Have you noticed the massive increase in the number of conspiracy theories in recent years? There have been what are called troll farms on social media, many of which are run by foreign countries, purposefully spreading lies. They create totally fake articles meant to deceive and create mistrust.
One article said, “Facebook took down 1.3 billion fake accounts between October and December of 2020, and that it had over 35,000 people working on tackling misinformation on its platform. The company also removed more than 12 million pieces of content about COVID-19 and vaccines that global health experts flagged as misinformation.”
This kind of report is highly frustrating. Who can we trust? There is an eroding trust in our society because of the prevalence of intentional deception. In the late 1950s a group called the National Election Study started polling people about their level of trust in government. Into the mid 1960s, public trust in the government was as high as 80%. That means in a year like 1965, 80% of people indicated that they trusted the government. In the last ten years, that number is closer to 20%. In fact, Pew Research said, “Only about one-quarter of Americans say they can trust the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” (2%) or “most of the time” (22%).”
It’s hard to know what to do about this. Paul says, “Do not be deceived,” and he is right. We should actively pursue the truth. But who has time to investigate all the conspiracy theories? I don’t. It is a huge time waster, one that can lead to going down the rabbit hole of social media.
But shouldn’t we Christians want to know the truth? Yes! It is good, therefore, to ask: How trustworthy is the government? If your preferred political party is in power, are they more trustworthy? Do you actively spend more time believing in conspiracy theories when you the party you don’t prefer is in power?
What is a distinctly Christian response to this?
First, I would recommend that we Christians keep the main thing the main thing. I believe that is what Paul is trying to say to the Thessalonian Christians: “People, Jesus has not come. I didn’t write that letter to you. Let me give you a few very specific things you can look for, to prove to you that Jesus didn’t come back. And even if he did, you need not fear, because Jesus is exceedingly more powerful than the evil one. So instead, be not afraid, focus on the truth.” The truth is that Jesus is King, no matter what the powers of evil try to do to scare us or deceive us. So let us be people that focus on getting to know him, his heart and the mission of his Kingdom. Whether our own government, media, or a foreign government or media is trying to deceive us, do not fear. Jesus wins. Trust in him. Focus on him.
Second, we Christians should have a newspaper in one hand and a Bible in the other. While you don’t need to spend all day every day making sure you find the truth, we Christians are people who ground our lives on truth. We should do diligence in learning about the presuppositions and beliefs of the news sources that you listen to. If a source is far right, we should know that it is far right. If a source is far left, we should know that it is far left. I personally believe that we should strive to listen to sources in the middle. There are independent organizations that rate news media as to their ideological presuppositions. Or visit a source like allsides.com that seeks to present a balanced view on the news.
Third, practice humility. In a world where it is hard to know who to trust, we Christians should be the first to say, “I could be wrong about this.” We don’t have to be precisely right about all matters, because we can trust in Jesus. We need not fear. We have Jesus and therefore, we can be humble.
Fourth, listen to this podcast, which gives even more practical advice for how Christians can have a specifically Christian response to conspiracy theories.
We live in an era of conspiracy theories. A comedian said that he hears people say that not a single conspiracy theory is true, and that we can trust the government. But, he said, the government is like a parent to the people, and how many of you parents tell your kids the truth all the time? He said, “I lie to my kids constantly.” He’s kidding of course, but his point is well-taken. Think about the lies we tell our kids.
“Santa Claus is coming soon, so you better be on your best behavior.”
“You can be anything you want to be.”
One person online admitted, “The most creative lies I tell as a parent come from when my kids discover their artwork in the trash can.”
As we continue our Advent study of 2 Thessalonians, Paul has been talking about a lie that the Thessalonians heard. Someone, impersonating Paul, wrote them a letter claiming they missed out on Jesus’ return. In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul is responding to that lie, saying that Jesus didn’t return, because the Lawless One had not been revealed. In verse 9, Paul writes that the Lawless One’s advent or arrival, his coming, will be according to the working of Satan in power, and with miracles and wonders, but they will be lies. Paul is not saying that these works will be fake, necessarily. Paul is not talking about a magician who does not have any real power. Instead the manifestation of Satan’s wickedness, through the lawless one, will be real. But the powerful deeds the lawless one does are meant to deceive people to trust in the lies of Satan rather than trusting in the truth of God and righteousness.
That is Paul’s point in verse 10, “Do not be deceived by evil. Instead salvation is only by loving the truth.” As if to drive this point home, Paul writes in verses 11-12, God allows people to be deceived. The way the NIV translates this makes it sound like God is doing a horrible thing, that God himself is deceiving people. We know, though, that God is not a deceiver or a tempter, as James clearly writes in James 1. So what is Paul trying to say here? It seems that Paul is probably talking about God as allowing deception. God allows there be sin in the world. He allows there to be an evil one in the world, and that evil one is a deceiver.
At the same time, God has actively sent truth into the world. So Paul’s great concern in these 12 verses is that the Thessalonian Christians pursue the truth, believe the truth and act on the truth, and that they are not deceived.
Paul assures them that Jesus has not returned. Paul did not write them the letter claiming that Jesus has returned. Furthermore, they need not fear because even if the lawless one arrives in their lifetime, Jesus is easily able to defeat him. So love the truth. Do not be deceived. Do not fear.
Like the comedian above mentioned, at least some conspiracy theories are likely based in truth. We can be deceived and not know it, which is the whole point of deception! Consider this Dove video.
Advertisers lie to us a lot. In fact, advertising lies are so prevalent and so damaging, especially to young girls who see the images and grow an expectation that they have to look like the women in the images. Except that those women don’t exist! There is a movement to legally require printed disclaimers on art that has been modified.
A legal disclaimer is great, but are there other ways we Christians can avoid being deceived? We’ll talk about that in the next post.
We hear about identity theft frequently, and more than likely, you’ve experienced it yourself. A couple years ago, a person created a fake Gmail account, impersonated me, and emailed my staff, asking them to send gift cards to help a needy person. Thankfully, my staff questioned the veracity of this, alerted me, and we contacted Google’s fraud department. As we continue our Advent study of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, we’re going to learn about an ancient case of identity theft, but one that will help us get ready for Jesus return.
Paul writes in verse 2 that someone had attempted to steal his identity. That person wrote the Thessalonian Christians a letter, claiming to be Paul, leading them to believe that they had missed out on Jesus’ return. Why would someone do that? We don’t know for sure, but my guess is that fake letter writer probably tried to turn the people away from Paul’s teaching. They likely wanted to get the Thessalonian Christians to stop believing Paul. But Paul steps in and says, “No. Do not fear, do not be deceived.” And why not? Because he didn’t write the letter, and Jesus had not yet returned.
To prove his point, Paul says the day of Jesus’ return will not happen until some other things happen, and those other things haven’t happened yet. What two things? First, a rebellion will occur, and second a man of lawlessness will be revealed. What are they? What rebellion? What man of Lawlessness?
The rebellion is an apostasy. Apostasy is the idea of turning away from the faith. But Paul is not referring to a person who decides they don’t believe in Jesus anymore. He is talking about a battle between good and evil, or more precisely, a battle between God and the evil one. As we look back over 2000 years of Christian history, there have been many, many wars and rebellions against God. Is it possible this has happened already? Not in the final sense that Paul describes.
Next, the man of lawlessness, the one whom Paul says is doomed to destruction? Paul writes in verse 4 that this man of lawlessness will oppose and exalt himself over every god and object of worship. He will sit down in the temple of God, declaring publicly that he himself is God. This man of lawlessness will put himself on display to the world, saying “Look at me, I am God.” So the lawless one goes beyond the typical political or military dictator. This lawless man says that he is deity. Had this happened? Not by 51 CE when Paul wrote. Then, the temple was still standing. They could have known. In 70 CE, nearly twenty years after Paul writes this letter, the Romans would destroy the temple, and all that is left of it to this day is the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall. In the last 2000 years, there have definitely been candidates for that kind of evil guy who would set himself up in the temple, declaring himself to be God, but there is no temple. So this event has not happened. Of course, that is if the proper interpretation of Paul is a literal interpretation. It is entirely possible that he was speaking in figurative language at this point, as prophecy is often figurative.
Clearly, though, Paul’s point is that the man of lawlessness has not emerged. Not in the first century, and not since then up until the twenty-first century. Paul wants to encourage the Thessalonians, “Do not be afraid, Jesus has not returned because these momentous events have not happened yet. There has been no rebellion and no man of lawlessness in the temple.”
Then he says in verse 5, “Do you not remember that I said this to you when I was with you?” That question made me laugh. Does anyone else detect a hint of frustration in those words? I read those words and I had an immediate flashback to my house. Has anyone here today ever had a spouse tell you, “How can you not remember this? We just talked about this. And it’s been on the calendar for weeks.” Anyone here today ever had a parent say, “I told you this a million times.” Paul might be getting a little chippy here. I suspect he is slightly miffed that the Thessalonians were concerned that they missed out on Jesus’ return because Paul had already told them this, and they should have known that the letter was a fake, that Jesus didn’t return. But he moves on, because there is more he wants to make sure they know about this man of lawlessness.
Paul writes in verse 6 that the man of lawlessness is currently being restrained. Restrained? By whom or what? Paul doesn’t tell us. So let’s keep reading. In verse 7 we read that “the mystery [or secret power] of lawlessness is already at work.” Already? The power of evil is already at work in the world? Clearly that evil power is being restrained or held back, at least partially, but it is already at work. This sounds ominous, doesn’t it? Evil is work in the world. It IS ominous. I think Paul wants the Thessalonian Christians to know, though, that just because there is clearly evil in the world, that doesn’t mean they are in the end times. The same goes for us. Yes, there is evil in the world, but it’s full manifestation is being restrained. In other words, the presence of evil at work in the world is par for the course. That’s just life. The presence of evil in the world does not mean that we are in the end times.
Paul also says in verse 8 that a day will eventually come when the restrainer will let go, and the lawless one will be revealed. That could freak you out a bit. A super evil guy will be revealed? Is that the anti-Christ? Maybe. The identity of the lawless one, of the anti-Christ, has sparked lots of speculation through the centuries, with nervous people wondering if the anti-Christ is alive now. Adolf Hitler was maybe the best choice, but there have been many candidates. Wicked, evil leaders that scare us. Do you hear about evil in the world and feel unsettled?
But even then, we need not worry, Paul says, because Jesus will destroy the lawless one with the breath of his mouth. How powerful is breath? Hardly powerful at all. Some of us can’t even blow out a candle that is a couple feet away on our birthday cakes. That is Paul’s point precisely. Jesus is so powerful, even his breath is strong enough to easily defeat the lawless one.
Paul, at the end of verse 8, talks about the splendor of Jesus’ coming. Paul is using the word “advent” again, referring to Jesus’ second coming. Jesus’ second advent will lead to the eradication of the advent of the lawless one. Therefore, Christians need not fear the end times. Jesus wins! We have victory not only in his resurrection, but in his final victory over sin, death and the devil.
Do you believe in the rapture? Maybe you’re reading this and wondering, “What is the rapture?”
In our Advent 2021 study of 2 Thessalonians, we’ve learned that Paul is teaching the Thessalonian Christians about the second advent of Jesus. He describes it in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 1 as a day in the future when Christians will be gathered to Jesus. What does that word “gathering” indicate?
The rapture? Maybe. It’s hard to know, especially because there are numerous theories about what will happen when Jesus returns and gathers his people. Hold that thought. We’ll try to at least begin to answer the questions of “What is the gathering? Is it the rapture?” in today’s post. For now, though, in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 1, Paul simply focuses on the idea that Jesus will return, and people will be gathered to him at that point. Paul brings up Jesus’ return because he has a word of caution for the people, and he gets to that next.
In verse 2, he cautions them not to be easily shaken in their minds, to not be fearful about the day of the Lord. When he refers to the day of the Lord, Paul is talking about Jesus’ second coming. Why would they be fearful of that? You’d think they would be excited for Jesus to return again. But they are fearful, Paul explains, because they heard that Jesus already came back!
Paul likely learned this news from Timothy. We learned in our study of 2 Thessalonians 1, that Paul had previously written the letter of 1st Thessalonians to them, and he sent Timothy to visit the Thessalonians and deliver the letter. The Thessalonians told Timothy about someone who was teaching that Jesus’ second coming already happened. The Thessalonians were rightly afraid, then, that they missed out. That reminds me of the acronym FOMO. Do you know what FOMO stands for? Fear of missing out.
That’s the fear that the title of the Left Behind books and movies taps into. It came from Larry Norman’s song, “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” which he released in 1969. In the song, Norman sings, “There’s no time to change your mind, The son has come and you’ve been left behind.”
What is Norman talking about? Left behind from what? He describes it further in the rest of the song:
A man and wife asleep in bed She hears a noise and turns her head He’s gone I wish we’d all been ready
Two men walking up a hill One disappears and one’s left standing still I wish we’d all been ready
Norman is talking about the rapture. I mentioned that earlier, in reference to the “gathering” Paul talks about in verse 1. The rapture is a theory that Jesus will have two second comings. The first of those, the theory goes, will only be in the air. He won’t land on the ground. When he returns in the air, he will gather up all his true disciples to be raptured with him. Just like the song says, the rapture is the idea that all the true Christians will disappear from earth when Jesus returns, and they will instantly go to heaven. Some Christians say that the rapture will be the sign marking the beginning of the end times. Once the rapture occurs, they believe there will be seven years of tribulation and great pain, war, destruction and persecution will happen. Then after those seven years, Jesus will return again, this time to earth, and he will defeat Satan, beginning a millenium-long reign on earth.
In Matthew 24:30-31 Jesus himself describes what might be the rapture. Maybe. It is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, the letter Paul previously wrote to the Christians in Thessalonica, that we read perhaps the clearest description in the New Testament of a rapture, a gathering of Christians in the air. So that brings us back to the question I asked earlier. What is the rapture, the gathering?
The word “rapture” is rarely used in conversational English. We sometimes talk about rapt attention, which means someone is staring intently at something, like the Prophetic Stare, which we’ve seen over and over in the Ezekiel series. Another way I have heard the word “rapture” used is in reference to wonder or awe or ecstasy. We might say that a person in rapture is carried away by emotion or joy. They’re so focused, it’s like they are in another world. I will admit, that can happen to me.
I’ve always loved reading books. In my childhood, my mom would be in the next room calling me, and she would come into the room where I was reading, with a look of frustration on her face, saying, “I have been calling you a million times.” I never once heard her. That’s rapture. You get so carried away, so into something, your senses literally cannot experience the world around you. See how this relates to the idea of The Rapture, where Jesus comes to carry his people away to another world, heaven?
The question is this, though: is that idea of a two-part second coming the right way to interpret Scripture? I used to think so. Now, I’m not so sure. There have been many, many books and articles and sermons debating this, and I’ve read quite a few. They go far more in-depth than I will here. I have come to the conclusion, the more I’ve studied, that the New Testament writers are far less interested in when Jesus will return or how he will return. What Jesus himself and Paul here are really concerned about is how we answer the question: Am I ready for his return?
Therefore the Thessalonians were rightly concerned that they had missed out. Whether it was a rapture or a final second coming, the method is not the issue. The issue is, did they miss out? If they did miss out, they show they were not ready for his return. Neither do you and I want to miss out. We want to be ready for him. That is the theme of our 2021 Advent series, “Ready for the Return.” But how do we get ready? Paul already helped us answer that question last week in our five-part study of 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1 starting here. This week he will have more principles to help us be ready for Jesus’ return as we continue studying 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 in the next post.
We live in a culture where what we see and hear can so easily be manipulated, deceiving us into believing something that is false. Have you heard of deep fakes? That is video technology in which you can make videos of people saying whatever you want them to say, and it really looks like a video of that person. But it is fake. This is not just impersonation. This is the use of a person’s real image and voice, through sophisticated computer-generated alterations. It is very, very difficult to tell that the video you are watching is fake.
It is very easy to be deceived, and not just by deep fake videos. As we continue our Advent study of 2 Thessalonians, Paul was concerned that the Thessalonian Christians were being deceived. Turn in your Bibles to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and read verses 1-12.
In verse 1, Paul uses the word “advent.” In fact, we’ll see him use the word three times in verses, 1-12. Look at verse 1. I bet you don’t see the word “advent,” though, do you?
The word advent means “arrival” or “coming”. Now do you see the word? Paul writes, “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Any of our Bibles could have translated this phrase, “Concerning the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ.” But we don’t use the word “advent” nearly as frequently as the word “coming,” so it makes more sense to talk about Jesus’ coming. Yet, “advent” is an important word.
We do use the word “advent,” for more than the season of the year leading up to Christmas. You might hear it in history class or on the History channel like this, “Before the advent of the printing press, the written word was very expensive and not very accessible.” Then the printing press was invented, and things changed. We call that invention “the advent of the printing press,” the arrival of the printing press.
In more recent years we talk about the advent of the internet. Life was so different before the internet, wasn’t it? Since the mid-1990s when the internet really grew, things have changed fast. The word “advent” can refer to the arrival of anything, but it is often used for paradigm-shifting inventions or people or epochs in history. Something appears where there was nothing before, and that new thing makes a significant change in the world.
You can see why “advent” is used for Jesus. There is no doubt that there is a distinct before and after the advent of Jesus. Think about the advent of Jesus. He was a Jew, and in the First Century, the Jews were a conquered people, because the powerful Roman Empire occupied the land of Israel. So Jesus was born to a powerless people. You’d think a world-changer would be born into the family of the Roman emperor, or at least a wealthy Roman citizen. Nope, he was born into a no-name family who came from a no-name town in Israel, which was a tiny, non-influential province in a far-flung corner of the Empire. Worse still, when Jesus was born, his life was immediately threatened by the insane local leader, Herod, who decided to kill all newborns in the area because of a prophecy that said a contender to his throne would be born. So Jesus’ parents had to flee their country to Egypt. That means Jesus started his life as a refugee. His early years didn’t seem like they were leading to the kind of significant life that would have a before and after.
When the threat from Herod was gone, Jesus’ family moved back to their small town in northern Israel where Jesus lived in obscurity for 30 years. No royal training. No military training. No leadership training. He just learned the family business, which was carpentry or masonry.
When he finally does leave home and fulfill his calling, there is no doubt that his ministry is powerful, but he stays in Israel. You’d think he would start traveling the world and preaching like Paul did. But no. He stayed right there in Israel. In fact, he rarely even went to the capital of Israel, Jerusalem. Most of his ministry was in Galilee to the north.
Because he did gain, however, a large following, that kind of thing always stuck out to the Romans who were known for keeping the peace by brutally putting down any uprising. Even though the crowds adored him, it didn’t take much for the Romans to dispense with Jesus. After a ministry of less than three years, Rome killed Jesus, and his ministry was over. From the perspective of the Roman Empire, Jesus and the movement he led was a tiny blip on their radar. It didn’t seem like much of an advent. Nearly 2000 years later, what we well know is that the Advent of Jesus was a before and after like the world has never seen. Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection was the ultimate Advent.
But here in verse 1, Paul is not looking backwards to the first advent of Jesus. The Christian Season of Advent not only looks backward to the first advent of Jesus, when he was born, but it also looks forward to the second coming of Jesus. Paul is looking forward too. Paul looks forward by teaching the Thessalonian Christians about the second advent of Jesus. He describes it as a day in the future when Christians will be gathered to Jesus. What does that word “gathering” mean?
Check back to the next post, as we’ll investigate it.
Know what they all have in common? People believe them. Do you believe any of these are true? I have to admit that the idea of a flat earth is the one that is most astounding me.
Did you ever hear one of these ideas and wonder, “What if it is true?” Maybe the government caused 9/11? Or maybe they were responsible for the assassination of JFK? Could it be that our government knew there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq all along, and George W. Bush just wanted revenge on Saddam Hussein to avenge the shame of his father’s one-term presidency? Perhaps Big Oil lobbied him to save the oil fields? What if?
The thing about conspiracy theories is that they are usually based in a kernel of truth. They have just enough possibility of viability that they can catch on and spread like fire. In other words, they are believable, at least by some. In our day and age, social media, with its easy access and share-ability, has led to an explosion of conspiracy theories. What do we do about this? What is a distinctly Christian response to conspiracy theories?
As we continue our Advent series, “Ready for the Return,” studying Paul’s short letter, 2nd Thessalonians, this coming week we are going to look at chapter 2, verses 1-12. Interestingly, it seems that the new Christians in Thessalonica were facing a conspiracy theory as well. It was a juicy one. Read those verses, and see for yourself. When Paul finds out about this conspiracy theory, he is really concerned. He knows that conspiracy theories sound exciting, but they so often deceive. Join me on the blog next week to learn more!
Will you be counted as worthy of the Kingdom of God?
Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 5 that the Thessalonian Christians’ growing spiritual maturity in the midst of persecution is evidence that they will be counted as worthy of the Kingdom. That’s quite a statement. What if we are Christians who haven’t been persecuted? Can we be counted as worthy of the Kingdom? I ask that because many Christians who read this, such as my fellow American Christians, have likely never suffered for our faith. Or if we have, our suffering was probably minor. We have never had to make a choice to follow Jesus or deny him. We’ve never had to face jail time because we worshiped Jesus. We’ve had it easy. If being counted worthy of the Kingdom requires that we prove our faithfulness during persecution, then what about you and I who have not been persecuted?
I if American Christians will be counted worthy of the Kingdom based on how we handle affluence. I wonder if our wealth is our test of faith. What might Paul write to American Christians, and Christians in other wealthy nations? I can imagine Paul writing to American Christians, praying that we will not get caught up in consumerism. I can see him writing, “Just because you have the money to buy things, you don’t have to.”
That actually freaks me out a bit. What if our response to consumer opportunities is the thing by which we were counted as worthy of the Kingdom? Let me be clear, we are saved by grace through faith, not by works. Paul would go on to write that. Here in 2 Thessalonians though, he sounds a bit more like James, who famously wrote that faith without works is dead. How do these seemingly contradictory ideas work together?
I would recommend that you see Paul’s teaching as part 1 and James’ teaching as part 2 of the Gospel story. Part 1 teaches that there is nothing we could do to save ourselves. Jesus had to be born, live, died and rise again. Praise God that Jesus won the victory over sin, death and the devil! Apart from that victory, we don’t have forgiveness of our sins, and we are stuck apart from God. But Jesus did win the victory over sin, death and the devil, and we have hope.
That’s where Part 2 comes in, faith without works is dead. We show the quality of our faith, in other words, by the life we live. Our faith doesn’t save us. Instead James teaches that there is a false faith and a true faith. I’m concerned about Christians that have a false faith. That is a faith that is in the mind. A Belief. Anyone can say they believe in God, but their life choices show what is really important to them. That is James’ point precisely when he says, “even the demons believe.” Of course demons don’t have any hope of eternal life. So mere intellectual belief is not the kind of belief that shows we have truly received the gift of God’s grace. We need a different kind of faith, one that is living and active and clear for all to see. That living, active faith, Paul heard from Timothy, was vibrant and growing in the Thessalonian Christians, and he was elated. Now he tells them that this is evidence that they are counted worthy of God’s Kingdom.
Paul goes on to try to encourage the Christians in Thessalonica because of their difficult situation. In verse 6 he reminds them that God is just. He is aware of their struggle. But be encouraged, he tells them, because the people who are troubling them will be troubled. Then in verse 7, Paul writes that God will give the Thessalonians relief. He’ll also give Paul and his associates relief, Paul says, which is a reminder to the Thessalonian Christians that they are not alone in suffering. Paul has suffered a lot, probably more so, than they have. He would be longing for relief too.
Though you and I have not faced persecution, have you ever longed for relief? We don’t have to go through persecution to realize that life is hard. Through the history of the church, there are three things that wage war against all Christians. The world, the flesh and the devil. Let’s briefly talk about each of them.
There is a world system that is different from the Kingdom of God, sometimes making it very difficult to live as a disciple of Jesus. I referred to it already. In America, one manifestation of that world system is affluent consumerism.
The next thing that we fight is ourselves. Our flesh. We have desires, and those desires can impel us to do all sorts of things that are not good for ourselves or others. Often they masquerade as temporary pleasures that leave us feeling empty, wanting more, but in the end the satisfaction doesn’t last, leaving us even more frustrated at how temporary it is.
Finally the last thing that wages war against us is probably the one most commonly talked about. The devil. We can talk about the devil as if he and his minions are the cause of nearly all of our troubles, from the smallest thing like a flat tire to the most severe illness like a bout a with cancer. It’s a tough balance. The devil is not something to be trifled with, and yet it’s unlikely he is behind every bush, as the saying goes. But he is a real enemy.
Put together, the world, the flesh and the devil, are three formidable foes that we all deal with. Therefore many of us long for relief. You might have even been known to say or to pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.” (That is the Aramaic word Maranatha.) Have you longed for Jesus to return, to alleviate the struggle you are going through?
That’s exactly what Paul says will happen. Look at verses 7b-10. Jesus is coming again! Therefore Paul essentially says to the Thessalonians, “Be encouraged, because you are part of the group that he will gather up to be with him.” Paul is not guaranteeing that Jesus would return in their lifetime. He is simply saying that Jesus will return, and if he returns in their lifetime, because the Thessalonians believed in Jesus and showed their belief to be true faith, they can have the confidence and the expectation that they would be received into Jesus’ arms. When Jesus returns they will be relieved from the troubles they have been experiencing. They have something amazing to look forward to and to keep the faith for. They same goes for us in the battle we have against those forces that tempt us.
Paul concludes with a wonderfully encouraging prayer in verses 11-12. He says that he constantly prays that God will count them as worthy of his calling, which is what he has been talking about all along. “Counted as worthy” is Paul’s way of saying, “Christians, live faithful lives.” That is not just a belief that resides in a person’s mind, but it is a belief that shows itself to be true through a person’s actions. To be ready for Jesus’ return, then, is to have a belief in him that is proven by how we live our lives.
To summarize it, Paul prays that God, by his power, would fulfill every good purpose of the Thessalonians and every act prompted by their faith, so that Jesus will be glorified in them, and them in him, all according to grace.
I love this prayer.
It’s a prayer to pray for people, and to ask people to pray for you. Paul is basically praying that God will empower the Thessalonian Christians to live faithfully, by the grace of God.
I also love how Paul finishes this section by once again mentioning the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and the subversive titles of Jesus are like bookends for this opening. We talked about his earlier use of these terms in an earlier post in this week’s five part series on 2 Thessalonians 1.
What we have seen in this series is that there has been an invasion into our world. That’s what we celebrate at Christmas. God invaded humanity. It was an invasion of grace, that gives us the opportunity to have new life in him. The Thessalonian Christians experienced that life-changing grace, and they thrived even in the middle of persecution. Paul, to encourage them, points them to a glorious future when Jesus will invade again, when he will return. Let us be like the Thessalonian Christians, ready for the return of Jesus by growing a maturity of faith and love.
Is pain always bad? How do you handle pain? I’m not a fan of pain. I’ve been battling a heel spur for the past year. Initially it hurt sharply every step I took. But through treatment, especially stretching, it is at bay. I can still feel it, but it isn’t crippling. I even run 4-5 times per week for a few miles, and it doesn’t seem to have worsened. My heel pain, though, is relatively minor. I know, if it grows, I could get surgery and remove it. There are other pains, hurts, traumas in life that are far more severe. How should we view them? As all bad?
We continue our Advent study of 2 Thessalonians, and in this post we’ll try to give some perspective on those important questions. In this first week of Advent, we are studying chapter 1. In verse 3, after sharing his important greeting, Paul dives into commenting about the Thessalonian Christians’ situation. We learn that he has heard a good report from Timothy, who has just returned from visiting the Christians in Thessalonica. As a result of Timothy’s good report, Paul thanking God for the Thessalonian Christians for two specific actions that Timothy observed in his visit: their faith is growing and their love for each other is increasing.
Certainly Timothy mentioned a lot more to Paul about his visit. Why does Paul focus on those two actions? Turn to Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, the one that Timothy carried with him and delivered to them on his visit. In 1 Thessalonians 3:10 and 12, we read a prayer that Paul prays for the Thessalonian church. First, in verse 10, Paul says he is praying night and day earnestly to be able to see them, and to supply what is lacking in their faith. Imagine if a Christian you really respected said that to you. How would you feel? “I just want you to know that I am praying nonstop for you because your faith is lacking.” Woah. That could hurt. But it is to be expected since these were new believers. Now Paul has learned that his prayer has been answered! Timothy visits Thessalonica, observes them Christians, returns to Paul and reports how their faith is growing! Paul is ecstatic and wants to encourage them.
Now look at 1st Thessalonians 3:12, and there we read about the second part of this prayer. Paul writes a short prayer to God, asking him to help the Thessalonians’ love for one another increase. In 2 Thessalonians 1:3, he expresses great excitement that this second prayer has also been answered. Paul is so happy, and he wants the Thessalonians to be encouraged, to keep going in that direction of increasing faith and love.
Paul doesn’t mention increasing faith and love just because those prayers were answered, he also mentions them because those are two key elements of discipleship. Could it be said of you that you are increasing in your faith, and in your love for your brothers and sisters in the church family? We could summarize these two aspects of discipleship this way: the Thessalonian Christians are growing spiritual maturity in their lives. At this point, we don’t know precisely how they grew spiritual maturity. What actions or habits did they practice? I wish we knew more. What is clear is that both their faith and love increased.
In verse 4, Paul is so excited about the increase in spiritual maturity of the Thessalonians Christians, not just because of the growth itself, but also when he considers the context in which they grew. They grew maturity in Christ while they were being persecuted. You can see Paul hearing this news from Timothy’s report and thanking God. His prayers have been answered. When you are so concerned for someone going through a hard time, and you are praying for them, and they get through it, you know how excited you are. You rejoice with them. That’s what Paul is doing, and he admits that he brags about them to the other churches. There he is in Corinth, probably saying, “Guess what I just heard? Your brothers and sisters in Christ, you know the ones in the town with the crazy people that kicked me out, those Christians in Thessalonica are not only surviving, they are thriving!” I love that Paul reveals that he boasted about the faith of the Thessalonian Christians to other Christians. It gives us a little window into the relationships between the churches in those days. He was intentionally trying to connect them, to bond them, in the family of Jesus.
How much do we know about the stories of the churches around us? I’m thankful for my local ministerium because I get to know the pastors from the churches that participate in the ministerium, and from those pastors I get a bit of news about how things are going in their churches. I think we could do a better job of telling those stories, including telling stories within our own congregation. The primary way we tell each other our stories is through sharing them in small groups, Sunday School classes, personal relationships. That’s why I encourage you to get involved in a group if you are not in one already. We need those places where we can tell the stories of our lives and support and pray for one another.
After these very encouraging greetings, Paul, in verse 5, now writes theologically. He begins with what seems to me a strange comment: “all this is evidence that God’s judgement is right.” What evidence? He is referring to the fact that the Thessalonians are persevering and even growing spiritual maturity despite being persecuted. So their spiritual growth and perseverance in suffering is evidence that God’s judgment is right. What does Paul mean? I don’t know about you, but I find that an odd statement. Is Paul saying that the persecution and suffering is from God?
I suspect Paul, first and foremost, wants the Thessalonian Christians to avoid discouragement. They could easily think, “What am I doing? I’m following Jesus, and all it has gotten me is persecution. How could God allow this?” We say that kind of thing when life doesn’t go our way, right? Imagine if we were being persecuted for our faith! We could pray, “God, I am in physical bodily pain because of you. I am losing my friends because of you. How can you allow this? How is this right? Do you love me? Are you even real?” In fact, we do pray those kinds of prayers, even when we aren’t being persecuted. Our thinking can spiral downward real fast when things are tough. Paul knows that. So while he has now raised the specter of their persecutions, he wants to quickly cut off any negative thinking that might spark. He reminds the Thessalonian Christians that God’s judgement is right. What he means is this: God has allowed the Thessalonians to go through this difficult time, but they have grown tremendously through it, so look on the difficulty as right. Have a positive view of the pain, because it grew spiritual maturity within you.
I will admit, being positive about pain is not easy to do. But Paul reminds us that we can see it from God’s perspective, that he can redeem pain, that we can even grow through pain.
Have you ever heard someone talk about Jesus Christ, as if “Christ” is his last name, or surname? The name “Jesus Christ” has become so culturally familiar, perhaps most often used as an expletive. What does his name mean? Continue reading, as our study through 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 during this first week of Advent will seek to understand the name of Jesus.
After confirming to the Thessalonian Christians that they are the church, connected to the larger Christian family, Paul continues encouraging them in verse 1 by declaring that they are “in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” In other words, they should see themselves as a distinctly Christian church. There were plenty of other religions in the Roman Empire, and we have already seen evidence of that by the presence of aggressive Jews in Thessalonica. Paul emphasizes here the fact that the Christian Church is different. The Christian church is uniquely rooted in both God as Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jews would agree with the first part, not the second. Romans would struggle with all of it. Calling Jesus “Lord” and “Christ” is very intentional on Paul’s part, then.
First, what does Paul mean when he says that Jesus is “Lord”? Paul is saying that Jesus is Lord, not the Roman emperor, the Caesar, who thought of himself as deity and required people to say, “Caesar is Lord.” Paul, calling Jesus “Lord,” as he also does in verse 2, as if to really drive the point home, is directly confronting the empire in this letter. Just the greeting of the letter is a subversive act. Paul is saying, “Christians, Jesus is your Lord, no matter what the emperor says.”
Second, not only would Romans bristle at the suggestion, Jews would be upset at the Messiah part. Paul is saying that Jesus is the Messiah. That word “Christ” is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word “Messiah.” The Messiah shows up in Old Testament prophecies as a coming king, of the line of the great King David, whom God would send as the fulfillment of the prophets’ message, which said that he would rescue Israel and restore her to prominence, just like in the days of King Solomon. Reading those prophecies, the Jews in the first century believed that the Messiah would free their land from their Roman overlords. So when Jesus came along saying he was the Messiah, but he did not rise to become a military leader, the Jewish leaders deemed him a fraud and blasphemer, and they crucified him. The earliest Christians, however, taught something different. They said that Jesus actually was the Messiah, and that the Jewish leaders had a faulty understanding of the prophecies about the Messiah. The Messiah was not going to be a government leader of an earthly kingdom, but was instead he was king of the Kingdom of heaven, a Kingdom that Jesus prayed, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” It was a surprising kingdom that was among us and in us, and could be advanced through us. So Paul, attributing that title “Messiah” to Jesus is also directly confronting the Jews.
Third, the name “Jesus” is his given name. In Aramaic, it would be Yeshua, or transliterated to English, Joshua, which means “God is salvation.” Fitting, isn’t it?
You and I are so used to the name “Lord Jesus Christ.” But in Paul’s day, especially there in Thessalonica with pressures from both the Romans and the Jews, that name was nothing short of revolutionary. They were the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. If they would have put that name out on their church sign, they would have gotten all kinds of abuse. It would be like my church putting the name “Communist Church of Atheism” on our sign. Imagine how that would go over here in the conservative Lancaster County Bible Belt?
So Paul has begun his letter to these new Christians by grounding them in what is true. They were a church of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. They were believing a new way, a different reality, that put them in conflict with the culture around them. Paul knew that those Thessalonian Christians’ choice to be disciples of Jesus was neither an easy choice nor one that would result in an easy life. He himself had experienced the painful result of following Jesus. Jews and Greeks breathing down his neck, stoning him, rioting because of him and his message. He was well aware of how difficult it could be to be a Christian, let a brand new one, in their town. He knows he needs to help them. What will he say next to help them keep the faith?
In verse 2 he gives them his standard greeting of grace and peace, which he uses in nearly all of his letters. But he isn’t just using a throwaway greeting. Grace and peace are two theologically-rich words for Christians. Our entire relationship with God is based on grace. As Paul would later write in Ephesians, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, not by works, it is the gift of God.” Grace points us to God’s amazing love, mercy and forgiveness to us in Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection. Therefore, we not only receive his grace, but we also share grace with one another, and with those outside the church. We are a grace-soaked people.
Second, peace is so important for Christians. Especially for Christians who are living in the middle of unrest, such as the Thessalonians were. Jesus came to bring peace. In his birth, the angels announce “Peace on earth, good will to all humanity.” This word, too, is a direct confrontation to the empire. In the Roman Empire, it was declared that the Caesar would bring peace. But just like the angels, Paul says that peace is available to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. No human can really bring lasting peace. But Jesus can.
So how about you? Do you know Jesus as Lord and Christ? Have you received his grace and peace? Please comment below if you want to talk about that!
Then we continue in the next post, taking a look at what Paul will say after his greeting.
My church rents space to four other groups of Christians, and those groups describe themselves with a variety labels that indicate their relative age. First Baptist Church, as you can see in its name, is an established local church, older, I believe, than my church. The Orthodox group, however, calls themselves a fellowship. An established Orthodox church in a neighboring county started this group, seeking to plant a new congregation in Lancaster County. They meet twice per month for a mini-liturgy and Bible study. The Burmese Church is a group of Christians from Myanmar, connected to churches in their home country, so they see themselves as an extension of an established church. Finally, the Hispanic Church is brand new, renting space to start a church plant. Are they all churches? When does a church become a church?
In the previous post, we learned that Paul and his ministry friends traveled to the Greek city of Thessalonica, and there they started a church, as people responded to the story of good news in Jesus. But just as soon as the church got off the ground, Paul was forced to leave the city under cover of night, when anti-Christian Jews in town came after him. Paul and his friends travel the 45 miles to nearby Berea, where they continue ministry. But the Thessalonican Jews track them down and incite the Bereans against them too. Paul must flee again, and this time he decides to travel far enough to be safe from the Thessalonian Jews. He instructs his friends, Silas and Timothy, to stay in Berea and help the new Christians there, while he travels 200 miles south to Athens, and then eventually a bit west to Corinth. You can read this story in Acts 17 and 18. Finally safe and stable, Paul settles down. His ministry in Corinth will last at least 18 months, likely longer. But as Paul’s stay in Corinth gets longer and longer, he wishes he could visit the church in Thessalonica. He really seems to have a close relationship with them (based on what he will write in 1st Thessalonians), and he wants to help them grow deeper in their faith in Christ, teaching them how to live as Jesus’ disciples.
You can almost read Paul’s mind. “Are the new Christians in Thessalonica going to make it? Or will the pressures of life lead them to turn away from the faith? Those Jews in Thessalonica are intense. Are they trying to get the Christians to deny their newfound faith?” Should he try to go back to a town where he almost got killed? But that would mean he would have to leave the believers in Corinth. They, too, need to be taught. And what we know of the Corinthian Christians is that they were very rough around the edges, to put it lightly. So Paul decides that he needs to stay in Corinth, and he decides to reach out to the Thessalonians the next best way; he writes them a letter, the letter we know as 1st Thessalonians. Of all his letters that we have in the Bible, it is highly likely that 1st Thessalonians is the first letter Paul writes. Written around 51 CE, it is probably the oldest New Testament writing.
In the ancient world, letters don’t get to people in a day or two, like we’re used to. It was a process, one that was expensive and long. Writing materials are not cheap. Paul often used a scribe to write, and that person might need to be hired and paid. Then Paul would have to determine a way to actually get the letter to Thessalonica. That is likely where Timothy comes in. Often Paul’s ministry partners doubled as letter-carriers. While he was in Corinth, Silas and Timothy eventually joined him. Now Paul sends the letter with Timothy who journeys the 200+ miles back to Thessalonica, a trip that could easily take days. Once there, Timothy likely gathers the Christians and reads the letter out loud to them because not everyone in the church would be able to read.
We don’t know how long Timothy remains in Thessalonica. He eventually returns to Paul in Corinth, with news about how the young church is doing. Scholars believe that about six months after writing the first letter, Paul, still in Corinth, hears Timothy’s report and writes another letter to the believers in Thessalonica, the letter we know as 2nd Thessalonians.
Think about what we have learned so far about the Christians in Thessalonica. They are the only Christians in town, they are new Christians, and they are believing in a new religion. They are a diverse in a society that doesn’t always look kindly on diversity. They also face a challenge from the very Jews who kicked Paul out of town, and who chased him in Berea. In other words, these new Christians are on very thin spiritual ice. So how were they doing? Did Timothy have good news or bad news? How is this small group of very new Christians doing? What Paul says in 2 Thessalonians will give us the answer to these questions.
In verse 1, after identifying himself and his ministry friends, Paul gives the Thessalonian Christians a standard greeting in which he calls them a church. I find that small detail interesting. When does a church start becoming a church? If your church or mine were to start a new church, in a neighboring town, would we call it a church on day 1? Maybe. But more than likely we would call it a church plant, signifying that it was new, and not yet a fully-developed church. We might call it a Bible study, a small group, a fellowship. The Christians in Thessalonica have been Christians for less than a year. How can Paul call them a church? Surely they can’t be mature enough, established enough for that label? Or can they?
In my denomination, the EC Church, we actually have a process that a church has to go through to make the jump from being a church plant to a fully-sufficient church. Some churches remain in church plant status for years. Yet Paul calls this new group of Christians a church. In fact, he had even called them a church six months earlier in his first letter to them, and at that point they had likely only been Christians for a couple weeks or months. That tells me something I believe is important for all of us.
Paul calling the Thessalonians a church, though they were very new Christians, tells me that in Paul’s mind, these new Christians would do well to see themselves as a legitimate, fully-accepted part of the family of God. I can imagine Paul wanting them to feel included in that larger sense of identification with God’s family. Though they are new to the faith, they are part of God’s family, with all the rights and privileges of God’s sons and daughters. Those new Christians should not see themselves as second-class Christians. Instead they are a church.
Do you see yourself that way? Part of God’s family? If not, why not? What we see in Paul’s use of the word “church” is his heart for the Thessalonians to be connected. Christians are people who are connected. This is one of the reasons why I love my local ministerium, the 15-20 churches from a variety of backgrounds that work together to reach our community for Christ. We recently held a Community Thanksgiving Service, and it was a wonderful expression of unity, of connection.
What concerns me is when Christians are disconnected. Some Christians believe that they do not need a connection to a church because they can have a personal relationship with God. I would suggest that it should not be viewed as either/or, but both/and. Yes, we can have a personal relationship with God, and we should nurture that relationship, but we can and should also nurture a relationship with a group of Christians, a church. I’m not talking about a church building. I’m talking about a group of Christians that connect deeply and regularly for the purposes of church.
What are the purposes of church? Check back in to the next post, as Paul will eventually talk about that!
Engaging Scripture 