Good morning! What a beautiful weekend- hot but nice. And what a beautiful cool (almost chilly) morning. I have a flannel shirt on its so cold up here!
Many of you commented about the unsettling words from Paul in the last chapter. The Man of Evil is something to be cognizant of, but if we have faith and hope in Christ, we shouldn't need to worry. What about helping others know the Man of Evil? Another common theme was the pervasiveness of evil in our world. Why does it seem people are more attracted to evil than to good? Or do we just think that? Does evil have more charisma than good? How can we alter that?
This last chapter is a request for prayer and guidance for church life.
Paul consistently asks for prayer from his people. We have talked many times about the power of prayer, and the fact that Paul asks for it means that he too understands the power of prayer. The success of Paul's ministries, and our ministries, are dependent somewhat on the prayers of God's people. Paul's request is that the word of God can spread quickly and be unhindered. How quickly does God's message spread today? Is the message of God still hindered? Paul has a concern for "stubborn and evil people" (v 2, NCV) preventing the spread of the Gospel. Are their still stubborn and evil people that prevent the word? Why are some people so resistant to God's words of grace and hope? Even if not all men have faith, God is still faithful (v 3) and will continue to protect us. God promised that God wold keep Satan "on a leash" (remember the story of Job?!); God will not allow Satan to have complete control of us (Luke 22:31-32). Paul closes this section with prayers of love and patience for the people of Thessalonica- two qualities of spiritual strength and stability.
Now for some strong commands from Paul on instructing the church in purity and strength. Not only a command from Paul, but with authority from Jesus (v 6)- so mighty strong words! Stay away from people that don't conform to the "church" standards of good living and being productive people; avoid persistently disorderly people. The idea here is not to punish the "disorderly" people, but to draw them away from the evil and toward the comfort and fellowship of Christians. Essentially, Paul is saying, if they want to be friends with you- they have to conform to your good ways. You already know how to be good people so they can learn from you (v 7). Does that seem to work? Are people attracted to you because of your goodness?
Paul continues with the example of "apostolic living" and that people should follow that example (vv 7-10). Work hard, don't be a burden to the people you visit, pitch in when you can, support yourself in an honest way. Some people that were against Paul and others said they were in it for their own gain; Paul fought this with doing work when he could to support his own mission. The idleness of some of the Thessalonians has gotten to the point of sin- interfering with others live's (being a busybody, v 11). We know those people- always worried about the person next door, but not caring about themselves. Gossiping and rumor starters. These busybodies that Paul refers to probably thought that Christ's return was coming tomorrow, so why work if we are just going to be caught up in the rapture! Stay active, stay healthy, pursue goodness. Don't grow weary doing good (v 13). You ever get that way? Get tired of doing good all the time? Paul says keep going! Keep doing good! Maybe that is what the words needs- for people to not get tired of doing good! Nothing makes you more weary than to see someone taking "advantage" of your goodness. My dad would always say, nobody can take advantage of you- you let them do it! Paul cautions about that and says to keep doing good work and care for those that need it- not the lazy ones! How does that relate to the culture of today?
Paul goes back to a statement he made earlier (v 6) and emphasizes again the need to not make enemies of the people that don't believe, but to attract them to you in different means (vv 14-15). Keep living your life in the hope of attracting them to you; keep doing what your doing in hopes of them joining you. The purpose of excommunication is not to punish indefinitely, but to bring them back after they have wandered and gone astray! How easy is that to do? Do we always trust people that come back to the church after they have wandered?
Paul closes this letter with blessings of peace (v 16)- very appropriate for the church experiencing persecution and threats to their lives. You can sense the genuine care for the people. Is that care evident in our world today?
A great ending to this short letter. Tomorrow we continue with Paul's letters, but the next one (1 and 2 Timothy) are written to an individual- so we will notice some differences. I will post an introduction to 1 and 2 Timothy later today.
Enjoy the day that we are blessed with.
Shalom+
Pastor Paul
What a beautiful weekend! Saturday was a celebration of life for one of my Aunts and Sunday as a family wedding shower at a nearby park that lasted most of the day! So great celebrating and being with family.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of questions about Chapter 2. Is the Man of Sin the same as the AntiChrist? In Vs. 10 Paul says that this Man of Sin will have "all deceivableness of unrighteousness" - I understand that - BUT - then in 11 Paul says "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." Who is God sending this delusion to? All of us? How hard will it be not to be swayed? It will be easy if the "person" says - I am against God and all Christian." - but I think he will be trickier then that! I hope, Jack, that I am a part of the rapture as well.
In Chapter 3 I am a little dismayed that Paul says - in both vs. 6 and vs. 14 that Christians should pull away from "those" people (as you say Pastor - smile). Is Paul talking about people who have heard the Good News and still not behaving correctly? Or anyone who is not behaving correctly? Since Jesus said to spread the Good News - how would we do that if we don't go to them? How do we draw them to us if we are not associating with them at all? Unfortunately, evil does have more charisma - and you ask "How can we alter that?" But how can we alter that if we aren't associating with the ones who are doing it?
Paul is a great example of always doing good - all of his life! It would be nice if we all "exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread." Busybodies hurt people.
Looking forward to Timothy! Have a great day everyone
That's a tough first question! The Antichrist is anyone against Christ. Some theologians would argue that Judas Iscariot was an Antichrist; some would argue people like Hitler would be considered Antichrist. I don't believe the Antichrist and Man of Evil are the same, as we have had Antichrists before. My interpretation of the texts you bring out are that this Man of Evil will be sent to try and sway/trick/lead away any non-faithful people. My interpretation is that this is a final way for God to test and find the truly faithful.
DeleteWhat Paul is trying to say is stay away from "them" so as to make them jealous so they come back to God. Use a reverse psychology type approach. If you really want someone to do something, make them believe they shouldn't do it- then they will. I interpret it as people who have heard the message and refuse- not those who haven't- as we have said before.
Hope that helps.
Thanks Donna
Cindy, Congratulations to you and your husband on your 40th wedding anniversary!
ReplyDeletePaul tells us not to be idle in our service to God That we should always be active in our service to Christ . this goes to say even in our daily lives in our daily tasks and how we are to others. I know when I visit someone I try to do things to help out as much as i can (nowadays things are a lot slower for me to do manual tasks to help out but I try to do what i can nevertheless. whether it's minding the children like reading or doing crafts etc. giving parents a break. I think this is what Paul is saying in this last chapter. aw usual he ends with a prayer as prayer is what leads us to where we should be with God.
Looking forward to reading Timothy next
You are correct in your interpretation of what Paul is saying. Help out people as much as we can. Imagine the world if people would do that more! Like I often say in worship- just be nice!
DeleteGood comment and thought Clara
The question are people attracted to you because of your goodness? I know especially as I have gotten older I have distanced myself from family and friends who are not kind and bring me down. Life is to short.
ReplyDeleteAs for people taking advantage and not doing there share I get it but there is also the population that struggles with mental illness. My husband and I have worked at a soup kitchen for many years. Yes I'm sure there are people who come in and are lazy and could get a job. There is also the group that have fallen on hard times and struggle with mental illness. We have seen that there is a large population of veterans that really need help.
Thank you so much for the good wishes for our anniversary. We had a very nice day and will celebrate with our children in June.
Cindy, I just wanted to let you know that we will make it 52 years in July, God willing. We took a trip to Hawaii for our fortieth as we didn't know what the next 10 years had in store and probably nothing good. However, good did happen and we were blessed with 2 granddaughters for our fiftieth and another one since then. This wasn't even on the horizon 10 years ago. So, as it turned out, we made a good move for our fortieth. We didn't plan it that way, but it has been wonderful.
DeleteGood point Cindy- life is too short to associate with those that bring you down. I sometimes feel as if they just suck the energy out of me!
DeleteYou make a good and valid point Cindy re: mental health. But those affected with mental health issues aren't taking advantage though. The system doesn't work and we need to fix that first, especially in this area! I think Paul is saying don't be taking advantage of the system. And we all know people that do that- those that are able to do their own, but don't. We do have many people that need help- and we should continue with that!
Great thoughts Cindy Thanks.
Ever since I read first Thessalonians vs. 11 where Paul says "Mind your own business" I have thought and thought about this. Now in second Thessalonians 3:11 he says that we shouldn't be busybodies. Again this refers to gossiping or minding other's people's business. Whether from idleness or another reason, for some reason this really resonates with me right now. Eleanor Roosevelt said "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people." I'm not sure I totally agree because sometimes we need to discuss people that we are concerned about or that we are proud of etc. I think she means that gossip can be very hurtful and mean and maybe we should spend more time minding our own business.
ReplyDeleteI find some of Paul's instructions overwhelming. I wonder if I was a person who had never been to church or never knew anything about God if I would be discouraged trying to be as good as Paul thinks we should. It is even a lot for a person striving to have a good faithful relationship with God.
My 4 yr old granddaughter saw my Bible sitting on a table last Friday. She asked if it was my "God-book". I told her it was. She asked why I read it. Now there is a hard question to answer for a 4 yr. old. I told her I like to read about God who care for us all. She said that she didn't need God because her mommy takes care of her. Hopefully this the beginning of a lot of conversations about God with her. May God bless her.
That's a great quote and I agree with what she said! It is the gossip part that Paul is more concerned about. True- we do need to "talk about" people at times, but not in a gossip way. Paul has made some good statements- don't be caught up in others business and don't be a busybody!
DeletePaul does set high standards and he does have an unusual pattern of speech/writing. I am sure there had to be a worship/church leader that was helping interpret Paul's writings- as we have them today too! I don't think the average person could understand and would be frustrated.
Interesting comment from your granddaughter about not needing God because she has a mommy that takes care of her! The conversations are starting!
Good points Cathy.
I have seen words to the effect: Idle hands are the devil's workshop. I believe this and I try not to be too idle. However, I must admit that since this move out here, I have been idle a lot more than I was in New York. I guess some of it is just laziness, but this move took a lot out of me and I hope and pray that I am starting to get some of it back. I have been watching far to much TV (mainly news shows) and this is going to stop. I am better off reading a book. I have also joined a fitness club and I know that this will help. I was working for money as well and I am not doing that as much, which I also hope to correct.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how to answer your question about trusting a person who has strayed from the church as I have done that in my life. I see the good in people and I hope people see goodness and trustworthiness in me.
I know about mental illness as I have suffered from major depression since around 1980. At times I felt physically ill and most of the time it took all of my energy away. I went through several psychologists and psychiatrists before I finally happened on one who gave me medicine that kept the symptoms away. In the meantime, I had been self medicating myself with beer. Once I finally realized that I had to give that up and I started taking medicine that helped, things got better. So yes, mental illness is a problem and I believe that it is an issue with the homeless and this pandemic has also exacerbated the situation. However, I am also a believer that a person will not or cannot recover until that person really wants to. It is counterproductive to continually lecture a person who is suffering from depression to attempt to make the person recover. The sufferer has to want to and this is where prayer, and not lecturing, can really be of help. There are many different types of mental illness as the brain is very complex and little understood, but, unless I am mistaken, depression is the most common.
It is hard to get back to being busy again once you haven't been for a while- but I'm sure you can do it Jack! Great for joining the health club!
ReplyDeleteThis past Sunday, we talked about the ebbs and flows of discipleship. Peter has been our focus the last few weeks, and we see him have high points and low points in his discipleship. We are just like that-- we have those high points and those low points. The goal is to have more positives in the balance sheet than negatives! People do see your value Jack!
This pandemic has definitely affected the mental health of many (all?) people! And you are right- the person has to want to change bad habits- but there needs to be services and people available to help. We are lacking those services and people here in the southern tier (and many other places). Mental health and mental care doesn't get the notice that it needs.
Thanks for sharing and your honesty Jack.