I Thessalonians 2:13-16
They believe
they’ve caught those responsible for some ten church fires in Alabama. Three college students have been accused of
the crimes, which they’ve described as a prank which got out of hand.
While these
jokesters were burning churches in Alabama, angry opponents to Christianity
were burning churches in India and Nigeria.
Christians in other nations were facing pressure because of their faith.
While the
college boys thought burning churches would be fun, those arsonists in Nigeria
and elsewhere believed they were on a mission.
Every day,
wherever there are Christians who take the call to discipleship seriously, the
gospel is being presented somewhere in the world. How do men and women respond to that message?
The experiences
of the early Christians in Thessalonica represent a microcosm of how people
respond to the gospel.
There
Will Always Be Those Who Reject the Gospel.
Paul doesn’t say
this directly but by implication. Just
as the Thessalonians Christians saw the gospel as God’s message to them, some
saw the gospel as just another religious philosophy born out of the minds those
struggling with questions about life.
Or, perhaps, as we saw last time, some of them may have imagined the
gospel to be a scheme to make Paul and his band some quick cash from gullible
chumps who believed them.
It’s always been
that way. There are those who say…
--the gospel is
too simple.
--the gospel is
too unbelievable.
--the gospel is
too demanding.
They don’t
reject the gospel with hostility, but with indifference. Though they may pity you, they don’t care if
you’re happy believing the gospel.
They may even go through the motions of becoming
part of a church.
They are bowing
to community or family pressure.
They are recognizing
the economic benefits of appearing to be Christian.
In the early
days of this nation, wealthy land-owners maintained family pews in the churches
and even went regularly, not because of a commitment to Christ, but because it
enhanced their reputations and maintained their influence.
Many more don’t even bother with the pretense.
Never more than
45% of Americans have attended church regularly. (At time of Revolution, 20%.)
Indifference to
the gospel is a reality every church hoping to be intentional in sharing the
good news has to reckon with; indifference to the gospel is never sufficient
reason to give up being intentional in sharing the gospel.
There Will Always Be Those Who Resist the Gospel.
While some meet
the gospel with indifference, others respond with hostility. They are determined to stop the gospel in its
spread and to oppose those who have embraced its promise.
Paul had been
part of that resistance in is homeland before his miraculous conversion. Though one of the chief persecutors had been
stopped, the persecution continued.
The Thessalonian
church was spiritually linked to the churches in Judea, where the gospel was
first preached. There were cultural
differences but the essential qualities were present to the degree that the
Thessalonians were being persecuted as were the Judean churches.
Those converted
in Judea faced the ire of some of their neighbors. The same thing was happening in Greece. In Philippi and in Ephesus pagans led the
persecution; in Thessalonica, the both
Jews and Gentiles opposed the church.
We need to understand
what Paul is saying here so we won’t understand his meaning.
Most
translations are misleading. For
example, one refers to, “… the Jews, (comma) who put the Lord Jesus to
death…” That translation seems to blame
all Jews for the persecution Christians were undergoing. That comma doesn’t belong there. The proper translation refers to a
specific group among the Jews: “the Jews who put the Lord Jesus to death.”
Sadly, that
misunderstanding has been used to justify anti-Semitic behavior.
But Paul was no
anti-Semite; after all, he was a Jew.
But he was also an observer of history.
The religious elite of Jerusalem did have a history of opposing those
who spoke for God. Even Jesus described
the city as a place where prophets were put to death. Paul had heard Stephen ask the Jewish
leaders, "Can you name a single
prophet your ancestors never persecuted?
They killed those who foretold the coming of the Upright One, and now
you have become his betrayers, his murderers."
But, again, this
refers to only certain Jewish leaders.
In fact, Paul seems to see the tendency to persecute the church as being
trans-cultural. While the Jews
persecuted the Judean church, their own countrymen joined the Jews in
persecuting the Thessalonian church. The
cycle continues.
Churches in
different cultures will differ but there are similarities that mark them as
true churches of Jesus Christ. And that
makes them targets of any who would resist the gospel.
So, there is
probably no ultimately safe place for the church. Wherever it may be, if the Christian church
challenges the prevailing culture there will be hostility toward its message,
its people, and its very existence.
Paul offers two
observations about this behavior:
1. The behavior did not please God. Even though some persecutors may have
believed they were doing God a favor.
2. The behavior marked them as enemies of the
"whole human race." Not only
did their behavior compromise their own souls it put those who needed to hear
the prophet's message in jeopardy.
The last half of
verse 16 is difficult to understand.
Willliams’
translation suggests those opposing the gospel, like some of the Jews, would
soon "fill up to the brim the cup of their sins." The idea seems to be that they were
continually adding to there record of sin.
Because of this, they faced the threat of judgment for their behavior, a
behavior which rejected the only possible way of escape from judgment.[1]
Resistance to
the gospel may take a variety of forms:
--Physical
persecution.
--Political or
social discrimination.
--Ostracism.
Fellow
Christians around the world endure tremendous pressure because of their
faith.
--we deal with
many who reject the gospel.
--we’re less
likely to face the passion of those who resist the advance of the gospel.
In any case,
we’re to continue to share the gospel.
There
Will Always Be Those Who Receive the Gospel.
When the Thessalonians heard Paul’s preaching,
they accepted what he said, trusted Christ and reordered their lives according
to that decision. This was another reason why he was thankful for the
Thessalonians. They understood that the
gospel message was from God and not merely of human origin.
They received
the gospel because there was someone willing to share it with them.
Because the
gospel has a spiritual origin it can deal with our gravest spiritual
problem—sin. Those who are honest enough
to admit their sin, find forgiveness through the gospel.
The gospel gives
hope that can overrule the power of death.
Something about the gospel finds an audience
in whatever culture hears it. Men and
women become convinced it is God’s own word to them. But someone has to share it with them.
That should
encourage us to keep; on preaching and
teaching the gospel.
Many people say
today that all religions are fundamentally the same, that no religion is to be
valued above another. Even if all
religions were of human origin, this wouldn’t be true.
We’d have to
weigh the impact of that religion on the world.
What difference has that religion’s presence in the world made? When Paul reminds the Thessalonians that “…
this word continues to work in you who believe,” he is inviting observers to measure the “work” it has done within
those who have believed.
Christianity, like all religions, has embarrassing periods of its
history when those who claimed to be its followers behaved in ways which
contradicted its core beliefs. But, the
truth is, Christianity has done great things for humankind, even for those who
steadfastly refused to embrace it. Yet,
some critics seem to believe Christianity is a great blight on history.
The notion that the gospel was “the very word of God” explains why the
early church was so careful to preserve it.
Aberrant versions of the gospel appeared but they were not allowed to
corrupt the apostolic message. The
second-century Gospel of Thomas, made famous by Dan Brown’s novel The
DaVinci Code, was not rejected because it was by a rival faction but
because it was considered wrong, even frivolous in its treatment of Jesus.
Because there are always those who will receive the gospel, allowing it
to do its transforming work, we’re encouraged to keep on proclaiming that
gospel.
Conclusion
What Paul said
to the Thessalonians leaves us with two big questions:
How do we regard
the gospel?
--touching
story, but not much more?
--wishful-thinking?
--God’s word to
us?
What will you do
with the gospel?
--keep it to
yourself?
--share it with
others?
[1]
Paul says, (God's) "... retribution has finally overtaken them." Most translations seem to suggest the idea
that this has been a long time in coming.
Was Paul speaking of some specific
event, such as the oppression of he Jews by the Romans? Did he have in mind the continuing spiritual
blindness which resulted from rejecting Jesus?
Did he have something else in mind?
He seems to be saying that the
retribution was going on as he wrote.
However, some of the translations seem to suggest that the punishment
was only beginning.
"Christian" anti-Semitism
has grown out of the notion that Jews ought to pay for rejecting Jesus and
crucifying him. Paul, whatever he may be
saying here, is not pre-condoning what would be done to the Jewish people
during the coming centuries.
