2 Thessalonians 2:1-17: Only Christ is Right

Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. - 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

 "They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved." These words open a question in my mind: Why do they refuse to love the truth? There must be something unpalatable about the truth that people would refuse to accept it or the promises that come with it. It is somehow so repulsive that Paul has to remind the believers in Thessaloniki to "stand firm and hold fast" because they might perfer to give way and let go. 

What is it? I think it is the death to self. "Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." (Matt. 16:24) There are dreams that must be placed on that cross--an exchange of my dreams for God's. And those magnificent dreams of God are often fuzzy, so distant and not made clear to us--so obscured that we trade them for the paltry hopes that we can see. We trade the feast promised tomorrow for the soup and bread that we can grasp now.

Then Paul talks about the future delusion of the world. When people follow after the "lawless one" we know what he is offering, maybe know it is a lie but rationalize that a lie we know is better than glorious future we don't know. But this lawless one lets us keep the illusion that we are in control, the illusion that it is our choice, never realizing that all of the so-called choices he gives are equally damning. Christ asks us to choose him, to admit that we have chosen badly, and follow him wherever he leads.

Acting this way--choosing a person rather than choosing a destination that we choose is really difficult because it means we don't get to be right. We don't get to be the hero of our own story. There is no more rationalization. We are failures-but failures who are deeply loved. 

We don't get to be right. Only Jesus gets to be right. That can be liberating or really upsetting. Every time we try to climb back in the throne and try to be the one who is right, we find it a loser's game.  

 

Matthew 16:13-20: Worst Evangelism Plan, Ever.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. - Matthew 16:13-20

Worst evangelism plan, ever. "Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah." Why did I even bother taking EE? The standing orders from Jesus here, and in other places was to say nothing about the Messiah. Why? Because God was doing things and going to do things and then they could talk about the Messiah. If they spoke too soon, they wouldn't be helping Jesus at all. In fact, they would be getting in the way.  According to N.T. Wright, Jesus was always walking a tightrope of proving he was the Messiah while at the same time avoiding bringing down the wrath of the high priests and the romans too early.

The fact that they were able to see what they had seen as like being given a sneak preview of a new movie. Reviewers of a new moving have to have their news stories published on the day when the movie comes out, which wouldn't be possible if they didn't get to see it early. So they agree to a gag order, a non-disclosure agreement, where, in exchange for an early look, they agree not to say anything before a certain date. The movie producers don't want to control the timing of the news because otherwise an ill-timed review could tank the movie and spoil the movie for other viewers.

It was the same for Jesus. The disciples got the early look and even got a special inside look at "the making of the Messiah" But Jesus gave them a gag order-don't say too much, too early. The people had to see God at work and then their "Messiah reviews" would be much more powerful. But if they spoke before God's big move, their words would wilt. Evangelism is about letting God demonstrate first, then we speak. People don't listen to our words about God until they have 1st hand experience of God at work.