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Preached in Markham Baptist Church, January 13, 2008

Today we come the end of our study entitled, “Living in Light of Christ’s return”, guided by the letters to the Thessalonians. 

I believe that we are living in the last days.  If my father were here he would smile and say, “Tom, I’ve lived for over 80 years and I’ve heard preachers say that my whole life.  When WWII broke out and progressed we were told we were living in the last days.  After WWII we saw the rise of communist Russia and we entered the cold war – we were told that we were living in the last days.  Then the sixties came with a permissive society – everyone did what they wanted and were told we were living the last days.  In the 80s and 90s we saw the decline of the church and the rise of materialism and were told we were living the last days.  It seems that every generation is living in the last days.”

That’s what my father would say, did say to me.  And to all who have that feeling, I would still say we are living in the last days.  I believe the last days began when Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and from that day onward the count down began to the revelation of the lawless one and the second coming of Christ. 

What we need to understand is that the human situation continues to get worse and worse and we are in the midst of the last days.  Paul describes the last days like this in 2 Timothy 3:1-5.  In the last days, “people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power.”

To me, that may describe every age that has come and gone but it certainly describes the age in which we live right now. We are living in the last days, just as I believe that my fathers’ generation was living in the last days and Jesus is coming again.

Now we can several different reactions to this truth.  We could respond with fear – “O no, the world is going to end.  Evil is abounding and will only abound more and more. The lawless one is at work and he will soon be revealed!  What are we to do?? What are we to do?”

And we have learned in Scripture in our study of 1 and 2 Thessalonians that we have nothing to fear.  We are part of Christ’s church who is IN God - we are loved by God, chosen by God, sanctified by God and when Jesus Christ comes again we will be part of a great reunion with those saints that have gone on before and we will meet the Lord in the air (if we are on this side of the grave) and be with the Lord forever. (1 Thessalonians 4:17).  We have nothing to fear.

We could respond with discouragement, like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh.  “O no, the world is going to end. The lawless one will come and wreck everything.”

But again, we have discovered that far from being discouraging - the truth of our Lord’s return is a strengthening truth for we have learned the lawless one will not have the last word.  We will be able to stand in persecution because we know that God uses persecution to shape us into the image of His Son (1 Thessalonians 1:5) but not only that we are able to stand in the face of persecution because we know that our Lord will be victorious.  He will destroy the lawless one with one word from His mouth (2 Thessalonians 2:8).  Let us take strength in the fact that we worship a living Lord a reigning King who is coming again – so we seek to live lives of holiness, seeking to love one another more deeply, and holding fast to the truth of God’s Word. 

Or again, we could respond to this truth with apathy.  “O well, the Lord is coming again soon – there’s nothing for us to do but to sit and wait.”  No we get the very opposite idea in these letters, don’t we?  We are to press on in holiness, in spiritual maturity, in the face of persecution – we are to press on in our testimony of the reality of Jesus Christ for He is coming again. 

The truth of our Lord’s return is a strengthening and invigorating truth.  We do not lose heart for we know that our Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with a voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God,  and every knee in heaven on and earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. 

So we have had this note struck throughout these two letters.  Keep on, keep on, keep on in the face of persecution, keep on in holiness, keep on trusting God, keep on standing fast in the truth, keep on in living lives to please God. 

And in this final chapter of 2 Thessalonians we hear the same note struck – In light of Christ’s return keep on being what Christians are to be and keep on doing what Christians do.  We have learned in chapter 2 that the lawless one is already at work in our world (verse 7). There will be a day when he will be revealed and Jesus Christ will destroy him with the breath of His mouth (verse 8).  But until that time the lawless one is at work, being held back by the restrainer (verse 6). 

Is the church simply to sit back and await the inevitable?  No.  We have already learned that God is great and God is good and we are to hold on to the truth of God’s Word so that we can grow in maturity. 

Now in chapter 3 we learn there is more. Not only are to we to hold on to the word of God so that we can mature, we are to promote the spread of God’s Word throughout the world. 

Look at our text, verse 1 - “Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified everywhere just as it is among you.”

We are to promote the spread of the word of God throughout the world.  How?  Through prayer.  We are to pray that the word of God will take off and race through the world and be received favourably. 

We are living in the last days and the call to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ is urgent and there is much that opposes the truth of the gospel.  In many countries there are governments who oppose Christianity.  In our country there are authors who distort Christianity, like Dan Brown in the Da Vinci Code.  There are other authors who deny the value of Christianity – like Christopher Hitchens and his new book, “God is Not Great” in which he states that religion has not helped society but hindered it.  He obviously did not read any history books.  But his book is winning wide appeal and applause.  The Word of God faces much opposition.  

We need to pray that the Word of God would run through this world and be all that God promises it to be.  Do you know that God says His Word “is like a hammer that breaks a rock to pieces.”  (Jeremiah 23:29)  One of my hobbies is building stone walls at my cottage – and there are times I wish I had a hammer that breaks a rock to pieces.  It’s hard to do!  What a mighty hammer it is that is able to smash rock to pieces.  Well that’s the might of God’s word. 

This past week I heard the story of Kim Phuc. She is a woman who as a very young child was severally burned by the napalm blasts during the Vietnam war.  She was left for dead, but she survived.  She was then discovered by the communist government of Vietnam and was used for propaganda campaigns against democracy. She was kept like an animal in a zoo – put on display, told when to speak and what to speak.  She was full of anger, bitterness – but then she got to reading the Bible, and that anger and that bitterness was smashed by the hammer of the Word as she discovered the Saviour who is revealed there. 

We need to pray that God’s word would spread rapidly and be received favourably in the world. 

But not only that we need to pray for the proclaimers of God’s Word.  Verse 2 - pray … “that we may be rescued from wicked and evil people for not all have faith.” 

O how we need to be in prayer for our pastors and evangelists and missionaries.  Have you added these people to your prayer list?  Do you pray for them daily?  I hope you are. 

Can you imagine what would happen to our soldiers if we sent them to Afghanistan without the proper equipment to protect them while they are on that mission?  The causalities would be much greater than they already are.  Well, that’s what it’s like for our pastors, missionaries and evangelists if we don’t pray for them – we are sending them into battle without protection. 

These last days are dangerous and they are becoming increasingly dangerous for those on the front lines. 

Did you read the latest letter from Gary Nelson sent out on our prayer post?  He is the head of our Canadian Baptist Missions. He has flown to Kenya to be with our brothers and sisters there and to encourage them.  In his latest letter though he tells of a friend in El Salvador – a mayor with whom our mission board has worked closely to build housing for the poor. Gary had just received word that his friend has been assassinated after winning another term in office – ironically on a non-violence platform.   We need to be in prayer for those people who are living out the gospel on the front lines.  Last week our hearts went out to families of those 200 people set on fire as they sought refuge in a church in Kenya. 

We need to be in prayer.

And we can pray with confidence says Scripture, because while some do not have faith – verse 3 – our God is faithful.  He will strengthen – He will guard His people from the evil one as His people pray. 

So living in light of Christ’s return – let us be a people of prayer.  Let us pray for the spread of God’s Word and let us pray for the messengers of God’s Word.  Our God is faithful and will respond to the prayers of His people.

Then secondly, living in light of Christ’s return means we obey the word of the Lord.  This is the call we receive in verses 4 through 15.  We are to obey the Word of the Lord. 

In verse 4 and 5 Paul expresses confidence that the Thessalonians will indeed follow God’s Word – that they will do so in love and with steadfastness.  But there is a particular issue in Thessalonica in which a group of believers are not following the Word of the Lord.

There is a group of lazy louts sponging off the goodness of the Thessalonian Christians.  It wasn’t that these people couldn’t work - that would be a different issue - that would call for compassion. It is that these folks won’t work even though they can.  And Paul says in verse 6, “This isn’t living according to God’s word.”  They are called idlers in our text, in our day they are called lazy freeloaders, sponging off the goodness of others.

You’ll remember that Paul has already written about these folks in his first letter and told them to get back to work.  But apparently that call has been ignored.  So he has to write again and says in verse 6 this is not Scriptural. 

We know God has ordained work – He gave work to Adam before the Fall. Work isn’t the result of the sin – God created work and if we have work to do, and we are able, we are to do it. 

Paul says at verse 7 through 8 that this sponging off of others is not only not Scriptural but I gave you an example to follow. “When I was with you,” he says,  “we worked night and day.”  None of the Thessalonians had to buy bread for Paul because he bought his own by working for it.  Presumably he mended nets when he wasn’t busy proclaiming the gospel.

Verse 9 says, “I had every right not to work.”  What he means there is that even though our Lord clearly teaches that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel – Jesus says this in Matthew 10:9,10; and Luke 10:7,8 (see also 1 Corinthians 9:14), Paul doesn’t exercise that privilege.

The point is, if those who are entitled to be supported by others but choose instead to support themselves, how much more should those who are NOT entitled to be supported by others support themselves by earning their own living.

In verse 10 we learn that Paul had told them when he was with them that if they don’t work they don’t eat.  If Paul were around today he may say, “Stop cooking with cheese!”

Of course the problem Paul says at verse 11 with people who just lay around and sponge off others is that they become busy bodies, causing all sorts of friction in the body of Christ.  So he says, look, get to work and earn your own living.

The principle here for us is that living in light of Christ’s return means that we obey God’s word.  There were a group in Thessalonica who were not obeying God’s word.  And Paul has to correct that, since they were disobeying the word of God and they were destroying the testimony of the church. 

The question for us is – are we obeying the Word of God?  Are we taking it in and seeking to allow it to be the rule of our lives?

There is much in our world that seeks to influence us. There’s the opinion of our peers, there is the influence of our parents, there is the media, there are many fine wise and knowledgeable people that influence us but none of them is to have the final authority in our lives. The Word of God is to be our rule and our standard. 

Is the Word of God your standard in your relationships?  Are you men loving your wives as Christ loves the Church?  Are you loving your enemy and praying for those who persecute you? 

Is the Word of God your compass in life allowing you to get your priorities straight in this life so that you are seeking first the kingdom of God?

Is the Word of God informing your stewardship of time and money and talent so that you are giving everything you are and have to God in service to Him?

Are you obeying the Word of God?   We are living in the last days, and it is vital for us to be living in obedience to the Word of God.   Why is it vital? 

It is vital for those who do not know Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord  – they need a living testimony of the truth of God’s word.   It is vital for the glory of God’s name – what kind of glory does God get if His people refuse to obey Him and choose to ignore His Word?  It is vital for our own spiritual health.

It is so vital that Paul gives the Thessalonians a series of steps to correct the problem in verses 14-15.  He says that the whole church is to note who these people are so that they will be ashamed. The view here is to restore them, and we are to treat them not as enemies but as brothers and sisters.

To be sure, Church discipline is very difficult to practice but it is needed in the life of the church.  The goal is not to punish, destroy or crush people, but to bring them back to a place where they are living according to God’s Word and their testimony is strong. 

Why is it so important?  Because we are living in the last days and there are people who are apathetic toward God and they need to see that He is alive and real.  There are people who are enemies of the church and they don’t need any more ammunition about the hypocrisy in the church – they need to see a genuine Christian lifestyle.

So for us today chapter 3 of 2 Thessalonians says – living in light Christ’s return means that we are to pray for the spread of God’s Word.  Pray for the proclaimers of God’s Word.  And we are to obey God’s word. 

It may sound mundane.   Pray for God’s Word to spread and obey God’s word.  Surely if we are living in the last days there’s something more daring something more that we should be doing. 

I don’t think so. Yesterday I attended Jean’s mother’s funeral.  And person after person testified that Mrs. Grace Phinnemore was a woman of prayer and a woman who sought to obey the Word of God.  And person after person testified that Mrs. Grace Phinemore made a difference in their life and demonstrated the reality of God to them. There’s nothing mundane about that – that’s called making a difference as we live in light of Christ’s return.  

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - January 2008