God's Story Is Our Story: From Acts to New CreationSample

As Christians lived in the space between Jesus' first coming in history and his future return at the end of this church age, there was some confusion in the church about how to live in that tension.

In his first letter to the church in Thessalonica, Paul urges them to live in the reality that Jesus will return. He even encourages them to prepare as if it could happen at any moment like "a thief coming in the night." Some took this message to the extreme stopping work and saying that the return of Jesus had already happened. So, Paul has to send a second letter, telling them to keep working and that there are still events that need to happen before the end of this church age including the appearance of the man of lawlessness.

This is the tension of living in this part of God's story. We are to live lives that are waiting and looking for his return and yet this wait has been and still might be a long haul. We are to not just wait on a coach for his return, but to wait while being faithful to his priorities in the world. It's a waiting that sees ourselves as stewards of our time, our possessions, and of the gospel until our master returns. This is the kind of waiting that the two letters to the Thessalonians encourages in this era between his two comings.