Breastplate of Faith and Love, Helmet of Hope of Salvation

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, November 19, 2023
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

    Is the world coming to an end soon?  In the years since the pandemic I have been asked this question earnestly more frequently.  A global plague. War in the Holy Land.  Increased natural disasters.  Some of these signs point to the possibility that it may be the end times.  I’m not a doomsday-er, but admittedly, there are many things happening in our world to be worried about and even fearful of.  It’s hard to say, “I don’t know” when Jesus’ second coming will happen.  As people of faith, we confess that Jesus will come again, but we don’t know when, and uncertainty can be frustrating, to put it mildly!
After giving birth to my two children, I pay attention more closely when the scriptures talk about labor pains because I know firsthand what labor is like, and let’s be honest, Paul didn’t!  As we wrap up our journey through Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians for this season, notice the different metaphors Paul uses to encourage believers – the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night – that’s a bit of an unsettling metaphor!  But this day will not surprise YOU like a thief, Paul reassures us, because we are children of light and children of the day.  Or the day of the Lord will come upon people like labor pains.  We are awake, not sleeping.  We have the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation!  With all of these images combined, Paul gives us a few things to ponder and hold onto especially as we think about our own mortality, the uncertain and fearful times we are living in right now, and the inevitability of Jesus’ coming again.
    I appreciate the metaphor of Jesus’ coming again like a woman in labor pains, because it really is a similar comparison.  Once you’re pregnant, there’s no going back (no escape as Paul puts it!) – assuming all goes well, you WILL become a parent, and you know it won’t be easy, before, during labor AND after as a parent!  I worked right up until the day I gave birth, and Erin, a true pastor’s kid, waited until after I was done with Sunday morning services to put me into labor – we went to the hospital about 3pm on a Sunday afternoon.  We didn’t know until then WHEN she would be born or even what it would exactly be like to be parents, we just knew we would find out when the time came!  Similarly, Paul is trying to explain this paradox of inevitability and uncertainty of Jesus’ second coming.  As people of faith, we know Jesus will come again, like a pregnant woman preparing to give birth.  We just don’t know when.  This can be pretty frustrating, even scary, at times.  Thankfully, Paul gives us plenty of assurances that God has not destined us for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ!
    Jesus’ parable in our gospel for this morning encourages us to not dwell on the anxiety or fear of the in-between waiting time before the Lord’s return, but to use everything that God has given us in the meantime.  All of us, I am sure, have at one point or another faced a temptation if not given into the temptation to freeze in the face of fear and uncertainty like the man who buries his talent in the ground.  He’s afraid, so he doesn’t do anything with what he’s been given.  The world today gives us plenty to be afraid of – fear of failure, fear of our mortality, fear of God’s punishment or wrath as we hear in our readings today, fear for our safety and security as violence and war are on the rise.  Reading 1 Thessalonians alongside our gospel for today gives us hope and faith in face of our fears, because Paul is pretty clear that we are children of the light.  God has given us what we need to survive and thrive until Jesus comes again.  And we have this reminder from Jesus and from Paul that we use what we’ve been given to live life to the fullest until Jesus comes again.  Martin Luther famously said that “if the world were to end tomorrow, I would plant a tree.”  Retreat, inaction or seclusion until the day of the Lord is not what God calls us to do.  Rather, God equips us for ministry even in times of heightened anxiety and fear – we have talents, and we have protection in Christ.
    Paul uses a military metaphor that he uses again in his letter to the Ephesians chapter 6.  Listen to how hope-filled these words are in 5:8-10 – “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.”  The breastplate as a piece of armor was used to protect the most vital organs of the body – the heart and lungs – without which we can’t live.  The helmet, of course, protects our brains.  The Holy Spirit gives us the gifts of faith, hope, and love as protection against the fears that surround us, the worries that keep us up in the night or seem scarier in the darkness.  God assures us of eternal safety and security when we live in the light of Christ, so that whether we live or we die, we are the Lord’s.  God gives us these three powerful words of faith, hope and love to equip us to go out there into the scary world assured of our salvation AND to encourage and build up others, to find hope in the Lord.  After all, while birth is painful and scary, the end of the labor pains brings new life and new possibilities.  Jesus’ coming again, the book of Revelation tells us, will bring about a new heaven and a new Earth.  The end is not something to be feared but to be embraced. Just as Jesus moves from death to resurrection, so we also move with him, through the pain of death, to resurrection life.  It is God’s will to save us and keep us in the light and love of Christ, thanks be to God.  May God give us peace in the midst of uncertainty to trust in the inevitability of Christ’s coming again, comfort in the pain of living and ultimately the breastplate of faith and love, the helmet of the hope of salvation.  Amen.