Participants: Jon Paulien & Jon Ciccarelli
Series Code: TBOTB
Program Code: TBOTB000013A
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00:22 Welcome to Books of the Book.
00:24 We've been working our way through the letters of Paul 00:27 to the Thessalonians and we're coming now 00:29 to our concluding program. 00:31 We'll be looking at the end of Chapter 2 00:33 and Chapter 3 of Second Thessalonians. 00:37 I'm Jon Paulien, and with me is my Pastor Jon Ciccarelli. 00:42 Jon, it's good to be with you again. 00:44 We've been through quite a journey 00:45 and now we've reached our final episode 00:47 here in Second Thessalonians. 00:49 And its been rich and I look forward to the study today 00:52 and we're going to pick it up today 00:54 in Second Thessalonians, Chapter 2 00:56 verses 13 through Chapter 3, verses 18 00:59 and Paul is writing and he's writing them 01:03 about preserving their past, but yet having to deal 01:06 with the present and looking to the future as well. 01:10 And there might be some things that required change 01:13 and how do you, how do you stay true to the past, 01:16 but yet be relevant to the present. 01:17 We need to look at all those things today, 01:19 I think you'll guide us in that. 01:21 I think the major theme that we're looking at from 01:24 Chapter 2:13 through the end of Second Thessalonians 01:28 is the theme of tradition, the theme 01:31 of staying connected to the past. 01:33 Now churches have to grow, they're like plants, 01:36 if you don't grow, you're gonna die, 01:38 that means churches need to change. 01:40 Yeah. Change can be scary 01:42 but they need to change, but not all change is good. 01:45 Yeah. And I think Paul, 01:46 wants to make very clear here that as you considering change 01:51 as the necessary change that the church is going through 01:54 is happening, but you need to stay connected to the past. 01:57 You need to stay close to the best of the tradition 02:01 and the best concept to that term. 02:03 Yeah. I like that, Jon, its--you know, 02:07 growth always means change, 02:10 but change doesn't always mean growth. 02:12 Oh. You know, when something 02:14 is growing, when it's alive, its going to change. 02:17 You know, again I think of my, 02:19 my kids just using kids as an example. 02:21 My son you know, now 12 going to be 13 02:24 he's not the little boy he was, he now wears a size 10 02:27 you know, he's a big boy, thinking of plants they grow, 02:31 they change because they are growing 02:33 they weren't the seed, they once were. 02:35 And so I think if we're growing in God and we're bearing fruit, 02:39 we're going to see change. 02:41 But I think its also essential that, 02:44 that we be sensitive to the past, 02:47 because we can learn a lot from the past. 02:48 We don't want to forget what God has done. 02:51 You know, God is doing a new thing, 02:52 but we always-- He calls us to remember 02:54 as well what He has done you know, 02:56 I'm God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob you know, 02:59 but He is also Jesus. 03:01 And so I think that's important and so again just kind of 03:04 little plea for the multigenerational churches. 03:08 You know, because we need to remember. 03:10 So often times in my ministry when I've been with someone 03:13 who is, who is older than I and walk down the road. 03:16 I can be stressing out about something and they're all relax, 03:19 they go, I remember when that happened you know, 03:21 and then they talk about what happened. 03:23 And we need to keep those relationships, 03:26 the church needs to be, to be whole like that as well. 03:29 The tradition isn't always a good word. 03:31 I mean, tradition can simply be, 03:33 we've always done at that way before. 03:35 It means staying in the rut. 03:37 It's not what, Paul, is talking about here. 03:39 For him tradition is positive and the tradition here 03:43 is first of all the word of God that was brought 03:46 to them through the scriptures. 03:48 But before that was written down they were oral. 03:52 So he saw tradition is the word of God that came to them 03:55 in Jesus and the things that Paul was saying. 03:58 Second of all it's a spirit guided consensus 04:01 from the people of God led by the spirit come 04:03 to a consensus on what the word of God is. 04:06 That also is a positive tradition that we need 04:09 to stay connected to even though we may change, 04:12 even though we may worded differently, 04:14 never the less we need to stay connected 04:17 to that early tradition. 04:19 Why don't we get started with Chapter 2, verse 13 04:22 and I should probably remind our viewing audience 04:25 that the translations of Thessalonians 04:27 in these programs are my own design to catch 04:30 some of the new answers of Greek grammar and Greek words 04:34 that may help us understand what Paul, 04:36 was trying to get across. 04:38 Paul says in verse 13 of Chapter 2. 04:41 But we are obligated to give thanks to God always for you, 04:44 brethren loved by God, because God chose you 04:48 from the beginning as first fruits to salvation 04:51 in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. 04:55 The language here reminds us of the prayer 04:58 all the way back in First Thessalonians 1. 05:00 Its almost as if Paul knew that these two would be a package 05:04 and he brings the theme back 05:06 to all the way to the beginning here. 05:09 But I want to point out something 05:11 in the text as I translated it. 05:14 It says God is chosen you from the beginning 05:16 as first fruits to salvation. 05:19 Now here is interesting point, the Greek word here is aparkay 05:24 or as modern Greek might say it aparkee. 05:27 And if you take it as a single word aparkee means first fruits. 05:33 But if you separate it up- arkay, up means from, 05:39 so it's from arkay, ancient times archaeology. 05:43 Okay. From the beginning, 05:45 so we don't know if Paul, wrote from the beginning 05:49 or first fruits, because the original writing 05:54 didn't have spaces between the words. 05:56 So sometimes Bible translation difficulties, 06:00 manuscript difficulties come, because there were no spaces 06:03 between words and you're not sure if its one word or two. 06:06 So just a little piece of history there. 06:11 So if he's saying you are there from the beginning 06:16 he's saying God chose you, right from the beginning. 06:18 You know, He had a plan for you, 06:19 His foot prints were in your life before Paul got there. 06:22 If he's saying first fruits, he says we're offering you to God. 06:26 The first fruits were-- the early crops that 06:29 people brought to the temple. 06:30 And the Old Testament said, here God thank you 06:32 for the whole crop, but our thank you 06:34 is to bring you the first and the best. 06:37 That's good, that's good. 06:39 Lets move on to verse 15 here and Paul continues and he says. 06:44 So then, brothers, stand and hold fast 06:46 the traditions which you were taught, 06:49 whether by word of mouth or through our letter. 06:51 Yeah, we got to do that 'cause truth tends 06:54 to slip overtime if we're not careful. 06:59 That's, that's so true you know, its kind of like 07:02 unattended garden if you will, you know, a garden-- 07:06 I would love to have a garden, 07:08 but I am not very good attending that. 07:11 And so we actually have quite a bit of space at our house 07:14 with a vision for big garden and when I always try to start 07:18 a garden it always goes bad, 07:19 because I don't attend to it very well. 07:21 And so the weeds come up and everything else 07:23 and so fourth and it's just like the garden, 07:25 if we don't tend to the things of the past and the truths 07:29 that are important and essential, 07:31 then it does slip you know, weeds grow things happen 07:34 we have to give it that attention and intention. 07:37 Well, verse 15 the traditions that Paul's talking about 07:41 came to them by word of mouth and by letter. 07:44 So its two types of traditions here there's oral traditions 07:48 word of mouth, and there is written tradition 07:51 and both of those are important safeguards. 07:54 Oral traditions is less subject to intentional distortion 08:01 that's why preaching is still a good thing, 08:03 because when you're preaching you've got gestures, 08:07 you've got tone of voice, its hard to mistake 08:10 what a person is saying when they are preaching. 08:12 The same words written down can be less clear, 08:15 so oral tradition preserves us from intentional distortion 08:20 where people are trying to mess with it. 08:23 But written tradition is less subject 08:26 to unintentional distortion. 08:29 You know, overtime oral traditions tend to fade 08:32 and people start getting them confused you see, 08:36 having something written down make sure that it stays steady 08:41 as the years go by, so both types 08:43 of tradition are important. Yeah. 08:45 So, tradition was not a dirty word in the New Testament. 08:49 Yeah, it was essential to, to God's revelation 08:52 of His love to people, the remembering the saying 08:55 and actions of Jesus, you know, and the writing of the apostles. 09:01 You know, but yet we have to be careful 09:02 'cause Jesus said some pretty strong words in Mathew. 09:07 When He said to the religious leaders, 09:09 He said to them you nullify, or you invalidate 09:12 the word of God because of your traditions. 09:15 So we have to be really careful that we don't worship 09:18 the tradition themselves that we don't make them higher 09:20 than what God did through them 09:23 and what He is doing out for us in the present 09:25 and growing us to bring about that positive change 09:27 and transformation in our life as well. 09:29 One author said the seven last word of the church are, 09:34 we never did it that way before. 09:36 You see, that's a negative side of tradition. 09:38 That's the way we do things around here. 09:40 It fixes you in a place and plants can't be fixed, 09:46 they have to grow, they have to be changing 09:50 in order to stay healthy and because that is the case 09:54 church that just sticks with what they have done before 09:57 is not a church that's growing, its not in a healthy place. 10:00 Let's go on to Chapter 3 and verses 1 through 5, 10:04 I think I'll read that for us. 10:06 Finally, brothers, pray for us in order 10:10 that the word of the Lord might progress and be glorified, 10:14 just as it is with you. 10:16 Isn't that kind a humble he says, 10:18 you do you're progressing so much I hope 10:20 to keep up with you pray for me. 10:23 In order that we might be delivered from 10:26 out of place and evil men, for not all have faith. 10:30 I think I've met those guys anyway. 10:32 But faithful is the Lord, who will strengthen you 10:35 and guard you against evil. 10:38 Now here in the Greek it says the evil, 10:41 and it's not clear if its evil in general 10:44 or if its Satan in particular, 10:45 so that's why I put in both options there. 10:47 Guards you against evil or the evil one. 10:50 And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you 10:53 that what we command you are doing and will continue to do. 10:58 Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God 11:03 and into the patient endurance of Christ. 11:08 Finally bothers, he says at the beginning. 11:11 That's how Paul loves to end a letter. 11:14 Finally brothers, its family, he reminds us 11:17 this is all about family and family has to be aware 11:21 that there is evil in the world. 11:23 There are threats to the family, 11:25 there is an evil one who is working everything 11:29 with the goal of undermining what God 11:31 is doing and sometimes even shows himself. 11:36 Yeah. Its could be a scary thing you know, 11:40 you brought this out in a, in a previous episode 11:43 and I thought it was so powerful that when the Gospel 11:46 is powerful Satan is forced to be reveal himself you know, 11:50 that, that when he's trying as hard as-he's throwing 11:53 everything he can to stop people from knowing 11:56 the love of God and that's, that could be a scary thing. 12:01 But yet if we trust in Christ you know, 12:03 we have that strength you know, the greater is He 12:04 who is in us than he who is in the world. 12:06 But you think of stuff in the world like maybe I know 12:09 we're talking just a week about Africa You know, 12:11 I mean, what are some things you see in Africa. 12:14 In Africa the Christian are seeing 12:17 satanic manifestations all the time. 12:20 You know, maybe we shouldn't if everything is going smoothly 12:23 we shouldn't be too comfortable about that 'cause maybe 12:25 Satan's not disturbed about what we are doing. 12:28 I have had a couple of encounters 12:30 with the demonic and its not fun. 12:32 But I will tell you this that Satan's got somebody greater 12:38 than him, its not me, if I'm close to Jesus Christ, 12:42 if the name, the power, and the blood of Jesus Christ 12:45 is in my heart, Satan cannot hurt me 12:48 and his power can be dealt with. 12:52 There's a greater power in the world than Satan. 12:55 And so Paul is asking for two blessings 12:58 one that his work will prosper and grow 13:01 and the others that he'll be delivered from 13:03 these out of place and evil men. 13:06 And then he says that the Lord will direct your hearts 13:11 into the love of God, the patient endurance of Christ. 13:15 And isn't that the goal of the spiritual life you know, 13:18 to be directed into the love of God 13:22 and to be like Christ patient and endurance. 13:26 Through our love we want to be more like God. 13:29 Absolutely. And our patients will be 13:31 more like Jesus Christ. Yeah. 13:33 That's beautiful. Well, its time for a break, 13:36 and when we return 13:37 we will continue with Second Thessalonians 3. |
Revised 2023-01-25