II Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 (NRSV)
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We must always give thanks to God for
you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing
abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing. 4
Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your
steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that
you are enduring.
11 To this end we always pray for you,
asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his
power every good resolve and work of faith, 12 so that the name of
our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace
of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Habakkuk 1:1-4 (NRSV)
The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.
2 O Lord,
how long shall I cry for help,
and you
will not listen?
Or cry
to you “Violence!”
and you
will not save?
3 Why do you make me see wrongdoing
and
look at trouble?
Destruction
and violence are before me;
strife
and contention arise.
4 So the law becomes slack
and
justice never prevails.
The
wicked surround the righteous—
therefore
judgment comes forth perverted.
Habakkuk 2:1-4 (NRSV)
2 I will stand at my watchpost,
and
station myself on the rampart;
I will
keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and
what he will answer concerning my complaint.
2 Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write
the vision;
make it
plain on tablets,
so that
a runner may read it.
3 For there is still a vision for
the appointed time;
it
speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it
seems to tarry, wait for it;
it will
surely come, it will not delay.
4 Look at the proud!
Their
spirit is not right in them,
but the righteous
live by their faith.
Year C
October 30-November 5
October 30, 2016
Cross~Wind
Title: A Voice from the Past: Martin Luther
Introducing the Scripture
I am going
to share with you two scripture passages today. My primary interest is the
theme that both have regarding an important teaching of the church. Both are
significant because of their focus on faith.
The prophet
Habakkuk shared the internal struggle he has with God at a critical time in the
history of Judah. God lets the prophet see clearly the wickedness and evil into
which Judah has plunged. He wants God to do something about this. God is not
answering his prayer in timely fashion. Yet, he still prays. The answer God
gives, an answer we will not take time to read, is that God is going to send
the Babylonians to punish the sin of Judah. The answer is that as bad as things
are, they are going to get worse. This is not helpful, as the prophet hears an
answer to his prayer, but an answer he does not like. If God is marching here,
if God has a purpose, it seems to be a zig-zag approach to attaining the goal. With
the vision that the prophet had in his humanness, all he could see for the
immediate future was destruction. The answer God gives is that the prophet is
to remain faithful. In fact, those who are just or righteous will live by their
faith. God was telling
Habakkuk that he would continue to live in a time when justice would be hard to
find. Hebrews 10:38 refers to this
passage. Paul uses it in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11. In the
immediate future, what the prophet could not see was that the exile in Babylon
would mean the re-birth of the Jewish people. He could not see that the
prophets, priests, and political leaders carted off into exile would remember
the covenant Israel had with God. They would collect what we now know as the
first books of the Bible, the Torah and the history of Israel. They would
collect the Psalms. They would collect many of the writings of the prophets we
have in our Bibles today. They would remember who and whose they were. Now,
however, as they faced judgment for their sin, they must live by their faith.
Paul will
pick up the theme of faith as he opens II Thessalonians. He “must” thank God in
prayer for the fact their faith is growing abundantly, as is their love for “everyone.”
As he visits the churches, he proudly tells them of the steadiness and faith
the Thessalonians had, even in the midst of persecution. His prayer is that God
would deem them worthy because of their faith. The Christian finds glory in
Jesus Christ. Christ finds glory in living in and through those who have faith.
Introduction
There are moments in life when you
just have to speak up. There are moments when so much is at stake, something so
egregiously wrong is taking place, that the option of keeping your mouth closed
and your opinion to yourself is impossible to rationalize. In these specific
moments, you think, “I know someone is going to be upset, but I just have to
say something!” So you muster the courage and say, “Hey, you! Are you there? It
is I. We need to talk.”[1]
I am more likely to be afraid of my
anger. After all, what would happen if I were angry at the wrong things,
over-reacting, or inappropriately expressing it? Fewer things make me angry as I
age.[2]
I see myself more as someone who hopes that something I say or do may help
people receive an insight that helps them in their lives.
At the same time, I have had to
take a stand.
It does not seem so courageous now,
but as a teen, when Dad would get into one of his racist rants, I could not be
silent.[3]
Application
If you can relate, then you know how
a little-known pastor and college professor in the modest town of Wittenberg,
Germany, felt after tacking his 95 Theses to the main doors of the local
Catholic Church.
The man was Martin Luther. He was
far from perfect. He liked his beer, probably too much. He said and did many
things in his life that make one wonder about him. He was ahead of his time in
using new media, the printing press. He probably would have liked social media,
maybe too much. He could go to extremes when he talked about the Pope and the
Roman Catholic Church. In any case, I invite you to consider that his recovery
of the importance of grace and faith in Christian discipleship as one of the
gifts he offers to the church of today.
The day was All Hallow’s Eve,
October 31, 1517, the precursor to Halloween. Tomorrow is the 499th
anniversary of the event. Luther knew that on this day the villagers, students
and fellow college faculty would file through those church doors for a special
mass and that, while entering, some would stop to read his pastoral thoughts on
problems in the church at large.[4]
Luther was not the first to post
things in this manner. Back then, people commonly used the church doors as a
community bulletin board of sorts.
Today, Luther might have posted his
theses on a blog and pointed his peers to them via Twitter. He was not doing
anything that people had not done a hundred times before.[5]
It was, in some ways, a means of tapping the authorities on the shoulder and
saying, “Hey, there! It’s Martin. We need to talk.” Nevertheless, Luther could
not have imagined his actions would spark a revolution that is still ringing
loud and strong nearly 500 years later.
One pastor saw something wrong in
the church and had the courage to speak up rather than remain silent.[6]
Church was different then. While
you and I live in a world in which Christianity is like ice cream, different
flavors for different tastes, Roman Catholicism intermingled with the political
authorities in a dominant way in Europe. All of that was about to change. The
Orthodox Church was the dominant force in the east.[7]
You can read a nice summary of the
95 Theses on Wikipedia. Clearly, Luther thought that even with the dominance of
the church, the church had obscured or lost something important to its reason
for being.
Luther has much to teach about the
role of the Bible in the church and in our personal lives. His teaching on the
priesthood of all believers encouraged all disciples to have their personal
relation with Jesus and a ministry.
He also taught us to think
differently about the gospel.
Key Point: Are our efforts to be a
decent dad, a patient mom, a good kid or a faithful Christian flowing toward
our salvation, as if to secure it, or from our salvation, as a joyful response
to it?
In Luther’s day, pastors did little
preaching or teaching. Knowledge of scripture was for university professors,
bishops, popes, and church councils. If you did not know Latin, you were
largely out of luck.[8]
It should not surprise us that the focus shifted from what God has done in
Jesus for our salvation to what we can do through our works to attain salvation.[9]
In order to raise money for cathedrals, the Church sold indulgences that
released souls from the temporary cleansing needed in purgatory to heaven.[10]
Luther wanted to clarify that we
walk in the freeing light of grace that would lead to what Paul says in our
text as works that give the greatest glory to Jesus.[11]
From his lectures on Galatians,
Luther writes:
“When I have this [passive]
righteousness within me, I can descend from heaven like the rain that makes the
earth fertile. That is, I come forth into another kingdom and I perform good
works whenever the opportunity arises.”
Later, in his work on the book of Romans, Luther writes:
“Faith is a living and unshakable confidence,
a belief in the grace of God that a man would die a thousand deaths for its
sake. This kind of confidence in God’s grace ... makes us joyful, high-spirited
and eager in our relations with God and with all mankind .... Hence, the man of
faith, without being driven, willingly and gladly seeks to do good to everyone,
serve everyone, suffer all kinds of hardships for the sake of the love and
glory of the God who has shown him such grace”[12]
After posting his list on the door
of his local church, authorities would later force Luther to appear at hearings
and give numerous accounts of all he believed. The pressure weighed on Luther
who — at the Diet of Worms in 1521 — authorities told him to recant his
teachings or face the prospect of death. This was his response:
“Unless I am convinced by proofs from
Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not
retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience.
Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”
Luther’s refusal resulted in his
excommunication. This act forced him to live in hiding, under the condemnation
of popes and emperors, as well as the constant threat of execution at the
stake.[13]
Actions can have unintended
consequences. I think Luther initially wanted to reform the church of his day. In
the book The Wit of Martin Luther, Luther
denounced in strong words the notion that any faction of the church should take
upon itself the label “Lutheran.”
“ ... Let them call themselves
Christians, not Lutherans. What is Luther? After all, the teaching is not mine
[John 7:16]. Neither was I crucified for anyone. St. Paul, in I Corinthians
3[:22], would not allow the Christians to call themselves Pauline or Petrine,
but Christian. How then should I — poor stinking maggot-fodder that I am — come
to have men call the children of Christ by my wretched name? Not so, my dear
friends.”
Instead, Luther urged, “Let us abolish all party names and
call ourselves Christians, after him whose teaching we hold.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in The Cost of Discipleship, writes:
“It was not the justification of sin,
but the justification of the sinner that drove Luther from the cloister back
into the world. The grace he had received was costly grace. It was grace, for
it was like water on parched ground, comfort in tribulation, freedom from the
bondage of a self-chosen way and forgiveness of all his sins. And it was
costly, for, so far from dispensing him from good works, it meant that he must
take the call to the discipleship more seriously than ever before. It was grace
because it cost so much, and it cost so much because it was grace. That was the
secret of the gospel of the Reformation — the justification of the sinner.”
Conclusion
The point
here is not a history lesson. We can learn from the courage of Luther. We can
re-focus on the Bible as central of the formation of our beliefs and values. The
point is to be sure that we fall into the error of 499 years ago. I ask you
simply whether you have that personal faith in Jesus Christ. As we heard from
II Thessalonians, is your faith is growing abundantly. Is your work of faith
glorifying Jesus?
Going deeper
[Habakkuk offered his prophecy between 609-605, and one part may come
from 600. Klaus Koch (The Prophets)
says he was a younger contemporary of Jeremiah. Habakkuk is different
from the other biblical prophets in that he does not preach to the people.
Instead, what we have is a sort of transcript of a conversation between the
prophet and God. In some ways, Habakkuk is our contemporary because he asks God
the same kind of questions many of us ask: Why do you allow evil and injustice
to go unpunished? Why do you allow someone who is evil to inflict suffering on
someone who is not as evil? He will stress that Judah will not be able to
withstand the assault of the Chaldeans. This happens because violence rules in
Judah. Leaders have destroyed the just order of society. His social criticism is
as sharp as Amos or Micah. The prophet attacks the one greedy for gain. Watts
says the oracle refers to a Judean tyrant and a foreign oppressor. There is
another title at 3:1. He may have been one of the Levites who conducted temple
worship in Jerusalem, suggested due to the many worship references in the book.
Achtemeier says Habakkuk has the primary concern for the purposes of God and
the realization of the will of God for the world. She does not believe he was a
cult prophet. The prophet receives mention in the apocryphal addition to Daniel
that discusses the god Bel and a dragon who is also a god. This prophet sees
the coming judgment upon Judah at the hands of Babylon. However, he questions whether this is just. Though he can see the sin of Judah, it
appears to him that the sins of Babylon are much greater. Thus, how can God justify using a wicked
nation to punish a less wicked nation?
There are two complaints by the prophet, and there are two replies by
the Lord. The answers are not
satisfying. If he thinks the situation
is bad now, it will get worse. However,
the person who is just will survive. He offers a woe upon oppressors,
especially those who amass goods that do not belong to them, ill-gotten gains,
murder, drink, and idolatry. He offers a plea to the Lord to deliver Judah from
the approaching menace from the East.]
Habakkuk 1:1-4 (NRSV)
The
oracle [Zechariah
9 & 12, Malachi] that the prophet
Habakkuk saw [in the sense of having a vision.] [The title of the book.]
[Habakkuk 1:2-2:4 is a dialogue
between a prophet and his God. Von Rad (Old Testament Theology)
says that this section is a liturgical dialogue between the prophet and the
Yahweh. Twice the prophet lays a complaint before Yahweh. He thinks it
difficult to tell if the complaint is against enemies within or without. The
answer is surprising in that more judgment is coming. Things are getting worse.
How can Yahweh do this? The answer is that those who are faithful will live.
Note that this prophet takes the initiative, whereas Amos, Micah, Isaiah, and
others, God called first.]
[In 1:2-4 he offers his first complaint. Yet, the prophet
is at prayer even while complaining of unanswered prayer. The concern, as
Achtemeier sees it, is for justice, the order ordained by God for the covenant
people.]
2 O Lord,
how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not listen?
[Watts points out here that in spite of unanswered
prayer, the prophet continues to pray. God is present, even when the evidence
is not there.]
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
[He most likely refers to what he sees happening in Judah. His concern is
the internal conflict he sees. His central complaint is that, as a prophet, the
Lord makes him see the wrong and trouble, instead of receiving words and
visions that speak of divine action.]
3 Why do you make me see wrongdoing
and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law becomes slack
and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous—
therefore judgment comes forth
perverted.
[Achtemeier points out that apparently the people have already forgotten the religious reform under Josiah. The result is chaos and oppression. Achtemeier will stress that the complaint is that there is no order in society. The Lord has an interest in justice at all levels. Therefore, he turns to God, but God does not hear. Yet, the complaint is that law and justice are losing their battles with evil. This violates the expected order when one believes one is living in a covenant relation with God. God does not seem to live up to the covenant relationship, even while the prophet has been faithful.]
1:5-11
contains the first answer from the Lord. The answer is that things are going to
get worse. His point is that the Chaldeans are instruments of the justice of
God. He is to look at the nations. God is doing a work that one will hardly
believe, for the Lord is rousing the Chaldeans to seize dwellings not their
own. Jeremiah 27:6a, given in 594, agrees, “Now I have given all these lands
into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, my servant …” Babylon is an
instrument of God. They are fierce and impetuous. They embody dread and fear.
Their justice and dignity proceed from themselves. Horses are swift as leopards
and menacing as wolves. Those who ride the horses fly like an eagle swift to
devour. They come for violence. They gather captives like sand. They scoff at
kings and rulers. They laugh at every fortress. They sweep by like the wind,
which may refer to 604, when the Babylonians passed by Judea to attack Egypt.
Their god is their own strength. Achtemeier points out that the Lord is
reassuring the prophet that what he sees is the work of God, even though it
appears only people are at work on the world scene. Since the people of the
covenant are doing injustice and violence, the answer of the Lord is to give
them more of it!
1:12-17
offers a second complaint. The prophet begins with an affirmation from the
creeds and hymns of the time. Is the Lord not from of old? The Lord shall not
die. The Lord has marked them for judgment and punishment. The eyes of the Lord
are too pure to behold evil. The Lord is not silent when wrongdoing and
treachery are present. Achtemeier will suggest that if the Babylonians are instruments
of punishment, the Lord will not destroy Judah forever, for the purpose of God
is always correction. The Lord has made the people like the fish of the sea, or
like crawling things that have no ruler. The enemy brings them up with a hook
and drags them out with a net, bringing the enemy to rejoice. The enemy
sacrifices and makes offerings to the net. Is he to keep on emptying his net
and destroying the nations without mercy? Thus, Achtemeier points out, if the
victory of Babylon is temporary, that does not solve his problem of waiting
years for the fulfillment of the good purposes of God on earth. After all, the
Babylonians will simply mean replacing a chaotic order with a godless one. He
is perplexed about the fulfillment of the purposes of God. God has a purpose.
God will replace the wickedness of Judah with the wickedness of Babylon. The
march of God toward the goal seems to be a zig-zag approach.
[In
2:1-4 we find the second answer of the Lord.]
Habakkuk 2:1-4 (NRSV)
2 I will stand at my watchpost,
and station myself on the rampart;
[A symbol of constant openness to the divine word, says Achtemeier. Watts
will stress that the prophet respects the divine freedom here. Further,
Jeremiah 42:7 shows the prophet waiting for ten days.]
I will keep watch to see what he will
say to me,
and what he will answer concerning my
complaint.
2 Then the Lord
answered me and said:
Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so that a runner may read it.
[A reference to the tablets of the Torah, which we also see in Isaiah 30:8
and Jeremiah 17:1. In that sense, what
the prophet writes is as ironclad as the original covenant.]
3 For there is still a vision for the
appointed time;
it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
it will surely come, it will not delay.
4 Look at the proud!
Their spirit is not right in them,
but the righteous live by their faith. [Hebrews 10:38 refers to this
passage. Paul uses it in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11.]
[The point here is that the silence of God does not mean
that God is dead. Human beings always live between what God has already done
and what faith expects God to do. Faith says that the answer will not fail.
Barth says that faith has need of hope, which we can see from the innumerable temptations
that assail and shake those who would cling to the Word of God. One example
that he sees here is the delay of God in the fulfillment of the promises of
God. Look at the proud. Habakkuk is most concerned with the conduct of the
righteous in times of trial.[14] Barth stresses that for the one who believes,
the day of the Lord will not be a day of darkness. Rather, it will be a day in
which the one who believes or has faith will remain alive in virtue of that
faith. [15] In other words, God was telling Habakkuk that he
would continue to live in a time when justice would be hard to find, but he
should trust the vision of a fully just time yet to come. "If it seems to
tarry, wait for it." Thus, for Habakkuk, living by faith meant carrying on
in belief in that vision.]
[Was the Babylonian conquest of
Judah a good or bad thing? If you were one of those killed in the invasion or
marched off into captivity, you would be hard-pressed to label it good. Yet
from the perspective of history, it may look different. For one thing,
separated from the temple, which now lay in ruins in Jerusalem, the Jews could
no longer offer sacrifices, but they continued to worship God. They discovered
that their religion was not dependent on location and the temple. The captives
came to understand that Judaism was a faith that could survive and be practiced
in any geographical setting and culture. For a second thing, the Jewish leaders
increased their literary production. Scholars will tell us that they produced
much of our Old Testament in the exilic period. The history of Israel in the
Promised Land was completed (Deuteronomy-2 Kings). They wrote down and
preserved the sayings of the prophets to that date. Third, and most
importantly, they proclaimed that only one God exists, and thus took idolatry
seriously.]
[Although these words of the
apostle Paul were not written until centuries later, the exiles were learning
the truth that, as Paul said, "All things work together for good for those
who love God" (Romans 8:28). And therein is the lesson for us. We often
simply cannot see the positive side of many things at first ... or perhaps
never in this life. But we have to trust that, since we have given ourselves to
God, what befalls us is fortuitous -- in the hands of God -- and that's good
enough to get us by from day to day.]
II Thessalonians 1:1-2, Address
[II Thessalonians 1:1-2 is the address of Paul to the
church. One can compare it with I Thessalonians 1:1. For some scholars, the
additions made bring the address into line with other Pauline openings. The
letter opens, as ancient letters typically do, with a salutation from the
sender or senders (sometimes described with various attributes) to the
recipient(s) (again, sometimes described with various attributes), with a
benevolent wish. In the present Christianized example, Paul, Silvanus, and
Timothy are listed as the letter’s senders, as all three had been active in
establishing the church at Thessalonica and were depicted as still traveling
together as missionaries.]
Paul, Silvanus, [Silvanus is the Latin form of
the name more commonly found in the New Testament as Silas, which may be a
Semitic form of the name or a Greek abbreviation. Silvanus/Silas is presented
as a leader of the Jerusalem church and Paul’s companion during his second
missionary journey (Acts 15:22-18:5; cf. also II Corinthians 1:19; I
Thessalonians 1:1). Apart from his connection with Paul, little is known of
him.] and Timothy, [About Timothy,
the other sender of II Thessalonians, considerably more is known, especially
from the epistles bearing his name, and he was a trusted and important coworker
of Paul’s, as well as Paul’s emissary when the occasion demanded (1 Corinthians
4:17; 16:10-11; Philippians 2:19-22; 1 Thessalonians 3:1-6). Timothy is also listed
as a co-sender of the epistles of Philippians, II Corinthians, I Thessalonians,
Philemon and Colossians.]
To the church of the
Thessalonians [(as
they are addressed in I Thessalonians), which is a slightly different formula
than Paul customarily uses to address churches (which is cast in geographical,
rather than ethnic, form; i.e., “to the church [saints, beloved, etc.] in
Such-and-Such-a-Place”). The writer’s use of the genitive here (“of the
Thessalonians”) and in I Thessalonians is unique.] in God our Father [One subtle, yet substantial difference
distinguishes this salutation from the first. Instead of "the
Father," Paul addresses this letter to the church that is in "God our
Father." This simple, inclusive note strikes a harmonious chord of kinship
between Paul, his coworkers and the Thessalonian Christians. Paul assumes a
genuinely close relationship.] and the
Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:3-12,
Thanksgiving, Encouragement, and Prayer
1: 3-4, Thanksgiving
[II Thessalonians 1:3-4, with
the theme of thanksgiving, is the opening portion of the introduction provided
by Paul. Note the similarity with I Thessalonians 1:2-3.]
3 We must [Nowhere
else in Paul’s letters does the writer express that he “must” always give
thanks to God for the recipient of his letters (cf. Romans 1:8; 1 Corinthians
1:4; Philippians 1:3; Colossians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:2; Philemon 4). The
expression is stiff and not overflowing with grace. Paul's language here previously
led some scholars to question the genuine nature of the apostle's continued
delight in them. Paul appears to say that he is obligated to give thanks
("must always give thanks ... as is fitting") or "as is
right." However, a more careful reading negates these doubts. Paul refers
here not to some odious obligation but to what is simply an appropriate
response in the face of laudatory behavior.] always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, [The
fact of the matter is that grammatical evidence indicates that Paul's addition
of the "as is fitting" or "as is right" phrase is actually
a liturgical expression for the necessity of properly offering thanks to
God. Instead of seeing Paul's "as
is right" addition as a sign of doubt, it is far more likely that the
apostle is reacting appropriately to the good news he has received about their
faith.] because your faith is growing
abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing. [Thus,
many of the hopes and concerns voiced by Paul in his first letter have been
answered positively. The news received now is even more encouraging than in I
Thessalonians.] 4 Therefore we
ourselves boast [Paul's "boasting" might be ad hoc, limited to
those churches he was visiting while writing to the Thessalonians (quite
probably the Corinthian churches). His "boasting" could also be more
intentional, broadcast to as wide a number of Christian communities as he could
reach through messenger or letter. In other letters attributed to Paul (e.g., in
I Corinthians 15:31; II Corinthians 1:14; 7:4), Paul speaks of boasting of the
members of a Christian church, as the writer does here for the steadfastness
and faith displayed under persecution (v. 4).] of you among the churches of God [Paul turns his praise outward,
telling others of what he has heard.] for
your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions
that you are enduring. [The Thessalonians demonstrated that their qualities
of "steadfastness" or "endurance" were not mere qualities
of static "hanging on." Instead, they were actively adapting and
thriving in all circumstances. Paul had
one more element in the Thessalonians' lives that made their faith and love so
worthy of Paul's pride and pleasure. Their faith and love grew even while
enduring "persecutions" and "afflictions." While he does
not specify them, but it is quite possible that they involved opposition to the
Christian message by the Jews among whose synagogues Paul, Timothy and
Silvanus/Silas attempted to spread the gospel (cf. I Thessalonians 2:14). If
the accounts in Acts are to be taken at face value (e.g., 17:17; 18:4, 19;
19:8; etc.), the missionary work of Paul and his fellow workers was
concentrated firstly on the synagogues in Asia Minor, and only secondarily in
public arenas and lecture halls (Acts 17:17; 19:9). It is clear that Paul’s
primary ministry was directed toward the conversion of his fellow Jews to “the
Way” (Acts 19:23), and only after the failure of that ministry did he refashion
himself as the apostle to the Gentiles. The disruptions Paul and other
Christian missionaries caused in Jewish houses of worship provoked verbal
opposition, lashings, fines, expulsion and imprisonment, and it is likely these
that the writer refers to collectively as “persecutions” and “afflictions.”]
[II Thessalonians 1:11-12, with the
theme of prayer, is the conclusion to the thanksgiving portion of the
introduction by Paul.] 11 To
this end we always pray for you, [They back up their boasting by keeping them ever before God
in daily intercessory prayer. Note the ethical thrust of the prayer as it is
associated with the eschatological prospect just mentioned.] asking that our God will make you worthy [Maybe
better, as in other places, "to deem worthy." This implies that God
will "deem" the Thessalonians worthy because God observes their
faith.] of his call and will fulfill by his power
every good resolve and work of faith,[here is the content and purpose of
his prayer. Of course, God may "deem" them worthy only because it is
God alone whose power will bring about.] 12
so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in
him, [Here is the greatest fulfillment of a Christian life, that of
becoming an incarnated witness in daily work and life. It is a remarkable
revelation Paul makes in verse 12: Just as a believer's true glory is found
only in Christ, so, too, Christ enjoys his greatest glory when he is found in
the lives of others. John has Jesus articulating the possibility of this kind
of “reciprocal glory”. John reveals the "he in you/you in him"
relationship as part of Jesus' special teachings to his disciples. In both John
17:10 and 17:22, Jesus specifically proclaims that glory is magnified as it is
mirrored. The enjoyment of this kind of reciprocal glory is that for which Paul
and his companions pray daily.] according
to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
[1] Have you ever felt this
way? Have you ever taken this kind of action? Then, just as you feared, once
you open your big mouth, your words spark a much bigger deal than you had ever
intended. Those moments are fun, are they not?
[2] I see my
flaws, and hope people will be generous and gracious with them rather than
angry with them. I accept that we live in communities, congregations,
denominations, nations, and world that have deep flaws.
[3] He railed
against Martin Luther King Jr one day, and I just could not keep my mouth shut.
Yes, he got in my face and wondered how I dared to speak against his 40 years
of experience. I have since learned that some people do not learn what they
should learn from their experience. He would try to defend his racism by using
the Bible. I learned early that people could use the Bible to support almost
any opinion. In any case, I knew the Bible well enough to show him that his
quoting of the Bible did not make his racism right.
[4] Tomorrow is the 499th
anniversary of Luther posting his 95 Theses on the doors of Wittenberg’s Castle
Church, an event that sparked what we know as the Protestant Reformation.
Luther was not the only figure of the Reformation, of course, but because
October 31 is when Luther pounded a tract on the church door, it is only
fitting to look at this courageous and tsunami-inducing event.
[5] To be
fair, he must have known that this would eventually get the attention of some
people in power — perhaps even Leo (X), the pope.
[6] At the
genesis of this history-shaping, Jesus-focused revolution was one man, one
pastor, who simply saw something wrong in the church and offered several points
for discussion and debate. He was a man who believed that occasionally,
something is so bad that you simply cannot stay silent. Sometimes you have to
speak up.
[7] Lastly, rather than a common understanding that God’s
Word was to be upheld as the highest authority, in Luther’s day the pope and
church councils had the last word.
[8] There was almost no Bible
study among the people. In the 16th century, most pastors received little
training. People generally considered knowledge of the Scriptures something for
university professors, so people saw parish pastors as largely perfunctory,
best used for walking the public through mass and hearing personal confession.
Likewise, literacy was rather uncommon among everyday churchgoers, and even if
one could read and write in German, the available Bibles were only in Latin.
[9] Such things hid from most
people the work of God on behalf of the world through Jesus Christ. With the
Scriptures largely unpreached and the people mostly unaware, the focus shifted
off Jesus and onto us. That is, rather than a message of grace that glorified
God’s Son, it became a message of works that put the burden of salvation on
God’s people.
[10] The
sermon was a mix of metaphysical mathematics and personal morality: Grace plus
good works is what gets you in the door. Yes, Christ died on the cross, but in
order to receive assurance of salvation, people also had to do their best.
[11] For Luther, such questions
were essential for ensuring that the Church universal — and we, as the church
local — are walking in the freeing light of grace, not under the evil burden of
believing that God’s love is contingent on our works. Moreover, while some
people argued that such a Jesus-centered, grace-alone view of salvation would
lead to lazy and licentious followers of Christ, Luther rightly proclaimed the
opposite. In fact, he would later teach that such an understanding was central
to what Paul referred to in today’s text as works that give the greatest glory
to Jesus!
[12] (Martin
Luther’s Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans [Nashville:
Discipleship Resources, 1977], 7).
[13] At one point in his flight
from both civil and ecclesiastical authorities, Luther took refuge among the
bats and owls of a cold, dark and dank Wartburg castle. Lonely and depressed,
he wrote, "I had rather burn on live coals than rot here." Smoke was
rising from the charcoal burners outside his room. However, as he watched, a
wind came up and blew the smoke away. In that moment, his doubt dissipated and
he felt his faith restored. (see Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of
Martin Luther [Nashville: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1950], 194).
[14]
Church Dogmatics IV.3 [73.1] 913.
[15]
Church Dogmatics II.1 [30.2] 390.
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