Participants: Jon Paulien & Jon Ciccarelli
Series Code: TBOTB
Program Code: TBOTB000011A
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00:21 Welcome to Books of the Book.
00:23 I am Jon Paulien, Loma Linda University 00:26 and with me is my Pastor Jon Ciccarelli 00:29 of the Calimesa Seventh-day Adventist Church. 00:32 We've been talking about 1 Thessalonians 00:35 up until now in the series 00:36 and we're moving from 1 to 2 Thessalonians. 00:41 There's an important difference 00:42 between these two letters. 00:44 It seems that in 1 Thessalonians 00:47 the people were really worried about 00:49 the delay of the advent of Jesus. 00:52 The delay of the Second Coming 00:53 and they were stressed about what would happen 00:56 to those who had died in the meantime. 00:58 In the second letter, they seemed 01:01 to have completely switched. 01:03 Now the Second Coming is right on top on them, 01:05 it may already have arrived. 01:07 And Paul getting this message is trying to deal with 01:12 a new situation here in 2 Thessalonians. 01:16 Good to be with you again, Jon, and we are starting 01:18 the 2 Second Thessalonians as you mentioned 01:19 and we're gonna look specifically at verses 01:21 1 through 12 in Chapter 1. 01:24 And Paul is rejoicing because they've been 01:27 faithful in spite of their afflictions 01:29 but he talks about God coming again 01:32 and he gives them some instruction 01:35 and he encourages them to be patient in this process. 01:38 So let's dig into the study today. 01:40 I think this chapter is one of the clearest text 01:43 about what the Second Coming of Jesus is gonna be like. 01:48 Communication was more difficult back then. 01:50 Today we have emails and we have social networks 01:54 and we have telephones and cell phones 01:57 and communication is so simple. 01:59 But back then you would have to write a letter 02:03 and then the people would hear 02:05 that letter and they process it 02:07 and then they write a letter and send it back. 02:09 And usually transportation will take at least 02:13 two weeks each way, sometimes quite a bit longer. 02:17 So it must have been two months or so 02:21 at least between 1 Thessalonians and 2. 02:24 A lot can happen in two months. 02:27 And apparently they received 1 Thessalonians 02:31 and Paul saying look, You know 02:34 don't be so stressed about the delay of the advent. 02:37 Says we will join them when Jesus comes 02:41 and they took courage from that and said, wow, 02:43 that means the Second Coming is actually right at hand. 02:47 And they got overly excited and some of them 02:49 quit their jobs so Paul is trying to correct 02:52 misunderstandings I think of what he wrote 02:55 the first time and perhaps some other 02:58 bits of dissidents were coming in. 03:01 Anyway why don't we get started with the text? 03:03 We can begin with the first two verses of 2 Thessalonians. 03:08 Paul writes, "Paul and Silvanus and Timothy 03:11 to the church of the Thessalonians in God 03:13 our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 03:16 Grace to you and peace from God our Father 03:18 and the Lord Jesus Christ." 03:21 Interesting. 03:23 This introduction sound so similar to 1 Thessalonians. 03:28 It's almost as if Paul had a macro 03:30 that maybe--that may deke me a bit but I remember 03:33 in the early stages of word processing on computers 03:36 you had macros where you could, 03:37 you could take an intro like that 03:39 and just hit one key and boom. 03:41 You know there it is in your document. 03:44 Paul definitely seems to have had 03:46 some habitual ways of saying certain things. 03:49 There's one difference between 03:52 the introduction of 2 Thessalonians and 1. 03:54 In 1 Thessalonians he speaks about God 03:57 the Father but here he talks about God our Father. 04:03 That triggers in my mind the Lord's prayer, doesn't it? 04:06 Yeah, yeah, you know I love, 04:08 Jesus came to show us the love of the Father. 04:11 You know and I think, I think sometimes 04:13 people have this view of God the Father, He is stern. 04:18 You know Jesus is the nice one. 04:19 You know Jesus is the one 04:20 that can save us almost from God himself. 04:23 And yet Jesus and when He taught us to pray, 04:26 the Lord's prayer, He says 04:27 we don't say the Father, we say, our Father, 04:30 which art in heaven, hollowed be your name. 04:32 You know Jesus was inviting us 04:33 into this relationship with the Father. 04:36 And Jesus, everything He did He says, 04:39 I don't, I don't say anything. 04:41 I don't hear the Father saying. 04:42 I don't do anything. 04:43 I don't see the Father doing, 04:44 so everything He said and did was of the Father. 04:48 So the love we see in Jesus 04:50 is this profound love of the Father for His beloved, 04:55 for His sons and daughters, for His creation. 04:57 And you know it's interesting because 05:00 sometimes I think that depending on your view of God, 05:05 you know your view of the Father, 05:06 your view of Jesus, your view of the Holy Spirit 05:08 it impacts how you really live your life. 05:11 I heard someone say once, you know if you have-- 05:13 if your focus is on God the Father 05:15 and you have the stern image of Him 05:17 that impacts how you live your life 05:19 and how you worship. 05:20 You might be very strict and scared. 05:23 A life of fear that you're gonna be 05:25 you know pounded by God and if you see Jesus 05:29 as the nice compassionate, forgiving, loving one, 05:32 you know then you might live that way more. 05:34 And then the Holy Spirit you might be 05:36 a little more easygoing, you know has that view. 05:39 But really they're all one and so Jesus came to 05:44 show us the love of the Father 05:46 and we can know that God truly is our loving Father. 05:50 Well, isn't that perhaps what frightens 05:52 people about religion today? 05:55 I think more and more we're seeing in the media 05:57 the idea of religion is the reason for terrorism 05:59 and a religion is the reason for 06:02 the problems we have in the world. 06:03 And if only we could you know get away from this-- 06:06 well, I think some of that, 06:09 you know maybe on point in the sense that 06:12 the view you have of God reflects who you are. 06:15 Interesting things, the cruelest people 06:18 in the ancient world Canaanites, the Assyrians, 06:23 the cruelest people in the ancient world 06:25 were really religious people. 06:28 So this point you're making is really important 06:30 that the kind of God you worship 06:34 is gonna have a powerful impact on who you are. 06:36 Religion does change lives. 06:39 Religion does affect who you are. 06:41 If you have a view of God who is stern and critical 06:44 and angry and constantly after people and so on 06:49 we tend to become like that. 06:52 And our characters are molded 06:56 by the kind of God that we worship. 06:58 I think this is a very, very critical issue. 07:01 Yeah, I think, you know sometimes 07:03 people will talk to me about religion and it's bad. 07:06 And I say, no, religion is a very good thing. 07:08 We're all religious about something. 07:10 About different things in our lives. 07:12 And Jesus was religious about 07:16 His relationship with the Father 07:18 and religious about sharing that love of the Father. 07:20 And you know it's love is estimated by 07:22 beholding we become changed. 07:25 You know by being religious about being with Jesus 07:29 and being with our Father we become changed. 07:32 And the more we experienced that love 07:34 the more it changes our hearts and people can see 07:37 that we've been religious about being with God 07:40 and religious about His love in the world. 07:43 And people will judge God by what they see 07:47 in the lives of those who claim to be following Him. 07:50 So when you claim to be following God 07:52 you're now on trial in a sense as to what God is like 07:57 and the kind of picture of God that they will take so. 08:01 These are very important for us to think about. 08:03 Moving on to verses 3 and 4 and let me remind our 08:06 viewing audience that the translations of 08:09 1 and 2 Thessalonians that we use in this program 08:12 are my own translations, not out of any disrespect 08:15 for other translations of the Bible 08:18 but in order to show sometimes 08:20 the subtle meanings of Greek words, 08:22 sometimes the grammar of the Greek 08:24 that makes for awkward English but enables us to see 08:28 how different parts of the text relate to each other. 08:31 Verses 3 and 4 of 2 Thessalonians 1, says 08:35 "we are obligated to give thanks to God 08:39 always for you, brothers, as is right, 08:43 because your faith is growing abundantly." 08:46 Paul says, super growing. 08:48 And Paul loves that word super. 08:50 "Your faith is growing abundantly, 08:52 and the love of every one of you 08:54 for each other is increasing, 08:56 so that we ourselves boast about you 08:59 among the churches of God because of your patience 09:02 and faith in all your persecutions 09:05 and in the afflictions that you are enduring." 09:09 One thing I wanna point out 09:11 is that 2 Thessalonians 1 verses 3-10 09:15 is a single sentence in the Greek. 09:18 Many translations you won't see that 09:20 because that's awfully awkward in the English. 09:23 Now the King James Bible has it right on this one 09:27 in that it if you read the King James Version 09:29 it has this as one single sentence 09:34 and that's why some people sometimes find the King James 09:37 difficult to read because sometimes it catches 09:39 these new answers better than more modern translations do. 09:45 Anyway Paul, here that the only verb 09:48 we have in here is we are obligated. 09:52 That's it. 09:53 We are obligated to give thanks to God always for you. 09:58 So we must keep in mind we're gonna get into 10:01 some scary stuff in these verses. 10:04 But his motivation, the basic reason for this 10:08 whole long sentence is we are obligated 10:11 to give thanks to God for you. 10:13 So verses 3-10 and as many places as it goes, 10:18 it's a prayer of thankfulness. 10:21 Paul is excited about everything 10:23 going on with the Thessalonians. 10:26 Are they troubled people? Absolutely. 10:28 I mean this is one of his toughest letters 10:32 and yet he can say, your faith's super growing, 10:37 your love is just increasing for everybody, 10:41 even for people outside and we boast about you 10:45 among all the churches and everywhere we go 10:48 in spite of date setting, in spite of lazy people 10:53 are quitting their jobs, in spite of disruptive 10:56 busy bodies in the church, 10:58 he can say we're thanking God for you. 11:01 We're thrilled about you 11:02 because your faith and love are just super growing. 11:06 It's amazing. That's present tenses. 11:09 Yeah, I love that all those verbs 11:10 are in the present tense, you know. 11:12 And in spite of them not being quote on quote 11:15 perfect or having that all together 11:17 they're still that growth. 11:18 Because they're becoming like we're talking about 11:20 another, in other episodes. 11:22 And you know it's kind of like, 11:23 I love how Jesus himself used the illustration 11:26 of how we grow like a plant. 11:28 In John Chapter 15 and He says 11:30 "I'm the vine, you are the branches." 11:33 And getting back to the Father, 11:34 the Father is the gardener. 11:36 The one who loves and tends 11:37 to the garden and helps it grow. 11:39 And He says, when you abide in me 11:41 you will bear much fruit. 11:43 You know you're gonna continue to grow 11:45 as long as you're connect you'll continue to grow. 11:47 And the words that He says in John 15 they're pretty blend 11:51 "apart from me you can do nothing. 11:53 Apart from me there is no growth but in Christ there is." 11:56 And I think in using that kind of 11:58 illustration of a plant it's important for us to 12:00 remember there are seasons of life. 12:03 And I think sometimes especially in North America 12:05 anyways we're so much focused on production. 12:08 You know and success and always being able to produce 24/7. 12:12 That's not the life of a plant. 12:14 That's not a life of vine and branches. 12:16 There's times in which the plant goes through 12:19 fall, winter, spring, and summer. 12:20 There's time when it's blooming 12:22 and it's producing fruits and there's time when it's dormant. 12:25 And there is times when the seasons comes so that it can, 12:27 it can produce but all within the context 12:30 of the gardener our Father and Jesus. 12:33 But it is like you said super growing, its super growing. 12:37 And so I wanna encourage people 12:40 that you maybe going through a time 12:41 maybe a winter but don't get discouraged 12:44 its part of the growth that God 12:45 brings into our lives abiding in Him. 12:48 In fact that verse in Chapter 15 of John 12:50 is the verse that talks about pruning 12:52 and so sometimes pruning I'm sure doesn't feel good. 12:55 But its part of that super growing 12:57 that you're talking about. 12:58 Wow, that opened up some like big windows 13:01 as I sit here and listen. 13:03 Let me just say a couple of more things 13:04 about this text till then we do need to go to a break. 13:07 First of all is here again 13:10 affirmation first criticism later. 13:13 People grow less from criticism 13:16 than they do from affirmation. 13:17 I find when I bang on people they get worse. 13:20 When I encourage them they tend to get better. 13:23 And Paul clearly knows that before he brings 13:25 any criticism, any correction, 13:27 he is affirming them very, very strongly. 13:30 And again we have a trio here faith, hope, and love. 13:34 Except here he says, faith, love, and patience. 13:38 So instead of hope there is patience here. 13:40 So he is continuing something about the Thessalonians. 13:45 He is so excited about them. 13:47 They somehow responded differently 13:50 than any of the church. 13:51 He fell in love with them. 13:53 I think part of the big picture here 13:55 is how they rejoiced in suffering. 13:58 And that's what we'll get into after the break. |
Revised 2023-01-25