Twenty-fourth Sunday After Pentecost
November 11, 2007
TEXT: 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
Stand Firm!
Standing firm is not always ease, and it depends greatly on what it is you’re trying to stand firm on or in. Some things are easer to stand firm on than others. And it also depends on just how important the issue is that you’re trying to stand firm on. (PAUSE)
All of us know at least one person who is on a diet, and most likely each of us have fought the scales to lose some weight from time to time. Standing firm or staying on a diet is not always easy. (But what irritates me the most are those individuals who don’t need to be on a diet telling you, AOh, I need to lose a few pounds.@)
The fact that there are so many different types of diets out there says a lot about the difficulty of losing weight. It also says something about the marketability. If there wasn’t a market for dieting there wouldn’t be so many companies trying to sell you a ASlim Gym,@ Aa Bowflex@ Aa Stair Climber,@ a ATread Mill@ OR to join a program, such as AWeight Watchers,@ or AJenni Lynn.@
Also a factor in dieting is sticking to your diet.
That’s why there are support groups. Few of us have the discipline on our own to stick to a diet. Oh, we may keep it up for a while, but it’s difficult to stand firm.
Besides, the dieting is really only the tip of the ice burg. What really has to be done is learning different eating habits if we intend to keep the weight off. (PAUSE)
Well, St. Paul is not talking to the Thessalonians about taking off a few pounds here and there. But what he is talking about is important, as well as difficult!
Paul states the concern:
13 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. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thess. 3:13-14)
Paul first reminds the Thessalonians that they are beloved of God and that the Lord
Achose them.@ This speaks to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and His calling us into
faith.
For no one can say that Jesus Christ is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. (1 Cor. 12:3)
One of the important teachings of the Holy Scriptures that the confirmation class and I are going over is Holy Baptism.
We first have to understand a few things about God’s Word and even God Himself, before we can intelligently consider the work of the Holy Spirit in Baptism.
FIRST, What does the Word of God say about Baptism?
SECONDLY, We need to understand the Coventual Theology of the Old Testament. How God has acted in the past, and the fact that God made Promises and He keeps them, however impossible they may sound to us! The very fact that God is unapproachable to our understanding makes this understanding of Coventual Theology even more critical.
The covenant of circumcision was a part of the Old Testament Covenant or Promise. It was performed on the eighty day of the child’s life. It was God’s Promise to save that child, even though the child could not understand God, they were saved by God’s Promise attached to the sign.
Sound ridiculous?
How could God do that?
He Promised!
There is one catch, but the catch is NOT with God’s Promise, but has to do with the faithfulness of the individual. As these children of the Old Testament Covenant grew it was imperative that they stand firm or continue in their faith. It was important that the parents were good role models. Without good role models even in the Old Testament the chances of the child remaining firm in the faith were lessened.
Many didn’t remain firm, but that doesn’t annual the promise of God! That only means that this person walked away from God and any of us can do that, even if we were baptized!
In Baptism God Promises the Holy Spirit, and there is no mention of age. But under the Old Covenant there is a mention of age, eight days old. That infant received the promise of eternal life just as God promises eternal life to the eight day old infant in the same way. In Acts 3:38 at Pentecost Peter said:
Be Baptized everyone of you for the forgiveness of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for this promise is for you and your children and those who are far off whom God has called.
Just like the Old Covenant so too in Baptism, the infant must be norished in the faith. Here too the parents are to be good role models in their son or daughters life regarding the faith.
The admonition of St. Paul is to all of us: AStand Firm!@
Stand Firm in What?
Paul answers that question in the same sentence with the same breath.
Stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter (2 Thess. 2:15).
The Christian has a support group too! It’s called the church or the local congregation; and even though it is filled with sinners like you, and oh, me, it is still God’s Church. Christians did not establish the church to go with their faith, but the church grew out of the faith and was established by Christ. This is evident by the very fact that in the New Testament the Lord’s Supper was always celebrated by the local congregation, and was never a private thing.
Stay connected to Christ’s Church for here is offered the support that Christ knew that you and I would need in order to stand firm.
St. Paul reminds these Christians in Thessalonica that they have the faith, that they have and eternal hope that rest in Jesus Christ, but they must not forsake it or leave it behind.
I think that AStanding Firm@ is more a parental issue than a child issue. Many of today’s parents are NOT doing the right things that would help their children stand firm. The danger of today is that the Christian parents don’t even see it coming! They drop off their children at church or Sunday School.