I Thessalonians 2:17-3:8
Next month when
people are celebrating St Patrick’s Day with green beer and outlandish claims
to be Irish try to keep in mind the story of the man the day recalls. St Patrick’s Day celebrates the story of a
man you yearned to see the Kingdom of God extended. As a sixteen-year-old in a small British
village, he had been kidnapped by Irish pirates. He was sold as a slave to a wealthy land owner
and given the task of caring for the man’s sheep. For six years, he served his master and
prayed for a way of escape. Finally he
escaped to Gaul—modern France—where he became a monk. But he wasn’t content to remain in the safety
of the continent; he yearned to return
to the Irish people with the gospel. He
had a compelling love for the people.
That kind of love
can motivate people to sacrificial living.
It did that for Patrick and for Paul.
There’s no doubt
Paul wrote with such feeling because he genuinely missed the opportunity to be
with his Christian brothers and sisters in Thessalonica.
--Paul treasured
fellowship with other Christians, even though many of them were from groups he
would have once avoided as one might avoid a mangy dog with its repellent
sores. In fact, he may have once
referred to them as “Gentile dogs.”
--Fellowship with
other Christians was mutually beneficial.
The churches gained from his being there and he gained from being with
other Christians.
--Paul knew the
world could be a dangerous place for a church.
While he would never have the church withdraw from the world, he knew
the world could make a deep impact on the church. Although by no means a pessimist, Paul
dreaded the possibility that somehow his labor among the Thessalonians might
prove to have been in vain.
Just what Paul may
have meant isn't clear but he certainly pictures a situation in which the
church had become ineffective.
Because he knew
the trials they were facing, Paul was desperate to know how they were
doing. Therefore, he sent Timothy to
find out.
Paul sent Timothy
out despite the fact he would feel his absence deeply. Nothing about being a Christian or doing
Christian ministry carries a guarantee of happiness or that there would never
be times of loneliness. Living
sacrificially implies sacrifice.
Sacrifice implies giving something of value.
Michael Jackels,
bishop of the Wichita diocese, announced a loosening of the rules for Lent, so
they wouldn’t impinge on anyone’s celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Bishop Jackels said his flock could enjoy
corned beef on Friday, instead of avoiding meat as most Roman Catholics do on
the Fridays of Lent. Now, there’s
nothing really wrong with that but it does remind us that many people feel
sacrifice should be taken only so far.
Paul believed that
suffering went along with being a Christian.
Still, even the best of us can forget.
--Paul knew the
young Christians might easily be shaken by the trials they were facing. Thessalonica appears to have been a tough
place and this a tough time to be a Christian.
--He reminded them
that such troubles or afflictions were the "appointed lot" for
Christians. In this, he echoes what
Peter would later write to another band of Christians enduring hardship: "I beg you not to be unduly alarmed at
the fiery ordeal you are passing through...as though this were some abnormal
experience..." (I Peter 4:12)
Thomas points out
that the word translated as “tribulations” is thilipsesin and describes the “stiffest test of faith.” Such things are to be expected by
Christians. Paul did not want them to be
“unsettled,” a word which describes the condition of being shaken or disturbed.
No health and
wealth gospel for Paul. He was honest
and forthright in his teaching and preaching to the Thessalonians. From the beginning, he told them they were
going to "pressed with difficulties." (Williams) Subsequent events only proved the accuracy of
his predictions.
There was nothing
wrong with their faith; they weren't
suffering because of lack of faith;
these trials were tokens of their faithfulness.
His greatest fear
was not that they were facing hard times but that the Tempter had succeeded in
leading them to give up. This would
signal that Paul's hard work would have been in vain.
This concern
raises interesting questions. But
whatever the final resolution about what Paul means, it's clear he believed a
church which had caved into the cultural pressure, a church which had
surrendered its distinctive role as God's people in the world, a church which
had withdrawn into itself, with no intention of engaging the outsiders with the
claims of Christ was a church which had ceased to be what it was born to be.
What puts a church in peril?
1. Unrelenting pressure from a hostile world.
The world is
hostile to Christianity. It doesn’t
welcome its indictment of humanity’s sins and its call for repentance. It chafes at the thought of bowing to a
Heavenly King. That hostility has taken
a variety of forms and it varies in intensity, but it is always there.
The Thessalonian
Christians seem to have known that constant pressure. Paul may have worried about the effect it
would have on them.
àThey
might quit serving Christ completely.
àThey
might compromise.
àThey
might become bitter and insular.
We Western
Christians don’t live with the dread of the midnight knock at the door and
being dragged away by the police who will interrogate us and then forget us in
their filthy jail. We face other kinds
of pressure.
Now, keep in mind
there’s no way being snickered at because we avoid certain forms of
entertainment compares with having our children ripped away from us so they
might be reeducated, in the hope of ridding them of our superstitions. Our Chinese brothers and sisters have faced
that.
And, keep in mind that we have to avoid the
paranoia which sees disagreement by secular thinkers or even court rulings we
don’t like as sure signs that padlocking churches is only days away. We may have to recognize that passing out
Bibles, as churches did when I was a youngster, might really be
unconstitutional. I’ve long believed
that our schools’ hesitancy to promote Christianity over any other religion,
might have the unexpected benefit of reminding Christians that it is the
church’s task to spread the gospel and not that of any other institution.
Still, we face
pressure as Christians. Most of the
other sources of influence in our society—entertainment, media, academia—do not
agree with our world-view. This can mean
we have to do our work in the face of
--Misrepresentation.
--Under-representation.
In the Old
Testament, God sometimes told those he was calling to be his prophets that they
would face hard times and that people wouldn’t listen to them. Not once did he stop and say, “Come to think
of it, why bother.”
2. A sense of being isolated and abandoned.
It appears that
someone in the Thessalonian community had begun to spread the rumor that Paul
didn’t care what was happening to them.
Did they really believe what they were saying or did they simply wish to
undermine Paul’s influence? What matters
is that some people believed them.
Try to put yourself
in the place of those Christians. Just
after they came to believe, those who brought them the gospel had to flee. Intellectually they may have understood why
Paul and the others left, but their hearts may have betrayed them.
It’s tough to feel
alone.
3. Satanic conspiracy.
Don’t you hate it
when someone makes a strange, intriguing statement and then doesn’t explain?
Paul does that
here. He says, “I tried again and again
to come and see you but ‘Satan prevented us.’”
You want to say, “Whoa. Just a minute. What do you mean, ‘Satan prevented us?’”
But he doesn’t
explain and any amount of conjecture is just conjecture.
So, we’ll leave it
at that with the observation that Paul believed in Satan. For that matter, so did Jesus. That may bother some people because it seems
so medieval to believe in Satan. But, if
you believe in the existence of a benevolent Being who constantly seeks our
good, there is no real reason to believe there cannot also exist a malevolent
being who constantly seeks our harm. Some
of you may recall Verbal’s observation in The
Usual Suspects. He said, “The
devil’s greatest trick was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
While Paul speaks
only of Satan’s keeping him from visiting Thessalonica, it’s clear that Satan’s
activities were detrimental to the Thessalonians, as well.
Satan wanted to
destroy the Thessalonian church or, at least, render it ineffective. That goal could be accomplished by causing
them to doubt God’s word or his goodness or by succeeding in tempting them to surrender
to the pull of their culture.
Satan seems to be
particularly active when a church is going though a tough time. But remember:
The great danger of the satanic conspiracy is the fact that Satan
pursues his agenda even when a church is experiencing peace and prosperity.
The Steadfast Church
Timothy’s report
relieved Paul’s gravest worry; from
Timothy, Paul learned the Thessalonian fellowship was exhibiting signs of good
health.
Timothy’s report
relieved Paul’s concern for the Thessalonian church by pointing out that they
had remained steadfast in maintaining the faith and demonstrating love.
They had remained
steadfast.
--A steadfast
church maintains a healthy faith.
They continued to
trust what they had learned from those who taught them the gospel. Holding on to the core of the Christian
truth.
Reviewing the
Apostles’ Creed helps us remember the foundation on which we stand, the root of
our hope of salvation.
--A steadfast church
demonstrates a healthy love.
They continued to
be a community of love. They showed love
for each other and love for those outside the community.
They did not
surrender to bitterness and anger due to their troubles.
Conclusion
Despite the
challenges that come from being God’s people, a church can be healthy.
