Sermon

Giving Thanks to the Father (Sermon November 20, 2016)

Colossians 1:11–20 (NRSV)

¹¹ May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³ He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; ¹⁶ for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. ¹⁹ For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Leading into the thanksgiving holiday it is important to remember certain things. The discipline of remembering is very important, because when we fail to remember we forget. We forget the blessings we have received. We forget the struggles we faced, and we forget the successes we have experienced. We forget the love that we share and the love we have given. We forget when we fail to remember. We need to be intentional when it comes to the recall of these things, because it is extremely easy to forget as the distractions bombard us. Remember.

God commanded the children of Israel to remember. To encourage the intentional recall of the journey of life these people experienced over the generations, God set up feasts, festivals, and holy days. For some of those days He encouraged the people to celebrate with their close friends and family at their home or in their community. But occasionally He commanded them to travel to the central meeting place so that the collective memory of the entire people group could be remembered, and so they would be reminded that they are not just alone but part of something much bigger than themselves. These pilgrimages were the Feast of Passover (Pesah), the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), and the Feast of Booths (Sukkot).

We are familiar with Passover, but we sometimes forget that it has many layers. This is the feast where the tribes of Israel are encouraged to remember the Exodus out of Egypt, where God delivered the people out of bondage. This festival corresponds with the Christian holiday of Easter, where we remember the deliverance of humanity from the bondage of sin and death through Christ. Passover also reminds us of hope, hope in the future, hope that God will continue to bless those that call on his name. This holiday is celebrated after the long winter were the ground was gripped by death and dormancy, but as spring comes new life emerges. Passover in Israel is usually celebrated around the beginning of the first grain harvest, barley, so it is also a time to celebrate the first fruits of the year. Passover remains very important to the people of Jewish heritage to this day, where some of the other festivals have diminished in importance, which is one of the reasons we are less aware of them.

The feast of Weeks is one of those holiday seasons we as Christians are less familiar with. This festival reminds the nation of Israel of two things. The first is the giving of the Torah or the law. They are encouraged to remember the days that Moses was up on the mountain named Sinai, and to remember the rebellion the people participated in while they lived without the law. They are encouraged to remember the covenant that God made with them, and to celebrate this some traditions began the festival by reading the entire Torah in a day, the day of Pentecost. This is not the only tradition that has emerged from this festival though. The feast of weeks is exactly seven weeks after Passover, it is a week of weeks. So if Passover is in the spring, Shavuot is in the summer around the month of June. For many the giving of the Torah and the covenant made between Israel and God was a marriage, so many honored and remembered this covenant by starting their marriages around this time. Even today June is the month that most weddings occur. But there is more, seven weeks after spring is when the harvest of wheat happens so this holy festival reminds the people of Israel that God sustains them, with the law and with the harvest. Oddly this festival has diminished in importance overall, largely due to the fact that most people do not live by the harvest, and cannot take a week off in June. But it does remain in part.

The final holy pilgrimages is the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles. This festival was to remind the people of Israel of the forty years they spent wondering in the wilderness, where God provided their every need. This celebration also has seasonal and agricultural attachments; it honors the closing of the harvest. Passover starts the harvest with the lessor grains, Weeks corresponds with the wheat harvest the main staple of life, Booths is the close of the fruit harvest. To celebrate this the entire nation would come together, building temporary shelters and would share the harvest with everyone around them. And as they shared they remembered that God provided for their ancestors in the wilderness and He provides for us.

This final feast of the holy year it the one that our American ancestors tried to establish with the holiday of Thanksgiving. The majority of the harvest was in, and now we should share and celebrate the blessings that God has given us. There is something powerful in these holidays, they cause us to remember. Even the seasons remind us of God’s presence throughout our year and life. This Thanksgiving I hope we take the time to remember. Remember the provision that God has given you, remember the blessings of our families and friends as we gather together, remember the covenants that we have made to one another and to reestablish those commitments. It is a time to remember that everything we have and everything we are is a gift from God.

Unfortunately, the attitude of gratitude is so easily forgotten because life gets in the way. This week as I was studying I listened to the entire letter to the Colossians several times. Paul begins this letter with thanksgiving, and continues to remind the people of the church to remember who God is, who they are, and to be grateful. Paul reminds them of the grace of God, and encourages them to live that out.

If the feast of Booths is to remind us of anything, it is to remind us of the relationship we have with God. God was the one that delivered Israel from bondage, it was God that made a covenant with them, and it was God that sustained them through the Exodus. As they settled into the land of promise it is still God that gave them the land, it is God that provides the rains for the harvest, and God who is the bread and wine that provides life. God is life and our life is God’s.

“May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power.” What a prayer of blessing that Paul extends to this church. Even within this prayer of blessing Paul reminds the followers of Christ that our life, our hope, our provision, and our love is found in God. I often need to be reminded of this, because often I fail to remember that God is the source of my strength. Often I work long and hard trying to provide all I can for my family and this church. I study, worry, and plan for the future and at times I must force myself to remember that it is not my strength that is needed but God’s. While I’m struggling in my own strength I neglect prayer, I neglect my relationship with God and I struggle to even pray. Why? I know who has all things in his hands yet I fail to intentionally remember.

“and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience,” This phrase of this passage strikes me as odd. May you be prepared to endure. As I read and listen to those words it is as if the Spirit is telling me to rest in Him, and also to focus on my relationship with Him. It is this relationship, the disciplined life where we are prepared and build the endurance to handle the stresses of life. When we fail to remember this aspect of our life with God, it leaves us without the patient endurance that is found in Christ and we are left in our own strength.

“While joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.” Joyfully giving thanks. This is where the attitude of gratitude comes in. Intentionally recalling the history, we have in God and expressing our praises for all he has done.

I want us to slow down right there and look at the phrases together. Paul is calling us to remember the source of our strength, the preparation to endure, and the joyful thanksgiving. Do you see a theme there? This is a statement about the holy rhythm of life that Jesus taught us and called us to follow. Making it his custom to worship in the synagogue, He withdrew often to the isolated places to pray, and he ministered to the needs of those in the community. Strength to serve, prepared to endure through a life of personal devotion and prayer, and joyfully giving thanks in worship. This is the holy rhythm of Christ and it is the example that Paul showed to the churches as he ministered in the provinces of Rome.

Paul then reminds us why it is important to engage in this holy lifestyle. “He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” God rescues us from the power of darkness, he delivers us from various forms of bondage which is the result from a lifestyle of sin. That rescue comes from Jesus the very son of God who showed us the holy lifestyle, the lifestyle of repentance or returning to God. Christ is the center, because it is through Christ that we are united with God.

Christ must be in the center of our faith because it is only through Christ that we can begin to comprehend the things of God. When Paul uses the early Christian hymn which is recorded in Verses 15-20, we begin to see the beginnings of the Christian understanding of God. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” The term firstborn is a declaration of Jesus’ position in relation to all other humans, he the one through whom the inheritance is received through. He the heir, the ruler of creation and the only way that humanity can connect to God. It is in Christ that the spiritual and physical are united and perfected. It is through Jesus, Paul continues, “all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him.” That is what the first born means, it is all Jesus’ for us to have any lasting place we must go through Jesus. He is the head or the center of the church, He is where the fullness of God dwells, and through the blood of his cross all of creation is reconciled to God.

Can we grasp how important this truly is? Everything we see is Christ’s. Everything we don’t see is Christ’s. Every nation, every government, every kingdom, every association, and institution is Christ’s. Not only are they his, they were created for him. Russia was created for Christ, the United State was created for Christ, China, Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa were all created for Christ. Walmart, Target, General Motors, the United States Postal Service were all created for and through Christ. Your job, is Christ’s, your hobby is Christ’s. Everything we do and everything we have is not our own because it was created through and for Christ. Nothing is truly ours, it is all blessings provided to us by the grace of God. Our intellect was given to us and disciplined through our educational systems for us to use for the glory of God. Our businesses were created by us for Christ. Let that sink in for a moment. God is life and Life is God’s.

Remember, Paul often reminds us. Remember who we are and where we are. Everything and everyone is God’s, are we giving it proper reverence? Your spouse is a gift from God, you children and grandchildren all gifts. Your pets, your car, your business all a gift. They are not yours alone but they are God’s through Christ. The person that annoys you is a gift from God. The suffering we must endure is a gift from God. The president is a gift from God, that we either must endure or are thankful for. But we need to see it in the proper light and treat them all properly. The fruits of our labor, the profits of our investments all created through and for Christ. This Meeting and Meeting house is not ours but it is Christ’s and is a gift from the one through whom reconciled us and delivered us from the powers of darkness and gave us an inheritance with the saints in light. While we join together in our American interpretation of the Feast of Booths, let us look at the world around us in humility and reverence, all we have is given to us for God’s glory. Let us then in all things have an attitude of gratitude and give thanks to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit through whom we have life, and hope, and love.

Always at Work (Sermon November 13, 2016)

2 Thessalonians 3:6–13 (NRSV)

Warning against Idleness

⁶ Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. ⁷ For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, ⁸ and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. ⁹ This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. ¹⁰ For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. ¹¹ For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. ¹² Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

At times scripture is confusing. We initially read a passage and we think that we fully understand it. Then we look a bit deeper and it is as if there is a different universe just under the surface. I have been asked by friends why it is so important to keep reading one book over and over, this is why. As soon as I think I get it another door opens, a window is cracked, a light gets turned on, or the aroma of something in the oven begins to draw me into another room where the feast is about to be served. This is one of those passages that is layered, it can become a bit confusing when you begin peel off the layers. So let’s just take it easy as we dig in.

As I was first beginning to pay attention to what was being said as a young man, I heard this passage often encouraging everyone to work hard and earn their bread. I grew up in rural Kansas on a farm, we worked hard. The ideas of work were engrained into our minds. Someone without an ethic of work was not heard of. So when I initially read, “anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” It means something to me. It is the core of who I am. This is so much of who I am personally I actually do not know what to do when I am not at work. I begin to fidget, I get irritable. And the few times when I was unemployed for a period of time I felt worthless.

I would venture to say that most of us here have a similar understanding of life. I am not saying that this is wrong. I am not even saying that it is improper to interpret scripture this way because that is what it says. When Paul says that we should keep away from people who live in idleness, we should do it. Idleness is a lifestyle. It is a lifestyle that honors waste, corruption, greed, and gluttony. Those that are idle fill their time with various lusts of the flesh because they have nothing better to do. Do not associate with the idle. But be careful in how we read this. Idleness is a lifestyle that takes many forms. Just because someone is without work does not mean they are idle, and individuals that make substantial incomes are not necessarily exempt from idleness.

I want to make this distinction because the term idleness does not necessarily mean lazy. Idleness is a lifestyle without order and without discipline. With that in mind Paul is saying, “Keep away from believers who are undisciplined.” This takes on a much deeper meaning than just laziness. Laziness is just one minor aspect of what Paul is speaking about. Keep away from the undisciplined believers, who do not live according to the traditions they received from us.

We have discipline and traditions. Traditions are the practices of an order. Traditions are not necessarily a bad thing even though those of us from protestant expressions of faith. A tradition is basically the framework a group uses to develop and encourage participants in their group. Every group that you have ever been associated with has traditions that they utilize. Every corporation, athletic team, school, and church has traditions. Paul is concerned because there are people involved in the assembly of believers that are expressing a tradition of idleness instead of the tradition that was shown while Paul was with them.

So what are the traditions that Paul is speaking about? My first thought would be a proper understanding of the gospel. This is fundamental to faith. The Gospel that was taught by Jesus was that the kingdom of God was at hand. I have mentioned this quite often because it is very important. The kingdom of God is something very different than our understanding of nationhood. The concept of kingdom is the influence, or the area over which a ruler has influence. When Jesus preached the gospel message he was saying that the influence of God is all around us. It is here, if we are willing to see it. The difference between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of the world is that there is no land or borders, only people. The influence of God is one that changes the way that we think and when we are truly influenced by this kingdom our actions are changed as well. But these things happen within the kingdom of men as well. When people emigrate from one country to another the influence of their former home diminishes as they become integrated into the culture of the new country. This does take time to fully occur. The first generation usually live in a community with people that emigrated from the same country, they live together there speaking their primarily their native tongue. In many ways only their location changed but much of their old life remains. Then they have children, these children do not know the old land, they are only aware of the nation of their birth. They still hold similar traditions because their parents taught them and they still live within that community. The difference is that they general speak both languages, that of their birth nation and that of their parents. They speak one at school, and one in the home. They grow and because they have influences outside of the community they tend to have a blending of cultures. As they mature get jobs and marry their children or the third generation become even more integrated to the new culture to such a degree that they barely know the original language if at all, and now they think like a citizen of the new nation and only have a hint of the land of their ancestors. I saw this with the German community back home and I see it occurring with the various people groups I work with. So if the Kingdoms of men can change the way people think what is the difference of the Gospel? That comes with what the change of though actually is. The kingdoms of men seek different things than the kingdom of God. Mankind seeks wealth and power, where Christ taught to love your enemy, to turn the other cheek, and to lay up treasures in heaven not one earth. And as Paul taught it, “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility regard others more highly than yourself.” The difference between the kingdoms is who we consider important, me or them.

Jesus taught the Gospel but he also gave us something else. He lived the gospel. This is most likely the tradition that Paul speaks about. When Jesus first called the disciples he asked them to follow him. What he is asking them is to leave the life and lifestyle they were currently living and taking on the life that he will show them. He lived a life where he made it his custom to worship in the synagogues, he withdrew often to pray, and he ministered to the needs of those around him. Jesus taught a great deal while he lived out his life, these teachings are very important to faith, but to put these teachings into action requires something discipline. This is what the lifestyle of Jesus provides. How do I love my enemy? We look at Jesus’ life and we can see how that is supposed to work. As Jesus walked and talked and while he ate and socialized; he established within his disciples a tradition of life. This tradition focused on Worshiping God, individual devotion and prayer, and service to others.

Paul taught this same tradition to his disciples, and to the disciples among the Thessalonians. He says to them “imitate us.” This concept of imitate means that they are an example, a model of what this sort of life should look like. So when Paul speaks about the idle believers, his is saying that they are distracting people from this sort of lifestyle, and if they are distracting them from a life devoted to worship, prayer and service, how are they living their lives?

But what is this about eating? Many believe that the traditions spoken about by Paul are primarily the traditions within the worship meetings. In the early church they would often break bread together and share a meal in reembrace of Jesus. This goes back to the Passover meal that Jesus shared with his disciples shortly before his arrest and trial. During this meal Jesus took the bread broke it and saying that it was his body broken for them. He shared this bread with all at the table. He then spoke about the wine in a similar way and also shared it. The bread and the wine are the two most common staples in ancient meals. And when the early church gathered to worship sharing a complete meal was just part of it. Jesus is the sustenance that provides life, He is also the example and perfect life lived out for us. So is Paul speaking about the traditions of worship? Yes and no.

Later on Paul speaks about work. He toiled day and night and did not take anything from the community but paid for the bread that he ate. Since bread was a staple of the meal, Paul could be speaking of wages, saying that he earned the bread that he ate. But again he could also be saying that he worked outside of the church to supplement and finance his livelihood. But if we were to combine the ideas of labor and worship we find something beautiful.

If you are unwilling to work you should not eat. When we combine the tradition of sharing a meal as part of worship, this exposes a different layer. Paul is encouraging those around to participate fully in the ministry of the church. If someone is sharing in the tangible elements of worship they should also participate in the ministry there in. The church is filled with various gifts of the spirit that should be used for mutual benefit within the body. Paul is concerned that within the traditions of idleness there are people that have sat back and allowed others to do all the work, yet still want to share the meal around the table. Paul is telling us that it is not just the pastor’s job, or the worship leader’s job to expand the kingdom. Each and every person that calls on Christ has a part in the kingdom work. Every aspect of your life should be reflecting the influence that God has made. When we are helping customers we should be expanding the kingdom in some way. When we are enjoying life together with friends, there should be some testimony of Christ being spoken or shown to those around us. Our life with God should be something that just is.

Which leads us back to discipline. As most of you are aware I enjoy a good hockey game, I actually enjoy a mediocre hockey game to be honest. An athlete participating in that sport must be disciplined. They are skating around on ice at great speeds, carrying sticks made from wood, carbon fibers, or even metal. As they travel around the ice with blades on their feet, wielding a club, they are hitting a solid rubber frozen puck traveling faster than the speed limit on the highway. There are several ways that a player could be injured. So they practice. Most of the people that play a sport professionally have great discipline because they practice daily. They know how to skate and how control their stick so they can keep serious injury to a minimum. They practice so that people like me can watch a good game. But do we put that amount of discipline in our faith? Scripture tells us that we should be able to bear witness to the hope that we have at any moment. We cannot do this if we have not disciplined or trained in the traditions of faith. But if we are actively working with the church for the mutual benefit of all involved, so that when we are called to speak or act we can do so with little effort.

Keep away from idleness. Keep away from lack of discipline. Instead take on the lifestyle Christ offers to us. Do not allow the ways of the world to distract us from the work that God is calling us to. Work hard and make a living so that we can become a blessing to others, and while we share. Do not be distracted. How well are we doing this? Have we become people that are worthy of the name of Christ, or have we become an undisciplined believer focusing on the end and not living the present.

God is Waiting for Us (Sermon November 6, 2016)

2 Thessalonians 2:1–5 (NRSV)

The Man of Lawlessness

2 As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, ² not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. ³ Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. ⁴ He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. ⁵ Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?

2 Thessalonians 2:13–17 (NRSV)

Chosen for Salvation

¹³ But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. ¹⁴ For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.

¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, ¹⁷ comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

Have you ever watched a Christian movie? If you have chances are very high that that movie had a theme that is common with vast majority of Christian movies. The most common theme for Christian based movies has been covering the end times. I own several of them, watched even more, and have gotten so bored with the concept that my mind has nearly shut out any discussion of the rapture, or the mark of the beast. It is not that I do not believe that these things could occur as these videos suggests, the reason my attention has been dulled is because people make proclamations of truth where only fantasy can reign.

The reason I say this is because the passages of scripture used in creating these movies and books are highly symbolic and written in metaphoric language. When we focus on the proper interpretations of these cryptic passages our attention can be distracted from what is really important.

These distraction are not uncommon in the history of the church. Within nearly every generation there has been some movement that has pushed that the end is near. Just in the time that I have been ministering among Friends here at willow creek we have encountered a few dates that were positively identified as the end. The problem is that the end did not occur and because it did not occur the church has become a mockery. But these dates have happened before, the Seventh Day Adventist movement began due to the influence of one of these end time proclamations. The Jehovah’s Witnesses also began speaking in this manner. There were movements surrounding the turn of each century and each millennia saying that today is the day or this year is the year so me ready. For the most part the movements making proclamations have been just as vague at knowing the actual date as scripture itself, even the Friends Movement could have been described as an apocalyptic movement because it proclaimed that the Day of the Lord is upon us.

The first century church was not a stranger to these ideas, in fact they were saturated with the idea of the end of the age being near at hand. Last week I mention that this letter was likely the first letter that Paul had written, in any case we know for a fact that each of the letters written by Paul had to have been written before the conclusion of the Jewish War in 70 AD where the Romans leveled the Holy City of Jerusalem. What this means is that within the first forty years of the Church there were already teachers that claimed to know when the end would occur. And within the first forty years there were already teachers claiming to be the leaders of those who were Left Behind.

Right away the first generation of believers were being distracted. Christ came to give life. Life is lived. Christ came as a baby, he lived through gestation, was born as an infant, was initiated into the Jewish community through his circumcision on the eighth day. He grew in knowledge and wisdom, he participated in worship at the synagogues and at the temple, and he listened to the contemporary teachers and participated in the discussions following. He was fully human in every aspect. He lived with his family till he was approximately thirty meaning he worked with his family for seventeen years. He entered ministry as his second career, in his age he would have been considered middle aged. Again he lived a full human life experiencing the joys of seeing his family marry and have children, he experience the pangs of sorrow when close friends and loved ones passed beyond the veil of death, he felt betrayal and anxiety yet did not sin. Jesus came for life and to show and give us the means to life free from bondage. Jesus came to give us life.

The thing about life is it has to be lived with others. Every step of the way life has community. This begins in the womb, we are literally connected to another human being and experience life through that unique relationship. A fetus experiences emotions: when the mother is anxious the baby also shows signs of anxiety, when the mother is joyful the fetus also expresses joyful activity and dances. If the mother eats spicy food the child makes sure that the mother knows how uncomfortable this makes them both. We are conceived in relationship and live in every day of our lives in relationship. When we neglect relationship our brains are unable to process our emotions and other stimuli efficiently, and we begin to physically, emotionally and spiritually deteriorate. A lifestyle of sin places wedges in relationships which prompts and promotes this deterioration. A lifestyle of sin focuses on the desires of the flesh, it focuses on what I can get out of those around us. Eventually this will fracture even the most intimate relationships; between parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters. Often apocalyptic and end times teachings focuses on perpetuating lifestyles of sin, instead of promoting lifestyles of life.

How can I say this, when the movies and the books are encouraging people to turn to God? So many of these teaching are not promoting a life of repentance and reconciliation but instead are focused destruction of the world. We allow the lawless to rule because what difference does it make we will escape the torment. So we allow corporations to break up families because profits are more important than a holiday. We desire cheap food, cheap fuel, free healthcare, and education but what is the cost of these things and when we consider the cost do we consider the holistic cost? We will often promote ideas of escapist eschatology because we feel we will not have to be held accountable for our participation in the lawlessness of the world.

But Paul encourages a different attitude. He gives thanks for the sanctification by the spirit. This is the setting apart and distinguished for a purpose. He gives thanks that those Thessalonians are members of the first fruits of the gospel, the kingdom that is not of this world but is under the reign and influence of God. This is something very important. Something that we should consider more deeply. If the world is caught in lawlessness which is defined by lifestyle of sin the Christian life should look different. That is what sanctification is all about. We that are of Christ have been removed from the lifestyle of sin and destruction and have been placed into one that focuses on building relationships and encouraging reconciliation. This sanctification is received by entrusting our lives in the truth, the truth that we were created from something greater. We were created to be in community with each other, we were created to live lives that promote the mutual benefit of all those around us. When Paul speaks about the spiritual gifts, he said that the Spirit gave those gifts to be used for the common good. This common good is only seen when the focus of our lives are moved away from the individualistic ideology of “what’s in it for me.”

“So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.” Hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, the truth of the Gospel that was exemplified in the life of Jesus. Paul also says this in another way, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.” We have been set apart for a distinguished purpose, we have been appointed and destined for the glory of God to share the good news in our community, in our states and provinces, in our nations and to the ends of the earth. The good news is that the kingdom of God is at hand. Do we see it or are we distracted? Are we looking for the ripples of the divine touch around us or are we instead focused on the advent of the lawless one?

You see the eschatological ideas can be viewed in an alternative way. God wants everyone to know him with the knowledge that brings salvation and the church has been predestined to be the instrument through which that knowledge should be distributed. As long as the church participates in the mission of Christ to take the gospel to all peoples God waits. He waits until the church no longer has influence. He waits till the church no longer has the strength to carry on the mission because the church has become distracted. Have you ever considered this? Maybe God is waiting for us. Maybe God is waiting for us to accomplish our part of the overall mission that he set before us from the foundations of the earth. He is waiting for us to run our leg of the relay of life. God might be waiting because there is still hope for the church, because people still love and are willing to sacrifice their own desires for the good of others and are unwilling to let the lawless one destroy the hope that they have.

Paul concludes this section with a prayer for the church, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.” Do we believe that God can grant us comfort, hope, and strength? Do we listen to these words and see rippling waves where God has touched the fabric of life around us?

The past couple of weeks have been some of the most emotionally trying times of my life. Last Sunday was actually the anniversary of the death of my little sister, she has been absent from our lives for nineteen years. And I attended the funeral of a young man who served his country honorably and came home only to face a very different type of battle. The weirdest thing about it is that both of them were born in the same year. I could easily look at the past couple of weeks and say all hope is gone. I could crawl into myself and withdraw from all relationships and just give up.  I would be lying if I claimed that this did not cross my mind. But do you know what else happened this week? I saw ripples of the divine, I conversed with people who for the first time in a while realized that there really are people who care about them because people came to talk. I was able to hear stories of how little seemingly small actions thirteen years ago rippled to a point where hope was remembered when they thought hope was gone.

We stand at a cross road like every generation that has come before us and every generation that will follow us until the end of ages. We must make a choice. Will we allow the lifestyle of sin to reign in our lives or will we live something different. Will we give up hope and allow the lawless one to take hold of our community or will we say not while I am around. Will we take up the lifestyle of Christ and continue the kingdom traditions: Making it our custom to Worship in the Meeting places, withdrawing often to the isolated places to pray, and ministering to the need of those within our community? Will we stand firm through whatever trial the world throws at us and meet that trial with the love of Christ? The love that would get down on its knees and was the feet of those who would reject them and would lay down their lives for those who do not know what they are doing? Will we live lives of destruction or encourage lives of hope and reconciliation? Hold fast to the traditions you have learned, remember what is most important, and continue to walk with Christ. These are the words that Paul encourages his disciples to with. These are the words that we to need to grasp. Remember that no matter what happens, Christ will always win in the end because his victory has already been won.