"Love's Tonic for Life's Trials"
Jan.30/05 1Thess.2:17-3:13
The Frustration of Trials
Often you don't have to go far to find trouble. In fact, some days it may seem you wake up surrounded by it. Job 5(7) observes, "Man is born to trouble, as surely as sparks fly upward." As we look around our congregation and think of our extended families, a whole variety of trials is being faced, of one form or another. Some people are sick - even near death's door. Others suffer excruciating pain from a back injury or deformative condition. Others have had to deal with car troubles - all the way from dead batteries to malfunctioning new engines to life-threatening collisions while stopped to be a Good Samaritan. It's the sort of thing that makes you want to ask the Lord in wonderment, "Was that really necessary?" Other folks suffer problems of a different kind - relational headaches, couples breaking up, ugly custody disputes over children. Each of these troubles is important; each matters to someone, and cause us mutual concern as we hold one another up in prayer. Really, for a fellowship group our size, there's a remarkable amount going on, isn't there?
The apostle Paul was well acquainted with trials when he wrote an early letter to the church at Thessalonica. He'd had to leave the city abruptly after religious opponents formed a mob and started a riot (Ac 17:5). In 2:17 he writes, "We were torn away from you..." The verb he uses is literally 'to make someone an orphan'. Paul felt terribly ripped away from the fledgling flock, and his heart yearned for them. He adds, "Out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you...again and again -- but Satan stopped us." The verb for 'stopped' means literally 'to cut in' - you know that tiny surge of 'road rage' you feel when someone cuts you off in traffic? That's how frustrated Paul felt each time he tried to reconnect with the Thessalonians but was thwarted. In 3:1 he says they finally sent Timothy instead "when we could stand it no longer." The apostle found it mighty trying to not be able to visit them and pick up teaching where he'd had to prematurely leave off.
While we all face trials, we have to admit some people face more severe ones than we do. Bethany Hamilton is a 14-year-old girl from Hawaii who shares her family's passion for surfing. As Living Light News tells us, she had already achieved considerable success competing as an amateur. But she had a very damaging encounter on the morning of Oct.31, 2003. She recalls, "That's all it took: a split second. I felt a lot of pressure and a couple of lightning-fast tugs...I knew that the jaws of a 15-foot tiger shark had covered the top of my board and my left arm...[it] was gone almost to the armpit, along with a huge crescent-shaped chunk of my red-white-and-blue surf board." Wow! Now that would be a shock and frustration indeed - one minute you're happily surfing, the next, your whole arm's missing!
The Fact of Trials
We have to admit that trials are part of life. While they happen to most everybody, the beliefs of some people predispose them to additional grief due to the opposition of others. This past week the United Nations had a special ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the Holocaust. Some six million Jews perished in concentration camps and the gas ovens; nations now acknowledge this as fact.
Religious persecution continues today, but you don't have to be Jewish to suffer; actually Christians are suffering in a major way on account of their faith. According to Paul Marshall of Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom (published in Faith Today), some 200 million people in the world today live in countries where there is overt persecution. Some statistics suggest that more Christians died for their faith in the 20th century than in the previous 19 centuries put together. Although exact numbers are difficult to verify, church statistician Dave Barrett estimates 100,000 people are martyred for their Christian beliefs each year. Think of it as a 'slow-burn' holocaust - 60 years of that would equal 6 million deaths.
In September 2003, the female pastor of an Assembly of God church in Sri Lanka was building a fence on church property with 3 other young Christian women. A Buddhist monk ordered them to stop work. He threatened them with violence and death. Undaunted, the women lodged a complaint with the police and planned to continue their fence-building the next day. Later that night, about 30 men destroyed the new concrete fence posts and forced their way in the adjacent house where the church workers were staying. They dragged the women out, physically attacked them and attempted to sexually assault them. Though greatly outnumbered, the young women managed to fight off their attackers - who then forced the women to march a kilometre to the police station, beating them and shouting that they had captured 4 prostitutes. Eventually the humiliated women were released, only to see their church burned down a few weeks later. The pastor has been threatened with death; she can't return to the village. Yet, in spite of such abysmal instances of persecution, the church is growing. Glenn Penner of The Voice of the Martyrs notes, "Evangelicals are growing at a fairly good pace", which is one of the reasons they are being persecuted in Sri Lanka. He says, "The Church is exploding around the world;" where there's an active and growing church, there's often an effort to stop that growth.
Back in the first century, Paul tried to prepare new believers for troubles he knew they'd face. It was pretty much a fact that, if you followed the Way of Jesus, you could expect to be subjected to trials on account of it. Vv3-4 he says, "You know quite well that we were destined for [these trials].In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted.And it turned out that way, as you well know." Back in 2:18 he complained that "Satan stopped us"; and in 3:5 he admits being afraid "that is some way the tempter might have tempted you and our efforts might have been useless." Satan's name comes from the Hebrew meaning 'Adversary', opponent, one who's always trying to get in the way and thwart your efforts. That's his fallen nature: he gets pleasure out of seeing people suffer, especially those who are trying to live for the Lord. He tempted Jesus right out of the starting gate; he'll tempt us, too. We can expect it.
Why do we seem so surprised when troubles befall us? The New Testament repeatedly cautions us that we're in for trials. Paul says we're "destined for them". He wrote in 2Timothy (3:12), "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted..." Jesus said to His disciples the night before His own death, "In this world you will have trouble.But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) And in Acts 14(22), the apostles kept teaching that "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God..."
Persecution isn't limited to other countries. In Canada, there have been incidents of students not being allowed to participate in Christian clubs on school property, or Christian businesses being fined for standing on principles. Toronto printer Scott Brockie was fined for refusing to print stationery for an organization that advocates homosexuality. There's a pattern of escalation: first there's misinformation used against Christians, then discrimination, and finally persecution. Janet Epp Buckingham, director of law and public policy for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, says, "I think in Canada we're at the stage of misinformation, and in some cases starting to move into cases of discrimination." Smacks of Hitler's propaganda campaigns and policies that gradually led to the gas ovens.
Even such a widely-recognized benevolent organization as the Salvation Army has come under attack for its activities. Before Christmas, various retailers told the Army to ring its fundraising kettlebells elsewhere. However the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, came to the Army's aid, promising to match up to a million dollars in kettle donations made at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club locations in the United States. The retailer even bought a full-page ad in USA Today proclaiming its support for the Salvation Army. So it's a fact that even such accepted traditions of Christian organizations are encountering resistance, if not outright persecution.
The Fellowship of Trials
A certain theme courses through this passage from 1Thessalonians: the close bond forming between the church and the apostles and other missionary workers. The shared experience of suffering is shaping a real fellowship, an affectionate solidarity. Vv6-8 say, "He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you.Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith.For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord." Note the longing of each party to see the other; and the faith of the Thessalonians, revealed by their own hardships, was a very real encouragement to Paul in his own "distress and persecution". Seeing the new believers stand firm had a rub-off effect, bolstering the nerve of those who heard about it.
Shared trials can become a means to pull people together. I always remember Gary Smalley saying they tried to go camping every summer because there was always a crisis, and weathering that is what bonds a family most! In 2Cor.1(4,6) Paul wrote, "[God] comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God...If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer." There's a kinship in calamity; enduring difficulties draws believers together when they find their common source of strength in Jesus through the Spirit.
I used to feel that being supportive of someone in trouble meant I had to try to "fix it". As I grow more aware of my own personal limitations, fellowship comes to mean more coming alongside in caring and compassion and prayer, without necessarily having to "fix it" - which isn't always humanly possible. It may be more a matter of listening, a kind word, and an arm around the shoulders -- knowing our situation matters to another person can halve the load, especially when it's wrapped in prayer.
After meeting with Christians who were suffering, a recent visitor to Sri Lanka said, "I was deeply touched by their understanding of Church as a community of faith, hope, love, and solidarity...They cope with persecution as a community.They pray for each other and comfort each other.They walk with each other in suffering."
Remember that young female pastor who was fixing the fence mentioned earlier? The Faith Today article notes that even though she's kept away from her church by death threats, knowing that the global Church is watching, speaking up, and praying, is a comfort that is beyond repair. An international fellowship of faith under fire.
The Fruit of Trials
Why does God allow trials, anyway? Paul refers to Satan not only as the adversary, but also as "the tempter": the verb literally means 'to try, make trial of, to test - for the purpose of ascertaining...what [one] thinks, or how he will behave himself.' God allows trials in order to show our true maturity, and to grow us. The pressure and stress, handled with Christ's grace, can develop qualities in us for His glory that would be hard to produce by any other means. We see some of these mentioned in vv9-13.
Paul asks, "How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?" There's gratitude and joy mentioned. Next he mentions praying 'night and day...most earnestly': if nothing else, pressure in our life prompts prayer. "Help, Lord! I'm going to be needing You to get through this!" When they see each other again, Paul looks forward to supplying "what is lacking in your faith". Seeing a need prompts generosity, sharing what we have; in the case of the Tsunami, it felt good to be able to donate and be part of the response. That's the fruit of generosity and kindness.
Paul refers to their faith - not just here, but five times in this passage (vv2, 5, 6, 7, 10); that's a very important result of trials. When God brings you through the trial by His strength, it gives you a confidence that couldn't be obtained any other way than actually experiencing His support. Rom.5(3f) says "we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Faith and trust are linked to perseverance, a capacity to 'stick-it-out-with-God's-help".
V12 refers to the Lord making their love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, "just as ours does for you". Knowing someone else is going through something you've had to endure can build compassion and sensitivity; you relate in a way those who haven't gone through it, can't. And v13 prays that God will "strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy..." The verb for 'strengthen' is similar to the 'buttressing' of a fortress. Blamelessness and holiness are marks of character; pain has a purifying effect, stripping away what's superficial and doesn't matter so much. Spiritual maturity, completeness of character are the fruit of trials that James refers to in his letter when he writes (1:2-4): "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." If God were growing dandelions, He could do it in a day; but He's growing us to be oaks of righteousness, and that takes longer - including a lot of storms to toughen our trunks.
Speaking of trunks (of a different kind), maybe you've been feeling sorry for that surfer I mentioned at the outset who had her left arm bitten off by a shark. But an NBC commentator has referred to Bethany Hamilton as "the most sought-after teenager in the world". Why? She has an unshakable confidence in the faithfulness of God, and refuses to remain a victim. In her book, Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board, Bethany says, "I can remember putting my trust in Christ when I was just a little kid." She commented about the accident to Living Light News, "I never even fathomed the thought that Jesus would allow this to happen to me unfairly.He must have had a reason." A friend of the family remarks, "About a year ago, Bethany made a commitment to read through the Bible in one year, and this has strengthened her relationship with God. She has learned to overcome discouragement, by trusting God daily."
Bethany Hamilton returned to competition in January 2004, and after winning two regional events, became part of the 2004-05 USA Surf Team last summer. She gives generously to various charities and fundraisers, and is excited about the opportunity she now has to work with World Vision, a Christian agency that helps needy children around the world. In closing, she says, "My relationship with Christ is always the focal point." She urges with genuine passion, "Never give up...and you will be refreshed by overcoming obstacles -- even jaws!" Let's pray.