The Strength of God’s Home

Life in the church in Thessalonica had become anxiety-ridden. They were enduring persecution, so they never knew who to trust. Was that new member really a member or a spy? Would they, or their children, be victims of hate for their faith? And what was worse, the culture around them seemed to be in chaos. No one seemed to have any moral code anymore. Respect for the law seemed to be non-existent. 2 Thessalonians is a letter written to encourage the church members in Thessalonica as they are enduring affliction and persecution. NT Wright says that they were “like a small boat crossing a turbulent waterway the little ship of the church [was being] tossed to and fro.” Immorality was buffeting the church like hurricane-force winds. Lawlessness was swelling. They are threatened, and they are frightened. We don’t know what exactly was going on in Thessalonica from the letter, but we know the letter’s goal is to respond to the storm and to fortify them for what is to come.

Sound familiar? Fearful times? Concern about persecution, immorality, lawlessness?

The first time I took a group to cruise the Mediterranean and follow the footsteps of Paul, we went on a small ship. It only held 600 passengers at maximum capacity. And one night, we sailed through a storm and the sea was rough, so rough that the captain asked us to all remain in our cabins for the evening. “We are crossing right where Paul crossed,” he said, “at the same time of year,” he said, “when he was in the storm and shipwrecked on Malta.”

In every life, in every church, in every age there are times our boat travels through storms, and gets tossed to and fro, and is like a small boat in a turbulent waterway.

Here is what Paul says: First,you are brothers and sisters. You are in this boat together.

You are in this boat together because God came and ushered you onto the boat. You are a people gathered by God. God chose you, not the other way around. God took the initiative. And as a result of God’s work through the Spirit, you are now experiencing salvation and, at the same time, are yet to know the full reality of salvation.
NT Wright argues that if we only had these 4 verses, we would have a complete picture of Paul’s understanding of God. He says that here we see “the God of justice and grace, who in Jesus Christ has put the world to rights, and is now at work to implement that action through the spirit-filled church.”

God who imparts justice and grace at the same time is faithful, God who has already put the world right with him through his Son is at work, and God is in control. The writer of 2 Thessalonians knows that the people there are anxious and fear-filled, they are starting to turn on each other, so he writes imploring them to “not be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed.” The age to come isn’t up to us. We don’t have control of tomorrow, or Tuesday, or Wednesday. But God does.

God is faithful when the sea is calm and beautiful, and God is faithful when the storm swell is so powerful you are afraid the boat will come apart. Jill Duffield is a Presbyterian pastor and the editor of Presbyterian Outlook. She writes, “frightening times await the faithful, but the resurrection is surely coming and with it forgiveness, reconciliation, and victory over all that threatens to overwhelm us, even death.” The boat is going to be tossed to and fro. But the faithful trust that the age to come is out of our control. It is not up to us; it is up to God. And so we are not afraid.

At the end, we don’t have control and that’s good news. God is in control. And God has already chosen us. We are already safe in the ark of God’s love. We have no reason to be alarmed or shaken or fearful. The table is set for us and Christ is already at the Table breaking the bread and pouring the cup.

And so we stand firm and hold tight to the traditions that have been taught to us. When Paul talks about the traditions that have been taught to us, he is referring to: the basic facts of the gospel – the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus to bring us into right relationship with God, the central practices of the church – worship, baptism, and communion, and the fundamental principle of Christian behavior – agape love.

NT Wright posits that “All mature Christian thinking has [a] two-sided nature: God is powerful and will support
you, therefore you need to stand firm and hold tight. We easily suppose that, if God is in control, we can relax; or that, if we have to struggle and work hard, it means that God isn’t as powerful as we had thought.”
God’s power is exercised through US, through our actions, through our love. God calls us that we might obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have responsibility for how we live in this age.

Bryan Stevenson is a lawyer. He has a passion for people who have not had fair trials. In his book, Just Mercy, he tells about sitting with Herbert Richardson as they waited for the guards to take him to be executed. Herbert reflected, “All day long people have been asking me, ‘What can I do to help you?’ When I woke up this morning, they kept coming to me, ‘Can we get you some breakfast?’…All day long, ‘What can we do to help you?…Do you need stamps for your letters? Do you want water? Do you want coffee? Can we get you the phone? Ow can we help you?…It’s been so strange…More people have asked me what they can do for me in the last fourteen hours of my life than ever asked me in the years when I was coming up.”

At the end, we seem to know how we should have been all along. But why only on his last day? Why not when he was three…when his mother died? Why didn’t someone ask ‘What can we do to help you?’ Why not when he was seven…and he had been physically abused and was recovering from the injuries? Why didn’t someone ask ‘What can we do to help you?’ Why not when he was a teenager and struggling to cope? Why didn’t someone ask ‘What can we do to help you?’ When he sought escape from the storms of his life in drugs and alcohol, why didn’t someone ask ‘What can we do to help you?’ When he returned from Vietnam traumatized and disabled, why didn’t someone ask ‘What can we do to help you?’

We never know what an expression of love will mean to someone else, how our gesture might calm the seas for just long enough for them to get a better grip to hold on, how our kindness might give them strength to stand firm. We do know that we are brothers and sisters and are in this boat together. We do know that God is in control and is at work through us in the midst of the storms of life. We do know that we are invited to come to this table and receive the gift of Christ’s love to strengthen us for the journey. We do know, and so we stand firm. Thanks be to God. Amen.