Stay Awake: Embracing Advent’s Call to Vigilance and Hope

For the audio version of this lesson, click on the link below:

Stay Awake Podcast

Well, one thing that you will discover, if you spend very much time in a liturgical church, or a church following the liturgical traditions, is that we observe a different calendar than the rest of the year. For Christians, for the Church, today is New Year's Day. It's the first day of a new year. We have rewound the clock, if you will. Last Sunday, we completed the Sundays in ordinary time with the great crescendo of Christ the King, celebrating Jesus' rule over heaven and earth, over all the principalities and powers.  And that was the culmination of all the lessons on discipleship during what we call “ordinary time,” which has gone through all of the summer until last Sunday.

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. And Advent just simply means Christ's coming, that He is coming.  And so, there is this time of expectation, and there is a time of penitence, which is just one of those churchy words for repentance, for self-examination.  And that's why the colors and the liturgy might remind you of Lent, because we have these two penitential seasons in the year, the first one being Advent, as we're waiting for Christ's incarnation, and the second one being Lent, as we await Christ's resurrection.

So, there are two appearances, if you will, of Jesus that are celebrated and magnified in the Church year.  The incarnation at Christmas and the resurrection at Easter.

These are two fundamental points in the life of a disciple and in the celebration of who Jesus is.  Because of the importance of these two events, the Church calls herself to self-examination and repentance.

And so, in this season of Advent, we are preparing ourselves for the incarnation, for Jesus, God becoming man, God incarnate in his son, Jesus Christ, at Christmas.

And so, as we prepare for this great revelation, this incarnation, this appearance of Jesus as the one and only begotten Son of God the Father.  The Church says, "Wow, we should prepare ourselves for that moment.  We should prepare ourselves for that meeting, for that encounter of Jesus at Christmas.  That's what this season is about.

That's why it's penitential.  It's self-reflective.  A time to take stock of how we're doing in our relationship with Christ; how we're doing in our relationship with God.  And we’ll see that theme reminded to us, presented again at Lent, as we then prepare for his resurrection.

So, in these lessons that we heard this morning, there is this current, this theme of judgment following Jesus' return.

It's an ominous set of lessons, isn't it?  The kind of lessons that, maybe if you were sitting at home and pulling out your Bible off of your coffee table thinking about what you might read, this might not be the one that you would choose to read. This is kind of frightening, isn't it? And a lot of attention has been given, particularly among Christian pastors, to try and figure out in detail the symbolism of these lessons, particularly of Mark's gospel and the similar gospel in Matthew and Paul's reflection on it in 1 Thessalonians, as we heard a few weeks ago.

This desire to figure out, you know, who is 666?  Who is the Antichrist?  When will these things happen?

And in his understanding and knowledge of us, because he created us, Jesus right from the front says [paraphrasing], "Stop it. Don't try and figure it out. No one knows. I don't know. The angels don't know. Only the father knows. So don't focus on those details."

And you might think, "Well, they're kind of scary details. I'd like to focus on them." And I think that's why so many people perseverate over it and launch into these predictions that lead to embarrassment because they're always wrong.

So, let's bypass that mistake.

Let's not make that same mistake and look at what Jesus calls His disciples to focus on.  Because He makes it really clear: Yeah, there will be signs like the fig tree.  You'll understand that the end is coming, that things are getting bad.

And you know that the Church, Christians, have looked at those events for centuries and thought, "Ah, this is the time. This is it.” And time just keeps cranking along.

So, there must be something else in this that we are to understand, that we are to grasp.  And Jesus presents it. And if we don't get stuck on trying to figure out dates and times and the specifics of the name of the Antichrist and watching the news thinking, "Oh, that might be him."

I remember once, when Ronald Reagan was president, somebody went, "Ronald Wilson Reagan, yeah, six letters in each of his names. Maybe that's the guy, you know."  

I mean, people have done that.  I'm not picking on Reagan, but people have done that for years, trying to figure out who he [Antichrist] is.  And He [Jesus] says, you won't know. You won't know the time. In fact, there are many antichrists, but that's another lesson.

So, when we look at Mark 13, beginning with verse 32, he says, "No one knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father."

So, Jesus dismisses that pursuit in the mind of the disciples, as we said, and then He goes on to tell him what they ought to do.  He says (I'm reading from the ESV)… he says, "Be on guard, keep awake, for you do not know when the time will come."

Okay, we don't know for sure when the time will come. So, what are we to do?

He says, “be on guard, stay awake.”

Mark uses three different [Greek] words for “stay awake” in this gospel lesson. There's a tremendous emphasis on the Christian, on the disciple, being alert and awake, and on guard during this period.

Now since we don't know the time or the hour, when should we stay awake?

When should we take heed?

When should we be on guard?

Always!

The idea, this is an attitude that the disciple is supposed to have all the time.

In Mark's Gospel, chapter 13 marks the end of Jesus' ministry of teaching and healing. And after this lesson, He then, in Mark's Gospel, moves towards the Passion Week. He moves into the Passion Week, and a full one-third of Mark's Gospel is spent on the Passion.

So, this is a transition point in Mark's Gospel where Mark is remembering this teaching of Jesus.  It's the longest teaching in Mark's Gospel – the longest single theme teaching in Mark's Gospel, this is it.

So, it's very important, as it marks this transition, as it ends the teaching in Mark, ends Jesus's teaching in Mark.  So, Jesus begins his teaching in Mark with what? (I know we didn't read it.)  Do you have an idea? 

“Follow me.”

He chooses the disciples, and he begins his teaching in Mark with “follow.”

Now they have followed, and they're preparing to go to the… to go through Passion Week.  And so, then Jesus says, “Watch.  Be on guard.  Take heed.  Follow and watch.”

You know we have this great example in Ezekiel where God describes Ezekiel as a watchman.  In Ezekiel 2, I'm sorry, Ezekiel chapter 3, verse 17, God speaking to the prophet Ezekiel says, "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel.  Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me."

This is the same theme that Jesus picks up as He's telling His disciples to be on guard, to be alert, to be vigilant, to watch.

You see, it's not passive.  It's not passive watching, because what does he tell, what does God tell Ezekiel?  He says, "Son of man.”  (He's talking about Ezekiel.  It's another way of saying, human being.)  “I have made you a watchman for the House of Israel.”

Well, in Ezekiel's time, the House of Israel was God's house, God's people.

In our time, God's house is the Church, it’s still God's people, and He's made us watchmen, and what does that mean?

He says, "Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me."  I believe that's the same thing that Jesus has instructed the disciples as He says, "Be on guard.  Watch.”

Not passively.  Not sitting in fear in their closets, waiting for the end to come.

And it's obvious, because they don't do that.

We go through and read the Acts of the Apostles. We see that they are active in preaching the gospel.  They are hearing the Word of God and they're presenting it to a lost and frightened people.

My friends, when we hear disturbing things on the news, when we see people broken and hurting and in need, being watchful implies listening for a word from the Lord and sharing it to a lost and broken people.

When Jesus tells the disciples to take heed of the signs, it's not to be in fear.  It's not to run and hide.  It's not to try and predict things out of the calendar, but it's to receive a word from the Lord and share that with those who have no hope.  Because we have hope.  If you have been baptized and received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have hope and you need not fear the signs of disaster and the end of time.  But instead, to share the good news of Christ's salvation, so that anyone listening to you who receives that word need not fear either.

Let us conclude by looking at that passage that we heard in First Corinthians.  First Corinthians, beginning with verse four.  First Corinthians, verse four, Paul is writing to the Corinthian church, who live and worship and in an environment much like our own. And Paul writes to them, he says, "I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.”  Their faith in Christ has imparted grace to them. “That in every way you were enriched in Him and all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that…” listen this “…so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift.”

Your presence, your identity, your adoption in Jesus Christ, means he has imparted grace to you for a season and a time such as this, that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift.

What is this purpose of the spiritual gift?  It is to serve Christ and to share the good news about His salvation.  As you wait for the revealing, or the advent, the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, as we're waiting, as we're in this Advent season, preparing for the coming of Christ, we have every spiritual gift given to us for whatever he calls us to do. “Who will,” verse 8, "…sustain you to the end"?  

You don't even have to worry about sustaining yourself. You don't even have to worry about coming up with the stuff to endure to the end. Whatever that end it may be.  He will sustain you, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the exclamation point on this whole lesson.  He will sustain you guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When we see the Day of the Lord presented in the Old Testament, it's a frightening day of judgment.  It looks like destruction.  It looks like condemnation.  And Paul is telling the church in Corinth, he says, "Jesus Christ will sustain you guiltless on that day, because He has imparted His grace to you through His Holy Spirit.”  

Friends, that means we have nothing to fear.  No matter how bad the days get, no matter how horrible the news is, no matter how bad the days become, Christ has promised us, through the washing of his blood and our redemption, [correction] washing in his blood and our redemption, that he will not charge us as guilty on the Day of the Lord. On that last day, when he comes in judgment, He will see us guiltless.  And that's not a message just to hold tightly onto.  That is a message to share.  When our family and friends, strangers, start talking about the news and how bad it is, how frightening it is…  Yes, but if Jesus is your Lord and Savior, He will sustain you and you will be guiltless on that final day. That is good news. And that is what Advent is preparing us for.

Let us pray…

[This is a transcript of a recorded sermon, preached by Fr. Van McCalister on Advent, November 30, 2014]

Pentecost from the Upper Room

For the audio version of this, click on the link below:

The Upper Room Podcast

The primary texts for this lesson are Luke chapters 23 and 24; John chapters 15, 16, and 20; Acts chapters 1 and 2.

On the third day after Jesus was executed by the Romans on a hill outside of Jerusalem, he appeared to his frightened followers in an upper room in the city where they were hiding. They were afraid that if their Teacher was arrested for what he taught, his disciples might be next. Amazingly, Jesus appeared before them in that upper room, demonstrating that he had risen from the dead and encouraging them not be afraid [Luke 24:36-49; John 20].  Jesus continued to visit them during the 40 days after that to prepare them for the Counselor to come to them after he ascended back to his Father [John chapters 20 and 21].  Jesus used two of Israel's religious celebrations to fulfil these events: Passover for his self-offering as the Paschal Lamb and Pentecost for the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit.  These were recorded by Luke in the last two chapters of his Gospel (chapters 23 and 24) and the first two chapters of the Acts of the Apostles.  During those fifty days, with the presence of Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Peter transitions from hiding in the upper room to declaring the truth about Jesus from the upper room to the crowds below.  

Luke records what happened [Acts 2:1-42, ESV]:

1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20 the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.

21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him,

“‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope.

27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.

28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.  42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

With that as our background, let's continue the lesson and consider some implications:

There were, of the many festivals that the people of Israel celebrated, there were three that were mandatory attendance for the men. And so, Passover being one of those three, the second being Pentecost, and the third being the Festival of Booths (or Tabernacles). So Passover, we remembered in the form of Easter 50 days ago, and Pentecost is what we are bringing to mind today.  But the reason why I bring up the fact that the men of Israel had a mandatory pilgrimage to Jerusalem on the Festival of Pentecost is because this undergirds the story that you heard this morning from the Book of Acts.  

Because we have the disciples gathered, probably in the upper room… (Note the chapter divisions that we have that are in our Bible are not put there by the initial writers, but we're something that came along in the Middle Ages. So, when we move from Acts chapter 1 to Acts chapter 2, there is that appointment, if you recall, of Matthias, to fulfill the 12th spot vacated by Judas. [Acts 1:23-26]) 

So, when it talks about “they,” we are thinking of both the 12 apostles and then the greater 120 disciples, most likely [Acts 1:15].

Now, you can go to the upper room in Jerusalem to this day, certainly the columns and the walls and all of that are not original (the architecture alone tells you that), but the floor itself may be actually that old.  It's a good space, easily as large as the nave is here, and could well hold 120 people.  This is the setting that we have.  And the setting, I think (maybe if you're not visually minded; it's not that big of a deal, but I like to visualize what I read in scripture) - It has the disciples, certainly the twelve, if not the 120, gathered in the upper room.

They, of course, did not have glass windows.  So, whatever was going on in the upper room, which would have been the second story above the street, would have been audible to those that were, you know, milling around in the streets below. Now, there are a lot of people milling around in the streets below, because of the mandatory pilgrimage to come from the known world to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost.  Now, those people, the Medes and the Persians, and all of those that that Luke listed [Acts 2:7-11] were not coming with the expectation of Joel's prophecy being fulfilled.  They were not coming with the expectation of the Holy Spirit bursting forth onto the scene and the dawn of the Church age coming into being.  That is not what they were expecting.  They were coming there strictly to fulfill their vows to celebrate Pentecost, or the, what's also known as the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of First Harvest.  They celebrated the beginning of the harvest and they celebrated the end of the harvest.  This is the beginning of the harvest.  So they came merely to do that.

But to their surprise, they hear strange sounds and familiar sounds.  The strange sound would have been this mighty rush of wind.  Maybe it was a still day.  We don't know.  Maybe there was not a breeze in the air.  And suddenly they hear this unreal rush of wind, not like a natural wind, I guess.  And then they hear something that they do recognize, come from… coming from those, they do not recognize.

Luke makes it a point that the people hearing their languages being spoken by these Galilean fishermen think it so odd that they accuse them of being drunk.  Because, we know Galilean fishermen were not particularly well educated, so how would they know all of these foreign languages? Something is not right, of course. (In my experience alcohol does not help me with Greek or Hebrew in the least little bit. So how they came to that conclusion I do not know.)  But anyway, so they accuse them of being drunk. But then, apparently, their ears are captivated by what they hear.  They've gone from the oddity of this strange wind to the hearing of languages that they recognize from people who do not speak those languages. It's a powerful recognition of what is happening and why it's happening, even though they don't completely understand it.

Let's see what Luke has to say in [Acts] chapter two verse 11.  He says, "We hear them declaring the wonders of God."

You see, so it's not just that they hear these languages being spoken by men, who ought not to be able to speak them, but then, their minds focus on what is being said.  And these men filled with the Holy Spirit are "declaring the wonders of God."

Then Peter stands up.  And possibly he comes out onto the porch there of the upper room looking out onto the road.  And it [verse 14] says he addresses the crowd.  But this address is a formal declaration.  The word in the Greek there is what would be a formal address.  Something kind of like what I'm doing here now, or what a president of a university would do to a crowd to introduce graduates.  It's a formal address.

And yet, Peter has not rehearsed this.  It's a formal address because he's been empowered by the Holy Spirit to communicate a message directly from God through the Holy Spirit. He proclaims this message to the crowd, and that message is a confirmation of what was spoken through the prophet Joel. Essentially, he says, "What the prophet Joel prophesied has come to pass" [Acts 2:16-21].  The two things that Peter tells us in this proclamation: that prophecy has been fulfilled and the Savior has come.  It's the expectation that the believers in Israel and all the proselytes gathered there have been waiting for, for centuries, the fulfillment of prophecy and the coming of the Savior.  And so, Peter's proclamation to them is, it has happened!  Both of those things have happened: Prophecy has been fulfilled and Jesus is the Savior.

And then he goes on to convict them of their guilt: "This is the one whom you crucified" [Acts 2:23].  But he doesn’t leave them there. He shares with them that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord, verse 21, will be saved. So, there's proclamation, conviction, and an introduction to Jesus as the Savior.  Pentecost is completely and perfectly, in-keeping with what Jesus said would happen when he promised that the Counselor would come [Luke 24:49 and John 15:26-27].

Let's take just a couple minutes and look at the end of John 15 and the beginning of John 16, the gospel lesson that you heard a moment ago. "When the counselor comes," Jesus says, "Whom I will send to you from the Father” (a perfect example of the Trinity right there) "whom I will send to you from the Father” [John 15:26].  Jesus describes him as “the Spirit of Truth.”

"The Spirit of Truth.”  The Counselor is also the Spirit of Truth.

In other words, he is the one who proclaims Truth, who instructs his followers to be able to know truth and to proclaim it. And this is truth with a capital T. The truth about Jesus, what the revelation of God has been pointing toward for all of history. He says, "He will testify about me.” He will testify about Jesus. Here's the Spirit of Truth's mission statement: He will testify about Jesus. "And you also must testify, for you have been my eyewitnesses" [John 15:27].  So, to the disciples in the upper room before Pentecost, he's telling them what to expect, what we just heard in Acts chapter 2.  The Spirit of Truth will come, he will testify about Jesus, and those who follow after the disciples must also testify to these things. 

Now, he says there's going to be a result. Something is going to happen when the Spirit of Truth comes and this testimony is given. We got to hear Peter start the testimony, but we didn't get to hear what's happening yet in the crowds of people listening.  Jesus says this is what's going to happen. [John 16,] verse 8, says “when he comes," the Spirit of Truth, "He will convict the world of guilt," in regard to three things: "Sin, righteousness, and judgment.”  When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will convict the world. He will expose their guilt. And what underlies there is the hope of leading to repentance.  He will expose their guilt and regard to sin, righteousness, and judgment.  Well, what was the sin? Peter describes it later in Acts 2. They just rejected him.

Jesus says the same thing [John 16:9]. He says, "because men did not believe in me," they did not believe in Jesus. And the second thing, he will convict them regarding righteousness or justice. [John 16:10-11]

Was Jesus treated in a just way?  Not only did they not believe in Him, but they treated Him with injustice.  They arrested Him and crucified Him for no good reason, other than their own agendas. And He says, "And judgment, for this world, the evil one has been judged.” [John 16:11]

Do you see the trajectory there?  There is the conviction of sin about believing in Jesus.  There is the judgment, or the justice, regarding not representing Jesus correctly as to being the Son of God and being the Savior.  He says the evidence of the fact that he is the Son of God and the Savior, is that He's ascended to heaven, sitting at the right hand of the God of His Father.  It's the proof, the evidence of who He is.  And He says, "It’s judgment of the evil one."

The sin of not recognizing Jesus leads to the sin of misrepresenting Him, which leads to, or embroils us in, a reign other than that of God.  It's the reign of the evil one.

So, he says he's going to convict the world of those three things.

Well, the converse is there.  The Spirit of Truth is to lead the believers his disciples to testify that Jesus is the Son of God, that he was convicted and hung on the cross unjustly for our sins to redeem us, to give us forgiveness of our sins through repentance and baptism, and then to enter into a life where Jesus is reigning, rather than Satan. He calls us to testify through the power of the Holy Spirit to those three things. We are also involved in the convicting, if you will, the leading of the world into understanding and recognizing their guilt, not just for the sake of making them feel guilty, but so though that they would turn and come to know Jesus and have life. For the church, the gifts given at Pentecost for the sake of our being enabled and empowered to share the Good News.  That's the purpose of it.

The Church's mission is to point people to Jesus to continue that same testimony, that Jesus gave to the disciples.  And remember when He says, He says, "It's…” (I’m paraphrasing.) He says, "It's good that you believe, but He says, "All the better, those who come after you and testify based on your testimony” [John 20:29].  Well, that's us! The testimony that we have received from the apostles, who received the testimony from Jesus, is still given to us and released in us through that same spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who enables us to recognize what is true and lively and good through that same Holy Spirit.

And so, as we celebrate the gift of Pentecost, the birth of the Church, this morning, we celebrate our participation in that, our empowerment, our enablement through the Holy Spirit, to continue that apostolic testimony: that Jesus died for our sins. He rose from the dead. He ascended into Heaven and He is still interceding on our behalf at the right hand of His Father. 

Let us pray,

Father in heaven, we thank you and praise you for the gift of your Holy Spirit.  Lord, we pray that you would inspire us, encourage, empower, and embolden us to continue the work that you gave to those first disciples that we too would speak in the power and the knowledge and the truth of the Holy Spirit, that others may be freed from the kingdom of darkness and brought into the kingdom of your dear Son.  And we ask all this through Jesus' blessed and holy name. Amen.

This is a transcription of a sermon preached on Pentecost by Fr. Van McCalister.

Grace Wins!

Grace is more powerful than cancel culture.

“This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends."

- Jesus (John 15:12 & 13, HCB)

For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

(James 2:13, ESV)

Study to show yourself approved - 2 Timothy 2.15

I woke up in the early morning thinking of this verse and wondering what the significance of "approved" meant?

Since I memorized the King James version of this verse when I was a kid, this is what came to mind...

2 Timothy 2:15  King James Version (KJV)

15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Later, after I woke up again, I did some research.  Regarding the Greek background of 2 Timothy 2:15, I read this quote from "Interlinear Greek New Testament Bible" by Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener -

From "(1380) dokimos 2:255,183 dok'-ee-mos Adjective from (1380) ; properly, acceptable (current after assayal) , i.e. approved:--approved, tried. accepted, particularly of coins and money. accepted, pleasing, acceptable In the ancient world there was no banking system as we know it today, and no paper money. All money was made from metal, heated until liquid, poured into moulds and allowed to cool. When the coins were cooled, it was necessary to smooth off the uneven edges. The coins were comparatively soft and of course many people shaved them closely. In one century, more than eighty laws were passed in Athens, to stop the practice of shaving down the coins then in circulation. But some money changers were men of integrity, who would accept no counterfeit money. They were men of honour who put only genuine full weighted money into circulation. Such men were called "dokimos" or "approved". Donald Barnhouse"

[Note: you can find this book or similar Greek Interlinears on Amazon for little expense or free: http://a.co/8KVC5SO.]

So, how does this relate to studying Scripture? 

Paul is writing to Timothy whom he has placed as the pastor at Ephesus. Timothy is young and establishing himself where there were doubtless older more experienced people.  It would seem in light of the meaning of dokimos that Paul is saying that Timothy needs to know his scripture (the Old Testament) so that no one will find a way to question his authority or his knowledge based on sloppy Bible teaching.  In other words, Timothy will be "approved" to teach and pastor the church at Ephesus based on how well he knows and communicates the Word of God.

The ESV with footnote brings this out more clearly than the KJV...

2 Timothy 2:15 English Standard Version (ESV)

15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, [a] a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

 Footnotes:

[a] 2 Timothy 2:15 That is, one approved after being tested

What does this signify to us now?   Why should a Christian be "approved" today?  Sure Timothy was a pastor and needed to be able to preach and teach, and we can easily see how that still applies.  But what about those who are not called to preach or teach in a church?  In Acts 17:11 we read that the Bereans diligently studied the scriptures to see if what they were taught accorded with Scripture.  Peter exhorted his readers in 1 Peter 3:15 to "be prepared to give an answer to everyone who askes for a reason for the hope that is in you."  All followers of Christ should strive to be effective communicators of the good news about Jesus Christ.  Following Paul's advice to Timothy, we do not have to go to a Bible college or seminary to "be approved" but studying and knowing Scripture will certify through our conversations that we do know what God's Word says.  Let us show the full value of the Good News, untrimmed and undiluted.  Combine that knowledge with grace and acts of mercy, and people will see the love of Christ in us.

Children of Light

The Band of Brothers - Hebrews 13.1

Why does God allow suffering?

Why does God allow pain and suffering?

God didn't start it; humanity did. God made humans the stewards over creation at the very beginning and gave them one prohibition: "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." [Gen. 2.15-17 ESV]

The knowledge of good was experienced through intimacy, walking with God in the Garden. The knowledge and experience of evil was unknown until Adam and Eve disobeyed God and allowed Satan to remain in the Garden. Stewardship includes protecting. Their disobedience led to the abdication of their stewardship and handing it over to Satan. Satan's stewardship of the earth, brought hate, depression, illness, war, disease and death. The first humans allowed it to happen; effectively they gave Satan permission to act in their place. With the knowledge of evil comes the experience of evil. The experience of evil includes sin, sickness and death. But the experience of evil was not God's plan.

Does God allow pain and suffering? Yes, in the sense that He gave Adam and Eve the freedom to both prevent suffering and the freedom to allow it, and they chose to allow it. They allowed it by following Satan's suggestion rather than adhering to God's warning. We humans blame God for what humanity allowed; what He prohibited. Then we have the audacity to blame Him for the decision our human family made.

We ask "Why does God allow all of this suffering?" as if we had nothing to do with it. As if we never participate in evil as did our first parents. We want the ability to choose for ourselves but we don't want to be held responsible for our decisions. We want the freedom to love and to be loved but we talk like we don't want the freedom to reject love, even though we frequently reject love and chose selfishness. We want to be independent and free but we don't want a Hitler to be free and independent.

This feels acceptable to us because we do not honestly evaluate the hypocrisy of our own desires. We conveniently ignore our own inconsistencies and selfish desires, while pointing out other's errors and blaming God for it. This attitude also feels acceptable to us because we have such a warped view of righteousness; we don't really consider what holiness is. Our convenient view of righteousness is that if we can find someone, anyone who seems worse than us, then we declare ourselves "holy". As if we are God and get to write the definition of good and bad. And why not? Wouldn't we make that same decision at the very beginning? Isn't it ok to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil if I want to - especially if it makes me happy?

But God has shown us that real righteousness and true holiness do not include any amount of wrongdoing or wrong thinking. In reality, we do not have permission to rewrite the definitions of holiness and righteousness. Paul, an early follower of Christ, observed "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." [Romans 3.23]

Please do not misunderstand me. I am not suggesting that you are suffering with an illness because God is punishing you for a specific sin that you committed. Rather, I am saying that all of us are suffering due to the sin that has infected humanity since the fault of our first parents at the dawn of time.

Even so, God has guaranteed our escape from pain and suffering. Through the Son of God, the man Jesus, our escape from pain and suffering is guaranteed. [Romans 5] This life of pain and suffering is temporary, but the next life is free from all of that. Jesus invites us to make Him the steward of our lives and so be free from the control of Satan. God does care about our pain and suffering and wants us to be free from it more than even we do. God desires our freedom to such an extent that He sent His Son Jesus to bear the penalty for our rebellion and to destroy the outcome of death. [1 Peter 3.18-22]

At this time we still experience pain and suffering, but if we put our faith in Jesus and follow Him we will not continue to live in pain and suffering for ever. God will not allow any amount of sadness, illness or suffering to follow us into His presence, and He will exact perfect justice. [Revelation 21.3-8] This is why Jesus said, "The thief [Satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they [us] may have life and have it abundantly." [John 10.10]

The solution to pain and suffering is following Jesus. [John 3.16]