May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

In Christ's name and to his glory, dear friends: What the Lord talks to us about today is more precious than anything else in all creation. If the richest person in the world knew you possessed this, he might very well be willing to part with his every penny to have what you have. It's a secret-this thing that God talks to us about today. If the brightest and wisest on the earth knew you had this secret, they very well might be knocking at your door asking to sit at your feet to listen and learn of it. But God hasn't kept this secret a secret; he's been telling the world about it every since the beginning, but people just don't know how valuable this secret is. This precious, secret treasure is even sometimes under-appreciated by those who have it. Often those who have it are like a man who has in his foyer an original sculpture carved out of granite by the hands of Michelangelo himself. He's so used to having this treasure near that he walks by it everyday, sometimes without even looking at it. It's not until a stranger asks a question about it and reaches out and touches it in wide-eyed amazement that he appreciates how blessed he is to have this treasure. What am I talking about? It's the treasure, it's the secret, it's the oft-under-appreciated gem, called "Sleep in Jesus' Name." May we rediscover today how blessed we are to know of a SLEEP IN JESUS' NAME. Listen to God's Word on the topic:

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. ¹⁴We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸Therefore encourage each other with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

The sleep. Brothers (Paul is deeply concerned for these people; today we might say Dear Christian Friends), we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. The Apostle Paul and Silas had gathered a small family of believers in this large Greek city on their Second Missionary Trip. They were there only a few days. The Apostle spoke of Jesus, God's Son, come from heaven, crucified for our sins, risen from the dead, and coming again as Judge. The small group was so happy to know Jesus and salvation through him. Pastor Timothy followed up on the little group some time later. When Timothy got there he quickly found out that something was bothering the new believers in Thessalonica. What about our Christian friends that die? They will miss out on Jesus' return because they're dead and gone! No, Paul reassuringly wrote to them, let me fill you in on a precious secret. Yes, those Christians are dead, but God tells us that earthly death is a sleep.

Sleep-that doesn't scare us. In fact, most days we can hardly wait for it to come. Sleep is only temporary; the morning light will wake us. Sleep means rest and renewed strength. In earthly death the body sleeps, rests, waits for the dawn of eternity while the soul lives with Jesus.

To know of this sleep in Jesus' name is to have hope. This is not a hope against all hope. This Christian hope is a sure and certain expectation of good things from our Lord. God always keeps his promises. His promise is that earthly death is but sleep for the Christian body. And so we have hope.

It's a sleep in Jesus' name. We have this sleep, as the Apostle says, because Jesus died and rose again. If it were not for Jesus coming and taking away our sins death would be anything but sleep. It would be a restless nightmare with the fearful expectation that we shall rise to be condemned. But because Jesus has rescued us by enduring the punishment for our sins at Calvary, we know that on Judgment day we shall hear him say, Come to my glorious kingdom. Only in Jesus does one have this blessed sleep. Unbelievers wish for restful sleep and better things in death, but they fall into the nightmare of hell. Our Savior wants this for no one. If only every soul would see how sweet and accessible is sleep in Jesus' name.

And this sleep is benign. Earthly death does not prevent us from partaking of the blessed event of Jesus' return. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. As the morning light wakes us, just so he who is the Light of the World shall wake us from the sleep of earthly death. The same voice that called Lazarus out of his grave will call our name. The same power that broke open Joseph's tomb on Easter will break open our graves. The same Lord who gathered dust, formed Adam, and breathed life into him will gather together the atoms and molecules that make up these bodies, reform us and reunite our living souls with these bodies. Then begins the eternal life of glory in heaven. Oh, what a treasure God has given us!

The certainty of this sleep. How can I know this is true? Oh, Christian, as surely as every bit of God's Word is true, so surely is this promise of God true. According to the Lord's own word, the Apostle reassures us. Think how God always keeps his promises, even when Satan tries to prevent it or it seems impossible that what God wants can happen. For example, remember Jonah? The Lord wanted Nineveh to hear of salvation through the coming Lord Jesus. Jonah was selfish, didn't want Ninevites in heaven with him, and ran the other way. God sent a fish to call Jonah to repentance and carry him to where the Lord wanted him to be. The people of Nineveh were proud, arrogant, and self-sufficient. The Lord brought them to their knees in repentance with just a few days with his powerful Word. Jesus said of those Ninevites: The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. (Luke 11:32) Christian, your earthly death will only be sleep from which you shall awake. What can prevent Jesus from doing what he promises? Nothing!

How can I know this is true? Oh Christian, as surely as Jesus leaves no work unfinished, so surely shall he accomplish the work of waking us from the sleep of death. Not until every last detail was done at creation did God say: Behold, it was very good. And so not until he gets us to heaven will Jesus' work be done to his satisfaction. He already has come, lived, died and rose for us. Now all that is left is for him to come again and take us to heaven. Then his work is completed. He says, If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14) Jesus will finish his work. He always does.

Now, encourage each other with these words. For the good of others, let's speak of sleep in Jesus' name, the resurrection, and heaven plainly. Now is the time to have friends, acquaintances and relatives learn of sleep in Jesus' name. Share the treasure! Speak boldly to those who grieve for Christian loved ones. Not even the sleep of death robs us of God's blessings. Our sleep in Jesus' name, the resurrection, and Christians in heaven-this and this alone comforts those who mourn. And comfort yourself with these words. Teach me to live that I may dread / The grave as little as my bed. / Teach me to die so that I may / Rise glorious at the awe-full day. / Oh, may my soul on thee repose / And may sweet sleep mine eyelids close, / Sleep that shall me more vig'rous make / To serve my God when I awake. (CW:592)    Amen.