Title: NAVIGATING OUR SHIP

Focus: The Scriptures call us to navigate our ship of life through the turbulent waters of history and daily circumstances with stability and hope.

Function: To encourage the people to stabilize their walk with God through the stormy waters of our times.

Text: II Thessalonians 2:1-17

Outside the town of Delafield, WI, near an Episcopalian seminary called “Nashota House,” is a wooded plot of land, strewn with crosses and tombstones. It’s a peaceful place where you can rest and ponder the ebb and flow, the ups and downs of life. The burial site dates back to the mid 1800’s and is still used today.

I find it fascinating to trace the names and time periods of those buried there. Most of the time, you’ll find on those tombs a date of birth and a date of death, sometimes separated by a dash, which indicates the lifespan or period of time the deceased ones lived. Their lifespan tended to be much shorter than our own today. Life was short, and death a common companion. Those buried in that plot of land are waiting for the day of Christ’s return; they are waiting to be gathered with Christ on the restored creation.

As I reflected upon those “dashes” or time periods, I was struck by the challenges people faced in those periods. Like us today, they had their struggles, their fears, their storms of life to face. How did they fare throughout the storms of revolution, civil war, poverty, taming the wilderness, making a living, dealing with sin and its consequences, including sickness, pain, and death?

Like us today, they had the Scriptures; they had to learn to practice faith in Christ; and they had to navigate their ship of life with Christian hope and stability.

Our times confront us with uncertainty: the economy is stagnant; the job market is very tight; the nation’s debt load is weighing heavily upon us and especially the next generation. Economically we find ourselves in stormy times.

Politically, things aren’t much better. At home, there is unease among Americans as to the policies and direction of our government. And abroad, radical Islamists seek to kill innocent lives in the western world. None of us is safe from the terrorists’ threats. The Middle East is a powder keg, and the prospects of a lasting peace are slim. How are Christians to navigate their ship of life in these turbulent times?

The Apostle Paul points us the way: As we go through stormy waters of history and daily circumstances, we are to look forward to Christ’s final coming, and to our gathering up with him. And we stabilize our walk with God by trusting God’s work of election and calling. God is the one who will direct our ship of life to its final destination. Let’s navigate our ship with the stabilizers found in God’s Word.

___________________________

The Passage: Its Concern

II Thessalonians 2 speaks directly to the instability that Thessalonica’s new Christian converts were experiencing. Paul had lived among them and taught them the good news of Jesus Christ for about 6-8 months. Then he had to flee Thessalonica because his life was in danger. The Christians in Thessalonica experienced persecutions as well. These were trying times!

Paul writes two letters of encouragement filled with instructions and guidance. From the first letter we learn that the persecutors disturbed the peace of the Thessalonian church, for the early death of Christian martyrs raised the question whether these Christian dead would be part of welcoming the Lord Jesus when he comes again.

From Paul’s second letter we now learn that false teachers also disturbed the peace. They taught that the day of the Lord’s coming had already arrived. Persecutors from the outside, and false teachers from the inside—both brought fear, disillusion, and instability to these early Christians in Thessalonica. Paul now addresses this particular concern of false teachers destabilizing the church.

The Passage: Its Flow

In my observations tonight, I make use of British pastor/theologian, John Stott’s insights. The flow or movement of Paul’s discussion in chapter two, for example, consists of three steps: First, Paul identifies the nature of the false teaching (2:1-3); Second; Paul refutes the false teaching by highlighting the truth of the gospel (2:4-12); and Third, Paul points to a way whereby the Thessalonian Christians can stabilize their ship of life in the turbulent waters of their times (2:13-17).

Let’s explore these three steps or movements in the passage. From Paul’s warning against the error of the false teachers, it appears that they taught that the day of the Lord has already come or is already here. Perhaps these teachers made that conclusion on the basis of some references they had found in Paul’s writings.

In I Thess. 5:5 and 8 for example, Paul says that Christians are “children of the day,” and that they “belong to the day.” In that context, however, Paul is not talking about the coming of Christ but about the ethical and moral dimensions to which Christians are called by virtue of their spiritual rebirth and faith in Christ.

In response to these false teachings and claims, Paul writes: “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you…not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you….”

Paul then exposes the false teaching by talking about the rebellion of the Antichrist (2:4-12). Paul draws upon the teachings of the O.T., especially from the book of Daniel and from the teachings of Jesus himself. The prophecies and teachings about the end times in Scripture are complex in their function and role throughout history. They seem to have multiple fulfillments and all point to a climax in history when a historic figure called the “Antichrist” will rise up and wage war against God’s people and the rule of Christ.

I will not go into all of the detailed predictions and interpretations made by so many throughout history. You can study these things for yourself. All I will do is point how Paul develops his teaching about the Antichrist and the coming of the day of the Lord.

In verses 3b-5, Paul talks about the leader of the rebellion. He is the “man of lawlessness, the lawless one, the man doomed to destruction.” This leader is an anarchist: he opposes the rule of law; and he will be in opposition to God. In verses 6-8 Paul talks about the outbreak of the rebellion by the Antichrist. He will not succeed, for Paul tells us that “…the lawless one will be revealed,” and the Lord Jesus “will overthrow him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming.” In other words, victory is ours in Christ Jesus.

Then, in 2:9-12, Paul talks about the dynamics of the rebellion. Listen: “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” Clearly, Satan will be hard at work when the rebellion has come.

I like what John Stott says about this passage so far: “History is not a random series of meaningless events. It is rather a succession of periods and happenings which are under the sovereign rule of God….” Paul makes clear that now is the time of “restraints,” in which the secret power of lawless is being held in check. Next will come the time of “rebellion,” in which the control of law will be removed and the lawless one will be revealed. Finally will come the time or “retribution,” in which the Lord Jesus will defeat and destroy the Antichrist, and those who have believed the Antichrist-lie will be condemned. That will happen on the day of the Lord when Christ returns. Until that time, the scriptures call us to navigate our ship of life through the turbulent waters of history and daily circumstances with stability and hope.

________________________

The other night I was watching a program that showed small fishing boats on the ocean in stormy waters. The stormy waves will toss those small boats, especially when fully loaded, to the point that these boats may simply roll over and sink. To avoid such a thing, these boats have stabilizers. A long arm at each side of the ship extends over the waves. Dropped from these arms deep into the stormy waters are two heavy anchors of steel plates. Those steel plates provide a drag that stabilizes the fully-loaded ship as it continues its journey to a safe harbor.

Using those stabilizers as a metaphor, I see the Apostle Paul giving us today directions in how to stabilize our ship of life through the turbulent waters of our times. In verses 13-14 Paul points to God’s work of election and God’s call to faith in the gospel of Christ. Listen: “…we ought always to thank God for you…because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul settles our anxious hearts by pointing, on the one hand, to God’s mysterious work of election (before time). That work of election is unto salvation, which the Holy Spirit brings about in our lives, cleansing us from sin and uniting us with Christ. This is God’s ongoing work in us today.

On the other hand, there is God’s call to believe in the truth. God moves our hearts to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our response of faith is also the work of God. As we live and go through life as followers of Christ, we notice that God stabilizes our ship of life. That’s why Paul can say: “So then…stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.”

The stabilizers of God’s election and God’s call to us are firmly anchored in the doctrines of Scriptures and in the teachings handed down by the apostles. Thus I want to emphasize the importance of Biblical teachings.

The Bible is the roadmap by which we journey through life unto the day when Christ comes again. Do we know and consult that roadmap? Do we draw upon the Scriptures’ teachings as we face the trials and hardships of our days?

God is sovereign over all of life, including our times. God has given us stabilizers to navigate our ship of life. God shows us the way to persevere and find our destiny when Christ comes again. Let’s be sure to take our cues from God and his Word.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.