Epistle for November 13, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul has been reminding the church at Thessalonika about his teaching on the Second Coming of Jesus.  But he also has a very immediate focus — the spiritual growth and discipleship of the church.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2, Paul has been very specific about the false teachings of some of these rebels, who have taught that the day of the Lord has already come.  He doesn’t advise his church to argue with the heterodox teachers. He simply says:

withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion.

Paul offers himself as an example, both in teaching and in lifestyle:

For you know how you ought to imitate us. For we didn’t behave ourselves rebelliously among you, neither did we eat bread from anyone’s hand without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you; not because we don’t have the right, but to make ourselves an example to you, that you should imitate us.

Paul has made it his practice to be self-supporting in his ministry.  We are told in Acts 18:2-3 that Paul’s trade was tent making.  In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul establishes the right of apostles and pastors to receive financial compensation for their ministry, but he makes it clear he has not chosen to do so in order to remove any question about his motivation for preaching the Good News.  So though he had every right to receive compensation, he has chosen not to do so.  This means he is able to offer a strong example of his work-ethic.

Thus, when he gives his next instructions, he seems a little less hard-hearted:

For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: “If anyone will not work, don’t let him eat.” For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who don’t work at all, but are busybodies.  Now those who are that way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

Evidently, those who were rebelling against his doctrine were taking advantage of the generosity of the Thessalonians — possibly even passing themselves off as teachers in order to receive remuneration.  This command, not to feed those who won’t work, accomplishes two things:

• If the busybodies are engaged in gainful employment, they don’t have time to be sowing seeds of rebellion or heresy.
• Second, this command reinforces the importance of responsibility and a strong work ethic.

Finally, Paul encourages the hard work and the good works of the Thessalonians:

 But you, brothers, don’t be weary in doing well.

APPLY:  

Paul may seem harsh.  Let’s be clear.  He isn’t telling the Thessalonians to be unkind or ungenerous to the truly poor.  He himself has taken up an offering from the churches in Macedonia and Achaia for the poor in Jerusalem who had been suffering under a famine (Romans 15:26).  He encourages the church to support widows who are too old to remarry (1 Timothy 5:9-10) — although he does encourage young widows to remarry if possible, so they don’t place a burden on the community of faith.

But if someone is able to work, he believes that they should work:

we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

This may well be the foundation for what Max Weber, the famous sociologist, calls the Protestant Work Ethic — although this teaching is Biblical, not Protestant!

In Paul’s famous description of the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12, he describes the complex inter-working of various gifts, all working together for the good of the whole community:

There are various kinds of service, and the same Lord. There are various kinds of workings, but the same God, who works all things in all.  But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all (1 Corinthians 12:5-7).

RESPOND: 

There is an old proverb: “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”  Folks who are underemployed are more likely to be busybodies at best, and serious troublemakers at worst.

What Paul advocates is that Christians should be responsibly, ethically, and diligently employed.  Christianity doesn’t support a system of entitlements that give people something for nothing.  That isn’t good for the individual or the community.

On the other hand, Paul is not addressing the problems of a modern economy when there is recession or depression, and jobs are scarce — although he might argue that the job-seeker need not be picky when it comes to job opportunities.  Nor is he arguing that those who cannot work should not be assisted — the widow, the orphan, the aged, the handicapped.

What we find in the Bible is balance.  On the one hand, we are to be “poured out” for those who are last, least and lost.  Jesus tells us that when we feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit the prisoner, we do these things for him (Matthew 25:35-4).  On the other hand, if we are able to work, we should not expect others to do for us what we are able to do for ourselves.

Lord, make me generous to those who are in genuine need; and make me responsible and diligent to earn my own keep. Amen.

 PHOTOS:
"Work Ethic (1 of 2)" by brett jordan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for November 6, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

St. Paul ventures into the bewildering subject of eschatology — the last things or the end of the world.  Ironically, Paul is not writing as one who is bewildered by the future.  He is reassuring the Thessalonians:

Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to him, we ask you not to be quickly shaken in your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter as from us, saying that the day of Christ had come.

He is advising the Thessalonians not to be deceived in any way.  Evidently, some preachers were teaching a kind of realized eschatology — i.e., that the day of Christ had already come.  He also wishes to advise them that if they have been led to believe that he has taught this doctrine, it is not true.

Paul assures them that they haven’t missed the Second Coming!  There are certain signs and events that he tells them must happen first:

For it will not be, unless the departure comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction….  

First, the departure needs to be carefully explained.  The Greek word is apostasia, which gives us the word apostasy.  The departure to which he refers appears to be a departure from the faith.  He suggests that hasn’t happened yet, but when it does it will be a sign of the beginning of the end.

The second sign is embodied in a person — the man of sin, the son of destruction. The words that Paul uses for this man are also interesting.  Man of sin is a translation of the Greek anomias, which can also be translated as lawless one. This phrase conveys a sense of anarchy.  And destruction is a translation of apoleias, which suggests an annihilator. Its Latin translation calls this figure the son of perdition.

There is also a fascinating side note concerning the phrase son of destruction.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus prays The High Priestly Prayer.  In one section of this prayer, he declares that he has preserved his disciples during his earthly ministry — except for one:

Those whom you have given me I have kept. None of them is lost, except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 17:12). 

The son of destruction here is obviously a reference to Judas Iscariot.  And then there is this, from John’s Revelation, concerning Satan himself who presides over the locust-scorpions from the abyss of Hell:

They have over them as king the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is “Abaddon”,  but in Greek, he has the name “Apollyon” (Revelation 9:11).

Apollyon (or Destroyer in Greek) is derived from the word for destruction, the same word Paul uses here in 2 Thessalonians 2:3.

Whether this being is a personification of evil, or an actual ruler who will assume control over the world, Paul foresees that the end will not come until the man of sin and the son of destruction has usurped even divine authority.  Paul describes this figure as a blasphemer:

who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.

Apparently, Paul is going over doctrine he has already taught the Thessalonians when he was among them:

 Don’t you remember that, when I was still with you, I told you these things?

In the verses that our lectionary reading for the day leaves out (verses 6-12), Paul continues to remind the Thessalonians of his teachings.  He tells them that the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the lawless one is restrained by the Lord.  And eventually, the lawless one will be destroyed by the breath of the Lord.  And Paul warns that those who have been deceived by Satan will be lost:

because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved (2 Thessalonians 2:10).

But Paul returns to his pastoral concern for the new believers in Thessalonica, giving thanks for them because they are:  

loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth; to which he called you through our Good News, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This sentence is a brief primer on the way of salvation.  They are loved by the Lord, and salvation includes the completing work of sanctification of the Sprit. 

Paul also reminds them that they were called into faith through his own proclamation of the Good News — so he urges them to:

stand firm, and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word, or by letter.

Paul is clearly advising them to steer clear of these other teachers who are confusing them with heterodox views, such as the claim that the day of the Lord has already come.

Finally, he offers a prayer to comfort them and strengthen their faith:

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.

APPLY:  

There are certainly a great many teachers and preachers who have made it their business to offer scenarios for the end of the world.  So far, those who have made predictions have all been wrong.

In Paul’s time, one school of thought was that the day of the Lord had already come.  We don’t know exactly what these teachers offered as proof.  We might say that this was the first appearance of a theology that is called realized eschatology.

The term realized eschatology tends to be used by theologians today who question the literal interpretation of eschatological passages in Scripture.  They would argue that the kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus has already arrived with his presence — and that the day of the Lord has already come.  Our part as Christians, they would say, is to live into that reality until the kingdom of God is created by our love and service.

While there may be some truth to the notion that the kingdom of God has begun to be revealed, careful study of the Scriptures informs us that we don’t bring the kingdom, God does!  There is a now to the kingdom of God; but there is also a not yet.  For evidence, I can only point to the hunger, war, catastrophes and suffering that exist in the world.  This is not yet the world that Jesus and the apostles promise.

We are safest when we cleave to the teaching of Jesus and the apostles — which is exactly what Paul advises the Thessalonians:   

So then, brothers, stand firm, and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word, or by letter.

RESPOND: 

In one of my churches, there was a very sweet lady who kept asking me a question for which I had no good answer.  She wondered why I didn’t talk more about the Antichrist. 

I think I know what she was really asking.  With so many End-Times books and preachers in the popular culture, she wanted me to weigh in on the subject.

But I was wary of taking the bait.  I certainly do believe the Biblical witness, that Christ will return on the day of the Lord.  Not only is that doctrine attested multiple times throughout the New Testament, it just makes sense.  If creation, time, and history all had a beginning point, it seems logical to me that creation, time and history will have an end.  And this is the note of hope in the New Testament — that the world will not simply careen from one disaster to another forever, but history is going somewhere!

However, I am very cautious about trying to read the Bible as a kind of blueprint for the End-times.  It is enough for me to trust God with the future of the planet, and my future.  Jesus told his disciples, when he was taken up into heaven:

It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:7-8).

I believe my job is to be a witness to the person and work of Christ, not to speculate about times or seasons.

Our Lord, we do live in confusing times. Such uncertain times brings “End-times” teachers out of the woodwork. And that adds to our confusion.  Help us to cleave to the faith once delivered to the saints, and trust you to complete your work on earth in your time and in your way.  Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
"The future is...?" by Yana Lyandres is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for October 30, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Sometimes when we read the Bible we begin to realize that we are walking into a flower garden — in which someone seems to have buried landmines!  What may seem clear on the surface actually becomes uncertain, and maybe even dangerous to one’s faith.

So it seems with Biblical commentaries, and with Lectionary Texts.  In the case of Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians, there are disputes among scholars about its authorship and its date.  Historical-critical scholars in the late 18th century questioned whether Paul had actually written 2 Thessalonians because the language seems different than 1 Thessalonians. They also believed that there is a less urgent tone in 2 Thessalonians concerning the Second Coming of Jesus.  However, the traditional, orthodox view has maintained the Pauline authorship of 2 Thessalonians.

In the final analysis, even scholarly opinions are conjectures that cannot overshadow the fact that the books of the New Testament were completed no later than the early 2nd century. The Bible is ultimately the Church’s book, not a landmine in a flower garden.

Although formal canonization of all 27 of the New Testament books by the councils of bishops didn’t come for several centuries (Synod of Hippo Regius in North Africa 393; the Councils of Carthage in 397 and 419; Pope Damasus I’s Council of Rome in 382), 2 Thessalonians was one epistle whose authority was never in doubt.

Having said all of that, I assume that 2 Thessalonians was written by Paul.

Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy had established a church in Thessalonica around 50 A.D., one of the very first churches in Macedonia after Philippi.  Thessalonica was a key port city on the Aegean Sea.  It was also situated on the Egnatian Way, a Roman highway which a traveler could take from Byzantium to the East, through Philippi, and all the way through Thessalonica to the coast of the Adriatic Sea.  From there a traveler could catch a ship at Dyrrachium and sail to Brundisium in the heel of Italy.  Needless to say, Thessalonica was a strategically located city.

Paul had already written a first letter to the Thessalonians, seeking to comfort them and to clarify Christian teachings about the Second Coming of Jesus.  Although 2 Thessalonians is shorter, it addresses many of the same issues that the first letter does — with information about the Second Coming, and how they are to live in the meantime.

Paul writes in the name of himself and his co-workers, with a greeting that is somewhat typical of his letters:

 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ:  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul speaks of his thanksgiving for the church, and praises the growth of their faith and mutual love.  He tells them that he boasts of them wherever he goes:

we ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure.

Already, we are seeing the persecution of the church as a counter-cultural organization, although Paul doesn’t specify the source of the persecution.  From Acts 17 we learn that there was stringent resistance to Paul and his message by some of the members of the synagogue.   We also learn that these folks enlisted the help of a mob and accused Paul and his cohorts of sedition by seeking to promote the kingship of Jesus over Caesar.  Paul may be aware that though the church at Thessalonica has been successfully planted, they are still being falsely accused of acts that are:

contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus! (Acts 17:7).

Their accusers were right about one thing, though.  These Christians had:

turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6).

Now we come to a second problem with our epistle for this week — the lectionary editors skip from verse 4 to verse 11.  So when we read in verse 11, To this end we also pray always for you, we don’t know what Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy are praying for unless we connect the dots by reading verses 5 to 10.

There, we see Paul’s continuing argument from verse 4, that the persecutions are a sign of the coming judgment of God, and that God will requite those who afflict God’s people.  His language is quite dramatic:

it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,  giving vengeance to those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,  who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,  when he comes to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired among all those who have believed (because our testimony to you was believed) in that day (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10).

This is why Paul and company are praying so fervently, because of the persecutions that the Thessalonian church is suffering.  He is seeking to encourage them so that:

God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith, with power; that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The goodness and faith and power of the persecuted church are a compelling witness to their character.

APPLY:  

I sometimes think that only Christians in the persecuted church around the world should be allowed to read the apocalyptic books in the New Testament, like 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Revelation, and certain other books.  The reason I say that is that they understand these books better than those of us in the West whose Christianity is fairly easy.

All the more reason that the “un-persecuted church” must be even more faithful than we are now. When the world sees us, do they see that we are:

worthy of our calling, fulfilling every desire of goodness and work of faith, with power?

Or do they see a country club of congenial consumer Christians who conform the Gospel to their own lifestyles, rather than taking up the cross and being conformed to Christ?

RESPOND: 

I sometimes wonder how I would handle real persecution.  Not the imagined persecution that Christians sometimes become a little too hysterical about in the U.S. — “we can’t wish each other a Merry Christmas anymore!   Why can’t we have public invocations and prayers at ball games and graduations?” 

I have the feeling that Christians in Iraq and Syria and Egypt and Indonesia and China would gladly exchange the fear of beheading, desecration of their churches, and job discrimination with our petty concerns.

What I am hearing in my own American culture is that Christianity is becoming increasingly irrelevant. “Christians” don’t look or act particularly different than their non-Christian neighbors. Christians tend to divorce at the same rate, tend to have similar rates of alcoholism, tend to be just as materialistic, etc., etc., etc.

There is room for improvement.  How are we to be the leaven, the salt and the light in our secularized culture?  Perhaps we can do no better than seek to replicate the observation by pagan Romans as they described Christians in the early church:

See how these Christians love one another (Tertullian).

May our faith, our power and our love be our Christian witness!

Lord, give me the faith and power to be the witness you have called me to be.  Amen.  

 PHOTOS:
"Thessalonians" by Ian Wakefield is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for November 17, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul has been reminding the church at Thessalonika about his teaching on the Second Coming of Jesus.  But he also has a very immediate focus — the spiritual growth and discipleship of the church.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2,  Paul has been very specific about the false teachings of some of these rebels, who have taught that the day of the Lord has already come.  He doesn’t advise his church to argue with the heterodox teachers. He simply says:

withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion.

Paul offers himself as an example, both in teaching and in lifestyle:

For you know how you ought to imitate us. For we didn’t behave ourselves rebelliously among you, neither did we eat bread from anyone’s hand without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you; not because we don’t have the right, but to make ourselves an example to you, that you should imitate us.

Paul has made it his practice to be self-supporting in his ministry.  We are told in Acts 18:2-3 that Paul’s trade was tent making.  In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul establishes the right of apostles and pastors to receive financial compensation for their ministry, but he makes it clear he has not chosen to do so in order to remove any question about his motivation for preaching the Good News.  So though he had every right to receive compensation, he has chosen not to do so.  This means he  is able to offer a strong example of his work-ethic.

Thus, when he gives his next instructions, he seems a little less hard-hearted:

For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: “If anyone will not work, don’t let him eat.” For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who don’t work at all, but are busybodies.  Now those who are that way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

Evidently, those who were rebelling against his doctrine were taking advantage of the generosity of the Thessalonians — possibly even passing themselves off as teachers in order to receive remuneration.  This command, not to feed those who won’t work,  accomplishes two things:

• If the busybodies are engaged in gainful employment, they don’t have time to be sowing seeds of rebellion or heresy.
• Second, this command reinforces the importance of responsibility and a strong work ethic.

Finally, Paul encourages the hard work and the good works of the Thessalonians:

 But you, brothers, don’t be weary in doing well.

APPLY:  

Paul may seem harsh.  Let’s be clear.  He isn’t telling the Thessalonians to be unkind or ungenerous to the truly poor.  He himself has taken up an offering from the churches in Macedonia and Achaia for the poor in Jerusalem who had been suffering under a famine (Romans 15:26).  He encourages the church to support widows who are too old to remarry  (1 Timothy 5:9-10) — although he does encourage young widows to remarry if possible, so they don’t place a burden on the community of faith.

But if someone is able to work, he believes that they should work:

we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

This may well be the foundation for what Max Weber, the famous sociologist, calls the Protestant Work Ethic — although this teaching is Biblical, not Protestant!

In Paul’s famous description of the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12, he describes the complex inter-working of various gifts, all working together for the good of the whole community:

There are various kinds of service, and the same Lord. There are various kinds of workings, but the same God, who works all things in all.  But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all (1 Corinthians 12:5-7).

RESPOND: 

There is an old proverb: “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”  Folks who are underemployed are more likely to be busybodies at best, and serious troublemakers at worst.

What Paul advocates is that Christians should be responsibly, ethically, and diligently employed.  Christianity doesn’t support a system of entitlements that give people something for nothing.  That isn’t good for the individual or the community.

On the other hand, Paul is not addressing the problems of a modern economy when there is recession or depression, and jobs are scarce — although he might argue that the job-seeker need not be picky when it comes to job opportunities.  Nor is he arguing that those who cannot work should not be assisted — the widow, the orphan, the aged, the handicapped.

What we find in the Bible is balance.  On the one hand, we are to be “poured out” for those who are last, least and lost.  Jesus tells us that when we feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit the prisoner, we do these things for him (Matthew 25:35-4).  On the other hand, if we are able to work,  we should not expect others to do for us what we are able to do for ourselves.

Lord, make me generous to those who are in genuine need; and make me responsible and diligent to earn my own keep. Amen.

 PHOTOS:
"Work Ethic (1 of 2)" by brett jordan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for November 10, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

St. Paul ventures into the bewildering subject of  eschatology — the last things or the end of the world.  Ironically, Paul is not writing as one who is bewildered by the future.  He is reassuring the Thessalonians:

Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to him, we ask you not to be quickly shaken in your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter as from us, saying that the day of Christ had come.

He is advising the Thessalonians not to be deceived in any way.  Evidently, some preachers were teaching a kind of  realized eschatology — i.e., that the day of Christ  had already come.  He also wishes to advise them that if they have been led to believe that he has taught this doctrine, it is not true.

Paul assures them that they haven’t missed the Second Coming!  There are certain signs and events that he tells them must happen first:

For it will not be, unless the departure comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction….  

First, the departure needs to be carefully explained.  The Greek word is apostasia, which gives us the word apostasy.  The departure to which he refers appears to be a departure from the faith.  He suggests that hasn’t happened yet, but when it does it will be a sign of the beginning of the end.

The second sign is embodied in a person — the man of sin, the son of destruction. The words that Paul uses for this man are also interesting.  Man of sin is a translation of the Greek anomias, which can also be translated as lawless one. This phrase conveys a sense of anarchy.  And destruction is a translation of apoleias, which suggests an annihilator. Its Latin translation calls this figure the son of perdition.

There is also a fascinating side note concerning the phrase son of destruction.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus prays  The High Priestly Prayer.  In one section of this prayer, he declares that he has preserved his disciples during his earthly ministry — except for one:

Those whom you have given me I have kept. None of them is lost, except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 17:12). 

The son of destruction here is obviously a reference to Judas Iscariot.  And then there is this, from John’s Revelation, concerning Satan himself who presides over the locust-scorpions from the abyss of Hell:

They have over them as king the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is “Abaddon”,  but in Greek, he has the name “Apollyon” (Revelation 9:11).

Apollyon  (or Destroyer in Greek) is derived from the word for destruction, the same word Paul uses here in 2 Thessalonians 2:3.

Whether this being is a personification of evil, or an actual ruler who will assume control over the world, Paul foresees that the end will not come until the man of sin and the son of destruction has usurped even divine authority.  Paul describes this figure as a blasphemer:

who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.

Apparently, Paul is going over doctrine he has already taught the Thessalonians when he was among them:

 Don’t you remember that, when I was still with you, I told you these things?

In the verses that our lectionary reading for the day leaves out (verses 6-12), Paul continues to remind the Thessalonians of his teachings.  He tells them that the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the lawless one is restrained by the Lord.  And eventually, the lawless one will be destroyed by the breath of the Lord.  And Paul warns that those who have been deceived by Satan will be lost:

because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved (2  Thessalonians 2:10).

But Paul returns to his pastoral concern for the new believers in Thessalonica, giving thanks for them because they are:  

loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth; to which he called you through our Good News, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This sentence is a brief primer on the way of salvation.  They are loved by the Lord, and salvation includes the completing work of sanctification of the Sprit. 

Paul also reminds them that they were called into faith through his own proclamation of the Good News — so he urges them to:

stand firm, and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word, or by letter.

Paul is clearly advising them to steer clear of these other teachers who are confusing them with heterodox views, such as the claim that the day of the Lord has already come.

Finally, he offers a prayer to comfort them and strengthen their faith:

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.

APPLY:  

There are certainly a great many teachers and preachers who have made it their business to offer scenarios for the end of the world.  So far, those who have made predictions have all been wrong.

In Paul’s time, one school of thought was that the day of the Lord had already come.  We don’t know exactly what these teachers offered as proof.  We might say that this was the first appearance of a theology that is called realized eschatology.

The term realized eschatology tends to be used by theologians today who question the literal interpretation of eschatological passages in Scripture.  They would argue that the kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus has already arrived with his presence — and that the day of the Lord has already come.  Our part as Christians, they would say, is to live into that reality until the kingdom of God is created by our love and service.

While there may be some truth to the notion that the kingdom of God has begun to be revealed, careful study of the Scriptures informs us that we don’t bring the kingdom, God does!  There is a now to the kingdom of God; but there is also a not yet.  For evidence I can only point to the hunger, war, catastrophes and suffering that exist in the world.  This is not yet the world that Jesus and the apostles promise.

We are safest when we cleave to the teaching of Jesus and the apostles — which is exactly what Paul advises the Thessalonians:   

So then, brothers, stand firm, and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word, or by letter.

RESPOND: 

In one of my churches, there was a very sweet lady who kept asking me a question for which I had no good answer.  She wondered why I didn’t talk more about the Antichrist. 

I think I know what she was really asking.  With so many End-Times books and preachers in the popular culture, she wanted me to weigh in on the subject.

But I was wary of taking the bait.  I certainly do believe the Biblical witness, that Christ will return on the day of the Lord.  Not only is that doctrine attested multiple times throughout the New Testament, it just makes sense.  If creation, time, and history all had a beginning point, it seems logical to me that creation, time and history will have an end.  And this is the note of hope in the New Testament — that the world will not simply careen from one disaster to another forever, but history is going somewhere!

However, I am very cautious about trying to read the Bible as a kind of blueprint for the End-times.  It is enough for me to trust God with the future of the planet, and my future.  Jesus told his disciples, when he was taken up into heaven:

It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:7-8).

I believe my job is to be a witness to the person and work of Christ,  not  to speculate about times or seasons.

Our Lord, we do live in confusing times. Such uncertain times brings “End-times” teachers out of the woodwork. And that adds to our confusion.  Help us to cleave to the faith once delivered to the saints, and trust you to complete your work on earth in your time and in your way.  Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
"The future is...?" by Yana Lyandres is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for November 3, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Sometimes when we read the Bible we begin to realize that we are walking into a flower garden — in which someone seems to have buried landmines!  What may seem clear on the surface actually becomes uncertain, and maybe even dangerous to one’s faith.

So it seems with Biblical commentaries, and with Lectionary Texts.  In the case of Paul’s Second Letter to  the Thessalonians, there are disputes among scholars about its authorship and its date.  Historical-critical scholars in the late 18th century  questioned whether Paul had actually written 2 Thessalonians because the language seems different than 1 Thessalonians. They also believed that there is a less urgent tone in 2 Thessalonians concerning the Second Coming of Jesus.  However, the traditional, orthodox view has maintained the Pauline authorship of 2 Thessalonians.

In the final analysis, even scholarly opinions are conjectures that cannot overshadow the fact that the books of the New Testament were completed no later than the early 2nd century. The Bible is ultimately the Church’s book, not a landmine in a flower garden.

Although formal canonization of all 27 of the New Testament books by the councils of bishops didn’t come for several centuries (Synod of Hippo Regius in North Africa 393; the Councils of Carthage in 397 and 419; Pope Damasus I’s Council of Rome in 382), 2 Thessalonians was one epistle whose authority was never in doubt.

Having said all of that, I assume that 2 Thessalonians was written by Paul.

Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy had established a church in Thessalonica around 50 A.D., one of the very first churches in Macedonia after Philippi.  Thessalonica was a key port city on the Aegean Sea.  It was also situated on the Egnatian Way, a Roman highway which a traveler could take from Byzantium to the East, through Philippi, and all the way through Thessalonica to the coast of the Adriatic Sea.  From there a traveler could catch a ship at Dyrrachium and sail to Brundisium in the heel of Italy.  Needless to say, Thessalonica was a strategically located city.

Paul had already written a first letter to the Thessalonians, seeking to comfort them and to clarify Christian teachings about the Second Coming of Jesus.  Although 2 Thessalonians is shorter, it addresses many of the same issues that the first letter does — with information about the Second Coming, and how they are to live in the meantime.

Paul writes in the name of himself and his co-workers, with a greeting that is somewhat typical of his letters:

 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ:  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul speaks of his thanksgiving for the church, and praises the growth of their faith and mutual love.  He tells them that he boasts of them wherever he goes:

we ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure.

Already, we are seeing the persecution of the church as a counter-cultural organization, although Paul doesn’t specify the source of the persecution.  From Acts 17 we learn that there was stringent resistance to Paul and his message by some of the members of the synagogue.   We also learn that these folks enlisted the help of a mob and accused Paul and his cohorts of sedition by seeking to promote the kingship of Jesus over Caesar.  Paul may be aware that though the church at Thessalonica has been successfully planted, they are still being falsely accused of  acts that are:

contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus! (Acts 17:7).

Their accusers were right about one thing, though.  These Christians had:

turned the world upside down  (Acts 17:6).

Now we come to a second problem with our epistle for this week — the lectionary editors skip from verse 4 to verse 11.  So when we read in verse 11,  To this end we also pray always for you, we don’t know what Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy are praying for unless we connect the dots by reading verses 5 to 10.

There, we see Paul’s continuing argument from verse 4, that the persecutions are a sign of the coming judgment of God, and that God will requite those who afflict God’s people.  His language is quite dramatic:

it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,  giving vengeance to those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,  who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,  when he comes to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired among all those who have believed (because our testimony to you was believed) in that day (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10).

This is why Paul and company are praying so fervently, because of the persecutions that the Thessalonian church is suffering.  He is seeking to encourage them so that:

God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith, with power; that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The goodness and faith and power of the persecuted church are a compelling witness to their character.

APPLY:  

I sometimes think that only Christians in the persecuted church around the world should be allowed to read the apocalyptic  books in the New Testament, like 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Revelation, and certain other books.  The reason I say that is that they understand these books better than those of us in the West whose Christianity is fairly easy.

All the more reason that the “un-persecuted church” must be even more faithful than we are now. When the world sees us, do they see that we are:

worthy of our calling, fulfilling every desire of goodness and work of faith, with power?

Or do they see a country club of congenial consumer Christians who conform the Gospel to their own lifestyles, rather than taking up the cross and being conformed to Christ?

RESPOND: 

I sometimes wonder how I would handle real persecution.  Not the imagined persecution that Christians sometimes become a little too hysterical about in the U.S. — “we can’t wish each other a Merry Christmas anymore!   Why can’t we have public invocations and prayers at ball games and graduations?” 

I have the feeling that Christians in Iraq and Syria and Egypt and Indonesia and China would gladly exchange the fear of beheading, desecration of their churches, and job discrimination with our petty concerns.

What I am hearing in my own American culture is that Christianity is becoming increasingly irrelevant. “Christians” don’t look or act particularly different than their non-Christian neighbors. Christians tend to divorce at the same rate, tend to have similar rates of alcoholism, tend to be just as materialistic, etc., etc., etc.

There is room for improvement.  How are we to be the leaven, the salt and the light in our secularized culture?  Perhaps we can do no better than seek to replicate the observation by pagan Romans as they described Christians in the early church:

See how these Christian love one another (Tertullian).

May our faith, our power and our love be our Christian witness!

Lord, give me the  faith and power  to be the witness you have called me to be.  Amen.  

 PHOTOS:
"Thessalonians" by Ian Wakefield is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for November 13, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

2 Thessalonians  3:6-13

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul has been reminding the church at Thessalonika about his teaching on the Second Coming of Jesus.  But he also has a very immediate focus — the spiritual growth and discipleship of the church.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2,  Paul has been very specific about the false teachings of some of these rebels, who have taught that the day of the Lord has already come.  He doesn’t advise his church to argue with the heterodox teachers. He simply says:

withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion.

Paul offers himself as an example, both in teaching and in lifestyle:

For you know how you ought to imitate us. For we didn’t behave ourselves rebelliously among you, neither did we eat bread from anyone’s hand without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you; not because we don’t have the right, but to make ourselves an example to you, that you should imitate us.

Paul has made it his practice to be self-supporting in his ministry.  We are told in Acts 18:2-3 that Paul’s trade was tent making.  In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul establishes the right of apostles and pastors to receive financial compensation for their ministry, but he makes it clear he has not chosen to do so in order to remove any question about his motivation for preaching the Good News.  So though he had every right to receive compensation, he has chosen not to do so.  This means he  is able offer a strong example of his work-ethic.

Thus, when he gives his next instructions, he seems a little less hard-hearted:

For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: “If anyone will not work, don’t let him eat.” For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who don’t work at all, but are busybodies.  Now those who are that way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

Evidently, those who were rebelling against his doctrine were taking advantage of the generosity of the Thessalonians — possibly even passing themselves off as teachers in order to receive remuneration.  This command, not to feed those who won’t work,  accomplishes two things:

• If the busybodies are engaged in gainful employment, they don’t have time to be sowing seeds of rebellion or heresy.
• Second, this command reinforces the importance of responsibility and a strong work ethic.

Finally, Paul encourages the hard work and the good works of the Thessalonians:

 But you, brothers, don’t be weary in doing well.

APPLY:  

Paul may seem harsh.  Let’s be clear.  He isn’t telling the Thessalonians to be unkind or ungenerous to the truly poor.  He himself has taken up an offering from the churches in Macedonia and Achaia for the poor in Jerusalem who had been suffering under a famine (Romans 15:26).  He encourages the church to support widows who are too old to remarry  (1 Timothy 5:9-10) — although he does encourage young widows to remarry if possible, so they don’t place a burden on the community of faith.

But if someone is able to work, he believes that they should work:

we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

This may well be the foundation for what Max Weber, the famous sociologist, calls the Protestant Work Ethic — although this teaching is Biblical, not Protestant!

In Paul’s famous description of the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12, he describes the complex inter-working of various gifts, all working together for the good of the whole community:

There are various kinds of service, and the same Lord. There are various kinds of workings, but the same God, who works all things in all.  But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all (1 Corinthians 12:5-7).

RESPOND: 

There is an old proverb: “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”  Folks who are underemployed are more likely to be busybodies at best, and serious troublemakers at worst.

What Paul advocates is that Christians should be responsibly, ethically, and diligently employed.  Christianity doesn’t support a system of entitlements that give people something for nothing.  That isn’t good for the individual or the community.

On the other hand, Paul is not addressing the problems of a modern economy when there is recession or depression, and jobs are scarce — although he might argue that the job-seeker need not be picky when it comes to job opportunities.  Nor is he arguing that those who cannot work should not be assisted — the widow, the orphan, the aged, the handicapped.

What we find in the Bible is balance.  On the one hand, we are to be “poured out” for those who are last, least and lost.  Jesus tells us that when we feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit the prisoner, we do these things for him (Matthew 25:35-4).  On the other hand, if we are able to work,  we should not expect others to do for us what we are able to do for ourselves.

Lord, make me generous to those who are in genuine need; and make me responsible and diligent to earn my own keep. Amen.

 PHOTOS:
"Strong Work Ethic" by regan76 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for November 6, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

St. Paul ventures into the bewildering subject of  eschatology — the last things or the end of the world.  Ironically, Paul is not writing as one who is bewildered by the future.  He is reassuring the Thessalonians:

Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to him, we ask you not to be quickly shaken in your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter as from us, saying that the day of Christ had come.

He is advising the Thessalonians not to be deceived in any way.  Evidently, some preachers were teaching a kind of  realized eschatology — i.e., that the day of Christ  had already come.  He also wishes to advise them that if they have been led to believe that he has taught this doctrine, it is not true.

Paul assures them that they haven’t missed the Second Coming!  There are certain signs and events that he tells them must happen first:

For it will not be, unless the departure comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction….  

First, the departure needs to be carefully explained.  The Greek word is apostasia, which gives us the word apostasy.  The departure to which he refers appears to be a departure from the faith.  He suggests that hasn’t happened yet, but when it does it will be a sign of the beginning of the end.

The second sign is embodied in a person — the man of sin, the son of destruction. The words that Paul uses for this man are also interesting.  Man of sin is a translation of the Greek anomias, which can also be translated as lawless one. This phrase conveys a sense of anarchy.  And destruction is a translation of apoleias, which suggests an annihilator. Its Latin translation calls this figure the son of perdition.

There is also a fascinating side note concerning the phrase son of destruction.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus prays  The High Priestly Prayer.  In one section of this prayer, he declares that he has preserved his disciples during his earthly ministry — except for one:

Those whom you have given me I have kept. None of them is lost, except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 17:12). 

The son of destruction here is obviously a reference to Judas Iscariot.  And then there is this, from John’s Revelation, concerning Satan himself who presides over the locust-scorpions from the abyss of Hell:

They have over them as king the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is “Abaddon”,  but in Greek, he has the name “Apollyon” (Revelation 9:11).

Apollyon  (or Destroyer in Greek) is derived from the word for destruction, the same word Paul uses here in 2 Thessalonians 2:3.

Whether this being is a personification of evil, or an actual ruler who will assume control over the world, Paul foresees that the end will not come until the man of sin and the son of destruction has usurped even divine authority.  Paul describes this figure as a blasphemer:

who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.

Apparently, Paul is going over doctrine he has already taught the Thessalonians when he was among them:

 Don’t you remember that, when I was still with you, I told you these things?

In the verses that our lectionary reading for the day leaves out (verses 6-12), Paul continues to remind the Thessalonians of his teachings.  He tells them that the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the lawless one is restrained by the Lord.  And eventually, the lawless one will be destroyed by the breath of the Lord.  And Paul warns that those who have been deceived by Satan will be lost:

because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved (2  Thessalonians 2:10).

But Paul returns to his pastoral concern for the new believers in Thessalonica, giving thanks for them because they are:  

loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth; to which he called you through our Good News, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This sentence is a brief primer on the way of salvation.  They are loved by the Lord, and salvation includes the completing work of sanctification of the Sprit. 

Paul also reminds them that they were called into faith through his own proclamation of the Good News — so he urges them to:

stand firm, and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word, or by letter.

Paul is clearly advising them to steer clear of these other teachers who are confusing them with heterodox views, such as the claim that the day of the Lord has already come.

Finally, he offers a prayer to comfort them and strengthen their faith:

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.

APPLY:  

There are certainly a great many teachers and preachers who have made it their business to offer scenarios for the end of the world.  So far, those who have made predictions have all been wrong.

In Paul’s time, one school of thought was that the day of the Lord had already come.  We don’t know exactly what these teachers offered as proof.  We might say that this was the first appearance of a theology that is called realized eschatology.

The term realized eschatology tends to be used by theologians today who question the literal interpretation of eschatological passages in Scripture.  They would argue that the kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus has already arrived with his presence — and that the day of the Lord has already come.  Our part as Christians, they would say, is to live into that reality until the kingdom of God is created by our love and service.

While there may be some truth to the notion that the kingdom of God has begun to be revealed, careful study of the Scriptures informs us that we don’t bring the kingdom, God does!  There is a now to the kingdom of God; but there is also a not yet.  For evidence I can only point to the hunger, war, catastrophes and suffering that exist in the world.  This is not yet the world that Jesus and the apostles promise.

We are safest when we cleave to the teaching of Jesus and the apostles — which is exactly what Paul advises the Thessalonians:   

So then, brothers, stand firm, and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word, or by letter.

RESPOND: 

In one of my churches, there was a very sweet lady who kept asking me a question for which I had no good answer.  She wondered why I didn’t talk more about the Antichrist. 

I think I know what she was really asking.  With so many End-Times books and preachers in the popular culture, she wanted me to weigh in on the subject.

But I was wary of taking the bait.  I certainly do believe the Biblical witness, that Christ will return on the day of the Lord.  Not only is that doctrine attested multiple times throughout the New Testament, it just makes sense.  If creation, time, and history all had a beginning point, it seems logical to me that creation, time and history will have an end.  And this is the note of hope in the New Testament — that the world will not simply careen from one disaster to another forever, but history is going somewhere!

However, I am very cautious about trying to read the Bible as a kind of blueprint for the End-times.  It is enough for me to trust God with the future of the planet, and my future.  Jesus told his disciples, when he was taken up into heaven:

It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:7-8).

I believe my job is to be a witness to the person and work of Christ,  not  to speculate about times or seasons.

Our Lord, we do live in confusing times. Such uncertain times brings “End-times” teachers out of the woodwork. And that adds to our confusion.  Help us to cleave to the faith once delivered to the saints, and trust you to complete your work on earth in your time and in your way.  Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
"The future is...?" by Yana Lyandres is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for October 30, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Sometimes when we read the Bible we begin to realize that we are walking into a flower garden — in which someone seems to have buried landmines!  What may seem clear on the surface actually becomes uncertain, and maybe even dangerous to one’s faith.

So it seems with Biblical commentaries, and with Lectionary Texts.  In the case of Paul’s Second Letter to  the Thessalonians, there are disputes among scholars about its authorship and its date.  Historical-critical scholars in the late 18th century  questioned whether Paul had actually written 2 Thessalonians because the language seems different than 1 Thessalonians. They also believed that there is a less urgent tone in 2 Thessalonians concerning the Second Coming of Jesus.  However, the traditional, orthodox view has maintained the Pauline authorship of 2 Thessalonians.

In the final analysis, even scholarly opinions are conjectures that cannot overshadow the fact that the books of the New Testament were completed no later than the early 2nd century. The Bible is ultimately the Church’s book, not a landmine in a flower garden.

Although formal canonization of all 27 of the New Testament books by the councils of bishops didn’t come for several centuries (Synod of Hippo Regius in North Africa 393; the Councils of Carthage in 397 and 419; Pope Damasus I’s Council of Rome in 382), 2 Thessalonians was one epistle whose authority was never in doubt.

Having said all of that, I assume that 2 Thessalonians was written by Paul.

Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy had established a church in Thessalonica around 50 A.D., one of the very first churches in Macedonia after Philippi.  Thessalonica was a key port city on the Aegean Sea.  It was also situated on the Egnatian Way, a Roman highway which a traveler could take from Byzantium to the East, through Philippi, and all the way through Thessalonica to the coast of the Adriatic Sea.  From there a traveler could catch a ship at Dyrrachium and sail to Brundisium in the heel of Italy.  Needless to say, Thessalonica was a strategically located city.

Paul had already written a first letter to the Thessalonians, seeking to comfort them and to clarify Christian teachings about the Second Coming of Jesus.  Although 2 Thessalonians is shorter, it addresses many of the same issues that the first letter does — with information about the Second Coming, and how they are to live in the meantime.

Paul writes in the name of himself and his co-workers, with a greeting that is somewhat typical of his letters:

 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ:  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul speaks of his thanksgiving for the church, and praises the growth of their faith and mutual love.  He tells them that he boasts of them wherever he goes:

we ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure.

Already, we are seeing the persecution of the church as a counter-cultural organization, although Paul doesn’t specify the source of the persecution.  From Acts 17 we learn that there was stringent resistance to Paul and his message by some of the members of the synagogue.   We also learn that these folks enlisted the help of a mob and accused Paul and his cohorts of sedition by seeking to promote the kingship of Jesus over Caesar.  Paul may be aware that though the church at Thessalonica has been successfully planted, they are still being falsely accused of  acts that are:

contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus! (Acts 17:7).

Their accusers were right about one thing, though.  These Christians had:

turned the world upside down  (Acts 17:6).

Now we come to a second problem with our epistle for this week — the lectionary editors skip from verse 4 to verse 11.  So when we read in verse 11,  To this end we also pray always for you, we don’t know what Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy are praying for unless we connect the dots by reading verses 5 to 10.

There, we see Paul’s continuing argument from verse 4, that the persecutions are a sign of the coming judgment of God, and that God will requite those who afflict God’s people.  His language is quite dramatic:

it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,  giving vengeance to those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,  who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,  when he comes to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired among all those who have believed (because our testimony to you was believed) in that day (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10).

This is why Paul and company are praying so fervently, because of the persecutions that the Thessalonian church is suffering.  He is seeking to encourage them so that:

God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith, with power; that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The goodness and faith and power of the persecuted church are a compelling witness to their character.

APPLY:  

I sometimes think that only Christians in the persecuted church around the world should be allowed to read the apocalyptic  books in the New Testament, like 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Revelation, and certain other books.  The reason I say that is that they understand these books better than those of us in the West whose Christianity is fairly easy.

All the more reason that the “un-persecuted church” must be even more faithful than we are now. When the world sees us, do they see that we are:

worthy of our calling, fulfilling every desire of goodness and work of faith, with power?

Or do they see a country club of congenial consumer Christians who conform the Gospel to their own lifestyles, rather than taking up the cross and being conformed to Christ?

RESPOND: 

I sometimes wonder how I would handle real persecution.  Not the imagined persecution that Christians sometimes become a little too hysterical about in the U.S. — “we can’t wish each other a Merry Christmas anymore!   Why can’t we have public invocations and prayers at ball games and graduations?” 

I have the feeling that Christians in Iraq and Syria and Egypt and Indonesia and China would gladly exchange the fear of beheading, desecration of their churches, and job discrimination with our petty concerns.

What I am hearing in my own American culture is that Christianity is becoming increasingly irrelevant. “Christians” don’t look or act particularly different than their non-Christian neighbors. Christians tend to divorce at the same rate, tend to have similar rates of alcoholism, tend to be just as materialistic, etc., etc., etc.

There is room for improvement.  How are we to be the leaven, the salt and the light in our secularized culture?  Perhaps we can do no better than seek to replicate the observation by pagan Romans as they described Christians in the early church:

See how these Christian love one another (Tertullian).

May our faith, our power and our love be our Christian witness!

Lord, give me the  faith and power  to be the witness you have called me to be.  Amen.  

 PHOTOS:
"Thessalonians" by Ian Wakefield is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.