Sermon

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

Resist Change

By The Rev. Dr. James D. Kegel

SO THEN, BROTHERS AND SISTERS, STAND FIRM
AND HOLD FAST TO THE TRADITIONS THAT YOU WERE TAUGHT.

GRACE TO YOU AND PEACE
FROM GOD OUR FATHER
AND THE LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN.

Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, told a parable: It is related of a peasant who came barefoot to Copenhagen that he made himself so much money that he could buy himself a pair of shoes and stockings and still have enough left over to get drunk on. As he was trying to find his way home in his drunken state, he lied down in the middle of the road and fell asleep. Then along came a wagon and the driver shouted to him to move or he would run over his legs. The drunken peasant awoke, looked at his legs, and since by reason of the shoes and stockings he didn’t recognize them, he said to the driver, “Drive on, they’re not my legs.”

When things change too rapidly, we may no longer recognize who we are. Change is often welcome but we must also understand that not every change is for the better and, as Christians, not every change is of God.

When I decided to entitle my message today, “Resist Change,” I thought, well now, Jim, you are just preaching to the choir. These are Lutherans; you don’t have to tell them, “Resist Change.” A couple of weeks ago, the confirmands got to choose whether to recite the Apostles’ Creed in words from the Lutheran Book of Worship or as our new Evangelical Lutheran Worship does. Now these are fourteen year olds and I thought if any group would embrace change and use the new wording it would be these students in their first year of high school. Guess what? They are Lutherans. They voted overwhelmingly for the “old version.” Then I told the joke which you have heard before, “How many Lutherans does it take to change a light bulb?” And before I could give the punch-line, Annika Bennett shouted, “None, Lutherans don’t change.” Oh well, that is sometimes bad, but it may sometimes be good.

The basic constituting document of our Lutheran Church is the Augsburg Confession written by Luther’s close friend and reformer, Philip Melanchthon, in 1530. The document was written to give the Emperor Charles V and the Roman Catholic authorities a statement of Lutheran beliefs. There were important differences with the Catholic monarch and church leaders—especially the idea that we are justified by grace through faith, the importance of Scripture for determining church doctrine, the idea that popes and church councils could err, that only Jesus Christ is head of the church. On most points of doctrine there was little disagreement between the Lutherans and the Catholics. In fact what the Lutheran Reformers were clearly saying is that they were not forming a new church but were part of the One, Holy, Catholic Church which had existed since of the time of the apostles. In fact they argued that they were the true Roman Church; that much of what they disagreed with was in fact pretty recent innovation. The Lutheran position is that they held to ancient doctrine; and were clinging fast to what had been taught and believed since earliest Christianity. “New and improved” never entered their vocabulary but just the opposite.

St. Paul wrote the Thessalonians, “Stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word or mouth or by our letter.” He is likely writing before the fall of the Temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and as early as that, telling the people in this congregation not to waver in the faith. They are to stand firm and hold fast to the tradition—to the apostolic teaching that they had heard preached and proclaimed and to the epistles that Paul had written. The center of the teaching is faith in Jesus Christ alone. The Thessalonians are not to waver in their faith in Christ. They are not to displace Christ with false teachings that would substitute a human word for God’s Word. They are to be faithful in the time of judgment which was to come.

The occasion of Paul’s letter was speculation in Thessalonica of the endtimes. Some scholars consider the second epistle to be written by someone other than St.Paul because the language and theological position seems so different from some of his other less contested writings. In regard to the end of the world, Paul often talks about how suddenly and unexpectedly the end would come. In his first epistle to the Thessalonians he wrote, “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

Here in our lesson, the letter is written to the same congregation and the theology seems much different. In our text: “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. 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. Do you remember that I told you these things when I was still with you? And you know what is now restraining him so that he may be revealed when the time comes.”This is strange language, apocalyptic language which says the day of the Lord will not come until three things happen: 1) the great apostasy—believers will fall away from faith in the Lord Jesus; 2) the Anti-Christ, the son of lawlessness will appear and put himself in place of God to worshipped and adored; and 3) some sort of restraint will fall away.

The language of our passage from 2 Thessalonians is difficult to understand. In fact no one knows what the restraint that is mentioned as number three could be. St Jerome thought it meant the power of the Roman emperor but it would be strange if St. Paul would mention someone like Nero as part of God’s good plan. St. Augustine just said that we just do not know what the word katechon , restraint, refers to. For the apostle to write to the same congregation and say pretty much opposite things is strange.

On the other hand St. Mark does the same thing: In chapter thirteen of the Gospel, Jesus warns his disciples that they will be handed over to council and beaten in the synagogues; the good news must first be proclaimed to all nations. When they see the desolating sacrilege set up then they must flee to the mountaintops. There are apocalyptic visions of the sun darkened and the moon not giving its light, the stars falling from heaven and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Only then will they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

Yet in that same chapter, Jesus says, “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come.” This is not so different from the two epistles to the Thessalonians. And it says to us that of the end times there will be signs, great tribulation, desecration of that which is holy and people will turn away from God to false gods. It also says that we do not know the day or hour and it will come suddenly, “like a thief in the night.”

And really the speculation of when Christ will come again was not so fruitful for the early Christians but consolation and confidence is. In all these strange and often abstruse writings, Christians are reminded to stand firm and confident. God is more powerful than Satan; Jesus Christ is more powerful than an anti-Christ. Christians may suffer but will prevail. But stand firm. Resist any change which would displace God’s Word with human ideas. Hold fast to what you learned and what the Scriptures teach. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Remember the old, old story of Jesus and his love. That old story is never going to change.

I was thinking of the continuity of faith and the faithful this week. Many years ago now our family visited Meyenburg in Brandenburg , Germany . It was the small town where the Kegels came from a hundred and forty years ago. There was an old stone church on MartinLutherWeg. The area had become Christian more than a thousand years ago and I assume that all my Kegel ancestors back to about the year nine hundred were baptized Christians. I am sure there were some strong believers, some probably superstitious or weak in faith. They were all sinners because that is true of all humans, and those who believed in Jesus Christ and baptized in the Triune name were also saints.

Today less than half the people in that village have been baptized. In this land of Martin Luther , the combination of the Nazi and Communist years has taken their toll on faith. As Carsten, a German young man who visited us last year, from about the same area said, “If you haven’t learned about God when you are little, it is hard to believe when you are older.” I think about people here in Eugene —people whose forbears were Christians but whose parents or grandparents stopped going to church. There are so many people in the eighty percent unchurched all around us who do not know the old, old story. They have nothing to hold fast to in changing times. I think of some of your children and grandchildren who may not know the Lord Jesus, the solid rock of faith. I commend you for your witness and your prayers and I urge you all to stand firm, hold fast, and when you are tempted to drift away from the Lord and his simple promise of forgiveness and life and salvation to resist change. You are Lutheran. Don’t change.

Amen.
Copyright 2007 James D. Kegel. Used by permission.