1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

There are many false teachers in the world. There are many who “perceive godliness as a means to gain.” (1 Timothy 6:5). I think of the many revival tents and faith healers that became so prevelant during the 1980s, the many “prophets for profit,” declaring their own futures while exploiting the name of out beloved Christ as though they were speaking of a common brothel-maid, using Him to attain their own selfish pleasures. I think of the many churches where the congregatns fall down incoherently babbling while seizing, as though caught in an epileptic fit. And I get it, it’s hard work to rightfully discern what is truly the work of God from what is merely show, merely for profit, merely filling one’s own purse or feeding their own prideful desire for undue attention. Yet, as it evident from this passage, these instances are not exclusive to our generation.

And yet, when we look at this passage, how does the beloved apostle respond? Look closely at how he responds to the idea of people falsifying the workings of the Holy Spirit in the believers. Now contrast that to what our response has become. See, in our church culture, we’ve responded to the false prophets and faith healers by saying that the supernatural gifts have ceased. That the Lord stopped performing these supernatural miracles with the close of the canon. We’ve determined that the power of the Holy Spirit has been distilled to “cleaning our lives up,” to turning ourselves around. That He’s gone from casting fire down from the heavens to putting the fires out on our lighters as He gives us the power to quit smoking. Our generation teaches us that God, who Himself declares that He never changes (Numbers 23:19, Hebrews 13:8, James 1:17, Malachi 3:6, etc.), has changed and ceased from granting the supernatural gifts. And yet, NOWHERE in Scripture is this found. In fact, to the contrary, Jesus teaches that “Whoever believes in Me, the works that I do, he shall also de, and greater works than these.” (John 14:12). In the Book of Hebrews, we learn that “God, also bearing witness, both with signs and wonders, miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit.” (Hebrews 2:4). Has the Lord stopped bearing witness, since this is the same Holy Spirit that we receive at baptism? Has the Holy Spirit changed? In the letter to the church at Corinth, Paul writes that “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each for the good of all…to one is given the word of wisdom, to another the gift of knowledge…to another the gift of healing…to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy…to another a different kind of tongues” (1 Corinthians 12:7-10) and again “God has appointed these…first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administration, varieties of tongues” (1 Corinthians 12:28). Notice, in this list, that we’ve removed any of the appointments that the Lord has given that would require faith; we’ve distilled the list to things that the secular world would accept. We remove apostles and prophets, retained teachers, removed miracles and healing, maintained helps and administration (have to have secretaries), and removed tongues. Anything supernatural that the Lord has appointed, we’ve determined has been removed, anything that the secular world can’t argue with, we’ve maintained. But, Jesus Himself, after the resurrection, proclaims that “These signs will follow those who believe. In My name, they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17-18). Is it any wonder that so many in the world reject it when we speak to them of miracles when we ourselves seem not to believe?

Again, I get it, the supernatural gifts of the Spirit would be easy for a double tongued person, a manipulative person, to imitate. In a world where Simon the magician can make the statue of liberty seem to disappear, it’s easy to see how someone could falsely “heal” someone who appeared to be sick but wasn’t, or how anyone can “speak in tongues” that no one can understand and claim that they were speaking some angelic dialect. And, it’s oh so embarrassing when a false prophet gets a large platform and proclaims a prophecy that doesn’t come true, the alignment of moons signalling the end of the world, or the Sabbath year equaling a shift in our economic climate. It’s embarrassing when these false teachers and false prophets get this platform and then are exposed as frauds. But the answer to this is not to disregard the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but rather to stop giving these teachers the platform. Scripture prescribes very strongly the remedy for that. Scripture tells us that “when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if that thing does not come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken.” (Deuteronomy 18:22). When someone prophecies something that does not come to pass, then they should no longer be given the platform. There are many such prophets right now who have incorrectly prophesied multiple times and yet we are still giving them the platform to continue to do so in the public eye. Paul, in this passage, admonishes us to test all things; in the letter to the Corinthians, he tells us that the gifts are given for the good of all. Incoherent babbling is good for no one other than the ego of the one doing it. False prophets and faith healers do none any good outside of the collection that goes into the coffers of the false healers and prophets. John warns us, “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God.” (1 John 4:1). See, the answer to false prophets and false healers is not to deny prophesy and healing, but rather to test those prophets and healers, to test those miracle workers to see that they are of God, and if they are not, to remove them from that position. When we deny the signs and wonders themselves, we deny the power of the Holy Spirit to do those things, we (as the apostle warns against) “quench the Spirit.”

Consider this, when we hear a prosperity preacher, or when we hear of a group using the gospel to spread hatred, picketing funerals and such; whenever we hear of anyone proclaiming a false gospel, do we deny the gospel itself? Of course not, we exposed the false teacher for teaching a false gospel, but we would never deny the gospel itself. When we hear that a teacher is teaching that “God wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and happy…to be your best self and live your best life now,” we would never dream of denying the true gospel message of Christ, rather we brand that teacher as a false teacher, confused at best and heretical at worst. So, why would we not use the same discernment and apply the same response to someone who falsifies the supernatural abilities of the Holy Spirit? Why would we not merely proclaim that this one “healer” who is under investigation for financial fraud as a false teacher, rather than teaching that the power to heal in the name of Jesus was rescinded with the close of Scripture? That is a lesson that is taught nowhere in Scripture, yet we have all completely accepted, thinking that it must be there somewhere.

See, I think about our Church today. And I consider the Church that Jesus built. Jesus built a Church which, through 12 men, most of whom were uneducated, could turn the world upside down. Jesus didn’t come to build a Church that could have Bible studies, attend a once a week service, and say no to “R” rated movies. He came to build a Church that could change the world. When we teach that He no longer gives these supernatural gifts, the very signs and wonders that He Himself uses to bear witness, that what is left? We remove the supernatural witness of the Holy Spirit, we quench the Spirit. And, when we do that, we cease to be the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are no longer able to “do the works He did.” Our baptism becomes the baptism of John the Baptist, where we choose to turn our lives away from our sinful ways, but there is nothing beyond that. The Church without the supernatural is nothing beyond a moralistic social club. Baptism becomes our initiation, the Eucharist our weekly meeting snack food, and Jesus becomes our mascot, some ideal that we can aspire to and look to for inspiration, but never attain to. Our faith becomes superficial and our church becomes impotent.

We must be especially careful, my beloved family, that this is never allowed to happen. We must always test the spirits, we must test everything and never allow false teachings and false miracles to permeate our Church. However, we must avoid the spirit of the age which says that it’s easier to run from something than to confront it. This mentality is costing us our very Church. We can never allow the power of the Holy Spirit to be removed by even well-intentioned false teachings. We have to remember that in response to the faith healers and the false prophets, we’ve created a safe-guard theology that doesn’t allow for anything that we can not see with our eyes. We’ve created a very safe theology that states that the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives can help us overcome addictions, help us not cheat on our wives, help us stop using profanity, etc; but we’ve denied any supernatural aspect of our religion beyond Jesus’ death and resurrection. And that’s not the religion of the God of Scripture. To the contrary, we are taught that “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1) and that “hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what they have seen” (Romans 8:24); therefore, to only believe in what you can physically see with the eye is not hope, and thus, not faith, and “without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6).

See, the God of Scripture constantly spoke through His prophets, performing great and wondrous, miraculous signs. And He still does, we just don’t believe enough to see them. We’ve been blinded by the “wisdom” of the age so strongly that we don’t see the signs regularly. And our faith has been weakened so much that we don’t believe that He even can still perform these things. “Elijah was a man just like us,” and through the strength of his faith, he was able to call down fire from the heavens. Joshua, through the strength of his faith, was able to destroy a city by walking around it for seven days straight. The apostles, through the strength of their faith, were able to multiply from the twelve, to 2.2 billion (currently) worldwide. That is the power of the Holy Spirit. And we must never quench that Spirit. The book of Acts says that “there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house…then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:2-4). The apostles, having just been arrested for proclaiming the name of the Lord and prophesying in His name, went back to the Church and got the entire congregation to pray that they would be able to proclaim His name with even more boldness (Acts 4:23-32). That is the power of the Holy Spirit, and the faith that doesn’t stifle Him. That is the faith that we are called, in Scripture, to imitate. By the strength of their faith three young men were put into a furnace and the Holy Spirit protected them from the flames (Daniel 3:15-26). By the strength of their faith Abraham and Sarah conceived a child, though she was barren (Genesis 21:2). And by the strength of his faith, Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle John, when he was martyred for not renouncing the Lord Jesus, had to be stabbed because the flames would not touch him (the Martyrdom of Polycarp). That, my beloved family, is the power of the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit which is the very seal of our faith. And, we must be very careful not to allow any to convince us otherwise. “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1), and we must be careful. The enemy would love nothing more than to have the entire Church believe that the Holy Spirit no longer has the power to do any of the things that Scripture promises to us that He will do.

May the grace of the Lord be with you all, my beloved family.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

That it would be so easy for the believers to fall into the pitfalls of despondency, Paul beseeches them that they focus not on their earthly circumstances, which could overwhelm them. In his letter to the Colossians, we read the admonishment to “keep your mind on things above, not on the things of the earth” (Colossians 3:2). And that’s what he’s saying to the believers in Thessalonica here. He is reminding them that if they remain steadfast through all of their trials, then their faith will carry them through all of their earthly trials to the promises of the world to come. See, he had previously instructed them to return good, whether it was good or evil that they had been inflicted with, and here it sort of starts to come together. Whether someone does good or evil to us, it is irrelevant, given that “all flesh is like grass and all it’s glory is like the flower of the grass.” (1 Peter 1:24). What evil could any man perform against you that would matter 200 years from now? Is it not much more important that we behave in a manner in obedience to our Lord, who warned us that “if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, then neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15). See, only a heart that has truly been touched by the Holy Spirit would ever be able to sincerely return good for evil, and only that very heart will ever be able to find the true joy and contentment that the apostle is writing to the believers about here. The moment that we realize these things and truly understand them will be the moment that we will be able to forsake our earthly circumstances and maintain the joy that comes from our beloved Christ.

See, there’s a message in this that we, especially in this generation, need to pay very close attention to. The contemporary message of Jesus is basically boiled down to this: “accept Jesus and your life will be made easy, you’ll find health, wealth and prosperity in your life because the Lord has plans for good, not evil.” I stress that so strongly not because it’s a new message, but because, for the first time in Church history, it’s the prevalent message. It’s become about being who you truly are, embracing yourself and loving yourself, living your best life now, being friends with everyone, following your own dreams; it’s the PG-13 version of the American dream. And the biggest problem with that is that it’s the exact opposite message that Jesus taught. Jesus’ message was to deny yourself (Matthew 16:24), be hated by everyone (Matthew 10:22), and suffer trials and tribulation (John 16:33). Even Paul, writing to Timothy, admonishes us that “anyone desiring to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12). But, all of that also comes with the promise that “the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13). We have to be careful about this cookie cutter, puppies and guppies gospel message, because it’s not Jesus’ message, which means that it isn’t the gospel. It sounds very good and very appealing to sinful ears, because it requires little to nothing on our part, but it does not have the power to save.

However, knowing these things, knowing that we will be hated and suffer persecution, is it even possible to be joyful for a moment, much less at all times? The apostle says not only is it, but even tells us how we are to do it. “Pray without ceasing,” he tells us. And what do we pray? “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God.” So, how does one pray without ceasing? It is something that requires discipline. It requires that we discipline our body, because a state of prayer isn’t a state that is natural to our flesh. Prayer is communion with God, and thus, having been separated from God through our sin, it is something that we must consciously decide to do. And only through this discipline will we ever attain to what the apostle is speaking of here. As for giving thanks in all things, we must remember that Paul was no stranger to suffering for the sake of the kingdom. As he explained in his letter to the Corinthians, “three times I was beaten with rods, once pelted with stones, thrice was I shipwrecked, I spent a night and day in the open sea, I have been in dangers from rivers, bandits, fellow Jews, and Gentiles; in the city, the country, and at sea.” (2 Corinthians 11:25-26). In fact, while imprisoned and awaiting execution, he exhorted the Philippians believers, “Rejoice always in the Lord, again I say, Rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4). He continues, “be anxious for nothing, but in prayer and supplication, let your requests be known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart.” (Philippians 4:6-7).

Remember his admonishment here to give thanks in all things. Now, consider this. Say you have a modest home, nothing too extravagant, but a home. And you’ve lived there the better part of ten years. Now, say that the company that you work for goes out of business and you lose that home. How do you respond? I pose this question because our natural responses would be anxiety, fear, maybe even anger. I ask this question because it shows how often we tend to look at our circumstances from the perspective of how they affect our plans. See, we get so trapped by the world that, without even realizing it, we adopt their worldview. We actually think not only that those things mean something, but that we actually own them. If we can get out of that mindset, then we can recognize that we don’t own anything. Our homes aren’t ours, they are “on loan” (if you will) from the Lord. Your wife is your wife, but she’s His daughter first. Even your money isn’t your money, it’s the Lord’s money that He has entrusted you to steward for Him. See, once we truly recognize that, then it becomes easier to be thankful for what you have been given rather than covetous for what you don’t have or despondent over what you once had but no longer have. If I consider my home is mine, then to lose it means I have actually lost something; to recognize that it is the Lord’s means that when He chooses to take it back, I can be thankful to Him for having let me stay there. When you lose a loved one, it’s easier to be thankful for the time that you’ve had with them rather than despondent over losing them if you recognize that they were never yours, but rather that the Lord had put them in your life for a purpose and once that purpose was served, He calls them away. When we can recognize those things, then rather than charging God with evil, we can say with Job, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. As it seems good to the Lord, so also it came to pass. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21 LXX).

It all becomes a matter of faith, my brothers and sisters. When we truly trust in the Lord, it is easy to show gratitude, regardless of our circumstances. No matter how much something does or doesn’t align with our desires, we can be thankful to the Lord for it, because we trust that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28). Our ingratitude displays our lack of faith. When we complain against our circumstances, it is the Lord whom we complain against, for He is the One who has given us those circumstances. It is us, in our arrogance and pride, saying that God should have done things differently, that we don’t agree with His decisions. It is to place our own desires before the will of God, to place our trust and faith in material possessions and earthly riches, to lift up the finite over the infinite. It is to serve mammon rather than God.

No, my brothers and sisters, our lives should be marked by constant thanksgiving unto the Lord. May we never become so entangled in the world that we forget that it is the Lord Himself that we charge with injustice every time we part our lips to complain. Consider each time you even think that something “isn’t fair” that you are complaining that the Lord isn’t fair in His dealings, and perchance it will help you to repent of the thought before it even becomes words spoken. Even those things which we may not like serve a much greater purpose than we could ever imagine, thus rather than those things, let us look unto the Lord, who will help us find peace in even the most tumultuous of storms. Let us heed the words of the blessed apostle, to pray without ceasing, offering thanksgiving unto the Lord regardless of our circumstances, particularly when times seem “tough” by our standards. Let us condition ourselves to look at all things in the light of eternity, that we can join in the words of the apostle, “For I have learned in whatever state I am in to be content. I know how to be abased and how to abound…I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:12-13). Let us remember always the words of our beloved Christ, “in this world, you will have trials, but take heart, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).

May the grace of the Lord be with you, my beloved family.

1 Thessalonians 5:14-15

Paul continues his message of peaceable living in harmonious community amongst the believers here. In this passage, he begins by telling them to “warn the unruly.” This is a matter of utmost importance to believers, but, almost if not more important than the correction of the brethern is the manner of the correction. Paul admonishes them to “warn the unruly, comfort the faint-hearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.” Understanding that the testimony of the whole of the Church could be sullied on account of but a few who behaved inappropriately, it is in fact vital that we call back those who are straying. Not only for the sake of the testimony of the Church, but also for the very souls of those who are straying. As Jesus taught, the good shepherd will readily leave the 99 to chase after the one who strays. Or, as James teaches, “if anyone among you wanders and someone turns him back; he who turns a sinner from his way will save a soul from death.” (James 5:19-20). “If anyone among you” implies that James is referencing a believer who has gone astray, a brother or sister in Christ who has stumbled and and left the way to be lost in sin; yet, “he who turns a sinner back from his way will save a soul from death.” James, without changing subjects, describes this way that a believer can wander from the truth and be at risk of losing their soul, of perishing, and yet, that brother can be brought back, thereby “saving their soul from death.” And the reward for doing this, for saving our brethern from turning back into sin? Jesus teaches us that “if your brother sins, go and tell him his fault…if he hears you, you have gained your brother.” (Matthew 18:15). This is Paul’s admonishment here, for who is the unruly? Is it not the one who does not obey the will of God? Paul warns us in the letter to the Colossians to “put to death your members which are on the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil, desire, covetousness. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.” (Colossians 3:5-6). Those very things would cause discord amongst the Church, and thus, when we see someone having fallen into those things, we must warn them, for they are straying against the will of God.

But, looking to the remainder of the verse, we see something that is equally, if not more, important. “Comfort the faint-hearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.” See, there is a manner prescribed for us to rebuke those who have wandered. If we approach someone who has stumbled and fallen into the pit of sin threateningly, their first response is to get defensive. I think of the little child who is sternly disciplined by their parents; their first reaction is anger, their second is defensiveness. They begin to make excuses to justify their behavior. And their third reaction is rebellion; “I can’t do this right so I won’t bother trying to do anything right…I can never make them happy anyway.” When we rebuke a brother or sister for falling into sin in a manner that is threatening, or malicious, then we can, rather than restoring them to the path of righteousness, actually push them away from it. We can cause someone to walk away from the faith completely if we don’t respond in the proper manner. On the contrary, if we are loving, encouraging, and comforting them, lifting them up rather than tearing them down, then we can, as the apostle James says, “save a soul from death.”

We must remember the goal. The goal of rebuking a brother or sister who has wandered from the truth is not discipline, it’s unity. It’s restoration. It’s for the Church to function truly in harmony, as a family. Jesus tells us that “a nation divided against itself will not stand.” (Mark 3:25). Thus, it is imperative that we rebuke a brother or sister who has strayed from the path, becoming unruly and causing discord amongst the Church. Those that Paul stated previously; the reviler, the drunkard, the covetous, the sexually immoral, indeed all who sin; each of these cause disorder among the Church and threaten that harmony. Thus, we must always strive to maintain the holiness that the Lord calls us to, especially amongst the Body of Christ. However, that correction must come lovingly, as from a concerned sibling or parent; not harshly, as though by the hand of a jailer or sergeant. We’re taught that the very apologetic that the Lord gave us during His earthly ministry, the very way that the world would know that we are His disciples, is by our love for one another. That love does not mean that we tolerate sin and wickedness, but rather that we correct it out of sincere concern for the eternal souls of our brothers and sisters; our sincere desire to see them returned to righteousness. It is so important to remember that each of us within the body will sin, it’s just part of our nature, and we must rely on one another to set us back on the right path each time that this occurs. And more importantly, we must consider the means that we would want our brethern to use on us when we consider how to “call out” our brethern in the Lord.

“See that no one renders evil for evil,” the apostle continues. Jesus strongly admonished us to “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good for those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44). If it is not acceptable in the Lord’s eyes to render evil for evil to the world, how much worse is it to do so to those who are brothers and sisters in Christ? How much worse is it to render evil for evil to your family than it is to do so to the world that persecutes you? If I pray for the well being of a man who spits in my face, and yet take that anger out on my wife, then have I truly obeyed the Lord’s commands? Have I truly loved my wife “as Christ loved the Church?” (Ephesians 5:25). No, for much worse than rendering evil for evil is rendering evil for good. Paul tells us here to “pursue what is good for yourselves and for all.” Regardless of what circumstance or behavior we encounter, our response should always be to pursue what is good, both for ourselves and for everyone else. Does this mean that I place myself before anyone else? By no means, for the one who truly follows and believes, the good of others will supercede the good for myself. It makes me think of the Psalmist who wrote, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4). See, that passage isn’t saying that He will bring you material wealth or abundance in life, but rather that when you truly delight yourself in Him, He will give you that which you would most greatly seek, the greatest gift He can offer, Himself. For someone truly living the way, truly abiding in the path of righteousness, what is good for us is the good of all. Thus, to seek what is good for myself would be to seek what is good for all. Jesus teaches us that “I was hungry and you fed Me; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited…whatever you have done for the least of these you have done for Me.” (Matthew 25:35-36,40). When we are obeying that gospel, then how can we eat to gluttony while we see others starving and still be content? Thus, the good that we seek for ourselves is the good of others. John Chrysostom teaches us that “If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the door, you will not find Him in the chalice,” and again, “Not to share our wealth with the poor is theft from the poor and deprivation of their means of life; we do not possess our own wealth but theirs.” We must always heed well the warning of the beloved apostle, that the Lord will “render to each according to their deeds.” (Romans 2:6).

See, to follow Christ is to look to Him as our example, and how does He respond when we offend Him? With love, compassion, mercy, grace. The whole of His purpose of assuming flesh was that we might be reconciled to Him. Remember His teaching, “If you forgive men their trespasses, then your heavenly Father will forgive you, but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, then neither will your Father forgive you yours.” (Matthew 6:14-15). Even when He was seized, He healed the wounds of the very soldiers who had come to arrest Him, and, though they rejected the truth, He prayed for the forgiveness of the very men who crucified Him. And, looking to that example, the martyr Stephen did likewise, falling asleep in the Lord with the prayer for forgiveness for his executors on his lips. How did Jesus respond when He saw a group of people about to stone a woman to death? “Neither do I accuse you, now go, and sin no more.” Similarly, when He had healed a lame man, He later saw Him in the crowd and said “I see that you are better. Now go, and sin no more, less worse things come upon you.” See, all throughout His ministry, He modeled this idea that we can never tolerate sin, but, should we lovingly approach someone and they turn from their sin, then neither should we judge them based on it. It is this idea that we are to correct others, to show them their sin, but not judge them for it, unless they refuse the correction.

This lesson to the Thessalonians is so important in our generation because it teaches us that, while we can never accept or tolerate sin within the Church, our means, our very motivation, for correcting them must be for the unity of the brotherhood and a sincere desire to restore our brothers and sisters to righteousness. We can never approach someone who has fallen into sin cruelly, or self-righteously, but rather sincerely, with the goal of bringing them back to the path of righteousness, not putting them out of the Church. Our goal must be to “gain our brother” and to “save a soul from death,” not punishment, or, as so oft is our wont, to point out our own holiness. Perhaps the most fickle of the virtues of holiness is humility, because it’s the hardest to fake, and the moment you point it out, it’s gone. And yet, it’s ever so important. Through His Prophet Micah, the Lord tells us, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.” (Micah 6:8). When a brother or sister has strayed, we approach them humbly, rebuke them lovingly, and then pray that they will get back on the path of righteousness. And that is my prayer for each of us this evening, my brothers and sisters. That we may all have the boldness to confront our brethern if we see them in sin, but the grace and compassion to do so as our Lord Himself would.

May the grace of the Lord be with you, my beloved family.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

It’s important to note the bigger picture in the entirety of this passage before we begin to hone in on particular passages and “break it down” too unapologetically. See, having just explained to the believers the importance of their hope and how those truths should be applied to their lives, Paul now goes on to explain what it would look like for the community as a whole. It’s sort of a “how-to” guide, if you will, explaining the means by which they would be able to live in harmony with one another. To summarize, he lists these requirements (which we will go into far more detail about) as respecting the position of the spiritual leaders, pursuing good works, continual prayer and thanksgiving unto the Lord, and due respect for the Holy Spirit and the gifts which He imparts on the believers.

He begins this passage by telling them to “recognize those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord.” His wording in this statement is so brilliant, in that on the one hand he is explaining that those who are in this position also labor, albeit differently, while at the same time pointing out that there are, in fact, those who are “above you” in the Lord. See, this is so important to note because I’ve heard directly people say that once you are saved then there is nothing that can make you any more or less deserving of respect than you are the moment you are saved. A pastor is the exact same as a dishwasher in the Church body and thus deserves no more respect than any other member of the Body of Christ, and yet, when I look in Scripture, that’s not the image it paints. Using Paul’s human body analogy, a leg is pretty useless without it’s foot, but nowhere near as useless as a foot without it’s leg. If I lose my hand but maintain my arm, I can still do some things, but if I lose my arm and keep my hand, that hand becomes pretty useless. The point being that each of the parts make up the whole body, however, certain parts are more worthy of concern than others. See, when I look to Scripture, I see a very definite line between the elders and the laymen. I look to the Book of Acts, where the Hellenists were complaining about their widows not being cared for, and the twelve call the disciples together and decree, “it’s not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables…we will give ourselves continually to prayer and ministering the word.” (Acts 6:2,4). See, it’s not the apostles were considering themselves “too good” to do any task, or that they were above them, but rather that there were more important tasks for them to focus on. The disciples as well as the apostles each had the ability to do the mundane task of serving tables, however, only the disciples had the knowledge and experience to minister the gospel, thus they had to be able to focus on the spiritual health of the people whereas the disciples could put food on a table. Only the elders had the wisdom to be able to minister to the spiritual needs of the people, which is why Peter admonishes us to “submit yourselves to your elders” (1 Peter 5:5) and in the Book of Hebrews we are warned to “obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls.” (Hebrews 13:17).

It’s important for us to consider this fact; a true teacher of the faith is one who will do nothing out of selfish ambition. To the contrary, they will have proven through their own godly lives to be sufficient models of the faith (see 1 Timothy 1:3 and Titus for the qualifications for elders) and, because of the love that they have already proven to be genuine, they are sincerely concerned for the spiritual health of their congregation. In the medical field, we are taught to distance ourselves from our patients, to avoid what they call “transference,” where we begin to care too much for patients and thus would be devastated with each one that we lost. To enter the priesthood is the exact opposite, to prove that you are worthy of being appointed to the position requires that you prove, through your life and deeds, that you will truly and fully care for each and every member of your congregation. And especially in a setting like Paul is writing to in Thessalonica. We have to remember that this was a church where the believers were being endlessly persecuted, where merely proclaiming the name of Christ could be punishable by death, and that the elders were the largest targets. With no 401k’s or retirement packages, no insurance policies, no guarantee of salary or housing allowance, and yet, these people were still willing to stand for their faith and lead others into spiritual maturity. With no earthly recompense deemed worthy of the risk, they were still in the positions allotted. Thus Paul was calling them to consider this situation and to hold in esteem with love their works.

And, today, it’s a position we must still strongly consider. Meditate and pray deeply concerning this, if your pastor or priest warned you about a situation in your life, how would you respond? Would there be anything that they warned you about that you would disregard? Would you correct the issues that he approached you concerning, or would you dismiss his warning? If he is truly the one appointed by the Lord to watch over your soul, would you fully trust him, or would you lean instead on your own understanding?

I ask this because every single ounce of our nature; and the more secular and relativistic it becomes, our culture; teaches us that we can have whatever we want however and whenever we want it. Everything within us denies that anything or anyone can have authority over us, that we are our own masters and nothing can tell us what is right or wrong, we define those very boundaries with our own desires. I ask this to help us to determine how much we have allowed the world into our theology. Consider this, the world tells us that no one and nothing has authority over us; Scripture tells us that Jesus declared that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. Thus, when we determine our own authority, be it through our own pride or our own desires and lusts, then we reject that theology.

Jesus has given us His Church, which through the apostle Paul, he has claimed to be the very Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-14, Ephesians 4:1-16), and He has given us His very words, the Holy Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16). When we reject the authority of either of those, then we reject His authority and become an authority unto ourselves. And we must be very careful not to do that. We must be mindful to heed Paul’s teaching, to “hold fast the traditions that were taught, whether by word or epistle,” and never allow our own hearts, our own pride, the world, or the enemy, to lead us astray.

May the grace of the Lord be with you, my beloved family.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

This entire passage speaks so strongly to our generation. See, as is so common to our nature, the Thessalonians were trying to predict the Day of the Lord. Even as the disciples had inquired the same of our Lord Jesus Himself, Whose response was “but of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36). See, it’s important that we recognize this, because the bookshelves and the blog posts are full of the same questions and the same theories. Mighty theologians, filled with knowledge, trained in the greatest of seminaries, with so many letters proceeding after their surname, using their theological calculators and drawing diagrams, contriving formulas seeking to determine when the end is coming; counting lunar cycles, painting the harvest moon blood red, using sabbath years and news headlines, thus that books might be sold and documentaries filmed and bank accounts padded. “Supposing godliness a means of gain.” (1 Timothy 6:5).

And yet, to what end do we accept these teachings? Paul warned Timothy that “the time will come when people will not endure sound teaching, but according to their desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.” (2 Timothy 4:3). When a teenager’s parents go away for the week, the teenager will invite friends over, throw parties, violate curfews; they will act according to their own desires. Then, with the knowledge that his parents are returning Friday, he will spend all of Thursday cleaning, straightening up, cleansing any evidence of his decadence. It’s such a great image of how our nature works, and can be applied theologically. We are so in want of this knowledge, because it would allow us the freedom to satisfy our earthly and carnal longings, free from the threat of judgment and punishment. In fact, we so strongly desire that, that we begin to search for whatever teacher will commit to a day or time that the Day of the Lord will come, that we can “enjoy” ourselves free from fear. In our own pride and selfish ambition, we completely ignore Jesus’ warning that “none shall know the day or hour.” We see that statement as a challenge to be overcome, not a truth to be remembered, nor a warning to be heeded. And to what end do we do that? To the end that we will know, based on this prediction, exactly when to begin walking in obedience with the Lord. That we can cry out, “Jesus is coming back Friday, so enjoy life, eat drink and be merry, and Thursday we can repent.”

Paul is rebuking this very ideology, here. “You yourselves know that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” A thief would come unannounced. A thief would watch and see the exact moment that would be the easiest for him, when the owner was the least likely to be able to defend himself. He would come while the landowner was at work, or intoxicated, or even simply sleeping. It would be in a moment when he would have no ability to raise up a defense, but rather have to rely on the defenses he already has in place. Just as, implies the apostle, the Day of the Lord would not come according to our schedule. The Day of the Lord would never happen on Easter Sunday, when the most people are most prepared for His coming. It would come on a Friday while you’re at the bar, or a Monday when you are caught in the midst of your workday. The Lord won’t wait until we have swept and mopped our souls and cleansed it of the filth of iniquity. See, if we assign the date 9-12-2020 to the date of the second coming, then we have a date to have our cleaning party and can live to suit our own passions until that date. We can live at ease, complacent in our Bible studies and sermon/lectures, while not actually doing any of the work of the kingdom until the beginning of that September. We can proclaim “‘peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:14).

Paul warns so strongly against this very mentality here though. “You are all sons of light and the day,” says the blessed apostle, “we are not of the night or of darkness.” John, in his epistle, explains that statement, teaching us that “if we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” (1 John 1:6). Ben Sirach admonishes us, “His eyes are upon those who fear Him, and He Himself knows the deed of every man. He has commanded no one to be ungodly, and He has given no one license to sin.” (Sirach 15:19-20). Paul’s warning here is that we will not know when the Lord is coming, thus we must always walk in the light, that is to say, in Jesus’ steps. In obedience to the Father, as Jesus did. In the gospel of John, Jesus tells us that “I have come down from heaven not to do My will, but the will of Him who Me.” (John 6:38). To walk in holiness, in purity, grace, compassion, patience, love. Paul admonishes us to keep watch and be sober. The word watch here is the word “gregorio,” which translates “to give strict attention to,” and the word sober is “nepho,” which means “sober, calm, collected, self-controlled.” His warning to walk in the light means to walk as Jesus walked, while being very attentive to the will of the Father, all the while bringing both our minds and bodies into submission, under our full control.

We must always be mindful that in determining dates, our natures will lead us to walk in the night. The sense of urgency will vanish and we will begin excusing various behaviors as being “not that bad.” I think of all of the people that I’ve ever met who are counting on that “deathbed confessional” as their plan for salvation, as though like the thief upon the cross, they will know the exact moment that they are about to die, and repent then without missing any of the “fun” of being in the world. We begin excusing those behaviors and then, like the “slippery slope” that so many argue against politically, we approach it with our skies waxed theologically. We allow the enemy to get his foothold and our sin begins to grow, to multiply. We begin with delayed obedience, which ultimately turns to disobedience, no longer feeling the weight of gluttony in our stomaches because we become accustomed to it. Our small sins and allowances soon become our habits, part of our daily routine, and then the next set of “small sins” that we determine “aren’t that bad” begin to creep in, and suddenly our “small sins” are twice removed from the Lord. Covetousness excused becomes the norm and avarice becomes the “exception,” as a result. Greed becomes our new “small sin” once we’ve allowed envy to grow from the “small sin exception” to the normative behavior.

Paul tells us to put on the breastplate of faith and of love. The breastplate was like a wall, protecting the heart of a soldier from his enemies. So too, with Christ’s soldiers, the breastplate protects the hearts of His children from the enemy; keeping out the attacks and temptations of the world and the enemy. Remain steadfast in faith and it will protect you from the “lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8). He calls us to surround our hearts with the faith and love of Christ, that the enemies darts may not pierce into our souls. Nothing that the enemy can use as a weapon against us can penetrate a heart that is fully filled with the love of Christ. Greed, anger, hatred, envy, anger; nothing that is in this world can penetrate through the true love of Christ within us. The helmet of the hope of salvation guards our thoughts. When we consider the blessed salvation, the kingdom of God, then the desires and temptations of the world will pale in comparison. We will truly be able to heed the words of the blessed apostle, “cast down arguments and every high thing which sets itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5), knowing that “it is not Christ’s desire that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9).

My beloved brethern, we must always be forewarned. There are many teachers out there who would attempt to do anything in their power to lead us away from the truths of the Scripture and of the faith. They will do whatever they can to distract us. Remember, Satan tempted Eve by causing her to question the words of the Lord rather than taking them for what they were. The Lord told her, “if you eat this, you will die,” and Satan tempted her with “did He really say, no surely that’s not what He meant. You won’t die…He meant that you will no longer be as you are, but will be like Him.” And so often, I hear that very message. “But, did He really mean that? Let’s look at this instead.” He tempted Jesus in the desert by quoting the psalms, removing only one sentence to change the meaning of the psalm. How often, as I think of the books removed from Scripture and the different translations with with different wordings, do we see that as well? Do a translation comparison of Romans 8:1 and pay close attention to the second clause of the verse which is removed from most modern translations; it seems to be an important clause that COMPLETELY changes the meaning of everyone’s favorite coffee mug. No, we must be very careful, for a slight change of wording, a deleted word or two, a minor twist in doctrine, and we can very easily be led astray, especially in an era where we consider our own personal interpretation of a passage to be the ultimate authority. And, relating to this passage, it’s so easy for us to become distracted by something such as “end-times” prophecies. We find a teacher that teaches something that seems to make sense and suddenly become so distracted by that that we forget the commands surrounding the day of the Lord. Whether the Lord returns tomorrow or in a thousand years, His command is the same, to walk in the light, to attain to holiness, to be formed further into His image, to be obedient to the Father and to “love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and might” (Deuteronomy 6:5) and to “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18). Never let anything distract you from these commands.

May the grace of the Lord be with you, my beloved family.

Study on 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18

Paul here continues to provide comfort for the believers for their brothers and sisters. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so will God bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.” He is reminding them that if we believe, if we truly believe, in the resurrection, then so too should we believe that God will raise up our mothers and sisters, fathers and brothers, children; and if so then there be no cause for despondency, no season for sorrow. This is such a powerful lesson for all we who are in Christ. Death, having lost it’s sting, truly has no power over us, thus our rejoicing in those who have departed being reconciled to the Lord should outshine the sorrow of their repose. When we truly believe and walk with the Lord, then our putting off of the flesh becomes the greatest cause for celebration, not remorse.

“We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means preceed those who are asleep.” In his letter to the Philippians, Paul writes, “I am pressed between the two, for to depart and be with Christ is far better, yet to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.” (Philippians 1:24-25). It is important to notice that Paul refers to putting off this bodily flesh as the preference between continuing in the world and going to sleep in the Lord, however, it is as the Lord wills. When we take control of that situation ourselves, then we overstep the very faith by which we are allowed entrance into the kingdom. And, until He determines that He shall call us home, we remain here for His purposes. See, it’s this idea that life here isn’t about sating your desires, chasing your dreams, fulfilling your goals, but rather walking with the Lord, doing His work. Paul tells us in Ephesians that we are “God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” (Ephesians 2:10). So long as we remain here, we labor for the faith and for one another; and when the Lord wills, He removes us from that toil and gives us peace and rest. See, when we think of death as a punishment, as the worst thing that could happen to us, as death; then we are not trusting fully in the promises of the Lord, the promises of the kingdom to come. Whereas, when we fully trust in those promises, then we have no need to feel sorrow for those who have moved on, but rather jubilation, knowing that they are in the kingdom, in the presence of our beloved Christ.

“For the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God.” This is a powerful image that the Holy Spirit gives us through the apostle Paul. I think of the prophets of the Old Testament, of Isaiah standing before the very throne of God. I think of the countless invisible soldiers rallied around Elisha that were unseen to his servant until he prayed unto the Lord (2 Kings 6). Paul declares that on the day of the Lord, Jesus will descend from the heavens, as an angel, with the trumpet of God. In the books of Revelation, we read about the trumpets of the Lord, and with the sounding of the last trumpet the Judge descends. “And the dead in Christ will rise first.” See, all who walk upon the earth shall be a part of the judgment to come, but only those who are dead in Christ shall share in His glory. The dead in Christ shall be raised up to His glory, and then the remaining shall be raised up to His judgment. To those in His glory, He shall say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:23) and to those not in Christ, He shall say, “depart from Me, I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23). And then shall come to be called those who are alive and remain, and again, those in Christ shall partake of His glory, and those who are not shall face His judgment. And all who are in Christ shall be with the Lord.

And that is our hope, that is our faith, my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. There is no cause for sorrow for the departed, explains the disciple, for all who are in Christ Jesus shall be reconciled to our Lord. And, though we may grieve temporarily for the loss of the presence of another in our lives, we must never let that despondency overtake us, knowing that our beloved are with our Lord, and that we also shall one day join them in the heavenly kingdom. Death has no power over those who are in Christ, for Christ Himself has defeated death. No, His promise is that all who are in Him shall have eternal life. His promise is that those in Christ shall be reconciled to the Father and dwell for all eternity in the heavenly kingdom. And, what greater hope could there be than that?

May the grace of the Lord be with you, my beloved family.

Studies on 1 Thessalonians 4:13

Paul here begins to address a question which I think all of us need to address ourselves. He begins to address the topic of hope. And it’s important to me to note this. See, as we read this letter, and all of Scripture, it’s so easy to dig deeper and deeper and discover all of these hidden theological doctrines, some of which even the humble apostle may blush at, since we may find things contained within that he didn’t even put there. But, as we do that, we tend to lose sight of a very important element, the humanity involved. See, Jesus didn’t tell us that “by your doctrine, they will know that you are My disciples,” but rather, “by your love.” And, that’s an important point to mention because of one of the current trends in our culture. Whenever I discuss theology, there’s an old adage that I like to quote. “Can’t see the forest for the trees.” Well, so often in our studies of Scripture, we skip the forest, bypass the trees, ignore the branches and go straight to the leaves; theological magnifying glass, protractor, and calculator in hand, devising formulas and equations that can discover the “X” where “X” is the answer to all of the hidden mysteries of God. We pridefully elevate our intellect to the level that we have determined to be equal with the divine and immediately determine that with the increase of knowledge comes spiritual maturity. And the deeper we dig, the more mature we feel we have become. We so often forget Paul’s admonishment that “knowledge puffs up” (1 Corinthians 8:1) or Jesus’ very lesson that “unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3). Remember that Jesus revealed Himself to the shepherds, not to the theologians or the priests or the Scribes, but rather to those who would accept with wonder, as little children, the miracle that He was. Silouan the Athonite teaches us that “no matter how much we study, it is not possible to know God unless we live according to His commandments, for God is not known by science, but by the Holy Spirit. Many philosophers and learned men came to the belief that God exists, but they did not know Him. It is one thing to know that God exists, and another to know God.”

See, when we read this letter to the Church in Thessalonica, it’s easy for us to forget that it is a real letter written to real people. It is a letter that was written to a body of believers who were under relentless persecution. And Paul here turns his sights to the despondency that would soon follow. We have to remember how tight knit of a community that the Church was (and still is called to be). This wasn’t just the people that you went and visited with for an hour a week in a building, these disciples were family. In Acts, we read that “all who believed had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, they ate their food with gladness…praising God and having favor with all the people.” (Acts 2:44-47). Now, bearing that in mind, don’t think of these persecutions as afflicting those whom you see an hour a week, whose names you may know if they’ve been in the same congregation for a year or so. Think in terms of those you hold dear; your best friends, your families. Remember, a lot of these people lost their families because of their faith, so the Church became their family. The man next to them became their brother, the elder woman became their mother, the children became their children. So, imagine your best man being executed for his religious beliefs. Imagine your daughter being stoned to death before your eyes for refusing to renounce the name of Jesus. Think about sitting to break bread with the rest of your family and gazing around at the empty chairs at the table, where you can still see the smiles on the faces of those who are no longer there to enjoy those meals with you. This is what Paul is addressing here. How easy it is to think those thoughts and to drift into despondency, into sorrow.

And, what does he say in response to that? “Are you so without understanding that you are enchained to this sadness as those who have no hope?” Notice, even his wording in the verse is carefully planned. He refers to those who have “fallen asleep” rather than “passed away” or “died.” It is because for those of us in Christ, death itself has no power, it holds no fear, no dominion over us. That is the very hope of the resurrection. The very hope of our faith. But, when we afflict ourselves with that sorrow, we are no longer acting as those who truly believe that, but rather as those who do not believe. If we truly believe in what we claim, then a loved one falling asleep in the Lord would not be the cause for lamentation, but rather for celebration.

See, when we are overcome with grief for someone, it is for one of three reasons. Either it is prideful selfishness, we mourn for the loss of their contribution in our lives; it is guilt, there are things that we wished we had said or done but never managed to find the “right time” to say or do them; or it is unbelief, we claim these beliefs, and may even intellectually ascent to the knowledge of them, but we’ve never taken the time to make them “real” to us. And more often than not, it’s the latter of the three that is the cause of it. When we read Scripture, we’ve taken this textbook approach, with all of these problem solving riddles contained therein, and the people in it become our examples. We lose the sense of humanity when we read about the lives of the saints in the Holy Scriptures, and because of that, we lose the very reverence that is required to make it real. I’ve been in services where the Scriptures are treated as holy and sacred, and then I’ve been in services where it felt more like “okay, open your God book, take out your pens, and let’s get to work.” We need to approach the Scripture for what it really and truly is, it is the very words of our God given to us to learn and know about Him. When we read Scripture, do we think of it that way? When we try to squeeze our daily reading plan into our lunch break, are we truly showing the reverence that we would if we, like Isaiah, were so blessed as to stand before Him and He speak to us? Or do we think of it as just another book to read?

See, I just can’t help but feel that until we are able to return to this idea of, the Bible isn’t just a book, there’s shouldn’t be a “top Bibles of 2017” list. Until we can get away from that idea and remember what the Bible truly is, then nothing in it is going to be “real” to us. And until we can do that, then we aren’t going o be able to fully believe all of it on the level that we are called to. We’ll sit around and argue different hypotheses about what angle what author was writing from and what metaphor equals what spiritual lesson, but we’re never going to be able to fully apply it to our lives. We can mentally imagine what it would look like, but we’ll never be able to fully allow ourselves to live it. When someone falls asleep in the Lord, it’s easy to say that we would react a certain way, but to actually do it is something that can only happen when we accept that the words of Scripture are fully true.

Too often in our lives, we elevate our loved ones to the level of being our security in this life. We feel safe and comfortable with them, rather than in God alone. And ultimately, when those people are taken from us, we end up rejecting God or cursing Him. We can’t understand why “God would allow something so horrible to happen,” as though death were the worst thing that could happen to us. When we look into the Scriptures, we see in Job the response that the Lord cherishes. Having just heard the news that his children had fallen asleep, we read of him that “he fell to the ground and worshiped, saying…’the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. As it seemed good to the Lord, so also it came to pass. Blessed be the name of the Lord.'” (Job 1:20-21). The Lord was pleased with Job’s reaction, because rather than cursing the Lord for taking away the gift of children that the Lord had given him, Job thanked the Lord for the time that he had with them.

When I think about our faith in these times, I think of the gospel. In the gospel, we read of a man who was told that his daughter had died. And we read that “when Jesus heard it, He said, ‘Do not be afraid, only believe and she will be made well…now all wept and mourned for her, but He said, ‘do not weep, she is not dead, but sleeping.” (Luke 8:50,52). We must also remember this when those whom we hold dear fall asleep in the Lord, that death has no dominion over we who are in Christ, and those who have departed have not “died,” but are merely sleeping. They are sleeping and in the arms of our beloved Lord, comforted beyond anything that we could ever imagine. See, in the resurrection lies our very hope, our very faith. We must, as Paul tells the Thessalonians, not react to these things as do those who do not believe, unless we ourselves do not truly believe.

Our hearts will lead us astray if we allow them to. They will lead us into despondency, into sorrow, into depression, into the depths of human depravity if we allow it. When the world tells us to “follow our hearts,” it is because that is the world’s response to anything, which therefore makes it not ours. That is why the apostle warns us to “bring every thought captive into the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Because, unless we are living according to the commandments of Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, then we are living according to the flesh and the laws of sin. Yes, our hope does lie in the leaves of Scripture, and the branches, the trees and the forests. In fact, all of creation declares the glory of our Beloved Lord, and we must learn to accept all of it and take all of it in. We can never be so busy gleaning from the branches that we neglect the whole of the forest. We must study Scripture to find all of the doctrines that it contains, but we must never become so lost in those leaves that we forget the forest, the overall message. So many of the lessons that we need to learn from Scripture are hidden from us in plain sight, and, in our own foolish wisdom, we become so knowledgeable that we become ignorant. We look so deeply that we become blind.

And ultimately, we must test ourselves. In prayer and meditation, looking into Scripture and unto the Church, and we must find; do we truly believe? Do we truly believe in everything that the Scriptures teach us? The answer to that question will alter our faith, our reactions to circumstances, our behaviors towards others, our very lives. If we believe that hell is real, and that it is as it is described in Scripture, then why would we not do everything to get people to turn away from it? If we truly believe that the Lord will provide, then why do we cling to so many material things? If we know that the resurrection is true, then why are we so quick to mourn those who are no longer amongst us in this life? If we truly believe that God loves us, then why are we so quick to deny and fight against His commandments? Is our faith real, do our beliefs rule our lives? Or do we just mentally acknowledge those beliefs and go about our day?

May the grace of the Lord be with you, my beloved family.

 

“When the light in most people’s faces comes from the glow of the laptop, the smartphone, or the television, we are living in a dark age. They are missing that fundamental light meant to shine forth in a human person through social interaction. Love can only come from that. Without real contact with other human persons, there is no love. We’ve never seen a Dark Age like this one.”

Father Martin Bernhard

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

Paul, having just admonished the believers on the need for holiness, goes on to discuss the importance of their continuing in love. It’s interesting to notice that, being so highly commanded of a thing, he seems to almost completely gloss over the topic here. “concerning love, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God.” Aren’t we taught by God all things? Didn’t the Lord write His law on our hearts? Of course He did, thus, it should be a given that Paul need not instruct in anything, otherwise you’d think he’d instruct in everything. And yet, in a great twist of irony, in not teaching about it, he teaches it to be of the utmost importance. See, so many may question morality and holiness as being doctrines to which we must cling, thereby creating the need for Paul to constantly admonish us to it. Peter tells us that many were already twisting the words of Paul’s letters, creating this lawless, “love and grace only” theology. He writes that “the patience of our Lord is salvation, as our beloved Paul has written to you…which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction…beware least you fall from your own steadfastness, being led away in the error of the wicked.” (2 Peter 3:15-17). This almost in defense of Paul’s letter to the Romans, which stated that “the goodness of God leads you to repentance.” (Romans 2:4). See, it’s this idea that the Lord is infinitely patient with us, but not that we can continue in our sin, but rather that His grace wil lead us to true repentance. Paul felt the need to detail the command for holiness, for sanctification, solely because so many were teaching that it wasn’t necessary unto salvation. There was so much false teaching that because of grace, holiness was no longer demanded, that demanding holiness would mean that grace was no longer grace, because if you demand something then grace is no longer a gift. Thus, he felt the need to explain that holiness was a demand of the Lord, that grace is the gift, and that in receiving it, we agree to live a life of holiness. Noah was told by God that he could be saved, the gift, but he had to build the ark and get on it still. He had been given the opportunity to salvation, but he had to receive that gift as well.

Paul, however, recognized that no one would question the demand to love one another. Jesus taught that “by this all will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another.” (John 13:35). See, the very apologetic that Jesus gave His followers was their love for one another, it was so foundational to the faith. See, in kindergarten, we learn how to count. In first grade, we learn basic addition and subtraction. By the time we get to high school, however, those lessons need no longer be taught. No algebra teacher need teach their students that 1+1=2. It’s sort of a given that those students have matured beyond the need for those elementary teachings. In the book of Hebrews, we read “leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection…” (Hebrews 6:1). Love, repentance, faith…by the time of the epistles, those things were considered to be so foundational to the faith that the apostles no longer wanted to write about them, but rather to “go on to perfection,” to become fully mature in our faith instead of rehashing the kindergarten lessons that had already been established. In glossing over those topics, it wasn’t to say that they were no longer necessary, but rather that they were just assumed to have known about them. As Paul effectively states here, “you’re mature enough to understand the need for this foundation of love, now let me explain to you how to mature in your faith beyond these basic principles.”

He goes on to exhort them to increase more and more. This is a principle that is vital to all of us in our walk. We can never grow complacent in our faith, lest we be tempted to pull away, to slide back from the faith in the world. The moment we let our guard down, the enemy will strike us. See, the very moment that you say that you are far enough along, then you will cease to grow. Complaceny is the enemy of progress. When you feel you have given enough, then greed will rear it’s head, causing you to stumble. The moment you feel that your relationships with people are good enough and that you love enough, someone will sin against you and you will stumble. The moment you feel as though you are humble enough, you’ve already given in to pride. Complacency is the weapon that your “self” uses to get you to focus on you, rather than focusing on the Lord. The moment you feel that you’ve fasted enoguh and “deserve a break,” you’ve already fallen, because you’ve already surrendered to the flesh. If the Church says fast for 40 days, after 3 you will hear a voice saying “you’ve done enough,” and that voice is the voice of your deceitful heart trying to lead you astray…trying to convince you that you’re holy enough and need not focus on growing more.

“To be quiet and mind your own business,” Paul goes on to write. To live peaceably in the world, as foreigners in a strange land. Peter admonishes us “having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works, glorify God.” (1 Peter 2:12). It’s this idea that when you live according to the gospel, you don’t cause trouble. You will be branded a “troublemaker,” when you live in accordance to the commandments of the Lord, because His ways and the ways of the world aren’t compatible. However, when we obey the Lord and are persecuted for His commands, then He is glorified; when we actually break the law and cause trouble though, He isn’t. We don’t protest funerals, or clinics, we focus instead on our own holiness and that of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Peter goes on to say that the Gentiles will speak evilly of us when we don’t join them in their decadence, and that because they don’t understand. How can we live a joyful life while constantly denying ourselves these sinful indulgences? See, when they accuse us of evil and it comes to light that our “evil” deeds are merely living by the moral compass given us in Scripture, the world will place itself on trial instead. When we participate in wickedness, though, when we give them cause for those trials, then we stand accused before the world of being like the world. When we protest and cause strife and turmoil, then we are behaving exactly like the world does. When we speak out agains tand condemn the world for behaving like the world, when we viciously attack unbelievers, then we bring no glory to the Lord, because we are chasing our own pride instead of the salvation of the world. No one was ever brought to the faith by losing an argument, but many have been turned away from the faith because of the hateful words of “believers.”

Paul ends this exhortation by telling them to make sure that they work, “that you may walk properly towards those outside and lack nothing.” See, the glory of the Lord is not displayed when we, in our slothfulness, are unable to provide for ourselves and thus rely on others for our needs. It is much more a mark of our love for our neighbors when we can give to them that need than it is when we tell them what we need. And that not necessarily in financial wealth and means, lest those who are less well off would be granted amnesty from this demand. Perhaps you don’t have the money that you can give to your neighbor, perhaps you have a lawn mower though and could cut their grass one day. More loving than sliding a twenty dollar bill under the door of your neighbor is to invite them over for a home cooked dinner, or even just preparing one and taking it over to them. There are so many acts of charity that can be performed that show love more than merely giving someone cash. Seeing a homeless person, we can give them money to aid, or we can offer them a warm place to sleep one night and a meal to accompany it. We work hard not only to provide for ourselves, but so that we can provide for others in need. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes, “let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him work with his hands that he might be able to give to the one who has need.” (Ephesians 4:28). See, it’s the idea that when we repent, when we walk with the Lord, we don’t do it for our own salvation, but that we might be able to display the love of the Lord, to do His work, for others as well. The Lord tells us that He gives us the power to be free from our sins so that we might be a light to guide others to Him.

It’s very easy for us to become these great “social warriors,” attacking the world and it’s incessant immorality. To throw insults and threats, cursing the world for living like the world. But, the world is always going to stray from the law of God, simply because, it’s the world. Our goal as the Church is not the holiness of the world, it’s the holiness of the Church. We don’t glorify God through our ability to out think atheists and get the stinging last word in theological or political debate, we glorify God through our good deeds and love, even in the face of persecution. There’s a great story of a monk who was in his home and a group of thieves came in and robbed him. Once they left, he realized that they had left a little bag of money. He picked it up an ran after them, crying, “children, you forgot something.” The thieves were amazed, and not only didn’t take the bag, but returned everything they had stolen. “Truly,” they said, “this is a man of God.” See, only a man who is rich in God can be so free from attachment to possessions or money, those very things which have enslaved humanity.

In our culture, we tend to get everyhting backwards. We forgive sin in the church, after all, “we’re not perfect, just forgiven,” and then condemn the world. Paul tells us it’s supposed to be the other way around. “I wrote to you not to keep company with the sexually immoral…I didn’t mean those sexually immoral in the world, otherwise you’d have to go out of the world….I have written to you not to keep company with anyone who bears the name brother who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a drunkard, or reviler…for what have I to do with judging those outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?” (1 Corinthians 5:9-12). See, when we judge those outside the church, but allow sin inside the church, what the world sees are malicious hypocrites. However, when we keep the church pure and help the world in spite of their sin, the world sees the love of Christ displayed. We become “partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:4) when we are able to stretch out compassionate, loving arms to a sinful world while having “escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” The only way to truly glorify the Lord, to imitate Him, is to keep ourselves unstained from the world and yet still be willing to be charitable to it in spite of it’s sinful state, in spite of those flaws. Much the same way as the Lord accepted us regardless of how lost in sin we were. And that must be our goal as a Church. Holiness and sanctification within the Church compassionately reaching out loving arms to help a world lost in darkness. Our judgments and rebukes should serve to strengthen the purity of the Church, that the goodness and holiness of our Beloved Lord may be displayed through the lives of the brethern, His “ambassadors” and letter to the world. We must seek to show the love of Christ, remembering that the heart of a man may say to pray for the victims of a terrorist attack, but the heart of Jesus says to pray for the terrorists themselves. To love those who love us is of no reward, but to truly love our enemies is to truly display the love of Christ to the world.

May the grace of the Lord be with you, my beloved family.

 

Study on 1 Thessalonians 4:3b-6

Paul always seems to follow a similar pattern in his writing, and the more I’ve studied the more, not only the pattern itself, but the rationale behind it, becomes evident. The Holy Spirit has opened my eyes, to this pattern. See, what I’ve come to learn is that Paul knew people. It sounds kind of redundant to say, but Paul knew people well enough to recognize something about us that many of us don’t realize about ourselves, and that’s an important point in this passage especially. Paul writes the phrase, “this is the will of God for your life, your sanctification,” and everything inside of us wishes that he would stop there. It’s this really abstract idea, leaving it open to all sorts of interpretation. It frees us much more to speculate on “what is sanctification?”. See, it’s this idea that we apply all of the moral relativism that we complain about so strongly into our theology, creating this sort of theological relativism, with which we hear “do good” and question what is good, or hear “love your neighbor,” and joining with the lawyer questioning, “who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29).

See, Paul’s pattern throughout his epistles is to teach doctrine, teach tradition, give the commandments of the Lord, and then illustrate what those things each look like in the life of a believer. And that is exactly what he does in this passage. In beautiful, elegant simplicity, he explains, much to the chagrin of the believers and even moreso to ours, what is meant by the statement, “this is God’s will, your sanctification.” He leaves no room for interpretation, neither speculation, but rather directly states what he is implying with the previous statement.

“Abstain from all fornication…” he begins this exhortation with. I love the simplicity of this statement, because rather than attempting to list every form of sexual immorality (as the NKJV translates it), he uses one general, all-encompassing term to sort of umbrella over all forms. The word translated “fornication,” or “sexual immorality,” is the term “porneia,” which literally covers any form of sexual activity which is not limited to a man and a woman sharing their marriage bed. I love that he uses such a broad statement, as then there is no room for any to argue that “he didn’t name this specific activity by name, so he must not have meant that one.” Any form of sexual intimacy between two people other than a husband and wife in their marriage bed is included, thus forbidden for the believers.

He goes on to say “that each of you possess your own vessel in sanctificaiton and honor.” This idea of a vessel speaks to the whole of a human being. In his letter to the Corinthians, he teaches that “we have these treasures in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:7) and in his letter to Timothy he admonishes us that “if anyone cleanses himself…he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful to the master, prepared for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2:21). It’s this idea that if we “cleanse ourselves,” keeping ourselves “unstained from the world” (James 1:27), then we will be “useful” to the Master, implying that we are useless to Him if we are not. To “possess” this vessel means to be in control of it, to bring it into submission, which is impossible apart from the Holy Spirit, who promises to guide us and convict us of our sin if we willingly submit to Him. See, too often, we think that nothing is required of us because of the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit; no work, no effort. And yet, in Scripture, that’s not the image we see at all. We see the nation of Israel being brought to the promised land, which is to be given to them as a gift, they need only to go and claim it. We see the apostles beseeching the Church to pray for them to speak the gospel with boldness, but in order for the Spirit to offer them the boldness, they must be willing to speak. The boldness is the gift of the Spirit, the speaking of the gospel is the conscious decision that the disciples make. All throughout, it’s the gift of the Spirit to the believers willing to do the work. And that’s the allusion that Paul is giving us here, it’s this vessel that we dwell in while we are on the earth, this flesh, but we must be willing to put in the effort to take control of it, to bring it into submission and possess it in purity, in chastity, in self-control. There are two powers at work in the world, there is God and there is Satan, and when we are the children of God, when we are “walking in the Spirit,” then when are under God’s control. But, when we are walking in the flesh, then we are under Satan’s control. We become children of sin when we allow our body to rule over us. I find, in my life, that the more time I spend in fasting and prayer, the easier it is to forsake the sins which once had total dominion over my life. However, during those periods of gluttony and avarice, I find it so much easier to fall back into those sins, because I have alllowed my body to take control and bring me into submission instead of the other way around.

“Not in the passions of the lusts” Paul writes. He admonishes us to turn away from these “passions of the lusts, which the Gentiles seek after.” Consider that for a moment. See, it’s so easy to read that and think that he is referring exclusively to sexual lust, but contemplate all of the things that the world lusts after. Luxury, gluttony, acceptance, idleness; all of these things are objects which can easily lead us into sin. James teaches us that the cause of the warring amongst ourselves is that we want, and do not have. We covet something that someone else has because we are prideful and consider it “unfair” that they have that which we want, thus we become angry that we do not have it. (James 4:1-2). Better, says Paul, to remove yourself completely from those desires than to constantly war against the temptation to pride, to avarice, to murder. And, how do we do that? We bring our bodies into submission. We bring our very flesh into submission through denying it the very pleasures that it tells us that we must have. Rather than seeking to remove the “thorn in our side,” we accept that it will be there and focus on the Lord, acknowledging that He allowed us to have it to keep us humble before Him.

He concludes this exhortation by stating that we should never take advantage of, or defraud one another in such a way, for the Lord Himself is the avenger of such people. Jesus tells us that to grow angry with someone, to hate them, is to commit murder in our hearts. Jesus tells us that to gaze upon a person with lust is to commit adultery with them in our hearts. He alone knows the intention of our hearts, and will judge us based on that, not necessarily our physical actions. Thus, when we covet something that belongs to someone; whether it be riches, husband/wife, relationships, etc, then we have become a thief in our heart. When I see someone’s car and covet it, wishing that I had it rather than them, then I have stolen it from them in my heart, and thus am guilty of the sin of theft. And Paul tells us that the victims of our crimes have the Lord Himself as their avenger. Consider again for a moment that this letter is being written to the church whose faith, whose belief, whose perseverance is spoken of and praised throughout the land, and yet, he still offers them the warning of judgment should they cease from their sanctification. This is huge considering the current feeling in our culture that we can do whatever we want and the Lord will never punish nor judge anyone. Peter tells us that not only is He willing to judge, but that He is “ready to judge both the living and the dead.” (1 Peter 4:5) and that “judgment begins with the house of God.” (1 Peter 4:17).

We must be very careful about the influence of our generation on our faith. Terms like “self-denial” are immediately shunned. Take something like fasting. Fasting is an expectation throughout all of Scripture. Jesus, when speaking to the disciples, says “When you fast…” (Matthew 6:16). Notice, He doesn’t say “if you fast…” or “should you fast…” but rather WHEN you fast. He teaches us to “deny yourself.” Now, I want you to understand, none of these things are given to detract from grace. Many Eastern religions fast without being in the faith, and the act itself will never allow entrance into heaven. But, Scripture offers it as a tool to aid in our sanctification, to help bring the flesh into submission, to help us to grow in holiness.

When we consider our holiness, our sanctification, we must remember what it truly is, and perhaps that will help us to keep things in perspective. It is our daily putting to death the “old man.” It is a daily struggle to fight against the flesh, to fight against who we were before we were in Christ. It’s never going to be easy, everything within us and without us will be fighting against it, because it’s walking away from the infulences of the world over our lives. And the world, our own hearts, and Satan himself will use whatever means and whatever tricks they can to convince us that it is not necessary, that it is “wrong.” And there will be pain and suffering associated with it. Peter tells us that “whoever suffers in the flesh has ceased from sin.” (1 Peter 4:1). Much as a child submitting to his parents, oftentimes we will have to stand up and fight against our own flesh to grow in the Spirit. As the Baptist said, “I must decrease, the He may increase.”

We must always be mindful not to seek the things of the world. It’s been so oft repeated that we often forget the meaning behind it, or the struggle that doing such will truly be. We must be mindful not to seek the things of the world, with the goals fo the world, using the ways of the world. We are but sojourners here, visitors, temporary guests, but it becomes so easy for us to seek to make this our home. And even more, the world will try to do the same thing. It will offer us endles temporary pleasures, but ultimately, at what cost? That’s why the Lord admonishes us not to lay up treasures for ourselves here, because wherever we lay our treasure is where our heart will be. And if Christ is our treasure, then our heart will be with Him. But, if we allow our treasure to be things of gold or silver, cars, houses, bank accounts, then our heart will remain here and our goal will be to seek those things, not “the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

Most importantly, there is a war that we wage everyday, a war that the apostle Paul wrote of. He writes of this “law of sin within his members warring against his will to obey God.” We must choose a side, for “that which is born of flesh is of the flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is of the Spirit.” (John 3:6) and “as many as are led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God.” (Romans 8:14). We must choose for ourselves this day, will we walk in the flesh, or in the Spirit. If the Spirit, then we must constantly wage war on the flesh, to bring it into submission. Disciplines like fasting were given to us for that very purpose, to bring the desires of the flesh into submission that we might “keep our minds on things that are above, not on the things of the earth.” (Colossians 3:2).

Our sanctification, our personal holiness, will never be easy. If it were, then it couldn’t be true holiness, for holiness is accomplished only through our reliance on the Lord, and if we were able to acquire it in our own strength, then it would not be holiness. It is not the means through which we are allowed entrance into the kingdom, but rather the fruit of the faith that shall. To walk in faith, to walk in the Spirit, means putting to death the things of the flesh, and that can only be done through constant reliance on the Spirit. No, our holiness will not be easy, but according to the Holy Scripture it is necessary to achieve the kingdom, and according to the apostle Paul, it is God’s will for our life. It will require a lifetime of spiritual discipline and studying the ways of God, a lifetime of submission to the Holy Traditions passed down through the generations, a lifetime of being true disciples.

May the grace of the Lord be with you all, my beloved family.