2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
In the 2002 winter Olympics, the Canadian men's team won the gold medal in the speed skating relay. The two strongest competitors were the US team and the team from Canada. The first US skater fell and though it only took a few seconds to recover and begin skating, that miscue put him far behind. The Canadian team won easily, but what was curious was that each of the US men's team skated slower and slower in turn to the point that the team was lapped by the winning team from Canada. Just the knowledge that they were out of competition had a disheartening effect and took away their motivation.
I will occasionally tape a sports event on TV if I cannot be home to watch it. I will usually not fast forward to find out who wins, but if I find out somehow that my team has lost it just take away my interest. If on the other hand, I know my team has won, I am so eager to watch that I will even fast forward through commercials to see the next set of downs or period of hockey.
2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
In the 2002 winter Olympics, the Canadian men's team won the gold medal in the speed skating relay. The two strongest competitors were the US team and the team from Canada. The first US skater fell and though it only took a few seconds to recover and begin skating, that miscue put him far behind. The Canadian team won easily, but what was curious was that each of the US men's team skated slower and slower in turn to the point that the team was lapped by the winning team from Canada. Just the knowledge that they were out of competition had a disheartening effect and took away their motivation.
I will occasionally tape a sports event on TV if I cannot be home to watch it. I will usually not fast forward to find out who wins, but if I find out somehow that my team has lost it just take away my interest. If on the other hand, I know my team has won, I am so eager to watch that I will even fast forward through commercials to see the next set of downs or period of hockey.
There is nothing unusual about any of that. If we know we cannot win, it is normal to become disheartened and apathetic, unless you cheer for the Saskatchewan Roughriders or Toronto Maple Leafs. In those cases, misfortune seems to create a kind of fascination with disaster. But other normal people have the normal response.
In the passage in II Thessalonians, the apostle Paul is addressing the church about an issue that has cropped up around their belief in the timing of Jesus return. The people in the church in Thessalonica were sure Jesus was returning at any moment...which we are reminded is always a possibility. But they did not see it just as a possibility. The were so sure of it that some of them even quit their jobs and were waiting for the divine train out of town which they thought was due any day. Others were having a big problem with the fact that deaths were occurring and they did not know how to figure that into their understanding of an immediate Kingdom.
The problem was they were not prepared for the long haul. They were 100 meter sprinters in the 26 mile marathon and needed to reconfigure their expectations and their goals.
And so he tells them, "We continually give thanks for you. From the very beginning God chose you to be a part of the glory by faith in the message of Jesus which we preached to you. So stand firm and hold fast to what you have been taught and Jesus Himself with give you fresh heart and inspiration."
We are called to run the race no matter whether long or short remembering that God has called us, not just to run, but to be a part of a glorious conclusion.
Does it make a difference when you know that the outcome is guaranteed?
That's what we have...God's guarantee of a glorious conclusion. Not a tie or just scraping by, but a flat-out glorious win.
Talking about teams that have a history of disaster and let-downs, how many watched the Boston Red Sox in the world series?
Down three games to nothing against the Yankees would be enough to send any Bosox fan straight into a fit of Irish despair and fatalism. But following their win, it was interesting to hear the players interviewed. One after another they all said they knew they could win and that they just concentrated on winning the game they were playing. And they did.
You have to know you can win, or that you can make a difference, or that what you are doing counts.
We are told that what we are doing counts because it was part of God's plan from the beginning.
God calling the people in Thessalonica and God calling the people here in this church is no accident.
You didn't just stumble into the path of faith. God called you.
God has known about your birth for centuries. From the very beginning actually.
It's not an accident or something that any of us deserves any credit over. We are the recipients of God's grace.
Since it has been God's plan all along, God will oversee the conclusion and ensure that no effort is wasted.
You and I may not see in our lifetime the results of our patient work.
In the 2002 winter Olympics, the Canadian men's team won the gold medal in the speed skating relay. The two strongest competitors were the US team and the team from Canada. The first US skater fell and though it only took a few seconds to recover and begin skating, that miscue put him far behind. The Canadian team won easily, but what was curious was that each of the US men's team skated slower and slower in turn to the point that the team was lapped by the winning team from Canada. Just the knowledge that they were out of competition had a disheartening effect and took away their motivation.
I will occasionally tape a sports event on TV if I cannot be home to watch it. I will usually not fast forward to find out who wins, but if I find out somehow that my team has lost it just take away my interest. If on the other hand, I know my team has won, I am so eager to watch that I will even fast forward through commercials to see the next set of downs or period of hockey.
There is nothing unusual about any of that. If we know we cannot win, it is normal to become disheartened and apathetic, unless you cheer for the Saskatchewan Roughriders or Toronto Maple Leafs. In those cases, misfortune seems to create a kind of fascination with disaster. But other normal people have the normal response.
In the passage in II Thessalonians, the apostle Paul is addressing the church about an issue that has cropped up around their belief in the timing of Jesus return. The people in the church in Thessalonica were sure Jesus was returning at any moment...which we are reminded is always a possibility. But they did not see it just as a possibility. The were so sure of it that some of them even quit their jobs and were waiting for the divine train out of town which they thought was due any day. Others were having a big problem with the fact that deaths were occurring and they did not know how to figure that into their understanding of an immediate Kingdom.
The problem was they were not prepared for the long haul. They were 100 meter sprinters in the 26 mile marathon and needed to reconfigure their expectations and their goals.
And so he tells them, "We continually give thanks for you. From the very beginning God chose you to be a part of the glory by faith in the message of Jesus which we preached to you. So stand firm and hold fast to what you have been taught and Jesus Himself with give you fresh heart and inspiration."
We are called to run the race no matter whether long or short remembering that God has called us, not just to run, but to be a part of a glorious conclusion.
Does it make a difference when you know that the outcome is guaranteed?
That's what we have...God's guarantee of a glorious conclusion. Not a tie or just scraping by, but a flat-out glorious win.
Talking about teams that have a history of disaster and let-downs, how many watched the Boston Red Sox in the world series?
Down three games to nothing against the Yankees would be enough to send any Bosox fan straight into a fit of Irish despair and fatalism. But following their win, it was interesting to hear the players interviewed. One after another they all said they knew they could win and that they just concentrated on winning the game they were playing. And they did.
You have to know you can win, or that you can make a difference, or that what you are doing counts.
We are told that what we are doing counts because it was part of God's plan from the beginning.
God calling the people in Thessalonica and God calling the people here in this church is no accident.
You didn't just stumble into the path of faith. God called you.
God has known about your birth for centuries. From the very beginning actually.
It's not an accident or something that any of us deserves any credit over. We are the recipients of God's grace.
Since it has been God's plan all along, God will oversee the conclusion and ensure that no effort is wasted.
You and I may not see in our lifetime the results of our patient work.
"My heart is sunk?. It seemed to me I should never have any success among the Indians. My soul was weary of my life; I longed for death, beyond measure."
So wrote David Brainerd, describing his early weeks as a missionary to Native Americans at the beginning of the 1700s. Things didn't improve much for the first two years, in fact. He felt his prospects of winning converts "as dark as midnight."
Three years into the work, though, he finally witnessed a revival among the Indians of Crossweesung in New England, and after another year and a half, the number of converts numbered 150?not much by today's mass evangelistic standards, but profoundly significant in his day. Unfortunately, Brainerd died after only five years on the mission field, at age 29.
After Brainerd's death, Jonathan Edwards?whom some consider America's greatest theologian?published Brainerd's journals. These were read widely in America and Europe. In fact, William Carey, the "father of modern missions," the man who ignited the modern Protestant missionary movement, which has been responsible for millions upon millions of conversions worldwide, pointed to Brainerd's journals as a key source of his inspiration to take up the missionary life.
Who, then, can judge whether our work is worthwhile? Certainly we cannot when we're in the midst of discouragement.1
Because it is God who has given us both life and the guarantee of eternal life, it is God who will oversee the results.And we are promised that they will be good, even when we cannot possibly see the outcome.
The people in Thessalonica were expecting the glorious return of Jesus. They were not wrong in their belief. They were just wrong in that they were not prepared to life with purpose until that happens.
We can all have the hope of a glorious meeting with Jesus and validation of our life's work. We just don't know how long that will take and we don't know where the road to that end will take us.
Mother Teresa felt abandoned by God. She wrote as much in a letter to her Bishop De Souza of Calcutta.
He said that in one letter, she wrote that she had been walking the streets of Calcutta searching for a house where she could start her work. At the end of the day, she wrote in her diary, "I wandered the streets the whole day. My feet are aching, and I have not been able to find a home. And I also get the Tempter telling me, 'Leave all this, go back to the convent from which you came.'"
Eventually she found her home, and the rest is history. But that history is a history of constant struggle. Nevertheless, the Missionaries of Charity feeds 500,000 families a year in Calcutta alone, treats 90,000 leprosy patients annually, and educates 20,000 children every year.2
None of us knows all of what will be required of us along the way. But the apostle tells us that one thing is required: that we hold fast to the truth of our faith and not be afraid to act on it.When we do he says the Lord will strengthen us and give us the courage and inspiration to see it through.
Henri Durant was a wealthy 19th century Swiss banker. He was sent to Paris by the Swiss government to work on a business deal with Napoleon. He arrived only to be informed that Napoleon was off fighting a war against the Austrians in Solferino, Italy. So Henri Durant got back into his carriage and set his horses galloping down to the battlefront. He got there just in time to hear the bugles blast and see the thundering charge of Napoleon's troops. Durant had never before witnessed the ghastly carnage of war. He watched in horror as cannonballs tore through human flesh, and acres of land became heaped with maimed and dying men. Henry Durant was so devastated that he remained at the front for weeks helping doctors tend to the wounded in churches and nearby farmhouses.
After his return to Switzerland, Durant continued to be haunted by the images of war he had seen in Italy. He could not keep his mind on banking, becoming so distracted that he lost his fortune. Yet even with his career derailed and his plans askew, he had a sense of God's sovereignty in all that had occurred. Of this time he later wrote: "I was aware of an intuition, vague and yet profound, that [this was] God's Will; it seemed to me that I had [something] to accomplish?as a sacred duty and that it was destined to have fruits of infinite consequence for mankind."
And indeed it was. Out of his depression and failure?after following the wrong road to Italy?Henri Durant founded the Red Cross, which has saved millions and millions of lives and given aid to countless victims of war and disaster over the years. For establishing this organization, he received the first Nobel Peace Prize3
There may be little likelihood that we will accomplish what Durant or David Brainerd or Mother Theresa accomplished, but our path is just as important. I often wonder to myself what will be the most significant part of our work here. Maybe one of the children or some young person we have not yet met will hear of God through this church and totally change that life. Perhaps God will use that changed life for good far beyond what we can imagine.
Perhaps.
But I know that God is changing my life. And I am sure that God is changing your lives and I know that God will change the lives of all those who we reach and bring to Jesus for salvation. For me that is enough.
You see, I have fast forwarded to the end of this story and I know how it comes out.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
The angel said to me, 'these words are trustworthy and true...
?Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
?Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.
The Spirit and the bride say, ?Come!? And let him who hears say, ?Come!? Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
He who testifies to these things says, ?Yes, I am coming soon.?
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen (Rev. 22)
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
The angel said to me, 'these words are trustworthy and true...
?Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
?Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.
The Spirit and the bride say, ?Come!? And let him who hears say, ?Come!? Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
He who testifies to these things says, ?Yes, I am coming soon.?
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen (Rev. 22)
Preached? Nov. 7, 2004
Dr. Harold McNabb
West Shore Presbyterian Church
Victoria, British Columbia
Notes
1. Ruth Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions (Zondervan, 1983), pp. 90-93
??? cited in Preachingtoday.com
2.? Kevin A. Miller, Vice President, Christianity Today International; source: CNN
3. Victor D. Pentz, from the sermon "A Hobo's Heart: How Wrong Roads Often Lead to the Right Places."
Online Resources Consulted
http://www.preachingtoday.com/