The Old Preacher

Viewing the World through God's Word

Category: 2 Thessalonians (Page 1 of 5)

Allan Has Moved On To Be With Jesus!

November 6, 2018 /

A note from Lois Babcock:

This is the last of The Old Preacher’s blogs, but certainly not the last of the Old Preacher!  Allan was welcomed into eternity by his Lord Sunday, October 28.  We are grieving for ourselves, but not for Allan.  He has seen Christ and he has gained.  Since I don’t know who receives this blog, if you would like to learn more about this Christ-Follower and the life he committed to The Gospel, please go to his obituary page.

And if you would like to leave a condolence message sharing how Allan blessed you, please scroll down on the obituary page and you’ll find a place to do it. Our family would enjoy hearing from you.

Because you followed Allan’s blog, you know of his fight with Primary Lateral Sclerosis.  He never gave into this dreadful disease and he never stopped striving to overcome its crippling symptoms as it attacked his nervous system.  Daily Allan prayed for healing, and many others prayed as well.  But the healing did not come.  We cannot figure out God’s plans—but we can trust the sovereignty of God.  Some live to 95, others die at 36 leaving young children, some are martyred doing God’s work.  There’s cancer, murder, accidents, natural disasters.  Let’s not see evil in God’s ways.  God appoints when we are to die.  Jesus died at God’s timing, even though it was evil.  Nothing or no one can end our lives.  Only God.   On February 27, 2016 Allan wrote, “Death is the corridor to Jesus.”  For Allan death was not an end, but a beginning!

Allan’s last sermon as pastor of SonRise Community Church (in 2014) was from the same Scripture passage he shared to challenge his fellow college students in his commencement address (1970).   Allan loved all of God’s Word, and didn’t have a life verse.  But, on two significant life-changing occasions, he chose to speak on the Scripture below.  These verses defined his life.  Following is the text from his 2014 written sermon.  (Allan’s comments explaining Paul’s writing are in parenthesis.)  We offer it as the final words posted on The Old Preacher, with the prayer that you will be encouraged to live out the title: CHASE HARD AFTER CHRIST!

“But whatever was to my profit (my Jewish religious heritage and my religious observances) I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss (what I’ve achieved, whatever I’ve valued) compared to the surpassing greatness (worth) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.  Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do:  Forgetting (not paying attention to) what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3:7-14

My family and I are mourning our loss.  Allan leaves a huge hole in our lives.  However, we are celebrating God’s grace and mercy.  Allan lived Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 4:7, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Our prayer is that you will do the same.  You can—

CHASE HARD AFTER CHRIST!

Reformation: Jan Hus

October 3, 2017 /

 We continue with our Reformation commemoration from desiringgod.org . . .

Here We Stand

Day 2

Jan Hus

c. 1369–1415

The Goosefather

By Greg Morse

On December 17, 1999, the pope issued the ceremonial equivalent of a modern apology: “Our bad.”

John Paul II addressed a crowd in the Czech Republic, expressing “deep regret for the cruel death” inflicted upon their hero. “Deep regrets” were the very least the Catholic Church could offer.

Sealed with Blood

Lured to the Council of Constance under the promise of safety, Jan Hus was immediately thrown into prison for six months, given a mock trial, and ordered to recant — which he refused. In July 1415, he was stripped naked, adorned with a dunce hat painted with devils and labeled “Arch-Heretic” — all as he prayed for his enemies.

They then led him past a burning pile of his books and chained him to the stake. In response to being chained up like a dog, he said, “My Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this one for my sake, so why should I be ashamed of this rusty chain?” They told him once more to recant, but he refused, proclaiming, “What I taught with my lips I will now seal with my blood.” And that he did.

As the flames climbed higher, he sang. The secretary of the council pronounced, “O curse’d Judas, because thou hast abandoned the pathways of peace, and hast counselled with the Jews, we take away from thee the cup of redemption.” Thankfully, the Catholic Church did not have the authority to take the cup of redemption that day.

After his death, outrage filled Bohemia. In his name, followers revolted against Rome in violent protest that lasted for over a decade. Jan Hus was a preacher, a political figure, a prophet, a proto-Reformer, and a martyr of the first class.

Wycliffe’s Bulldog

Around 1369, a goose was born in gooseland. Jan Hus (Czech for goose) was born in Hussinec (Czech for gooseland) in the Kingdom of Bohemia. Born into a poor family, the goose left the gaggle for the priesthood in search of a better living and prestige. He came to be a renowned preacher at Bethlehem Chapel, but spent much of his time serving in academia as the dean of the philosophical faculty in Prague. Living in a time of social unrest between German speakers and Czech citizens, Hus became a key figure for Czech nationalism.

Hus lived in a time when immorality infected the priesthood of the Catholic Church. He soon began preaching “violent sermons” against the rampant iniquity of the clergy until they reported him to the archbishop and had him banned from preaching. As Hus read Scripture and watched the popes of his day abuse their power, he concluded that papal authority was not ultimate. He needed a sturdier foundation than was built from the straw and sticks of men’s opinion — no matter how highly regarded those men were. He built his life and ministry on the word of God.

His views about Scripture’s ultimate authority were set ablaze as he began to read the condemned works of John Wycliffe. Wycliffe found a loyal disciple in Hus. Hus defended his works with such tenacity that one historian called Hus “Wycliffe’s bulldog” (The Unquenchable Flame, 30). He staunchly argued against indulgences, advocated for both the bread and the wine to be served in communion, and preached in the common language (as opposed to the untranslated Latin of the day).

Although still in agreement with the Catholic Church on matters such as the Mass, his allegiance to the teachings of Wycliffe got him excommunicated, tried for heresy, and burned alive.

The Geese Are Not Silent

After Hus was finally condemned to death, he proclaimed, “You may roast the goose, but a hundred years from now a swan will arise whose singing you will not be able to silence.” Exactly 102 years later, a sprightly monk nailed ninety-five theses to Wittenberg’s door.

He too, seeing the discrepancy between Roman doctrine and Scripture, sought to reform the Catholic Church. He too was led to challenge the pope. And he too was condemned as a heretic. During the Leipzig Debate, Luther was disparagingly condemned as a “Hussite.” He rejected the title in the moment, but took time to read his works during an intermission, returned, and commended the teaching of the condemned Hus. Luther was Hus’s swan, and would later own the association. He’s often painted with swans to this day.

The Goosefather, a prominent forerunner to the Reformers, stood his ground and was martyred. The Swan followed the Goose, and Rome still has not silenced him.

From the Poor, Generosity Overflows

June 4, 2017 /

Paul’s got a project.  He’s collecting money from Gentile Christian churches for the poor Jewish Christian church in Jerusalem.

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He writes about it in 2 Corinthians 8 & 9.  And from his specific words lays important general principles about our giving.

Nothing here, though, about tithing, which was an Old Testament practice.  For us, a tithe is a baseline for even more generous giving.  Nothing here, either, about funding the local church (mostly salaries and building expenses).  The early church had none of that.  Nevertheless, Paul’s specific situation offers us general principles about giving.

Today we’ll camp just on 2 Corinthians 8:1-5

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints–and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us (2 Corinthians 8:1-5).

The Poor Jerusalem Church

The Jerusalem church was poor for several reasons.  Its growth included widows who needed care.  Jerusalem, and to some extent the church, was overpopulated with elderly Jewish families who moved there to spend their last days in the holy city.  The effects of a 46 A.D. famine lingered and persecution took its toll.  In the face of need, Paul is following through on his intention expressed to the Jerusalem church leaders: “They only asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do” (Galatians 2:10).

First Instructions to the Corinthians

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul had given instructions for the collection  . . .

“Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me “(1 Corinthians 16:1-4).

The Macedonian Model

Now, in 2 Corinthians Paul tries to motivate the church to complete what they’ve started by pointing to  the Macedonian churches. Macedonia had been a Roman province since 148 B.C.  Paul had planted churches there in Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea. They were extremely poor and severely afflicted, implying that their poverty in this relatively rich province resulted from persecution. Yet, an abundance of joy (about giving to help others) and their rock-bottom destitution flowed over (like a river washing over its banks) in a wealth of generosity.

They gave, not only “according to their means”, but even “beyond their means”—and that of their own accord.  Furthermore, they gave joyfully.  Their affliction was no excuse not to give.  Instead of turning them inward, they looked outward.

Now here’s the kicker:  they earnestly begged “for the favor” of participating “in the relief of the saints”.  (Never in 44 years of pastoring have I had a member raise his hand and plead, “Please can we give a second offering this morning?”)

Paul had hoped the Macedonian churches would give themselves “to us”—that is, to the collection as he believed God willed.  But they went beyond that.  First they gave themselves to the Lord making the collection an act of devotion to him.

Makes you wish you could hire Paul for a church money-raising campaign!  But it wasn’t Paul.  He makes it clear that this was “the grace of God” given among the churches.  C. K. Barrett (The Second Epistle to the Corinthians) comments . . .

“Grace itself means generosity; theologically, the generosity of God in giving freely to those who as sinners deserve nothing except punishment.  Paul may mean (a) that the generosity of the Macedonians is the generosity of God himself, or (b) that God has given grace to the Macedonians with the result of making them generous; perhaps he would not have wished to distinguish between the two possibilities” (p. 218).

Sam Storms (pastor Bridgeway Church, Oklahoma City) calls this grace, “the operative power of the indwelling Spirit.”

Principles for Our Giving

Give According to How We Prosper.  Most studies show that the poor give proportionately more than the wealthy.  The reverse should be true.  In 1 Corinthians, Paul told each person to give “as he may prosper.”

Poverty or Affliction Shouldn’t Prevent Our Giving.  Over the years I’ve met people who told me they couldn’t afford to give.  Poverty didn’t stop the Macedonians; nor should it us.  Everyone can give something.

Give joyfully.  Giving is a “grace”.  Grace empowers generosity in the giver.  Grace is also what the recipients of giving receive in our gift, whether it’s money to fund the local church, support of missionaries, or help to the poor.  Participating in grace is a joy.  “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

See Giving as Part of our Devotion to the Lord.  Giving money isn’t just helping the church pay bills or putting food on the table for a missionary.  Giving expresses our devotion to the Lord.  If he doesn’t have our wallets, he doesn’t have us.  Make giving an act of worship.

More Money in Return?  In 9:6 Paul will promise “whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully.”  That promise may mean gaining more money or receiving some other blessing, either in this life or heaven.  Givers to God receive from God.  Interestingly, though, apparently that was not what motivated the Macedonians.  They gave simply to generously meet the needs of the poor.  That’s the grace of giving.

Wouldn’t it be excellent if our church was known for that grace!

 

 

 

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