II Thessalonians 3
Introduction: Over the weeks of our studies in I and II Thessalonians, we’ve made note of many different individuals who left a distinguishing mark on our world. Perhaps you remember the nominees for the Darwin Awards for 1999, the West Texas gas company employees and the South African hospital cleaning lady. Both of these nominees made very significant marks, though tragic, on our world.
Then there was William Brown who had the hopeful face in Moscow. We included Arminius, the liberator of Germany from the Romans, and we saw Harrison Ford take a huge step of faith as Indiana Jones in the third movie, “The Last Crusade”. We also met Simon Bolivar, the liberator of five South American countries -- what an impact he made! We looked briefly at Scott Fischer, a veteran of Mount Everest, and we learned a bit about Walter Payton, the great running back for the Chicago Bears. We saw the impact made by Turlough O’Carolan, the Irish harpist, and we were fascinated by the school drop-out, Peter Giannini who in time bought the Bank of America.
We were challenged by the Iwo Jima flag raisers and the huge impact they made in 1940’s America. We learned the story of Grandma Moses, America’s best known folk-art painter, and we marveled that archeologist Heinrich Schliemann was able to discover the ancient city of Troy by reading the old classics.
We saw a brief part of the lives of Mike Schmidt, one of baseball’s most valuable players, Walter Reed, the vanquisher of yellow fever, Mary Lou Retton, the premier gymnast, and Lyman Spitzer, the driving force behind the Hubble Space Telescope.
Each one of these individuals made a conspicuous, telltale mark upon this world of ours. Each one did something that the rest of the world noted as uniquely his.
By way of introduction then, as we come to the last three verses of II Thessalonians, Paul tells us he leaves a distinguishing mark in every letter he writes. He makes a distinct stamp that identifies his letters as uniquely his. If the letter doesn’t have this mark, then it’s not Paul’s. This mark of validation is one of three final points Paul makes as he finishes his letter. He offers a last prayer as his first point, and a benediction is his last.
These three points, simple, clear, straightforward, become a launching pad for some final applications we want to make as we say good-by to 2 Thessalonians. Our text reads like this: 2 Thess 3:16-18 “Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all! I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, and this is a distinguishing mark in every letter; this is the way I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.”
Let’s take Paul’s middle point first. His mark of validation is his handwriting. He says, “This is the way I write.” No doubt a secretary took his letter down as he dictated it, and Paul signed off on it at the end. His personal greeting, in his own hand, marked the letter as his. We’ve all seen these kinds of letters, written by a secretary, and signed by the author.
As I think of application and what this could mean to us, consider that this same Paul described the Corinthians as “… our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men,…” (2 Cor. 3:2). He further wrote that these Corinthians are “a letter of Christ.” (2 Cor. 3:3).
So, if Paul had a particular mark that identified his letters, and if we are “letters of Christ” as the believers at Corinth were, able to be read by others --- what would be our distinguishing mark? What is that feeling that comes to mind in the hearts of those who interface with us in the community? What word do folks here in the church use as the particular qualifier of our life? If those we work with were to select one or two terms to describe us, what would it be? What is that distinguishing mark of our life?
Let me share what some our your marks are! I know I’m taking some risk here, but you know me as a risk-taker. I like how Lon Solomon said it in the latest “Leadership Journal.” He is the senior pastor of McLean Bible Church in McLean, VA., and he tells people who are considering membership there with them: “If you don’t like taking risks, this may not be the place for you – for at any given moment, we are a nanosecond away from disaster.” And since I’m leaving on vacation tomorrow, I can afford to take some risks today. Anyway…
Art Mahan has marked us with the video images he finds each week to make more clear the message I’m trying to communicate. He does that faithfully along with setting up the sound equipment. If you doubt that mark upon us, watch what happens when he’s away!
Terri Brooks and Judy Sutherland have good histories with our children’s choirs, nurturing our little ones in the truths of the faith. How we have been blessed with the music that comes through their leadership!
Ron Sutherland has marked all of us with most of the creative ideas that have blossomed around here. Several years ago Bob and Jean and Suzie and I went to Ohio for a seminar on creativity led by the great Howard Hendricks. On the little test for creativity we took at the end, I ranked last among the four of us. Did that cause me some concern? Not in the least, for I have lunch with Ron just about every week.…
Keri Manganello has marked this church family week after week on Sunday mornings and at funerals and weddings with her great skills at the piano. I am told her abilities and skills in the sight reading of music are beyond compare.
Virgil Corll has left his mark all over our facilities with numerous remodeling projects -- woodwork, cabinets, countertops, plumbing, painting, door locks, you name it; Virgil’s done it.
Geoff Schwartz is just a younger Virgil. Known for doing things right, Geoff has been resodding the grass around our parking lot, removing and replacing rotting railroad ties; he built the concrete retaining wall on the east side of the gym, and has plans to begin to pour curbing around the parking lot.
Ron Dudleston has marked this church family with his get-it-done approach to any kind of project. Whether it’s a BASSYCS banquet, or the food you ate in the park on July the 2nd, or these communion elements we’ll be sharing shortly, Ron is completely dependable with every project he undertakes.
Cindy Callison has left her green thumbprint on our sanctuary, altar table, and both entryways. Her skills with plants and artificial plants, wreaths and bows has said to visitors that this is a warm place to come for worship.
I doubt that many of you know that Bob Hodge has unique skills in the arena of stains, lacquers, varnishes, and other wood finishes. The new trim for these sanctuary windows that is awaiting installation is absolutely beautiful -- something special for this church building from Bob’s careful hands.
The one who takes care of our financial books and records, Barb Valerio, is a great steward of the funds that are given by us to the work of the ministry here. She has pinched every penny that has come through the offerings -- most, twice! -- so that the funds you entrust to us go as far as possible.
Any of us who know Mike Koch know that there isn’t anything he can’t do. If an elevator chair needs to be installed for Teresa Smith on the stairs of the funeral home, he’ll make sure it’s done, even if it has to be repaired, rebuilt, remodeled and adjusted. And when he finishes, it will work. I know; I rode it myself.
A person doesn’t have to be here long before he/she comes to know Pam Harrison is the congregation’s nurse. Pam will take your call and give you the right kind of counsel. She was still at the hospital with the Seaman family long after Alan and I left on the day Rick died.
Kathy Herrmann has left her mark all over this community. If someone needs to know what color scheme would be just perfect, he calls Kathy. The paint on the town depot was chosen by Kathy; the carpet used anywhere in the university was picked out by Kathy; the color scheme for this very room is the result of her gifted eyes. She has chosen carpet to replace this current floor covering -- when the funds come in to do that.
Everywhere I go in this community the patients of Heidi Lakanen tell me what a wonderful doctor she is. If anything ever happens to my doctor, I’m going to get on her waiting list. I remember the fellows coming back from Honduras one year relating accounts of how John Lakanen, a chemistry professor at the “other” university, had a daily devotion or commentary on something unique and unknown there in the jungle that everyone found fascinating. Of course, we all know that John and Heidi’s primary contribution to this church family is a little boy called David.
And who can tell me what Chuck Stevens has done to mark this church body? The better question is, “Who cannot tell me who Chuck Stevens is?” Greeter and recaller of names like no one else I know.
Ken and Beth Smith are master hosts, marking all of us with their gifts and resources of hospitality. There are not two harder workers in the area of trustees and music than these two.
Suzie Heth has brought credit to this congregation through her volunteer service to the elementary school. In fact she put together a whole program of volunteers that has helped the school staff immensely. And if a person ever needs an in-depth Biblical and theological study of any topic, thoroughly researched and footnoted, Bill Heth’s work will be complete.
And who hasn’t had a lump in his throat and tears on her face when some of our youth, led and trained by Joanne Seaman, have signed a particularly moving song or hymn in a worship service?
Larry Winterholter has impressed me as a superb communicator, saying powerful things in the emotional contexts of weddings and funerals and I’m left wondering, “How does he do that?”
Gary Johnson has always been available to help us with electrical wiring issues here in the church. If it’s tough, he can figure it out. And I’ve always been impressed with the breadth of Gary’s reading interests. He’s shared books with me -- bought me some -- from a great variety of topics and subjects.
Mark Cosgrove has often pinch hit for me here in this pulpit, and many of us appreciate his teaching, but I’m more impressed with the three young men that have grown up in that home, each one polite, courteous, responsible, and someone to make a mom and dad proud. It doesn’t hurt that their roots are in Texas, too.
Suzie’s folks are with us today; many of you have met them in their visits over the years. I’ve told you before of Bill Sweaney’s almost fifty years of ministry to the 2 year olds in his large church in Arlington, TX. There must be at least 10,000 people who know this man as Uncle Bill. Talk about leaving one’s mark on the world….
Sam Cocking is the kind of friend you need for troubled times. She and her husband Kent are generous, too, with the fruit of their Asian pear tree. In season, Kent brings them to our elder meetings -- healthier for us than those marvelous cookies Sam sends during the rest of the year!
Well, I’ve gone way too long on this segment of this message this morning, but I didn’t know where to stop! And there are many more of you who call this church your home that also deserve mentioning. Perhaps there’ll be another opportunity in another sermon soon….
But the point is clear, isn’t it? Paul left a distinguishing mark on all his letters. That mark proved its authenticity. As living letters of Christ read by many in our community, we leave a distinguishing mark wherever we go as well. That mark needs to authenticate our relationship with Christ.
And that leads us to Paul’s first point -- his last written prayer in this letter for his friends. “Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!”
I want to make a couple of observations about this prayer. First, when we think of peace, we generally mean an absence of strife or a cessation of hostilities or a tranquil mind. But in the Scriptures, it means so much more than that. When Paul writes to the Romans (16:20), he describes the God of peace bruising Satan “under your feet shortly.” In a context of what seems like war, God is designated the God of peace. Paul wants us to know this peace, Biblically speaking, means a sense of general well-being. The Hebrew word, shalom, from which Paul would draw his meaning, has the thought of completeness, soundness, welfare.
And so often this ‘well-being’, this ‘spiritual wholeness and soundness,’ occurs in the context of struggle. It is possible to experience spiritual well-being, ‘a prosperity of soul’ (Leon Morris) all the while facing conflict, strife, and tragedy!
It can happen to us and for us and in us because of the Lord of peace. He is the One Who grants it. John reminds us of Jesus’ offer in his gospel (14:27), “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” What an incredible peace He offers! While in the garden, Jesus asks His disciples, (Matt 26:53) “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”
Remember the great storm we mentioned two weeks ago from Acts 27? When everyone has abandoned all hope of being delivered from death to safety, Paul is very much one who is at peace.
Notice in Paul’s prayer the use of the terms ‘continually’ and ‘in every circumstance’. Tell me, friends, what is not covered in the words ‘continually’ and ‘in every circumstance’? Describe for me in your own minds one condition or situation that lies beyond the parameters of ‘continually’ and ‘in every circumstance’.
A tragic accident? The sudden death of a family member or close friend? The diagnosis of a dread disease? A collapsing economy? (Ever wonder why those who handle our investments are called brokers?) The onset of unrelenting pain? A bad call by the umpire calling your son’s game? Shocking, unfounded gossip circulating about you? An unwanted pregnancy? Passed over for promotion? No, not one of these conditions escapes the lasso of ‘continually’ and ‘in every circumstance’.
My friends, there is nothing in this world that would mark us as followers of Christ better than a mind at peace, continually and in every circumstance. This peace is not just for an apostle named Paul or the Son of Man called Jesus. It is for all of us, too! We can leave a legacy like all of you that I’ve mentioned this morning from our church, or we could leave a heritage like all the people we’ve mentioned in the course of our Thessalonian studies… but nothing would quite compare to the aura of well-being that Biblical peace denotes, especially in every circumstance and situation.
The Lord’s presence makes that a very real possibility. Paul’s prayer is that “the Lord be with you all.” The proof of His presence is His peace.
And His grace, in Paul’s benediction, is the icing on the cake. Verse 18: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” God’s unmerited favor, His grace, makes possible peace in every circumstance. Whatever boat we are in, whatever storm blows up, whatever wind and whatever waves have blocked out our vision, God’s grace and the presence of the Lord Jesus guard our hearts with peace.
When Paul wrote to the Philippians about the peace of God guarding our hearts (4:7), he used the picture of military garrisons built near the gates of a city. From these garrisons soldiers could monitor the gates and control all the traffic. Any and every type of the wrong kind of traffic would be stopped and prevented from entering the city.
The analogy to peace and our hearts is quite clear. When the wrong kind of traffic seeks to enter… traffic like anxiety, anger, arrogance, bad attitude, belittling, bedlam, crankiness, crabbiness, conceit, etc., etc., the soldiers of peace lower the crossbars and prevent entrance.
(Conclusion) So, friends, what kind of mark distinguishes us? Do we know enough of the reality of God’s presence and His grace to be marked by peace all the time and in every situation? Is this living letter that is our life like a piece of junk mail easily tossed aside, or is it like a warm, personal letter quickly opened and quickly devoured?
“Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all! I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, and this is a distinguishing mark in every letter; this is the way I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.”
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Thursday, June 5, 2008
Playing hookie: Don't do it in church
II Thessalonians 3
Introduction: Lyman Spitzer put the universe in focus. Christopher Tyner, in the July 7 Investor’s Business Daily, gives us a glance at the life of this Princeton University astronomer who was the driving force behind the Hubble Space Telescope. Spitzer, believe it or not, proposed the idea of a space telescope in 1946, a full 12 years before NASA even came into being!
Though his idea ignited skepticism and rejection, he persisted with discipline and diligence. The $2.1 billion space telescope, aloft now for ten years orbiting hundreds of miles above Earth , sent back pictures in early ’96 that astounded the world. Through its lens, pointed at a small patch of dark sky just above the Big Dipper, came the sight of 1500 galaxies spinning alongside each other at the edge of the universe. One scientist called this sensational discovery the astronomical equivalent of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Lyman Spitzer was a man of incredible discipline and diligence. His friends said of him, “He had a sense of obligation and responsibility and a sense of wanting to do what is right for the long range of the scientific enterprise, independent of what was good for Lyman Spitzer. He was a consummate politician, but unlike the ordinary political politician, he is someone who spoke only accurately and only the truth. He never engaged in hyperbole.”
We are incredibly richer today because of the discipline of a single astrophysicist who went diligently about his business, focused on his goal, taking small steps every day toward the realization of his dream.
We are not surprised to come to the next-to-last segment of Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians and find him writing about the value and fruit of a disciplined life -- in Christ. What Paul writes holds no secrets. As we look at this text this morning, we will not find something new and startling; none of us will leave here marveling that we had never seen this important truth before. For those of us who want to know Christ better and walk more closely with Him, we won’t find any 1-2-3 step process to follow and imitate.
But, as is always the case when we consider the Scriptures, we need to interact with his challenges and consider again why it is important to be disciplined in this matter of following Christ. All of us can leave here more committed to improving our walk with the Savior because of what we see here – if we want to!
Our text is 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15. “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you;
not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.
For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”
Our text unfolds around 4 commands that Paul gives to his friends under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
The first we see at both the beginning and the end of our passage. In verse 6 and in verses 14-15, Paul commands the Thessalonians to withdraw from unruly brothers.
The second imperative is found in verses 10-12, and that instruction is to the unruly brothers – “Work in a quiet fashion and eat your own bread.”
The third mandate covers verses 7-9 and consists of “Follow our example!”
The final order is verse 13: “Don’t grow weary of doing good!”
Out of these four injunctions we can draw some lessons that will improve the quality of our lives as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s consider each one as the text develops and draw our own applications for today.
First, there is the bookend command to withdraw from unruly brothers. To stress his point, Paul starts and finishes this segment with the same emphatic point. In the NASV, we read “to keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life…” and “If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him…”
The concept of ‘withdraw’ here is the image of “furling a sail.” As a sail is coiled up or curled up, so the Thessalonian believers are to retreat within themselves, away from the offenders, so the unruly sense a gap opening between themselves and the others.
The term ‘unruly’ conveys the image of “playing hooky”. We all understand how students who skip school, who cut classes, define the term ‘unruly’. They are a picture of a lack of personal discipline. They skip out on their assigned responsibilities, their expected behavior. ‘Unruly’ in a military context describes an army in disarray, men out of rank. When Santa Ana’s troops were outflanked by General Winfield Scott at the Battle of Cerro Gordo in the Mexican War, their flight in retreat was a perfect picture of ‘unruly’ – disarray to the max, headlong, pell-mell retreat back toward Mexico City.
There were some believers in the Thessalonian church who were known for their ‘playing hooky’ in the Christian life. It is clear from the original text that Paul knew specifically who these individuals were. The ‘some among you’ of verse 11 gives the impression that Paul knows the names of these playing hooky but has chosen to not give their names. He had addressed this problem in I Thessalonians; it hadn’t been corrected; and now he returns more sternly to the issue. Perhaps some of the brethren, feeling like they had missed the coming of the Lord, (chapter 2), had lost their sense of purpose and had given up on their commitment to keep on keeping on. Whatever the basic reason, there were some in this church (a great church, but not a perfect church), there were some in this church who had lost their vision, had lost their focus, and their lives reflected that fact in the undisciplined way they went about life day to day.
Because these specific individuals had not responded with repentance after his first letter, Paul commands a form of church discipline that requires some separation. Paul does not have in mind an absolute break (we see in verse 15 a place for ‘admonishment’ which implies contact and communication), but he does mean a withdrawal from intimate fellowship.
This withdrawal of close fellowship would be a shaming condition that ought to lead to repentance on the part of those known as unruly.
Though there is much more to understand here, one lesson we can draw is this: “The church is a fellowship of accountability.” When we place our membership here, or if we come regularly and call this our home church, we open ourselves up to each other in ways that are unique in this world. The blessings of intimacy and the joys of sharing the deep things of our lives carry the corresponding elements of accountability and admonishment. Lest that cause anyone of us fear, be reminded that the church is God’s agent for reaching a lost world. It is also His means of growing us into the image of His Son. The momentary hurt or embarrassment of rebuke by a loving brother is completely offset by the eternal reward and glory of becoming more faithful as followers of the Savior.
If we choose to be unruly, undisciplined, to ‘play hooky’ in the church, the church has the responsibility to withdraw, to withhold the deeper forms of intimacy and fellowship.
The second command is based in verses 10-12 and is addressed to the unruly. “Work in quiet fashion and eat your own bread.” Paul wants those who “are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies” (vs. 11) to get to work and provide for themselves. Their laziness must cease; their mooching off of others must stop. Paul uses a play on words here that means “busybodies instead of busy”. Their lack of work and idleness was one problem; it had led to another – that of meddling in the affairs of others. Swindoll says that “busybodies flit from house to house taking little nectared drops of gossip with them, leaving behind their own residue of irritating pollen.”
It is in this context that the issue of ‘unruly brothers’ really finds definition. Those “playing hooky” in their Christian lives evidence laziness, sponging off of others, and gossiping. Without work to do, with lots of free time on their hands, without a vision for their calling in Christ, hardened to Paul’s admonition in the first letter, these brothers have slipped into a pattern of living that was unworthy of the Savior’s sacrifice on their behalf.
Friends, as I think of this second command of Paul’s, I cannot think of a single individual in our church family who ought to hear this precise ultimatum. Perhaps some of us know some spongers and moochers, some who are lazy and unwilling to work, who ought to be here today, but none come to my mind.
For those of us involved in our Helping Hand ministry, the bread route and the food pantry, the Thanksgiving baskets and the Christmas gifts, we are overdue in needing to re-evaluate how we make food available to those who ask for assistance. Are we helping those with legitimate needs, or are we making it easy for those who ask to continue to be lazy and irresponsible?
But as we think about application, and as we consider some of the implications of ‘unruly’ and ‘undisciplined’, it is fair to state this lesson: (Lesson Two) “The church is a work of responsibility.” To sign on to projects and to then to disappear is undisciplined irresponsibility. Work, friends, at fulfilling the promises you have made. To join a meeting in progress because we didn’t know what time it was is evidence of undisciplined irresponsibility. Work, friends, at being on time and being in rank along with the rest of the committee.
How many times have we made commitments to ministries and then backed out, leaving the rest of the team holding a now-heavier load? Work, friends, at carrying your part of the load you said you’d carry with diligence and grace. This is a great church, friends, but it’ll be even greater when these kinds of occurrences become rare around here. Leave the playing of hooky to someone else. Everything, and I mean everything, we see of the Lord Jesus, the founder of the church, and everything we see of the apostle Paul, the builder of the church, is a work of responsibility. The church was worthy of their disciplined, diligent work. It must be for us, too.
The third command in our text is “Follow our example.” In verses 7-9, Paul twice says ‘to follow our example’. His example is seen in concrete terms: Verse 8 tells us “that with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you.” He and his team did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it.
He had not been unruly nor undisciplined in his efforts on their behalf, and he wanted them to pick up on that same pattern. He didn’t ask these believers to do something that he himself was not doing. Paul was very conscientious and responsible in his relationship with the members of the Thessalonian church. He paid his own way; he picked up his own tab; he willingly forfeited his rights as an apostle to set the example before these friends that ‘if a person will not work, then he is not to eat, either’.
Paul’s example of a disciplined life brings to mind an account of Robert E. Lee I read this week in Jeff Shaara’s book, Gone For Soldiers. Before the battle of Cerro Gordo in the Mexican War, Captain Lee and a young enlisted man by the name of Fitzwalter are sent out to scout a way around Santa Ana’s force blocking the road to Mexico City. On their recon patrol, they come across a small spring of cool, sparkling, bubbling, running water. Being the officer and gentleman that Lee was, Lee let Fitzwalter take the first refreshing drink.
Before Lee had a chance to take a drink, the two Americans heard the voices and boots of approaching Mexican soldiers. Lee shoved the young Fitzwalter back down the path they had come to take cover in the shrubs there, and Lee himself dove behind a log beside the spring. The log was about 3 feet in diameter and Lee squeezed himself as far down behind the log as he could possible get.
Thus began a long afternoon of numbing stillness and silence as Mexican soldiers came and went, never leaving the spring completely unoccupied. Lee, not having had a chance for a drink, is getting more and more thirsty with each passing hour. Fortunately, the soldiers continue to come and depart the spring from the other side of the log. Lee prays through his trial, “God help me. God protect me.”
While lying there, Captain Lee feels a stab of pain in his back that he later discovers to be a cone shaped rock. His thought at the moment: “With just one more second, I could have swept that rock away. Another message from God. ‘You will stay awake’”.
Finally, with the coming of dusk, the Mexican soldiers return to their camps. Shaara writes: “He (Lee) tried to move his right leg, realized now both legs were completely numb. He pulled himself clear of the log, his legs dead weight, saw movement, under the log, and now a large hairy spider moved into the open, stopped, and Lee stared at it through watery eyes, thought, Yes, sorry old fellow. No doubt, I was the intruder. He slid his legs farther out, rolled to the side, unclenched his left hand, slowly, painfully, moved his arm down his leg, began to massage it.
The feeling crept into his legs, the slow spread of the tingling, the awful prick of a thousand needles. He rubbed harder, worked the stiffness out of his hand, tried to lift his head, and suddenly his hat fell off, rolled on its brim down the short hill. He felt a laugh trembling inside him, but he knew he could not make a sound. He looked down at the hat, thought, Well, thank you for doing that now. He was completely clear of the log, looked back underneath, saw the stain of wetness, saw now the small pebble that had been under his back, a tiny cone of rock.
He leaned over, picked it up, slipped it into his pocket, thought, I will remember you. He tried to stand, leaned against the log, slowly pulled himself up, and now there was a sound, behind him, from down the hill. He reached for the pistol, felt the ice in his chest, saw motion, the brush moving, then a figure, a man. It was Fitzwalter.
The young man moved quickly up the rise, and Lee saw the smile, a toothy grin, and Fitzwalter whispered, “Quite a day, eh, sir? Thought they’d never leave.”
Lee tried to speak. “Where did you go?”
“Right down there, sir. Just in those bushes there. I could see ‘em just fine. Could see you too, sir. If they’d a found you, I was ready.” He tapped the pistol in his belt. “We’d have made some noise, that’s for sure.”
Lee nodded, could see the young man’s excitement, thought, Yes, remember this day. You will never have another one like it.” When Lee finally gets a chance to get a drink himself, he finds himself thinking, “Not today. It was not my time. Thank you, God.”
The young American soldier Fitzwalter was given an afternoon-long lesson in the importance and the virtue of discipline. He saw first-hand a real live example, modeled before his very eyes, of the kind of discipline that can save a life.
Interestingly, that was exactly what Paul was doing for his new friends in the Thessalonian church. He was modeling the kind of discipline and training that would save their lives. No wonder he would repeatedly say, “Follow our example.”
The lesson for us is just this: “Following the example of a disciplined church leader will save your life!” How incredibly important it is that the church’s leaders live model lives of diligence and discipline! How incredibly important it is that church members follow the example of these kinds of leaders.
If we as pastors and elected church leaders do not measure up as models of disciplined lives, we need your admonishment! If we as members of this church refuse to follow good leadership, we need exhortation to get with the program. Our mission depends upon it. Our vision depends upon it. A lost world depends upon it. The discouraged, the depressed, the hopeless, and the wandering depend upon it. There is a great deal to be said about losing our souls that has nothing to do with heaven or hell. There is a whole dimension to saving our lives that has nothing to do with deathbeds. Being delivered from an unruly life is to be delivered from all kinds of heartbreak, pain, and unpleasant consequences IN THIS LIFE HERE AND NOW.
Leaders, be an example. Friends, please follow.
The fourth command is seen in verse 13: “Don’t grow weary of doing good.” The original text implies that these believers had not begun to grow weary, and Paul wants to make sure they don’t start down that road. John Calvin’s comment here is helpful: “…however ingratitude, moroseness, pride, arrogance and other unseemly dispositions…may have a tendency to annoy us, or to dispirit us, from a feeling of weariness, we must strive, nevertheless, never to leave off aiming at doing good.” ‘Doing good’ means doing the noble thing. As long as the Lord delays His coming, regardless of the unruliness and undisciplined living of others, we must continue to measure up to our high calling, and we must do it day after day.
The lesson is easily stated. “Even when others don’t and won’t, keep on with a noble heart.” It will be worth it on a certain coming day.
(Conclusion) In the 19th century, yellow fever attacked 500,000 people in the United States and it killed 90,000. It was the determined discipline of Army major Walter Reed that led to the discovery that mosquitoes were the culprits. Reed ascertained that “a female mosquito could get the yellow fever virus from a victim only in the first two or three days of the disease, and that approximately two weeks had to pass before the virus could multiply sufficiently within the mosquito to enable it to infect another person.”
On the basis of Reed’s hard work and important discoveries, a vaccine for yellow fever was developed in 1937 by Dr. Max Theiler. Who among us hasn’t heard of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.?
We may be more successful in moving away from an unruly life if we can visualize ourselves ‘playing hooky’. What we would not think of doing when we were going to school is something we fall into all too often in our life in the church. Don’t do, friends. There’s way too much at stake.
DISCLAIMER: These messages are offered for your personal enrichment. There is no legal copyright on this material. You have my full permission to use any of this material as long as you cite the source for any substantial amount used. Enjoy!
Introduction: Lyman Spitzer put the universe in focus. Christopher Tyner, in the July 7 Investor’s Business Daily, gives us a glance at the life of this Princeton University astronomer who was the driving force behind the Hubble Space Telescope. Spitzer, believe it or not, proposed the idea of a space telescope in 1946, a full 12 years before NASA even came into being!
Though his idea ignited skepticism and rejection, he persisted with discipline and diligence. The $2.1 billion space telescope, aloft now for ten years orbiting hundreds of miles above Earth , sent back pictures in early ’96 that astounded the world. Through its lens, pointed at a small patch of dark sky just above the Big Dipper, came the sight of 1500 galaxies spinning alongside each other at the edge of the universe. One scientist called this sensational discovery the astronomical equivalent of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Lyman Spitzer was a man of incredible discipline and diligence. His friends said of him, “He had a sense of obligation and responsibility and a sense of wanting to do what is right for the long range of the scientific enterprise, independent of what was good for Lyman Spitzer. He was a consummate politician, but unlike the ordinary political politician, he is someone who spoke only accurately and only the truth. He never engaged in hyperbole.”
We are incredibly richer today because of the discipline of a single astrophysicist who went diligently about his business, focused on his goal, taking small steps every day toward the realization of his dream.
We are not surprised to come to the next-to-last segment of Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians and find him writing about the value and fruit of a disciplined life -- in Christ. What Paul writes holds no secrets. As we look at this text this morning, we will not find something new and startling; none of us will leave here marveling that we had never seen this important truth before. For those of us who want to know Christ better and walk more closely with Him, we won’t find any 1-2-3 step process to follow and imitate.
But, as is always the case when we consider the Scriptures, we need to interact with his challenges and consider again why it is important to be disciplined in this matter of following Christ. All of us can leave here more committed to improving our walk with the Savior because of what we see here – if we want to!
Our text is 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15. “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you;
not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.
For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”
Our text unfolds around 4 commands that Paul gives to his friends under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
The first we see at both the beginning and the end of our passage. In verse 6 and in verses 14-15, Paul commands the Thessalonians to withdraw from unruly brothers.
The second imperative is found in verses 10-12, and that instruction is to the unruly brothers – “Work in a quiet fashion and eat your own bread.”
The third mandate covers verses 7-9 and consists of “Follow our example!”
The final order is verse 13: “Don’t grow weary of doing good!”
Out of these four injunctions we can draw some lessons that will improve the quality of our lives as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s consider each one as the text develops and draw our own applications for today.
First, there is the bookend command to withdraw from unruly brothers. To stress his point, Paul starts and finishes this segment with the same emphatic point. In the NASV, we read “to keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life…” and “If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him…”
The concept of ‘withdraw’ here is the image of “furling a sail.” As a sail is coiled up or curled up, so the Thessalonian believers are to retreat within themselves, away from the offenders, so the unruly sense a gap opening between themselves and the others.
The term ‘unruly’ conveys the image of “playing hooky”. We all understand how students who skip school, who cut classes, define the term ‘unruly’. They are a picture of a lack of personal discipline. They skip out on their assigned responsibilities, their expected behavior. ‘Unruly’ in a military context describes an army in disarray, men out of rank. When Santa Ana’s troops were outflanked by General Winfield Scott at the Battle of Cerro Gordo in the Mexican War, their flight in retreat was a perfect picture of ‘unruly’ – disarray to the max, headlong, pell-mell retreat back toward Mexico City.
There were some believers in the Thessalonian church who were known for their ‘playing hooky’ in the Christian life. It is clear from the original text that Paul knew specifically who these individuals were. The ‘some among you’ of verse 11 gives the impression that Paul knows the names of these playing hooky but has chosen to not give their names. He had addressed this problem in I Thessalonians; it hadn’t been corrected; and now he returns more sternly to the issue. Perhaps some of the brethren, feeling like they had missed the coming of the Lord, (chapter 2), had lost their sense of purpose and had given up on their commitment to keep on keeping on. Whatever the basic reason, there were some in this church (a great church, but not a perfect church), there were some in this church who had lost their vision, had lost their focus, and their lives reflected that fact in the undisciplined way they went about life day to day.
Because these specific individuals had not responded with repentance after his first letter, Paul commands a form of church discipline that requires some separation. Paul does not have in mind an absolute break (we see in verse 15 a place for ‘admonishment’ which implies contact and communication), but he does mean a withdrawal from intimate fellowship.
This withdrawal of close fellowship would be a shaming condition that ought to lead to repentance on the part of those known as unruly.
Though there is much more to understand here, one lesson we can draw is this: “The church is a fellowship of accountability.” When we place our membership here, or if we come regularly and call this our home church, we open ourselves up to each other in ways that are unique in this world. The blessings of intimacy and the joys of sharing the deep things of our lives carry the corresponding elements of accountability and admonishment. Lest that cause anyone of us fear, be reminded that the church is God’s agent for reaching a lost world. It is also His means of growing us into the image of His Son. The momentary hurt or embarrassment of rebuke by a loving brother is completely offset by the eternal reward and glory of becoming more faithful as followers of the Savior.
If we choose to be unruly, undisciplined, to ‘play hooky’ in the church, the church has the responsibility to withdraw, to withhold the deeper forms of intimacy and fellowship.
The second command is based in verses 10-12 and is addressed to the unruly. “Work in quiet fashion and eat your own bread.” Paul wants those who “are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies” (vs. 11) to get to work and provide for themselves. Their laziness must cease; their mooching off of others must stop. Paul uses a play on words here that means “busybodies instead of busy”. Their lack of work and idleness was one problem; it had led to another – that of meddling in the affairs of others. Swindoll says that “busybodies flit from house to house taking little nectared drops of gossip with them, leaving behind their own residue of irritating pollen.”
It is in this context that the issue of ‘unruly brothers’ really finds definition. Those “playing hooky” in their Christian lives evidence laziness, sponging off of others, and gossiping. Without work to do, with lots of free time on their hands, without a vision for their calling in Christ, hardened to Paul’s admonition in the first letter, these brothers have slipped into a pattern of living that was unworthy of the Savior’s sacrifice on their behalf.
Friends, as I think of this second command of Paul’s, I cannot think of a single individual in our church family who ought to hear this precise ultimatum. Perhaps some of us know some spongers and moochers, some who are lazy and unwilling to work, who ought to be here today, but none come to my mind.
For those of us involved in our Helping Hand ministry, the bread route and the food pantry, the Thanksgiving baskets and the Christmas gifts, we are overdue in needing to re-evaluate how we make food available to those who ask for assistance. Are we helping those with legitimate needs, or are we making it easy for those who ask to continue to be lazy and irresponsible?
But as we think about application, and as we consider some of the implications of ‘unruly’ and ‘undisciplined’, it is fair to state this lesson: (Lesson Two) “The church is a work of responsibility.” To sign on to projects and to then to disappear is undisciplined irresponsibility. Work, friends, at fulfilling the promises you have made. To join a meeting in progress because we didn’t know what time it was is evidence of undisciplined irresponsibility. Work, friends, at being on time and being in rank along with the rest of the committee.
How many times have we made commitments to ministries and then backed out, leaving the rest of the team holding a now-heavier load? Work, friends, at carrying your part of the load you said you’d carry with diligence and grace. This is a great church, friends, but it’ll be even greater when these kinds of occurrences become rare around here. Leave the playing of hooky to someone else. Everything, and I mean everything, we see of the Lord Jesus, the founder of the church, and everything we see of the apostle Paul, the builder of the church, is a work of responsibility. The church was worthy of their disciplined, diligent work. It must be for us, too.
The third command in our text is “Follow our example.” In verses 7-9, Paul twice says ‘to follow our example’. His example is seen in concrete terms: Verse 8 tells us “that with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you.” He and his team did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it.
He had not been unruly nor undisciplined in his efforts on their behalf, and he wanted them to pick up on that same pattern. He didn’t ask these believers to do something that he himself was not doing. Paul was very conscientious and responsible in his relationship with the members of the Thessalonian church. He paid his own way; he picked up his own tab; he willingly forfeited his rights as an apostle to set the example before these friends that ‘if a person will not work, then he is not to eat, either’.
Paul’s example of a disciplined life brings to mind an account of Robert E. Lee I read this week in Jeff Shaara’s book, Gone For Soldiers. Before the battle of Cerro Gordo in the Mexican War, Captain Lee and a young enlisted man by the name of Fitzwalter are sent out to scout a way around Santa Ana’s force blocking the road to Mexico City. On their recon patrol, they come across a small spring of cool, sparkling, bubbling, running water. Being the officer and gentleman that Lee was, Lee let Fitzwalter take the first refreshing drink.
Before Lee had a chance to take a drink, the two Americans heard the voices and boots of approaching Mexican soldiers. Lee shoved the young Fitzwalter back down the path they had come to take cover in the shrubs there, and Lee himself dove behind a log beside the spring. The log was about 3 feet in diameter and Lee squeezed himself as far down behind the log as he could possible get.
Thus began a long afternoon of numbing stillness and silence as Mexican soldiers came and went, never leaving the spring completely unoccupied. Lee, not having had a chance for a drink, is getting more and more thirsty with each passing hour. Fortunately, the soldiers continue to come and depart the spring from the other side of the log. Lee prays through his trial, “God help me. God protect me.”
While lying there, Captain Lee feels a stab of pain in his back that he later discovers to be a cone shaped rock. His thought at the moment: “With just one more second, I could have swept that rock away. Another message from God. ‘You will stay awake’”.
Finally, with the coming of dusk, the Mexican soldiers return to their camps. Shaara writes: “He (Lee) tried to move his right leg, realized now both legs were completely numb. He pulled himself clear of the log, his legs dead weight, saw movement, under the log, and now a large hairy spider moved into the open, stopped, and Lee stared at it through watery eyes, thought, Yes, sorry old fellow. No doubt, I was the intruder. He slid his legs farther out, rolled to the side, unclenched his left hand, slowly, painfully, moved his arm down his leg, began to massage it.
The feeling crept into his legs, the slow spread of the tingling, the awful prick of a thousand needles. He rubbed harder, worked the stiffness out of his hand, tried to lift his head, and suddenly his hat fell off, rolled on its brim down the short hill. He felt a laugh trembling inside him, but he knew he could not make a sound. He looked down at the hat, thought, Well, thank you for doing that now. He was completely clear of the log, looked back underneath, saw the stain of wetness, saw now the small pebble that had been under his back, a tiny cone of rock.
He leaned over, picked it up, slipped it into his pocket, thought, I will remember you. He tried to stand, leaned against the log, slowly pulled himself up, and now there was a sound, behind him, from down the hill. He reached for the pistol, felt the ice in his chest, saw motion, the brush moving, then a figure, a man. It was Fitzwalter.
The young man moved quickly up the rise, and Lee saw the smile, a toothy grin, and Fitzwalter whispered, “Quite a day, eh, sir? Thought they’d never leave.”
Lee tried to speak. “Where did you go?”
“Right down there, sir. Just in those bushes there. I could see ‘em just fine. Could see you too, sir. If they’d a found you, I was ready.” He tapped the pistol in his belt. “We’d have made some noise, that’s for sure.”
Lee nodded, could see the young man’s excitement, thought, Yes, remember this day. You will never have another one like it.” When Lee finally gets a chance to get a drink himself, he finds himself thinking, “Not today. It was not my time. Thank you, God.”
The young American soldier Fitzwalter was given an afternoon-long lesson in the importance and the virtue of discipline. He saw first-hand a real live example, modeled before his very eyes, of the kind of discipline that can save a life.
Interestingly, that was exactly what Paul was doing for his new friends in the Thessalonian church. He was modeling the kind of discipline and training that would save their lives. No wonder he would repeatedly say, “Follow our example.”
The lesson for us is just this: “Following the example of a disciplined church leader will save your life!” How incredibly important it is that the church’s leaders live model lives of diligence and discipline! How incredibly important it is that church members follow the example of these kinds of leaders.
If we as pastors and elected church leaders do not measure up as models of disciplined lives, we need your admonishment! If we as members of this church refuse to follow good leadership, we need exhortation to get with the program. Our mission depends upon it. Our vision depends upon it. A lost world depends upon it. The discouraged, the depressed, the hopeless, and the wandering depend upon it. There is a great deal to be said about losing our souls that has nothing to do with heaven or hell. There is a whole dimension to saving our lives that has nothing to do with deathbeds. Being delivered from an unruly life is to be delivered from all kinds of heartbreak, pain, and unpleasant consequences IN THIS LIFE HERE AND NOW.
Leaders, be an example. Friends, please follow.
The fourth command is seen in verse 13: “Don’t grow weary of doing good.” The original text implies that these believers had not begun to grow weary, and Paul wants to make sure they don’t start down that road. John Calvin’s comment here is helpful: “…however ingratitude, moroseness, pride, arrogance and other unseemly dispositions…may have a tendency to annoy us, or to dispirit us, from a feeling of weariness, we must strive, nevertheless, never to leave off aiming at doing good.” ‘Doing good’ means doing the noble thing. As long as the Lord delays His coming, regardless of the unruliness and undisciplined living of others, we must continue to measure up to our high calling, and we must do it day after day.
The lesson is easily stated. “Even when others don’t and won’t, keep on with a noble heart.” It will be worth it on a certain coming day.
(Conclusion) In the 19th century, yellow fever attacked 500,000 people in the United States and it killed 90,000. It was the determined discipline of Army major Walter Reed that led to the discovery that mosquitoes were the culprits. Reed ascertained that “a female mosquito could get the yellow fever virus from a victim only in the first two or three days of the disease, and that approximately two weeks had to pass before the virus could multiply sufficiently within the mosquito to enable it to infect another person.”
On the basis of Reed’s hard work and important discoveries, a vaccine for yellow fever was developed in 1937 by Dr. Max Theiler. Who among us hasn’t heard of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.?
We may be more successful in moving away from an unruly life if we can visualize ourselves ‘playing hooky’. What we would not think of doing when we were going to school is something we fall into all too often in our life in the church. Don’t do, friends. There’s way too much at stake.
DISCLAIMER: These messages are offered for your personal enrichment. There is no legal copyright on this material. You have my full permission to use any of this material as long as you cite the source for any substantial amount used. Enjoy!
The perfect harbor for every storm
II Thessalonians 3
Introduction: “The Perfect Storm” is a new movie just released. I haven’t seen it yet, but I have seen the advertisements, and I’m impressed with the scene of a fishing boat headed almost straight up into a tsunami-size, monster wave. The boat is completely dwarfed by the size of that wave. I would not want to be on that small a boat in that kind of storm! I suppose ‘the perfect storm’ would have to have those kinds of waves.
Let’s leave the perfect storm behind for a moment and, on the other hand, consider some of the magnificent harbors that our Creator God crafted when He was creating the world. I haven’t been to Pearl Harbor yet, but from the pictures I’ve seen, it is a dazzling jewel perched just above the surface of the mighty Pacific. Some of us have been to Lake Tahoe in northern California, and we remember that small harbor on the west side of the lake that has the small gazebo built on the tiny island in the center. What a place of calm surrounded by incredible beauty! Suzie and I are planning a trip later this summer up to Copper Harbor in northern Michigan. We’ve seen pictures and heard stories of the area, and we want to see it with our own eyes. Copper Harbor was a place of calm for ships from the storms that could blow up on the Great Lakes.
In Acts 27 Luke records the journey of Paul to Rome as a prisoner, accompanied, interestingly, by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. In his travelogue, Luke tells of a harbor on the south side of Crete called “Fair Havens”. Verse 12 tells us it was “not suitable for wintering” so the captain put out to sea from there, “if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.” Of course we know the rest of the story. A violent wind, called Euraquilo, rushes down upon them and they find themselves caught in the grips of a devastating storm, one so bad that “…since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned.” (Acts 27:20) Sounds to me like Paul and Luke and Aristarchus got caught in the “Perfect Storm”.
Great storms and magnificent harbors….when we come to our text in 2 Thessalonians today, we come to a passage that is best understood in the light of these two distinct images – the storm and the harbor. These two images are inseparably linked, and they offer us great encouragement for living well today.
We all have had experiences with storms, and we all know how precious a harbor is in a storm. Some of us have experienced literal storms, like tornadoes, hurricanes, violent thunderstorms, earthquakes, hail, and the like. I have vivid memories, even at my age, of being in a ‘storm cellar’ in Oklahoma in my youth, hearing a radio with more static on it than weather reports, feeling the tension in the air at the prospect of an approaching tornado. I was just glad at that time to be in a place that afforded protection from what sounded like and felt like something really terrible.
When Suzie, Toby and I went to Indonesia, we stopped in Taiwan along the way and spent a night in the Grand Hotel in Taipei. During our stay there a huge earthquake occurred on the northern end of the island, and I remember being in the lobby of this fine hotel watching the giant panes of glass on the ground level vibrating back and forth. I wondered if our missionary career might end before it really began. But the hotel withstood the shock and we were safe.
But let’s move beyond the literal this morning. All of us have experienced the reality of other kinds of storms. All of us who are married, I would guess, have known stormy times in our relationships. All of us who have lived very long at all have known the storms of suffering and rejection, the tempests of pain and opposition, and the squalls of grief, disappointments, and failed expectations. Well, that’s where Paul is when he pens this passage, and the harbor, the refuge, the sanctuary that he retreats to is also the harbor, the refuge, the sanctuary that we can withdraw to as well.
Friends, I don’t know what tomorrow holds or what next week may bring in the way of storms. Life certainly dispenses plenty of disappointments; debilitating disease is an ever present reality; and who hasn’t known the sorrowful pangs of death? But regardless of the nature of the storms, I know where the harbor is, and it’s important to me that you do as well.
It is a pitiful sight to see Job sitting in his pile of ashes, but how much more saddening if he never found a safe harbor from the storm of his trials.
It is a pathetic sight to visualize Jonah sinking into the depths of the sea and being entangled in seaweed to the point of drowning, but how much more depressing if he never found a place of safety.
How unnerving to see Joseph languishing unjustly in a dark, foul prison, but how much more disheartening if he never found release!
Harbors were made for storms, and storms have no real impact on those who are safely moored in a harbor.
Well, let’s consider Paul’s counsel to the Thessalonians and learn some lessons we can take home and put into practice. Our passage is 2 Thess 3:1-5 “Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; (2) and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith. (3) But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. (4) We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command. (5) May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.”
The first image we want to see and understand is that of a storm. We see this mental picture of ‘storm’ in what Paul refers to as the opposition of evil. In verse two, he makes mention of evil and perverse men that he wanted to be rescued from. In verse three, he references the enemy, the evil one, that the church would need protection from. And in verse 5, he uses the word ‘direct’ (“May the Lord direct your hearts…”) which suggests the removal of obstacles or hindrances from growth in the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ.
Paul is corresponding with the Thessalonians about those elements of life that constituted what we can easily see as storms. He had experienced the high winds of opposition to his work of sharing the Gospel. Evil and perverse men had sought to cut his legs out from under him at many points along his journey. The expression in verse one, that “the word of the Lord will spread rapidly”, means “to have free course.” Paul knew what it meant to have the spreading of the Word blocked. He knew what it was like to be blocked himself. Though the word had spread rapidly and had been glorified in the Thessalonian context, it wasn’t that way everywhere! Paul’s desire was that the storms of evil hurdles, perverse barriers, and depraved ‘construction zones’ would not be effective in limiting the Gospel’s progress.
I was driving through Arkansas recently on I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis when the traffic was squeezed down from two lanes into one lane each way, eastbound and westbound. I lost a lot of time sitting in neutral as a lot of traffic had to be reordered along a five mile stretch of highway.. When I finally passed the construction zone, you can imagine my chagrin to find no work taking place, not even any workers in sight. It is an understatement to say that a storm cloud passed through my mind!
Paul had known these kinds of storms that stifled the progress of the life-giving Gospel. He had suffered the hurricanes of evil that sought to destroy his mission of bringing salvation to the lost. He knew the spiritual tornadoes that the devil was able to whip up to create havoc and destruction upon the newly established church in Thessalonica. Paul was wise to the stormy schemes of the enemy that sought to keep these believers from growing stronger in the love of God and in the endurance of Christ.
Spiritual storms in the forms of evil opposition were a fact of life for the great apostle as he sought to accomplish his calling from the Lord. They are a reality for all of us just as well.
But there is another image here in our text, and it is a comforting one. It is the image of a harbor, a safe place, a sanctuary of refuge. The harbor is seen here in the dynamic relationship between Paul the apostle, the Thessalonian believers, and the Lord Jesus, the head of the church.
Paul asks in verse one that the church pray for him (“Finally, brethren, pray for us…”). In verse 5, we see Paul praying for the church (“May the Lord direct your hearts…”). In verse one, Paul had shared the word with the Thessalonians. In verse 4, it is clear that the church had responded to the word from Paul and was continuing to respond. The church had a good track record of obedience to Paul’s teaching and he expected that they would continue in that same path. (“We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command.”)
Verses 3 and 4 also state clearly that the Lord Jesus was involved in this dynamic relationship. It would be He Who would faithfully strengthen and protect them all. It would be the Lord Jesus Who was the source of Paul’s confidence in the Thessalonian church. It would be the Lord Jesus Who would direct their hearts into a growing love for God and into a growing capacity for endurance like Christ’s.
This image of a safe harbor grows out of what we see of the life of this church. The Lord Jesus as the Head of the church was imparting His life to the members. He was providing protection from the evil one and removing the barriers of evil men. The apostle Paul, as the church planter and pastor/teacher, was imparting his life and the Word of God to the members. He was praying for them and encouraging them and instructing them and expecting their positive response. The church members, as the unique and gifted individuals of the Body, were responding and obeying and praying and growing in love and endurance.
The three parts of this dynamic circle of life – the Lord, the apostle, the church members --, interacting together, made for the perfect refuge from every storm. Of course the wings of demons would stir up terrifying storms; of course the evil one would howl and roar like a tornado; of course perverse men would threaten and mock and ridicule like the blast of a raging forest fire; of course enemy agents of destruction could appear like a flash flood… but the church was a harbor where piers would be sturdy and hawsers or mooring lines would hold. The storms would be real, but the harbor would be safe.
Let’s draw some lessons out of what we’ve learned from our text this morning.
Lesson One, Prayer is one element that makes a church life dynamic. The Lord Jesus, the only One Who can provide real security and real protection, the only One Who can remove obstacles and barriers, the only One Who can nurture love and endurance, the Lord Jesus is moved by our prayer. Nothing expresses a sense of dependency like prayer does. As Paul was dependent upon the Lord Jesus (the one to Whom he is praying here), so he also is dependent upon the prayers of this church on his behalf.
Never ever let it be said in this church that we as pastors and elders, the spiritual leaders and teachers in the Body, do not need your prayer support. Some tell me regularly that they pray daily for me. Nothing in the world means more to me! Nothing in the world makes me more effective. Nothing in the world makes a greater impact through me. Paul knew the Thessalonians would pray for him. The praying church is the safest harbor in the world.
Lesson Two, Obedience to the Word is another element that makes a church a harbor. When we take seriously the counsel, the admonition, the challenge of the Word of God, we develop relationships like those described in Ecclesiastes 4:12 that are not easily broken. You see, the 32 ‘one another’ passages in the New Testament require that we forgive one another, that we love one another, that we serve one another, that we confess our sins to one another, that we not complain against one another, that we stimulate one another to love and good deeds, that we be at peace with one another, that we be devoted to one another, that we give preference to one another, that we not judge one another, that we be of the same mind one with another, that we build up, accept, admonish, and encourage one another, that we bear with one another, that we comfort and show tolerance to one another, that we be kind, hospitable, and subject to one another, that we not lie to one another, and a few more ‘one anothers’.
Who would not want to be a part of a church like that? Who could not weather any storm with friends in the church like that? Friends who would not judge, who would accept, comfort, bear with, be kind to, not complain against, etc., etc.? Who would not want to be in that kind of harbor when the storms of life are raging?
One widow in our church was so cared for after the sudden death of her husband and the father of her children, her sister, not yet in the household of faith, was heard to say, “When I get sick, I want to come here and be cared for by your friends.” The Thessalonian church had a reputation and a track record of doing what Paul instructed. The obedient church is the safest harbor in the world!
Lesson Three, Harbor churches keep in sight the character of God, not the strength of the enemy. Paul reminds his friends here that ‘the Lord is faithful’. He is the One who will strengthen them, and He is the One who will protect them. He is absolutely dependable, 100% responsible, fully committed to their welfare, their growth, their victories.
Of course the enemy is evil and perverse; of course he throws up road-blocks, hurdles, and obstacles. Of course we who are buffeted by him find it easy to be focused on the elements of the storm swirling about us. When Peter stepped out of the boat to walk on water to the Lord Jesus, he was doing just great… until he was distracted by the elements of the storm. When he became focused on the wind and the waves, when he lost sight of the Master, he began to sink.
And we begin to sink when our grief becomes that which fills our horizon instead of the glory that the faithful Lord has promised to us who suffer. We begin to fall when the insults of ungodly, unprincipled people capture our minds and displace the Lord’s encouragement to follow Him through that kind of opposition.
But the Lord is faithful, and the great storms of the enemy are no match for the harbor that is the pure character of the Lord Jesus. The faithfulness of God and His loyal-love are to be our focal point as we seek to be the kind of church that provides sanctuary to all those buffeted by the storms of life. Harbor churches keep in sight the character of God, not the strength of the enemy.
(Conclusion)Well, friends, since storms are a fact of life, it’s so very important that we know where the harbor is. Paul knew that the Thessalonians would fare well in the dynamic relationship that was the church, the Lord, and the apostle. We will cope well with what life dishes out to us if we too retreat often into the relationships that make us this church great – our relationships together, our relationship together with the Lord, and our commitments to follow the leadership and the teaching of our spiritual leaders.
It would be good today to spot check this relationship I’ve been talking about. Are there any ‘one anothers’ we need to mend? Are there elements of focus that need to be sharpened? Are there commitments to prayer and obedience that need strengthening? Let’s don’t get caught in a storm out of reach of the harbor! And perhaps worse, let’s not fail those storm-tossed by failing to be the harbor they need when their storms are raging.
DISCLAIMER: These messages are offered for your personal enrichment. There is no legal copyright on this material. You have my full permission to use any of this material as long as you cite the source for any substantial amount used. Enjoy!
Introduction: “The Perfect Storm” is a new movie just released. I haven’t seen it yet, but I have seen the advertisements, and I’m impressed with the scene of a fishing boat headed almost straight up into a tsunami-size, monster wave. The boat is completely dwarfed by the size of that wave. I would not want to be on that small a boat in that kind of storm! I suppose ‘the perfect storm’ would have to have those kinds of waves.
Let’s leave the perfect storm behind for a moment and, on the other hand, consider some of the magnificent harbors that our Creator God crafted when He was creating the world. I haven’t been to Pearl Harbor yet, but from the pictures I’ve seen, it is a dazzling jewel perched just above the surface of the mighty Pacific. Some of us have been to Lake Tahoe in northern California, and we remember that small harbor on the west side of the lake that has the small gazebo built on the tiny island in the center. What a place of calm surrounded by incredible beauty! Suzie and I are planning a trip later this summer up to Copper Harbor in northern Michigan. We’ve seen pictures and heard stories of the area, and we want to see it with our own eyes. Copper Harbor was a place of calm for ships from the storms that could blow up on the Great Lakes.
In Acts 27 Luke records the journey of Paul to Rome as a prisoner, accompanied, interestingly, by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. In his travelogue, Luke tells of a harbor on the south side of Crete called “Fair Havens”. Verse 12 tells us it was “not suitable for wintering” so the captain put out to sea from there, “if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.” Of course we know the rest of the story. A violent wind, called Euraquilo, rushes down upon them and they find themselves caught in the grips of a devastating storm, one so bad that “…since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned.” (Acts 27:20) Sounds to me like Paul and Luke and Aristarchus got caught in the “Perfect Storm”.
Great storms and magnificent harbors….when we come to our text in 2 Thessalonians today, we come to a passage that is best understood in the light of these two distinct images – the storm and the harbor. These two images are inseparably linked, and they offer us great encouragement for living well today.
We all have had experiences with storms, and we all know how precious a harbor is in a storm. Some of us have experienced literal storms, like tornadoes, hurricanes, violent thunderstorms, earthquakes, hail, and the like. I have vivid memories, even at my age, of being in a ‘storm cellar’ in Oklahoma in my youth, hearing a radio with more static on it than weather reports, feeling the tension in the air at the prospect of an approaching tornado. I was just glad at that time to be in a place that afforded protection from what sounded like and felt like something really terrible.
When Suzie, Toby and I went to Indonesia, we stopped in Taiwan along the way and spent a night in the Grand Hotel in Taipei. During our stay there a huge earthquake occurred on the northern end of the island, and I remember being in the lobby of this fine hotel watching the giant panes of glass on the ground level vibrating back and forth. I wondered if our missionary career might end before it really began. But the hotel withstood the shock and we were safe.
But let’s move beyond the literal this morning. All of us have experienced the reality of other kinds of storms. All of us who are married, I would guess, have known stormy times in our relationships. All of us who have lived very long at all have known the storms of suffering and rejection, the tempests of pain and opposition, and the squalls of grief, disappointments, and failed expectations. Well, that’s where Paul is when he pens this passage, and the harbor, the refuge, the sanctuary that he retreats to is also the harbor, the refuge, the sanctuary that we can withdraw to as well.
Friends, I don’t know what tomorrow holds or what next week may bring in the way of storms. Life certainly dispenses plenty of disappointments; debilitating disease is an ever present reality; and who hasn’t known the sorrowful pangs of death? But regardless of the nature of the storms, I know where the harbor is, and it’s important to me that you do as well.
It is a pitiful sight to see Job sitting in his pile of ashes, but how much more saddening if he never found a safe harbor from the storm of his trials.
It is a pathetic sight to visualize Jonah sinking into the depths of the sea and being entangled in seaweed to the point of drowning, but how much more depressing if he never found a place of safety.
How unnerving to see Joseph languishing unjustly in a dark, foul prison, but how much more disheartening if he never found release!
Harbors were made for storms, and storms have no real impact on those who are safely moored in a harbor.
Well, let’s consider Paul’s counsel to the Thessalonians and learn some lessons we can take home and put into practice. Our passage is 2 Thess 3:1-5 “Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; (2) and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith. (3) But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. (4) We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command. (5) May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.”
The first image we want to see and understand is that of a storm. We see this mental picture of ‘storm’ in what Paul refers to as the opposition of evil. In verse two, he makes mention of evil and perverse men that he wanted to be rescued from. In verse three, he references the enemy, the evil one, that the church would need protection from. And in verse 5, he uses the word ‘direct’ (“May the Lord direct your hearts…”) which suggests the removal of obstacles or hindrances from growth in the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ.
Paul is corresponding with the Thessalonians about those elements of life that constituted what we can easily see as storms. He had experienced the high winds of opposition to his work of sharing the Gospel. Evil and perverse men had sought to cut his legs out from under him at many points along his journey. The expression in verse one, that “the word of the Lord will spread rapidly”, means “to have free course.” Paul knew what it meant to have the spreading of the Word blocked. He knew what it was like to be blocked himself. Though the word had spread rapidly and had been glorified in the Thessalonian context, it wasn’t that way everywhere! Paul’s desire was that the storms of evil hurdles, perverse barriers, and depraved ‘construction zones’ would not be effective in limiting the Gospel’s progress.
I was driving through Arkansas recently on I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis when the traffic was squeezed down from two lanes into one lane each way, eastbound and westbound. I lost a lot of time sitting in neutral as a lot of traffic had to be reordered along a five mile stretch of highway.. When I finally passed the construction zone, you can imagine my chagrin to find no work taking place, not even any workers in sight. It is an understatement to say that a storm cloud passed through my mind!
Paul had known these kinds of storms that stifled the progress of the life-giving Gospel. He had suffered the hurricanes of evil that sought to destroy his mission of bringing salvation to the lost. He knew the spiritual tornadoes that the devil was able to whip up to create havoc and destruction upon the newly established church in Thessalonica. Paul was wise to the stormy schemes of the enemy that sought to keep these believers from growing stronger in the love of God and in the endurance of Christ.
Spiritual storms in the forms of evil opposition were a fact of life for the great apostle as he sought to accomplish his calling from the Lord. They are a reality for all of us just as well.
But there is another image here in our text, and it is a comforting one. It is the image of a harbor, a safe place, a sanctuary of refuge. The harbor is seen here in the dynamic relationship between Paul the apostle, the Thessalonian believers, and the Lord Jesus, the head of the church.
Paul asks in verse one that the church pray for him (“Finally, brethren, pray for us…”). In verse 5, we see Paul praying for the church (“May the Lord direct your hearts…”). In verse one, Paul had shared the word with the Thessalonians. In verse 4, it is clear that the church had responded to the word from Paul and was continuing to respond. The church had a good track record of obedience to Paul’s teaching and he expected that they would continue in that same path. (“We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command.”)
Verses 3 and 4 also state clearly that the Lord Jesus was involved in this dynamic relationship. It would be He Who would faithfully strengthen and protect them all. It would be the Lord Jesus Who was the source of Paul’s confidence in the Thessalonian church. It would be the Lord Jesus Who would direct their hearts into a growing love for God and into a growing capacity for endurance like Christ’s.
This image of a safe harbor grows out of what we see of the life of this church. The Lord Jesus as the Head of the church was imparting His life to the members. He was providing protection from the evil one and removing the barriers of evil men. The apostle Paul, as the church planter and pastor/teacher, was imparting his life and the Word of God to the members. He was praying for them and encouraging them and instructing them and expecting their positive response. The church members, as the unique and gifted individuals of the Body, were responding and obeying and praying and growing in love and endurance.
The three parts of this dynamic circle of life – the Lord, the apostle, the church members --, interacting together, made for the perfect refuge from every storm. Of course the wings of demons would stir up terrifying storms; of course the evil one would howl and roar like a tornado; of course perverse men would threaten and mock and ridicule like the blast of a raging forest fire; of course enemy agents of destruction could appear like a flash flood… but the church was a harbor where piers would be sturdy and hawsers or mooring lines would hold. The storms would be real, but the harbor would be safe.
Let’s draw some lessons out of what we’ve learned from our text this morning.
Lesson One, Prayer is one element that makes a church life dynamic. The Lord Jesus, the only One Who can provide real security and real protection, the only One Who can remove obstacles and barriers, the only One Who can nurture love and endurance, the Lord Jesus is moved by our prayer. Nothing expresses a sense of dependency like prayer does. As Paul was dependent upon the Lord Jesus (the one to Whom he is praying here), so he also is dependent upon the prayers of this church on his behalf.
Never ever let it be said in this church that we as pastors and elders, the spiritual leaders and teachers in the Body, do not need your prayer support. Some tell me regularly that they pray daily for me. Nothing in the world means more to me! Nothing in the world makes me more effective. Nothing in the world makes a greater impact through me. Paul knew the Thessalonians would pray for him. The praying church is the safest harbor in the world.
Lesson Two, Obedience to the Word is another element that makes a church a harbor. When we take seriously the counsel, the admonition, the challenge of the Word of God, we develop relationships like those described in Ecclesiastes 4:12 that are not easily broken. You see, the 32 ‘one another’ passages in the New Testament require that we forgive one another, that we love one another, that we serve one another, that we confess our sins to one another, that we not complain against one another, that we stimulate one another to love and good deeds, that we be at peace with one another, that we be devoted to one another, that we give preference to one another, that we not judge one another, that we be of the same mind one with another, that we build up, accept, admonish, and encourage one another, that we bear with one another, that we comfort and show tolerance to one another, that we be kind, hospitable, and subject to one another, that we not lie to one another, and a few more ‘one anothers’.
Who would not want to be a part of a church like that? Who could not weather any storm with friends in the church like that? Friends who would not judge, who would accept, comfort, bear with, be kind to, not complain against, etc., etc.? Who would not want to be in that kind of harbor when the storms of life are raging?
One widow in our church was so cared for after the sudden death of her husband and the father of her children, her sister, not yet in the household of faith, was heard to say, “When I get sick, I want to come here and be cared for by your friends.” The Thessalonian church had a reputation and a track record of doing what Paul instructed. The obedient church is the safest harbor in the world!
Lesson Three, Harbor churches keep in sight the character of God, not the strength of the enemy. Paul reminds his friends here that ‘the Lord is faithful’. He is the One who will strengthen them, and He is the One who will protect them. He is absolutely dependable, 100% responsible, fully committed to their welfare, their growth, their victories.
Of course the enemy is evil and perverse; of course he throws up road-blocks, hurdles, and obstacles. Of course we who are buffeted by him find it easy to be focused on the elements of the storm swirling about us. When Peter stepped out of the boat to walk on water to the Lord Jesus, he was doing just great… until he was distracted by the elements of the storm. When he became focused on the wind and the waves, when he lost sight of the Master, he began to sink.
And we begin to sink when our grief becomes that which fills our horizon instead of the glory that the faithful Lord has promised to us who suffer. We begin to fall when the insults of ungodly, unprincipled people capture our minds and displace the Lord’s encouragement to follow Him through that kind of opposition.
But the Lord is faithful, and the great storms of the enemy are no match for the harbor that is the pure character of the Lord Jesus. The faithfulness of God and His loyal-love are to be our focal point as we seek to be the kind of church that provides sanctuary to all those buffeted by the storms of life. Harbor churches keep in sight the character of God, not the strength of the enemy.
(Conclusion)Well, friends, since storms are a fact of life, it’s so very important that we know where the harbor is. Paul knew that the Thessalonians would fare well in the dynamic relationship that was the church, the Lord, and the apostle. We will cope well with what life dishes out to us if we too retreat often into the relationships that make us this church great – our relationships together, our relationship together with the Lord, and our commitments to follow the leadership and the teaching of our spiritual leaders.
It would be good today to spot check this relationship I’ve been talking about. Are there any ‘one anothers’ we need to mend? Are there elements of focus that need to be sharpened? Are there commitments to prayer and obedience that need strengthening? Let’s don’t get caught in a storm out of reach of the harbor! And perhaps worse, let’s not fail those storm-tossed by failing to be the harbor they need when their storms are raging.
DISCLAIMER: These messages are offered for your personal enrichment. There is no legal copyright on this material. You have my full permission to use any of this material as long as you cite the source for any substantial amount used. Enjoy!
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