1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
A little boy was seriously misbehaving!
Mom said, “Go to your bedroom, think about it, and say a prayer.”
About 20 minutes … the little boy came out and said to Mom, “I’ve thought about it, and I said a prayer.”
Mom replied: “That’s good. If you ask God to help you, God will help you.”
“Oh,” said the little boy, “I didn’t ask God to help me. I asked God to help you put up with me.”
Remember getting sent to you room?
Maybe you deserved it.
Maybe you didn’t.
Maybe your older brother blamed you for the broken vase.
Have you ever been the victim of a lie?
Has someone tried to trashed your reputation?
Question your motives?
Malign your character?
Spread a few juicy bits of gossip?
I suspect we’ve all be the target of someone’s ill will … some effort to ruin our reputation, discredit our work …
Grade schools, high schools are notorious for whispered lies and Instant Messaging gossip …
How about water-cooler politics, who cozying up to the boss, who’s in line for the next promotion …
PTAs and neighborhood associations - late-night phone calls and clandestine emails …
When we’re on the giving end of it, it’s kinda fun, isn’t it – who doesn’t like to be on the inside? Talk about somebody else in a slightly off-colored way … but when we’re on the receiving end of it, it hurts, and it hurts bad.
Paul the Apostle was on the receiving end of it …
His reputation maligned …
His motives questioned …
His theology challenged …
Let’s read the text … 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Anyone who breaks from the pack is going to be a target …
Anyone who steps up to the front …
Grabs the bull by the horns …
Sticks her neck out …
Criticism is just around the corner!
Paul broke from the pack … put his life on the line …
Spoke about Jesus …
In synagogue and market place …
On the street and in the park …
In homes and jails …
To Jew and Gentile …
Free and slave …
Male and female …
Rich and poor …
Paul traversed the Roman Empire by any means possible …
Proclaiming the gospel … there is life in Jesus the Messiah … he died on a Roman cross, but death couldn’t detain him; the tomb couldn’t contain him … on the third day, angels rolled the stone away…
Something new has come our way …
A twist no one counted on …
An unexpected direction for the God Project …
Change was in the wind …
But change is tough, isn’t it?
Have you ever tried to change the meeting time for your book club? … or bring up some new business at the neighborhood association meeting? …
We are creatures of habit …
We find a place and settle down …
We eat at the same restaurants … sit in the same pew … watch the same TV programs … style our clothing and do our hair pretty much the same, year after year.
Schools and churches …
Museums and monasteries …
Governments and nations …
Habits and attitudes …
Change is hard.
I think all of us would like to believe we’re flexible, creative, innovative …
But change is hard.
Change generates resistance.
Paul ought to know.
Before he was a follower of Jesus, Paul was adamantly opposed to Jesus …
Paul tried everything he could and then some to stop the Jesus Movement …
Paul wanted nothing to do with change.
If it was good enough for Moses, it was good enough for Paul.
The old ways …
The old thoughts …
Tried and proven …
Paul fought change … fought it hard, until the Damascus Road experience … when Jesus appeared to Paul in a bright light …
What a gift, what a moment …
Ya’ mean there’s more to the God Project? There’s more here than meets the eye? Have I been stuck in rut?
Paul changed horses in the middle of the stream … closed one book and opened a new one … rewrote the script with Jesus at the center!
The man who fought change now fights to change the world.
So the shoe is on the other foot now …
Paul is the target of angry lies and late-night plots …
Attacked by his own people … Paul, how can you believe this stuff? It’s not right. It’s contrary to Moses and the Prophets. What’s wrong with you Paul? Why do you undermine your people, your faith, your God with this Jesus talk? Paul, you got it wrong; you’re not helping the God Project, you harming it!
And if that isn’t bad enough, Paul is attacked by local merchants … the gospel was interfering with business.
In Philippi, a little slave girl told fortunes, and her owners were making a fortune …
As the story goes, Paul and Silas were on their way to a place of prayer … the slave girl followed them, crying out, These men are slaves of the Most High God who proclaim to you a way of salvation.
She did this for days on end.
Finally annoyed by it, Paul turns to the girl and says to the spirit in her: I order you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. And that very hour, the little slave girl was set free.
Good news? Maybe for the girl …
But not for the owners …
When her owners saw that the Golden Goose wasn’t going to lay any more golden eggs for them, they seized Paul and Silas, dragged them into the city market, accused them of disturbing the peace, called the sheriff, who arrested Paul and Silas, flogged and imprisoned them.
In Ephesus, much the same thing happened.
A riot broke out … screaming and shouting …
Ephesus was a religious center for the goddess Artemis – huge temple, magnificent artwork, gawking tourists … sidewalk merchants hawking religious wares and gaudy souvenirs … (sounds like Hollywood Blvd) …
A certain silversmith by the name of Demetrius called a meeting of the guild: If this Jesus thing gets going, we’re outta business. This Paul is convincing people all around the territory that gods made by hand are not gods at all … he’s putting us outta business and Artemis is being deprived of her majesty.
They cried out together: Great is Artemis – they left the hall and hit the streets, shoving and shouting … Great is Artemis … we all know that her statue fell from heaven, and we’re the keepers of her temple.
Who can blame them?
They had a lot invested in this business.
Livelihood and family.
Leave it alone Paul. We’re doing fine! What’s wrong with a little slave girl telling fortunes – it’s harmless – folks are happy, and we’re able to make some money. What’s wrong with selling religious statues for Artemis? … they look nice … my grandfather did this, my dad did it, and I’m doing it, too - we’re taking care of our families. What’s wrong with that?
What’s your Artemis?
I suspect we all have a little Artemis in our lives … not a big temple in our backyard, but a temple inside of us …
Beliefs and values …
Attitudes and habits …
Pride and prejudice …
Bias and bigotry …
Faith and religion … set in stone …
It’s called ideology … when we no longer think about it – we just assume it’s true and right forever!
“We all have an ideology,” said Alan Greenspan said to Congress a few days ago: an ideology – an idea how the world works … Mr. Greenspan believed for forty years in an unfettered market able to manage itself and take care of its investors. He admitted to Congress: My ideology was flawed.
We all have an Artemis somewhere in our life … a line in the sand … some unyielding idea … an examined bias …
Even for Christians, we set our jaw and dig in our heels:
We take a few Sunday School stories, mix in a some hymns, a couple of Bible verses, e pluribus unum and God Bless America … and we’ve got it … and don’t try to change my mind!
I’m sympathetic with Demetrius the Silversmith …
Aren’t you?
He faced the end of a livelihood.
He’d made a living fashioning religious figurines …
What about the guys who owned the slave girl? … after all, slavery was part of the economic system … the Roman Empire was built on slave labor …
And now Paul comes along and offers something else.
Not a statue, but a cross.
Not a money-maker, but a messiah.
Not a religion, but a relationship …
Not cheap trinkets, but amazing grace.
And never again at the expense of a little slave girl …
But change is hard … and the people rioted!
The town clerk intervened and settled things down … folks went home - Paul left for Macedonia.
Wherever Paul preached, there was trouble!
Paul was a man under fire.
And when a man is under fire, we see his true colors.
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. said:
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Christian character!
What does it look like?
Is it yellow, is it purple, is it pink?
Does it smell like beef roast in the oven?
Can you touch it, can you see it?
Does it purr when you pet it?
What does Christian character look like?
A monk in his cell?
A nun baking bread?
Lee Gardner & Linda Culbertson in Nicaragua?
What does Christian character look like?
A Philadelphia inner-city Christian commune?
A Gideon bringing Bibles to a Ramada Inn?
Joining a picket line at the LAX Hilton?
What does Christian character look like?
A pastor denouncing homosexuals and abortion?
A pastor advocating civil rights for all Americans and the right of a woman’s choice?
What does Christian character look like?
Defining marriage as only between a man and a woman?
Or marriage as an expression of love between two human beings regardless of gender?
What does Christian character look like?
Voting Republican?
Voting Democrat?
What does Christian character look like?
We have to be careful …
Paul the Apostle and James, the brother of Jesus, had a different take on things.
James Dobson and Bishop Spong disagree.
Of our own Presbyterian family, John Buchanan of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago and John Huffman of St. Andrew’s in Newport Beach offer different answers.
My brother and I see things differently.
So we have to be careful …
We have to speak from the center of the Bible … not from the edges …
We can find a verse to support every cockeyed that comes along … but it’s not about finding a verse … it’s about Jesus …
Jesus is the center!
Jesus is the measure of our character!
What Jesus said and what Jesus did!
He challenged the powerful and welcomed the excluded … he turned the tables but never turned anyone away.
He called Zacchaeus down from the tree … he spoke to the lonely woman at the well - stopped an angry mob ready to stone a woman caught in adultery … healed the blind and touched the leper … he refused to answer Pilate and died at the hands of the Roman Empire … on the Third Day, angels rolled the stone away …
Listen to Jesus:
You are the salt of the earth … you are the light of the world … let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them. If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Not everyone who says to me, ‘LORD, LORD,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Christian character?
Love God with all of your heart, soul, strength and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Amen and Amen!
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