NO IDLE FAITH – 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

We live in a period of history which is referred to as post-incarnation and pre-consummation because we live in the time between the first coming of God in Christ and the second coming of God in Christ.  We are living in the same age of God’s time as the first disciples.

I say God’s time because as Christians while we mark our calendars as the rest of the world does using January 1 as the beginning of a new year, in reality time for us is to be marked less by the turning of a calendar and more by the movement of God.  And while by times it appears that the world’s time moves slowly, God’s time appears to move even slower.

Somehow this age in which we are living seems to be the slowest and longest of any age ever known to humanity -  exceeding 2,000 years.  Yet that is still relatively a short time when we start to consider the recorded history that we have and even shorter when we begin to explore the geologic ages as I did when I studied Geology in college.

Without taking anything away from the account of creation as recorded in Genesis, through my study of those geologic ages I found not less reason to believe the creation story but more evidence to support it. There are definite parallels between the evidence discovered through scientific study and the progress of creation in the Genesis account.

To back up this finding, we have come to understand that the    Hebrew word “yom” that is traditionally translated as day can mean a time or an age.  When the first translations of the Old Testament were made, there was great concern with not wanting to disturb what scholars believed to be the original intention of the text. Our Western obsession with facts and literal interpretations – which are in direct contrast to Eastern ways of looking at things has caused us to limit the story and led to a rejection by many people of the whole creation account.  Scripture also records that one day in the presence of God is equal to a thousand years.   Now we could discuss or even argue over these words and their interpretation but it doesn’t change the reality of where we are at this time.  But living in this time is no excuse for simply marking time while we wait for the second coming of Christ.

Some of the people at the church in Thessalonica had become idle in their faith, as Paul puts it. They had ceased to do any labour either within or without the community. In part this was precipitated by the intense belief among many that Jesus would return during their lifetime. There was a great urgency for people to make up their minds about whether or not to accept that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and that indeed God had conquered death and overcome all sin. There was an urgency to be baptized and to be prepared for the second coming of God in Christ.  And while most people knew that these things could not be separated from their day to day living, there were some who believed that it was futile to make any plans, to work for a future. After all, there may not be a future beyond tomorrow. And so they had become lazy in the eyes of Paul.  Perhaps this is what inspired our forebears to impress upon us our Protestant work ethic. Paul states plainly that any who choose not to work should not share in the community’s food.   Christian communities were small and they needed to band together and share resources together. But the expectation was that everyone participated to the extent that they were able.

Paul also indicates that not only do they appear not to be supportive of the community through work but also that they appear to have abandoned many of the teachings that Paul imparted to them. The community needed to gather regularly for worship, prayer, and study. There was the instruction to regularly celebrate communion and for new believers to be baptized along with their families. If members of the community were failing to hold to these teachings, we can understand even more why Paul would see the potential for these people to move others away from an active faith expressed through worship and community service.

And while the second coming of Christ will happen whether we are ready for it or not, we are not to ever believe that all we need do is simply sit on our hands and wait for it to happen.  Every day gives us another opportunity to live for God. Every day gives us an opportunity to pray individually in our homes, to pray collectively when we gather. Every day gives us a chance to express our faith in word and deed within our families, at our places of employment, in our social activities outside of the church and with those whom we share community in this place.

But we have another opportunity and that is the opportunity to keep one another faithful to God and accountable to one another. By that I do not mean that we have the opportunity to take each other to task for anything and everything we may do but rather that we have a responsibility to speak to one another about something that concerns us that may be affecting either one of us or both of us in a matter of faith and life. We have a responsibility to look out for each other’s best interest and to encourage each other to be active in our faith and life with God.

When the second coming of Christ will occur we do not know. All the signs and portents will never add up to give us the warning we may think we need. And so we are encouraged to not be idle in our faith, to stay bound to each other in community and to seek to practice an active faith individually and in community so that when that day comes, we may be ready to receive him.