THREE THINGS THAT A CHURCH SHOULD REMEMBER
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on March 19, 2023 under 2023 |
Bethany Bible Church Sunday Sermon Message; March 19, 2023 from 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
Theme: In challenging times, we—as a church—should remember where we came from, what we are to do, and Who our Helper is.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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This is an important week in the history of our church. In just a few days—on March 25—it will be the 128th anniversary of the day when the Articles of Incorporation for our church were first officially filed and recorded with the State of Oregon.
Back then, it was called Emanuel German Methodist Episcopal Church. And today—just one week before its 128th birthday—Bethany Bible Church will be voting to approve our newly updated Articles of Incorporation, Statement of Faith, and Bylaws. It’s the same church as always; but in light of the changing times in which we live, we want to reaffirm and clarify the basic fundamentals upon which we were founded.
I wanted to be able to share from a passage of Scripture today that helps us to recognize the importance of what we’re doing. And so, I was drawn to a passage in 2 Thessalonians 2.
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The church in the ancient city of Thessalonica was a remarkable one. The apostle Paul wrote to declare how much he loved the believers that were there. They had been formed during a difficult time of trial—both for Paul and for them. And even to the time that Paul wrote to them, they were still enduring severe persecution. Many forces from the surrounding culture had been troubling that church. And yet, the faith of the believers in it was growing exceedingly strong; and their love for one another was an encouragement to other churches around them.
But there were false teachers who were seeking to upset the faith of the church family—telling them that the Day of the Lord had come, and they’d been left behind. In Chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians, Paul had to write to counteract that false teaching. He also made it clear to this beloved church that the end times would, indeed, eventually come and that the Antichrist would eventually arise. He warned that, in the end times, there would be a great falling away. Lawlessness would become intense. Many people in the world would be deceived into worshiping the Antichrist. They would turn away from truth … and would suffer judgment and eternal loss as a result. In verses 11-12, Paul wrote;
And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).
But Paul wanted to make it clear to the Thessalonian believers that this would not be the case for them. On behalf of himself and Silvanus and Timothy—the missionary team that first brought the gospel to them—Paul wrote in verses 13-17 and told them;
But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work (vv. 13-17).
And those, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, are the words that I want to draw your attention to on this important day.
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When our church was founded 128 years ago, the times were considerably different than they are today.
Back then—generally speaking—Christianity was more than a religion. It was almost everyone’s default worldview. It was considered the basis of our shared sense of morality and culture and law. Though it’s true that not everyone was a believer in a biblical sense, the form and shape that everyday life took was nevertheless basically Christian in nature—a worldview that was reinforced by government, schools, courts, businesses, and the significant institutions of American life. At the time that our church was founded, it had only been 60 years beforehand that Christian missionaries and settlers had come to Oregon. They helped to establish a territory that—shortly thereafter—officially became the 33rd state in the Union. That event could have been in the living memories of some of our church’s founders. Back then, those Christian values and priorities could still be counted on to guide and govern everyday life.
But today, none of those things can be counted on. We live in a time of increasing disconnection with the Christian roots of our nation and our state. The important institutions of our common public life have ‘secularized’ themselves away from all forms of traditional religious belief. There’s even a growing hostility toward the Christian faith today because its teaching stands in contradiction to the predominant cultural drift of things. We may not be living in the time of ‘the great falling-away’ from the Christian faith; but we certainly are living in ‘a great falling-away’. And it may not be that the Lord Jesus will return in our lifetimes; but we’re certainly living in a time when it would be very easy for an ‘Antichrist’ world leader to appear, to speak persuasively, to deceive the world into following him.
So then; given that the times are so dramatically different from the times when this church was first formed, how should we live and minister today? Should we do as so many other churches and institutions have already done; and just depart from our original fundamental convictions, go with the flow, and adjust to the times? The answer given to us by these words from the apostle Paul is a loud and clear ‘No!’ The times in which we’re living have become very much like the times in which the ancient church in Thessalonica ministered. And Paul’s words of instruction to them should be taken as instructions to us today.
What he told that ancient church in this morning’s passage—and what the Holy Spirit is telling us through him on this important anniversary—is that, in challenging times, a church like ours should remember three important things that are declared to us in this passage: (1) where it is that we came from, (2) what we’re to be doing in the midst of the times, and (3) Who our Helper is in doing it.
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So then; let’s begin by looking at Paul’s words and remembering …
1. WHERE IT IS THAT WE CAME FROM.
And by this, I don’t mean that we should just remember where we came from in the 128-year history of our church. That’s very important for us to do. But instead, I mean that we should go way further back in the past than that.
We need to understand who we are today by remembering what God did for us, as His redeemed people, way back before history—back to the sovereign decree of God. In verses 13-14, Paul wrote: “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Unless we remember these things about our true origin as a community of believers, we won’t be thinking of ourselves today as we should.
Consider carefully how Paul began these words. He began by calling these believers “brethren beloved by the Lord”. That was a significant way for him to speak of them; because he had just gotten through speaking of those who were not ‘brethren’ and who were not ‘beloved of the Lord’. He had just spoken of those who would not believe the truth, and who would be given over—in judgment by God—to the lies and deceptions of the Antichrist. He was confident that these Thessalonian Christians were not among those who would be caught by surprise by this deception, and would not be among those who will be brought under that terrible judgment from God. He said something similar to them in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-5. He wrote;
But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness (1 Thessalonians 5:1-5).
How could Paul be so sure of this about them? Part of the reason was because of how they had so faithfully received the gospel and believed on Jesus in spite of the persecution they suffered. They proved that they truly belonged to God by the fact that they remained joyful in their faith, and didn’t turn from the Lord when the times were hard and the pressure was on. They began in a solid way. In 1 Thessalonians 1, he said that he gave thanks to God for them;
knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit … (1 Thessalonians 1:4-6).
At the beginning of our passage, then, Paul was able to look at the horrible nature of the times that were coming; and yet, couldn’t help but give thanks to God for these Thessalonian believers. He was confident in them. And ultimately, this was because he knew their ‘election by God’. Before time, God had already placed his love upon them and had declared that they would be His. That’s why he was able to say, “ But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord …”
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And what does he ‘give thanks’ for concerning them? He gives thanks for two things: (1) for God’s choice of them, and (2) for God’s calling of them. God’s choice of them had to do with what He did for them in eternity past—before they were born; and God’s calling of them had to do with their experience before Him in history—when they eventually heard and believed the gospel. And all of it—from beginning to end—was a work of God’s sovereign grace.
First, consider how God chose them. Paul wrote in verse 13 and said, “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation …”
When Paul said that God chose them, he used a word that basically meant that God ‘took them up’ as His own. That was done “from the beginning”; that is, before they were born. By His grace—long before they could ever have proven themselves to be worthy of it—God chose them to be His redeemed ones, and for whom—in time—Jesus Christ His Son would die on the cross. He ‘took them up’ for salvation. As Paul puts it in Ephesians 2:8-9;
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
And how was it that God’s choice of them would be put into action? Paul went on to say that it was “through sanctification by the Spirit”. It was the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, whom God the Father sent for them, to set them aside as the Father’s own, and watch over them, and protect them, and seal them for eternal life, and to guarantee them for future glory in God’s Son Jesus Christ. And then, Paul wrote that it was through “belief in the truth”. It was the same Holy Spirit who sanctified them who also would work in them to open their eyes to the message of the gospel, and would give them faith to believe. The apostle Peter also taught this very thing. At the beginning of his first letter, he wrote to a group of persecuted Christians and called them
elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:2).
Now; that’s what God the Father chose these believers for. They were not like the people of this world who would turn from the truth and believe deceptive lies. God the Father sovereignly ‘took them up’ before time and ‘chose’ them before the world was, in order for them to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit and to be appointed for belief in the truth of the gospel. But there’s more. Paul went on to write in verse 14 that their salvation is that “to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Father had eternally chosen them for salvation. But because of this, He also—in due time—issued forth His gracious call to them with the appeal to believe the gospel, and gave them the grace to come, and granted them the faith to believe in Jesus. And because they believed in Him, they were therefore destined to share in His glory forever. It was a work of God’s grace from beginning to end; and they were the recipients of it. As it says in Romans 8:28-30—in words that many of us have grown to love—
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Romans 8:28-30).
And what’s the point of all this? Paul was letting these believers know—who were, for a while, living in challenging times—that they aren’t just ‘anybody’. They had been chosen by God—from out of the world—for salvation; and they had been called by God to believe and be glorified in Jesus Christ. They weren’t a mere gathering of people. They were much more than that. They were the community of the redeemed—a called-out assembly—chosen before time and brought into being by the divine choice and calling of God.
And dear brothers and sisters in Christ; that’s who we are, too. We are not just a man-made group of people who have gathered together to oppose the current flow of culture. We don’t stay together simply to hold on to the way things were 128 years ago. Our significance was established long before then! We are a truly ‘chosen’ and ‘called-out’ people, who have our roots in the sovereign grace of God from eternity past. We aren’t what we are because we meet together; but rather, we meet together because of what we are! We are the eternally-chosen redeemed of Christ, whom the Holy Spirit was sent to sanctify and purify and protect for eternal glory in Jesus Christ.
That’s where we really come from. What a glorious ‘origin’ we have as a church family! And unless we truly understand where we come from, we cannot rightly live for God as we should. In the times in which we’re living today, we very much need to remember this!
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But there’s more. We also need to remember …
2. WHAT WE’RE TO BE DOING IN THE MIDST OF THESE TIMES.
This is not a time for us to abandon the things that this church was founded to protect and proclaim. This is not a time for us to give up and conform to the world’s values and priorities. As Paul went on to write in verse 15; “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.”
To “stand fast” means to stay firm and remain resolute and unmovable in our faith in Christ. The culture all around us may be ‘falling away’ from the Christian worldview upon which it had once been based. It may be wandering further and further from the truth. But we ourselves must not wander! We must not move one inch from it!
And what’s more, we must “hold to the traditions” that we were taught. That’s not talking about mere ‘religious traditions’ or ‘old-fashioned customs’. We can know what Paul meant by the fact that he said that they were things that had been passed on “whether by word or our epistle”. That means that they were the things that Paul and Silas and Timothy taught the Thessalonians from the Scriptures in a personal, word-of-mouth ministry; and that were later spelled out to them, and preserved for them, in the letters that they had written to the various churches. We, of course, don’t have their in-person ‘word-of-mouth’ teaching today. But we do have their letters. And this means that, for us, we “hold to the traditions” by studying and proclaiming and faithfully believing the Scriptures—clinging to them even at the cost of our lives.
Do you know what Paul once told Timothy? In his second letter to him, Paul told him;
Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us (2 Timothy 1:13-14).
That ‘good thing’ was the message of the gospel in the Scriptures. Paul later told him;
But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! (3:13-4:2).
That’s what Paul was telling the Thessalonian believers to do—to stand fast, and hold on to the things that they were taught from the Scriptures. And dear brothers and sisters—members together of a chosen and called-out assembly of the redeemed—that’s what you and I need to be doing in our day. In these difficult days, we must remember this!
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Now; to do these things in such difficult times—to remember and affirm where it is that we came from, and to remember what it is that we’re to keep on doing—is beyond our human ability. If we try to rely on our own strength to do them, we—as a church—will surely fail.
But we are not helpless in this. There’s a third thing that we must remember …
3. WHO OUR HELPER IS IN DOING IT.
Paul wrote this final thing in the form of a blessing upon the Thessalonian Christians. In verses 16-17, he wrote, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.”
We’re told in Scripture that it is our God and Father who first loved us—long before we were ever worthy of that love. Even in the midst of times of trials, He has given us everlasting comfort—a comfort that extends into eternity past and that will endure unto eternity future. And He has also given us good hope by grace—assuring us that if Jesus has died for us and redeemed us, then we will not fail to be glorified with Him forever. What’s more, we’re told that the Lord Jesus Himself—our Savior and Redeemer—is involved. He died for us and has been raised for us. He sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. He will not allow us to fail until He shares all of His eternal glory with us.
There was another church that Paul wrote to. It was a church that struggled and often failed to walk faithfully. It was the church in Corinth. But even though they were not dependable in and of themselves, God Himself was very dependable toward them. Paul wrote at the beginning of his letter to them:
I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:4-9).
Trusting in our powerful heavenly Father, and keeping our eyes upon our faithful Redeemer, we will be inwardly ‘comforted in our hearts’ and outwardly ‘established in every good work’. The triune God keeps us and helps us. In times like these, we must remember this!
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So, dear brothers and sisters—dear Bethany Bible Church—on this important day and in these challenging times, let’s recommit ourselves to remember where we come from, what we’re to be doing, and who it is that is our divine Helper.
And as we do so, may God keep us a faithful church—if He so wills—until the day His Son returns for us.
AE
