“Thessalonica”
25th Sunday After Pentecost
Pastor Tim CareyMalachi 4:1-2a; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19
About 400 miles southeast of Moscow 29 doomsday cult member await the end of the world, which their leader says will come in spring. The cult members are held up in a cave that they have stocked with food and other supplies. They threaten to blow themselves up with about 100 gallons of stockpiled gasoline if authorities try to force them out. The 29 people — including four children, one only 18 months old —.
Self-declared prophet and cult leader, Pyotr Kuznetsov, blessed his followers before sending them into the cave earlier this month, but he did not join them himself. As they were held up in the cave he was undergoing psychiatric evaluation.
Kuznetsov said his group believed that, in the afterlife, they would be judging whether others deserved heaven or hell. Cult members were not allowed to watch television, listen to the radio or handle money. Members of the cult stopped eating food packaged with the universal product code (Bar Code) — which the cult regards as the mark of the Antichrist.
On this one of the last Sundays in the church year we have texts that are apocalyptic in nature and speak to us about the subject of the end times.
In our 2nd lesson from 2 Thessalonians Paul addresses a problem in Thessalonica.
Paul with Silvanus and Timothy founded the church in Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-10; I Thess. 2:1-12). They came to Thessalonica from Philippi, where they had suffered persecution and insulting treatment (I Thess. 2:1-2). When they arrived in Thessalonica, they "had courage in God" to proclaim the gospel; and here again they met great opposition. However, they continued their labors, and gave themselves to the work and to the people, who became increasingly dear to them.
The Thessalonian church was composed very largely of Gentile believers who had turned from idolatry to serve the living God (I Thess. 1:9-10).
The Thessalonians had heard the gospel with interest. When the Gentiles began to respond to the gospel, they were brought under persecution from their own "countrymen" (I Thess. 1:6; 2:13, 14; 3:3-4; II Thess. 1:4-6). Paul and his companions after they left Thessalonica kept in touch with the situation among the Thessalonian Christians.
It appears from the whole course and tone of the two letters that when the evangelists had preached in Thessalonica, they had presented as a part of their message the concept of the return of Christ in which all believers would participate and which they were to "await" with high hope (I Thess. 1:10). The Thessalonians apparently struggled greatly with this idea of Jesus’ return and when some disciples and followers in Thessalonica died, people who were filled with hope and awaiting the Lord they struggled with this all the more thinking that they would have no share in the glory of his coming. The apostles assure their readers "on the word of the Lord" himself that those disciples who were asleep in death at his coming would be raised from death to share with the living in all the blessings of "that day."
In the First Letter to The Thessalonians the day of the Lord is presented as imminent, to be expected at any time, and confidently to be "awaited" by all believers in the Lord. It will come as a thief in the night, and it is highly important that all disciples be expectant and ready.
Shortly after the first letter was sent a new situation arose which called for correction. There had come to the church in Thessalonica the rumor or teaching, that the day of the Lord, for which they had been instructed to be in readiness, had arrived. The missionaries themselves were not sure of the basis of this rumor. But whatever the reason, it was problematic. We gain a sense that there were those in the Thessalonian church that were not working, were idle, and busybodies --- perhaps wrongly believing that if the Lord had returned there was no need to work. The second letter to the Thessalonians was written primarily to deal with this matter.
With this in mind may we remember that apocalyptic literature addressed the concern of suffering in the present time, putting for the presence and work of evil that afflicts the faithful, and the powerful hope to which we cling, namely that of a reversal at the end time. The purpose of the apocalyptic literature and message was to encourage the people to continue their faithfulness and patience during the present suffering.
As the disciples walked out of the Temple in Jerusalem Jesus paused with his disciples, looked back at the Temple and predicted, "Do you see all these great buildings. Not one stone will be left on another." The smallest stones in the structure weighed 2 to 3 tons. Many of them weighed 50 tons. The stones were so immense that neither mortar nor any other binding material was used between the stones. Their stability was attained by the great weight of the stones. The walls towered over Jerusalem, over 400 feet in one area. Inside the four walls was 45 acres of bedrock mountain shaved flat and during Jesus' day a quarter of a million people could fit comfortably within the structure.
Jesus' prediction that a structure so immense would be leveled to the ground seemed implausible. But they pressed Jesus for more information. They wanted to know when. What would be the sign that this was about to take place? In their voice was fear. Fear of the unknown.
Jesus calls us to live not as fearful or terrified people, but as people of hope and faith. We should not become idle or busybodies, but witnesses to the faith as God gives us opportunity. He calls us to endure present struggles in the hope and promise of what is come. He warns us not be led astray.
Consider the story of one young man. He was often sick as a baby. He was always small and often struggled. He was not able to play sports with the other boys his age. Eventually he entered the ministry. But his health was so fragile, he was unable to serve his growing congregation.
Amazingly, he did not dwell on his troubles. In fact, his spirit soared. His only real complaint was the poor quality of the hymns of his day. He felt they did not convey hope and joy. Someone challenged him to write better ones. He did. He wrote over 600 hymns, most of them hymns of praise.
When his health collapsed completely in 1748, he left one of the most remarkable collections of hymns the world has ever known. His name was Isaac Watts. In a few weeks we will be singing one of his most famous hymns, "Joy to the World!" Isaac Watts discovered joy in his life because he knew that God would never desert him. He was able to live his life with all sorts of health problems and struggles feeling close to God and Jesus.
We live in days when people enter into caves because they believe the end is coming, others perhaps have grown idle wondering what is the use, but we approach these days and all days with a sense of urgency – living each day as though it is the last before the Lord returns. We move not into caves, but into the streets as God’s people. We live not in fear, but in the great hope that is ours in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. We boldly witness to our faith, passionately serve God and our neighbor. Many of the hymns of Christmas not only celebrate Christ’s birth in Bethlehem, but also proclaim the hope of looking forward to his return. The words from Malachi today are echoed in the familiar hymn of Christmas, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, remember how the 3rd verse begins:
Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace! Hall the sun of righteousness!Light and life to all he brings, Ris’n with healing in his wings.”
May our lives echo the powerful hope that is ours in and through our Lord Jesus Christ.
05.17.2008
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life." -- Jesus (John 8:12)
