Titus 1 - Qualifications

The more I journey in the church the more I find people who want to be in charge of something, but are not willing to do what it takes to be in a leadership role. This must not be a new thing as Paul writes to Titus to let him know what to look for in a leader in the church. The qualifications are clear and rigorous. I wonder how many of us as leaders in the church can honestly measure up?

It is easy to look at lists such as this and consider them nice but ancient and therefore not applicable. On the contrary while these qualifications have been around for thousands of years they are not less valid, in fact their longevity seems to add to their validity. Leadership in the church is open to all people, and I do mean all people. The catch if you will, is we have to be willing to submit to something greater than ourselves and our own wants and desires. Leadership is not an anything goes activity.

Many great leaders forfeit their opportunities to lead because they are not willing to conform their lives to a standard other than their own. In the church that standard is the teachings of Scripture about how we are to live our lives. We might not like it, and can easily see where it might exclude some. However, it is not the standard which excludes, it is the choice to not meet the standard which excludes.

If you are not called to leadership, are you exempt from the teachings. Absolutely not. The qualifications for a leader are the standards by which all followers of Jesus are called to live. Leaders merely are called to model this lifestyle to the community of followers and the world at large in a more up front way. May we all live the call of Christ in our lives.

2 Thessalonians 3 -- Cruise Control

One of the most important features on a car for me is cruise control. I can get my motor running, get out on the highway and look for adventure without worrying about getting a speeding ticket. All I must do is set the speed and forget about it. Paul is warning the Thessalonian church about doing this in their life journey. We are not to simply sit around and revel in the glory of being followers of Jesus, we are to do the work Christ showed us to do.

This does not simply mean being busy for the Lord, it means not being idle for the Lord. Not setting the cruise control and going through the motions until the ride is over. Not being idle is not just about taking action it is about taking the right actions. It is real easy to allow our faith to become stagnant, not developing into a deeper relationship with Jesus. As followers of Jesus the love shown to us in Christ Jesus should be making all the difference in how we live our lives. Works of mercy, compassion and grace should not be a specialized activity, rather it should be the way our lives are known by others. This is not accomplished in cruise control.

Cruise control is great in the car, it is tragic in life. My pick up truck does not have cruise control, I have to pay more attention to what I am doing. I cannot simply go through the driving motions, I must actually be responsive to what is going on around me. Perhaps it is time to remove the cruise control from your life, and pay attention to what is going on around you. Perhaps it is time to become and active participant in the journey rather than letting it simply happen to you.

2 Thessalonians 2 -- Stand Firm

It seems as though everyday the world becomes more chaotic. Watching the news, reading the paper or surfing the news sites all return more evidence that our world is experiencing some interesting times. Some would say that we have reached the logical conclusion of the age of enlightenment. Others would say things are just fine. Yet others are looking at the events of our age as the signs of the End of Times. None of these points will I argue with or agree with today, rather simply look to the Scriptures.

Here in 2 Thessalonians 2 we find Paul's teaching about the Man of Lawlessness. We are not told when this man will appear on the scene of world history. We are not even told many details to know what the coming will look like. However, it is clear that a time of lawlessness is coming. This lawlessness might include world affairs, but the spiritual desecration is the greater clue. When the age of lawlessness comes there will be counterfeit miracles, the man will claim to be the Messiah. The people will not believe the truth but the lies, and people will delight in wickedness.

So what are we to do? Paul says stand firm because you have the truth. Whether the Man of Lawlessness is already at work or not, those who trust in the Lord have protection from deception. The truth is offered to us through Jesus Christ, we must choose to stand firm and trust in that truth. When that day comes there will be a great sorting. The wheat and the chaff will finally be recognized for what it is. Our task is not to sort now, our task is to live as fully as possible the live Jesus granted us when the tomb could not contain him.

As our world becomes more and more chaotic, we are to stand firm. As financial woes increase and war becomes commonplace, we must stand firm. We have but one hope, and that is Jesus Christ. In that hope we must stand firm.

2 Thessalonians 1 -- Worthy of The Calling

The second letter to the Thessalonians starts as most of Paul's letters, with words of greeting and thanksgiving. Toward the end of the chapter there is a simple statement which has commanded my attention. "With this in mind we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith."v 11 Okay so maybe not that simple, yet it has captured me.

At first read it seems overwhelming. Most of us struggle with worthiness anyway, then to add this verse is like adding insult to injury. Another opportunity to not measure up. Take a good look at the verse. One the prayer is God who as at work not us. God's calling, God's reckoning, God's power. What is required from you and I, faith. We have our part to do, however, it is God who is the primary actor in this drama. Our worthiness is connected with the power of God. Perhaps this is an oversimplification, but God has no limit in power.

The passage reminds us all the power and work of God is initiated with our faith. When we follow after God more than other things in our lives, then we initiate all the power of heaven on our behalf. So, do we control God? Not at all. God is going to do what God is going to do. The remaining question is whether we will participate, sit on the sidelines, or work against what God is doing. Paul's prayer for the Thessalonian church, and I think for us, is that we may have the faith to see God work just as he has described. Not for our glory, that Jesus Christ might be glorified.

1 Thessalonians 5 -- Holy Fire

Here in the northeast the time of year has come when you walk outside in the crisp evening and you can smell the wood fires burning to heat homes. I grew up in a home where our primary heat source was a wood burning stove. The worst thing that could happen would be the fire went out. Compounding the problem would be the days when there was no desire to rebuild the fire. I have always been amazed at how cold I was willing to get before pursuing a fire in the stove.

It seems the same thing happens with the holy fire which burns in our midst. Paul could see this potential, in fact he probably say places where the fire had not just gone out, but was put out. The encouragement to the churches is do not quench the spirit. Let God keep the home fire burning bright and hot. When working with a wood stove it is up to us to build the fire. When following God we do not need to build the fire, we have to make sure we keep it burning.

The great tragedy of church today is when we allow the fire of God, the Holy fire to go out. It continues to amaze me how once the fire is out there will be reflection about how nice the fire was, but there seems to be little desire to seek Holy fire again. It is almost as if we would rather be cold, depressed, oppressed and all together empty than to seek after the passion and fire of God. It is not only the individual who suffers when this happens, whole communities begin to die. Satan begins to fill the open spaces and before long hopelessness sets in and the fire seems very distant. Could it be Paul was warning in Thessalonians because he knew how hard it is to reclaim the Holy Fire of the spirit?

There is Good News however. If we seek the fire we will find it when we seek with all our hearts. The prophet Jeremiah was speaking to a people who were in exile, captivity, enslaved, when he spoke words of hope. Jeremiah 29 is where we see some words of hope, skip verse 11 for a moment and look at verse 13, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." When we pursue the fire, we will find it when we search with reckless abandon.

Has the fire gone out? Are you seeking? What are we holding back?

1 Thessalonians 4 -- The Coming of The Lord

In this chapter of Thessalonians we find Paul addressing a basic aspect of life. He admonishes them on what to stay away from, and encourages them in the paths of living which lead to life. At the end of the chapter he plugs in a little glimpse of what the return of Jesus will be like. This is one of the passages often cited by the supporters of the rapture.

I do not want to get into a lot of detail in this forum, but the end of the chapter requires some understanding about the return of Jesus. The image Paul uses is the image of a king coming to a city. When the king is in the distance the people of the village would run out and greet the king celebrating as the king continued on to the city. This is the echo of the triumphal entry of Jesus in to Jerusalem just before the cross. The return of Jesus will happen in much the same fashion.

Note the people to greet the king, but they are not taken away from the city, they follow the king back to the city in great celebration. When Jesus returns it is not to take the Christians away to another place, rather it will be to return this world to the way things were before the Fall in Genesis. The place where people and God are in perfect relationship, and sin is absent. When the King returns to this place, we will greet Him and enter into the fullness of the created Kingdom.

In all reality the details do not really matter as much as the question of preparedness. Are you and I ready if that day is today? Are we living our lives in such a way that we would run to the king, celebrate and experience the fullness? The return of Jesus is not the question.

1 Thessalonians 3 -- Standing Firm

A reality of following Christ is persecution. Like no other people in history aside from the Jews, has there been as much persecution as Christ followers experience. Since the outset, Jesus himself experienced persecution from the religious people. By the time we read the books of the New Testament, with in 50- 70 years of Christ's death for most of them, the followers are being persecuted on all fronts. The church is Thessalonica is no different.

Here Paul praises them for standing firm in the face of opposition. They had faced persecution and stood up to it. Though it does not tell how they stand up to it, the chapter reveals it is possible. There are seasons of live when the hows are not as important as the fact that it can happen. The most fierce opposition is often from the people who are suppose to understand. We are not told who was opposing the followers in the church, but often across Asia minor it was the religious people in the cities.

The call for us to stand firm. Struggle will come, yet when it comes it still can knock us off our feet. The question is, do we stay down, or do we get up and stand firm? In the short-term giving up might seem like the thing to do, however the long-term requires that we stand firm.