Ephesians 6. Paul writes Ephesians 6 and he says similar things, look at verse 8, we belong to the day, let us be sober having put on a breastplate of faith and love and a helmet of hope of salvation. It's the language of Ephesians 6, Paul gets the language really from Isaiah 11 and Isaiah 59, it's the coming of the Lord language, the Lord himself puts that armour, he is that one, he is that warrior who comes and he comes for his people who are waiting for him. who wait on the Lord. For God has not destined us for wrath, but rescue through the Lord who comes for his people. Verse 9, for God has not destined us for wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us so that whether we're awake or asleep, and that's the language of dead or alive, we might live with him. When I was growing up, I had the privilege of growing up in a church community because I grew up in a Christian home and I went to church whether I wanted to or not. And as a young boy growing up, we would have our morning services where it was going through a book of the Bible and our evening services always were focused on the Day of the Lord. Scary times for a kid. Approaching the Day of the Lord for me was a bit scary, a bit nervousness because it had a sense of danger of me missing out what I needed to hear as a child what our children need to hear what you need to hear is if you are nervous about the day of the Lord Jesus says to you truly truly I say to you John 5 verse 24 whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life he does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life You see, Paul writes, God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that if you trust Jesus in your life and death, because of his perfect life for your imperfect life, because of his propitiating death, satisfying the wrath of God, we are not destined for wrath, we will be delivered from wrath. Imagine judgment day. Imagine all the things that you have thought, said and done that deserve judgment. That I deserve judgment for. Imagine that. And you may feel a little bit nervous, but now I want you to imagine judgment and Jesus. Where all that judgment has been taken by Jesus. because Jesus got judged on the cross. He died for us, Paul writes, so whether we're awake or asleep, we will live with Christ. Friends, why do we belong to the day? Why does Paul write that? We're going to sing a song in a few moments. We belong to the day. That line of that song comes from this passage, the only place, here it is. Why do we belong to the day? because we belong to the Lord Jesus. We belong to the day because we belong to the Lord. The day of the Lord is a day of belonging to him. He's got us safe with him. So even now when our world is hurting so much, we who are hurting can look to the horizon and see we belong to him. Now horizons are in the distance aren't they? Which means you can't see the details on a horizon. It's hard to see all the details on the horizon but you can still see it. It's the same with the last day. You can see his coming. You can't see all the details but with confidence you know he's coming. And therefore you can encourage one another and build one another up. It's the last verse Paul writes here. Verse 11, therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing. There is so much that is hurting in us right now. There is so much we miss about pre-pandemic life. And many people in all sorts of places of leadership are wanting to say, when this happens, then we will have peace and security. Verse 3, when this happens, then you'll get your life back. Yet what Jesus shows us today is that the end of life as we know it and the start of what could be in our better life, even getting our life back is ultimately in Jesus' hands. Like last week's section of Scripture, Paul wrote there, In verse 18, encourage one another with these words. In 418 he wrote that, encourage one another with these words. That was about funerals and death in this life. Now he writes again, encourage one another and build one another up just as you're doing. It's a similar phrase and this is not about funerals, this is about the final day. This is about the end of funerals, the goodbye to goodbyes. it's about community. Notice verse 11, this does not make sense outside the church. There are many parts of the Bible that don't make sense outside the church but this will not make sense outside the church. It won't make sense for the Christian who says I'm a Christian but I don't need a church. It won't make sense outside of Christian community. How do you be a Christian outside the church when it says, therefore encourage one another and build one another up just as you were doing? How do you do that as an individualistic person? It requires community friends. It requires you to have a church. And a reforming church, can I say this? I have seen you go through so much over the last nine years. I've been with you going through so much, and you have been doing this with encouragement. I've seen us face problems and obstacles, sickness and death, like a thief in the night. I've seen you, I've been with you, as we with tears have said, one day Jesus is going to make this better. One day he is going to come. He is surely coming soon. Amen. And we've said, Amen. You've been doing this, friends, in encouragement. That is our ministry. We have a roster at the moment, we kind of have five people allowed to run church in that sense of whatever that means, whatever the authorities understand what church is about, which is limited by the way you see they run restrictions. But really, 25 people in the room and how many online? When the church gathers, it's not our roster of saying well you're going to lead the service and you're going to read the bible and you're going to sing and you're going to welcome people and we don't have a section that says and you're going to be the person that encourages people. That is our ministry, friends. It is our whole community's ministry to encourage one another and build one another up just as you're doing. And friends, you are doing it. And can I say and pray, may the Lord increase this ministry. May our ministry be one of encouragement. Friends, look around you in the room. Look around you in your lounge room. Your household, the household of God, what do we need most of all now? Encouragement. We are so discouraged. Encouragement, giving courage to others, is a life-giving experience. of receiving words and love that gives courage from one another and it comes from community and we can now do this because we've got the words to do this. We can focus on the Lord and say to one another, He's coming. He is coming, even through tears. He is coming. He is coming. So here's the question for today. Who could you encourage? Who could you encourage simply because we belong to the day of Christ? Who could you speak those soothing words of comfort from the gospel of Christ that's on our horizon? Who could you take that and say, can I encourage you with these words? We've been doing it, but now with Christ coming back in our hearts, now more than ever, we are fully aware and we are fully prepared and equipped to encourage one another today. And we need to. And coupled with encouragement here is, notice, it's build one another up. Why does Paul write that? Because our world is so bent on tearing one another down. There is so much in this temporary time that tears us down and tearing turns to tears and trials and fears and that can easily lead to bitterness that just bites at us and eats us and erodes us. But the gospel of Christ builds us in temporary trials. This is our ministry now. See we're going to build resilience. There's lots of talk about resilience today. But resilience comes, in worldly terms, in earthly language, it comes by learning how to tough it out. That's not long-term resilience, friends. Real resilience comes in weakness by trusting that someone else has got this. Trusting that God's got this, trusting in our Savior. and we will build one another if we keep encouraging one another to look to Christ and trust Him in our weakness. This is our ministry now. Who could you call? Maybe a text message. Maybe you'll see them and build a culture of Christ in a coffee shop. Maybe you'll ask the question, how does Christ help you cope today? Make it a practice of praying, not to be religious, but to be reliant on God in everything. Let the word of God be at work in your hearts for one another. This is why we encourage one another. When you see a bitter friend, a bitter believer, a way to encourage them, build them up and say, have you heard the gospel lately? Oh yes, yes, yes, I saw something online or I saw a meme or I attended church online. No, no. Have you just sat and listened and dwelled upon how grand and glorious the gospel of grace is and the promises of hope secured for you forever? Have you heard the gospel lately and let it move your heart? and make your plans for life with the real possibility of the last day, because it's really coming. Even as the rug of earthly peace and security is pulled from underneath us, promises from people don't deliver, we belong to the day because we belong to Jesus. And when you look to Jesus, think on this. How did Jesus endure the cross? Was it because he was really resilient? He says himself in the garden, I can't do it. I can't go through this. How does he do it? Hebrews 12 verse 2, who for the joy set before him in the distance, on the horizon, before him he endured the cross. So the only way that we can encourage and build is not by white knuckling it through but with joy in Jesus getting through today by belonging to the day. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up. just as you're doing. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven in 2021, we need to see that we belong to the day and all the more. Yet if 10,000 years go by, help us to wait with faith, hope and love and encouragement with the gospel building us by grace. We ask in the name of hope itself, in the name of hope himself, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.