Welcome to this week’s episode, a special rerun from our Speaking of Life archive. We hope you find its timeless message as meaningful today as it was when it was first shared.
Watch video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7b7gsS4Q40
Program Transcript
Speaking Of Life 4051 │ Life’s Paradox
Jeff Broadnax
I’ve been privileged to attend the births of our four children, and as a result, I have the utmost respect for mothers everywhere. Though I haven’t experienced it in my own body, I’ve witnessed the pain and the great courage my wife Karen endured as she birthed our kids. You may have heard the saying among women that “childbirth is the worst pain you’ll ever experience and the fastest you’ll forget.” This highlights the paradox that is the birth experience: out of great suffering, a new life is born. Great pain and great joy. Two contradictory aspects of the same experience that are both true. In our case, we suffered the grief of losing our second-born daughter in the birthing process but later experienced the euphoria of welcoming our only son and later his baby sister into the world.
We weren’t the first to wrestle with this highly personal family journey nor the more common emotional tension between joy and pain that touches all people in physical, emotional and even spiritual ways. Our world is a world of paradox. Think about the seasons. We witness the beauty and new life of spring and summer followed by the decay and apparent deadness of fall and winter. Yet we have difficulty holding the tension in our lives between the pleasures and joys of living with the inevitable sorrows of disappointment, loss, and grief.
Jesus’s disciples were no different from us. They were looking for some certainty, something to hold on to when Jesus prophesied about the temple’s destruction in Luke 21:5-19. Jesus told them that the temple would be destroyed, but rather than answer their questions about when this would happen, Jesus talked about other troubles they might encounter. Things like wars, earthquakes, famines, and persecution. If the disciples were feeling overwhelmed at the thought of the temple’s destruction, they had to be completely anxious after Jesus’ list of troubles to come.
After telling them all the terrible things that might happen in the future, Jesus invited them to embrace the tension of grief with a certainty of hope when he said:
Every detail of your body and soul—even the hairs of your head!—is in my care; nothing of you will be lost. Staying with it—that’s what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry; you’ll be saved.
Luke 21:18-19 (The Message)
Notice that Jesus did not tell them that their certainty would be found in knowing the exact dates or times of these troubles. Jesus didn’t tell them, “Oh, don’t worry. Nothing bad will ever happen to you.” Instead, Jesus reminded them that life is hard while reminding them that he had gone before and would never leave them.
Jesus’s solution to holding life’s paradox is to know that we are held, lovingly and tenderly by the One who knows how hard human life can be. “Staying with it” means not giving up looking for beauty and blessings in the ashes of sorrow and grief. It means trusting that our salvation will be birthed from living joyfully and participating in God’s love for others whenever we can.
Labor and birth are difficult, but a mother knows that holding the baby in her arms will be worth it. At other times, our life story requires us to endure more than we thought possible, but the Son of God, our elder brother Jesus says, “Sorrow won’t overcome you. Joy will be yours.”
The beautiful tension of life’s joys and sorrows will always be with us on this side of heaven, but we can rest assured that we are always in the care of our triune God.
I’m Jeff Broadnax, Speaking of Life.
Program Transcript
Speaking Of Life 4051 │ Life’s Paradox
Jeff Broadnax
I’ve been privileged to attend the births of our four children, and as a result, I have the utmost respect for mothers everywhere. Though I haven’t experienced it in my own body, I’ve witnessed the pain and the great courage my wife Karen endured as she birthed our kids. You may have heard the saying among women that “childbirth is the worst pain you’ll ever experience and the fastest you’ll forget.” This highlights the paradox that is the birth experience: out of great suffering, a new life is born. Great pain and great joy. Two contradictory aspects of the same experience that are both true. In our case, we suffered the grief of losing our second-born daughter in the birthing process but later experienced the euphoria of welcoming our only son and later his baby sister into the world.
We weren’t the first to wrestle with this highly personal family journey nor the more common emotional tension between joy and pain that touches all people in physical, emotional and even spiritual ways. Our world is a world of paradox. Think about the seasons. We witness the beauty and new life of spring and summer followed by the decay and apparent deadness of fall and winter. Yet we have difficulty holding the tension in our lives between the pleasures and joys of living with the inevitable sorrows of disappointment, loss, and grief.
Jesus’s disciples were no different from us. They were looking for some certainty, something to hold on to when Jesus prophesied about the temple’s destruction in Luke 21:5-19. Jesus told them that the temple would be destroyed, but rather than answer their questions about when this would happen, Jesus talked about other troubles they might encounter. Things like wars, earthquakes, famines, and persecution. If the disciples were feeling overwhelmed at the thought of the temple’s destruction, they had to be completely anxious after Jesus’ list of troubles to come.
After telling them all the terrible things that might happen in the future, Jesus invited them to embrace the tension of grief with a certainty of hope when he said:
Every detail of your body and soul—even the hairs of your head!—is in my care; nothing of you will be lost. Staying with it—that’s what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry; you’ll be saved.
Luke 21:18-19 (The Message)
Notice that Jesus did not tell them that their certainty would be found in knowing the exact dates or times of these troubles. Jesus didn’t tell them, “Oh, don’t worry. Nothing bad will ever happen to you.” Instead, Jesus reminded them that life is hard while reminding them that he had gone before and would never leave them.
Jesus’s solution to holding life’s paradox is to know that we are held, lovingly and tenderly by the One who knows how hard human life can be. “Staying with it” means not giving up looking for beauty and blessings in the ashes of sorrow and grief. It means trusting that our salvation will be birthed from living joyfully and participating in God’s love for others whenever we can.
Labor and birth are difficult, but a mother knows that holding the baby in her arms will be worth it. At other times, our life story requires us to endure more than we thought possible, but the Son of God, our elder brother Jesus says, “Sorrow won’t overcome you. Joy will be yours.”
The beautiful tension of life’s joys and sorrows will always be with us on this side of heaven, but we can rest assured that we are always in the care of our triune God.
I’m Jeff Broadnax, Speaking of Life.
Psalm 145:1–5, 17–21 • Haggai 1:15b–2:9 • 2 Thessalonians 2:1–5, 13–17 • Luke 20:27–38
This week’s theme is the hope of the Lord. For our call to worship psalm, God’s splendor and greatness are extolled, and he is depicted as present and responsive to our cries. The Old Testament text from Haggai encourages those who longed for the former glory of the temple, offering hope that the future temple held even greater glory than the former. Our text in 2 Thessalonians reassures a group of new believers that they have not missed out on Jesus’ return. In the Gospel reading from Luke, the Lord corrects the Sadducees’ fixation on death and in not believing in the resurrection, by proclaiming that God is the God of the living.
Reminder: This introductory paragraph is intended to show how the four RCL selections for this week are connected and to assist the preacher prepare the sermon. It is not intended to be included in the sermon.
How to use this sermon resource.
Stand Firm and Hold Fast
2 Thessalonians 2:1–5, 13–17 ESV
Today will be our second visit to the letter 2 Thessalonians. As we saw last week, one of the reasons Paul writes this second letter to the new believers in Thessalonica is to dispel the rumor going around that the return of Christ had already happened. Whoever is spreading this lie that Paul was supposedly teaching appears to be sincere but just misinformed. However, in reality, these rumors are being intentionally spread.
Before we get into the text today, it may be good to acknowledge that we can all be naïve at times. We have all been fooled by people who wish to take advantage of or deceive us. There are people who set out intentionally and deliberately to deceive and harm the Church through lies and false teachings. Just like what Paul was dealing with, people spreading lies often do it as insiders, as if speaking for the Church. It was true in Paul’s day, and it’s true in ours.
Remember, the church in Thessalonica was made up of many new Gentile believers. They would be easy targets to deceive and disrupt. Again, are we naïve that such intentional efforts and targeting take aim at our churches today, especially where a weakness can be found? We tend to want to trust and believe the best of others, and this can be a very good thing. However, we should always be on guard that this does not blind us to the fact that we have a real enemy. The devil who “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8 ESV). And this enemy has a way of enlisting people into his schemes. We are less naïve when we know the source of these intentional deceptions. Paul writes that it “is by the activity of Satan” that these works of deception come (v 9). Paul was not naïve and what he writes to the Thessalonians can help us, as it was intended to help them, to stand firm and hold fast to what is true.
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 2 Thessalonians 2:1–2 ESV
Paul addresses directly his concern about the false rumors going around regarding the “coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him …” Notice the point of attack is targeted on their eschatological (end times) understanding. We may wonder why this was chosen as the strategy for deception. And if we take a brief survey of our own times, does it not seem that matters of end time events appear to be an area on which dishonest teachers love to concentrate? Perhaps it’s because it’s an area that doesn’t give us a lot of details. It may be easy to get a hearing if someone can fill in some details we are itching to know. Or maybe being deceived about “tomorrow” will have the most destructive ramifications for how we live today. That seems to have been the effect for some of the believers in Thessalonica. In fact, that may be why some are not working or contributing. Hopelessness leads to apathy and can destroy a sense of purpose or the will to plan for the future. Whatever the reason, lies are creating instability and alarm for these new believers.
Paul names the lie: a rumor that “the day of the Lord has come.” This lie concerns not only the coming of Jesus but “our being gathered together to him …” That may explain why these believers were “shaken in mind” or “alarmed.” If Jesus has already come, then they are left out of “being gathered together to him” since they are obviously still in the middle of their persecutions. What is at stake in believing this lie is the hope that comes with knowing Jesus will return to vindicate and redeem us. These Christians are experiencing persecutions, so to be told that Jesus had already come, while nothing has changed for them, would certainly be a huge point of confusion. Some appear to have just given up. It’s unlikely these Thessalonians are simply lazy. They probably are despondent from a lack of hope.
Paul wants to encourage them by reminding them of what he first told them. He goes as far as to tell them not to be shaken or alarmed even if they hear something different from “a letter seeming to be from us.” If someone comes around saying that Paul either changed his mind or understands it differently than he once did, then that message shouldn’t be trusted. Paul will now return to remind the Thessalonian believers of what he did say:
Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 2 Thessalonians 2:3–5 ESV
These new believers are reminded of some previous instructions about Jesus’ return that included certain events that would happen before the coming of the Lord. The central figure to be concerned about in this regard is “the man of lawlessness” and his being revealed. We may not know exactly what it was Paul had told them, but we get some idea if we read further to verse 12. The point he is making is simply that since these things have not happened yet, they should know that Jesus has not returned.
Paul also seems to be helping them not to be overly concerned about missing the return of Jesus. In a sense, he is saying it will be obvious when he returns. They will know it when they see it. But to be sure, Paul is not fixating on the particulars of end-time events. He is assuring them that Jesus has not forgotten them, but they have forgotten what they were first told when Paul was with them.
We will now skip down to the concluding verses of our selected text:
But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2:13–17 ESV
This section begins with “But” which provides enormous significance for what Paul wants to emphasize. Our focus should not be on predicting the timing of Jesus’ return. Instead, we should focus on God’s actions towards these believers. This is cause for thanksgiving. They are “beloved by the Lord,” and so are we! That was (and is) an encouraging and refreshing reminder that Jesus has not abandoned us.
“God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved.” This is a reference that these are some of the earliest followers of Jesus. If God chose them first, they can have confidence that he will not forget them. And this salvation is “through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” God will complete his work where they will “obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The message to the Thessalonians is the same for us: live out the salvation God has given us. Participate in the present, not fearing to miss out in the future. Since God loves us, has chosen us, and is working in us by the Spirit, we have everything we need. Our future is secure.
From here Paul encourages them to stand firm and fast.
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:15–17 ESV
Paul encourages them to “stand firm and hold to the traditions” they were taught by Paul and his companions — in their “spoken word” or “by letter.” In other words, don’t put too much stock in secondhand commentary on what we taught you. You heard it straight from us; don’t let anyone tell you something different. And that should hold for us today as well. We too have the teachings of the apostles in the Bible. That is the source we return to when we are confronted by mind shaking or alarming rumors and teachings. We too must “stand firm and hold to the traditions” we are taught in God’s word that has been passed down to us.
The hearing of God’s word ends today with a prayer for comfort and hope, the very things the false teachers had stolen with their lies. May God answer this prayer in our lives today as well. We too must confront many rumors, lies, and false teachings aimed at diminishing our faith and robbing us of the comfort and hope we have in Christ. We do this by returning again and again to what the Lord has taught us through his appointed apostles who wrote down letters like 2 Thessalonians, that later were canonized as the inspired word of God. Whether we are new believers, or have been following the Lord for many years, may our time in this letter encourage you to remain devoted to God’s written word that builds our faith in the Living Word, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen!
Dr. Dwight Zscheile—Year C Proper 27
Listen to audio: https://cloud.gci.org/dl/GReverb/GR069-Zcheielle-YearC-Proper27.mp3
Sunday, November 9, 2025 — Proper 27 of Ordinary Time
2 Thessalonians 2:1–5, 13–17 NRSVUE
CLICK HERE to listen to the whole podcast.
If you get a chance to rate and review the show, that helps a lot. And invite your fellow preachers and Bible lovers to join us!
Follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcast.
Program Transcript
Dr. Dwight Zscheile—Year C Proper 27
Anthony: Alright, let’s transition to our next pericope of the month. It is 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 27 in Ordinary Time, which is November 9. Dwight, we’d be grateful if you read it for us, please.
Dwight: I’d be happy to.
As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. 4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?
13 But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 For this purpose he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter. 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, 17 comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.
Anthony: Amen. I see a theme that constantly is present in Thessalonians, and that is the coming of Jesus Christ, being prepared for the second arrival, an awareness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I’m curious because sometimes I hear Christians talk about the kingdom to come in its fullness and it’s like we’re waiting around just trying to escape to that, as opposed to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming, having a Word to speak to us in the here and now. What say you, how do you speak of the second coming of Jesus?
Dwight: Yeah, so I think it’s really important to step back and think about how time is conceptualized in different cultures. And if you think about what’s so powerful about biblical faith is the sense of God acting in history, which is very revolutionary. I think we take it for granted, but compared to so many cultures in the world which see this sort of endless cycles of time repeating itself. But the idea that there is a beginning, middle, and end, if you will, to history, or there are these seasons, if you will, that are up to God is a really powerful biblical teaching. And so, this teaching on the Parousia is a way to stress that.
And I always want to approach it with fear and trembling and thinking about the depths of the mystery of all of this, because of course, very much one of the core messages of the Thessalonian correspondence is, okay don’t spend too much time trying to worry about exactly when this is coming, right? This is God’s thing. And so, we need to be living into a new reality in light of that future. But that future is in fact one of the healing and restoration of the whole world. It’s not simply the escape of certain people out of the world, which I think has been one of the ways in which this has been imagined.
And often we get a very diminished soteriology is a result of that. And so, I think the idea in our culture, which I think in the modern West, has a kind of narrative of progress that has been built in since the Enlightenment, which in some ways, again, would not have happened without Christianity, without a sense that time has a trajectory — that is really a Christian idea or at least a going back into the Jewish heritage as well — that we live in this culture that says things should be just getting better and better. Humans should be being perfected through technology, education, science, and all this stuff.
And of course, that is really over the last century since World War I, in many ways been deeply challenged and disrupted and broken down, and yet it still functions, I think, in many ways. And I think people get surprised when their vision of progress isn’t being realized and people feel like, oh, we’re going back. You hear this language a lot, right?
And so, the biblical teaching, which is not progress in that sense of self, human self-salvation or perfectibility through technology, science, or the sell, the state of the market, if you will, but rather that God is in control of history, that God is active in history, and we live in this in-between time where we have this tangible experience of a kind of down payment, if you will, on God’s future, on the kingdom that we experience.
We know it. It’s real. It lives in us and among us and around us in different ways. And yet we yearn for, we look for its completion. It’s bringing all of creation to rights and the restoring of relationships that are broken and the healing of all that’s been that’s been wounded and destroyed and all of that. We have that hope that is a proper hope that we can look forward to and we hold it with just incredible humble mystery, a posture of not trying to manage and fix when that future comes, but trusting that it is the ultimate story.
Anthony: Looking at verses 13 through 17, how would you herald the God that’s revealed in Jesus Christ here?
Dwight: Yeah. So again, I love this language of first fruits for salvation and this, again, this stress and this text around God acting to sanctify us through the Holy Spirit, to make us holy, to restore us to holiness, to right relationship with God and each other and the world. And to do that through truth, through a different way of understanding reality that is present in Jesus, right? Jesus as the locus of God’s Word, as the locus of that truth that we know tangibly through his ministry and his presence.
And so, again, the idea here that comes through in this of gratitude and God’s action to choose and claim us being primary, I think is really important to stress. And then, this message about glory is also really interesting, too.
So, what is the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ? You think about Paul’s cultural context. Glory had certain associations in a Roman imperial context, and it was all about military conquest. Military heroes were glorious. Glory of Caesar and all that.
The glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, right? Even using that word, kurios, Lord, which would normally apply to Caesar. Here’s the guy who was crucified shamefully by the Roman Empire. He’s actually the glorious one. How revolutionary this is!
So, if our ideas of glory are shaped by human cultures and empires, we will miss the profoundly subversive message here of glory being found in a God who is willing to join us, suffer with us, and for us. And claim us in the very worst of human circumstances. That’s the kind of glory we know that is a love that shows up, that is present and reaches through even the hate that we send and bring to that very person, right? If we’re the ones crucifying Christ and Christ is saying, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”
Anthony: It’s such good news. Such good news. Yes. Yes, it is. And I like to say to churches, the gospel is good news and so, this is what we need to speak to one another. We speak life. If there’s one place, we should show up each and every week and expect to hear good news, it should be the church of Jesus Christ proclaiming his word. Amen and amen.
Program Transcript
Dr. Dwight Zscheile—Year C Proper 27
Anthony: Alright, let’s transition to our next pericope of the month. It is 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 27 in Ordinary Time, which is November 9. Dwight, we’d be grateful if you read it for us, please.
Dwight: I’d be happy to.
As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. 4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?
13 But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 For this purpose he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter. 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, 17 comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.
Anthony: Amen. I see a theme that constantly is present in Thessalonians, and that is the coming of Jesus Christ, being prepared for the second arrival, an awareness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I’m curious because sometimes I hear Christians talk about the kingdom to come in its fullness and it’s like we’re waiting around just trying to escape to that, as opposed to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming, having a Word to speak to us in the here and now. What say you, how do you speak of the second coming of Jesus?
Dwight: Yeah, so I think it’s really important to step back and think about how time is conceptualized in different cultures. And if you think about what’s so powerful about biblical faith is the sense of God acting in history, which is very revolutionary. I think we take it for granted, but compared to so many cultures in the world which see this sort of endless cycles of time repeating itself. But the idea that there is a beginning, middle, and end, if you will, to history, or there are these seasons, if you will, that are up to God is a really powerful biblical teaching. And so, this teaching on the Parousia is a way to stress that.
And I always want to approach it with fear and trembling and thinking about the depths of the mystery of all of this, because of course, very much one of the core messages of the Thessalonian correspondence is, okay don’t spend too much time trying to worry about exactly when this is coming, right? This is God’s thing. And so, we need to be living into a new reality in light of that future. But that future is in fact one of the healing and restoration of the whole world. It’s not simply the escape of certain people out of the world, which I think has been one of the ways in which this has been imagined.
And often we get a very diminished soteriology is a result of that. And so, I think the idea in our culture, which I think in the modern West, has a kind of narrative of progress that has been built in since the Enlightenment, which in some ways, again, would not have happened without Christianity, without a sense that time has a trajectory — that is really a Christian idea or at least a going back into the Jewish heritage as well — that we live in this culture that says things should be just getting better and better. Humans should be being perfected through technology, education, science, and all this stuff.
And of course, that is really over the last century since World War I, in many ways been deeply challenged and disrupted and broken down, and yet it still functions, I think, in many ways. And I think people get surprised when their vision of progress isn’t being realized and people feel like, oh, we’re going back. You hear this language a lot, right?
And so, the biblical teaching, which is not progress in that sense of self, human self-salvation or perfectibility through technology, science, or the sell, the state of the market, if you will, but rather that God is in control of history, that God is active in history, and we live in this in-between time where we have this tangible experience of a kind of down payment, if you will, on God’s future, on the kingdom that we experience.
We know it. It’s real. It lives in us and among us and around us in different ways. And yet we yearn for, we look for its completion. It’s bringing all of creation to rights and the restoring of relationships that are broken and the healing of all that’s been that’s been wounded and destroyed and all of that. We have that hope that is a proper hope that we can look forward to and we hold it with just incredible humble mystery, a posture of not trying to manage and fix when that future comes, but trusting that it is the ultimate story.
Anthony: Looking at verses 13 through 17, how would you herald the God that’s revealed in Jesus Christ here?
Dwight: Yeah. So again, I love this language of first fruits for salvation and this, again, this stress and this text around God acting to sanctify us through the Holy Spirit, to make us holy, to restore us to holiness, to right relationship with God and each other and the world. And to do that through truth, through a different way of understanding reality that is present in Jesus, right? Jesus as the locus of God’s Word, as the locus of that truth that we know tangibly through his ministry and his presence.
And so, again, the idea here that comes through in this of gratitude and God’s action to choose and claim us being primary, I think is really important to stress. And then, this message about glory is also really interesting, too.
So, what is the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ? You think about Paul’s cultural context. Glory had certain associations in a Roman imperial context, and it was all about military conquest. Military heroes were glorious. Glory of Caesar and all that.
The glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, right? Even using that word, kurios, Lord, which would normally apply to Caesar. Here’s the guy who was crucified shamefully by the Roman Empire. He’s actually the glorious one. How revolutionary this is!
So, if our ideas of glory are shaped by human cultures and empires, we will miss the profoundly subversive message here of glory being found in a God who is willing to join us, suffer with us, and for us. And claim us in the very worst of human circumstances. That’s the kind of glory we know that is a love that shows up, that is present and reaches through even the hate that we send and bring to that very person, right? If we’re the ones crucifying Christ and Christ is saying, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”
Anthony: It’s such good news. Such good news. Yes. Yes, it is. And I like to say to churches, the gospel is good news and so, this is what we need to speak to one another. We speak life. If there’s one place, we should show up each and every week and expect to hear good news, it should be the church of Jesus Christ proclaiming his word. Amen and amen.
Small Group Discussion Questions
- Discuss the dangers of being naïve about people intentionally targeting the church for deception and destruction. How does knowing that the devil is the source of such attempts guard us from being naïve?
- What do you think was most at stake for the new believers in thinking the Lord had already returned?
- What are some of the things Paul says that would encourage the Thessalonian believers to “stand firm and hold fast?”
- Discuss the importance of returning to the Bible over and over in order to “stand firm and hold fast.”
