LAST
JUDGMENT
Nov.
12-14, 2022
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
2 Thessalonians 1:3-10
“FEELING
LIKE YOU DON’T FIT IN?”
1.
Good!
It’s a sign your faith is real and growing!
2.
Good!
Just wait!
2
Thessalonians 1:3-10 (EHV) “We are always obligated to thank God for
you, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more,
and the love that each and every one of you has for one another is
increasing. 4 So we ourselves boast about you in
God’s churches in regard to your patient endurance and faith in all your
persecutions and in the trials that you are enduring. 5 This
is evidence of God’s righteous verdict that resulted in your being counted
worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you also suffer. 6 Certainly,
it is right for God to repay trouble to those who trouble you, 7 and
to give relief to you, who are troubled along with us. When the Lord Jesus is
revealed from heaven with his powerful angels, 8 he
will exercise vengeance in flaming fire on those who do not know God and on
those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 Such
people will receive a just penalty: eternal destruction away from the presence
of the Lord and from his glorious strength, 10 on
that day when he comes to be glorified among his saints, and to be marveled at
among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.”
So how you feeling about things these
days? Do you feel like you belong in your community, state, nation? Are you
fitting in? Let’s do a little history review. Some of you grew up at a time
when the moral values summarized by the 10 Commandments were held by the
majority of Americans. Yes, there was the Roe V Wade thing in the 70’s but
overall, law and order was the rule. Most marriages lasted. People backed the
police. And parents believed their children’s teachers. Christians fit in. Over
time that has eroded. Polls (are you sick of them yet?) polls show more new
couples are choosing to live together without being married than are getting
married. When most states passed amendments defining marriage as between one
man and one they were fairly quickly declared unconstitutional. You may have
thought the overturning of Roe V Wade would be a game changer, but it did not
change anyone’s hearts. Now we have the whole gender thing to deal with. Apparently,
you aren’t supposed to follow the science when the science is biology that
clearly shows there are only two genders, male and female. Not that we needed
biology to speak. God spoke when He said, “Male and female He created them.”
But if you think it’s difficult to figure out what the alphabet soup of LBGQTI+
all means, now you have to figure out what all the other terms mean. One list
presented 81 different genders you can choose from. And do you know what
furries are? Well, they are people who identify as animals and want to be
treated that way even demanding that litter boxes be provided for them in
public places. As the kids text: SMH. Shaking my head. Are you fitting in?
Those are all moral issues. We haven’t
talked about what is really important. Jesus. Jesus is God’s Son. The only way
to heaven. Only He saves from sin. Only He provides the life of perfection
needed to enter heaven. Reject what Jesus has freely done for you and you
condemn yourself to Hell. While roughly 70% of Americans believe there is a
heaven and surprisingly to me about 60% believe there is a Hell most don’t
think Jesus has anything to do with you being there or not. Most say the
really, really bad go to hell and most others heaven, if there is one. It’s
this marginalizing of Jesus, this Devil trick of removing Him from conversation
that gets us most upset. Are you feeling like you don’t fit in?
Good! It’s a sign your faith is real
and growing. Listen to what God had Paul write to the Thessalonian Christians.
These were mostly Jewish people who believed Jesus is the Messiah. But because
of that the Jews in town who did not believe that persecuted them and made
their lives miserable. You can imagine how unfair that felt. How it hurt to not
fit in anymore. But God made sure they heard this. “We are always obligated
to thank God for you, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is
growing more and more, and the love that each and every one of you has for one
another is increasing. 4 So we ourselves boast
about you in God’s churches in regard to your patient endurance and faith in
all your persecutions and in the trials that you are enduring. 5 This
is evidence of God’s righteous verdict that resulted in your being counted
worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you also suffer.” Brothers and sisters, nothing
new under the sun. This chafing that you feel, this almost daily shaking your
head at what’s happening now, is actually good. It’s a sign your faith is real.
God has judged you to be worthy of His kingdom. Not that you earned it. Jesus
gave it to you, but you are living and thinking the way a believer in Jesus
does, bothered by what is evil. Clinging to what is good. Trusting Jesus,
Jesus, only Jesus for your salvation. As it becomes harder to be a Christian
your faith grows. As it becomes harder to be a Christian our love and
appreciation for each other grows. We need to encourage and be encouraged. Are
you feeling like you’re not fitting in? Good! It’s a sign your faith is real
and growing.
What would be bad is if you feel like
you fit in. If deChristianizing and eroding morals don’t bother you, your faith
is dying and may not be real. Young people, I want to address you especially.
You face a lot more pressure than grandma or grandpa did. You will have times
when you will be called unloving for sticking up for Jesus as the only way to
heaven. You will be called a hater if you stick to what God says about who is
male and female and how they should act and what marriage is and isn’t and the
right and wrong ways for God’s gift of sex. You are going to want to fit in.
Don’t do it. Stick to the faith as you are taught. Because at times like these
it’s only when you’re feeling like you’re not fitting in that your faith is
real and growing.
And then, just wait! Don’t give into
frustration. It’s easy to get angry when you get mistreated or treated unfairly
because of your faith in Jesus. It’s easy to be angry when more and more
Americans, some your own family members, drift away from Jesus. And I can tell
you your anger is right and justified. On this Veterans’ Day weekend when we
gratefully remember the sacrifices of those who serve to keep us free think of
how a veteran’s family feels when people disrespect the military. On a much
larger scale God is angered when people speak and act as though the sacrifice
Jesus made is unnecessary. God is angry
when people use His love, patience and grace and permission to sin. God is
angry when people defy what He made them to be and claim the right to be their
own god and make their own rules. We should be angry about what God is angry
at. But remember what He said, “In your anger, do not sin.” Don’t take matters
into your own hands like those who bombed abortion clinics did. Don’t let your
anger turn you into an actual hater who speaks or posts venom. Don’t get
frustrated with God. His allowance of this mess does not mean He does not care.
He does!
Just wait! “Certainly, it is right
for God to repay trouble to those who trouble you, 7 and
to give relief to you, who are troubled along with us. When the Lord Jesus is
revealed from heaven with his powerful angels, 8 he
will exercise vengeance in flaming fire on those who do not know God and on
those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 Such
people will receive a just penalty: eternal destruction away from the presence
of the Lord and from his glorious strength, 10 on
that day when he comes to be glorified among his saints, and to be marveled at
among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.”
We are coming close to the anniversary of the horrible Waukesha Christmas parade
tragedy where a man’s actions caused the death of six people and injured scores
more. People had to wait for justice to be done. But it was done. So too,
brothers and sisters, God will take care of anyone who has mistreated you for
the sake of your faith. On that day we will marvel while others will receive
what they earned by rejecting God.
So, are you feeling like you don’t fit
in in your country, community, society, workplace? Good. Because it means you
do fit in where it matters most. Heaven. Wait for it! Amen.
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