Standing Against The Tide

<rock in hand, ready to pick up sand>

<pan from sea to sand>

We’ve all missed lots of thing in lockdown - one of the things I’ve really been missing is the beach. I love the sea, the shore, the waves, the rocks. Sandcastles!

It’s amazing to think that the sea - pretty gentle though it seems today - can turn giant boulders into fine grains of sand. Waves and endless persistence turn this <rock> into this <pick up sand>.

But it doesn’t just take on rocks - it wears whole continents down. This Tuesday poor Emma Tullett from Eastchurch in Kent lost her entire house to the sea. <100% slide>Year after year, the sea has beaten relentlessly against that cliff face - and ultimately it’s won. </slide>

The sea is awesome in its power. Think of a lighthouse. Lighthouses make for amazing photos - <100% slide>standing firm against the crashing waves, standing firm through the ever-changing tides.</slide>

But then picture a swim in the sea on a calm day. It’s amazingly gentle for something which can be so destructive. Freezing today, right enough, but gentle. It lifts you to the surface. It cups you, holds you, has you bob up and down with it.

All this awesome, destructive power really only comes into play when the moving sea meets something fixed.

As we go through life, I wonder if you’ve ever felt like that fixed object, like you’re just trying to hold your ground while the world around you crashes against you?

Do you ever feel like this stone, being gradually, gradually ground down into pieces?

Do you ever feel like that cliff, wave after wave crashing against you? battering away at you?

<zoom in>

About two thousand years ago, a small group of people in a city far away became followers of Jesus. They changed, they “turned”, the bible tells us, and set off in a new and different direction: they began to serve Jesus as king instead of other things. But this change meant they stood out dramatically - like a rock against the sea, like a lighthouse against the tide. And trouble came crashing down upon them, like wave after pounding wave.

Sand tells us mighty boulders are no match for the sea - could this new church survive? Let’s listen together to the next section of the letter we’re working through in the bible, where the team who first spoke to this small group of believers write to them about the opposition they’re now facing.

Listen to these words from first Thessalonians - we’re at chapter two, and reading verses thirteen to sixteen and then we’ll take some time to consider them together back in the studio.

<to proclaim bible slide w/ reading audio>

1 Thessalonians 2:13–16 NIV

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.

<cam>Let’s start by looking at the root of the trouble: what is it that puts this small group of believers at odds with the world around them? What is it that means they are so fiercely opposed? Well, in v13 we’re told they <slide><50/50 slide>received the word of God.

Now if you’ve been around Christians for a while, perhaps you’ll have heard them use that phrase, “the Word of God”, and mean the bible; all groups have their own kind of internal code-language; each sport, each art, each science - just try to understand my kids when they are chatting about gaming together! Christians are no different. “Word of God”, in Christianese, normally means the Bible - and there’s good reason for that: it’s one of the ways the bible describes itself.

But here, in this letter, when they talk about these new believers receiving the word of God they’re not saying they handed over a nice black leather bible to them. We know that firstly because there was no such thing at the time - perhaps you’ll remember that the letter we’re studying is likely written first out of the 21 letters gathered in today’s bibles? They weren’t talking about the Jewish scriptures - what we call the Old Testament - either. Although these were already compiled and circulating widely, see here in the verse, the authors say this “word of God” was something these new believers “heard from us.” It’s a spoken message that’s in view. When they write about how this new church received the “word of God”, the sense we get is the “expression of God’s mind,” the “message from God.”

When these new believers receive this message - and not just receive it, but go on to <slide>accept it - that’s when the trouble starts. I just want to take a moment to draw out the difference between just receiving a message and accepting it. <cam>I can receive a message, maybe here on my phone, maybe from Boris himself, telling me there’s a deadly virus and I must stay at home. I can receive it but just ignore it - dismiss it, head out and take my chances, head out and put others at risk. Or - or I can receive that message and accept it. Stay home. save lives. protect the NHS. See there’s a big gap between just receiving a message and actually accepting it.

These people, they’ve received a message from God: Jesus is the Messiah - that is, the promised one, the chosen one. But more than that: Jesus is the king. Generous, gracious, loving though he may be, still a king. But they don’t just receive this message, they accept it: accept Jesus as rescuer, as saviour, accept Jesus as Lord, as king.

And I guess right now, before we move on, I want to ask you whether you have received this message? Jesus is saviour, Jesus is Lord. And more importantly than that, I want to ask you whether you’ve accepted it - because they’re quite different things. Imagine *bing* a message arrives about a vaccine being available; of course receiving that message is not taking the vaccine. Do you need to move from just receiving this message to accepting it?

Before we press on that, we’d better take a quick look around the corner - because we’re talking about trouble, remember? Accepting this message brought those new believers trouble. So you should know this message means trouble. Why? Well, it’s this idea that there is a king: Jesus. We get to see the charge brought against these believers by the people around them recorded for us in the bible:<slide><100% slide>

Acts 17:7 NIV

and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.”

<50/50 slide>Now it was a problem back then, an explosive problem, because there already was a king: the roman emperor, <slide>Caesar. So a new king, another king? Yep, that’d be a issue - particularly for Caesar. Particularly in the ancient land of Macedonia which had finally fallen to Rome after an extended struggle. Particularly in the land famous for a certain king Alexander who once ruled the largest empire on earth. Just, in fact, where all this took place.

So it would be a problem for Caesar - but truth be told, it wasn’t a deep love for this emperor and his wonderful rule which led to the crowds making trouble for those believers - it was fear for their own hides! See, Thessalonica, the city where all this is taking place, had a privileged position in the Roman empire meaning significant freedom and independence, hard won through obsequious obedience. If word got out that another king was being honoured there, that could spell curtains for their freedom. So you do feel for those crowds - but at the same time we have to see it’s selfishness which is driving this opposition.<cam>

And interestingly though this might feel ancient and remote, in our modern times, it’s still the case that talk of “another king” causes fear to rise, and results in opposition. Of course in our age the cry isn’t “no king but Caesar” - but it might be fair to suggest instead it’s “no king but me”. Any challenge to me deciding what should be and what shouldn’t - what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s good and what’s bad - any challenge to me being free to do what I want any old time? Well that needs to be stamped out right away. Because there’s no king but me. So just like back then, talk of another king can be threatening. Talk of another authority, another law-giver.

So if you are considering this message about Jesus, and Jesus as Lord, or King, yeah I need to be upfront and say this does mean trouble because this does mean accepting “there is another king.” It means you’re going to end up like that sea cliff - fixed, rooted. Because you’re accepting the message that Jesus is Saviour and King - and this king does have a design for his world - and a design for your life. One that doesn’t change with each shifting wave of the culture that surrounds us.

Accepting this message means you’re going to end up different from the world around you, standing out from it like the sea cliff rises above the waves - because this message from God, this message about Jesus, is extraordinary in that it has power to change us - <slide><50/50>it’s a message that is “at work in you who believe”. Yes, sometimes it works slowly; very slowly - particularly when we ourselves are none too keen on that change - but it changes us nonetheless. And while you might expect the world to applaud some changes, you can be sure other times it’s just going to smash against you instead, demanding that you fall back into it.

<cam>Why would anyone accept a message like this, one that brings so much trouble? The short answer is: because it’s wonderfully true. So, open kimono, full disclosure: accepting this message will bring you trouble. But still it’s true. Today God’s message offers you rescue, restoration. Are you ready to accept it? If you’re watching live and you’re ready right now, in the chat window, you’ll see an opportunity to raise your hand, virtually, and to reach out to God. Click that, and then, if you like, you can ask our team to pray with you and help you step forward. Would you accept God right now? If you still have questions, if you still need to know more, stick around at the end of the stream and you can join me in the studio for a digital coffee. Or if you’re watching a recording and you want to respond, just email me and let’s chat. <slide><100% slide>[e-mail]

<cam>Going back to this picture of waves crashing into a cliff, I guess this works the other way too: if you can’t remember a single time you’ve been out of step with the world around you, moving differently from others - if it seems like you’re just <slide><50/50>floating along with the sea, bobbing around like driftwood, keeping perfect time with its ebb and flow, never feeling it’s might crash against you - then perhaps you should wonder if you do indeed have that firm foundation, that fixed point. Perhaps you should wonder if you’ve really accepted Jesus not just as saviour, but also as Lord, as king. Because I can tell you that his order for our lives is not the same as the world around us. His rule over our lives does not leave us being washed to and fro by the waves.

<cam>Can you think of a time your faith, your acceptance of Jesus as Lord, has meant you’re out of step with the world around? It’s not always that epic friction. It’s not always that the waves crash on the shore; sometimes they just gently move against it and wear it down. But if you’ve never felt the rub, if you’re never any different, then do you really have another king?

Maybe you found it easy to think of a time, perhaps lots of times. Before we feel too much pity for ourselves, we must remember our many, many brothers and sisters around the world who have the most crushing waves of opposition crashing down upon them day after day after day. Christianity, statistically, is the most persecuted religion in the world - and the intensity of that persecution is extreme in many places. It is amazing to see how the faith of so many is able still to stand firm - even grow - despite these apparently crushing waves. It is humbling when the gentle oppositions I sometimes face seem so threatening to me.

What does this passage have to say to those living through trouble - small or great - through persecution, like these early followers?

First, it tells you <slide><50/50>you’re not alone. That your experience is one common to your church family. More than that, it’s following in the footsteps of the ancient church. Here, the authors comfort these new Thessalonian believers with the fact that trouble, trouble from one’s own people, is not unique to them - it’s an experience shared with the churches in Jerusalem and the surrounding area. It’s not that something has gone wrong in this situation, or that they have done something wrong in this situation. It’s the pattern.

But notice that this pattern of opposition from your own people isn’t just the pattern for them, or for the ancient church. Yes, the church in Judea suffered from their own people - but even this is still not the epicentre of opposition; <slide>verse 15 - It is even the pattern for Jesus himself. John’s gospel famously starts with “in the beginning was the Word”, speaking about Jesus. It describes his role in creation, as the source of life, and then speaks about his coming into the world, his incarnation - literally his enfleshing. It spells out that Jesus himself, creator of the world and source of its life, knew this very same opposition from that world and that life: <slide>“he came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”

So if you face opposition, hostility, persecution - and for the many around the world who experience this in extreme ways - there is comfort in knowing that you are not alone - that Jesus himself has walked this same path, has known this same opposition. It was not that he had done something wrong, or that something had gone wrong. It was the plan. It is the nature of the Christian life, following in the steps of Christ through this broken world, that the sea beats against us.<cam>

At the same time, Jesus’ perseverance through opposition and persecution - even to his own death - was not purposeless or futile, not just suffering for the sake of it, mere endurance as the goal. When he held his course to the end, even as he experienced in his own flesh the opposition of creation to its creator, he began its restoration. Through his suffering, the door was opened for reconciliation between creator and creation. And after his death, through his resurrection, re-creation and renewal began to break in.

So you are not alone in facing opposition, but also <slide><50/50>opposition has not won the day, and will not win the day. The problem with this picture we’ve been using of waves and cliffs is this: the waves always win in the end. That is not our story. That is not our end. Perhaps a better picture than a cliff against the sea is a volcano against the sea - think <100% slide><slide>Hawaii. <clip>The sea presses down on a fissure but it cannot stop the molten rock pouring out. It’s utterly irresistible. As the rock builds, gradually, gradually it rises from the sea.<slide> And though the waves beat upon it, it continues to grow - they cannot stop its progress. They will never overcome it.

<cam>Yes, we will face opposition. Yes, some brothers and sisters will even follow Jesus to death. But the creator of this world which has turned against him will not be beaten by it. And praise God He didn’t just crumple it up and toss it aside like waste paper, but instead he has entered into it to renew it - every corner, ever inch. The greatest encouragement to those going through persecution is the truth that the battle belongs to the Lord. Creation cannot - and will not - beat creator.

There’s a sobering close to the passage we’re studying today which we’ve not touched upon yet: God does not have limitless patience with this opposition. Verse 16 has chilling words for those opposed to his message <slide><50/50>“they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.” We’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on the trouble that those turning to God face in this world - face like it’s creator did as he entered into it. But this passage closes with a warning to those who won’t turn - to those who reject this message, who obstruct it as a result: God is judge. His patience with opposition has a limit. And ultimately there is his wrath to face.

John 3:16 is a famous verse - <slide><100% slide>“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This is the comfort to those who turn and yet face trouble. John 3:36 is not nearly as well known - but in the very same chapter, Jesus expands on verse 16: <slide>“whoever believes in the son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the son will not see life for God’s wrath remains on them.”

[hold…]

<fade to black, cam><pan from sea to beach>

As we come to a close today, I want to give you some time to reflect. My big question for you is where are you in this picture?

Have you turned? Are you facing the waves? Take comfort, and hope.

Or are you still in the sea? Rejecting saviour and King? God’s patience is not limitless.

Thirty seconds to reflect, and then I’ll pray.

<pan down to waves and shore>

30s

<pan back>

<pray>

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