I Corinthians 2:1-16

For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (v. 2) Carol and I were on the road in North Carolina when I wrote this, but I am just now able to post it. Sorry for that megadelay! We just left some very dear friends, deeply committed Christians. We had been important in their coming to the Lord so they continue to look to us for guidance. The wife, Tammy comes from a Catholic background, and the rest of the members of her extended family remain very Catholic. They constantly want to talk to her about details of their Catholic faith, items which she no longer embraces. It easily becomes argumentative. She was asking for my advice as to how to respond to those issues. My advice to her was the verse I copied above. Focus on what’s important, what we believe in common. That other stuff, really, just doesn’t matter!!

See also: April 18 (2020) / I Cor. 2:1-16

I Corinthians 1:1-31

I love Paul’s section on wisdom and foolishness beginning with verse 20. I spent my working life among the wise – college professors who were all experts in one thing or another. But their worldly wisdom doesn’t get them anywhere with God: For since … the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. (v. 21) The Gospel is a simple message – we have forgiveness of our sins and eternal life through Jesus’ death and resurrection. But something that simple can’t be enough for those who are “uber-intelligent” – it’s got to be harder than that; it’s got to be something we need to work for, to study longer, something more challenging! But God turns it upside-down on those who want to make the Gospel more difficult: For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (v. 25) It’s a simple message that God wants us to take to simple people. Go!

See also:

• April 16 (2020) / I Corinthians 1:1-17
• April 17 (2020) / I Cor. 1:18-31

Acts 19:1-22

We got away from our chronology a bit when we read all of chapter 18 in one reading. Actually it was while Paul was in Corinth that he wrote both Thessalonian letters. His time in Corinth (his first visit there) is recorded in the first 18 verses of Acts 18. The remaining 10+ verses record his first visit to Ephesus; sailing and landing in Caesarea; going up to meet the church in Jerusalem; returning to his home base, Antioch; departing for his third missionary journey – traveling and revisiting the churches he had established on his first missionary journey; then his arrival in Ephesus that we pick up in today’s first verse.

Paul ministering to the Ephesian Christians: On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. (vv. 5-6) I have mentioned that our Men’s Group has been studying references to the Holy Spirit in Acts. One item of interest to us has been the gift of tongues being poured out on the disciples. We saw this first in Acts 2 at Pentecost, then in Acts 10 when Peter was preaching/teaching at Cornelius’ house, now here a third time in Ephesus. And each of these occasions had a different context. At Pentecost the disciples were simply “all together in one place” (Acts 2:1) when the Holy Spirit appeared and the disciples began speaking in tongues. At Cornelius’ house Peter was simply preaching/teaching and the Holy Spirit fell on his listeners (Acts 10:44). Now here in Acts 19 Paul lays his hands on the Christian believers and they receive the Holy Spirit (v. 6). Our Holy Spirit study has been fascinating. The Holy Spirit, Himself is a worthy study!!

See also:

• April 14 (2020) / Acts 19:1-10
• April 15 (2020) / Acts 19:11-22

II Thessalonians 3:1-18

But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. (v. 3) A footnote in my Study Bible says that “evil one” could also be translated “evil”. Either translation works well, since the “evil one” is the source of all evil. But the front end of that statement is what’s really important – the Lord’s faithfulness! In this same verse, another translation item – the NASB translates “establish you and guard you” with “strengthen and protect you”. All of those verbs work well together and actually fit nicely in sequence: establish, strengthen, guard, protect. We are first established in Jesus, then strengthened for the work ahead of us. Then while we are working the Lord is also watching over us, guarding us, and when necessary, protecting us from evil. We are always being protected, even when we are not seeking the Lord’s help – and the more we seek Him, the more strengthened we are and the more protection He affords us. The Lord is faithful!!

See also: April 13 (2020) / II Thess. 3:1-18

II Thessalonians 2:1-17

I am intrigued by “the restrainer”. In verse 6 Paul tells the Thessalonians that they know who or what the restrainer is: And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. So evidently Paul made it clear when he was with them in person as to who or what that restrainer might be. In my comments from last year in the link below I mention that my Study Bible had suggested the restrainer’s identity as “the Roman state with its emperor, Paul’s missionary work, the Jewish state, the principle of law and government embodied in the state, the Holy Spirit or the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit through the church, or others.” As I continue to read verses 7b and 8a I convince myself that the restrainer is not the Holy Spirit: Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed… To me the Holy Spirit will never be out of the way. Jesus had said “I will be with you always,even until the end of the world.”(Matthew 28:20) Whether Jesus Himself or God the Holy Spirit, He will never be out of the way. So something or someone in Paul’s time is restraining sin and unrighteousness, but will in time fall by the wayside, thereby revealing the “lawless one”. Could it be our God-given moral standards – which seem to be collapsing in our own time? Watch today’s television and movies, where American society seems to get its guidance as to how to behave. I truly fear for our kids and grandkids and the world of their future. The coming of that “lawless one” could be soon: And then the lawless one will be revealed… (v. 8a) Come Lord Jesus, come!

See also: April 12 (2020) / II Thess. 2:1-17

II Thessalonians 1:1-12

Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. (v. 4) As the Thessalonians read or heard the words that Paul wrote they must have enjoyed a certain amount of personal pride (which is not a bad thing) in being so highly commended by him. Paul had written of them in similar fashion in his first letter to them: …so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere… (I Thess.:7-8a) He also lauded them in another letter: We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means… (II Corinthians 8:1-3).

As I ponder these words from Paul written nearly 2,000 years ago, I connect his words to our own church. A few weeks ago we had a “supply priest” from Chattanooga come to give the homily. He had been standing by to serve us as Interim Rector when the Bishop saw a greater need in a church in Missouri and sent him there. He spoke of us as being “in transition, not in crisis” – by way of comparison to the Missouri church. Clearly the Bishop had spoken highly of us to him. Also our earlier candidate, Father Joe spoke highly of us at his “exit interview” with Brian, describing us as “rich” – referring not to money (which we have) but to spirit, to maturity, to leadership. Again, high praise…! These praises certainly make us feel good about ourselves – and that’s a good thing. The important point here, however, is to accept those words with deep humility, knowing that the Lord has been working in our midst and that we are where we are because He is the One guiding and strengthening us! GLORY!!

See also: April 11 (2020) / II Thess. 1:1-12

I Thessalonians 5:1-28

Do not quench the Spirit. (v. 19) First David, then Michael encouraged us to become a “Three Streams” church – sacramental, scriptural, Spirit-filled. It’s not hard to buy into those first two streams; it’s easy to see that St. Andrew’s is both sacramental and scriptural. But I fear that there are too many who do not have a good sense of what it means to be Spirit-filled, do not have a good grasp of who the Holy Spirit is, what He does, how He fills us. Our Men’s Group has been looking at this third stream, first in John 14-16, then in other references to the Holy Spirt in the rest of the Gospels, then in Acts of the Apostles, and finally in the Epistles. And we have found a treasure trove of characteristics and activities in which the Spirit is engaged. We have listed 56 references to the Spirit in the book of Acts alone and next week will be our third session looking just at those references. Even something as (seemingly) simple as “being filled with the Holy Spirit” or “full of the Holy Spirit” can have different meanings or different manifestations depending on the context in which these phrases are stated. We have learned that we can’t put the Holy Spirit in a box, that we can’t know Him to be this or that – He is who He is, and He is constantly at work in and among us. Rather than quenching the Spirit we need to be asking to be filled with the Spirit each and every day – and that’s not me speaking, that’s Archbishop Beach’s challenge, his encouragement to us. Be filled with the Holy Spirit each and every day!

See also:

• April 9 (2020) / I Thess. 5:1-11
• April 10 (2020) / I Thess. 5:12-28

I Thessalonians 4:1-18

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven … And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (vv. 16-17) We Christians have hope, we have confidence that when we die we will be with the Lord. Paul makes it clear here that our hope is well-founded. Look at all of what he says: The Lord will descend from heaven; the dead in Christ will rise; those who are alive will join the dead in Christ to meet the Lord; and we will always be with the Lord. What hope, what glory! We often talk about seeing those loved ones who have died when we ourselves die. Again, Paul makes it clear – both those believers who have died and those believers who are living will join together to meet Jesus. We will see them: Mary Ann Duddy, Millie Rodes, our friends and family members. Because Jesus died and rose, we too will die and rise. We are eternal beings. Let’s live in the reality of that eternity!!

See also:

• April 7 (2020) / I Thess. 4:1-12
• April 8 (2020) / I Thess. 4:13-18

I Thessalonians 3:1-13

Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone… (v. 1). “left behind” and “alone”… In our Men’s Group discussion this past Tuesday someone said that the Christian life is meant to be lived in community, not alone. And there’s great truth in that, as Paul affirms in today’s reading. For him it was one thing to be “left behind”, but it was quite another to be left “alone”. Paul’s aloneness was in Athens. The Lord had blessed him with a few converts there, but I imagine that Paul was not particularly comfortable in this city of philosophers – I can see them wanting to argue and discuss gospel fine points and details rather than simply accepting with faith and believing on the truth of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Paul had better things to do! So in his aloneness he moved on to Corinth where he met a fellow tentmaker and was possibly somewhat more comforted.

I spoke with someone yesterday who was feeling lonely. He is a single man, 70’ish, never married, living 300+ miles from us, and now is looking at his life from here on. He is not in good health and may end up in a nursing home, again with only his siblings and a few friends who would drop by for occasional visits. But the saddest part of all is that this man is not a Christian and has rejected our encouragement, our witnessing to move him to Jesus. What to do…? Carol and I know another man age 55 or so whose wife wants out of their 15-year marriage. He, too is feeling quite alone. And I’m sure there are dozens of other people I/we know who are also feeling lonely.

But then I also think of widows and widowers and never-marrieds in our church who surely feel that same aloneness, but you certainly can’t see that on Sunday morning. They have something more in their lives – Jesus and the rest of us! Just as Paul needed to be reassured that the Thessalonians were thinking of him, all these “alone” people need to know that we are thinking and praying for them. Add some lonely people to your prayer list…!

See also: April 6 (2020) / I Thess. 3:1-13

I Thessalonians 2:1-20

A correction… In the second paragraph from my second set of comments in the links below I wrote that “Jews from Philippi had come to Thessalonica to create havoc for Paul, driving him out of town…”. I don’t know where I got that information; I looked back and forth in Scripture and could not find support for that statement. It was true that in Galatia Jews from one town (Antioch) had followed Paul to other towns (Lystra, Derbe) and created havoc, but I don’t see that in Thessalonica. Acts 17:5 says that “…the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob…”. Nothing about Jews from Philippi. Sorry to have misinformed you!

But since we were torn away from you, brothers … we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you … again and again—but Satan hindered us. (vv. 17-18) Many Bible scholars agree that Paul wrote this letter from Corinth where he lived for 18 months. Since they agree that he also wrote II Thessalonians from Corinth it must have been sometime in that first half of his stay that he wrote this first letter. That is, his time in Thessalonica was fresh in his mind – his three Sabbaths of preaching, then being run out of town. He left there with unfinished work and wanted to complete that work, but Satan hindered us. It sounds to me like Paul was making plans to return, but something came up one time, something else a second time, something else a third time… In the end he ascribed these failed trip plans to Satan – and that very possibly could have been the case. Why did God not defeat Satan’s interventions? We don’t know. What we do know is that Paul left Corinth with Priscilla and Aquila and sailed to Ephesus, leaving them behind, where they were much needed as we saw at the end of Acts 18.

There have been times when I have made plans in my life – specifically academic appointments at the University of Tennessee and the University of Delaware where I went in as the favored candidate and did not get the job. But with it all we end up in Richmond/Versailles. How does the saying go – “Man proposes, but God disposes.” Still we use our “wisdom” to make plans, but we also seek the Lord and His wisdom – “…not my will, but your will be done…”.

See also:

• April 4 (2020) / I Thess. 2:1-12
• April 5 (2020) / I Thess. 2:13-20