Stand Firm!
Geta grip!

2 Thessalonians 2:1-8,13-17

† Jesus, Son and Savior †

May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ sustain you’re your grip on your salvation as you stand firm in the hope of the Resurrection to eternal life!

The key verse

Most of the time I preach, I try to come up with some illustration to help understand what scripture is teaching us. Educational theory tells us we are a visual people, which is why those who have tried to teach morals use storytelling, fables, parables, to help people see the point.

Today, I couldn’t come up with one.

That’s okay, as the point today is pretty simple…

“¹⁵ With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter.”

That seems simple enough… stand firm – hold on to the hope we have taught you.

The hope found in the experience of salvation.

The hope found in the work of the Holy Spirit who makes us holy, and lead us to believe in the truth.

Stand firm there, and get a grip on this…

But there are challenges.

The challenge – false teaching leading to lawlessness

One of the challenges that I don’t talk about enough is false teaching – especially about End Times. Paul is warning the church about such people who would use the End times to motivate us through fear. Listen to Paul, “² Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. ³ Don’t be fooled by what they say.”

It doesn’t matter how sincere these men and women who preach are, it doesn’t matter how they have studied and dissected the numbers and days that create their message. If they focus more on developing fear and horror at the thought of the end, they missed the hope we have…

So ignore them.

Despite the temptation to follow their logic and examine it thoroughly. Despite the attempts to make you come to repentance fearing the Day or Judgement, or the Tribulation, or anything else that puts the “fear of God” and the fear of judgment or condemnation in you, and then asks you to take some action to assure your survival.

But all that does is convince you that God’s grace is sufficient, and puts the burden of survival on you… and reinforces a stereotype that our sin is great than God’s ability to deliver.

The call to share in the glory of Christ.

When Paul writes to a young pastor named Titus, he addressed this idea of the believer fearing God because of their sin.  He wrote,  ³  Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. ⁴  But—“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, ⁵  he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:3-5 (NLT2)

That is the same message as he tells these believers from Thessalonika. Instead of worrying about the End Times, focus in on what the Holy Spirit is doing in your life, as we started with, “a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth. ¹⁴ He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That last line is what we should be focused on, what we pin our expectations on, this idea that we can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When we think of end times, this is what our focus needs to be! Not on the trauma, for life itself can be just as traumatic as anything the doomsayers and fearmongers put forth.

We need to remember the promise of our baptism—that we receive the forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit and everlasting life.

This is a constant theme in scripture,

²⁷  For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.
Colossians 1:27 (NLT2)

²³  but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NLT2)

And how many of the parables, from the wheat and the tares to the sheep and the goats talk about us entering everlasting life…

Us, those who were born into sin, and have struggled with sin, the kind of people this place was built for…

Not that we would fear Judgment Day, but that we would expect it and rejoice as we see it coming.

For it will come, and we will be at home with our Lord!  AMEN!