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Stand Firm
2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

 

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Twenty-Fifth Sunday after PentecostNovember 10, 2013

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Our text is from today’s Epistle Reading from 2 Thessalonians, chapter three: “We ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.  He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore . . . stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.  May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”

About 25 years ago while I was serving as Pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Sylvan Grove, Kansas, the personal diary was translated and published of Rev. Emil Maeher, the pioneer missionary pastor who in the late 1800’s started the congregation at Sylvan Grove and about a dozen others throughout the state.  As I read his fascinating diary, I discovered that he not only served the congregation where I was pastor, he also served the congregation at Canton, Kansas, where my father’s side of family is from and where I grew up, and the congregation at Fairmont, Oklahoma, where my mother’s side of the family is from.  So I felt a very close connection to him.

Although his ministry and all that he accomplished was so very impressive, as I read his very personal diary I discovered that he had many private troubles and struggles.  His first wife was afflicted with severe depression that left her totally incapacitated.  Then she contracted pneumonia and died at a very young age, leaving Pastor Maeher as a single parent with five small children.  After a few years he remarried, the widow of another pastor who had children of her own, and they faced all the modern-day problems and challenges that can come with a blended family.

Pastor Maeher also faced a lot of problems and challenges in the congregations that he served.  He spilled out all his frustrations in his diary. Those old Germans, including my own ancestors, could be pretty hard-headed and difficult to work with.

In 1908, Pastor Maeher was serving in the Oklahoma Territory.  On New Year’s day that year he wrote:  “A new year has begun again, but under a really dark future and outlook.  I hope that things will improve at home, in the family, and in the congregation.  Oh, how I wish the last day had come to me and that my last battle had been fought!”

Like Pastor Maeher, the Christians at Thessalonica endured great trouble and struggles.  They were persecuted because of their faith, harassed, and tormented.  They were tempted to doubt, despair, to fall away.

Like Pastor Maeher and the Christians at Thessalonica, what are the troubles and struggles YOU are facing in your life?  Illness?  Financial struggles?  Problems in your marriage or family?  Troubles in your work or business?  Distress and depression?  Overwhelmed by things you just don’t know how to handle?

In our text, St. Paul gives a comforting message for the Thessalonians and for you: God chose you in Christ; God called you to faith; God promises you eternal glory.

“From the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.”

Before the world began, God elected you in Christ to eternal life.  As Paul says in Romans, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  Not because of anything you have done, but because of God’s mercy, for the sake of Jesus Christ

“From the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.  He called you to this through our gospel.”

The Gospel, the Good News for you: Christ lived a perfect life, fulfilling the perfect demands of God’s law as our substitute; Christ died a sacrificial death, paying the penalty for our sins, and not only ours, but for the sins of the whole world; Christ rose from the dead, and God will raise with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him; Christ ascended into heaven, and promises: “I am going there to prepare a place for you.”

“From the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.  He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

You will come out of the great tribulation of this life and enter eternal rest.  You will be forever with the Lord in the glory of heaven.  God will wipe away every tear from your eyes.  As St. Paul says, “The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”  “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.”

God chose you in Christ; God called you to faith; God promises you eternal glory.  “Therefore, stand firm.”

When the last major earthquake hit San Francisco about 25 years ago the city center was hardly damaged, because that section of the city is built on solid rock.  The worst damage came in the Marina District, because it is built on unstable fill, over what used to be part of the bay.

That reminds us of Jesus’ parable about two men, one built his house on the rock, and the other on sand.  And when the rains came and the wind blew, the house on the sand fell, but the house on the rock stood firm.

“Therefore . . . stand firm.”  Build your life on the sold rock of the Lord, who chose you in Christ, called you to faith, promises you eternal glory.  When the troubles and struggles of this life hit you like an earthquake or batter you like a storm, he will strengthen and protect you.

“Therefore . . . stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.”  Like a drowning man clinging to a life-preserver, HOLD ON to the teachings and promises of God’s Word.  “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”  “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.”  “Fear not, I am with you.”  “I will never leave you or forsake you.”  “Lo, I am with you always.”

“Therefore . . . stand firm.”  “May our Lord . . . encourage your hearts.”  “Do not let your hearts be troubled; trust in God.”  “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped.”  “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.”

“Therefore . . . stand firm.”  “May our Lord . . . strengthen you in every good deed and word.”

Pastor Maeher continues in his diary; “Yet the Lord, faithful and true, has provided aid unto this day, so that he will also help until the end.  So I gladly go with the Savior into another year.”

As St. Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.”

“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.  He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  God chose you in Christ; God called you to faith; God promises you eternal glory.

“Therefore . . . stand firm. . . May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”

Amen.

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