Tethered to Christ and His Word: Part 2

Introduction: Martin Luther

While attending the outreach event Friday night at Adam and Shawna’s, Mila heard a a few of the kids walking away asking “what is reformation day?” Sadly, its an unfamiliar term in the world but even within the protestant church. Many protestants don’t even really know they are represented as protesting something.

Why are you labeld a protestant? You belong to a history in the church where faithful brothers and sisters stood against the Catholic church and its unbiblical teachings, thus greating a historical divide between protestants and catholics. One of the historical catalysts of the movement was Martin Luther.

Luther stood again the Catholic teachings of his day and being called before the leaders of the catholic church Luther famously stated,

"My conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me!”

That phrase encapsulates not just the movement of reformation in the 1500’s but the very word of God which was given as the sold source of authority and hope in the world today.

Last week we looked at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and we focused on Paul’s teaching on being tethered to Christ and his word in the midst of great trial and persecution. As Paul looked forward to the 2nd coming of Christ, he predicted, as the Lord did before him, great apostasy in the church, great false teaching directed by the Antichrist, and the need for the church to stand firm by clinging to Christ and his word.

Review:

1. The Reason for Our Tethering (13-14)

2 Thessalonians 2:13–14 “13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. 14 It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

A. Our Election: “His Beloved and chosen”

B. Our Salvation: “Saved by His Gospel”

C. Our Sanctifcation: “Sanctified by His Spirit”

D. Our Glorification: “gain the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ”

2. The Object of our Tethering (15)

2 Thessalonians 2:15 “15 So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.”

Paul throws some into confusion about his wording here as he uses PARADOSIS which means “that which is transmitted or received from someone else.” For example, the Roman catholic and Eastern Orthodox church believes that “traditions’ here means that which is authoritatively passed down by the power of the church and its leaders in regards to the interpretation of Scripture. These two groups divide themselves from the protestant tradition by claiming that human traditions are on an equal or greater authority than the Scriptures.

But IS Paul saying that in order to endure the persecutions and trials that come in the end of time before Christ’s return, we must be grounded in the human interpretations of the Scripture ? Absolutely not!

Paul uses the PARADOSIS here because his teachings came from Christ and were passed down to him. In the conversion of Paul, we see the Lord teach him, the disciples teach him and he soon thereafter began to pass down that teaching to others. He taught them face to face initially. They would learn from him as he traveled around from city to city on his missionary journeys. His words were rooted in the OT Scriptures which we can see from the way he writes his letters. Paul continued to teach orally throughout his missionary journeys but he also taught in written form. What he said and what he wrote was meant to be passed on to other believers.

Paul acknowledged in those letters that what he wrote was written not in man’s wisdom but by the authority of the Spirit of God speaking through him.

Galatians 1:11–12 “11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Paul clarifies that the source of the revealed word was by divine authority and therefore it was passed on orally and in written form with that same divine authority. It is the Spirit speaking through Paul to the churches.

Paul says to the church in Corinth:

1 Corinthians 14:37 “37 If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord’s commandment.”

Not only did Paul affirm his words as authoritatively part of Scripture but Peter did as well. Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:16 “16 as also in all his(Pauls) letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.”

Peter classifies Paul’s writings as part of “scripture” and we know that Paul tells Timothy at in 2 Tim 3 that “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness that the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work.

We stand then upon the conclusion that Paul’s words here in 2 Thessalonians are ,rooted in the meaning of revelation from God passed down through the apostle Paul for the faith and practice of the church.

Look with me at further evidence of this in chapter 3,

2 Thessalonians 3:6 “6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.”

Again, notice the authority which Paul commands the church here in regards to a discipline matter in the church. Here you have a brother described as leading an unruly life and what determines that man is unruly….he is living contrary to the “tradition which you received from us.” Again, this command to the chruch is to take an action of discipline against this man for his disobedience to the revealed word of God through the apostle Paul.

These two verses then draw us again as the church to stand firm upon the word of God and the word of God alone as our supreme authority in all areas of spiritual life and practice. This was the battle cry of the reformers when they made famous the statement “Sola Scriptura” which means Scripture alone. Again let me read acticle 1 and 6 of the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession regarding the Bible:

2 LBCF states

1. The Holy Scriptures are the only sufficient, certain, and infallible standard of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.  The light of nature and the works of creation and providence so clearly demonstrate the goodness, wisdom, and power of God that people are left without excuse; however, these demonstrations are not sufficient to give the knowledge of God and his will that is necessary for salvation.2 Therefore, the Lord was pleased at different times and in various ways to reveal himself and to declare his will to his church.3  To preserve and propagate the truth better and to establish and comfort the church with greater certainty against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan and the world, the Lord put this revelation completely in writing. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures are absolutely necessary, because God’s former ways of revealing his will to his people have now ceased.

6. The whole counsel of God concerning everything essential for his own glory and man’s salvation, faith, and life is either explicitly stated or by necessary inference contained in the Holy Scriptures. Nothing is ever to be added to the Scriptures, either by new revelation of the Spirit or by human traditions.9 2LCF 1:1

What this shows us that the church must stand firm then on the word of God as the supreme authority in our spiritual lives. We must learn from it, lean upon it, and trust it as sufficient in all spiritual life and practice. This is true as individual practices of holiness and corporate practices of holiness as well.

The problem in the history of the church is the evil of adding to the word of God for the spiritual understanding of God’s will for our lives. As I pointed out two weeks ago, Eve added to the words of God when she told Satan that God prohibited eating from and touching the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is adding to the words of God.

Of course, there are many avenues that I could take us in this topic but I want to warn us today about 4 areas of concern that are opposing the idea of Sola Scriptura. These four areas of attacks against the authority and sufficiency of the Bible need recognized and we must be able to defend against them.

A. Sola Scriptura not Scripture plus Tradition

The first one is popular in history in relation to the Protestant Reformation. This attack comes from the Roman Catholic church and the its belief in Papal authority and the Magisterium. What is the magisterium?

According to the website catholic.com, the Magestrium can be define in catholic teachings as “ the teaching authority which Christ has given to the Church” which means of course, that “the Church” is specifically the catholic church which includes the Pope, bishops and cardinals who lead it. Now we know that Catholic theology derive the authority of the Catholic church from its belief in Apostolic succession. This means that the apostle Peter was given the authority of the church in Matthew 16:18 and all of Peter’s successors are given the title of Pope which includes all the authority that comes with that.

It is communicated in this belief that the office of Pope speaks in “extraordinary magisterium” which means he is speaking with authority as the vicar of Christ on the earth today. Along with this belief, is the idea that what they say or write as extraordinary magisterium is to be held as equal to or superior to God’s word.

One example of this would be Pope Pius IX declared in 1854 the catholic dogma that Mary was born without the stain of human sin, known as the Immaculate Conception. In other words, the declaration of this doctrine is less than 200 years old. This doctrine regarding Mary is significant because it was one of the first declared by the Roman Catholic papal authority outside of the Ecumenical Councils.

Not only do they belief this about the papal authority, but they believe this about the ecumenical councils of the church that met and agreed upon practices and doctrines of the church. These councils were gatherings of bishops throughout the churches who were gathering to stand against heresies that arose. These councils were:

the First Council of Nicaea (325 AD),

the First Council of Constantinople (381 AD),

the Council of Ephesus (431 AD),

the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD),

the Second Council of Constantinople (553 AD),

the Third Council of Constantinople (680–681 AD),

the Second Council of Nicaea (787 AD)

Now the first 6 councils are important to church history and doctrine because in the the leadership stood firm with the teaching of Scripture regarding the essence and being of Christ. They argued for his divinity and his humanity as wer undersatnd them today. From many of those coucils came important creeds of the church like the Nicene Creed and the Chalcedonian Creed. These creeds, much like our statement of beliefs at RCC are doctrinal statements that are derived from an infallible Scripture but are not infallible documents themselves. As a matter of fact, in the history of our church, we have edited our beliefs regarding some of Boyce Abstract of Principles knowing that these statements are helpful but only helpful in so far as they align with Scripture alone.

It was the 7th ecumenical council that began to introduce dogmas such as icons in the church and their function in Christian life and practice, a teaching that protestants reject. Not long after the 7th council, was the split of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy with Rome in the West and Constantinople in the East. Again, it was the 7th ecumenical council that introduced unbiblical doctrines and there it is held by protestants that this is the beginning of a waywardness of the Catholic church. Understand that the term Catholic simply meant “universal” or “world-wide” and early on signified the unified churches across the known world.

But along the lines of sola scripture, these human traditions were introduced as equal to or greater than the authoirty of the Bible.

Calvin comments:

Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians Chapter 2

Papists, however, act a foolish part in gathering from this that their traditions ought to be observed. They reason, indeed, in this manner—that if it was allowable for Paul to enjoin traditions, it was allowable also for other teachers; and that, if it was a pious thing1 to observe the former, the latter also ought not less to be observed… They act a still more ridiculous part in making it their aim to pass off, under this, the abominable sink of their own superstitions, as though they were the traditions of Paul.

Now let me state that traditions that we formulate from Scripture are helpful in the church AS LONG AS they are subservient to the Scriptures themselves. For example, we organize our worship gatherings in such a way that they reflect biblical principles but we must be careful to think or say that to do them differently is sinful. As long as the Bible is our authority in these matters, we are to faithful to it.

Jesus does not tell us exactly how to perform the ordinances of Baptism. All we know and hold to is that immersion for those wanting to communicate the death burial and resurrection of the old life and new life in Christ is necessary. All else, we can best try to emulate what the Bible infers but that allows liberty with horse toughs, robes on the participants, etc.

Where the catholic and orthodox churches fail is their dogmatic teachings on beliefs that our unbiblical. They teach these errors as authoritative as if praying to Mary or the saints is commanded by God to the church. IT IS NOT!

I won’t say much about the Orthodox church because it is so very similar to the Catholic church in many but not all of its doctrines. Both the rise of Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy has grown recently where we see Protestants leaving for these groups out of frustration for biblical fidelity among protestant churches. Its hypocritical because there is great fluidity of the Catholic and Orthodox doctrines over their history, even though their practices in worship appear as consistent and historical.

In other words, people are looking churches who claim steadfastness historically but they sacrifice this for doctrinal progressivism.

Let’s look at a second warning to the church as we stand for Scripture Alone.

B. Sola Scriptura not Scripture plus personal revelation

Secondly, the attack on Sola Scriptura comes from the new age and charismatic movements that demand more from God than just his revealed word. They demand a personal revelation from God in order to follow him. Its as if they want to walk into the king’s court and look him in the eye and converse with him before they submit to his kingdom.

It doesn’t work that way and it is foolish on behalf of any individual to demand anything from God. God has spoken to the world in the way that He has chosen and it is no longer a personal word from him. He chose to speak to the people through prophets and apostles and that time has now ceased.

Hebrews 1:1–3 “1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

Well Known Author Sarah Young writes in her book Jesus Calling, “I knew that God communicated with me through the Bible, but I yearned for more. I wanted to hear what God had to say to me personally on a given day.”

This statement by Young is followed by personal messages that Jesus apparently speaks to her personally. What Mrs Young is saying in this statement is that the Bible is not enough for me to be satisfied in my Christian faith. This is erroneous and has caused great damage to the Chrisitans who read her books and now anticipate these new revelations from God. She is really doing the same as the Pope who speaks ex cathedra except she is not making her so called new revelations universal messages from God to the church. Instead, in her misunderstanding of Scripture, she leads people to believe there is more to the Christian faith that what is given in His word.

Friends, in these two warnings, there is simply a human element of dissatisfaction and discontentment with what God has done. You may want some special message from the Lord, some new revelation, because He appears distant from you. Let me encourage you that his distance from you is not because new revelation is needed. Instead, consider that maybe his faithful revelation is NOT being obeyed! If you walk in the Spirit, and not according to your flesh, you will understand that Lord IS NEAR you. His word tells his followers, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

This is the what Paul says in these final verses of chapter 2.

3. The Fruit of our Tethering(16-17)

2 Thessalonians 2:16–17 “16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, 17 comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.”

Paul concludes with a message of encouragement and hope for those called and saved by the Lord Jesus.

A. Eternal Comfort/Hope

Paul’s final encouraging word to the Thessalonians and all true believers is that the work of Christ on the cross is the source of your comfort. Now not that Christ is not in the business of comforting your flesh. He strives to comfort your spirit and he does so with eternal comforts. These are the promises of the blessings of redemption.

Spurgon writes,

2 Thessalonians Exposition

it reminds us of everlasting love, the everlasting covenant, the everlasting promises, everlasting redemption, and the everlasting heaven.

Now this is what every person needs in his life…eternal comfort but because sin separates us from God. Being separated from God because of sin, a person’s eternity is uncertain. In response to uncertainty, cursed humanity seeks to fill uncertainty with earthly pleasures, trying to fill the void God has created in us for eternal security.

But earthly treasures do not give us security that we are longing for. Therefore our hearts and our souls are never comforted with eternal comfort. This leads a person to hopelessness.

But Christ came to die for sinners and in doing so reconcile them to God bringing peace by the cross. In his death and resurrection, a sinner is pardoned in sin and given a place of belonging to God in Christ. This is eternal hope and encouragement that every person seeks, they just do not know it yet.

There are videos on social media of these new glasses that have been created for people with color blindness. Its amazing to watch the emotion of those who have never been able to see the green grass or the blue ocean or orange sunset. But once these sunglasses are put, there visual senses are electrified with color for the first time.

This is a picture of regeneration and the hope and comfort that a person realizes for the first time in their life when Christ saves them. He is our hope our satisfaction and by his grace we are tethered to him by his sovereign saving work for us.

B. Earthly Obedience to the word

The second idea here is that Paul is praying that the Lord Jesus and God the Father would grant to the church such a continual hope and comfort in Christ that there response would be obedience to his word. He wants them to understand that it is the power of Lord to guide them to persist and endure the persecutions, to stand firm in the midst of false teachings, to believe unto Christ until the end. Therefore, the fruit of being tethered to Christ is that the church will obey his holy word. We will be empowered to faithfulness and even when we slip into sin, the Spirit brings repentance and faith again and again.

This is the promise of the work of God for all who believe. Those who are predestined will be saved, justified, sanctified and glorified. The true church will be glorified in Christ because in the end, Christ has made them pure by his blood and he has empowered them to be obedience in this life until the very end.

This is our great hope of our salvation to all who believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every good work and word will strengthen you in your walk with Christ. As you serve, as you repent, as you listen, as you teach and correct with Christ and his word of God as your rock, you will not be shaken. You will be comforted.