The Ken Read Podcast

0703 LIVING THE NEW NORMAL

JULY 3 = COLOSSIANS 4

THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE

Paul begins this final chapter of Colossians with a series of quick directives about the practical Christian life, especially how to act among non-believers.

He begins with these practical words:

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 

Would I say that I have “devoted myself” to the prayer? Have I made prayer my high priority, so that I could say, as Paul often did, “I am always praying for you.” Or, “Pray without ceasing.” You may remember that the early church in Acts “devoted themselves” to the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers. 

It is a similar concept to walking in the Spirit, of course, in that it is done by living in constant communion with God through prayer, as the Holy Spirit guides your thoughts. The Spirit guides you because you are being watchful and thankful.

Roman Catholic believers might fulfill this verse by praying the Rosary continually through the day. In the orthodox churches, they offer up what they call the Jesus prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.” In both traditions, the repeated prayer become the background which provides context for everything that goes on around you. Which brings us to how we behave toward those who are outside of the faith. Paul says this:

. . . Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

The internal seasoning that flavors each each conversation and thought is generated by this continual prayer life as we walk in the Spirit. The Spirit provides the savor that seasons our every conversation, our every answer. The flavor of that seasoning that permeates every interaction is Grace. Let grace color every interaction.

Some years ago, a man named Watchman Née did a series of teachings which were put into a book called “The Normal Christian Life.” I read that book a few times as a young believer and found it to be challenging, and it resonated with me. The book is organized around the book of Romans, but that chapter I am thinking of fits this passage well.

“Some of you have no doubt had an experience something like the following. You have been asked to go and see a friend, and you knew the friend was not very friendly, but you trusted the Lord to see you through. You told Him before you set out that in yourself you could not but fail, and you asked Him for all that was needed. Then, to your surprise, you did not feel at all irritated, though your friend was far from gracious. On your return you thought over the experience and marvelled that you kept so calm, and you wondered if you would be just as calm next time. You were amazed at yourself and sought an explanation. This is the explanation: the Holy Spirit carried you through.

“Unfortunately we only have this kind of experience once in a while, but it should be a constant experience. When the Holy Spirit takes things in hand there is no need for strain on our part. It is not a case of clenching our teeth and thinking that thus we have controlled ourself beautifully and have had a glorious victory. No, where there is a real victory there is no fleshly effort. We are gloriously carried through by the Lord. The object of temptation is always to get us to do something.”

So here are those challenges from Paul. 

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. . . . Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

May we learn to live the “new” normal!

0704 FAITHFULLY PLOD ON

JULY 4 = 1 THESSALONIANS 1

FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE = WORK, LABOR AND ENDURANCE

Paul and Silas had come to Thessalonica around the year 51, and Acts 17 describes both their success, and then the riot over their teaching about Jesus. They had to flee for their lives. It was such a short start and such an abrupt ending that Paul sent Timothy to go see if he could help them. Timothy returned with the good news that the people of the city had remained faithful. Paul writes to express his joy and to encourage them to continue, as well as to answer some pastoral questions for them.

Those believers, in spite of almost immediate persecution, remained faithful and hopeful. So Paul is mom writing to encourage them for their faithfulness to the gospel. He gives this threefold formula, packed with challenges for us today:

“We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Work produced by faith. This is a beautiful expression of the work of the Holy Spirit both in and through our lives. Now, maybe like me you first think of “work” as being the place we go for 8 hours a day. And, of course, we are not defining “work” in terms of math and physics, which can measure force and friction and all that. No, it’s more along the lines of doing good thing—good works. As James tells us, faith without works is dead, being by itself.

We are not saved by works, of course. In truth, we are not actually capable of doing good works, if you think about it that way. Faith is what saves us. But faith then produces in us good works. So it confirms our faith. And our salvation. (Did we just go in a big circle?)

A 'work of faith' is a righteous act of God which He carries out through us because of our faith in Christ. When our faith rests on Him, the work we produce is HIM working through us. In this way, we carry out God’s will and demonstrate the nature of God by being His hands and feet. So we do works of service to God and others, we work on our private devotional life, we take the road less traveled or the difficult assignment, because we believe that God sees and rewards such things.

Labor prompted by love. We sometimes refer to something as being a “labor of love,” and this is where that expression comes from. Labor, not like “labor union” or other employment, and not quite as in “she went into labor last night.” But it does have to do with working in service to another. And Paul is admonishing his readers to do their labor out of love, both for God and for our neighbor.

Using the term “labor” is a powerful reminder that it is the big sacrifices as well as the little favors that are done, prompted by love.

Endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Endurance is not a term that we use when we are just starting a project. It comes after some time of plodding through something worthwhile.

There is a certain progression in the three terms, work, labor and endurance. I do work, it becomes laborious, and I endure it to the end.

A professor once asked, “Do you know how to eat an elephant?” None of us had an answer, so he supplied, “One bite at a time.” I really love that metaphor, and it has helped me many times when taking on an imposing task. I can’t do the whole thing at once. But I can take this one bite and keep going.

There’s a power found in plodding, though the race is hard to run. A certain strength in hanging in until the job is done. For some the sailing’s easy when everything is right. But saints are those who learn to walk by faith and not by sight.

Jesus said in Revelation, “I know your works.” Paul assured the Corinthians that their labor was not in vain. Jesus says in Matthew, he who endures to the end shall be saved. Be assured that what is done in the name of the Lord is time well spent. It will be worth it all when we see Jesus! Amen.

0705 FALSE TEACHERS

JULY 5 = 1 THESSALONIANS 2

HOW TO SPOT A FALSE TEACHER

One of the challenges of the first century church was being able to identify false teaching. Since there was no canon of the New Testament books, and especially in those decades before any of the Gospels were written, where were definitive sources to determine truth? Paul was writing letters to churches, and then the letter (the one hand-written copy of it) physically went from one city to another and would be read in whole at the next gathering of the house church wherever.

What, then, happens when someone writes a letter claiming to be the apostle Paul, but it did not come from him? Who can prove the source? Even if T he writer is not claiming to be an actual apostle, how much authority do all those who will be reading it give to that letter? 

What’s more, the very idea of having a closed canon of Bible called the New Testament had not even been thought of yet. 

So, if all that is true, how would the ancient church evaluate a new teacher who comes along? Paul gives some good instruction here on how to spot a false teacher by defending his own ministry as valid. Let’s compare and see what we can glean about orthodoxy and about heresy in our day. We’ll call this “how to spot a heretic.”

“For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. Instead, we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children,”

“For the appeal we make does not spring from error ..

Paul’s appeal came from a former Pharisee who knew his Old Testament very well. So when Paul considered a truth about Jesus, or he was using an example from Scripture, his audience knew that Paul would not just be making up details about that passage. His appeal did not spring from error.

So, if you want to be a false teacher, begin by making up things that are not true.

….nor are we trying to trick you.

Paul was accused of a lot of things from those who were Judaizers. That’s because Paul’s teachings were the “new thing,” compared to Judaism that had been around for many hundreds of years. Paul could have been making up this new doctrine, and been presenting it to try to trick his listeners into believing this new thing. He was reassuring them of his motives here.

So, if you are looking for a false teacher, see if you can tell what the end game is. Are they manipulating you in some way? Knowingly lying to you? How can you tell when someone truly believes the truth of what they say?

…On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. …

How does one who is approved by God talk? How can you tell they are entrusted with the gospel? The best I can tell is to see how Paul writes in his letters. He over and over tells how he has suffered and how confident and consistent he is in what he declares as truth. He will defend truth to the death. And signs and wonders don’t hurt his credibility any, either.

We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 

I think this is a significant matter. Paul brings it up in his letters pretty often—someone who wants to please people will not be able to confront damaging sin in someone’s life or speak truth when it goes against the crowd. And keep in mind that God tests our hearts. Whatever our motives, they are known by God. And God tests our hearts by means of trials and persecution (will you remain faithful, even when it is dangerous?), or against opposition and controversy (will you love, and yet be true?).  

You know we never used flattery, …

Perhaps one of the marks of a false teacher is use of flattery. To be clear, encouragement or being positive is good. But flattery is manipulative, or is untrue, or praises someone for something that is not their responsibility (“you’re so pretty,” “You are really smart.”) Praise for something over which a person has no control is false praise. And flattery is a mark of a person who is a false teacher.

…nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness… 

How does greed show itself in a false teacher? Somehow, a greedy person receives a lot of gifts from people. They might not beg for it directly, but they tell their story as if they were victims, and they elicit sympathies that somehow turn into gifts. That is the mask that covers up the greed. 

…We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, …

The same motivation that seeks gifts from people also seems to look for praise from people. Conversations set up a sort of obligation to give, or to support. Somehow a false teacher exudes a false humility that invites people to affirm and praise the false teacher.

…even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. 

When your ego is wrapped up in what you say, you parade your credentials and review your personal life stories and refer to your power and influence.

Instead, we were like young children among you. 

I think that what Paul means is that young children do not presume to have authority or power. Their motives are more simple, more clearly seen, less compromised, and certainly not doing long-term secretive plotting.

Just as a nursing mother cares for her children,”

A nursing mother focuses on the baby at her side. She must. Those certain attachment moments translate into caring for her children, doing whatever it takes to protect them and care for their needs. 

Notice that a false teacher does what is self-serving. Notice also that true apostle does what is best for others. The energy (and money) flow goes downstream, either TO a false teacher or FROM a true disciple. In season and out of season, the same message, the same motives, the same generous selfless sacrifice.

May you and I give unconditionally, without a thought for self. And may our teaching be true, and never false. Amen.

0706 FINDING GOD’S WILL PART 1

JULY 6 = 1 THESSALONIANS 3

FINDING GOD’S WILL, PART ONE

I think we have something of a misunderstanding of what we might call “the center” of God’s will for us. In searching for our center, we take spiritual gifts inventory tests and fill out various other self-discovery tools, and we read our Bibles and try to read the signs of the times, while we pray and seek a sign that we are in God’s perfect place at God’s perfect timing.

The problem is, we are asking questions of Who, What When and Where, instead of Why and How. We think of “God’s will” as a person, place or thing. But God’s will is not a noun. God’s will is found in verbs.

These next chapters in 1 Thessalonians provide some excellent examples of knowing that you are in the center of God’s perfect will for your life. Let’s take three days to explore the depths of each one, and find out how to know for certain that you are in the center of God’s will for you. Ready? 

Here is what Paul says in chapter 3.

“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.”

While this little segment doesn’t directly say the words “God’s will,” it does talk about things that God does in us. So bear with me if you will (see how I just referred to your will? It’s like that!), and see where this is going.

What the Lord wills to do in you and me is to make our love increase, so that all that you do is motivated by and saturated with love. Not reluctant duty, but increasing love. 

And the Lord causes that increasing love in turn to overflow for each other. It is God’s will for us as a body to genuinely love one another. Not just put up with each other, and certainly not to complain or gossip about one another when they aren’t around. But to feel genuine compassion for one another, to truly want what is best for each other, and to willingly put one another’s needs ahead of our own.

You might say that the next circle affected by our overflowing love is “everyone else,” as the NIV translates it. It is God’s will that each of us will be like the Good Samaritan, who loved a stranger enough to willingly, generously lay down our own ambitions to help another. This is what the Bible calls “hospitality;” the “love of strangers.” 

And notice again that it is not you and me trying to drum up the feelings needed to love. Paul’s hope is that THE LORD WILL do that in you. (Did you notice how I just referred to God’s WILL there?)

Another thing God wants to do in me and you is to strengthen our hearts, so that we will be blameless and holy. We might say that strong feelings of love without the discipline of a strong heart, we will find ourselves in the end to be nice people who never made a difference with our lives because we simply blended in with the world. A loving motivation stirs a disciplined resolve and makes us complete individuals, functioning together in perfect harmony to do the right things, and in this way to prepare us for the final judgment. 

Does that sound like the center of God’s will to you?

To me, too. Amen.

0707 FINDING GOD’S WILL, PART 2

JULY 7 = 1 THESSALONIANS 4

FINDING GOD’S WILL, PART TWO

I feel like I’m still looking to find the center of God’s will for me. You know, where all my giftings and interests come together, and I don’t feel the need to question whether I am doing the right thing or not. I mean, not just doing God’s will in the general sense, but being in the very center of it, with the right job, living in the right place, finding the right partner, being in the right church. Yeah, I just want to be in the center of His will for me.

Have you ever heard someone say a wish like that? Have you ever wished it yourself? It is a noble goal, and seems like the right thing to pursue. And I have felt like I am there at times in my own life. But sooner or later, seasons change and circumstances shift, and what had once felt like the center of God’s will now seems like the outer perimeter.

What if God directly answered our wish to know the center of His will? I have good news! He tells us in specifics in chapter 4. Ready?

In chapter 3, we ended with God doing this work in each of us: May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God. In chapter 4 here, Paul picks up with the theme of God’s will and provides several specific examples of the center of God’s will for you and me.

“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.”

As a young man, I was surprised to see “God’s will” and “learn how to control your own body” to be connected. But they are connected completely, so that if we truly want to be in the center of God’s will, we will learn to be sexually pure. That’s right. It all starts here, you might say.

God’s will:

• Be sanctified. This word means holy. Set apart for God. Not common or sensual or worldly or disrespectful. Respect God, who made you in His image.

• Avoid sexual immorality. This was the shocker for me: Want to know God’s will? Avoid sexual immorality. That’s not “just” law; it is God’s WILL for you.

• Learn how to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable. In case we didn’t get the message clearly by points 1 and 2 above, Paul further clarifies: 

• No one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. To be sanctified, to abstain from sexual immorality, means for us to learn how to behave in this world without becoming a part of it.

• Not to be impure, but to live a holy life. Again, holy means something that is set apart, used only for the honorable intended purpose, and never for depraved fulfillment of sexual pleasure or other such sins.

So, it is of utmost importance that we take these words of Paul seriously. God wants something. He wills these sentences to speak to our hearts and steer our actions. We are to walk in purity and we are to honor others by our own purity. 

This is God’s will for us all, you might say. Paul did.  Amen.

0708 FINDING GOD’S WILL PART 3

JULY 8 = 1 THESSALONIANS 5

FINDING GOD’S WILL, PART THREE

We have been exploring what Paul said to the church of Thessalonica about the will of God. Today, we find a third passage with a series of directives that directly tell us, “this is God’s will in Christ Jesus.” Sound specific enough? Let’s find out what God’s will FOR YOU is in Christ Jesus! 

Here’s what Paul tells them,

“Rejoice always, 

More accurately, Paul says, “Rejoice in every circumstance.” When times are good, rejoice. When times are hard, rejoice. When you are persecuted for righteousness, rejoice. When you are grieving, even then rejoice.

Does God will for any of his people to be dour, sour or lacking in power? No. He wills only our good. God always wants our good. Do you believe that? Satan always wants our bad. He is out to kill, steal and destroy. (John 10:10) But Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) So we rejoice in every circumstance.

pray continually,

More accurately, Paul says, “Pray without ceasing.” Never stop praying. Never not pray. God’s will is that we live in constant communication with him. Life is one continual prayer. “Make my life a prayer to you, I want to do what you want me to, no empty words, and no white lies, no token prayers, no compromise.”

We were made in the image of God. That means that we are capable of living in communion with our maker. Consciously aware of His presence, making our requests known to him, thanking him for his supply, repenting of our selfish sins, walking with him in the cool of the evening, being with him in all of life’s events, and living as one with him for eternity. This is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus. 

give thanks in all circumstances; 

Give thanks evermore. Just as we rejoice in every circumstance, so we give thanks for the good times and the bad. (See 2 Thess 1) Why rejoice in the bad times? Because even the bad times are for our good. They build character. They prepare us for eternity. James says, “count it all joy, brethren, whenever you encounter trials of various kinds, knowing that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

So even bad times are circumstances that we can rejoice in. 

for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Again, I note that God’s will for me is not found in the nouns of who, what and where, but in the verbs of why and how. Rejoice, pray, give thanks. This is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. God’s will for you is found in what you DO and in who you ARE.

So, what is it that God is wanting for you and me to DO?

1. Pursue knowing God. This is not a game of Marco Polo, where we are trying to hear God’s voice so that we can chase him down. It is an intimate conversation in which we seek his face. This is God’s will: “When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.’” (Psalm 27:8) Too often, I think we seek His hands, rather than his face. And he is calling to us through the din of the crowd, “Know me.Learn my ways. Seek my face. For your own sake. For my sake.”
2. Seek God’s wisdom. “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”(James 1:5) This does not reveal a major formula for understanding every mystery. But it reveals the heart of a good God who desires that His people ask Him for things. God desires the heart of His people, and he knows how to “give good gifts to those who ask Him” (Matthew 7:11).
3. Receive God’s salvation. “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4)

0709 FINDING GOD’S WILL, PART FOUR

JULY 9 = 2 THESSALONIANS 1

FINDING GOD’S WILL, PART FOUR

While I seek to find the center of God’s will for my life, my faith is growing more and more, and my love for others is increasing. I am developing perseverance and faith.

And yet, as I grow in learning God’s ways, I find that not everything about finding God’s will is good. Not everything is falling into place. Worse than that, I begin to find myself being rejected because of my faith. 

How can it be that finding God’s will would lead to such trouble? I thought that God always wanted our good. What are we to make of it all? Here’s what Paul explained.

“All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 

He has said something, but he hasn’t explained anything yet. How, exactly, does my suffering provide evidence that God’s judgment is right? I guess you have to jump to the end of the story to know.

God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.”

So God’s will may lead to persecution, but in the end the persecutors will be punished, and we will marvel at the glorious one who has bought our salvation. 

Our salvation! That is certainly the will of God. “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4)

Logically, it then follows that a big part of finding the will of God is to share the good news about Jesus, so that others who are outside of his will can share in our salvation. “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2) 

While I am seeking the center of God’s will, I know day by day what my priorities should be, and I know what lies ahead. 

And now that I’ve said all that, let me clarify that we have been talking about God’s “general will” to this point. God does also have a “particular will” for each of us, but that was not in these chapters of Scripture. 

Even so, now let me briefly make a case for God’s particular will. Jesus taught us to pray, “Let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” That prayer is easy to pray from a distance. But it is tested when your will and God’s will are not in natural agreement. Jesus was tested just before his betrayal in the Garden. Knowing what was ahead, Jesus prayed, If it is your will, remove this cup from me. Yet, not my will but yours be done. He knew what he must do, because the Father revealed all to him. And if we walk in the Spirit, he will also guide us day by day. 

James tells us, “Come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a yer there, carry on business, and make a profit. You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! . . . Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and so this or that.” 

Paul writes, “But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing, and then . . . “ (1 Corinthians 4:19) And remember how Luke said, “The Holy Spirit had prevented them from speaking the word in the province of Asia, they traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia. And when they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit them.” Acts 16 

This is the experiential leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives. May you and I both experience providential timing, the Spirit’s leading, answered prayers, and promptings and prophecies that only God can give. Amen.

0710 SIGNS OF THE (END)TIMES

JULY 10 = 2 THESSALONIANS 2

SIGNS OF THE (END)TIMES

Back in the 1970s, shortly after my own conversion to Christ, I discovered several authors and radio preachers who had it figured out that Jesus would return within their lifetimes, and possibly that the Great Tribulation was already starting, or that the Secret Rapture would be any second. They saw the news and projected it into the near future and made a lot of money telling everyone about it. After the ‘80s had passed and the political climate had changed, I had grown rather skeptical of the impending doom gospel. 

However, there was a sense even back in Paul’s generation that the coming of the Lord was near. They prophesied and went into detail about what would happen. We haven’t come across many of these end times passages up to this point, so we would do well to see what Paul has to say about the second coming of Jesus.

“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, … 

It’s hard to imagine why such rumors would be flying about the end of all things, just a dozen years into the life of the church of Christ. The history of Jews in Rome hints at why so many rumors would be flying around saying that the end has come. Many Jews had fled from Israel and other lands, because of economic hard times and war going on around them. There in Rome, the Jewish quarter flourished, and they were thriving economically. 

There were problems with the Jews, however. They refused to declare Caesar as Lord, and that was considered to be in dangerous rebellion against the government. How could the empire hold together if its people would not submit? So Rome offered to let Jews pay a heavy tax in return for their refusal to worship Caesar.

Herod the Great was declared by Rome to be “king of the Jews” in the year 40 B.C. Herod remodeled and enlarged the temple area, calling it “Herod’s temple,” which, of course, stirred the pot all the more. The stability of these arrangements were fraying as the years passed. 

Uprisings in the region of Palestine (as the Romans called the geographic land of Israel) were constant, and it was apparent that sooner or later, Rome would come down hard on these religious rebels. Eventually, by the year A.D. 70, some 40 years (one generation) after Jesus’ ministry, it happened. The temple was destroyed, never to be rebuilt, and the city was emptied of Jews. Once again, they were scattered to the wind.

But Jews were being persecuted throughout the Roman Empire. They had been banned from synagogue meetings back in 41, and by 54 they would be exiled from the city of Rome. This letter was written around A.D. 51-52. And over in Jerusalem things were even worse, heading toward that city under Roman control, and by 70 simply laying siege to it and wiping it out, including destroying the temple, in fulfillment of many prophecies. So when Paul is writing this letter, relationships were tense and it was clear that the hammer was about to drop on the heads of Jews.

In the meantime, Christians who were turning the world upside down all over the empire. And since the persecution that Saul the Pharisee had initiated, now there were various active persecutions of Christians. Nero was famous for burning Christians as human torches for his garden, and for blaming Christians for burning down Rome in the year A.D. 64. Put all this persecution together, and you can imagine how some would say that this was the moment that Jesus was returning. They didn’t have the book of Revelation to tell them official future history. And even at that, it was not yet clear how to interpret those prophecies. 

…for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”

Who is/was the man of lawlessness? Did someone enter the temple and set himself in the place of God? Did anyone do that? Herod the Great had done something like it, when he profaned the temple by slaughtering pigs in it. But he then rebuilt the temple, using tax money from Rome to do the magnificent structure. The temple was still standing at the time of this writing, though it was clear that things were tense.

Three centuries after Nero, Diocletian became emperor, and he renewed vicious persecution against Christians. Could those have been the ultimate moment? Are we now on a 2000-year pause, waiting for God’s response?

The problem is, I don’t have the easy answers today that we once saw in the 1970s. It seems apparent that Jesus has not yet done the great cleansing and wiped evil from the earth, setting up his throne on earth and bringing about the wedding feast. At least, not literally.

The answers are not easy. But the response is: be watchful! Amen.

0711 TAKING CARE OF BUSYNESS

JULY 11 = 2 THESSALONIANS 3

TAKING CARE OF BUSYNESS

How do you fill your time? Do you like to stay busy? What do you do in your spare time? What are your hobbies, or habits, or addictions? What do you do for recreation? What do you do for amusement? Do you think you are too busy? Would your great-grandparent think that you have way too much spare time? How do you feel about your schedule? That’s our interesting topic of the day, and it is very important. It is important to have spare time. But it is dangerous to have too much of it.

“Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” It once was a well-known saying, hinting that when we have nothing to occupy us, we tend to fill that space with something that we should not be doing. Have you found it to be true in your own life?

“Don’t be such a busybody.” This also used to be the way someone would be chided for involving themselves in gossip, or meddling in the affairs of others, or interfering with someone else’s business. A busybody is an odd term, but we find it here in this passage today. The root word in Greek (peri-ergos) actually has to do with witchcraft (peri=supernatural, ergos=work), but its meaning is that you are doing what is forbidden.

How do you spend your free time? Have you ever thought about the difference between recreation and amusement? They may seem similar, but their roots are very different. “Re-creation” refers to creating again. “A-muse-ment” refers to not thinking. Is that the difference between a recreation center and an amusement park? How many of our activities involve not thinking? How many involve not being discerning between right and wrong? Should we ever turn off our moral radars?

The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy, then commanded us to observe it. But note this: God never sleeps nor slumbers. But he rested from his work of creating on the seventh day. Yet Jesus said that his father never stops working since the beginning. How do we reconcile all this? One day a week–note that it is AFTER we have worked for six days–we are to cease from our work of creating. Jewish law goes into great detail about this, and it is an important distinction. We can eat. We can walk, and talk, and pray, and sustain our lives in many ways. But on the Sabbath we rest from creating things. We don’t write. We don’t build, or plant, or harvest, or cook, or invent, and so forth. We cease from creating. And so, we build our strength for the work before us in the next six days.

But what happens if we take too much idle time, and we cross over from re-creation to a-musement?

Here is what Paul wrote:

“But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. 

Life is a battle. We get to choose sides. But if we choose the Lord’s side, our battle involves things like strength and protection. Because the evil one, remember, seeks to steal, kill, and destroy.

For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” 

Literally, Paul says, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” If he is a baby, he shall eat. Even if he is but a boy, he eats for free, with no requirement. But by the time he is a man, he has a responsibility to at least take care of his own needs. Proverbs talks about the sluggard, the lazy person. It says that the sluggard is so lazy he doesn’t even bother to lift the food from his plate to his mouth. That’s a way of saying, some of us don’t care enough about the connection between nourishment and responsibility.

Everyone is either a taker or a giver. Meaning we consciously give more than we consciously take. (The measurements are too complex to make it an on/off kind of thing.) Or we sit back and receive, and just let others carry our fair share. Paul’s saying could be worded, be a giver, not a taker.

We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 

Here’s a truth of life: Everyone is doing something all the time. You are either taking or giving, either working or being idle, either contributing or opposing. Paul is talking about people who perhaps have heard that Jesus has already come and set up his kingdom, and we are now in the Jubilee, so just take it easy and soak in the kingdom life. God is the giver of all good gifts, after all, right? So receive the gifts and relax. 

But the thing about life is there is no such thing as doing nothing. If you are not a giver, then you are being a taker. Because something has to happen in order for food to go into your mouth to keep you alive. So you let others do that work for you. But, as I say, there is no such thing as doing nothing. So you fill your time with conversations, and your undisciplined life gets into bickering and arguing about needless things, and you get to poking into the affairs of others and interfering with the relationships of those who are around you. 

Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good. Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer.”

They may be takers. They may be busybodies. But they are also fellow believers. So warn them. Discipline them. Withhold food from them, even. But do not regard them as an enemy. 

All of us have blindspots. All of us have weaknesses. We are all hypocrites. But that doesn’t mean we should not be corrected.

May you and I find the right balance of work and rest, and may we know how to keep out of, or get into, the affairs of others. Amen.

0713B DEPTH OF MERCY (MARK SCHERER) [SONG OF THE WEEK]

0713B DEPTH OF MERCY (Charles Wesley / Mark D. Scherer)

This is a recording of Mark singing a Charles Wesley hymn text to music that Mark wrote around 2001. It is one of my favorite hymns, and Mark has captured it so well. It fits with Paul's testimony found in 1 Timothy 1.

Depth of mercy! Can there be mercy still reserved for me?

Could my God his wrath forbear? Me the chief of sinners spare?

I have long withstood His grace. Long provoked Him to His face.

Would not harken to His calls. Grieved Him by a thousand falls.

There for me the Savior stands. Shows His wounds and spreads his hands.

God is love, I know, I feel. Jesus weeps and loves me still. 

Jesus weeps and loves me still.

Jesus weeps and loves me still.